Editing Team Fortress 2 (section)

===Spy===
{{topquote|Well? Off to visit your mother!|Spy, being French.}}
'''The Spy'''; also known as '''Frenchie''', '''Turncoat''', an '''Alley-Skulkin’ Backstabber''', '''SPAH''', a '''Shape-Shiftin’ Rat''', a '''''Handsome Rogue''''' or '''Spycrab''', is a French enigma, constantly hiding behind a suit and balaclava. Nobody knows what he is or who he is loyal to, as he is trained to play both sides of any conflict at a moment's notice. Even worse is that he has a special disguise kit in the form of a cigarette case, equipped with masks that let him [[The Changeling|shapeshift into the form of anyone else,]] [[Callidus|be they friend or foe]], nurturing very (un)healthy bouts of paranoia.

As a class, the Spy is very dependent on execution, needing to get in close for the kill. The only gun he has is a revolver, while perfectly accurate, is slow to fire accurately. Similarly, his butterfly knife isn't very strong but it has the unique trait of backstabbing, allowing a spy to instantly kill anyone he hits from behind. To actually get within killing range, you'll need the tools: The aforementioned disguise kit allows a Spy to transform into anyone else he can wish, as the watch can render the Spy invisible for a moment of time but runs on a limited battery, and the sapper gives a way to automatically sabotage and destroy an enemy Engineer's contraptions.

Among all the classes, the Spy is considered divisive depending on how good one can get playing him. On one hand, he's very flimsy and not very capable at fighting with only a revolver and knife, and those who know about what a Spy can do will know how to spot one and will punish him once spotted. On the other hand, those abovementioned tools give him plenty of ways to harass and distract an enemy in unexpected ways, perhaps playing in ways that leave one to ask if he was actually taken out. 
Most people consider Spy to be a '''Specialist''', but Sniper is believed to be the better choice for a pick class and in competitive Scout is the go to flanker-pick class, but he still sees use for checking the enemy teams Über. Whether the spy is good or bad, you’ll always be watching your back once you know he’s around…


<u>Pros</u>:
* When a Spy scores a backstab, <s>most</s> '''all''' things don't get back up from it. Unless you don't have a back or have some means to negate one (looking at you, Sniper).
* Disguises and invisibility are perfect for playing mind games with the enemy.
* Spies are a hard counter to undefended engineer devices, which generally forces engineers to work from a fort mentality instead building and then shifting to mobile support.
* You're the only class that can (technically) cheat death using the Dead Ringer. It's had to be nerfed several times due to how powerful this can be, though there's always been a downside of the post-"mortem" decloak being loud as fuck. 
* By exploiting an extension of a player model’s back, you can perform “Trickstabs” to kill opponents through your agility and cunning.
** Occasionally you can get a moment where [[WTF|you get a "facestab"]], which is confusing for all parties involved.
* Ultimately, playing a Spy perfectly makes you look like a goddamn master chess player.
* Similarly (But better at this) to Sniper and Heavy (With a Medic), a good Spy rules the game by his presence alone, making sure that his enemies are always on the lookout.

<u>Cons</u>
* Spies' health is shit and their direct damage dealing capabilities are only slightly better than a [[meme|literal butter knife]]. If you're caught, you'd better have a good plan.
* Your many tools can be easily foiled by a few easy ways that most people can tell and prepare for. Pyros in particular are good at this, as their anti-sapper melee choices and flamethrowers make them your worst fucking nightmare.
* While Spies do have plenty of gear slots, only two of them are actual weapons.
* The learning curve between understanding the tools and the enemy team will mean that bad plays will reward you with frequent deaths.
* You're hard-countered by the playerbase learning how to deal with Spy. Let that sink in: Spy will become ''worse'' as the game gets older and the playerbase gets more experienced.
:* Related: Disguises will generally only fool newer players since anyone with a brain will question [[FAIL|why you aren't shooting at their enemies]].

==== Gun Spy ====
Being a Spy was hard. He shares the least amount of health with Scout without his speed, and he needs to get up close to very scary mercs who can easily murder him, unlike Sniper or Engineer. His knife might as well be made of plastic with how much damage it does to their faces, and good luck when the Pyros are nearby. With so much working against the Spy, what truly made his Mains tick? Was it the brutal torture of a Pyro’s backburner that broke their minds and reduced their faces into joker-esque edgelords? Did every second respawning feel like an eternity of regret, hindsight, and opportunity to grow for the next life? No… It all happened with an epiphany; a single idea incepted amongst the players by the devs to change their lives forever. A moment in time in which the gods of every pantheon known to both human and elves weeped as Scout’s mother moaned in pleasure: [[Firearm|The Spy has a gun.]] And way back in the day, when Valve first started adding new weapons to TF2, the Spy got an especially sick revolver known as The Ambassador. With its superior distance and aim, Spy players could "snipe" their opponents with headshots from quite a distance away. This gave rise to a new subclass of Spy which relied more on the power of his gun than his metaphorical butterknife. Alas, The Ambassador was eventually nerfed several times to make the game more fairly balanced; as such, this subclass became critically endangered. However, given the distance of time since the nerf, the Spy mains found value again in the guns Spy had, and the population of Gun Spies flourished once more. Nowadays, Gun Spies tend to use just about any revolver, most likely Stock, Enforcer, Ambassador or the Diamondback (if they so choose to backstab too). 

<u>Pros:</u>
* You use your gun. Maybe you'll finally get to understand how powerful it can actually be.
* The Revolver is surprisingly accurate if you wait between shots. The Ambassador rewards accuracy the most, but other revolvers will benefit well with this knowledge.
* You can still be a sneaky bitch with revolvers like the Diamondhead that rewards backstabs & building saps, while the L’Etranger gives extra cloak for getaways & works well with the Dead Ringers
* You don't have to rely on backstabs, making you not need to put yourself in dangerous situations.

<u>Cons:</u>
* You're still a fragile class, and you still ideally want to be close. Your more upfront approach is only going to get you killed more often than when you play Spy as he was intended to be played.
* Knowing how to aim becomes crucial to your performance. If using the Ambassador, you'll also have to learn how to click heads like Sniper.