This Secret Command INSTANTLY Improves Your Spy (not cl_interp)

Hello! This tutorial is more for people who are newer to spy or don't play him as often. I think that it's important to get more people into spy and hopefully this tutorial will squash any doubts or worries that newer spies may be facing. If you're a newer spy or a spy who hasn't played for a while, this might be for you! We'll touch on how good players get so consistent with their stabs and how you can learn how to understand backstab timings and when you should go for a click (even if your knife is not raised).
Yttrium's Competitive View-model Mod:
www.teamfortress.tv/34834
How to Install:
• Yttrium's Competitive ...
Music:
St. Thomas
My Favorite Things

[@EzraTF2]

Disclaimer: sv_promode 1 does not actually work, sadly...

[@saulgoodman3d306]

So you made a whole video about a useless thing

[@MushroomMan64]

nooo :(

[@fieds-]

you need sv_cheats 1 for it

[@circuit6896]

Quick question, how would this work in casual servers because mods are disabled on them

[@circuit6896]

never mind, it works and is helping a lot already, thanks for this

[@joeseph6846]

id say that the more experience you have on spy, the more focused you are on *the enemies* than you are on yourself. If you focus more on what the enemy is doing, your movement intuition develops properly and your overall movement as spy becomes way better

[@VsAngeel]

Agreed!

[@jonathanjoestar_real]

Man I'm gonna try spy again. It's all a mental game

[@ItsChevnotJeff]

Good life lesson too "Focus more on the problem to better yourself"

[@SteamHorse]

Exactly, play spy needs predict the moves of the enemys

[@rowmacnezumi8953]

I noticed I was doing slightly better with the Prinny machete than with other knives. I think I'll practice with it more, cause I like seeing what weapon Im holding, and the Prinny Machete has no knife raise animation. Thanks! This is likely to help!

[@EzraTF2]

I didn't even think about the Prinny Machete! I don't even own one though so it would've been pretty difficult for me to record footage with it haha

[@anteD.]

theres no crit knife animation downloads

[@bowlerman8896]

For those rich enough, the Golden pan does the same

[@Thetoucanman918]

I guess that applies to the sharp dresser

[@rowmacnezumi8953]

@@Thetoucanman918 actually, no. It has a knife raise animation too. The only knives that don't are the Prinny Machete, the Golden Pan, and the Saxxy.

[@manbehindthedesk43]

its actually very suprising that, after watching this I notice that i use my viewmodle to tell if i can stab or not and thats why ive been failing, this was really helpful, thanks :]

[@cokespy]

5:16 May god bless you eternally for talking shit about Starykrow's trickstab tutorial.

[@kommu6114]

I remember watching Swipez not use his viewmodel in VSH, and I really couldn't get my mind around why he did that. Now with this explanation, everything seems more clear. Spy is all about intuition, mindgames and practice, and every day that passes I kind of respect more and more the Spies who manage to ruin my day as the *arguably* weakest class of the game. I should try this when MGE'ing with my friends, or playing Spy on a random pub.

[@AvoAu]

Great video! Really well edited and such a good tip! I remember Mr paladin mentioning this in one of his videos years and years ago when I first started playing but you're right it's way too unknown and not talked about for newer spys!

[@agentbloon]

I'm pretty sure it was about using the prinny machete, learned it the same way you did

[@NoSkill_fr]

I figured that out by watching spy psychology

[@the_hiroman]

I remember one time there was a mod to remove the backstab animation, and only keep the normal melee attack movement. It helped A LOT, too bad it no longer works since the Tough Break update.

[@Mf_CHIP]

I think it still works

[@epicman1232]

Tough Break, man.

[@the_hiroman]

@@Mf_CHIP I used it before, but since Tough Break it was patched. If you know of a mod that still works, let me know pls!

