Whether you're a player who doesn't know much about the ghosts, or thinks that Professional difficulty doesn't provide enough of a challenge for you, or you just want to improve in Phasmophobia in general and want to take things to a higher level, or even if you are part of a group of friends and/or randoms who are playing on Nightmare or Insanity difficulties or experimenting with Custom lobby settings, this guide is for you.

If you've not done so much in the past, I strongly recommend getting to grips with the game in singleplayer. There are many reasons for this, first of which is that all the items including the sanity pills are exclusively for you. On top of that, ghosts tend to be a little more active in singleplayer games yet the rate of passive sanity-drain in the dark is half of what you experience in multiplayer games. Despite not having spare pairs of hands to ferry equipment from the van, you still have a greater degree of overall control when it comes to the investigation. In multiplayer games, the group of people with you can either make things easier or harder. You can gather all the clues swiftly or it can be a case of too many cooks spoil the broth.

Before we look at the ghosts, maps are a very important factor in Phasmophobia. Given the worst conditions in the most awkward part of a map, even the most average of ghosts can greatly stack the odds against you. If you feel as though there's one map you're not comfortable with, my strong recommendation is to play it in singleplayer again and again until you know it like the back of your hand. Knowing what to expect from these maps can save time, sanity and lives!

Speaking of saving sanity, it's useful to know that the size of the map corresponds with the amount of sanity you lose passively while being in the dark. The smaller the map size, the more sanity you lose every second and every minute. This rate doubles when the lobby has more than one player! And the difficulty you're playing on also makes a difference. If you were to look at a Custom lobby and toggle the sanity drain speed, a rate of 100% is what you experience on Amateur difficulty, 150% is what you get on Intermediate, and 200% is what you suffer on Professional, Nightmare and Insanity.

When listing the maps in terms of their size categories, you will also see how much sanity-loss an individual player can expect from them on a timely basis, in both singleplayer and multiplayer. For the sake of disambiguation, along with each map size in their own sections, I've listed their respective 200% rates that are part of the three hardest official difficulties.

(0.12% / 0.24% per second | 7.2% / 14.4% per minute)

I won't bother to list all the small maps individually because they are all similar to each other at their core. They either have two or three locations each for the fuse box and can prove to be scarce on hiding spots. This is why in a full lobby, all the known hiding spots in a small map should be scouted out within the first minute. A small map on one of the harder difficulties also means the fastest rate of passive sanity-drain in the dark. Aside from that, the only issue with small maps is a ghost's tendency to roam a lot in certain areas.

One thing worth mentioning though is farmhouse maps: they are cursed! And no, I'm not being hyperbolic when I say that – your sanity drains more easily in farmhouses compared to street houses. Why is this? Because in contrast to street houses which tend to have plenty of lighting in smaller spaces, it appears that farmhouses have the exact opposite; you can even test your sanity-loss in a game where you can read the sanity chart in the van. If you turn the lights on in any room of a farmhouse, you have to be within one or two metres of a source of light to preserve your sanity, which isn't helped by the fact that the average room size is bigger in farmhouses as well. So even if you have the lights turned on and can see everything in the room, the game still thinks you're 'in the dark' if you're not hovering closely around any of the main lights like a fly.

(0.08% / 0.16% per second | 4.8% / 9.6% per minute)

Prison is the most true medium-sized map in the game in my honest opinion and definitely less time-consuming than the larger maps on average. There are five locations for the fuse box, three of them happen to be upstairs which isn't as expansive as the first floor but the worst spot for it is the security room in Cell Block A. And the worst type of ghost besides a High School gym ghost, is a Cell Block ghost as they LOVE to roam around the entire block even if it means checking out every single cell over time!

Hence my recommendation at least in multiplayer is to send at least one person each to check out both cell blocks as soon as the main power is on. If the ghost is in one of the cell blocks, you want to save time and average sanity in tracking it down because gathering evidence from a Cell Block ghost becomes a major problem when it starts hunting regularly. There are a few places in Prison where you can loop the ghost but others that are wider and more open if an ill-timed hunt begins.

Maple Lodge Campsite is the hardest map in Phasmophobia! Larger maps tend to be more time-consuming than challenging whereas Campsite is a smaller map than the other medium maps, but is also outdoors and subject to the weather. Heavy rain can be loud enough to prevent you from clearly hearing interactions and other activity, while snow can make the entire map seem very cold and hard to distinguish which part of the map is the coldest. Depending on the weather, your experience in looking for clues and tracking the ghost's location can be downright frustrating, sometimes so that you might even happily trade your sanity if a cursed possession tells you where the ghost is. And even if you do find the ghost relatively quickly, it might decide to up and roam to another tent.

To further add frustration, the generator that powers the entire map can appear in any of five different locations. The small tents are too unreliable to place your trust in when the ghost is hunting, and the larger tents don't usually provide effective enough cover to hide from the ghost either. If it does not have any hiding spaces nearby, the worst place on the map for the ghost to occupy is the cabin and the pier area just outside of it. If you do try to loop a ghost, your best bets are the campfire when it is lit, around the entire structure of the public bathrooms and also the picnic benches by the entrance. Its cousin Camp Woodwind is obviously a small map but simpler in almost every way in comparison. It echoes the same atmosphere and demands the same approach as the campsite.

(0.05% / 0.1% per second | 3% / 6% per minute)

Brownstone High School used to be deemed a medium-sized map for the longest time, until the devs (without mentioning it in the patch notes) changed it to be classed as a large map for the Ascension update. This was the right decision in my opinion, as it is evidently larger than the other medium maps it once shared the same size group with. There are only three easy-to-find locations for the fuse box and the majority of the map has classrooms that are the same size as each other, with a few bathrooms on each floor of each wing. Although you can see ghosts roaming hallways, this doesn't happen often.

Finding where the ghost is in this map tends to be more of a case of how active it is, with the more inactive ones holding out for longer before they're discovered. That and how frequently it changes rooms are the only challenges that come with High School. Hiding from and looping this ghost isn't a huge issue with this map in particular but you still want an exit plan of sorts should you loop the ghost: you want to know where you're going to break line of sight and attempt to hide. The absolute worst location for a ghost in all of Phasmophobia let alone this map, is the Basketball Court – good luck, you'll need it!

Sunny Meadows Mental Institution is very characteristic of a large map in the sense that it is more time-consuming than it is challenging. Very much like the old Asylum map that it replaced, Sunny Meadows makes it so that you could take quite a while looking for the ghost if it doesn't give you any clues. What does spice things up however is that when the ghost hunts, it can lock the doors that lead to the wings of each floor as well as the top doors of the stairwells of both wings, effectively dividing the entire map into five separate locked sections just so that escaping and hiding is made more difficult than on any conventional map.

The good thing however is that you can use the restricted versions of the map to learn and absorb it into your memory in smaller chunks. There are a fair number of hiding spots as well as a few looping spots all over the map, the only thing you have to be concerned about is making sure that if the worst happens and you're locked in the same section as the ghost, make sure you have a decent hiding spot or a smudge stick ready in case you're trapped.

First of all, before we look at any of the ghosts specifically, I must lay down the foundation for what I will be referring to as the 'average ghost' which is to say that unless they possess unique traits that are different or completely contrary to the listed norms, all ghosts will behave similar to each other. According to the following facts, the average ghost can:

• Drain a player's sanity by 0.25% per second if they have line-of-sight within its radius of 10 metres when it has physically manifested
  
  
• Drain a targeted player's sanity by 10% per ghost event that ends by colliding with the ghost
  
  
• Cause electronic disturbance within a radius of 10 metres during ghost events and hunts
  
  
• Cause interactions within a radius of 3 metres, even through walls
  
  
• Throw an object with a power range of 1 - 3
  
  
• Turn light switches on or off
  
  
• Turn the fuse box on or off
  
  
• Do short roams, picking a random point within a defined sphere around it, while checking if the pathfinding distance is less than 5 or 10 metres. The ghost will walk to that waypoint if it's successful, or will repeat the steps if it's unsuccessful
  
  
• Do long roams, with a slight chance of changing its ghost room
  
  
• Not emit any audible sound (voice or footstep) during ghost events or hunts from further away than a radius of 20 metres
  
  
• Leave boot imprints in salt piles after stepping in them
  
  
• Leave footprints visible with UV light after stepping in a salt pile, assuming that ultraviolet is one of the evidence types
  
  
• Always leave fingerprints on any surface where they are visible and will disappear after 120 seconds, assuming that ultraviolet is one of the evidence types
  
  
• Give EMF2 readings for using unique abilities or interacting with doors or light switches, EMF3 readings for throwing objects and EMF4 readings wherever a ghost event just occurred. Both EMF2 and EMF3 interactions have a 25% chance to produce EMF5 readings instead, assuming that EMF5 is one of the evidence types
  
  
• Either throw the book for ghost writing if it can't write in it (including ghost writing being a hidden evidence type in higher difficulties) or write in the book if it can, assuming that ghost writing is one of the evidence types
  
  
• Enter a 'DOTS state' where its physical model is outlined by the infrared light of a projector, assuming that DOTS is one of the evidence types
  
  
• Initiate a hunt as early as 50% average sanity (or immediately if a cursed hunt is triggered by a cursed possession)
  
  
• Move at a speed of 1.7 metres per second during hunts, while gradually accelerating with continued line-of-sight on any player up to a maximum of an additional 65% (2.8 metres per second) of its base movement speed
  
  
• Only hear players talking within a radius of 9 metres and sense electronic disturbance of devices being held by players during hunts within a radius of 7.5 metres
  
  
• Have a 50% chance during hunts to throw an object in range, every 0.5 seconds
  
  
• Phase out of visibility during hunts for intervals ranging between 0.3 seconds and 1 second
  
  
• Be blinded and disorientated while under the effects of a burning smudge stick
  
  
• Hunt again after a minimum cooldown period of 25 seconds
  
  
• Not hunt for 90 seconds after being smudged
  
  
• Not hunt within the radius of a functioning crucifix

Now onto the ghosts themselves. I will explain each one in the order laid out in the journal as well as what tier each ghost is. The tier rating for each ghost is purely my opinion based on my personal experiences with each ghost in Nightmare, Insanity and Custom difficulties. Any difficulty below Nightmare means that a ghost can be identified with just its three primary evidence types which tends to make investigations quicker and easier.

Thus when assessing the tier of each ghost, we have to do so on the basis of what they're capable of in games where the ghost can show at least one available evidence type but not all three. We also have to take into account three factors that apply to all ghosts in Phasmophobia:

Strength - This factor applies to what abilities or power the ghost has in comparison to the average ghost. Things such as increased sanity drain, early hunting thresholds and extra movement speed during hunts will increase the score of their strength. No matter how lacking in strength the ghost is, not a single ghost in Phasmophobia has a strength score of 1. Anything it lacks in terms of strength, will be reflected in the weakness metric.

The average ghost hunts at 50% average sanity, moves at a speed of 1.7 m/s and is able to accelerate up to 2.8 m/s with line-of-sight during hunts, and can drain sanity either passively or during ghost events at normal rates. The strength score of the average ghost is 2.

Weakness - This factor applies to what a ghost is lacking or is incapable of doing in comparison to the average ghost. This does NOT strictly mean the weaknesses as they are stated in the journal; it's assessing if the ghost is less likely to kill you based on its hunting mechanics and whether they are lacking under certain circumstances. Ghosts will score higher in this factor for having negligible weaknesses or none at all. Even if the ghost has a high score for its strength because it can be very strong temporarily, it can still have a low weakness score for having longer-lasting downsides.

If the ghost is capable of doing everything according to the example description of the strength metric, and it is not lacking anything else significant enough to reduce its chances of killing you compared to the average ghost, its weakness metric will be the max score of 5.

Identifiability - This factor applies to how easily you can identify a ghost correctly, taking into account the evidence combos it shares with other ghosts in games with just one or two available evidence types, as well as how easy or difficult it is to identify a ghost with just secondary evidence alone and whether or not that secondary evidence can only be determined by getting the ghost to hunt. The ghosts that score higher in this factor are the ones that are either harder to identify when primary and/or secondary evidence is lacking, or pose more risk and danger in attempting to identify them compared to the average ghost.

The ghost will have a score of 1 if it has multiple tells or one really easy tell that doesn't require it to hunt, and is not a consistently dangerous ghost at the same time, even if its obvious secondary evidence can be seen when it hunts.

The ghost will have a score of 2 if it can be identified outside of a hunt, but the secondary evidence isn't so obvious and requires more effort on your part to determine. It will also have a score of 2 at a minimum if the only way to observe its secondary evidence and positively identify it, is to get it to initiate a hunt.

The ghost will have a score of 3 if its secondary evidence is subject to the ghost's RNG: either easy to spot when you witness it, or it chooses never to do it and obscures itself. A score of 3 can reflect if a ghost can be more dangerous and also less dangerous to identify at different parts of the investigation. It can indicate that not only must you get the ghost to hunt, but you must also witness it or expose yourself to it during hunts to observe its secondary evidence. A score of 3 can also indicate that the ghost might have a simple tell that gives itself away easily, but is so incredibly dangerous that it has a high chance of killing you regardless, stalking ghosts being an example.

The ghost will have a score of 4 if it has a very high chance of killing you, usually by hunting very early and/or having tremendous movement speed during hunts, ready to punish you with certain death if you even make one tiny ill-timed error. You might have to let such ghosts play to their peak strength just to be able to identify it at all. Even if the ghost in question is not one of the most dangerous ones to come across, it can still earn a score of 4 if its secondary evidence must be observed by difficult methods or convoluted processes that require your own input and use of gear, detailed knowledge of the ghost's traits regarding each test, and the ghost's RNG playing nicely.

No ghost will ever have a score of 5 because that implies it is completely impossible to identify, be it because of no secondary evidence (which requires extreme circumstances for a few ghosts) or because it will always kill you any time you try to identify it during a hunt.

I assessed each ghost and measured them by giving them scores of 1 to 5 for each factor and then added up their total scores in order to determine their overall ratings for the tier list. Some ratings might make sense, others might baffle the mind or seem controversial. As I said, they're based on my opinion and my anecdotal experiences playing on Nightmare, Insanity and Custom difficulties, but I do my best to make my case for each ghost and why they have the ratings they have.

14 points (S-TIER) | These ghosts are the kings and queens of all the ghosts by easily scoring over 90% of the maximum score. The top tier is reserved for the ghosts that demonstrate supreme hunting prowess: they can all potentially hunt very early and/or could combine that with increased movement speed, and you have to witness them at their peak strength to identify them. They also do not lack anything compared to the average ghost. No ghost will ever get 15/15, but such ghosts do exist when setting up a x15 custom lobby!

12-13 points (A-TIER) | These ghosts score at least 80% of the maximum number of points. They are very dangerous and have abilities that don't allow you to get complacent. They are not quite as notorious or frightening as their S-tier brethren but they are still powerful enough to easily kill you and have the potential to knock on the ceiling of the top tier above them.

10-11 points (B-TIER) | These ghosts merit B-tier billing for reaching double-digits and getting at least 66% of the maximum score. They are above average in terms of their abilities compared to the average ghost. At their best and given the right conditions, they can give the more dangerous ghosts on the roster a run for their money but this tends to be more circumstantial and they're not always consistent enough across all scenarios to be a constant threat anywhere at any time.

6-9 points (C-TIER) | These ghosts score between 40 and 60% of the maximum possible score, and tend to be more representative of the average ghost. At best, they each have one thing that gives them an edge in certain situations, either making them temporarily dangerous or harder to identify. But they can also have a major weakness or be very simple to identify.

