Spy Strategy: Knife Guide

The Spy possesses a the ability to perform the only instant- kill in the game: a backstab. The backstab is the main purpose of the spy’s attack; allowing him to instantly take out even the best- guarded targets. Choosing the right knife for your play-style is essential to being successful.

The stock knife is often used by professional players and new players alike. It is functional, reliable, and the best choice if you don’t possess many other spy weapons. Like all spy knives, when you are behind an enemy, the knife will show a backstab- ready animation by holding the knife up. Clicking will perform the backstab and instantly kill the target, provided they do not have a Razorback. Once stabbed, however, the enemy will let out a bloodcurdling scream, often alerting those nearby of your presence. The spy’s cloak and revolver can usually allow him to escape these situations.

Your Eternal Reward is an extremely unique knife that can be very powerful, but also fairly difficult to use. Once you backstab someone with the knife, they will instantly (and silently) die. Their corpse will disappear and you will instantly be disguised as them. This makes it more difficult for enemies to detect a spy. This knife is great, and while it only has one downside, it’s a big one: The wearer cannot disguise. This means that you’ll have to cloak behind enemy lines and backstab someone before you’ll be able to walk among your enemies unnoticed. Some people find this difficult, but if you’re able to get the first backstab, the knife can be extremely useful.

The Conniver’s Kunai is a great knife built to allow you to survive quick getaways. Once you backstab someone, you will steal all of their health in the form of an overheal. This overheal will allow you to more damage while you make your getaway. The overheal is very different from the overheal given by a medic. First of all, the Kunai can heal over 150% your health, and second of all, the overheal depletes considerably slower than that given to you by a medic. While a maximum overheal by a medic decays within just 15 seconds, a Kunai overheal will last one full minute, giving you even more time to make your escape. In addition, this knife can used to be a more aggressive spy, provided that you consistently perform backstabs to maintain high health. The downside of this weapon is that the spy’s default health is cut in half. Similar to Your Eternal Reward, landing the first backstab is key to reaping the rewards of this knife.

The Big Earner is a knife that will give you 30% cloak each time you kill somebody with it. While the cloak would theoretically be useful to make a getaway, you have to take into account that this knife lowers your max health by 25. This knife makes you more vulnerable without much benefit, unless you have the Dead Ringer. Since the Dead Ringer can only be activated when the cloak meter is full, this knife will often allow you to use it directly after a backstab. However, if you don’t have the Dead Ringer, then it’s not recommended to use this knife.

First released in the Australian Christmas 2011 Update, the Spycicle is a unique knife which allows spies to partially protect themselves from their biggest threat: Pyros. Pyros often use their flamethrower to spy- check teammates. Even when disguised or cloaked, flames will still be visible on an enemy spy, and Pyros often lead to a Spy’s death. The Spycicle allows the Spy to survive two seconds of fire without igniting, which is usually enough to satisfy a Pyro’s curiosity. Once you have been ignited, your Spy- cicle will melt for 15 seconds. If you have been discovered to be a spy and your knife is unavailable, be sure to make use of your revolver and cloak as tools for a getaway. The spycicle is a silent killer, much like Your Eternal Reward. However, once you’ve backstabbed an enemy, they will turn into an ice sculpture, making any passing- by enemy very aware of your presence.

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March 15 Patch: Phlog Nerf, Cozy Camper

Overview of the Heavy

The Heavy is a durable defensive class. Although he moves more slowly than any other class, He has the most default health of any class, and he deals devastating damage. The Heavy is effective at close and medium ranges. As well as having a slower initial speed, revving up his minigun takes a second and will slow down Heavy to a snail’s pace. Heavy is a great medic buddy, having the capacity to be overhealed up to 450 points. If able to defend his medic properly, he can be especially powerful.

The Heavy’s Minigun (Also known as “Sasha”) is his primary and most devastating weapon. However, this damage does come with a vulnerability. The Heavy’s Minigun cannot shoot until it has revved up, which takes about one second. While it may not seem like much, losing this valuable time can be fatal if you’re not too careful. If you want to be prepared for enemies, hold right- click to keep your minigun spinning without firing. Keep in mind that this will significantly slow you down, so only use it if you think that enemies might come within your line of fire. If you want to be ready for enemies around a corner, jump right before you rev up your gun. You will maintain your speed and be ready to fire.  The Minigun will deal 50-54 damage per bullet at point- blank range, and 5-30 damage at medium range. Because of the Minigun’s wide bullet spread, he is virtually useless at long- range.

When taking time to rev up your Minigun would be inefficient, the shotgun comes in handy. It deals good damage at medium and close ranges, and won’t slow Heavy down. If you need to get somewhere quickly but have a single enemy to pick off, the shotgun is the best option. However, don’t become too reliant on it, as there are many other secondary weapons that can be more useful.

