SpyTalk - Art of the Backstab

Thank you for watching. The production of this video has been an enormous part of my life for many months now, so I'm happy to finally show you all what I can do. Please consider supporting my output of these videos through my Patreon - www.patreon.com/hintshot. Any bit of support helps, truly. Otherwise, I have a Discord server where you can come talk about anything you like with me, and other supporters of the channel - discord.gg/Z3PUnw8. We have a lovely community and I would love for anyone who's even remotely interested in what I do to come get involved. I will be releasing the soundtrack to this video (made by me) in about a week's time, with an extras video following some time after that, going over anything I missed or any mistakes I might have let slip. Please feel free to comment what you would like to see in the extras video below. I will also probably be doing a milestone Q&A at some point, so look forward to that. Until then, I'll see you when I see you. Cheerio. -H

As a heavy main, it’s always a weird mix of nice and horrifying to see a video about spy be so well put together. Guess that’s why I run tomislav, so much easier to hear the sneaky Frenchman without all that rattling.

Great video! :)

My biggest problem with spy: My brain shuts down as soon as I see enemy's backs in close proximity, making me walk forward more than a phlog pyro

As an experienced Heavy main, I can confirm we get backstabbed so often we end up subconsciously learning how to think like both spy and sniper. We get hit with sudden, overwhelming premonitions when we're about to be stabbed or shot just by reading the game. People like to say Heavy has a low skill-ceiling, but he MORE then makes up for it with his ridiculously high game-sense ceiling.

I'm a spy main, 3.5 mins into the video and I already am so happy someone FINALLY addresses the absolute most FRUSTRATING parts of spy. Most non spy players think its just pyros, but they don't understand the absolute crushing pain of seeing an opportunity for a massive chainstab and then having your backstab become a failstab as the entire enemy team turns around to kill you.

There's another reason it's called a butterknife to hit someone like that: Spy's knife is called a ButterFLY knife, take away the fly and it's just a butterknife. It's almost like a play on words, though I doubt it was intended to be whenever the terminology was invented.

"Remeber success isn't guaranteed, and failure isn't inherently bad. You learn more from failing than you do from succeeding, the difference being dopamine." is a fuckin banger of a quote my man

When it comes to juking, basically if you can avoid a medic soldier duo while trapped in a single room without dying your good to go. sorry i did this once and i still get a rush thinking about it

13:29 just want to say that since melee hits and all detection for backstabs use the collision hull or x,z position, the collision hull is the same for all classes, so if you have a static heavy and a static scout, they will be just as easy to backstab.

That's some genuine effort for a video.

We've been waiting for this, let's hope it gets the recognition it deserves.

Solid video essay friend. The TF2 community is really dissecting the spy of late.

If you can use height advantages and get one shots with a melee weapon.. does that mean spy is a jedi?

I love your content. Even the contract conquests are a treat. This is wonderful. Insanely good job.

"Vaguely visible visage" was such a smooth line read, great script

I got two minutes in, and i thought “wow, what much is there to talk about?” But the video just kept going, and kept mentioning things i wouldnt have even thought of. Great video man, i can see you put alot of effort into this, and i hope it does as well as it deserves to do (which is very well!) Also i use that same editing software on a (probably) worse pc, and editing can be a pain. Worth it though.

Spy tip:You can muffle your decloak with loud enemy shooting( like waiting for a sniper to shoot before decloak)

Such good editing, such good joke timing, such good visuals, such good explanation, such good… everything! This is probably one of the highest quality TF2 videos on YouTube, very cool stuff!

I would really like a spy talk on how to deal with spy checking and how to avoid getting checked