4-5 points (D-TIER) | These ghosts are below average and the weakest hunters of the entire ghost roster; you really shouldn't be killed by them under almost any circumstances! If they're lucky, they might have one aspect about them that serves as a saving grace. But they're very weak and/or obvious in terms of their lack of hunting capabilities so for the most part, incompetent team members are far more dangerous than these ghosts!

EMF LEVEL 5 + GHOST WRITING + SPIRIT BOX

Strength - 2/5 | When it comes to the hunts as well as average sanity hunting threshold and sanity-draining capabilities, the Spirit is a completely normal, average ghost.

Weakness - 2/5 | In this case, the journal is aligned with our chosen context of the ghost's weakness here. Not being able to hunt for 180 seconds after being smudged is a MASSIVE weakness and absolutely one of the worst single downsides in the game for all ghosts on the roster. But one must also remember that exploiting the Spirit's weakness requires smudge sticks which happen to be a limited resource. If you use them wisely, you can enjoy up to a major total of 12 minutes of guaranteed safety, instead of just 6 minutes.

But it's unlikely it will be that much simply because it makes more sense to smudge the ghost during hunts and so the hunt durations will take up parts of the total smudge time. And you might be part of a group that lacks sense of timing and burns a smudge stick or two far too early into the investigation when the ghost isn't even ready to hunt, or they might lack coordination during hunts, either way results in needlessly wasting a precious limited resource. The fact that its weakness requires a limited resource to be used wisely, prevents me from giving the Spirit the absolute lowest score when it comes to its weakness.

Identifiability - 2/5 | The Spirit's weakness is what makes it identifiable. Although this weakness is something that is deduced later on in an investigation, all you really need to do is keep track of time from the moment you've smudged the Spirit. Either you can count the time in your head, or keep track of the time either in-game or with an external source. Again, it might be very identifiable with its secondary evidence but it is contingent on using a limited resource as well as waiting for the ghost to hunt first and then counting down how long it takes to get hunting again.

What you must also consider is that although it's rare, any ghost can choose not to hunt again for literally minutes regardless of whether or not they have been smudged. I've seen non-Spirits not hunt again for well over 180 seconds after being smudged! Without an ironclad guarantee, this is a test you may want to repeat just to be certain that you're not being bamboozled by a lazy ghost. All these factors save the Spirit from the lowest score for identifiability.

Verdict - 6/15 (C-TIER) | Apart from the lack of actual strengths and just one huge glaring weakness, the Spirit truly is the textbook example of the average ghost. You can buy yourself a lot more breathing space than usual with this ghost just by smudging it, which subsequently means a lot more spare time to proceed with the investigation and gather any further evidence that you can but other than that, it isn't really 'weak' in any other area. I think it would be a mistake to conclude it's a bottom-tier ghost when it's clearly not as limited as the ghosts that are definitely weaker, hence it only JUST scrapes into the tier of overall average ghosts.

• Cannot hunt for 180 seconds after being smudged by a player
  
  
• If the ghost initiates a hunt before 180 seconds have elapsed since it was smudged, you can rule out Spirit

EMF LEVEL 5 + DOTS + SPIRIT BOX

Strength - 5/5 | In my honest opinion, for a ghost that can neither hunt earlier nor drain extra sanity nor move faster during hunts than the average ghost, the Wraith is arguably the strongest 'average' ghost in the game! Take everything the average ghost is capable of, then add a teleport ability into the mix, then you have the Wraith. But it's not just the ability alone that you have to consider, it's also the ramifications that go along with it.

When it invokes its ability, it can teleport to any random player's location no matter where they are on the map, regardless of whether or not they're on the same floor of the building or how far away they are from the ghost room. This means that you're dealing with a ghost that can potentially spend quite a lot of time away from its favourite room and deceive you into thinking the ghost room is right by you when that's not the reality.

On top of that, when average sanity is low enough for it to start hunting, there is NOTHING stopping it from teleporting to your location and starting a hunt on top of you! This means that no matter how big or small the map is, until the ghost gives away its location at the start of a hunt, you're never truly safe anywhere on the map from the Wraith. And the bigger the map, the more problematic this ghost becomes!

If all of that was not enough, the Ascension update has introduced a new element that helps thwart ghosts during hunts: black salt, a handy survival tool that can slow down even the fastest ghosts in the middle of a hunt. But the introduction of this substance has inadvertently buffed the Wraith in comparison to every other ghost in the game. Because the Wraith is incapable of stepping in salt piles, it makes itself immune to the negative effects of black salt! In terms of ghost strength, the teleport ability combined with black salt immunity, makes the Wraith arguably the biggest exception to the rule when it comes to the Phasmophobia ghost roster!

Weakness - 5/5 | Even the Wraith's old 'weakness' made it so that it temporarily increased its activity level. Its newfound inability to step in salt isn't a hindrance at all. Its ability to do ghost events and hunt you is in no way reduced or diminished compared to the average ghost.

Identifiability - 3/5 | When it comes to identifying any ghost in the game with zero primary evidence, the Wraith used to be comfortably in the top 3 of easiest ghosts in the game to identify without needing the ghost to hunt. It's still not that difficult to identify outside of hunts, but it can vary based on the map and especially the size of the ghost room the Wraith occupies. Unless the ghost room is tiny, the absence of disturbed salt piles is not always 100% confirmation every time. You can now confirm the Wraith during hunts by seeing if it visibly walks over salt piles without disturbing them. However, unlike all the other ghosts in the game, you cannot use black salt to slow it down if it is pursuing you and that adds to the ghost's score when trying to identify it.

But what truly bumps up the Wraith's identifiability tally is that despite being easier to spot than some other ghosts, in attempting to identify it with secondary evidence, it has a greater probability of killing you than the majority of all other ghosts in the game. You will notice this when you think you are far enough from its ghost room ready for the hunt to begin, only to hear the Wraith immediately in your presence, having teleported to your precise location just before commencing the hunt. And if you're playing a difficulty with a very brief grace period to boot, you MUST react fast and start running for your life! After all, the Wraith is a stalking ghost, and the few stalking ghosts that exist, present a unique yet very direct and lethal threat to your chances of survival that cannot be replicated by other ghosts.

Verdict - 13/15 (A-TIER) | I love the Wraith, definitely one of my favourite ghosts in the game. Even on maps such as Sunny Meadows, you could be at the opposite end of the building from its ghost room but as soon as it invokes its ability, the Wraith just snaps its fingers and it's right with you in an instant: the most terrifying yet perfect stalker ghost! Its immunity to black salt gives it a major advantage over other ghosts during hunts and makes it such a unique threat unlike any other. It is almost deserving of S-tier status, if only it wasn't relatively simple to deduce its identity with salt. But the Ascension update has been generous to the Wraith most of all, enough to make it a top-5 ghost!

• Can teleport to within a 3-metre radius of any random player anywhere in the map - this produces a reading of EMF level 2 (or level 5) at the location to which it teleported
  
  
• Cannot step in salt piles at all
  
  
• If the ghost does step in any salt piles, you can rule out Wraith

DOTS + ULTRAVIOLET + SPIRIT BOX

Strength - 5/5 | The Phantom is best described as the Wraith's sibling. It has a stalking ability that allows it to wander to the location of any player it chooses anywhere on the map, but it is not quite as instantaneous as the Wraith's teleport. However, it is arguable that in making the longer treks back and forth, it spends a little extra time away from its favourite room than the Wraith. But the same principle applies: it can trick you into thinking you're near its room when you're not, and you cannot claim anywhere to be a risk-free location from the Phantom until the hunt begins, which sometimes can start right by your side!

What's more, the Phantom is less visible during hunts: this is done by having longer intervals of invisibility, making it a deceptive ghost to face and a very lethal one to attempt to loop if you're lacking confidence. One ill-timed step in the wrong direction, and the Phantom could double-back during a lengthy interval where you cannot see in which direction it is facing, and kill you outright before you even realise where it actually is. A tiny extra is that it can drain sanity twice as fast if it has line-of-sight on a player within its 10-metre radius when it physically manifests, however the last one is quite a negligible strength admittedly, and can be stopped with a photo camera at least during ghost events.

Weakness - 5/5 | The Phantom's weakness as stated in the journal is more to do with being able to identify it. It doesn't bear any consequence in terms of making it less of a hunter or less likely to kill you during hunts.

Identifiability - 3/5 | This ghost is pretty easy to identify as it has two ways of being identified with zero primary evidence. You can crack the case outside of a hunt by taking its photo during a ghost event. You can tell it is the Phantom when the ghost model vanishes before your eyes, you no longer hear the heartbeat and electronic disturbance ceases. You can further verify this by checking the photo in the album - the ghost will not be in the photo, but the picture will be clear and not distorted like the typical ghost photo. When in a multiplayer game though, it is only the original author of the ghost photo who can verify this!

In my experience with the Phantom, it can be 50:50 whether it shows itself in ghost events or will hunt first. It's one of the easiest ghosts in the game to identify but if it only shows itself during a hunt, then its invisible tendencies, although obvious, can disorientate you and significantly increase your chances of getting killed in a failed attempt to loop the ghost. Just like with the Wraith, you need to react QUICKLY if the Phantom wanders to your location and then starts a hunt on top of you. Although it is slightly easier to identify than its brother, whether by letting you take its picture, or being palpable in how invisible it is when it hunts, the Phantom is still bloody dangerous to identify and more likely to kill you than a lot of other ghosts in the game. That's why I give it an identifiability score of 3.

Verdict - 13/15 (A-TIER) | I used to be of the opinion that the Phantom was a tad overrated but over time, I have come to slowly but surely appreciate it and respect it a little more, to the point where it's one of those ghosts that is knocking on the door of S-tier status. Being less visible during hunts definitely is enough by itself to make this ghost trip up a number of ghost hunters, and it is one of the few genuine stalking ghosts on the roster: two major traits that compound with each other to create a terrifying ghost that doesn't need an earlier hunting threshold or faster movement speed, just like the Wraith. They function almost exactly like each other and are so evenly matched in terms of their powers and threat level for the player, that they are joined by the hip and belong together when it comes to their places in the rankings!

• Can wander to the location of any random player anywhere in the map - this produces a reading of EMF level 2 at the location where the Phantom ends its wandering ability
  
  
• Can drain a player's sanity by 0.5% per second if it has line-of-sight within its radius of 10 metres when it has physically manifested
  
  
• Can phase out of visibility during hunts for intervals ranging between 1 and 2 seconds
  
  
• Can phase out of sight for the remainder of a ghost event after taking its photo – you can still hear the ghost's audio after its model vanishes but you cannot hear heartbeats and your electronic equipment stops malfunctioning. You can check the ghost photo in the album: its model will not be visible and the photo will be clear instead of distorted
  
  
• If the ghost's physical manifestation remains after its photo is taken, or if it phases out of sight during hunts for intervals less than 1 second, you can rule out Phantom

ULTRAVIOLET + GHOST WRITING + SPIRIT BOX

Strength - 3/5 | The Poltergeist is a normal, average ghost with the power to drain any nearby player's sanity by 2% for every object it throws. Although its extra throw power is more of a thematic attribute than it is something that makes the Poltergeist more dangerous, it can also invoke a multi-throw ability to throw multiple objects in just one interaction.

Weakness - 5/5 | The journal might claim that having no objects to throw makes the Poltergeist weak but in actuality, that scenario makes it harder to identify; it doesn't make it a less capable hunter by any means.

Identifiability - 1/5 | It wasn't always the case in the past but nowadays, Poltergeists are easier to identify. You can wait until it hunts and see how frequently and violently it throws objects while looping it during a hunt. Or if you have the patience and are willing to be more observant, you can see if it does multi-throws, something you can set up a video camera for and watch via the CCTV from the safety of the van! Even if there are not many objects in its room, you can always fetch more objects from other rooms and bring them to the Poltergeist. Additionally, you can add the playback function of the sound sensor to provide you with audio so that you can hear multiple objects being tossed about at once. Another neat trick is that from a safe enough distance, you can use the dash display of the tier 3 paramic when the Poltergeist throws things during hunts: you should see multiple circles with decibel readings popping up all over the place!

Verdict - 9/15 (C-TIER) | The Poltergeist is an even more fun ghost than it was in the past. It truly owns the theme of violently throwing objects all over the place which can make small dents into average sanity. But it's also easier to identify than it used to be and while this is good for the players, it's not so great for the Poltergeist itself. Despite its capabilities for draining extra sanity, it's an average ghost overall.

• Has a higher tendency to throw objects
  
  
• Can throw an object with a power range of 2 – 6
  
  
• Has a 100% chance during hunts to throw an object in range, every 0.5 seconds
  
  
• Can drain 2% sanity per object thrown in the proximity of any players
  
  
• Can throw multiple objects with just one interaction
  
  
• If you are looping the ghost while it is hunting at a spot with plenty of objects and you notice that it is neither throwing objects with great power nor throwing them consistently every half second, you can rule out Poltergeist

DOTS + ULTRAVIOLET + GHOST ORB

Strength - 5/5 | The Banshee's strength is somewhat unconventional. It has a stalking ability that is functionally the exact same as that of the Phantom, except it only uses this ability on its target who is chosen at random at the beginning of multiplayer games. Furthermore, what's weird about the Banshee's ability is that according to the game's code, it's not actually a separate stalking ability like the Wraith or the Phantom both possess but instead, its attached to its basic wandering mechanic. This explains why a Banshee will spam its ability counter like crazy according to the post-game statistics, and why it actually stalks far more often than its stalking brethren!

But at the same time, its ability is bizarrely limited in the sense that it CANNOT follow its target if they're on a different floor to the Banshee or its ghost room, thus depending on the map layout, the target is more likely to be safer from the Banshee than anyone is from the Wraith or Phantom! It's also more likely to do singing ghost events more often and these singing events only apply to the target, but the target can lose 15% sanity per singing ghost event if they collide with the Banshee.

On top of that, the Banshee ignores average sanity in multiplayer games: it only cares about the individual sanity of its chosen target and can hunt as soon as that individual's sanity is 50% or lower, even if they're outside the building. This means that the Banshee is capable of hunting earlier than 50% average sanity, so long as the target has lost a lot of individual sanity early on.

Weakness - 4/5 | Its weakness is also unconventional. Because it has a chosen target, two things can happen: either the target's sanity never goes below 50%, or if it hunts with the target still in the building, the Banshee cannot chase or target any other player until it finds and kills its chosen target. However, if the target is outside of the building when it hunts, the Banshee will chase and try to kill anyone it can see. Additionally, if you're able to deduce which member of the group is the target, you can have them above 50% sanity the entire time or even camping in the van and the Banshee becomes the most HARMLESS ghost in the game, as in you can prevent it from hunting completely if you decide to use this tactic!

I would give the Banshee's weakness a low score if we were talking strictly about multiplayer games only, but this does not organically play out on a regular basis. In singleplayer, the Banshee does not really have any true weaknesses whatsoever compared to the average ghost and so would get the max score for that. With everything considered, I give the Banshee's weakness tally a score of 4.

Identifiability - 2/5 | Regardless of how many players are in the lobby, you can positively identify the Banshee by using a parabolic microphone and wait patiently for it to do its unique scream. Sometimes you might hear it quite quickly, other times you could be waiting for ages, it's completely random. But believe it or not, there are actually easier methods to identify the Banshee to the point where its unique scream is double confirmation on top.

In singleplayer as the only target, as long as you are conducting a motion sensor test on the same floor as the ghost room, you could try different rooms and see if the Banshee follows you to whichever room you're in and will trigger a motion sensor. You should repeat this in multiple rooms to be certain but because the Banshee stalks far more often than any other stalking ghost, you should see the motion sensor being triggered quite frequently. Furthermore, whereas both the Wraith and the Phantom will leave behind an EMF signature when they use their stalking abilities, the Banshee's ability does NOT trigger the EMF reader. Because of all these factors combined in solo play where you do not even need to get the ghost to hunt in order to positively identify it, I would give the Banshee's identifiability a score of just 1 because it is THAT simple!

