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10 Reasons Why: Scout is Better at Spy's Role

By Digitic

In this guide, I will explain ten of the best reasons why Scout should be used in Spy's role instead of the Frenchmann himself.

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Created by

Digitic
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Category: Characters, Classes, Co-op, Game Modes, Gameplay Basics, Multiplayer, Secrets, Weapons

Languages: English

Class: Scout, Spy

Posted

8 Apr, 2015 @ 10:06am

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15	Current Favorites

Guide Index

Overview

Introduction

Reason 1: Close-Range Strength

Reason 2: Speed

Reason 3: Double Jumping

Reason 4: Playstyle Alteration

Reason 5: Attention-Grabbing

Reason 6: Long-Range Stuns

Reason 7: Combo Hits

Reason 8: Mad Milk

Reason 9: Fan Of War

Reason 10: Evasiveness

And One Reason He's Not

Conclusion

Comments

Introduction

It's been way too long since I last wrote a guide, so here it is! I may or may not start a whole series based on this concept, but we'll see what reviews this one recieves before I make any definite plans.

Reason 1: Close-Range Strength

Scatterguns are the weapon of choice for most scouts, and its close-range damage is almost unparalleled. Almost.

The Scattergun, at point-blank range, deals 102 damage per shot, with 6 shots in a clip. This can instantly take down any class of importance, such as a Medic, Sniper, Soldier, or Pyro in two hits. Add this to being behind the enemy and you can suprise-attack small groups instead of trying to isolate one target.

Reason 2: Speed

One of the Scout's most known traits is that he is the fastest character in the game. This allows a sneaky scout to have three advantages over a Spy doing the same thing.

It allows him to spend less time getting behind the enemy and more time harassing them.
It Allows him to outrun any pursuer.
It allows him to quickly run up to a group, kill one target, and retreat.

All of these things give the Scout another advantage over the Spy's capabilities.

Reason 3: Double Jumping

Another great benefit to the Scout is his double-jump. While some situations, like the one shown here, can be avoided by jumping or cloaking, the main use of a double-jump is to access routes that neither an attacking spy or pursuers behind a Scout can follow him to. If he can change up which routes he takes when sneaking or escape enemies by double jumping away, he confuses and perhaps diverts the enemies from their task.

Reason 4: Playstyle Alteration

Another bonus for the Scout is that he has no "base" to his role and he is thus able to change himself however he needs to do a specific job. If he's constantly being chased down and killed by enemy Scouts, he can use the Baby Face's Blaster. If he needs to "backstab" and one-hit-kill, use the back scatter.

Spy, on the other hand, always has an invisibility watch and an instant-kill backstab knife, as well as some form of sapper. The main difference between his playstyles is what his specific weakness/strength is. This allows the Scout to be much more diverse and unpredictable.

Reason 5: Attention-Grabbing

Let's face it. Scouts draw a lot of attention. They are deadly at close range, very quick, and can be seen from a mile away. Ignoring one certainly means death, and that's what people tend to avoid. So, scouts are annoying and distracting. How does this help make them better than a Spy?

Spies rely on isolating one target, and if they get caught (especially by a Pyro), they're doomed. Scouts feed off of that sense of being caught, because they can lure pursuers away while remaining out of range. This allows them to distract several people and keep them away from the battle rather than just killing one person and allowing respawn to make them wait.

Reason 6: Long-Range Stuns

Oh yeah, the Scout also has the ability to extend his own window of action on critical targets. Usually, when a Medic hits full Uber, the spy must sprint towards than him and race his activation. However, the Scout can stun him with the Sandman and give himself more time to attack. Alternately, this can be used to panic-pop an uber before it's useful. The Spy is limited to a close-range backstab or an attention-grabbing and weak pistol which won't concern the medic.

Reason 7: Combo Hits

So, the spy is also limited by his one (sometimes two) methods of reliable hits. The Scout has the ability to combo several attacks at once to even the odds, from the infamous sandman-guillotine to the ability to mad-milk, then Shortstop an enemy and pick up the Candy Cane health pack for maximum survivability.

For more info on this one, check out this video by STAR_:

Reason 8: Mad Milk

I mentioned this in the last section. The Mad Milk changes the entire dynamic of Scout around this item. Hitting a group of enemies allows you to support your team, greatly increases your own survivability, and reveals and delays any enemy spies that try to slip past the team. The best part: It's ranged. The Spy simply does not have the frontline support capabilities as the Scout, so the Scout can help with a push far more than a Spy.

