The Newest Ambassador
A few hours after JENING’s last post, in which JENING discussed the shortcomings of the second iteration of the Ambassador pistol, Valve released yet another patch which altered the Ambassador yet again! The third and latest version of the Ambassador:
- Delivers full critical hits of about 100 points of damage for each headshot (seemingly without any distance dropoff)
- Remains 15% weaker than the Revolver as to bodyshots
- Remains very inaccurate for a period of time after the first shot is fired
- Still cannot damage buildings (although many have reported that the bullets effectively go through buildings, so that it is possible to snipe out a hiding engineer)
- Will not deliver critical hits for non-headshots, even if kritzkrieged
After testing the new Ambassador for about three or four hours last night (including a few games with JENING’s good friend, and famed TF2 spy, OMFGNinja), JENING concludes that this Ambassador deserves our praise and appreciation! The crit headshots are very powerful and can give a spy a very decisive edge over his enemies if his aim is true! Three headshots will take down a solo heavy from the front — very useful if your backstab happens to slip.
At the same time, headshots are very difficult to get: not only does the gun have no scope (nor should it), but the accuracy dropoff after the first shot is so severe that even point blank shots to an enemy’s head after that first shot will often not register a headshot. Further, the 15% damage reduction to bodyshot damage is very noticeable, and protracted duels against enemies that would have gone your way with the Revolver may often end with a different result when using the Ambassador.
JENING believes that the damage reduction, coupled with the difficulty of getting headshots, fairly balances out the crit headshot feature of the Ambassador. Spies now have two very viable choices: the consistent damage output of the Revolver, or the high risk/high reward gamble of the Ambassador! Neither gun is strictly superior to the other, and JENING believes that both guns can be used to great effect!
The Dead Ringer
JENING finally unlocked the Dead Ringer last night, and was able to experiment with it for a couple of hours. For those unacquainted with the Dead Ringer, JENING understands it to work as follows, based on the several hours JENING was able to use it:
- Your cloak meter must be at full to engage it, which will be visually represented by you flipping out a pocketwatch in your left hand, while holding your weapon in your right
- While engaged, you remain perfectly visible to all enemies and friends alike, but you cannot use your weapon
- If you decide to unengage it before it activates, you can do so immediately (unlike the decloaking wait time on the Invisibility Watch), and then initiate an attack. Assuming your cloak meter is full, you can reengage it right away
- When you are hit by enemy fire while engage, you will drop immediately into cloak while a fake corpse of yours is thrown to the ground. The damage you take from the hit that dropped you into cloak will most often be negligible at best, no matter what you were hit with. The practical effect is that you are essentially invulnerable to that first hit
- Your cloak lasts eight seconds and does not shimmer. You may deactivate it before eight seconds, but no matter when you deactivate it, your cloak meter will be depleted to empty (this was the effect of yesterday’s patch)
- When you decloak, a loud electrical sound (some have compared it to the Tesla Coil from Command & Conquer: Red Alert) will alert all nearby persons to your presence.
JENING found the Dead Ringer to be far more effective than JENING ever imagined. The Dead Ringer shines brightest as an escape weapon. Simply engage it when you’re low on health and an enemy shot that would have killed you will do little to no damage, and you can cleanly escape without having to worry about your cloak shimmering (this feature also reduces the number of seemingly “random” deaths that spies with the Invisibility Watch often suffer while cloaked). In contrast, the Invisibility Watch is not quite as strong as an escape tool since it doesn’t protect you from damage, and your cloak will betray you if the enemy in pursuit is able to roughly guess where you are and fire in that direction.
The Dead Ringer’s most significant drawback, as compared to the Invisibility Watch, is the manner in which it impinges upon a spy’s initiative and surprise. While the damage soak and non-shimmering cloak does allow you to get behind enemy lines, you can only do so after the enemy knows a spy “tried” to get past. If your opponents are good, they will continue to hunt for you and you’ll continually be on the defensive against an alerted team. Even if you are able to get past the line, the loudness of the decloak will put all but the most unobservant of enemies on alert. Also, the fact that you have to wait until the Dead Ringer charges to full to re-engage it (and there is no way to speed up that process) also presents difficulties. In contrast, the Invisibility Watch allows you to truly infiltrate the enemy lines so that you won’t have to reveal your presence to anyone until you are ready to do so.
JENING has concluded that the Dead Ringer presents a good, viable alternative to the Invisibility Watch. The Dead Ringer’s damage soak and helpfulness in aiding escape is a good trade for the initiative advantages of the Invisibility Watch. JENING is a bit concerned that the Dead Ringer’s extremely strong damage soak may present some issues–a rocket to the face probably should be enough to kill a spy–but on the whole, the Dead Ringer does not seem unbalanced. While JENING still prefers the Invisibility Watch, JENING looks forward to testing the Dead Ringer a bit more as well!
The Cloak and Dagger
JENING previously blogged about his thoughts on the Cloak and Dagger. JENING stands by those comments.
JENING invites your thoughts and comments, and encourages you to ask your friends, forums, and communities to join in the discussion!
May 27, 2009 at 2:53 pm |
Another great wrap up of events. I wish i could say I agree with you 100% but I have still yet to receive a new unlock. I have received 3 FANS 2 KritsKrigs 2 Sanviches 2 Flare guns 2 backburners.
I’m looking forward to using the new items.. if it ever happens for me.
Kudos again Jening for being Jeningtastic!
May 27, 2009 at 4:12 pm |
I’ve been backstabbed with DR out a couple times. It takes off about 75 damage, but you can survive. I believe when this happens the “fake body” explodes, rather than dropping like it normally would, so this might tip off spies.