[@the_hiroman]

@@epicman1232 Indeed ;_;

[@Mf_CHIP]

@@the_hiroman there is on gamebanan mod called "No-Crits Backstabs Animation 2017 Update" this is version created by IrishSpy who basiclly just updated original mod from Markineer to work on modern tf2

[@Iteration456-8_codename_goblin]

So it’s like weight training with a tungsten cube By using this command the world becomes a fluffy pillow compared to your tungsten trained body And you can get a feel for stabs easier

[@ghoulbuster1]

Friendly reminder to set your cl_interp to "0" and cl_interp_ratio to "2" Anything else will make you miss your shots or become way too delayed.

[@the_hiroman]

cl_interp is a part of the whole story. The final lerp depends on cl_interp, cl_interp_ratio and cl_updaterage. Formula for lerp is min( max( cl_interp, cl_interp_ratio / cl_updaterate ), 0.25f ). I recommend keeping cl_cmdrate as 67, cl_updaterate 67, and changing cl_interp and cl_interp_ratio until getting the lerp you want. Then adjust the formula to always get that lerp. You can get cl_interp_ratio 2, but if your cl_interp is a certain number, no matter what cl_interp_ratio, you will get the same lerp regardless.

[@Suspicious-Carl]

@@purplesky135 is there a mastercomfig that does that but doesnt touch graphics, i dont wanna play on n64 mode y'know

[@lagthical9867]

@@Suspicious-Carl use the ultra one. Its essentially default tf2

[@Suspicious-Carl]

@@lagthical9867 aight

[@ratfarmer1]

@@the_hiroman i like your funny words magic man

[@Superwaffle-ez9ct]

very cool and informative video! spy recently became my most played class after hardcore maining him for close to a month, and this video gave a lot of insight into the psychology of plsying spy and how to improve.

[@yeezzzzzz]

Ezra, You are now officially my favorite youtube. This actually so useful!

[@boredom9804]

I'm pretty new to the game (only have about 1 hour of spy gameplay), and I've only had two successful backstabs, this was actually very good advice, and a nice entertaining video, thanks bro!

[@swampfire_edits8976]

How are you doing? I'm also a new player, i only have 50 hours of playtime (combining all the classes, and i Main both Scout and spy).

[@Mr.Galaxia]

@@swampfire_edits8976me too! I have like 3 hours on spy, I’ll try that advice

[@bogdankosov2293]

I find this video really cool but I've noticed that personally I don't even look at the knife raise animation though I only have 70ish hours of spy. However, I do remember that time when I used to rely on this animation and it was so hard I just decided to start predicting when I can stab and when I can't. Thanks again for this tutorial

[@joeylackscreativity8801]

Bro had perfect timing, I was getting back into tf2 and circle strafing

[@qwertix4003]

ngl this is one of the best advices I've ever listened to, hadn't realized how much attention I was paying for my weapons literally on every class, thank you for the video

[@justsara1238]

Yea I took a pretty long break from TF2 and noticed my stabs just werent connecting like they were before, ig now I know exactly what the groove I lost was lol. Awesome video!

[@soju5438]

I've been playing this game for 11 years and have 602 hours on spy, the vast majority of that was on completely vanilla settings. when I tried the r_drawviewmodel 0 command and messed around a bit on Uncletopia I *IMMEDIATELY* understood what Ezra was talking about. I will install this mod and will report back later if it helps me or not. EDIT: I'm having trouble getting Yttrium's Competitive View-model Mod to work so I'm just using the Prinny Machete since that doesn't have the unhelpful animation all the other knives do. It's legitimately forcing me to learn when exactly I'm able to backstab an enemy. When I'm using a knife other than stock I use *bind MOUSE4 "toggle r_drawviewmodel 1 0"* so I can quickly turn off viewmodels while swapping to my kunai, big earner or eternal reward. tysm for the video Ezra!

[@thatcampingmann9543]

You can also set a bind I think too in your class config that activates it when you pull out your knife

[@SPECREY]

delete mastercomfing

[@ihatehandlestheyareannoying]

You could also use the prinny machete. The prinny machete or comically large knife has no "ready to backstab" animation. Nor does it have any special backstab attack animation. You'll look goofy, but at least you don't have to remove your viewmodels.

[@deejaydaniel4154]

Great video glad ur back! It really does improve your intuition and imo pretty fun to experiment with. I think there are mods that disable the knife raise animation.

