Spy (Team Fortress 2)

"Gentlemen."

- The Spy's iconic introduction The Spy, hailing from an indeterminate region of France, is a fan of sharp suits and even sharper knives, and relies on stealth and trickery to aid his team.

The Spy is voiced by Dennis Bateman.

Weapons and Skills
Using a unique array of cloaking watches, he can render himself invisible or even fake his own death, leaving unaware opponents off-guard. His Disguise Kit lets him take on the form of any class on either side, allowing him to blend in while behind enemy lines before literally stabbing his unsuspecting "teammates" in the back. In fact, a swift backstab with any of the Spy's knives will kill any foe in a single hit - providing they aren't under the effects of any type of invulnerability or damage reduction.

In addition to being able to assassinate key enemies quickly and efficiently, the Spy has advantages over the Engineer. Using his Sappers, he can disable the Engineer's buildings – slowly draining their health until they are destroyed unless removed by an Engineer or a Pyro wielding the Homewrecker or Maul. He can also make use of enemy Teleporters to surprise (and maybe even telefrag) his foes.

Three other common Spy targets are the Heavy, Medic, and Sniper. While the Heavy is the slowest class to begin with, he is even slower when he has one of his Miniguns spun up – this slower moving speed, along with the distraction of combat, makes for an easy opportunity for a backstab. Medics must focus on their healing target, which also leaves them vulnerable to backstabs. Snipers are obvious Spy targets due to their slower movement speed and lack of nearby awareness when scoped in with their Sniper Rifles. Snipers can use the Razorback to defend themselves from a single backstab, which also stuns the offending Spy.

Whereas most players can only see the names and health of their teammates, the Spy can observe the names and health of the enemy team as well, allowing him to relay useful intelligence. Only the Medic carrying the Solemn Vow shares this ability.

Unlike most classes, the Spy uses his melee weapon by default, as though it is his primary weapon. The butterfly knife deals less damage for a melee weapon, but makes up for this by granting the ability to backstab, which instantly kills all types of players automatically, making it great for dealing with the most annoying mercenaries. However, backstabbing can put the Spy at the disadvantage to certain classes, such as a Sniper equipped with a Razorback or a Pyro in general, which can easily detect the Spy by using its flamethrower. A variant of the knife is the Spy-cicle, an icicle that upon backstabbing an enemy, turns them into a statue of ice, as will as makes the Spy temporary fireproof when dealing with Pyros, but destroys the icicle in the process, forcing the Spy to wait for it to regenerate back. Another variation, known as the Your Eternal Reward, will disguise the Spy into the exact player and class they just backstabbed, as well as disposing of any trace of the victim, but disables the disguise kit when in use. With the exception of the Spycicle, all variants enable the Spy to use his taunt kill known as Fencing, where he makes to quick swipes dealing 25 damage each, before thrusting, which can kill all enemies and destroys all buildings in its path, but takes the longest of all taunt kills to deploy, making it one of the most difficult to succeed.

The Spy's revolver can be useful for the aforementioned classes, as it can quickly dispose of problems the butterfly knife is not fit for. A variant of the revolver called the Ambassador, causes instant crits for headshots, in a similar fashion as the Sniper's sniper rifle, but deals less damage overall and does not headshot while cooling down. Another variant known as the Diamondback can deal a set amount of guaranteed crits for every enemy building sapped, but like the Ambassador, deals less damage overall.

The Spy is also equipped with a cloaking device which can turn him invisible temporary, but can reveal him when he is engulfed in flames, coated in jarate or water, or if he is unfortunate enough to bump into an enemy mercenary. The default cloak can be exchange for a number of variants, such as the Cloak and Dagger, which will only deplete the Spy's cloak meter if he is moving, and will recharge if he stand in place, but does not allow the Spy to collect ammo to recharge the meter while cloaked, and the Dead Ringer, which when equipped and hit by enemy fire, will turn the Spy invisible and release a fake corpse or gib in an attempt to convince the enemy team that they have killed the Spy, allowing the Spy to make a quick escape or even set up a sneak attack if possible, but disables the ability to cloak freely and cannot be used again until it is fully charged once more.

Role
Like the other characters, the Spy is an anti-hero/anti villain depending on who's side your playing for.