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[Brentai]

Oh it was excellent before the nerf.  Not exactly overpowered but it was easy to overcome its shortcomings by being clever, and put it to good use.

Now, of course, no amount of being clever can overcome the fact that you can't even actually use it.

[Friday]

Honestly I am more than happy with improved disguises and Ambassador. New cloaks are just icing on the cake. Being able to actually see who you're disguised as is amazing.

[Saturn]

Oh it was excellent before the nerf.  Not exactly overpowered but it was easy to overcome its shortcomings by being clever, and put it to good use.

Now, of course, no amount of being clever can overcome the fact that you can't even actually use it.

it was overpowered in the fact that it basically gave a spy 1250 hp

now its bordering on useless because the recharge is so excrementally slow.

[Brentai]

...I never noticed that the Spy does not actually take damage when hit using the Dead Ringer.

You know a better fix for that may have been to simply HAVE THE SPY TAKE DAMAGE WHEN HIT USING THE DEAD RINGER.

[Saturn]

...I never noticed that the Spy does not actually take damage when hit using the Dead Ringer.

You know a better fix for that may have been to simply HAVE THE SPY TAKE DAMAGE WHEN HIT USING THE DEAD RINGER.

He takes damage, just 90% less (it can even make you survive backstabs)

[James Edward Smith]

I understand they don't want the thing to become du rigeur but Jesus Christ, you basically are resigning yourself to exactly 1 backstab/sap with the thing.  Make it count.

I think you guys just don't know how to use it right. I've had 36-6 rounds with it on maps like pipeline where I have gotten close to 10 backstabs in a single life. If anything I'd say it was the normal watch that forced me to resign myself to one backstab unless there was an ammo crate and medkit near by, so I don't really follow you, Brent.

Also, why are people saying it has a long assed recharge time? It actually charges 180% faster than the normal watch does. So you know... what?

The thing about the dead ringer is you can't use it as a way to get into position like you do with the other watches. The point of it is that you use it as an ESCAPE and in that role it really is quite flawless. I love the thing because the aspect of playing spy that always annoyed the shit out of me, was being caught before or even after I could do what I wanted to and just having to resign myself to death in most cases. The dead ringer almost completely eliminates this as its shimmerless cloak and 90% damage shield lets you walk away from any bad luck discovery. Hell, you can even fool pyros if you play it right and manage to get out of his flame range before you ring (or get close to some water).

The loud ring is annoying but when the watch is being used correctly, that is, close to a large battle and distracted enemies or far away from anyone, it almost always goes unnoticed or can't get you in trouble anyway because people have more immidiate threats to worry about.

The short cloak time is a fair trade I think because of the damage shield.

It does seem a BIT weak at the moment, but the fact that it caters to my play style so nicely makes me not care so much. Really the only buff I wish it would get is them letting you recharge it with ammo pickups. I think that's perfectly fair and would allow good players to do more damage in less time with it. Either that or give me full cloak time or take the loud ring away.

But yeah, just a break down for the uninformed:

-180% faster cloak charge AND discharge
-you cannot activate the Dead Ringer unless you have 100% cloak charge
-activating the dead ringer causes the next damage you receive (even fall damage) to drop a corpse and instantly cloak you
-you only receive 10% damage from whatever hit you
-your cloak is shimmerless meaning you don't shimmer with your team colour when shot or bumped into like with other watches' cloaks
-you still collide with the enemy and block them though.
-when you turn off the cloak or it runs out, a loud discharge ring is heard
-turning it off when you still have some cloak left reduces cloak charge to 0
-ammo does not charge cloak
-activating the dead ringer will extinguish you if you are on fire and the last fire tick you take will be what drops the corpse and cloaks you but you can still be reignited while cloaked, you won't shimmer in your team colour but you will be on fire and therefore "visible"
-When killing people who thought they killed you, it IS necessary to admit that you really though you were that corpse too. After all it was the spitting image of you, a dead ringer you might say.
-All dead ringer corpses are actually your genome soldier brothers. Did you know that you've killed 229 of them since the patch hit?

[Mongrel]

Funny, the spy seems a lot more likeable than Madrox

[James Edward Smith]

Damn it Matt, you aren't allowed to make an X-men reference right after I finish making a Metal Gear reference.

[Mongrel]

 

[Bal]

Dead Ringer is definitely more of an escape device than an infiltration device. Protip: Never use it for the first hit of damage. No one will believe that that first pistol bullet did the job.

[Brentai]

Well, never say never.  One of the key ways of using it is intentionally causing people who know you have it to flip out and waste their time looking for you.

I've gotten used to the downtime and can at least get a 5-6 stab run with it now.  I still think it takes too long to be an effective Spy with it to be really awesome though.  It all depends on whether or not you picked Spy for a good reason or you just felt like dicking around with the class.

[Bal]

That's just good spies in general. I've seen people lose games because they were chasing ghosts all over the place instead of going for the objective long before they put the Dead Ringer in. The thing about the Dead Ringer is that, barring fire, they won't find you. You just need to get far enough away that when you reappear the entire world doesn't hear about it, and then make another approach. So you may as well make every fake death as convincing as possible.

[Bongo Bill]

Well, never say never.  One of the key ways of using it is intentionally causing people who know you have it to flip out and waste their time looking for you.

If you count on this behavior, I will fall for it every time. (By which I mean: I will waste time confirming every dead Spy.)

[Brentai]

It's really more for the lulz than anything else.  Dead Ringer makes you safe enough that you can hang around and actually watch the poor guy shoot off in every direction but where you're standing.  And then wait for him to move on, at which point SURPRISE!

Moments like that remind me why it's apparently my most played class even though I consider it the fastest way to get killed more often than not.

[MadMAxJr]

There is a cheap thrill in knowingly stabbing the razorback then shooting the sniper to death.

[Brentai]

The most impressive part of that is finding a Sniper with the Razorback equipped.

[Detonator]

How long does it take to decloak from the Dead Ringer?  Normal decloaking time, or is it instantaneous like the initial cloaking?  If there's a decloaking time, when does the loud noise occur?

[Bal]

I'm not sure how long the decloaking time is, but the loud noise is about 2 seconds long.

[James Edward Smith]

How long does it take to decloak from the Dead Ringer?  Normal decloaking time, or is it instantaneous like the initial cloaking?  If there's a decloaking time, when does the loud noise occur?

Same time as the regular watch.

[Friday]

The Dead Ringer is good for using in short bursts, when you are the only spy. Use the regular cloak (or the C&D) for awhile. After they kill you a few times, switch to the DR. Put on a disguise and attempt to flank them. If you don't get caught and checked (and rarity, but after all I am able to flank as an enemy pyro with the backburner, sometimes, so) all the better, stab stab stab. If you do get seen and checked (which is likely) do what Bal suggested: Don't right click until they've shot you a few times.

The best place for this to happen is right in front of everyone. That way, the entire enemy team will see you "die."

Now, if you are the only spy on your team, you've just set yourself up perfectly. They'll think you're dead, and that they have a little bit of spy-free breathing room while you respawn. Run AWAY from them, behind them, and far enough away so they won't hear you decloak. Redisguise, come from behind them, stab stab stab.

Other than that, it's great for escaping, as Geo has noted.