[@m1-]

this is legitimately a good tutorial, thank you very much good sir!

[@Gabriel_-_-_]

TYSM before watching this video my most kills with spy were 3, I constantly butterknife my enemies or miss and I quitted spy, and after watching and doing the comand I played some matches and damn I got way better, now my record is 10 and I got 1 butterknife, it may not seem like much but for me is a really big improvement

[@nategraham1487]

I kinda went through this but j through a phase I’m lowkey still in called “playing like a dumbass” aka going for trick stabs all the time even when it’s not a good idea. This helped me understand that timing element and focus on my opponents movement instead of my own. I think a perfect spy is a mix of a dumbass with cracked movement and a strategist who thinks out their approach a lot.

[@casualfluufy_nes7471]

Definitely gonna consider this, though, there's nothing more satisfying to me than watching the knife animation raise all the way before jabbing it into someone's back, I can't always get the opportunity to do that and have to stab early, but it just feels right when I can.

[@minion4724]

I think the spy at 3:39 should be cut some slack as the problem is not related to reaction time or reliance on the knife raise animation, but instead is an example of attempting to backstab bad players who should not be moving the way they are. GREAT VIDEO!!!!!

[@ramennoodles1928]

ngl did this for 30 minutes and I noticed i8 was way more confident in backstabs and wasn't relying on the view models anymore definitely gonna practice this

[@user-nw5jd3wj6c]

Thank you very much! The first kill I got with the command was a heavy trickstab. 👍

[@MissMavius]

I've never known this spy tip, this is mind blowing.

[@mcprice3640]

Man managed to make 10 minute video out of 10 words

[@EzraTF2]

Basically sums up all my school essays.

[@mcprice3640]

@@EzraTF2 teach me the mastery

[@Wolf-kx8li]

i have noticed this but never truly put it to the test, common enough i require more training as heavy and scout as my positioning and movement are "below average" to say the least, i'll often make mistakes that i look back on and think "why did i do that?" but in the moment i found i've simply gotten worse as i've learned more about tf2, and yes i lost a whole mouse due to me freaking out in a game i'm not immune to losing my shit because 2 years ago i was landing shots i somehow don't by today, the biggest tutorial here is spy along with other classes require so much practice that often times you'll get worse by trying to make changes by switching classes or weapons, its far easier if you try to go as stock as possible with any class that makes sense like scout or sniper, and use a comfortable loadout like heavy when you want, and stick through that class the whole game, unless you're the 3rd spy on the team then please switch off, but if you're watching this video and took the time to read this thank you, i ramble a lot lol in short tf2 technically starts off mildly easy and somehow gets harder the more skilled you get, so do your best to train through the difficulty you encounter, unless you're trying to 1v1 sniper as heavy in any open area thats just a death sentence lol

[@wen1985]

diagnosis: skill issue (joking btw)

[@ungezoockt]

which is funny to me cuz i cant stick to one class for god sake. my first to fourth most played class are ALL about 12 hours. lol Its just common to me to switch classes like 3/4 times a game. Is that a bad habit?

[@5JSX5]

omg this is actually genius, such a great tip!

[@dodger3294]

Solid advice. Thank you

[@patrickbrawlhallabyrne3332]

its crazy how much this has helped me

[@Geomasterinagame]

"You've probably heard of this command, and likely used it before" I don't think so in my 53 minutes of spy gameplay

[@sack_dmx2308]

OKMG EZRA TY I LOVE YOU I HAVE SOME EXPERIENSE ON SPY AND I DIED A LOT TBH BUT NOW LIKE WITH THAT SETTING ONLY I CAN NOW TRICKSTABS DOMINATIONS LIKE IT FEELS LIKE I JUST TURNED ON AUTOBACKSTAB OR SOMETHING OMG TY SOO MUCH I LOVE YOU ❤❤❤❤💘💘💘💘💘

[@MOOtf2]

Ngl best quality spy tutorials available today from my man Ezra, this is a very key idea that we often forget to point out when talking with newer spies for how to improve their prediction or game sense for stabs. But hold on, the Strafe stab series is unlisted? Why tho 8(

[@EzraTF2]

Wanna play mvm 8) My editing has gotten better since 2019, I'm working on it 8(

[@Thenormalguy101]

@@EzraTF2 what softwares u use for editing

[@EzraTF2]

@@Thenormalguy101 Premiere pro

[@gulfgiggleanimations4472]

I didn’t realize how people could get extremely tied up on the knife raise animation. I intuited that backstabs could be done before the animation from basically the first time I ever saw a video of spy gameplay, especially because of visual bug that caused backstabs to look like butterknives if you timed it before the animation started, like you see in Lazypurple’s how it feels to play spy.

