Escaping Mediocrity as a Spy Player: tf2 Guide

I've finally made the requested guide for spy players, but I've done it my way. Instead of telling you information that's in every single guide, I have come up with a a list of things that you may want to learn that could elevate your skill beyond what it is now.
00:00 Intro
00:42 Struggles of practicing spy
01:43 Recording your gameplay and analyzing your mistakes
02:33 Categories of spy mistakes:
02:43 Stupid habits
02:53 Needless weapon swapping
03:55 Not dropping your disguises
04:48 Getting around the map - lazy routing
05:20 Getting around the map - advantageous positioning
06:00 Being THAT guy
06:57 Using wrong weapons
07:26 Dead ringer rant
08:19 Lack of fundamentals
08:36 Practicing basic motions
08:58 Practicing in more/less controlled environments
09:59 Lack of understanding the class
10:12 Two extremes of learning the class and why they are more similar than you may think
11:21 Finding your way of learning
11:52 Spies don'ts
12:30 Telegraphing stabs and being predictable
13:21 Advanced Movement/Niche knowledge
Learning maps
13:48 Spots that don't require invisibility
14:37 Map props for trickstabs
14:47 Props that you won't be noticed climbing
15:08 Props around corners
15:24 Props around common trickstab places
15:43 BONUS Tricks
15:56 Pixelwalks
16:06 Longjumps
16:37 Pixelclimbs
17:03 Rocket jumping for spy
17:20 Wallbugs
17:30 Surfing and rampslides
17:40 Bunnyhops
17:54 C-taps
18:50 Spy binds and scripts
19:35 Outro
20:00 Credits
Contents mentioned in the video:
‪@Jontohil2‬
/ @jontohil2
‪@sarijus3310‬
Hehe, it's me promoting my own video at 13:39
‪@sketchek‬
Video about pixelwalks:
• [TF2] How to PIXELWALK...
‪@lieuty‬
Longjump Spots:
• Longjumps and Parkour ...
"+strafe" explained and how to use it for pixelwalks:
• [TF2] New Pixel Walk M...
‪@berniespy‬
C-tap stabs explained:
• TF2 Ctap Stab Tutorial
‪@-soap‬
C-tap stab bind using minijumps:
• minijump instant ctap ...
I already have a few more projects cooking up as you are reading this so you can be looking to seeing more things from me in the future. Thank you for watching!

[@Thundermonk99]

Mediocrity can mean a lot of different things depending on how you define it. Is mediocrity just whatever skill range you currently occupy? Or is it a specific skill range? If you are talking about what holds an average pubstomping spy back from truly elite play, then perhaps this video holds true. From what I've seen, many people seem to equate "spy skill" with "flashy trickstabs and chainstabs". There's nothing wrong with practicing trickstabs, or the various subskills like prop knowledge, but in my experience a lack of trickstabbing skill is not a top-5 factor limiting a mediocre spy's development. I would also argue that many of the deficiences listed in this video (while real) are also not the main factors holding spies back. Instead, they are held back by bad decision-making, poor prioritization, and lacking core competencies (clock/decloak timing, positioning, stabbing mechanics, etc). People overemphasize practicing the skills required to make fancy chainstabs, while completely neglecting the rest of the class competencies. It's like an athlete who spends 80% of their practice time on fancy moves that are always never the optimal decision in game scenarios.

[@sarijus3310]

It is a very fair point, one which I might have thought being too obvious and not needing to mention, but I'll do it anyhow. First of all, mediocrity is as simple as having low or not much above average skill, which in terms of playing spy applies to practically everyone at a certain time. As emphasized at the start, this was definitely not a guide for beginner players, and I, for better or for worse, imagine the qualities you've mentioned to be rather basic. That's why, I recommend people to learn strong basics, since you won't benefit as much from going straight for the ideas which I've mentioned in the video, compared to if you were to do it when already being decent at spy. In the end, I believe different people benefit from learning things at their own pace. If anyone were to try using this as the base for learning spy, it would definitely do them no good, with which we agree, but there is definitely a certain group of people that may be just looking for new things to learn (in my case, I am doing it to keep the game feel fresh), rather than throwing themselves into casual queue over and over again in hopes to get better at a game that rarely changes. Thank you for the feedback, next time I'll try being a tad bit more clear when talking about such broad topics!!