In multiplayer games though, you have two options: either perform the same solo tests but with everyone huddled together in a group, or you want everyone in the building and then get the ghost hunting so that you can determine if it's chasing just one person. Do bear in mind however that the Banshee is quite a conditional hunter in multiplayer games: if the target is outside during the hunts, then the test is pointless and won't tell you anything. And if you suspect Banshee enough to do this test but the ghost ends up not being a Banshee after all, then the team is putting itself at great risk. It might seem a tad generous but for multiplayer, I'd give the Banshee a score of 3 at the absolute max, considering that there is an incentive to get the ghost to hunt and it could go wrong. But taking both singleplayer and multiplayer games into account, I've averaged out its identifiability score to 2.

Verdict - 11/15 (B-TIER) | As long as you are its chosen target and you are on the same floor of the building as it, the Banshee becomes an even more active, clingy and prolific stalker than the Wraith and the Phantom! Just like the other stalkers, you're never truly safe from it and the bigger the map, the bigger the problem becomes. But if it's a street house basement Banshee or it occupies a floor with just two or three rooms, it nerfs its power yet makes it harder to identify at the same time. The Banshee can stalk more than any other for certain, but it's a circumstantial stalker at the same time and that makes it a more inconsistent threat in comparison. Whereas the Wraith and Phantom both are a consistent threat to anyone, anywhere, at any time, and are ghosts that might demand that you identify them during hunts, the Banshee has multiplayer weaknesses that make it a diminished threat and even then, you can identify it without letting it hunt if everyone in the lobby is aware and smart enough to coordinate on safer tests, making it far less of a dangerous ghost to test and confirm. Don't get me wrong, the Banshee's stalking still makes it an above average ghost regardless, but she really is the little sister to her two big brothers, and it shows in the rankings as they are both top of A-tier, when the Banshee can't even top B-tier.

• Picks a random target at the beginning of the investigation in multiplayer
  
  
• Picks a new random target if the original target dies or disconnects from the game
  
  
• Can drain its target's sanity by 15% per singing ghost event that ends by colliding with the ghost
  
  
• Has a higher tendency to perform singing ghost events
  
  
• Can wander to the location of its target - this however does NOT produce a reading of EMF level 2 and for now, only seems to work on the same floor of the building where the Banshee's room is located (which could be a bug)
  
  
• Can emit a scream heard only via the parabolic microphone – a rare but unique audio
  
  
• Can only hunt if its target's sanity is 50% or lower – average sanity does not count
  
  
• Can only chase and kill its target if they're inside the building during a hunt – it will ignore other players and will not kill them even if they run to or through the ghost
  
  
• Can chase and kill any player during hunts if its target is outside of the building
  
  
• If you're playing multiplayer where everyone is inside the building and the ghost seems to chase anyone it sees and/or changes different targets in the middle of a hunt, or if you're playing singleplayer and you test different locations on the same floor as the ghost room with a motion sensor but the ghost is seemingly not stalking you and not triggering any of the motion sensors to reach your location, you can rule out Banshee

EMF LEVEL 5 + ULTRAVIOLET + FREEZING TEMPERATURES

Strength - 5/5 | The Jinn is one of the strongest ghosts in the game, no question! It can gain 2.5 metres per second in movement speed during hunts if it has line-of-sight on any player. It will slow down to normal speed when 3 metres away from its target but will still be capable of gradually accelerating in movement speed after that. If that wasn't enough, the Jinn can silently drain the sanity of any player in its 3-metre radius or the same room by a staggering 25%, and you wouldn't even know it happened to you!

The only way you can tell that the ability occurred is by leaving an active EMF reader by the fuse box - because the Jinn cannot ever intentionally turn off the fuse box, instead it interacts with it to invoke its sanity-draining ability. If the EMF reader goes off yet the main power is still on, it means the Jinn successfully drained your sanity!

Weakness - 5/5 | Although the Jinn can trip the fuse by accident if it turns on one light switch too many, it's doing itself a favour by never being able to intentionally turn off the fuse box. And yes, if you turn the fuse box off, it disables the Jinn's powers. But even under such circumstances, it's still very much a normal, average ghost. Even in its 'weak' form, it can still hunt and drain sanity in the same ways as the average ghost can which is the basis of assessing each ghost's weakness, thus it's not a true weakness that makes the Jinn weaker than the average ghost.

Identifiability - 4/5 | When it comes to secondary evidence, it's impossible to positively identify the Jinn with the fuse box switched off. Even if you feel like you're dealing with a Jinn, you still want to keep the fuse box switched on at all times even if it means deliberately allowing it to be at its strongest. With the fuse box switched on, there are two ways to identify the Jinn which are not difficult, but both ways are most certainly dangerous and risky! You can either show yourself during hunts for a speed test as long as you give the Jinn enough distance to use its extra movement speed, or you can stay in its room and keep your ears peeled for the EMF reader going off by the fuse box. Each way carries a degree of risk however.

Verdict - 14/15 (S-TIER) | This ghost is impressively strong in its own way. Its bonus movement speed might be reliant on line-of-sight during hunts and might cease when it is 3 metres away, but it also does build up speed gradually over time as well when it's close enough to you. Unless you have an EMF reader left on top of the fuse box, the Jinn can also tank your sanity on the quiet. And if you try to deny the Jinn by switching off the fuse box, disabling its powers just makes it hide in complete obscurity and make it virtually impossible to identify the ghost directly. If you want to crack the case, you have no choice but to face the Jinn at the height of its powers!

• Can immediately attain a movement speed of 2.5 metres per second during hunts if the fuse box is switched on, it has line-of-sight and is more than 3 metres away from its target
  
  
• Can interact with the fuse box while it is switched on to perform a unique ability that drains 25% sanity of any player in the same room or caught within its radius of 3 metres – its sanity-drain ability can be detected and confirmed with an active EMF reader pointed at the fuse box
  
  
• Cannot intentionally turn off the fuse box (although it can trip it accidentally by means of turning on one light switch too many)
  
  
• If the ghost does not dramatically speed up with line-of-sight on a player and then slow down a few metres away during hunts, or if it ever intentionally flips the breaker off, you can rule out Jinn

GHOST ORB + GHOST WRITING + SPIRIT BOX

Strength - 4/5 | The Mare is a tad underrated in terms of power. It's not just the fact that it can start a hunt at 60% sanity in a dark room, but it's also more likely to turn off light switches as well as more likely to do ghost events where it busts light bulbs and makes rooms permanently dark to accentuate its strength.

Think about what that ultimately means; rooms with broken lights means that unless you walk around with a lit candle in your hand, you're always going to lose sanity by spending time in those rooms and it's always going to be bad for visibility unless you have a flashlight on your person. To top it all off, the Mare also loves to roam around in general, but is especially more likely to roam away from its ghost room if it is lit.

Weakness - 4/5 | The only dent in the Mare's armour is that it's limited to 40% average sanity for its hunting threshold when in lit rooms or areas. But Mares typically have many ways to get around this problem so it's a minor weakness at best.

Identifiability - 4/5 | The Mare is simultaneously a difficult and dangerous ghost in the game to identify when you're lacking primary evidence. Its ability to immediately turn off a light switch can actually be replicated by any other ghost just by sheer coincidence, although the Mare has an increased chance of doing it and can do it more than once during an investigation. But other ghosts are capable of not ever turning on a light switch once as well as doing a few ghost events where they bust light bulbs. Unless you can coax the Mare into using its ability more than once, you're usually better off ruling out other ghosts until the Mare is the only valid option remaining.

Verdict - 12/15 (A-TIER) | I believe that the Mare is the most underrated ghost in Phasmophobia. It might be anecdotal to say it, but I've personally witnessed the Mare rack up impressive kill tallies in my multiplayer games either because people struggle to identify it or they underestimate the ghost significantly when it happens to be the Mare. The most powerful Mares I've come across are nightmarish to behold as they keep the lights off or just bust them completely, they roam a LOT and can start hunts from different rooms on a frequent basis to keep you guessing. And it's by no means simple to positively identify a Mare either. It's not one major thing that the Mare has but instead, a combination of many small details that all add up to make an overall strong ghost!

• Cannot turn light switches on
  
  
• Has an ability to immediately turn off a light switch after a player has turned it on
  
  
• Has a higher tendency to turn light switches off
  
  
• Has a higher tendency to break light bulbs during ghost events
  
  
• Has a higher tendency to roam away from lit rooms to dark rooms
  
  
• Can initiate a hunt from dark rooms and areas as early as 60% average sanity
  
  
• Can initiate a hunt from lit rooms and areas as early as 40% average sanity
  
  
• If the ghost initiates a hunt in a lit room or area when you are certain that average sanity is above 40% (best to use a candle for this) or if it ever turns a light switch on, you can rule out Mare

GHOST ORB + GHOST WRITING + FREEZING TEMPERATURES

Strength - 5/5 | If you allow the Revenant to know your location, it instantly gains a tremendous boost of 3 metres per second in movement speed during hunts. To put this into perspective, a normal speed ghost of 1.7 metres per second has to have enough time spent seeing you during a hunt, all so that it can eventually reach its max top speed of 2.8 metres per second.

However, the Revenant doesn't require sight of anyone to become a speed demon, just knowledge of their location. This especially makes the Revenant a more frightening prospect when playing on larger maps or trying to escape it in more open areas or longer corridors.

Weakness - 4/5 | When the Revenant cannot find anyone, its crippling weakness becomes most apparent. However, the post-Tempest Revenant is not so pathetic as its past form. Not only can it keep some bonus movement speed going depending on where it last saw you, but it also applies whenever the Revenant hears you talk or can sense flashing electronics in your hands!

A ghost's identity makes little difference on a larger map if it is far away from you during a hunt and has no idea where you are. But on smaller maps, the lack of movement speed when it is not chasing definitely hurts its chances of killing you. This is because an average ghost, even when not chasing someone, can use its normal speed to travel further and explore more of the map, and possibly get lucky by opening a closet or locker door towards the end of a hunt. If the Revenant never knows where anyone is at any point during a hunt, it simply won't be able to travel as far and accrue enough opportunities to get lucky in the same sense.

Identifiability - 4/5 | The Revenant is not hard to identify but it's always done by getting the ghost to hunt which is its entire theme. With the way the post-Tempest Revenant is, it's always going to be very dangerous, whether you're in a smaller map or larger one. You don't always have to give away your location to it but its easy to make a slight error that the ghost can profit from, and its movement speed when it can't see anyone is shared by another ghost, which means you'd have to show yourself to the ghost in such a scenario and take the massive risk.

Verdict - 13/15 (A-TIER) | If it knows where you are, the Revenant suddenly becomes the most powerful ghost in the game. But if it doesn't have a clue where you are, it becomes one of the weakest. It's very much a black-and-white ghost, from one extreme to another. It used to be a former king of ancient times when players could not even sprint. While it has managed to regain a lot of that former glory by keeping up with the strongest ghosts and finally ditching the title of the most overrated ghost in Phasmophobia, its weakness means that it will never truly achieve S-tier status. Even when I'm being generous to the Revenant, it's still not consistent enough or deserving enough overall of a crown along with the current kings and queens.

• Can immediately attain a movement speed of 3 metres per second during hunts when it can sense the location of any player
  
  
• Can only move at a noticeably slow speed of 1 metre per second during hunts without sensing the location of any player
  
  
• Can keep increased movement speed after immediately arriving at the last known location of any player but gradually decreases by 0.75 metres per second, for a total duration of 2.7 seconds
  
  
• If the ghost does not dramatically speed up when sensing a player's location, or if does not move very slowly when it has no knowledge of any player's location, you can rule out Revenant

EMF LEVEL 5 + GHOST WRITING + FREEZING TEMPERATURES

Strength - 2/5 | The Shade is the one ghost that hunts less than any other ghost in Phasmophobia which is why I was originally considering giving this metric a score of just 1. But when it does start a hunt, it is just like any other normal, average ghost that the game has to offer and can still accelerate in movement speed with line-of-sight on you and punish you for being in a bad position or other fumbling mistakes.

Weakness - 1/5 | First of all, it has a reduced chance to do a ghost event until average sanity is about 50%, so it's the one ghost in the game that is going to drain your sanity slower than any other, which is exacerbated further with the way sanity drain is halved in singleplayer. When it comes to hunting, it cannot hunt until average sanity is 35%. And to further add insult to injury, it cannot start a hunt in the same room as any player, a particular weakness that is exacerbated with there being more people in multiplayer to block off more rooms for the Shade to start a hunt from. No matter the situation, the Shade just cannot catch a break.

Identifiability - 2/5 | The whole point of the Shade is that it's supposed to be shy and inactive in order to make itself harder to identify. But in truth, Shades are misunderstood ghosts and there can be such a thing as an active Shade. If you just learn to give it space and leave it alone in its ghost room, you might get a more compliant Shade who will cough up those elusive pieces of evidence. In multiplayer, you have strength in numbers to impose zone-denial against the Shade and in singleplayer, you should have enough sanity pills and time (due to rate of sanity-drain being halved) to test for the Shade and positively identify it.

Verdict - 5/15 (D-TIER) | Arguably the absolute weakest hunter in Phasmophobia. The Shade tries to place more emphasis on being harder to identify than the average ghost but there are ways to encourage more activity out of it. It's not as hard to positively identify as other ghosts with secondary evidence so it shouldn't give you many problems. Unless someone unwittingly misuses a cursed possession, no one should really die to the Shade under any circumstances.

• Cannot do interactions that would produce readings of EMF level 3 when in the same room as a player – although interactions in the same room as a player can be triggered if the Shade is outside of the room
  
  
• Has a higher tendency to manifest as a black shadow during ghost events
  
  
• Has a chance to appear in shadow form for ghost events triggered by the Music Box and the Summoning Circle
  
  
• Gains +2% chance to trigger a ghost event for each 1% of average sanity lost – from 0% chance at 100% average sanity, to 100% chance at 50% average sanity
  
  
• Can initiate a hunt as early as 35% average sanity
  
  
• Cannot initiate a hunt in the same room as any player
  
  
• If you are certain that average sanity is at 100% and the ghost does a ghost event, or if you are certain that average sanity is above 35% and the ghost started a hunt, or even if it started a hunt at any sanity in the same room as any player, you can rule out Shade

ULTRAVIOLET + GHOST WRITING + FREEZING TEMPERATURES

Strength - 5/5 | It has a unique ability where it has a chance to start a hunt at any sanity it pleases, even at 100% sanity. Note how I said chance: the Demon can use its ability to invoke a chance to hunt at any sanity, but that chance can either succeed or fail. This explains potential scenarios in post-game statistics for example, where the Demon used its hunting ability two or three times, yet only hunted once. But if it doesn't choose to use its ability, it can still start doing regular hunts as early as 70% sanity. Unlike every other ghost in the game with a minimum cooldown of 25 seconds between the end of a hunt and the start of the next one, the Demon can go again in 20 seconds. And smudging it only spares you 60 guaranteed seconds!

Weakness - 5/5 | The only thing that hurts the Demon's hunting potential is that crucifixes provide 50% extra radius. Since the Ascension update, the Demon has essentially been slightly nerfed, seeing as 50% bonus radius for each tier overall, is superior to the pre-Ascension crucifix which had a default 3-metre radius which then became 5 metres for the Demon. It wasn't always the case in the past either but nowadays, crucifixes cannot go from being intact to fully consumed in mere seconds; each charge of a crucifix makes a ghost endure the minimum hunt cooldown. Having said that, to counterbalance the extra radius of protection the crucifixes provide, the Demon can still try to hunt again in 20 seconds instead of 25, and the crucifixes are very much a limited resource. Against a ghost like the Demon, they only provide very temporary cover and after that, its minor weakness ceases to be an issue for it.