[@demoman5864]

This seems useful, I will try this. Nice video.

[@ItsChevnotJeff]

After watching a similar video, I think I can see that a facestab is usually when the oponent's area behind their left ear is visible, which is when the backstab region is applicable. Hopefully tf2's hit reg also isn't broken from the recent update.

[@jelst]

I figured this out verry early since i got the prinny machette, it completely removes that animation, i really recomend to train with it.

[@demoncushion9600]

I genuinely thought the knife had to be raised.... this helps way more than you think.

[@bedoguyperson]

Could you make a video on flanking as spy? Such as when to flank and when not to, how to asses it ingame, ect. Briefly cover flank routes in a general sense, if you want. Cool stuff! Also this is really helpful, thanks!

[@EzraTF2]

Uhhhh my play style for spy is a bit different. I usually just run straight at the enemies' faces and strafe stab them :p

[@Bruh-ls5vn]

That purely comes from playing the game, knowing maps, knowing ur own ability on who to fight, assess the enemy class where u r going (r they looking out for a spy? R they gonna shit on u if u mess up?) knowing ur load out, And with flanking, that’s why the spy has invis and disguise, ur meant to do it in normal play, but if ur watching Ezra ur tryna learn how to Trickstab and pop off as spy (which is rly fun but hard)

[@BloodDawg]

I'm glad big man erza is making videos again. Keep it up

[@blackbull9157]

a new video 😭😭😭 love this channel

[@marshallmello9116]

You sir, have earned my like.

[@matt_autism]

dude ... it makes so much sence now about the animation ...

[@puzzlepuddles6712]

great command yet, for some reason in the case of aiming pipes as demo, seeing where my gun points at helps me hit pipes more consistently. it's this weird placebo effect. your video is great but i personally opt to use minmode along with really low viewmodel fov as to still be able to see your weapon in dire situations

[@comprehensivecomparison]

the thing that gets me as spy is sometimes i swear to god im literally right behind someone’s back sniffing the back of their neck literally enhaling their gamer fumes getting the sweat coming off their forehead on my face and shit and i’ll take the stab and its a butter knife and then i have to sit there for 15 long seconds just rethinking every choice ive ever made in my life wondering why i even play spy and then watching a trickstab video where all the clips they play have them getting stabs from in front of a pyro while they’re at 1hp dying to the flamethrower and then run around and manage to stab 3 heavies in the shoulder do laps around a scout until they run out of mouse space and get a stab within the milisecond me just having to watch their immaculate hitreg and then cry myself to sleep like i’ll be the first to admit im not a very good spy, i can get a nice little trickstab every now and then if the engineer with 2 hours chases me halfway across the map with his wrench after i sap his dispenser or maybe even a cool corner stab if i prayed to gaben hard enough the night before but like i just dont understand how mfs get like -200 ping like 0 latency and hard wired into the U.S. government’s server system i mean maybe my computer just isnt quite up to par and neither is my wifi or my actual skill level but i swear to god sometimes it just feels like my spy drops his knife on the floor and then taps the person i tried to stab on the shoulder instead with the way my shit be hitting but all jokes aside how the fuck do i fix that like should i be on ethernet or like should i not be on shitty community servers or what bc i get like 30 ping which feels pretty damn good when im using my gun but as soon as i pull out my knife i get hit sounds with no actual stab or sometimes damage at all

[@Inviseop]

I almost instantly got a 3 backstab chain when I did this👍, very good

[@MatthewWright001]

Outstanding video!!