Seeing as the Heavy’s Minigun deals damage which will reliably kill anyone at close range, there aren’t many cases in which the fists are necessary. However, due to his high health, the Heavy is more likely to win a melee battle.

Although you won’t always have a pocketed medic, it’s useful to know what to do when there is one available. A pocketed medic is a medic who follows you and heals you constantly as he builds Übercharge. The Heavy has the largest health, and subsequently has the largest overheal health, being a staggering 450 points. However, this overheal will only protect you and your medic from so much. If you or your medic are low on health, retreat. Always look behind you to ensure that your medic is out of harm’s way. The medic’s Übercharge will either give you critical hits or invulnerability. Use the voice commands to communicate with your medic, so that he knows when to activate his charge. Lastly, if your medic suddenly stops healing you, look behind yourself. While it may have just been a slip of the medic’s finger, it’s also highly probable that the medic has been backstabbed by a spy, in which case you will be dead unless you turn around.

Even though he’s a point- and- shoot class, the Heavy can be difficult to master and, if skilled enough, difficult to kill. If you would like to read more Team Fortress 2 guides, be sure to follow The Sticky Jumper on tumblr. Thanks for reading!

Overview of the Spy

The Spy is the most unique class in the game. While his weapons aren’t very powerful, his unique tools allow him to infiltrate the enemy team and get in close to perform lethal backstabs. With invisibility, disguises,  and the ability to feign death, the spy is a lethal class that can be difficult to master.

Don’t be fooled by its appearance; the revolver isn’t as powerful as it may look. While it can do up to 40 damage on headshot, it should only be used as an absolute last resort. The spy has low health, and should not walk into dangerous areas without cloaking or a disguise. Shooting with the revolver will remove your disguise.

The Knife is the spy’s main weapon. While it won’t deal very much damage per swing, it can perform backstabs when directly behind an opponent. These backstabs are always one- hit kills. However, any swing or stab will remove your disguise, so be sure to cloak and escape if nearby enemies notice you.

The Electro- Sapper is a great tool used by spies to “Sap” Engineer’s buildings. When in close proximity to an enemy building, click on it while the sapper is selected. You will automatically place a sapper on the building. This will quickly drain the building’s health, and will destroy it in a matter of seconds. Engineers are alerted when a sapper is placed on one of their buildings, and they do have the power to remove the sapper using their wrench. However, using the sapper will not remove your disguise, which will sometimes allow you to kill an unsuspecting Engineer as he frantically turns his back to repair his sapped building.

The Spy’s disguise kit allows him to disguise as any member of the opposing team. Try to observe the other team and figure out which classes it is composed of. If you disguise as a class that no one is actually playing, you’re more likely to be discovered.  If you aren’t discovered, follow an enemy, without looking at them, until you get close enough to backstab. After stabbing, press B to instantly use your most recent disguise, or open up your disguise menu and select a new class to disguise as.

If the enemies realize that you’re a spy, right- click to turn invisible. The default invisibility watch cloaks you for 9 seconds when full. When cloaked, you can wait out that time, or right click again to uncloak and allow your watch to charge. Collecting ammo containers will fill your cloak meter. This works even when you’re cloaked, allowing you to cloak for longer amounts of time. You can also disguise while cloaked, allowing you to cloak, escape a dangerous situation, disguise, and uncloak as an enemy. Keep in mind that you cannot use any of your weapons while cloaked, and that Pyro’s flames will still be visible, even when you’re cloaked.

The Spy is a versatile class that can be extremely difficult to master and protect against. If you would like to read more Team Fortress 2 guides, be sure to follow The Sticky Jumper on tumblr. Thanks for reading!

Engineer Loadout: Revengineer

The Revengineer loadout is a powerful offensive loadout for Engineer. It combines the disposability of Mini- Sentries with the revenge crits of Frontier Justice.  Placing Mini- Sentries in hidden places can take attention away from your team, allowing them to move forwards.

One main element of the Revengineer is the Gunslinger. The Gunslinger allows you to place mini- sentries which build 5 times as fast as a normal sentry and shoot faster, but deal half as much damage. Despite their damage penalty, deploying them quickly will allow you to get a kill or two before the enemy notices your gun. The reduced metal cost of a Mini- Sentry allows you to place two sentries before needing to refill your ammo. Use this to keep pressure on the enemy.

 The Frontier Justice is the weapon that adds the most power to the Revengineer. It is effective for medium to close range encounters, similar to the normal shotgun. However, it gains revenge crits whenever your Mini- Sentry is destroyed. You will get 2 revenge crits for each sentry kill, and 1 revenge crit for each sentry kill assist. If you’re too far away from an enemy, the crits won’t deal much damage. Use your pistol for medium range attacks, and use the frontier justice’s crits only when you’re close up to an enemy. Most classes can be killed by one or two point- blank crits. Keep in mind that the Frontier Justice only has a clip size of 3. If you’re in the midst of battle and need to reload, use your pistol until you can escape.

