Lately I have been wondering if I should use the DR or the IW. The reason is that I'm getting caught all the time, wasting DR after DR and not being useful to my team. I don't die, but I don't get any kills.

This also makes playing Spy too risky because if I have to activate it 10 times it's very probable one of those is a Pyro who will airblast me against a wall.

What should I do if a Pyro is chasing me? Try a stairstab? Run to the closes medikit? Even if it's a bad situation I know you can do more than just praying he gets headshoted or something.

The IW doesn't give you a nice escape route but you can get one or two kills before getting out of there. Normally that's enough and I find you have far more opportunities when they can't see you getting to a rock to airstab them.

Of course, there are maps better suited to either watch, Pipeline is made for the DR and Fastlane is better with the IW, IMHO.

Now that I mention airstabs. How reliable are stairstabs? Straight ones are not very useful against aware players but it seems that a single corner makes a stairstab almost unavoidable (They must face death or not chasing you).

I think that for a Highlander match there's nothing better than a Pyro and a Spy colaborating together to get kills. The Pyro is unique in that he is fast and can defend himself with his airblast making him a better partner than a Scout (Low HP, doesn't limit the enemy movement) or a heavy class (Too slow or better suited for other role).

Colaborating with the DR is not exactly easy because you can't be close to your target without being spotted and killed. The IW makes very little noise (Or none, I don't really know) and gives you a very solid waiting time to get the kill.

So, what do you think? Any tips? Should I use the DR or the IW in HL matches?

Cloak and Dagger.
That is all.

If you're talking about regular 6v6 spy, that's one thing, but in pipeline pubs/highlander fastlane etc., you might be better off on steam forums. Which did you want advice for?

So, what do you think? Any tips? Should I use the DR or the IW in HL matches?

Ok, gonna answer your final question: As a pyro, I can hear your invisibility watch too, so it really doesn't matter quite as much. It should come down to preference on both your team and you. Generally you want the one that can allow you to get as many dispatches as possible.

Which did you want advice for?

Both 6v6 (Not that it's going to pop up a lot but sometimes it's good) and Highlander (So as to get used to it)

@TMP

How loud is the IW? For a good deal of the time I thought it didn't make any noise until a certain Sniper kept killig me when I cloacked next to him.

Both 6v6 (Not that it's going to pop up a lot but sometimes it's good) and Highlander (So as to get used to it)

@TMP

How loud is the IW? For a good deal of the time I thought it didn't make any noise until a certain Sniper kept killig me when I cloacked next to him.

It's loud enough for me to hear it when I'm not fighting a soldier or a demo. It's loud enough to where I can hear it over my music. But I am just generally attentive to the decloak sound.

It's loud enough for me to hear it when I'm not fighting a soldier or a demo. It's loud enough to where I can hear it over my music. But I am just generally attentive to the decloak sound.

And distance-wise?

The spy is only going to be successful in 6v6 with proper support from your team. If they can keep the enemy distracted and you can remain aware of your surroundings you'll be able to land some excellent backstabs. But you must be aware of the following things.


Where the enemies are
Where your team is
Who you're disguised as
If an enemy is dead, having a rough estimate of when he'll be back and knowing not to stay close to the path he'll take to his team (chances are you'll be disguised as him and people don't like seeing themselves in TF2.)

Also, really the Cloak and Dagger is the best watch for competitive TF2 it gives you a ton of advantages over the other watches and there aren't as many tell-tale spy signs disappearing ammo and weapons or seeing a scout die from one six damage shot.

Finally be aware that you really have one chance for success, whether you succeed or not the enemy will be looking for a spy from then on.

Spy capping last on blands works pretty well, you can usually get it half capped if somebody isn't sitting on it, which will make the team drop down to the point.

C&D is good for getting a pick on a last-point standstill--you see that a lot in matches. What you don't see a lot of matches is people getting a lot of spy utility outside of final-point standstills, and that's largely because they aren't very good with DR, a weapon that provides tons of utility if you know how to use it (see a DL demo if you can find one). Some things to do with DR:
- Practice disguise approaches. Have team mates shoot at you while backpedaling into enemy areas. If you go as scout and strafe a lot it's pretty believable, and if it doesn't work, then you're alive anyways. This is probably the most important skill to develop with DR. You need to get a good feel for enemy movement so you don't accidentally run into them, and you need to find the right timing so that enemies are too busy to check you but are also not so active as to randomly hit you with something. Once you get in like that, you can usually go for a pick or two. Then, once they start spy checking anyone who gets close to them, you still have a variety of things to do...
- Get enemies to detonate: you can end many types of standstills by tricking the enemy demo to detonate. While you're doing this, you should also be trying to eat any rockets you can so your team can get out faster.
- Harass: if your disguise has been compromised, you're still a great harasser. Distract a lot, go for ambassador headshots, and when encounters go down, get into enemy soldiers' and demos' faces to make them take self-splash and reduces your team's spam intake.
- Cap: Bind a key to "disguise 8 -2" (drop disguise). Make your way onto an enemy point using a regular enemy disguise, pull your DR out, hit your drop disguise key, and then when the enemy detonates his stickies on you and actives your DR, immediately decloak. Great way to get a back cap even with an attentive demo, especially if he hides behind cover while he's waiting to detonate.

C&D: For the final-point standstill, C&D has a lot of obvious benefits. Just being able to wait until enemies aren't looking to decloak is usually benefit enough. In addition, you can use the C&D to keep tabs on the enemy's activities and keep your team updated when they make class changes, move around, or place traps. Be sure to make full use of that.

IW: IW is the best if you need a fast kill with a solid chance at succeeding. DR is usually less reliable for kills (though way more reliable for harass and survivability) and C&D can make you spend a long time waiting. You're more likely to die quickly than DR and you're less likely to get a timing advantage than with CnD, but sometimes you just can't wait and you really need an old-fashioned stealth->stab.

In short, for final points, CnD should be your default watch. For non-final point, DR should be your default. For a very urgent pick, IW should be your default.

For pyro's, you should hopefully have DR. When a pyro's nearby, it's extremely important to not have your DR held out. When he light you on fire, you should be prepared to get to high ground asap and either get a stairstab (if he's bad or around a corner) or jump off the edge and activate DR mid-air. This'll clear the fire off you and your downward momentum will let you briefly escape his flamethrower, giving you a chance to escape. I'd also consider practicing ambassador and killing the pyro from afar as much as you can.