Identifiability - 4/5 | Because it's the supreme hunting ghost of Phasmophobia, pretty much every way to positively identify the Demon involves testing it for its hunting supremacy, meaning putting yourself at a lot of risk to notice the telltale signs. And if that wasn't bad enough, just as you might be surprised to come across a ghost like an active Shade, you may be even more surprised to realise that there can be such a ghost as a pacifist Demon, and yes I've come across one or two of them myself, no joke!

Even when the evidence combo had both Demon and Shade as options, I legitimately had a Demon that waited until I reached 0% sanity and started a hunt from another room instead of its ghost room, actually trying to ghostfish me into thinking it was a Shade and it was only because of further testing that I realised it was a conniving Demon.

If all of this wasn't bad enough, just because the Demon is capable of hunting again after a 20-second cooldown or after 60 seconds of being smudged, does not mean that it will do any of that on a regular basis! In fact, these traits seem to be uncommon in my most recent experiences with this ghost. You truly need to pay attention in the event that you come across the less palpable and less aggressive Demons who can seemingly play the long game!

Verdict - 14/15 (S-TIER) | The Demon is practically the adult film star of hunts - all it knows is excess and that's what makes it arguably the strongest ghost in the game despite not having extra movement speed. It's the most threatening and dangerous of all the early hunters, and it can hunt again sooner than any other ghost in the game whether it's after the previous hunt or if it has been smudged. And on occasion, you might get the rare Demon that tests and deceives you by deciding to play the long game by hunting more like the average ghost just for variety's sake. Very few ghosts test your survival instinct as much as the Demon!

• Has a unique ability that gives itself a chance (that sometimes succeeds and sometimes fails) to initiate a hunt at any sanity, even as early as 100% average sanity
  
  
• Can initiate a hunt as early as 70% average sanity (for regular hunts, not tied to its ability)
  
  
• Can hunt again after a minimum cooldown of 20 seconds
  
  
• Cannot hunt for 60 seconds after being smudged by a player
  
  
• Cannot hunt within 150% of the base radius of a functioning crucifix
  
  
• If you are certain that average sanity is above 50% and no hunts are being initiated, or if you are certain that the ghost initiated a hunt just outside the base radius of a functioning crucifix but within the bonus 50% range, you can rule out Demon

DOTS + GHOST ORB + FREEZING TEMPERATURES

Strength - 3/5 | It's a normal hunting ghost but with the ability to drain 15% sanity which can target anyone who is within range when it occurs. It does this with a specific door interaction, and there may even be times where you're not paying enough attention and they've sapped your sanity once or twice already and surprise you with what feels like an earlier hunt than usual. If you come across a Yurei that is not shy when it comes to using its ability, it really feels like you're being early-hunted by one of the Demon's relatives. But it's not often that it uses its ability or is consistent with it, plus it is an ability that is subject to map layout and RNG. If the Yurei occupies an area where there are no doors to use its ability on, then it's a completely normal ghost.

Weakness - 5/5 | The Yurei doesn't have any diminished power in terms of hunts or ghost events. As for the weakness stated in the journal, it's arguably the worst-designed and most pointless weakness for any ghost in the game. If you smudge the Yurei, it will still not be able to hunt for 90 seconds but in addition, it is stuck in its favourite room for 60 seconds and cannot leave or wander away from it. In the event that you smudge it when it roams outside of its favourite room, it will then wander back there immediately. Even then, this doesn't prevent the Yurei from teleporting outside of the room it was smudged in just to do a ghost event in your presence in a different room.

Its stated weakness in the journal is so negligible that it doesn't even directly confirm the Yurei if the ghost doesn't trigger your best-placed motion sensors in those 60 seconds, and that's assuming it's occupying a room where doing a test is possible in the first place. It's an unreliable test for an unreliable weakness and is not particularly helpful as a form of secondary evidence. Unless you have a spare smudge stick for this specific test and have eliminated almost every ghost on the list as an option, it's usually a wiser idea to save your smudge sticks for when the ghost is actually hunting.

Identifiabilty - 3/5 | Annoyingly, the Yurei can occupy one side of the scale or the other when it comes to how easy or hard it is to identify. While its ability is a potentially dangerous one when it is in play, the Yurei truthfully isn't one of the most dangerous ghosts to identify. Either it does its ability and you can immediately circle Yurei in the journal, simple as it sounds. Or it decides never to do its ability for whatever reason, which consequently turns the investigation into a battle of attrition as you painstakingly rule out every other ghost on the list.

The first thing to know is that it has an increased chance to slam doors but all ghosts can slam doors so this is not a unique thing for the Yurei. There's also a very rare chance that it can touch/slam the front door of the building even when nobody is inside, something only the Yurei can do but I don't recommend prolonging an investigation on the small hope that you might see it.

What distinguishes its ability is an audio that sounds like two doors being touched at the same time, even though it only interacts with one door for its ability. Unfortunately there is such a thing as the bullsh*t Yurei: this is a Yurei which can either go for a long time in investigations without using its ability once, or uses its ability on maps such as campsites and Sunny Meadows where its ability is not so clear in terms of audio. Either way, it becomes a completely average ghost with no other reliable form of secondary evidence to positively identify it with, except to rule out all the other possible ghosts.

When you're dealing with a ghost that can on a few occasions be harder to positively identify with secondary evidence (or lack of it) than even the Mare, you know this ghost is an absolute annoyance! You beat an investigation in Phasmophobia by surviving AND correctly determining the ghost's identity. When you are dealing with a bullsh*t Yurei, it truly merits an identifiability score of 5 but thankfully in more recent experiences, it is not that often that a Yurei will take things that far. But on the very rare occasions where I get the ghost wrong, the vast majority of the time it ends up being a bullsh*t Yurei that was being far too ambiguous.

Verdict - 11/15 (B-TIER) | For the record, the Yurei is my least favourite ghost in the game: it doesn't seem to use its ability that often and its smudge weakness is poorly-designed with no real benefit or purpose towards exploiting it. My biased perspective aside, the Yurei is definitely above average in terms of danger as it is essentially a junior Demon when it uses its ability. It either does its ability and tears your average sanity to shreds while making itself an early hunter in the process, or it hides its ability and masks itself in total obscurity as the perfect average ghost with no other reliable means of secondary evidence to confirm it. An absolutely annoying ghost for a mixture of right and wrong reasons.

• Has a unique ability – drains 15% sanity of any player within a 7.5 metre radius of the ghost. It can show in the form of a door interaction or door slam and is accompanied by an audio that sounds like two synchronised door touches in one interaction (Note: ALL ghosts can replicate this audio during hunts in street houses if they open both doors of a closet at the same time!)
  
  
• Cannot perform its ability if there is no door in its current room
  
  
• Can perform a door touch/slam on the entrance/exit door(s) of the building even with nobody inside
  
  
• Cannot leave its favourite room or area for 60 seconds after being smudged – will go back to its room after the end of hunts and ghost events
  
  
• If the ghost has been smudged but leaves its room before 60 seconds have elapsed (without doing a ghost event) and its ghost room is one which you can test reliably with well-placed motion sensors, you can rule out Yurei
  
  
• If the ghost occupies a certain room or area in which it's virtually impossible to do a reliable Yurei smudge test as there are not enough motion sensors or decent spots for motion sensors to be placed, and if it also happens to never show its ability once then in that scenario, there is currently no conclusive way of utilising secondary evidence with which to rule out Yurei

EMF LEVEL 5 + DOTS + FREEZING TEMPERATURES

Strength - 3/5 | The Oni is a normal hunting ghost except that instead of the default 10%, it can drain 20% sanity in a single ghost event. You feel the effects of this power a lot more when your individual sanity is the average sanity in singleplayer anyway, but that's because ghost events can only drain one player's sanity at a time. In multiplayer, the Oni needs to be very extroverted with ghost events to be the sanity-drainer and potential early hunter it can be.

But to put the Oni's extra sanity drain into perspective, assuming you're a solo player and your sanity is slipping away in the darkness and both ghosts were to drain your sanity with a ghost event, the Oni would be able to hunt you as early as a Mare in a dark room. With both ghosts doing two ghost events, the Oni can hunt you about the same time as the Demon would start regularly hunting you at 70% sanity! So kind of like the Yurei, the Oni also can appear to be like the Demon's cousin but more reliable!

Weakness - 5/5 | It's a normal hunting ghost with nothing to weaken it or lessen its chances of killing you in a hunt compared to the average ghost. Some people might think that its inability to manifest in mist form is a weakness, but I am of the opinion that it is not. A ghost in mist form just makes it easy to cross Oni off the list. But if you don't witness it and haven't seen the ghost hunt yet, then you cannot assume anything. Furthermore, because the Oni always physically manifests any time it does a ghost event, that basically means that all of its ghost events can drain your sanity passively if it has line-of-sight, whereas mist ghost events cannot do that.

Identifiability - 3/5 | There are elements of risk and danger involved in positively identifying the Oni. You have to get it to hunt, bring it to a looping spot and then observe it to see if it's more visible than the average ghost. This is not a particularly difficult thing to spot if you're able to tell the difference, but the Oni is one of those rare ghosts where you have to show yourself to it during hunts to confirm its secondary evidence. You must have a keen eye for how visible it is as well as be able to time in your head how short/long the intervals of invisibility last for, all while making sure you do not fixate your eyes on it so much that you lose track of your sense of direction while looping the ghost, and risk getting blocked by or stuck on something and killed in a potentially embarrassing way!

That's all assuming that you know where your average sanity is at and taking into account that this ghost is a possibility: if you don't have a clue as to what the average sanity is, the Oni is one of those ghosts that can shock you with a nasty surprise drop-hunt on top of you and your friends, sometimes immediately after a ghost event. It is not that difficult a ghost to positively identify, but it is a dangerous one no matter which way you do it!

Verdict - 11/15 (B-TIER) | The Oni has always been one of the most fun ghosts but it's now a legitimately dangerous and above average ghost as well. Even one ghost event that successfully drains sanity can make this ghost feel like an early hunter. And it can be dangerous to identify thanks to its insane potency with sanity-drain during ghost events. With this in mind, the one thing the Oni is proficient at is punishing players who get complacent. I used to think that it belonged in A-tier but after more consideration, I realise that it's not consistent enough to belong there. On occasions, you can get a boring Oni that refuses to do a single ghost event, rendering itself completely average and mundane in the process.

• Has a higher tendency to become more active with at least one player in the same room
  
  
• Has a higher tendency to show its physical form during ghost events
  
  
• Can drain a targeted player's sanity by 20% per ghost event that ends by colliding with the ghost
  
  
• Cannot appear in mist form during ghost events
  
  
• Can phase out of visibility during hunts for only fractions of a second
  
  
• If the ghost ever appears in mist form during ghost events or phases out of visibility during hunts like the average ghost, you can rule out Oni

DOTS + GHOST ORB + SPIRIT BOX

Strength - 4/5 | With no one talking at all in-game which is pretty much a given in singleplayer, this ghost is perfectly normal in terms of starting a hunt at 50% average sanity. But it can hunt as early as 80% sanity if people are talking in its presence and this is a major concern in multiplayer games seeing as sanity drain in the dark is double that of singleplayer, and in-game communication is far more probable with there being more players in the lobby. And if you do aggravate a Yokai enough for it to start hunting very early, it absolutely is capable of catching you and your friends by surprise as it practically starts a hunt on top of you!

Weakness - 2/5 | The Yokai is often called the 'deaf ghost' because of its tiny sensory radius of 2.5 metres, compared to that of every other ghost which is 7.5 metres for flickering electronics in your hands and 9 metres for hearing you talk. This means that when the ghost is hunting and it's almost in range of being able to track your location, the Yokai is the easiest ghost in the game to hide from during hunts because it has to be VERY close to your hiding spot to sense your flickering electronics in your hand or your voice.

When you think about this in finer detail, it's not the worst weakness in the game but it's still very significant and because people don't seem to know or understand this particular fact, they tend to look solely at the Yokai's early-hunting threshold and blow it out of proportion. Outside of hunts is a different story but during hunts, you can theoretically commit a plethora of mistakes and seemingly not get punished for them so long as the Yokai obviously can't see you or sense you in its immediate vicinity.

Identifiability - 4/5 | Its weakness during hunts is how you identify the Yokai with secondary evidence so inevitably you have to get it to hunt. But it's not always as simple as determining it with just one hunt; you might need to do so with more than one hunt in some cases. Depending on the map itself and your choice of hiding spot in relation to where the Yokai travels during hunts, you need to pick a spot that hunting ghosts are unlikely to check, but not too close to a main path that even the Yokai will know you're there.

And also do not discount the possibility that even if the ghost finds you, there's a very small chance it could be a Yokai that got incredibly lucky by setting a waypoint in the room you're in or setting one close enough to your hiding spot to be able to sense your electronics or your voice. If you ever have doubts, it's always best to be vigilant and repeat the Yokai test with a smudge stick ready as if it proves not to be a Yokai, then the ghost will find you and kill you!

I give it a score of 4 not solely because of the danger of talking in its presence allowing it to instantly hunt and not so much to do with the Yokai itself, but because its favourite room and the map layout do matter when it comes to doing accurate Yokai tests; it's NOT so simple to conduct an accurate test in the middle of a hunt, and it's also a high score to reflect the potential danger that arises from the test if the Yokai gets lucky or if the ghost that's not a Yokai passes the test.

On top of all of that, yes it is 100% anecdotal for me to say this but the Yokai is often what I like to call a 'ghostfish' where it can act such like an average ghost at times but can also copy behaviours and traits similar to other ghosts, whether that's a lot of singing ghost events like a Banshee or never turning on a light switch like a Mare. So when you have less evidence available to you, the Yokai can be one hell of a slippery ghost!

Verdict - 10/15 (B-TIER) | The Yokai is a strange double-edged sword of a ghost. It's a major threat in terms of being able to hunt as early as it can when people are talking in its presence. It's one of the strongest ghosts in the game for getting the surprise drop-hunt on players when they least expect it but when it comes to the hunt itself, it struggles to find players and punish them for even small mistakes as they can get away with more such as active electronics or talking at a bad time. Definitely a dangerous ghost, but not super-dangerous as some would be led to believe by its early-hunting potential.

• Can initiate a hunt as early as 80% average sanity if players are talking within its proximity
  
  
• Has a higher tendency to be more active if players are talking within its proximity
  
  
• Can only hear players talking and sense electronic disturbance during hunts within a 2.5-metre radius
  
  
• Has to be within a distance of 2.5 metres (instead of the default 5 metres) from the Music Box when it's playing in order for it to appear in a ghost event and then trigger a cursed hunt
  
  
• If you are certain that average sanity is between 50-80% (best to use a candle for this) and relentless talking is not triggering any hunts, or if it repeatedly can sense your voice or your flashing electronics during hunts between 2.5 and 7.5 metres distance away, you can rule out Yokai

ULTRAVIOLET + GHOST ORB + FREEZING TEMPERATURES

Strength - 3/5 | The Hantu can be fast, but it needs a LOT of circumstances in its favour to achieve its most terrifying potential. It needs to be on the ball by constantly switching off the fuse box for starters, and it's also a bit more dangerous if the weather happens to be snowy. A Hantu that is capable of using its powers to the fullest is like dealing with a Revenant that isn't limited by the requirement of knowing a player's whereabouts, but this is a rarity to witness. Despite being a 'speedy' ghost with the potential to be a threat, the irony is that the Hantu has less top speed and on average when chasing you, tends to be slower than the average ghost.