Anyway, someone could work backwards from there and figure out how much damage a “normal” backstab does. Since dead-on rockets only do like 10 damage…
May 27, 2009 at 5:20 pm |
I read somewhere that it was figured out that the spys back stab does about 750 damage. Alternately Ive read that it sets players health to 0. Anyway working backwards from dead ringer it was said to be about 750 damage for a backstab. I guess considering the weaknesses of the dead ringer I am ok with a backstab not killing my target right away. The new headshot full crits is great but if you miss in a close range fight you are screwed. A good sniper can beat you easy up close by moving and making it near impossible to get a headshot unless lucky. From medium range or against charging enemies it is great. Just dont fail with it. Allows another option when behind enemy lines and a backstab will not cut it. Dont use against alot of enemies at once. I had fun 2 shoting a soldier like this last night while dodging his rockets.
May 27, 2009 at 6:54 pm |
The Dead Ringer sounds fun! I can’t wait until i unlock this weapon! see you in game.
May 27, 2009 at 6:58 pm |
until you use the D/R and C/D you really don’t realize how awesome it is to replenish cloak with ammo crates. (but i still think both those watches are great alternatives to the standard watch).
May 28, 2009 at 12:09 am |
After setting a Spy on fire while he’s escaping with the Dead Ringer, it reliably takes three hits with the axtinguisher to kill him. While this is obviously an enormous amount of damage reduction, I haven’t found it more difficult to do that to most of the spies I catch; it just takes longer. This means it’s balanced; you can’t spam rockets “just in case”, but if you do find him, you can kill him with sustained attention.
I can’t wait to unlock it
the Cloak and Dagger is fun to play with for now though.
May 28, 2009 at 3:42 am |
great synopsis of the items jening. now i know what to expect if I EVER unlock any new weapons lol
May 28, 2009 at 9:54 am |
I’m still missing the Ambassador, but I fully agree with your opinions. C&D is fun to use, if you’re smart with the cloak, and DR is excellent in tricking enemies. However, the old Invisibility Watch will always be my favorite. After all, I didn’t spend all that time memorizing Ammo Crate positions for nothing.
May 28, 2009 at 10:02 pm |
I’ve gotten some good use out of the cloak ‘n Dagger, you just need to play differently with it. It is amusing to wait hidden by an engi nest for the perfect moment to decloak and wreak havok.
The problem with this is that TF2 isn’t really made for slow-paced tactics like these. Too much can happen while you’re waiting with the CnD.
About the Dead Ringer, is it supposed to give the spy the ubercharged graphic when he decloaks, or is this a bug?
May 29, 2009 at 2:40 am |
by the way jening the dead ringer is awesome because if you get burned it will put the fire out
May 29, 2009 at 4:48 am |
i’ve noticed jening has switched back to the default spy hardware. i was wondering if jening will continue to experiment with the new spy gear for new tactics or if jening feel versatility is the key to victory?
i find many new items are designed to have an advantage over the standards in certian situation where as, it’s less versatile than the standard counter-part. a good example of this would be the kritzkreig. in arena the kritzkreig i find to be much more effective, as sentries are more of a rarity, and it usually charges fast enough to use before the round ends (as arena tend to be very fast and an uber often never charges before the end).
so i was wondering if jening will continue to experiment with new spy gear to find situational advantages such as what the kritzkreig present.
May 29, 2009 at 11:35 am |
JENING appreciates the question from his good friend Aldershot! As between the watches, JENING has, at this point, concluded that the standard Invisibility Watch best compliments JENING’s playstyle no matter what the situation. JENING still plans to play with the Dead Ringer here and there for fun (and maybe the Cloak and Dagger just once to get the associated spy acheivement), but as to the watches, JENING believes that there is a clear cut winner. They don’t make watches like they used to!
As between the Revolver and the Ambassador, JENING is more torn. After playing with the (extremely fun) Ambassador, JENING still finds the Revolver to be more reliable and ultimately more effective. That said, the Ambassador certainly has its uses, especially in small arena matches where the remaining enemies are those that even the Revolver will not effectively drain in prolonged duels (e.g. Medics, Heavies). JENING will likely be using the Revolver more often than not, but plans to keep the Ambassador close at hand as well!
JENING invites others’ thoughts!
May 30, 2009 at 7:12 am |
^_^!
May 30, 2009 at 12:02 pm |
Hey Jening, I know you prefer to play Spy, but if you ever get the chance, I highly recommend giving the Huntsman a try for a little bit with Sniper. It’s one of the most fun and enjoyable unlockables in this update.
Also I don’t appreciate what Valve did to the Dead Ringer in Wednesday’s update. They effectively punished the majority of us who used the Dead Ringer’s cloak mechanics responsibly just because of a small handful of useless clowns who abused it. I hope they fix it. A lot of people suggested a 3 or 4 second cooldown period after coming out of cloak before being able to use it again, but I think even 2 would prevent the kind of goose-chasing that previously occured.
Still, it’s a great item for dealing with spawn-camping scumbags on the other team >:3
May 31, 2009 at 12:20 pm |
but multi ringing was so fun >< it was way better than it is now and i agree with slowpoke a 2 second cooldown would be enough to balance it out a bit more i think.
May 31, 2009 at 11:27 pm |
Personally, I think they need to rebuff the Dead Ringer. I’ve become almost addicted to it, but the 16 second cool-down is a real pain in the ass.
I think they should either lower the cool down, even if it’s to 12 seconds it would be nice, or add some way to speed up the recharging process.
June 1, 2009 at 10:25 pm |
The thing that I enjoy most about the Dead Ringer is the advantage that it gives to friendly disguises. Take for example, if you disguise as a friendly pyro the Dead Ringer will drop a pyro ragdoll when activated. This helps to hide the fact that a spy is around the enemy. It also puts the enemy at ease which makes enemy disguises work better.