[@Thundermonk99]

@@sarijus3310 Apologies if the above came across as very critical. I've enjoyed every one of your videos to-date, so thank you for the effort you've clearly put into each of them. The tips you've included in this video will definitely help many spies out, and I've found several helpful pieces of info across your videos already! The reason I said "limiting factor" is that I think there are factors that are more impactful in "escaping mediocrity" (if mediocrity is defined as sitting somewhere between 25-85 percentile of skill level). Even if skills like decloak timing are "basic", there's a massive difference between the 50th percentile and 95 percentile spy in that area that seems to get taken for granted and isn't discussed. Thanks again for your videos!

[@lieuty]

As a spy every stab works on every player of any skill, you just need to bait them well. This is how you practice your stabs as a beginner, you utilise good baiting

[@realtesto]

Like klown said back in days no matter what you can always out smart enemy

[@crashspy]

late comment but this was a genuinely good guide to playing spy. most newer spy players are too caught up in trying to look good rather than practicing their fundamentals. trying to emulate good spies as a beginner is like trying to write a novel when you don't even know how to read. you gotta learn the essentials and then you get to the fun part of the class, which in my opinion is simply pushing the boundaries of what you can and cannot do. also big emphasis on developing your own style of play and doing it in your own way, that's probably the best way someone can improve

[@nicholaspreston9586]

Quick thing I'd add, and 0:18 is a good example of this: Yes, Spy has a gun and you can chaninstab 3+ players, but consider that for every stab you perform, the enemy team's awareness and retaliation potential goes up another exponent for each stab... So 1) learn to stab out of natural reflex, so that 2) you can always be planning your escape and you'll hardly ever die. Well, not to anything other than crits, anyways....

[@TACOS-THE-NOOB-LORD]

20:20 Ey thats me, great work dude glad to see the sfm's used well

[@moli2454]

excellent tutorial, I love this constructive view on spy gameplay and improvement, definitely gonna come back to this after failing a shit ton of stabs

[@dynamic_225]

thank you!!! the line about intuition being an application of gained knowledge through experience and theory being crafted from analyzing that experience is something I have been asking people to keep in mind for years, definitely its been a pet peeve of mine when people say they are "purely intuitional" knowledge informs your intuition you either learn it from others or your own trial and error

[@moony_otter]

awesome video though, i would recommend bumping up your audio gain on your mic or in your editing software, at 100 volume and max on KZbin's player, it's still really quiet lol that's just a nitpick and is just something to improve on, though! everything else here was really good, loved it all! just thought i could give a thought :) keep it up!

[@sarijus3310]

Thanks for the tip! Been trying to make it better in my fresher uploaods :))

[@80svercetti74]

Puikus video seni. Love watching these kind of videos, as a learner this one really helps, thanks.

[@ninn5534]

Good job! I can see that you put a lot of effort into it

[@jacobbasquez8870]

One of the best spy guides I've seen. Great video.

[@realtesto]

Good video man i agree even tho i am not spy main i can see this video is helpful and you explain it well

[@Typical_Asian0]

Very cool video i see some parkour i cant find In most video cant wait for your new videos

[@sarijus3310]

I am thinking of doing a series where I show map spots in casual games, but that's for the future. The dilemma of showing such spots is that if I make it easy for everyone to see, they are going to become far less effective, which is why I am holding it for a later time.

[@Typical_Asian0]

@@sarijus3310 Understandable dont feel pressured to do it cuz some of the spots like the pixel jump at frontier last seem very unpredictable and borneo last point, right parkour up on the barrel to the window on that ledge is very sneaky and definitely you get you a kill or more just because they would have process for a very short while how you came from above?!?!? And that sort time span might be the reason you escape or go for an EpIc TrICkstAB

[@Eleganttf2]

Well put guide 👍

[@ItsSimplyCooler]

really helpfull !

[@berniespy]

Hey nice video, you did your research

[@sarijus3310]

Thank you!

[@Lewandobski]

Brilliant guide, keep on spying brother

[@enishehu8915]

2:11 is the facestab of the decamillennium.