Weakness - 2/5 | The fact that vision of any player makes no difference to its movement speed is quite crippling for the Hantu. If you bring it to a looping spot that's warm, it's one of the safest ghosts in the game to loop. At its absolute weakest, the Hantu is not the slowest ghost in the game, but hunts generally never last long enough for gradually declining temperatures to give it enough of a speed boost. When looping the Hantu, you almost never get the feeling that the tables have turned and you're suddenly on the verge of certain death.

Identifiability - 2/5 | You have to get the Hantu to hunt if you're going to identify it with secondary evidence. However, the Hantu is notorious for its inconsistent footsteps during hunts as it moves through rooms of differing temperatures so for the most part, you can get away with hiding during hunts and listening to the footsteps. The Hantu is one of the ghosts least likely to give you a hard time trying to identify it. And while switching off the fuse box does allow it to lower temperatures throughout the entire map, it also reveals its freezing breath during hunts.

Verdict - 7/15 (C-TIER) | It's hard to believe that the Hantu was even more pathetic in its original form than how it is today, but it still needs something more than highly-conditional bonus speed to be a respectable threat. It's so dependent on awful weather and constantly switching off the fuse box to be even close to its full potential. Either way, it serves itself up as one of the easier hunting ghosts to identify just by listening to its footsteps, and the vast majority of average ghosts are more of a threat to loop than this Indonesian entity. Unless you're exploring a campsite in snowy weather and are too lazy to switch the generator on, you're very rarely going to see the Hantu in its most terrifying form, and this sadly makes it a ghost marginally below average overall.

• Freezing temperatures is mandatory in games with at least one available evidence type
  
  
• Cannot turn the fuse box on
  
  
• Has a higher tendency to turn the fuse box off
  
  
• Shows freezing breath during hunts when the fuse box is turned off
  
  
• Movement speed during hunts cannot gradually accelerate with continued line-of-sight
  
  
• Movement speed during hunts scales based on the current temperature of the room: 1.4 metres per second at 15°C, 1.75 metres per second at 12°C, 2.1 metres per second at 9°C, 2.3 metres per second at 6°C, 2.5 metres per second at 3°C and 2.7 metres per second at 0°C or below
  
  
• If there are no freezing temperatures in the ghost room, or if it gradually accelerates in speed with line-of-sight like the average ghost during hunts, you can rule out Hantu

EMF LEVEL 5 + DOTS + ULTRAVIOLET

Strength - 2/5 | There's not much to say here about the Goryo other than it's a completely normal, average ghost in terms of strength.

Weakness - 4/5 | The Goryo is only capable of doing short roams. With further testing involving motion sensors to track the Goryo's movement, a short roam in terms of physical distance is still enough to explore most if not all other rooms on the same floor of a street house for example, so you won't feel any meaningful difference on small maps. Long roams are a different story. For the average ghost, the game mechanics dictate that a long roam is its only window of opportunity to decide whether it wants to change its favourite room. What this means for the Goryo then, is that its inability to change ghost room is a subsequent limitation on top of its inability to do long roams. Although it is a minor weakness, it means the Goryo is less capable of a surprise and albeit by a slim margin, it's enough of a downside to lower its chances of killing you.

Identifiability - 2/5 | A solo player might find it a bit more difficult to identify it via standing outside its room and looking at the DOTS through a video camera to see if the camera picks it up while it's not visible to the naked eye. But this is something that can be detected a bit more easily in multiplayer by coordinating with someone watching via the CCTV.

Without DOTS to confirm it, the Goryo currently has no form of secondary evidence with which to be positively identified. Of course, it can never change its favourite room but this trait can also be copied by any other ghost in the game, just like you can come across ghosts that never turn on a light switch once like a Mare.

Verdict - 8/15 | The Goryo is average yet pretty low down the food chain of ghosts. Its entire theme is based around DOTS and it cannot wander far away from its favourite room nor change it, thus it's less likely to surprise you when it does eventually start hunting. For a ghost whose hunting capabilities are not really diminished in any significant sense, it is arguably the weakest of all the 'average' ghosts in the game, only being able to claim superiority above those that are truly and hopelessly stuck hanging off the bottom rungs of the ghost ladder. This ghost revels more in a battle of attrition with you when you are attempting to do zero evidence investigations.

• DOTS is mandatory in games with at least one available evidence type
  
  
• DOTS evidence can only be witnessed by a player who is both watching via the video camera and is outside of the ghost room
  
  
• Cannot do long roams, thus it has zero chance to change its ghost room
  
  
• If you can see DOTS evidence without a video camera, or if the ghost ever clearly changes its ghost room, you can rule out Goryo

EMF LEVEL 5 + ULTRAVIOLET + GHOST WRITING

Strength - 3/5 | It can do everything a normal, average ghost can do with the extra benefit of being quieter. This also applies during ghost events and if it happens to step in salt, but the Myling is notorious for how quiet it is during hunts as you can only hear its footsteps and voice from as far away as 12 metres, instead of the default 20 metres for every other ghost. It's a real possibility that the Myling can start a hunt without you even being aware of it if you don't notice any other signs.

Weakness - 5/5 | It's not at all weaker in power for ghost events or hunts compared to the average ghost. The journal states it being more vocal via the paramic as its weakness, but this has no bearing on the Myling's power whatsoever.

Identifiability - 2/5 | Similar to the Yokai, you do need to get this ghost to hunt in order to identify it with secondary evidence but it's more about where you choose to hide in order to determine the audio volume of the Myling and it's not similarly as difficult as the Yokai in that respect. It is simpler than most people think to distinguish it from the average loud ghost but some smaller maps might make this harder for some players to confirm so you must be certain about the spots you pick to try and listen, and of course be ready with a smudge stick in case you get found.

Verdict - 10/15 (B-TIER) | The Myling is not quite one of the most dangerous ghosts but it's still above average and not one to underestimate. Especially on larger maps, you might have no idea that the Myling can see you from afar down a long, dark corridor and you might unwittingly give it a speed boost while it masks its advancing progress towards you with its quieter approach. The Myling can easily punish and kill players who lack focus and awareness.

• Has a higher tendency to be more vocal via the parabolic microphone
  
  
• Cannot emit any audible sound (voice or footstep) from further away than a radius of 12 metres during ghost events or hunts or when the Music Box is playing
  
  
• If you are on the same floor as the ghost during the hunt and you can hear its voice and/or footsteps outside of the electronic disturbance radius, you can rule out Myling

GHOST ORB + SPIRIT BOX + FREEZING TEMPERATURES

Strength - 4/5 | Without firelights, it's capable of hunting at 60% sanity like the Mare except without any concern for lit or dark rooms. With firelights, it has the potential to hunt at any average sanity, even 100%! But for it to even be able to do that in the first place, it is entirely reliant on your assistance by providing lit firelights, which no longer pause sanity loss as they used to before the Ascension update. Every three firelights it blows out (without other lit firelights in surplus nearby) gives the Onryo a 100% chance to start a hunt and it has more of a chance to blow them out than any other ghost. Additionally in multiplayer if it kills anyone, each death boosts the probability of it blowing out firelights.

Weakness - 4/5 | On the other side of the coin, lit firelights act as reusable crucifixes against the Onryo and with the benefit of covering a 4-metre radius. If you really wanted to, you could organise lit firelights to deny an Onryo from hunting in its room and potentially other nearby rooms but I don't think this is necessary as it would make it harder to identify, and there's nothing stopping the Onryo from roaming elsewhere that's firelight-free to start a hunt. Bear in mind also, that unless you are using the tier 3 lanterns, the lower tier candles do eventually burn through their wax and are thus finite and consumable, nothing like the pre-Ascension candles.

One thing that doesn't usually get considered is the fact that lit firelights only hinder the Onryo if average sanity is below 60%. Above that value, they don't actually place further limitations on the Onryo: quite the opposite, in fact! That is why I for one am of the opinion that firelights are nowhere near as crippling as a weakness for the Onryo as some might think.

Identifiability - 4/5 | You can make this ghost easier than usual to identify, but only if you know how to do it correctly and safely. If you're dealing with lack of primary evidence, it's almost always a wise decision to confirm or rule out the Onryo first so it's not challenging in that regard. But a lot of players don't understand that there's a science to an Onryo test and they more often than not end up butchering it and making it an unreliable test due to their own lack of knowledge.

Remember, an Onryo has a 100% guaranteed chance to start a hunt after blowing out a firelight three times, thus you only need three firelights max, or relight just one firelight three times in total. This of course does put you at risk of being early-hunted by an Onryo so it's not always a safe test. You can use a crucifix on top of three lit firelights but after the third and last one is blown out, it can take anywhere up to 6 seconds for the Onryo to start a hunt and it could wander just outside of the crucifix radius before it makes its mind up about an early hunt, so be cautious about this and be prepared with a smudge stick!

If things did not seem complicated enough to you already, another subtle factor is that the Onryo secretly revels in the new changes heralded by the Ascension update. Lower tier firelights can be consumed and unable to be reused, meaning that any lack of care or management with firelights that was not even an issue before the update, is now an issue of wasting limited resources. All the igniters are finite so you cannot simply burn the midnight oil with an Onryo like what was once possible in the past, even if you are equipped with the brilliant lanterns.

If you are dealing with an incredibly cunning Onryo, beware of upgrading your crucifix to tier 3, as this allows the ghost to burn your top-notch crucifix within the outer 5th metre of its radius and completely ignore the lit firelight on top of it. I've seen this happen, and it allows the Onryo itself to feed you the illusion that it has successfully passed the Onryo test, and that you are correct in crossing its name off the list!

Verdict - 12/15 (A-TIER) | The Onryo can be quite dangerous just for its default early hunting power alone, even more so if players mess around by lighting firelights without understanding the exact mechanics that make this ghost tick. You can either gift it the power of the Demon or deny it and block its hunting power like the Shade, although the latter case is excessive and not even that effective a means of identifying the Onryo compared to the former. Unless you know how to handle the flames, don't play with fire in the presence of an Onryo!

• Has a unique ability to initiate a hunt at any average sanity (even 100%) after blowing out a firelight every three times – the hunt can start immediately or take anywhere up to 6 seconds after the blowout
  
  
• Cannot initiate a hunt within a 4-metre radius of a lit firelight which acts as a crucifix
  
  
• Will blow out a spare lit firelight if it tries to invoke its hunting ability within its 4-metre radius, and the lit firelight is prioritised over a crucifix
  
  
• Has a higher tendency to blow out firelights - the chances of this are increased each time a player dies
  
  
• Can initiate a hunt as early as 60% average sanity – this is not tied to its ability or firelights
  
  
• If the ghost blows out a sole firelight three times and it does not trigger a hunt, or if it starts a hunt in close proximity to a lit firelight or if a crucifix (below tier III) prevents a hunt despite a lit firelight on top of it, you can rule out Onryo

EMF LEVEL 5 + SPIRIT BOX + FREEZING TEMPERATURES

Strength - 3/5 | The Twins is one physical ghost at least according to the actual game mechanics, despite what journal lore and popular myth happen to state. It will always be consistent with every other single ghost in the game when it comes to things such as only favouring one ghost room at any moment, triggering motion sensors and disturbing salt piles. The only factor that makes this ghost a bit stronger is the fact that (when acting as the secondary Twin) it has a 50% chance to teleport close by to the location of an object it threw via the secondary ranged interaction of its ability and start a hunt similar to the Wraith minus the stalking element, and move at a speed of 1.9 metres per second during hunts.

Weakness - 4/5 | It's actually when it acts as the primary Twin that makes this ghost weaker as it functions the same way as every other normal, average ghost does by starting a hunt wherever the physical ghost happens to be in that moment, but also shares a 50% chance to hunt and can only move at 1.5 metres per second during hunts.

Identifiability - 2/5 | It's possible that you might get lucky and witness a very obvious simultaneous interaction. But assuming you don't happen to witness such a thing, you can still easily identify the Twins by getting it to hunt and hiding from it. Regardless of which Twin it is during a hunt, neither of them are capable of moving at the same speed as the normal, average ghost.

Verdict - 9/15 (C-TIER) | The Twins overall are quite average as far as ghosts go. The concept is interesting but the execution leaves a little to be desired. The secondary twin might cause the odd surprise depending on where it starts a hunt from but that's about the only real trick the Twins can muster.

• Has a unique ability to cause simultaneous interactions – a normal interaction immediately followed by a secondary interaction which can occur within a radius of 16 metres
  
  
• The primary Twin has a movement speed of 1.5 metres per second during hunts
  
  
• The secondary Twin has a movement speed of 1.9 metres per second during hunts
  
  
• Each Twin has a 50% chance to initiate a hunt. The primary Twin will start the hunt from the physical ghost's current location, while the secondary Twin can only start a hunt from close to the location on the map where the secondary simultaneous interaction recently occurred
  
  
• If the ghost's movement speed during hunts sounds normal or too slow or even too fast without line-of-sight, you can rule out the Twins

EMF LEVEL 5 + DOTS + GHOST ORB

Strength - 5/5 | The Raiju can be a completely average ghost if you don't allow it to play it to its strengths. But set up or leave active electronic devices in its presence and it can hunt as early as 65% average sanity, and it can siphon the power from your devices during hunts to boost its movement speed up to 2.5 metres per second, unburdened by factors such as needing line-of-sight on any player. Furthermore, its siphoning radius scales according to the map size: the larger the map, the larger the radius.

Weakness - 5/5 | This ghost has no true weakness at all. Similar to the Jinn, removing or disabling electronic devices just makes it a completely normal, average ghost with no further reduced or diminished power in terms of ghost events or hunts. The journal indicates that its weakness is that when it physically manifests, it causes electronic disturbance (both in the main lights and in your gadgets) from further away: a 15-metre radius to be precise instead of the default 10 metres. But contrary to popular belief, this is a different radius for a different aspect of the Raiju: it is completely separate from its siphoning radius and bears it no benefit or impact.

Little-known fact: the Raiju's bonus movement speed can also potentially nerf the ghost! What on earth do I mean by this? Well say for example that you're looping the Raiju when you have no electronics switched on. This forces the Raiju to accelerate in movement speed gradually like any other average ghost. The problem with that however is that you're still dealing with a ghost that can reach a top speed of 2.8 metres per second. But by switching on just one electronic device (let's say your flashlight) then the Raiju is actually forced to be limited to 2.5 metres per second! This is roughly a 10% reduction in top speed you can enforce upon the Raiju, but it's so incredibly circumstantial and negligible that it's not usually worth exploiting unless you're doing it at a decent-enough looping spot, either for testing purposes or because you got caught out badly by the Raiju due to timing and/or location and had no other option for survival in the moment.

Identifiability - 4/5 | It's not hard to identify the Raiju either but it most certainly is dangerous because you have to allow it to play to its strengths if you want to positively identify it in the first place. Just like the Jinn, depriving it of your electronic devices just makes it much harder to confirm, but there is also the increased electronic disturbance which if you're used to, you could notice that during hunts and even ghost events. But more often than not, the Raiju is identified during hunts more easily by allowing it be at its most powerful, making it one of the most dangerous ghosts in the game to identify.

Verdict - 14/15 (S-TIER) | Absolutely one of the strongest ghosts in the game! It can catch you off-guard with an early hunt, it can move very fast without having to see anyone, it can siphon power from active electronic devices from further away to compensate for playing on larger maps, and it's much harder to identify if you don't witness it at its peak form. For some players, they are of the opinion that this ghost is the #1 strongest ghost in the game which I disagree with because you can strip it of its extra power. It's the Jinn's cousin before it is the king of kings.

