Welcome to the discussion page for the Spy revolver-replacement, the "Informer". Here I will go into greater detail about the stats I came up with for this weapon. Feel free to cheer/jeer this, or add your own ideas to the pile.


Informer

Level 17 Dartgun

On Hit: Marks the target for death
On Hit: Targets are highlighted for you and your teammates
-83% clip size
-25% damage


This is a more conservative Spy revolver, focusing more on providing information and administering long range debuffs to assist your teammates. The mark for death gives the weapon a slight punch, allowing the Spy to use it as a holdout weapon, but the clip size hurts his chances of fending off attackers. It's a tradeoff of damage versus utility. The tagging effect lets the Spy tag targets for his teammates, allowing him to provide more acute information about enemy positions and movements.


On Hit: Marks the target for death
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The weapon needs some manner of providing damage. A single shot, and then reload, is simply too weak by itself. Rather than make this a weapon to be desired for its damage output, why not give the Spy something similar to the Sydney Sleeper? A weapon that functions as more of a ranged support, promoting a more conservative, assisting-Spy play style.


On Hit: Targets are highlighted for you and your teammates
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This weapon would allow you to tag up to three targets for your teammates. This is Spy independent, meaning four spies could tag twelve enemies. This effect also extends to enemy buildings as well. As for how this effect would look, it could either use the Bomb Cart highlight effect(the see through walls outline in team color), or use floating icons similar to the medic symbol(only they don't highlight on the edge of the screen, only when they are in focus).

Once a target is tagged, the effect will wear off after 15-20 seconds, adjusted for balance. The effect could not be stacked, or reapplied until the timer expires. This will prevent spies from repeatebly tagging the same target over and over.


-83% clip size
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It's a CO2-based early 1900's style dart gun. I took some liberties with the design, but it still uses a single dart loading mechanism. As such, the clip size has been tweaked to reflect this. It also makes it a good debuff, promoting patience and aim, rather than blind fire. -83% of 6 rounds would be 1 round.


-25% damage
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The -25% damage is totally negotiable. I added that on because I felt the weapon needed to be more for utility rather than combat. However, testing would be necessary to see if this was too steep a nerf, or if the reload time alone would be enough of a hindrance.