Revengineer is a very interesting combat class, so be sure to try it out! If you’d like to read more articles about tf2, be sure to follow us on tumblr!

Pyro Strategy: Flamethrower Guide

The Pyro’s main weapon is the flamethrower. At this point, there are four flamethrowers available. Each has a different style of play, and each can wreak havoc on enemies.

 The default flamethrower is one of the best default weapons in tf2. It has no downsides, and it has plenty of upsides. It has great burn damage, and long- lasting, powerful  afterburn damage . Its airblast costs only 20 ammo, allowing you to reflect projectiles, fling enemies, and extinguish teammates without worrying about running out of ammo.

The Backburner is a powerful offensive weapon which is most commonly used by those who don’t airblast often. While each airblast costs 50 ammo, this flamethrower’s upsides outweigh its downsides. First of all, it has a 10% damage bonus. Second of all, it deals critical hits from behind. Enemies will have to watch their backs, because these critical hits can kill multiple enemies in a second or less. Instead of hiding behind corners as a Pyro usually will, try to find a hiding place that will allow you to sneak up behind the enemy.  If you can cope with limited airblasts, this weapon is extremely powerful and definitely using.
The Degreaser is a unique weapon that creates huge changes to gameplay style. It allows you to switch weapons 65% faster, which can come in handy when using unlockable melee and ranged weapons. If you don’t have any unlockable for weapon slots 2 and 3, then this weapon most likely isn’t worth it. It has a 25% afterburn penalty, so hit- and- run attacks aren’t as reliable. However, when coupled with items like the Axtinguisher, which deals crits to burning enemies, it can be incredibly deadly. Ignite the enemy with the degreaser, then instantly switch to the Axtinguisher and finish them off. On its own, the Degreaser is nothing special, but it creates easier use for the Pyro’s other weapons.

The Phlogistinator, or “Phlog” as many people call it, is the most unique weapon for the Pyro. The damage is identical to the default flamethrower, however, as you deal fire damage, your “Mmmph” meter gradually charges. Once it’s full, you can perform a taunt that refills your health and makes you 90% damage resistant for several seconds and deal minicrits. This resistance makes you nearly invulnerable, but you’ll still have to watch out for backstabbing spies and sticky bomb traps. Also, the Phlog has slightly different firing mechanics. Because the fire particles move as you turn, you overall have more control over where you’re firing. When used at the right times, the Phlog can be a great weapon. However, the complete lack of airblast takes away much of the defensive capability that Pyros usually have. he Phlog is most useful for ambushing enemies, especially once your ‘Mmmph’ is active.

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Overview of the Pyro

The Pyro is an offensive ambush class that is easy to learn yet difficult to master. He utilizes his flamethrower to ignite enemies and either finish them off or watch them burn to death. While he does have basic ranged weaponry, he does the most damage with his flamethrower, up- close and personal. His flamethrower also has a fairly large radius, allowing him to ignite a group. He uses corners and hiding places to his advantage, and invokes fear into enemies, especially cloaked spies. The Pyro possesses three weapons: a flamethrower, a shotgun, and a fire axe.

The Flamethrower is the Pyro’s Primary weapon. It starts out with 200 ammo, which drains quickly whenever it is being fired. The closer you are to an enemy, the more damage you’ll do. However, it will do absolutely no damage to medium and long- range targets. Enemies will burn for several seconds after being ignited, with the exception of other Pyros. Sometimes it’s best to stay close to the enemy and hold the mouse button until the enemy is dead, and sometimes, it’s best to ignite an enemy and then retreat, leaving them for dead. Keep in mind, though, that afterburn will only last so long, and that it can be extinguished by a medic. On alternate fire, the flamethrower will shoot a blast of compressed air, using 10% of your ammo. This blast can knock back enemies or extinguish teammates. In addition, it can reverse the path of projectiles, allowing you to use Soldiers’ rockets and Demoman’s grenades and stickies to your advantage.

The Shotgun is the Pyro’s only default ranged weapon. It deals up to 60 damage, has a clip size of 6, and carries 32 ammo. The Pyro can make most use of this when an enemy is out of range of his flamethrower. It is also especially useful against other Pyros, who have innate fire resistance. At long ranges, the shotgun does very little damage, therefore the Pyro remains a medium to close range class.

Because the Pyro is so often fighting close- up, a melee weapon like the Fire Axe is really only used if you are out of ammo. However, there are various unlockable axes that add application to a melee weapon.

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Engineer Strategy: Wrench Guide

The Wrench is one of the Engineer’s most important items. It’s a melee weapon that doubles as a means of upgrading and repairing buildings. Depending on what kind of Engineer role you’re playing, different wrenches will be most effective.