• Can initiate a hunt as early as 65% average sanity if active electronic equipment is nearby
  
  
• Can immediately attain a movement speed of 2.5 metres per second during hunts if it's close enough to siphon power from your own active electronic equipment
  
  
• Can siphon power from any active electronic device if it is within a certain radius based on the size of the map - 6 metres for small maps, 8 metres for medium maps and 10 metres for large maps
  
  
• Can cause electronic disturbance within a radius of 15 metres
  
  
• If the ghost doesn't suddenly get a speed boost as it walks past active electronic equipment, you can rule out Raiju

EMF LEVEL 5 + ULTRAVIOLET + GHOST ORB

Strength - 2/5 | When it comes to ghost events and hunts, the Obake is a totally normal, average ghost, not much else to say.

Weakness - 5/5 | Its identity may be tied to fingerprints but again, as a hunter or as a ghost that can show up in ghost events or roam to other areas, the Obake is not penalised in any particular way compared to the average ghost.

Identifiability - 1/5 | Eventually you will see either unique fingerprints or no fingerprints at all on whatever surface it has touched. Failing that, the Obake can give off a random EMF reading when it invokes its ability to halve the duration of all current fingerprints on the map and even if you don't notice that, sometimes you can just look at fingerprints on a door, window or light switch and notice if they disappear sooner than 120 seconds. I have personally come across a couple of rare Obake specimens that played amazing long games by constantly getting lucky, not touching many things and the few times they did, they always left behind normal fingerprints every single time. It can happen but it's very rare.

Also, if you suspect an Obake but it's lingering in a room or area with barely anything to touch, get it to hunt and lead it to an area or corridor with plenty of doors to touch. As of the URP update, the Obake can finally shapeshift now! A very slim chance of changing its model during hunts but it is guaranteed at least once per hunt, so observe closely! Whether you spot any fingerprint irregularities or shapeshifting, the Obake is one of the easiest ghosts to identify!

Verdict - 8/15 (C-TIER) | The Obake is definitely on the lower rungs of the ghost ladder primarily because of being an average ghost as well as being easy to identify with its own fingerprints or lack of them. But as a hunter, it's not lacking anything the average ghost is capable of. For that reason, it's still more of a slight threat than ghosts such as the Goryo, the Hantu or the Spirit.

• Fingerprints is mandatory in games with at least one available evidence type
  
  
• Has a slight chance of leaving behind unique fingerprints – these include six-fingered prints on most doors and surfaces, two-fingered prints on light switches, and five-fingered prints on keyboards and the doors of the prison cells
  
  
• Has a 25% chance of not leaving behind any fingerprints
  
  
• Has a unique ability to halve the remaining duration of all existing and lingering fingerprints on the map - the ability can also be used multiple times for the same sets of fingerprints
  
  
• Has a 6.66% chance to very briefly change its ghost model when phasing once into visibility during hunts before immediately reverting back to its original model - this is guaranteed to happen at least once during each hunt
  
  
• If the ghost has touched doors and other relevant surfaces a few times but has not once left behind fingerprints, or if you observe the ghost for the entire duration of hunts and you never witness it shapeshift, you can rule out Obake

ULTRAVIOLET + SPIRIT BOX + FREEZING TEMPERATURES

Strength - 5/5 | It can mimic any ghost in the game for between 30 to 120 seconds before changing its identity and temporarily borrow any ghost's powers. However, contrary to popular belief, the Mimic cannot change its identity during a hunt. Add to that the general unpredictability of the Mimic that can keep you constantly guessing as to what it might become next, and there is no denying that it can be a very strong ghost.

Weakness - 5/5 | Just as it can borrow any ghost's strengths, the Mimic can also borrow the weaknesses that come along with it. But again, this is temporary and thus the Mimic is not permanently afflicted with any single weakness. The only constant that could be held against the Mimic is that its ability is entirely reliant on RNG swinging in its favour during the wrong place and/or the wrong time for you.

Identifiability - 1/5 | This ghost might just be the easiest ghost in the game to identify. Its orb is secondary evidence, NOT primary evidence which is why you can see it floating around even in Custom lobbies with zero available primary evidence types. But even if you don't see the orb for whatever reason, you'll notice that the Mimic is copying very distinct ghosts either in its normal state, during ghost events or during hunts.

Verdict - 11/15 (B-TIER) | The Mimic feels like the final boss of Phasmophobia if there was such a thing but alas, it's not quite that strong. Its ability to change identity on the fly is a cool concept and allows for a lot of variety within a single investigation but while its unpredictability gives it an advantage in some respects, that unpredictability can also work against it and just cycle through different identities that don't give it anything significant to elevate its threat level. It's total RNG what ghost the Mimic will copy at any given time. Part of me feels like I might have been a bit overly generous towards the Mimic for its strength and weakness, but its orb is far too much of a giveaway and is certainly one thing that's not up for debate.

• The ghost orb is not a primary evidence type, thus it is always present
  
  
• Can change the ghost it mimics at random, in intervals ranging between 30 to 120 seconds
  
  
• Can mimic any abilities and secondary evidence traits which belong to any other ghost but with the obvious exception of the Goryo's unique DOTS evidence
  
  
• If you can't see a ghost orb despite looking hard enough, or if the ghost's behaviour remains consistent throughout the investigation or if its movement speed during hunts is different from the average ghost but appears to be maintaining the same speed for at least three consecutive hunts, you can rule out the Mimic

GHOST WRITING + SPIRIT BOX + FREEZING TEMPERATURES

Strength - 5/5 | Its primary power is that it gets faster in movement speed at the start of hunts when average sanity gets lower, with the potential to become the fastest ghost in the game. Its secondary power however is more subtle yet arguably more interesting because it can inflict a curse upon any player that gets a direct spirit box response or hears it speak or whisper via the parabolic microphone. This curse not only doubles your rate of sanity drain in the dark (which is already doubled if you're playing multiplayer) but also makes it take place even in lit rooms or holding a lit candle. You can only pause the sanity-drain by leaving the building or taking sanity pills to cure it.

But to truly put the Moroi's curse into perspective, imagine you're playing singleplayer and do everything possible to preserve your sanity. Even if you've got 100% sanity by the time it strikes, the curse in equivalence allows the Moroi to become a ghost that can hunt as early as 75% sanity compared to the average ghost, despite only being able to hunt at 50% sanity itself! If you're playing multiplayer, not only can the curse drain your sanity super-fast, but sanity pills do not restore average sanity as much when you have more players present, allowing the Moroi to get stronger at a quicker rate!

Weakness - 5/5 | Hyperosmia in this context means that the Moroi is subdued by the effects of incense for 50% longer during hunts instead of the default duration. This might sound like a massive weakness at a glance, but I am of the opinion that it is quite negligible. For starters, the weakness is entirely contingent on a limited resource in order to be exploited. And when you do smudge ghosts during hunts, the base duration should always be enough to escape it and find somewhere to hide, otherwise you're doing something seriously wrong. Post-Ascension, the Moroi is not as weak to incense as before the update, where a default 6-second duration became 12 seconds of safety from the Moroi.

As for it starting hunts with a movement speed of 1.5 metres per second at 50% average sanity, this is a very minor and temporary weakness and not a constant feature like the slower one of the Twins. The Moroi was also updated to the point where it can increase its speed based on average sanity during hunts instead of having to wait for the beginning of the next hunt.

Identifiability - 4/5 | There are a couple of ways to confirm the Moroi but they're all done by getting it to hunt, whether that's testing if the curse is in effect or if you're trying to listen to its footsteps and notice if it gets faster with each successive hunt. You don't want to jump the gun either when it comes to testing its hunting speed because depending on what the average sanity is when it starts hunting, it can sound like a completely normal, average ghost in terms of movement speed, it can also sound like either the slower or the faster Twin. That's why with a Moroi in particular, you want to test its speed across multiple hunts. The curse is perhaps more dangerous because unless you're familiar with the timing, it could easily catch you off-guard.

Verdict - 14/15 (S-TIER) | I might be a bit biased here seeing as the Moroi is currently my favourite ghost in Phasmophobia, and not just because it's a vampire ghost. At zero sanity and with full acceleration based on line-of-sight, it can become the fastest ghost in the game. The fewer players there are, the more effective the curse is. The more players there are, the less effective sanity pills are in restoring average sanity. Even if it doesn't somehow surprise you with what seems like a much earlier hunt than usual, it still gets stronger the longer the investigation goes. If the Demon is the most powerful early-game ghost, the Moroi certainly claims the title of the most powerful late-game ghost in Phasmophobia!

• Spirit box is mandatory in games with at least one available evidence type
  
  
• Spirit box response from the ghost as well as paranormal noises on the parabolic microphone can inflict the player with a curse
  
  
• Curse doubles the rate of passive sanity-drain
  
  
• Curse cannot be paused by any source of light or lit candles
  
  
• Curse can be paused by leaving the building, and cured by taking sanity pills
  
  
• Movement speed at the beginning of hunts is based on average sanity and increases by 5% (+0.075 m/s) per 5% decrease in average sanity: ranging from 1.5 metres per second at 50% average sanity to 2.25 metres per second at 0% average sanity
  
  
• Can still gradually accelerate in movement speed during hunts with line-of-sight regardless of starting speed – can reach a top speed of 3.71 metres per second at 0% sanity
  
  
• Can be blinded and disorientated while under the effects of incense for 150% of the base duration
  
  
• If you are at low or zero average sanity and the ghost does not appear to be moving noticeably faster during hunts, or if you smudge it during a hunt but it seems to regain its senses after the base duration of the incense used, you can rule out Moroi

DOTS + GHOST WRITING + SPIRIT BOX

Strength - 3/5 | The Deogen knows where every player is on the map at all times as well as moving at the exact same speed as the Revenant at 3 metres per second when further away from whomever it is targeting. But that's where the positives end unfortunately and the remainder is all downhill from there as these strengths are not so powerful as they seem at first glance.

Weakness - 1/5 | Despite knowing where everyone is on the map at all times, it can't help but slow down to a crawl when it's close to the target it's focusing. It literally becomes the slowest ghost in the game - even slower than a helpless Revenant - and you can safely loop it just by taking it for a walk, no sprinting necessary. The Deogen also cannot start a hunt until average sanity is at 40%, making it not that much better than the Shade.

Identifiability - 1/5 | It is so distinctive and easy to identify that it doesn't matter what evidence combos it shares with other ghosts. Without exception, if this ghost is ever on your shortlist, ALWAYS stand ready at a looping spot with a smudge stick! It is rare to hear it but the Deogen also has a unique audio that can be heard via the spirit box which gives the game away.

Verdict - 5/15 (D-TIER) | It's fun but currently one of the weakest ghosts in the game. The idea of this ghost is more threatening than the practicality of it. As long as the Deogen features on the shortlist, it's basic common sense to not go and hide for the first hunt in some dead end spot until you've confirmed or ruled it out. You don't even need to sprint with this ghost, you can simply survive by out-walking it and in some rooms with enough space, you don't even need a designated looping spot to evade the Deogen. Unless it's the Mimic pretending to be one at the worst possible time ever, the Deogen is not a ghost you should ever die to and is about as embarrassing as dying to a Shade!

• Spirit box is mandatory in games with at least one available evidence type
  
  
• Spirit box can provide a unique heavy-breathing audio – it has a 33% chance to play this audio in response to any valid question, but the player must be within a 1-metre radius of the ghost in order to hear this unique audio
  
  
• Increased chance for DOTS or ghost writing evidence
  
  
• Can always see all players at all times
  
  
• Chooses the closest player at the start of hunts
  
  
• Changes targets at random during hunts to whoever is closest
  
  
• Can initiate a hunt as early as 40% average sanity
  
  
• Maximum hunt speed can reach 3 metres per second when more than 6 metres away from its target
  
  
• Minimum hunt speed can reach 0.4 metres per second when within 2.5 metres away from its target
  
  
• If the ghost moves at normal speed, or moves fast but doesn't have a clue where you or any other player is hiding, you can rule out Deogen

DOTS + GHOST ORB + GHOST WRITING

Strength - 5/5 | At its peak youngest form, the Thaye can hunt as early as 75% average sanity, move during hunts at a speed of 2.75 metres per second, and has +200% chance of doing ghost events and interactions. This is more likely to be felt in multiplayer as well due to how sanity drain in the dark is doubled. For all intents and purposes, it starts its afterlife as the potentially strongest ghost in Phasmophobia!

Weakness - 1/5 | At its oldest form, it becomes the absolute weakest ghost in the game. 15% average sanity for a hunting threshold, a movement speed of 1 metre per second which is the same as the Revenant when it can't see anyone, and has a greatly reduced chance to do ghost events or interactions. When the Thaye ages, it permanently weakens the ghost each time and it cannot accelerate in movement speed during hunts when it has sight of anyone. Some might disagree with this weakness score for the Thaye but to that, I would ask this question: if this ghost can nerf itself so much that it becomes a weaker ghost than even the Shade of all ghosts, in every single metric relevant to ghost events and hunts, how the hell does it not deserve a score of 1?

Identifiability - 3/5 | Like most other ghosts, its secondary evidence is determined by the way it hunts but depending on how old the Thaye is, this can go either way in terms of ease or difficulty in that it can either be safe or dangerous. Either it's still quite fast and you're better off hiding from it, or you can loop it at a spot to test if it remains consistent with its movement speed. It's not particularly hard to single out from all the other ghosts, but there's always the threat of an early hunt with faster movement speed so you still should exercise caution if you suspect you're dealing with the Thaye. And the fact that it can't escalate in movement speed, makes it easier and safer to identify this ghost at the same time. This ghost used to have a significantly increased chance of showing ghost writing and DOTS as evidence types, but this trait has been removed since the Ascension update.

Verdict - 9/15 (C-TIER) | This verdict might appear to be a hot take to some but I truly believe that the Thaye is currently the most overrated ghost in the game. This Burmese ghost has a brief window of opportunity to enjoy its temporary status as the overall potentially strongest ghost in the game; a multiplayer lobby full of players with no regard for their sanity would play into its hands very nicely. But it doesn't always take advantage of this opportunity and you can take that away from the Thaye just by hanging out with it in its ghost room more often. It's the one ghost in the game where using its own ability nerfs itself which is permanent, and the fact that it can't get faster during hunts like the average ghost means that once it starts to age about 4 or 5 times, it dramatically fades away from the limelight and ceases to be much of a threat. To truly put things into perspective, once the Thaye has aged 6 times, it can only hunt at 39% average sanity and is stuck at the normal ghost speed of 1.7 m/s during hunts, making it very safe to loop. By that point, it's not really necessary to wait for it to reach its oldest age as it is already game over for the Thaye. Almost every other ghost is a more threatening ghost, even the Shade is capable of using line-of-sight to gain movement speed during hunts. It is far too dependent on early momentum, and not being able to apply pressure with increasing movement speed during hunts, makes the Thaye average overall.

• Will try to age every 1 or 2 minutes – can only successfully age if a player is in the same room as the ghost, otherwise an unsuccessful attempt will add 30 seconds to the age timer and try again
  
  
• Can age a total of 10 times – each time will weaken the ghost
  
  
• Decreases the average sanity threshold for starting hunts by -6% per age: ranging from 75% to 15%
  
  
• Decreases movement speed at the start of hunts by -0.175 m/s per age: ranging from 2.75 metres per second to 1 metre per second
  
  
• Decreases both interaction rate and chance for ghost events by -15% per age: ranging from 200% to 50% interaction rate and ghost event chance
  
  
• Can show its changing and increasing age when you ask for it using the Ouija Board
  
  
• Movement speed during hunts cannot accelerate based on line-of-sight
  
  
• If the ghost accelerates in movement speed during hunts with line-of-sight, you can rule out Thaye

I have edited this tier list over time to reflect updates and hotfixes that apply to certain ghosts, whether directly or indirectly. In addition to the average ghost, I also evaluated each ghost individually and compared them to each and every ghost on the roster, asking myself if one is better or worse than another. This explains why ghosts might move up or down a tier even when they haven't changed much at all. But after refining the parameters of each metric and being more clear and concise on their definitions and how each ghost accrues their score, even if it is solely my opinion, I believe the tier list is now more accurate than it has ever been.