[@browniegp9762]

works for trolldier as well, more inconsistent as soldier melees have a delay but spy knives dont.

[@juanjosilva9548]

You have just revealed the secret of the spy mains

[@piclebob]

This is a great video but it's very dragged out. And also I don't think this the knife raising tip is as uncommon as you portray it, but it still a very cool video and I'll try this command

[@CrimKing161]

You can also use the prinny machete because it has no knife raise animation. Or, if you're rich, use the golden frying pan.

[@blocky_luke]

I would say suddenly gaining kunai weeb spy loadout is less of a gain and more of a side effect of not seeing sunlight in 5 months

[@Suomipe]

i use viewmodel fov 100 since i often swing too early before im close so that viewmodel is like a stab range indicator and i already stopped waiting for the animation since some dude in casual said that it doesnt matter if the animation is up or not then afte that i just started to stab when it felt like it hits but stilli get moments that it should have satbbed and theres even the crit electric sound but its still a no damage butterknife

[@EzraTF2]

I do miss stabs on occasion as well, but in 2-3 months worth of recording all my games non stop, I've only missed 6 stabs. Just enough to make the intro to the video. Missing a few stabs will probably be inevitable because of how messed up the code is in this game or networking. Also, sometimes you just miss time your click. I always have a small repertoire of recovery stabs on me that I use in case of situations like that where not getting the stab may be out of my control.

[@The_Weakest_Brazilian_Male]

@@EzraTF2 is it bad that I use VM_FOV is 140? And I have a bad computer it uses 15dd Graphics and 8GBs of ram with some delay because wireless mouse, so I can’t tell when it’s available because of all those disadvantages

[@The_Weakest_Brazilian_Male]

@@EzraTF2 I just need tips

[@EzraTF2]

@@The_Weakest_Brazilian_Male I'd see what I could do to reduce imput lag because that's going to ruin your muscle memory and timing. As for your viewmodel, you don't have to worry about that. You can set it to whatever works for you. It's the same as mouse sensitivity. It can be slow or it can be fast, all that matters for spy is that you have steady mouse movements. Your view model fov can be high or low, whatever you like better as long as you aren't leaning on it too hard to get stabs.

[@indigomer]

Another good option, at least I’d assume, would be cl_first_person_uses_world_model 1. It would make knowing when you’re cloaked easier, while also not showing any knife raise animation. This doesn’t work for dead ringer unfortunately.

[@wartank9941]

Thank you for the tip, I cannot for the life of spy get stabs right, yes trickstabs but only the basics

[@drinkingboron]

Holy shit holy fucking shit new Ezra upload

[@adhambassyouni789]

I love you ezra your the reason im good at this game

[@HYPERWEALTH8]

a few months ago i watch this video and i got gud at tf2 know i totally forgot how to play tf2 and now i have to watch it again.

[@no-yf9bz]

I like how all of the spy videos include disguising as the scout, what the disguise kit was made for ofcourse.

[@Pyrothepyro1]

i never had this problem around 50 hors on spy, for a good like 5 hours i did not even realize that animation was a thing and i still some times forget its there

[@Ap-cr6pf]

my problem is sometimes I'm running literally behind the enemy's back and the game just butterknifies their back instead of doing a backstab for whatever reason, even if they never turn around too!

[@coldbread5568]

Underated, Simply Underated...

[@Hevyqx]

Thanks this helped a lot

[@ME0WMERE]

I'm fairly new to spy but I didn't even realise that some people wait for the animation. I just try to judge when to stab based off positioning. That's not to say I'm good at it though (far from it in fact).

