Ambassador - help needed...

GulfXray

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Jan 31, 2009
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I need some help/coaching from you spys who are aces with the Ambassador.

Simply put, I can?t get a headshot with the Ambassador ? It takes me 2 shots no matter what. Now, I am not expecting the Ambassador to make long range shots, but I would hope I could get a headshot from across a room in Blackmesa (not A) for example. Now I know this is possible because some of you spys have done it to me! :D

I have gotten so close I probably bumped my victim, but my 1st shot only got a critical hit. It also doesn?t seem to matter if I shoot them in the back of the head, front, top, or either side. I have even changed my cursor to a dot in hopes of helping my aiming, but no luck.

I am about ready to grab the barrel and use it as club!


I apologize if this has been addressed earlier, I tried searching and wasn't able to find what I was looking for.
 
Other than looks, Ambassador sucks. Way too hard to get a headshot, and only crits on headshot. Sometimes you get lucky. Otherwise, you just need to be close and still and aim carefully, not hastily. Really only useful against snipers with Razorback (likely only first shot will be a headshot), but can be useful if someone is charging you directly with a melee weapon as you can sometimes get crits that way as well. Otherwise, quit wasting your time practicing, much better to just practice being a real spy.
 
Here's what you need to know. Ambassador has headshots great but you don't to headshot every shot. 1 headshot is ~100 damage give or take a couple of points. Once you do this most of the 100 health class such as scout,spies,sniper,and a pyro only require 1 more shot to kill max 2.

On those larger health classes you usually just want to avoid close range with them and move back to give you time to dodge their projectiles. Once you do that you line up your shots or run away.
 
I like the ambassador at times, hate it at others.

I find primarily use it to kill enemy engineers from a distance with a headshot, then running in and sapping the gun for a quick kill, works well against engineers who are bunkered down.

Also, it might not do as much damage, but it does more than enough to kill the targets you should be going for (snipers, engies).

P.s. I'm writing a spy combat doctrine called the "golden gun" doctrine.
 
Basically the best practice for using the ambassador is sniping either as a sniper, or going on your own server and using some spray that is a target for you to practice on. Sure it may not be moving or shooting at you, but it does help.
 
Other than looks, Ambassador sucks. Way too hard to get a headshot, and only crits on headshot. Sometimes you get lucky. Otherwise, you just need to be close and still and aim carefully, not hastily. Really only useful against snipers with Razorback (likely only first shot will be a headshot), but can be useful if someone is charging you directly with a melee weapon as you can sometimes get crits that way as well. Otherwise, quit wasting your time practicing, much better to just practice being a real spy.

No way! I'll give you that it's situational, but I love the Ambassador, for several reasons.

Believe it or not, some engineers are damned good at keeping spies at bay while keeping their gun up. On goldrush stage 1, on offense, I sniped an engi with the Ambassador from across the second arena (the big open area around the second point), and then just redisguised quick, cloaked past some enemies, and sapped his gear while he was still dead.

Secondly, it makes razorback snipers a breeze. Enough said there, if you uncloak near them (not so close that they hear you), walk right up next to them, one headshot and one bodyshot is a kill.

Finally, hey, if you're good at aiming for the head, it's the best burst damage you can ask for in any situation where you can't use the knife: retreating, fighting someone who won't let you get at their back (pesky scouts), or just harassing people at range (finding a safe perch away from the front line, taking a few potshots at folks as they walk past, trying to get that lucky 2-shot kill, but if you fail you just cloak and watch them go paranoid and waste their time in a futile attempt to find you). The most useful thing you could be doing for your team? Maybe not, but it's fun, effective, and a good way to practice with the Ambassador.

If you need help practicing with it, friend me on steam and message me, I'll help you practice in an empty server, show you some of the tricks I've used before. They're simple, but it's always good to practice it in a low-pressure environment so you're prepared for the real thing.
 
^
Yea, most of the alternate weapons are situational. You just need to figure out what works best for you. But I can say from experience, even though I used to be pretty proficient at playing the sniper, getting headshots with the Ambassador from long distances is pretty hard. Also I rarely find myself getting headshotted from far away by a spy, so I'm not sure if long distance shooting is what you should be doing with the Ambassador in the first place.
 
the fact that they made it so after the first shot, if not a headshot, it doesnt crit until the crosshair is at its original accuracy again

i switched back to the revolver
 
I'm going back to the revolver. I haven't seen hard numbers, but it sure seems that the damage range on the ambassador swings around even more than other weapons. I had a double crit on a pyro the other day that didn't even phase him - at least I know what's going to happen with the revolver.
 
It's mostly a medium range weapon for a class designed for close-up action, the same as the flaregun. If you're wanting a gun for close protection all the time, keep the revolver.
 
I haven't used the ambassador since the nerf, you actually have to wait for the cooldown. I prefer the normal pistol, much faster rate of fire... I can run away and put a ton of shots into them and kill them. Plus when it crits it does tons of damage.
 
I use the ambassador, but I am pretty good with headshotting people, just try shooting at heads while standing still, it is much easier than walking around targeting heads, if you got good at shooting while not moving, then go for walking and shooting
 
Try this when using the ambassador. Now ofcourse if you are across the room and the person is standing still, put the dot just on top of the head and you should get a head shot, i have a small dot (as you can see from my intro vid, if you saw it). If you are chasing someone and they are running away from you, I find i have to do the same type of aim, i have to aim just above the head in order to get a head shot other wise its like getting a body shot. If you are running away and being chased, its best that you learn the layout of the map so you dont accidentaly run into something and get stuck...try and strafe shoot ( put your cross hair head height and strafe back and forth while running away and when he passes over the cross hair take the shot) Try these things till you get the hang of twitching. Hope this helps and by the way, in my opinion nothing beats the ambassador.
 
Don't care much for guns when i play spy, knife or sapper are pretty much all i use...

Knife is definitely the most fun; it would be nice to be able to effectively shoot those victims I can't quite run down...

Still working on the sapper part - i understand how to use it, but it is the whole dealing with the engi thing... ;)
 
I love it when snipers have razorbacks. why you might ask? Because they feel safe with it on. They are like, "I'm not gonna get killed by a spy, i have a super cool shield on that protects me from spies. well with the ambassador you can get up close, and pull off 2 ez headshots! it's a whole lot of fun, and they never know it's coming.
 
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