[@sarijus3310]

It's the Connection't tech, only spy players will understand

[@snoodles6672]

It seems my name is now John

[@charlieb2298]

A very bad habit i think i do alot is looking at someone and that one person is the only target i go for instead of another potential target i could have stabbed, i go to the very depths of the field to go after them that i even forget if im being spy checked or getting killed , and another bad habit i realized and still do is that i bhop to much, that may not sound bad but when your disguised bhoping just announce people that im a spy, i even noticed that most players dont naturaly do that especially if your disguised as a scout (a double jump class)

[@sarijus3310]

With the first I agree fully, tunnel visioning on specific targets and being less aware of it is definitely a mistake, but it's something that goes away with time, since keeping track of your surroundings takes quite a bit of effort to learn well. About the b-hops, I'd say it's unnatural when you do it in wrong places. For example, if you're just hopping randomly out in the open, it's obvious that you're a spy, but I think It'd be the case even if you were not jumping around. B-hopping is best used when using scouts disguises in places that you usually don't see spies in or as a means of getting around places where you need it, not in places where everyone can see you do that very obviously (unless you're just a bit too slow behind a medic/spy that's walking forwards and you need that to catch up, I'd say that's an exception)

[@charlieb2298]

@@sarijus3310 thanks for the tip man 👍

[@donor09]

👍👍👍

[@frost-bu6cq]

Personally I don't think you can tell whether you are mediocre or not until you try playing competitive (3rd party obviously)

[@sarijus3310]

I see your point, but I'd like to disagree. It's very fair to see that people who do well in casual games could get absolutely demolished in competitive settings, since casual players don't take the game so seriously. But since tf2's casual and competitive gamemodes are very different (6's/highlander are very different from 12v12 where nobody talks in voice chats) I'd argue that you can do good in one (casual), while not doing that well in the other (competitive), since both gamemodes require very different things from you. And since we are talking about mediocrity, the bar is set far lower than for being 'good', which would fit your argument far better.

[@ironpainting1210]

What's your undisguise bind?

[@sarijus3310]

I personally use it on 'R'.

[@suico778]

yo I've been hearing a lot about "longjump", 5k hours, 2k on spy, pretty good at bhopping in general, yet I've never heard of this and it's impossible to search up. WTF IS THIS FORBIDDEN KNOWLEDGE

[@sarijus3310]

Longjumping is a technique that comes from source spaghetti mechanics. While you're airborne, if you move your mouse in sync with your strafe keys you can strafe in a way that builds the most speed (since in this game you build speed by strafing, even for b-hops). It's easiest to see in rocket jumping speedruns, since it's usually done on a larger scale to reach platforms by building speed while falling down. It's quite hard to explain if you haven't rocket jumped much and I am no expert at it, but that's the idea of it. Also, most of the longjumps I have shown here are done as b-hops since that's what I prefer. The usual way to do longjumps is to approach the jump with "W" at an angle and then turn towards where you're going to build speed in your jump the most consistently. Hope this helps

[@Jontohil2]

Nobody is immune to trickstabs, but trickstabs won’t always work, it’s always important to know your options and what your enemy expects The only reason some people end up “immune” is because they’ve caught onto a particular spy’s habits. If they’re caught off guard by erratic/smart behaviour, they’re still susceptible

[@sarijus3310]

That's a good way to put it. I'd say learning to trickstab and learning spy are two different things. People that are caught off guard easily won't be a problem if you learn how to follow up on with your movement, but people that don't get caught off guard by your movements are best approached using map geometry and your cloaks. It's important to figure out which enemies can be countered in which way and adapt accordingly. Also, love your content. It's an awesome recourse for people who are starting their spy journey!

[@justinasloltltu6046]

Is there an easter why to get good at spy, widout just practising, is it possible just to get good by playing the dam game. Some of us have jobs you know.

[@sarijus3310]

11:21

[@justinasloltltu6046]

Okay :{

[@justinasloltltu6046]

How often do you rewatch your spy clips? Rewatching seems boring and not beneficial.

[@sarijus3310]

Only as much as I need to understand what happened right/wrong in the given clip. I only clip things that look cool or are absolute failures.

[@justinasloltltu6046]

Can you teach me to analyse my one clips?

[@sarijus3310]

eventually

[@lieuty]

​@@justinasloltltu6046with spy you want to practice your movement, in tr walkway and in pubs, go into a pub and practice getting a stab on a player and practice dodging a group of enemies. I'll be making some tutorials on this

[@ssclewss]

Rewatching is awesome ego boost, git gud then you are fun to rewatch

[@justinasloltltu6046]

19:50 Some of the players are and that's a fact that you can't disprove

[@justinasloltltu6046]

First