How to tell if the Spy I killed is using a Dead Ringer

team-fortress-2tf2-spy

How can I tell if the spy I just killed is using a Dead Ringer?

Is there even a way to tell if they feigned their death (without additional Spy-Checking)?

Best Answer

I'm not sure I should be giving away my tricks, but...

Not all on hit/on kill effects are replicated by the Dead Ringer. Some things that could give it away are:

  • No hit sound is played. It's unclear if this is intended or if this is a bug.
  • Spies covered in jarate or mad milk remain visible as an outline. Technically, this applies to Spies who were recently underwater, but this effect is much more difficult to see than the other two.
  • You can still run into a cloaked dead ringer Spy. This is particularly obvious as a class that is faster than Spy that is melee attacking (Scout, Medic, Powerjack Pyro, Steak Sandvich Heavy)
  • Not all kill effects are replicated (as TidB mentioned)
  • If a Spy is disguising when they cloak, the disguise puff of smoke continues its animation.
  • If you hit them with a crit or mini-crit, the words "Critical Hit" or "Mini-Crit" will follow the Spy around for a few seconds.
  • If they were stunned by or at the time of activation, the stun particle effect follows them around.
  • If they are hit with fire and have a Spy-cicle equipped, the Spy-cicle's evaporation sound plays.
  • Ragdolls from a Dead Ringer sometimes don't have the correct velocity and seem to just drop to the ground. This is much rarer than it used to be, but still happens.
  • Dominations and revenges will be faked in the kill feed and sounds, but not in the scoreboard.
  • Characters will not play their domination/revenge sound clips for a fake death, unless the server has the appropriate plugin installed.
  • Spy killstreak scores still show up in the scoreboard as they only reset on real death.

Things that make seem like a Dead Ringer activated them, but may not be:

  • Hitting a Spy disguised as your team with the Ubersaw will not grant you Uber, even if you kill them.