The Southern Hospitality is most commonly used to defend for spies. On hit, it causes several seconds of bleed, allowing you to track down and kill cloaked spies. This is most useful for a defensive Engineer. Due to the 20% fire vulnerability modifier, offensive Engineers are susceptible to Pyros.

The Jag, on the other hand, is more useful for offensive Engineers. Despite its -25% damage penalty, it increases building construction rate by 30%. This allows you to deploy sentries, whack them a few times, and have them armed in a matter of seconds. Dispensers and teleporters will also build considerably faster when hit, allowing you to make a camp almost instantly. While it does have the damage penalty, it’s still fairly functional for taking down enemies close- up.

The Eureka Effect is a very unique weapon with many applications. It allows you to teleport to the spawn room with a right- click. However, this takes place of the previous right- click function, moving buildings. Common tactics, such as upgrading sentries at spawn and then moving them to the battlefield, will no longer work. However, The instant teleport feature can come in handy. If you’ve created a camp or nest, complete with a teleporter exit from the spawn room, then you’ll be able to teleport to spawn, refill your metal, and then teleport using your teleporters. The Eureka Effect allows you to have infinite ammo and health in low- pressure situations. In addition, The Eureka Effect is useful for a quick getaway, provided you have a second to complete the teleportation animation.

The Gunslinger allows the Engineer to place a new type of building: The Mini-Sentry. The Mini- Sentry takes place of the default Sentry, and it has some key differences. First of all, the Mini- Sentry builds four times faster than the average sentry gun, allowing you to deploy it quickly in enemy territory. It also rotates 35% faster and fires bullets 50% faster. Despite its high fire rate, the Damage Per Second is still lower than the normal Sentry. The Mini- Sentry is not upgradable or repairable, and it’s virtually useless in defensive situations. Still, it’s very effective in offensive situations. By utilizing its +25 player health bonus, offensive Engineers will wreak havoc on the opposing team.

Currently, these are the only wrenches available for the Engineer (Aside from a few promotional items, all identical to the default wrench). If you liked this article or would like to read more about strategies for all classes and weapons, be sure to follow The Sticky Jumper on tumblr. Thanks for reading!

Overview of the Engineer

The Engineer is a defense class that integrates Real Time Strategy elements into Team Fortress 2. Valve does a great job at this, and while Engineer is slightly different from the other classes, its integration into the game is nearly seamless. While he does have a shotgun and pistol, the Engineer’s main role is to protect an area by making buildings. However, by moving his buildings forward, he can aid teammates in controlling enemy territory. The Engineer’s biggest weakness is that against spies. Spies are equipped with sappers which, when attatched to one of your buildings, will disable it and eventually destroy it.

The Engineer can make four types of buildings. Each building costs metal, and the engineer can only have one of each type built at a time.

The Sentry Gun is a powerful automated turret capable firing multiple bullets per second. In addition, level 3 sentries can shoot rockets that deal explosive splash damage. When placing a sentry gun, two guide lines appear. These lines mark the sentry’s patrol area. When no enemies are around, the sentry will scan this 90 degree area constantly. If an enemy is near, it is capable of turning 360 degrees to lock onto its target. However, it takes a few seconds to turn around all the way. It will not shoot spies when they are disguised or cloaked. However, as soon as the spy undisguises or uncloaks, the sentry will target it.

The Dispenser is a building that will provide you and your teammates with health and ammunition. It will also provide engineers with metal, and provide spies with cloak. The higher a dispenser is upgraded, the faster it will refill health and ammo. The dispenser does not need to be refilled; it is an endless supply of provisions.

Teleporter Entrances and Exits are the final two types of building that an engineer can make. As you may expect, a teammate standing on a teleporter entrance will be teleported to the exit. However, there is a recharge period which is determined by the teleporter’s level. The higher level teleporter, the faster the teleport. When an engineer upgrades or repairs one end, the other will also be upgraded/repaired. Similarly, if a spy saps one end, the other end will also be sapped. Spies are also capable of using enemy teleporters, even when cloaked or undisguised. Teleporters are most commonly used to  keep pressure on the opposing team by providing a constant stream of opponents.

This has been a basic overview of the Engineer. Follow The Sticky Jumper on Tumblr for more advanced guides, as well as guides for multiple classes! Have any suggestions for the blog or thoughts on Engineer strategy? Shoot us a comment below!

First Post!

Welcome to The Sticky Jumper! Whether you’re just starting out with TF2, or have been a long- time player, The Sticky Jumper is a must- follow blog! This blog will contain articles regarding all of the latest patches, strategy guides, and more! 

This blog will contain class strategy and weapon strategies. We’ll be going over popular weapon loadouts, and explaining how and when to use them.

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