[@CallofFreaky]

I’m a decent spy and I never look at my knife consciously. I always just look at where my target and people around them are moving so I can strafe up to them and not look at them directly, because dead giveaway is always that one weird looking teammate running up the ass of his teammate for no good reason

[@NulKenos]

damnit ezra i was going to make a vid like this but this might be better than my version

[@user-ms8km7fr8u]

Unfortunately i want to main spy, but the fact i keep dying make me feel like i have to just abandon it and just try to main something, but there a part of me that say that i have to keep it up, it will take time but one day i'll be a good spy, i just need to train even if it take time ! :')

[@Thatboy16]

You shouldnt give up I have only 173 hours on spy and i have been practising how to properly play as him, Im now focusing a bit on circle strafe stabs but some ones i have been doing such as stair stab, corner stab or a matador was only to save myself from dying. Of course at the first hours its hard to get much stabs but the more practise, the more you get better. Also Im not saying you shouldnt focus on trickstabs, ofc you should practise them even though much players wont fall for it but if we think you will be able to trickstab players who only have been playing game for 1 or 2 years. Also dont forget to know good cloak spot locations around the map and learn how to properly act as the enemy

[@Thatboy16]

So here is what i wanted to say if you didnt understand 1- you start practising the fundamentals and basics of spy 2-nd you try to learn how to trickstab but still playing normally 3-rd you keep griding and trying to get better like im trying to do

[@blacklight683]

Ty, and this will probably make me suffer but hay I do actually want to get better at the funny class called spy. But do you have any idea how do u stop fail stabs? Cuz I can be clipping through someone's back and it would still not count as backstab and it happens a lot per game like 5-15times a game which is ridiculously high it seems to get better when I change my intrep but that only lasts for 1game Also what I mean by fail stabs the stabs that fail because of the ping/server

[@AronKovacs-ch1jm]

I do it whit the ambassador it helps me in that I'm kinda experienced whit spy I have around 200-250 hours not a lot but great video

[@dawidgroch9046]

I've played a game just now and i was doing alright but suddenly every time I tried to go for a play (Like get the med) and I would just butterknife the air and I'd hear the sound of a knife but not even a hitsound. I died like that 5 times in a row

[@LazyRare]

super cool transition at 3:36

[@youtuberjestforfun9074]

my playstyle is more sneaking around the map trying not to get spotted while also trying to get kills, which is very impossible but at least I try

[@comet3429]

6:11 about to try this out thx!

[@averagetraceronadderall]

oh. my. god. dude. we get it you click as soon as you can. you have said that 3 times within 4 minutes

[@MBP1918]

Use the force Luke

[@themountainmedic7997]

THANK YOU!!

[@notedgy0u0]

Thank you for the tip…. But I still can’t play spy because every backstab has a 50/50 chance of not working. Good video tho.

[@kyo666oyk]

Sounds helpful and all, but I choose the ability to see spamming the inspect animation of the Kunai.

[@blacklight683]

Him:(not cl_interp) Me:impossible

[@jaredthecastro]

I wonder if there's a mod that just replaces the stab animation with the idle animation so there is no raised knife animation

[@happyraintf]

I felt clickbaited and I loved it!

[@REMAG_NORI]

As an Engineer main this video scares me

[@xaverrab]

oh my freaking god. i didnt know that you'd magically gain cosmetics and a few unususals 3 days after

[@redstone1880]

bro i played for like 2 seconds and immediately saw improvement

[@e_3105]

so basically you are just trying to say "git gud nub"

[@InteligencjaMaciusia]

there was an ad right before you showed it

[@vaporishbell957]

Because really good spy players play the game a lot that they know the exact angle to get a face stab

[@greensharktwod]

0:10 the fact that both health packs were taken

[@TF2Starlight]

damn, i never realized that ppl actually look at the animation XD

[@user-pi4cr1fh9j]

Instructions unclear, I used custom animations for spy

[@nxm08]

goated tutorial

[@CWITS-tc8hs]

THX for the info

[@user-nj7hm4xn6l]

i realized that this advise can be implemented on other talends with visual cues, i was struggling playing cuitar whille looking at my cords and notebοοκ simultaneously, once i starded memorizing the songs and/or let my eyes of the guitar i really got the hand of things

[@everetlastly1173]

When the pro actually describes how to perform a skill to noobs instead of just saying "do better"

[@kerzid]

weird seeing this video after having to learn this on my own. seriously tho why does no one talk about this mechanic

[@omegabyte3541]

Use the priny machete to remove the knife raise

[@blar2112]

The only thing i get from this video is that backstabs should be reverted to 160º