This is the current tier list in full as portrayed by the descriptions of each individual ghost. The ghosts that share the same tiers as each other with the same rating scores are assigned primarily by strength and then secondarily by weakness. Any ghost that scores the exact same as another in each metric, will be explained in further detail below the tier list as to why they are arranged in the orders in which they are presented.

S-TIER – DEMON / MOROI / RAIJU / JINN

A-TIER – WRAITH / PHANTOM / REVENANT / ONRYO / MARE

B-TIER – THE MIMIC / BANSHEE / ONI / YUREI / YOKAI / MYLING

C-TIER – THAYE / POLTERGEIST / THE TWINS / OBAKE / GORYO / HANTU / SPIRIT

D-TIER – DEOGEN / SHADE

When it comes to the S-tier ghosts, Demon is the #1 ghost in my honest opinion simply because it can choose to hunt at any sanity it pleases. This can sometimes result in the nastiest surprise of all in Phasmophobia: an extremely early hunt that can happen within the first minute or even the first 10 seconds you set foot in the building!

The reason I put Moroi at #2 is because it can drain sanity very quickly with its curse and it becomes the ultimate late-game ghost when there is no sanity remaining. You can try delaying the inevitable by taking sanity pills to boost average sanity, but there is no way of divorcing the Moroi's bonus movement speed from lower average sanity.

Raiju is #3 and Jinn is #4 because they're both in the exact same boat as each other: if you take away or disable the sources of their power, they are reduced to being dull, normal, average ghosts with no extra movement speed and only able to start hunting at 50% sanity. You can't just disable or diminish the Demon's hunting power in any particular way, nor can you prevent the Moroi from potentially being the fastest ghost in the game. Raiju obviously has the edge over the Jinn because it doesn't slow down within 3 metres of its current target during a hunt and is not reliant on line-of-sight for its bonus movement speed either.

With the stalking brothers, even though both of them are equally as likely to kill you with their stalking abilities, I believe the Wraith has the edge as the teleport allows for instant and efficient stalking, it laughs at your black salt, and it's not as obvious to identify as the Phantom. The lack of visibility during hunts is arguably more dangerous if you're trying to loop the ghost, but if you spot the lack of visibility, then you don't really need to continue looping the Phantom after that.

With the 60% hunting ghosts, the Onryo has the advantage because its 60% threshold is unconditional, and it can hunt even earlier if it is given enough firelights to blow out. Having said that, it's possible to stop the Onryo from hunting for a decent while, whereas the worst that can happen to the Mare, is to be made to wait until 40% average sanity so that it can start hunts from any room, regardless of whether it is lit or dark.

As for the two original Japanese ghosts, I believe the Oni is fractionally superior to the Yurei. The former only needs players nearby to use its strength, and it must hunt in order to identify it with secondary evidence. The latter on the other hand, is reliant on being in a room or area with access to doors for its strength, and can be positively identified without it hunting. But if it never uses its ability or if you don't notice it when it does so, the one edge the Yurei has over the Oni is being incredibly difficult and super-annoying to correctly identify!

These combos are the shortlists for ghosts after you have accumulated both pieces of confirmed primary evidence in Nightmare games. I will present them as they appear in the in-game journal when you tick to confirm the evidence types, and explain in detail what to do to determine the ghosts in the absence of the final missing piece of evidence. Remember, if you have even the slightest doubts about your options or the choice you're about to make, go back and be thorough, do whatever tests you can do, trigger as many hunts as you need to accumulate every piece of evidence and knowledge regarding the case.

WRAITH / ONI / GORYO / RAIJU

If the ghost ever appears to do a ghost event in mist form, you can cross out Oni.

1) Grab a video camera and position yourself outside the ghost room while looking at the DOTS:

If you cannot see the DOTS projection with the naked eye but can see it appearing on the video camera, you can confirm Goryo.

If you can see the DOTS projection with the naked eye, or if the ghost ever clearly changes its ghost room, you can cross out Goryo.

2) Assuming the ghost is not a Goryo, grab some salt:

If the ghost cannot step in salt, you can confirm Wraith.

If the ghost can step in salt, you can cross out Wraith.

3) Assuming the ghost is neither a Wraith nor a Goryo, get the ghost to start a hunt and hide to listen to the footsteps:

If you can hear footsteps that sound like the normal speed of the average ghost despite being in range of active electronic devices, or if you see that the ghost is more visible during hunts, you can confirm Oni.

If you can hear footsteps that sound very fast when in range of active electronic devices, you can confirm Raiju.

JINN / GORYO / MYLING / OBAKE

Goryo is impossible in this scenario as there are no DOTS.

1) Place an active EMF reader by the fuse box and be ready for the first hunt with a smudge stick in hand, positioning yourself a good distance away from the ghost with clear line-of-sight:

If the ghost appears to get an immediate boost in movement speed with line-of-sight but then slows down when 3-metres away from you, or causes an interaction at the fuse box while the power is on at any point during the investigation, you can confirm Jinn.

If the ghost does not appear to get an immediate boost in movement speed, or if the ghost ever intentionally turns off the fuse box, you can cross out Jinn.

2) Assuming the ghost is not a Jinn, hide in a corner safe from the ghost when it hunts and drop your flashlight on the floor in front of you and listen for the ghost's voice and footsteps:

If you cannot hear them until your flashlight starts to flicker, you can confirm Myling.

If you can hear them before your flashlight starts to flicker, or if the ghost touches any surface on which it can leave fingerprints but leaves behind either unique fingerprints or no fingerprints at all, or if it shapeshifts during hunts, you can confirm Obake.

RAIJU / OBAKE

Obake is impossible in this scenario as there is no ultraviolet.

You can confirm Raiju!

SPIRIT / SHADE / MYLING

1) Smudge the ghost during the first hunt and count down the time until the next hunt:

If the next hunt begins after 180 seconds have passed, you can confirm Spirit.

If the next hunt begins before 180 seconds have passed, you can cross out Spirit.

If the ghost ever happens to start a hunt in the same room as any player, or it starts hunting when you are certain that average sanity is above 35%, you can cross out Shade.

2) Hide in a corner safe from the ghost when it hunts and drop your flashlight on the floor in front of you and listen for the ghost's voice and footsteps:

If you cannot hear them until your flashlight starts to flicker, you can confirm Myling.

If you can hear them before your flashlight starts to flicker, you can cross out Myling.

If the ghost has passed both the Spirit and Myling tests, you can confirm Shade.

SPIRIT / WRAITH / THE TWINS

1) Lay down salt piles and check for UV footprints when the ghost steps in them:

If the ghost cannot step in salt piles, you can confirm Wraith.

If the ghost can step in salt piles, you can cross out Wraith.

2) Assuming the ghost is not a Wraith, get the ghost to start a hunt and hide to listen to the footsteps:

If you can hear footsteps that sound like the normal speed of the average ghost, you can confirm Spirit.

If you can hear footsteps that sound slightly slower or slightly faster than the normal speed of the average ghost, or if you happen to witness an obvious case of simultaneous interactions at any point in the investigation, you can confirm the Twins.

JINN / SHADE / ONI / THE TWINS

1) Place an active EMF reader by the fuse box and be ready for the first hunt with a smudge stick in hand, positioning yourself a good distance away from the ghost with clear line-of-sight:

If the ghost appears to get an immediate boost in movement speed with line-of-sight but then slows down when 3-metres away from you, or causes an interaction at the fuse box while the power is on at any point during the investigation, you can confirm Jinn.

If the ghost does not appear to get an immediate boost in movement speed, or if the ghost ever intentionally turns off the fuse box, you can cross out Jinn.

If the ghost appears to be more visible during hunts, you can confirm Oni.

If the ghost appears to phase out during hunts like the average ghost, or if the ghost ever appears to do a ghost event in mist form, you can cross out Oni.

3) Assuming the ghost is neither a Jinn nor an Oni, hide for the next hunt and listen to the footsteps:

If you can hear footsteps that sound like the normal speed of the average ghost, you can confirm Shade.

If you can hear footsteps that sound slightly slower or slightly faster than the normal speed of the average ghost, or if you happen to witness an obvious case of simultaneous interactions at any point in the investigation, you can confirm the Twins.

PHANTOM / BANSHEE / GORYO

1) Grab a video camera and position yourself outside the ghost room while looking at the DOTS:

If you cannot see the DOTS projection with the naked eye but can see it appearing on the video camera, you can confirm Goryo.

If you can see the DOTS projection with the naked eye, or if the ghost ever clearly changes its ghost room, you can cross out Goryo.

2) Assuming the ghost is not a Goryo, get the ghost to start a hunt and loop it while you observe it phasing out of visibility:

If the ghost appears to be phasing out of visibility during hunts for intervals between 1 second and 2 seconds, or if you take a ghost photo during a ghost event and its model vanishes yet you hear its audio afterwards and can see in the photo album that the ghost photo isn't glitched out, you can confirm Phantom.

If the ghost appears to be phasing out of visibility during hunts for intervals between 0.3 seconds to 1 second, or if everyone in a multiplayer lobby is in the building during the hunt but the ghost doesn't target some players, or if you ever hear a scream via the parabolic microphone at any point during the investigation, you can confirm Banshee.

BANSHEE / YUREI / YOKAI / RAIJU / THAYE

1) Grab a smudge stick and find a spot to hide that the ghost is unlikely to search during hunts – one close enough to make your flashlight flicker but not so close that you're hugging the opposite side of the wall from where the ghost wanders. You can repeat this test if you feel it is necessary to do so but look out for the following:

If the ghost appears not to be able to sense your flickering flashlight during each hunt and almost never seems to find you, you can confirm Yokai.

If the ghost appears to reliably sense your flickering flashlight during each hunt and finds you more often than not, you can cross out Yokai.

If the ghost appears to gain a boost in movement speed in the proximity of active electronic devices, or if you are certain that your flashlight is flickering when the ghost is further away than 10 metres, you can confirm Raiju.

If the ghost does not appear to gain a boost in movement speed in the proximity of active electronic devices, you can cross out Raiju.

If the footsteps sound faster or slower than the average ghost but are consistent throughout the entire hunt, or if the ghost appears incapable of gradually accelerating in movement speed with line-of-sight, you can confirm Thaye.

If the footsteps sound like the normal speed of the average ghost and the ghost proves capable of gradually accelerating in movement speed with line-of-sight, you can cross out Thaye.

2) Assuming the ghost is neither a Yokai nor a Raiju nor a Thaye, take pills to get yourself out of hunting range, grab a parabolic microphone and keep the nearby doors wide open:

If everyone in a multiplayer lobby is in the building during the hunt but the ghost doesn't target some players, or if you ever hear a scream via the parabolic microphone at any point during the investigation, you can confirm Banshee.

If you hear its ability that sounds like a double door touch, or if everyone in a multiplayer lobby is in the building during the hunt and the ghost targets anyone it sees as well as changes targets, you can confirm Yurei.

DEOGEN / THAYE

Deogen is impossible in this scenario as there is no spirit box.

You can confirm Thaye!

WRAITH / PHANTOM / YOKAI / DEOGEN

1) Lay down salt piles and check for UV footprints when the ghost steps in them:

If the ghost cannot step in salt piles, you can confirm Wraith.

If the ghost can step in salt piles, you can cross out Wraith.

2) Assuming the ghost is not a Wraith, get the ghost to hunt and then observe it at a looping spot:

If the ghost appears to be phasing out of visibility during hunts for intervals between 1 second and 2 seconds, or if you take a ghost photo during a ghost event and its model vanishes yet you hear its audio afterwards and can see in the photo album that the ghost photo isn't glitched out, you can confirm Phantom.

If the ghost appears to be phasing out of visibility during hunts for intervals between 0.3 seconds to 1 second, and has normal movement speed with gradual acceleration based on line-of-sight, you can confirm Yokai.

If the ghost appears to be very fast and homes in on your exact location before then slowing down as it gets closer to you, you can confirm Deogen.

YUREI / ONI

If you hear a double door touch, or experience a mist ghost event, you can confirm Yurei.

If you see that the ghost is more visible during hunts, you can confirm Oni.

BANSHEE / HANTU / OBAKE

Hantu is impossible in this scenario as there are no freezing temperatures.

1) The Mimic is a possibility with this combo; check for freezing temperatures or spirit box.

2) If you are certain that there is no such evidence, proceed by having both a source of UV light and a parabolic microphone ready, looking for these clues:

If everyone in a multiplayer lobby is in the building during the hunt but the ghost doesn't target some players, or if you ever hear a scream via the parabolic microphone at any point during the investigation, you can confirm Banshee.

If the ghost touches any surface on which it can leave fingerprints but leaves behind either unique fingerprints or no fingerprints at all, you can confirm Obake.

POLTERGEIST / DEMON / MYLING

1) Lay down a crucifix or two in case the ghost attempts to start hunting early:

If the ghost tries to hunt when you are certain that average sanity is above 50%, or if it hunts again after a cooldown period of between 20 to 25 seconds, or if it has been smudged and hunts (again) after a period of between 60 to 90 seconds, you can confirm Demon.

If the ghost starts hunting outside the base radius of the crucifix but you can tell that it started a hunt within the 50% bonus range of it, you can cross out Demon.

2) If the ghost has passed the Demon test or if you don't suspect it's a Demon, hide in a corner safe from the ghost when it hunts and drop your flashlight on the floor in front of you and listen for the ghost's voice and footsteps:

If you cannot hear them until your flashlight starts to flicker, you can confirm Myling.

If you can hear them before your flashlight starts to flicker, you can cross out Myling.

3) Assuming the ghost is not a Myling but you're still not certain at this stage whether it's a Demon or a Poltergeist, gather some objects around a viable looping spot and get another hunt going:

If the ghost is throwing objects during hunts with immense power and alarming regularity, or if you ever witness or hear a multi-throw at any point during the investigation, or if you're certain that you have already ruled out both Demon and Myling, you can confirm Poltergeist.

PHANTOM / POLTERGEIST / THE MIMIC

1) Grab a video camera and thoroughly search the ghost room with it:

If you can see a ghost orb via the video camera, you can confirm the Mimic.

If you cannot see a ghost orb via the video camera, you can cross out the Mimic.

2) Assuming the ghost is not the Mimic, get the ghost to hunt and observe it at a looping spot:

If the ghost appears to be phasing out of visibility during hunts for intervals between 1 second and 2 seconds, or if you take a ghost photo during a ghost event and its model vanishes yet you hear its audio afterwards and can see in the photo album that the ghost photo isn't glitched out, you can confirm Phantom.

If the ghost appears to be phasing out of visibility during hunts for intervals between 0.3 seconds and 1 second, or if its model appears to remain visible after you take a ghost photo during a ghost event, or if it appears to be throwing objects during hunts with immense power and alarming regularity, or if you ever witness or hear a multi-throw at any point during the investigation, you can confirm Poltergeist.

JINN / DEMON / HANTU / THE MIMIC

1) Place an active EMF reader by the fuse box, then place a crucifix in the middle of the ghost room and then grab a video camera and thoroughly search the ghost room with it:

If you can see a ghost orb via the video camera, you can confirm the Mimic.

If you cannot see a ghost orb via the video camera, you can cross out the Mimic.