Reason 9: Fan Of War

The Fan-O-War is very similar in use to the Mad Milk, but it's more useful for the Scout himself and acting truly Spylike. Hitting any enemy deals 3 damage (really. Crits are 11), but also makes the hit enemy take mini-crits from ALL damage for the next 10 or so seconds or until you mark someone else. This allows you to kill enemies with your scattergun even faster than normal, allowing one-shots and aiding a push by your team. So if you really want to BE the spy as a Scout, use this.

Reason 10: Evasiveness

Even with all of his speed, the Scout will eventually get caught, right? Not to worry. There are several escape options available to the Scout, from a soda that grants extra speed or invincibility to a triple-jump bat and a ten-jump Scattergun. You should always be able to escape a pursuer as scout, and even if for some reason you can't, you shouldn't ever make it easy. The Spy simply cannot match this maneuverability and escape diversity, so the Scout is even harder to catch.

And One Reason He's Not

This one is simple. The Scout has no counter to a sentry. The Spy can sneak around it or sap it, but it's a huge issue for the Scout. It has perfect accuracy, a fast turning speed, and high damage that the scout can't endure. If the enemy has 6 engineers, use the Spy over the Scout.

Conclusion

Thank you all for reading this guide! I hope it was at least thought-provoking, and I wanted it to be fascinating even if you don't personally agree. If you want to see any other 10 Reasons Why, just leave a comment and I'll think on the idea!

Also, I have a steam group where I post my guides! Here's the link:
http://cs2bus.com/groups/tipstrickssubclasses

47 Comments

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DEVICE_FRIEND 25 Mar, 2018 @ 12:35am

combo is dead so 7 is wrong

The Great Scribbly One 24 Sep, 2017 @ 10:03am

Then you pick off the medic and leave the heavy to the tender attentions of your soldier/demo/spy/sniper.

☭ Soviet Floaty B0i ☭ 11 Jun, 2017 @ 12:46am

But when you come up to an overhealed heavy you aint gona do shit to him as scout.

Digitic [author] 12 May, 2016 @ 2:51pm

@CombatSandvich

No worries, man! I actually appreciate it. This is why the guide is here; I'll delete it when I think it is totally irrelevant (aka probably never). Also, good point. However, this assumes that you can get the drop on a sentry, which smart engineers will put into a corner so this exact thing is nearly impossible. Also, while the pistol does work, it takes time which you might not have if the sentry is near teammates/spawn or the Engineer themselves, or if it becomes wrangled. Overall, the Spy is just much better at disabling and destroying sentries than the Scout.

toasty 12 May, 2016 @ 5:35am

Using a scattergun at point blank, you can outdamage a level 1 sentry, a level 2 sentry if its not facing you. Maybe even a level 3 if you strafe in circles (really hard but still possible). Even if the engineer wrangles his lvl 3, your full scattergun clip and some pistol shots will destroy it.

Or you could run outside of the sentry's range and unload your pistol clip on it.

If this is considered necroing, I'm really sorry. I just felt like saying something here because a guy just commented here 12 hours ago. Don't hate on my opinions please. Thanks.

beanpole 11 May, 2016 @ 5:18pm

I wanna see a scout take on a lv 3 sentry

Disabled 17 Aug, 2015 @ 3:38pm

Argument:

The Spy was made for taking down key classes and reconaissance. In competitive games, you rarely ever see the Spies actually stabbing/sapping because they are feeding enemy locations/health/Uber amounts to their team, which leads to crucial gameplay decisions and game-changing moves.

Manueverability means nothing if a competent enemy can shoot you while you're dodging. A Spy can turn invisible AND dodge shots from any class. You can hit a moving target. It's nearly impossible to hit a slightly-slower-moving, invisible target.

Due to the Spy's nature of insta-kills, he is the only way to bring down Quick-Fix charges (other than a crit-charged player or a Sniper, which is situational).

Spy has a method of support that can shut down Sentries, prevent Ubercharges, and instill paranoia in every enemy on the map. The Spy is the most feared (if not, very close) class in the game, and you can exploit this.

Digitic [author] 7 Jun, 2015 @ 6:20pm

@EZPZ LEMON SQUEEZY

I am actually finalizing all of my points, so it should be out next weekend! I'll leave the topic secret for now though... But it has to do with the Soldier.

$25 T-Shirt 6 Jun, 2015 @ 9:09am

When next guide.

bind tab cow 25 Apr, 2015 @ 11:37am

The scout is equaly effective against spies, being faster (to avoid backstabs), just jump right up another level that the spy couldn't, have less tunnel vison than a pyro, block a stairstab, and be identified as a lesser threat to the spy compaired to the pyro

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