2) Assuming the ghost is not the Mimic, get the ghost to hunt and observe it at a looping spot, preferably in a warm area:

If the ghost appears to be of normal movement speed while gradually accelerating with line-of-sight, or if the ghost starts hunting (or burns the crucifix) when you are certain that average sanity is above 50%, or if it hunts again after a cooldown period of between 20 to 25 seconds, or if it has been smudged and hunts (again) after a period of between 60 to 90 seconds, you can confirm Demon.

If the ghost appears to get an immediate boost in movement speed with line-of-sight but then slows down when 3-metres away from you, or causes an interaction at the fuse box while the power is on at any point during the investigation, you can confirm Jinn.

If the ghost appears to not be able to accelerate in movement speed with line-of-sight while looping it, or if you can hear inconsistent footsteps that sound very fast in or near its ghost room but are slower when further away with the fuse box switched on, you can confirm Hantu.

MARE / REVENANT / THAYE

All you need to do with this combo is to get it to start a hunt; you can fully test its speed by looping it or you can hide and then listen to the footsteps:

If you can hear footsteps that sound like the normal speed of the average ghost and/or if it gradually accelerates in movement speed with line-of-sight, you can confirm Mare.

If you can hear footsteps that sound very slow, but then the ghost speeds up immediately with line-of-sight, you can confirm Revenant.

If you can hear footsteps that sound consistent both in and out of line-of-sight and the ghost cannot accelerate in movement speed, you can confirm Thaye.

MARE / YOKAI / ONRYO

1) The Mimic is a possibility with this combo; check for freezing temperatures or fingerprints.

If the ghost at any point in the investigation turns on a light switch, you can cross out Mare.

2) If you are certain that there is no such evidence, proceed by having just one crucifix and a lit candle on top of it ready, looking for these clues:

If the ghost tries to hunt (or burns the crucifix) within 6 seconds after blowing out the candle for the third time, you can confirm Onryo.

If the ghost tries to hunt (or burns the crucifix) within the radius of the candle while it is still lit or it does not attempt to hunt after blowing out the candle for the third time, you can cross out Onryo.

3) Assuming the ghost is not an Onryo, if you have not yet seen or heard the ghost turn on a light switch, grab a smudge stick and find a spot to hide that the ghost is unlikely to search during hunts – one close enough to make your flashlight flicker but not so close that you're hugging the opposite side of the wall from where the ghost wanders. Do multiple tests if necessary and observe:

If the ghost appears to reliably sense your flickering flashlight during each hunt and finds you more often than not, you can confirm Mare.

If the ghost appears not to be able to sense your flickering flashlight during each hunt and almost never seems to find you, you can confirm Yokai.

REVENANT / YUREI / HANTU / ONRYO

1) The Mimic is a possibility with this combo; check for spirit box or fingerprints.

2) If you are certain that there is no such evidence, proceed by having just one crucifix and a lit candle on top of it ready, looking for these clues:

If the ghost tries to hunt (or burns the crucifix) within 6 seconds after blowing out the candle for the third time, you can confirm Onryo.

If the ghost tries to hunt (or burns the crucifix) within the radius of the candle while it is still lit, or does not try to hunt after blowing out the candle for the third time, you can cross out Onryo.

3) Assuming the ghost is not an Onryo, wait for it to hunt and either observe it at a looping spot or hide and listen to its footsteps:

If the footsteps sound very slow while you're hiding, or if the ghost gets an immediate and tremendous speed boost with line-of-sight, you can confirm Revenant.

If the footsteps sound like the normal speed of the average ghost, or if the ghost gradually accelerates with line-of-sight, you can confirm Yurei.

If the ghost appears to not be able to accelerate in movement speed with line-of-sight while looping it, or if you can hear inconsistent footsteps that sound very fast in or near its ghost room but are slower when further away with the fuse box switched on, you can confirm Hantu.

SPIRIT / POLTERGEIST / MARE / MOROI / DEOGEN

If the ghost at any point in the investigation turns on a light switch, you can cross out Mare.

1) Gather objects at a looping spot with a smudge stick ready and wait for it to hunt:

If the ghost appears to be very fast and homes in on your exact location before then slowing down as it gets closer to you, you can confirm Deogen.

If the ghost appears to be of normal movement speed or close to it while gradually accelerating with line-of-sight, you can cross out Deogen.

If the ghost appears to be throwing objects during hunts with immense power and alarming regularity, or if you ever witness or hear a multi-throw at any point during the investigation, you can confirm Poltergeist.

If the ghost does not appear to be throwing objects during hunts with immense power and alarming regularity, you can cross out Poltergeist.

2) Assuming the ghost is neither a Deogen nor a Poltergeist, you should either have smudged it in the hunt that just happened or do in the next one, and count down the time:

If the next hunt begins after 180 seconds have passed, you can confirm Spirit.

If the next hunt begins before 180 seconds have passed, you can cross out Spirit.

3) Assuming the ghost is not a Spirit either and it has passed all the tests so far, drain your sanity down to zero and hide during hunts:

If you can hear footsteps that get faster at the start of each following hunt while average sanity is declining, you can confirm Moroi.

If you can hear footsteps that sound like the normal speed of the average ghost and you are certain that average sanity is at zero, you can cross out Moroi.

4) Assuming the ghost is not a Moroi either, if you're playing singleplayer and you know your sanity is at zero, one more test you can do to alleviate any doubt is take three sets of pills and then drain enough sanity in the dark so that average sanity is at 60%. Once you're sure you're around 60%, hold a lit candle in your hand, make sure the lights are switched off in and near the ghost's room and hide in a spot that's a good distance away from the ghost room:

If you're certain that average sanity is between 50 to 60% when the ghost starts hunting from a dark room or area, and you've never seen nor heard a single light switch being turned on, or if you've seen the ghost immediately turn off a light switch as you turned it on preferably on more than one occasion, you can confirm Mare.

REVENANT / SHADE / DEMON / MOROI

Moroi is impossible in this scenario as there is no spirit box.

1) Lay down a crucifix or two in case the ghost attempts to start hunting early:

If the ghost tries to hunt when you are certain that average sanity is above 50%, or if it hunts again after a cooldown period of between 20 to 25 seconds, or if it has been smudged and hunts (again) after a period of between 60 to 90 seconds, you can confirm Demon.

If the ghost starts hunting outside the base radius of the crucifix but you can tell that it started a hunt within the bonus 50% range of it, you can cross out Demon.

If the ghost ever happens to start a hunt in the same room as any player, or it starts hunting when you are certain that average sanity is above 35%, you can cross out Shade.

2) If the ghost has passed the Demon test or if you don't suspect it's a Demon, get the ghost to hunt and either hide or observe it at a looping spot:

If the footsteps sound very slow while you're hiding, or if the ghost gets an immediate and tremendous speed boost with line-of-sight, you can confirm Revenant.

If the footsteps sound like the normal speed of the average ghost, or if the ghost gradually accelerates with line-of-sight, you can confirm Shade.

ONRYO / THE TWINS / THE MIMIC / MOROI

1) Grab a video camera and thoroughly search the ghost room with it:

If you can see a ghost orb via the video camera, you can confirm the Mimic.

If you cannot see a ghost orb via the video camera, you can cross out the Mimic.

2) Assuming the ghost is not the Mimic, proceed by having just one crucifix and a lit candle on top of it ready, looking for these clues:

If the ghost tries to hunt (or burns the crucifix) within 6 seconds after blowing out the candle for the third time, you can confirm Onryo.

If the ghost tries to hunt (or burns the crucifix) within the radius of the candle while it is still lit, or appears not to hunt after blowing out the candle for the third time, you can cross out Onryo.

3) Assuming the ghost is neither the Mimic nor an Onryo, drain your sanity and do NOT take any pills – hide for at least three or more hunts while your sanity is draining and listen to the footsteps:

If you can hear footsteps that sound slightly slower or slightly faster than the normal speed of the average ghost, or if you happen to witness an obvious case of simultaneous interactions at any point in the investigation, you can confirm the Twins.

If you can hear footsteps that get faster at the start of each following hunt while average sanity is declining, you can confirm Moroi.

I'd say that in the Nightmare and Custom multiplayer games where nobody had a clue what the ghost was, 9/10 it was because unwitting mistakes were made which brought the investigation to a halt and simply too dangerous and/or time-consuming to properly complete it. So in this section, I just want to pinpoint some glaring common mistakes I notice with many players who play on Nightmare and Custom. You can enjoy a much better success rate if you refrain from committing these errors.

Mistake #1 – Not respecting sanity. This is the biggest mistake players make by far; especially in Nightmare games where the sanity chart in the van is broken and one set of pills only restores the average sanity of the group by about 6% in a Nightmare lobby of four players, so there are simply NEVER enough pills to reset average sanity to a healthy level once it starts getting low, assuming you even have any idea where your average sanity is sitting at.

And yet, I can't count the number of games where even with the breaker flipped on, you still see players walking around in the dark thinking that everything is ok because they've got a flashlight. Well, you're still in the dark: your sanity will still drain and in multiplayer, that rate of sanity drain is DOUBLED to compensate for there being more than one person. You could have a shortlist of ghosts that can hunt early and yet you might not be able to tell that because nobody bothered to use the main lights or candles and average sanity is too low for mass-consumption of pills to fix.

Mistake #2 – Misuse of cursed possessions. I'm not a total killjoy, I get it; they're fun to use. Some of them you can even use to great effect and not suffer from such adverse side effects. But I facepalm when people say 'we can use the ouija board to find the ghost'... throwing away 40% sanity when playing on a small map. Unless you are somehow blessed with an RNG-speedrun or you're on a much larger map or you know how to use certain cursed possessions intelligently with minimal sanity cost, it's not worth cutting corners at the expense of average sanity.

And if the cursed possession triggers a cursed hunt then all hunt durations for the rest of the investigation will be 20 seconds longer than default which can potentially cost you even more sanity with each hunt. That's not to say that you should never use cursed possessions; you might have both available evidence types already and one hunt - even if cursed yet triggered to speed the investigation along - could be enough to help you confirm what the ghost actually is. It's just a case of being mindful of which exact cursed possession that's available and the ramifications of where, when and how you use it. For example, if you've had a ghost event, the ghost is still going to linger in your area for a few seconds so don't risk pushing the heart pin on the voodoo doll or drawing Death from the tarot cards or you'll die a swift death!

Mistake #3 – Misuse of equipment. By this, I mean things such as burning too many smudge sticks too soon in the investigation or using more than one in the same hunt unnecessarily, consuming pills at the wrong time, more than one person wanting to play photographer and just taking snaps uncoordinated, misreading the thermometer and thinking the current room is cold when it's not cold enough and the ghost room is elsewhere, taking all the main evidence types that come in twos and leaving them scattered in random parts of the map and difficult to find. These are simple mistakes and sound minuscule on the surface but on Nightmare, those simple mistakes can easily come back to bite you later on in the investigation when you're struggling to make a breakthrough.

Mistake #4 – Not inspecting the map layout for safe spots. Now and then, a few players don't check out hiding spots to see if they're available and by the time the hunts start to happen, they're as good as dead because they don't know which spots are safe and which are blocked. This is definitely a huge issue on small maps, not so much on larger maps despite hunt durations going on for longer the bigger the map.

Mistake #5 – Leading the ghost to your hiding spot. If the ghost is close by and/or has line of sight on you, you need to break line-of-sight and hide somewhere that isn't so obvious. Also make sure all your electronics are switched off long before you reach the hiding spot, and certainly do NOT lead a ghost to your chosen spot if you know other people are already hiding there!

Mistake #6 – Not keeping track of the ghost. This happens often where whenever the ghost is roaming or changes its favourite room, some players take a while to realise that's the case. This costs time and subsequently sanity too. It's even more problematic if the ghost happens to have an evidence type where you need it to stay in that one place for a while so that it exhibits said evidence type.

Mistake #7 – Making broad and hasty assumptions. What I mean by this mistake can be explained by this example: the ghost starts a hunt and towards the end of the hunt, you or another player notices that there are a lot of footsteps being made. Therefore an assumption is made that because the ghost is moving fast, it must be a fast ghost by default. But the majority of ghosts can speed up and be fast near the end of a hunt if they have had line of sight on a player; this does not automatically mean that you've got a ghost where being speedy is one of its unique traits. Nightmare difficulty easily punishes those who jump to hasty conclusions about the ghost's identity without being clear or precise with their investigative methods.

Mistake #8 – Not knowing when to move on. This is my way of saying that what you get in an investigation in terms of optional objectives and how easy/difficult they are given the map and/or the ghost room, is as good as you're going to get and shouldn't be something you feel the urge to time-sink over. For example, if one of the optional objectives is to prevent the ghost from hunting with a crucifix and it's in the Basketball Court in High School, are you really going to sit around and wait for RNG to do its thing?

Unless you're an OCD perfectionist, some Nightmare games can cost enough time just figuring out what the ghost is. If you have to go out of your way during conventional gameplay to get an optional objective or sit for nearly an hour for that elusive ghost photo or the crucifix being used, then it's not really worth the time. If you're the lobby host and supplying the equipment, the gain is marginal compared to the huge risk of loss! Even from a perspective of bolstering your bank account, you could easily make more money faster by simply concluding your main business and getting immediately started on another investigation.

Whether or not the following tactics are advanced depends on how you perceive them, but they are not tactics that are commonly applied based on my experiences in multiplayer lobbies. They most certainly can make a difference in cases however, especially ones that are proving hard, stubborn or inconclusive to solve.

Some might be stating what you may already know, others will probably shed light on other aspects that you weren't aware of about Phasmophobia. Some will likely work better in singleplayer, others might be more effective in multiplayer. Their effectiveness as tactics might also vary depending on the size of the map or anything particular about a map's layout.

This sounds too simple to be an advanced tactic, yet I cannot count how many times faulty assumptions were made about the ghost's true identity, whether it's about its movement speed during hunts, its hunting threshold, or one piece of evidence being mistaken for something else. How many times have people claimed to have seen ghost orbs for example, only to be shocked to find out that they must have imagined it when the real ghost does not have ghost orbs for evidence? How many times have people insisted that the ghost talks via the spirit box 'because the ghost icon flashed' at the same time it appeared for a ghost event? I've also witnessed instances when people thought they might have seen DOTS when really it was just another player waving their flashlight in its direction.

The first time I ever got hunted at 100% sanity, was literally in the first 10 seconds of me entering the house. It could only be a Demon, right? But I persisted in finding its ghost room and I found a ghost orb - it was actually the Mimic. I've also had a couple of Mimics leave Obake prints with the very first thing they touch. As well as being a force of arbitrary chaos, the Mimic also exists as an incentive for you as the player to back up and verify your original claims, even if you believe that the secondary evidence you have is incontrovertible evidence in itself. If someone in multiplayer claims something and you know and trust them well enough then that's fine, but there's also no harm in being vigilant yourself and assessing whatever evidence surfaces.

In this context, absent deductions are when you cross ghosts off the list where two of their evidence types are absent. One of the evidence types might well be the hidden evidence type that cannot be seen anyway, but you can usually rule out ghosts by doing this.

The ghost might be sitting in its favourite room for a long time and not showing freezing temperatures at all. And when it has touched doors, windows or light switches, or steps in salt piles, it never leaves behind UV evidence. But be persistent in checking for this - a few ghosts can take a while to make their rooms freezing, it's rare but possible. And just because you didn't see fingerprints the first time, it could still be an Obake or a Mimic pretending to be one. But let's assume it's true and that there are neither freezing temperatures nor ultraviolet. That means you can rule out Jinn, Demon, Hantu and the Mimic.

Same thing with spirit box and ghost orb. They are two relatively simple evidence types to find but if you cannot find either, you can cross out Mare, Yokai and Onryo. You can also cross out the Mimic if no freezing temperatures or UV evidences surface. But spirit box is possible to miss out on especially if you're in multiplayer and there is always one player who just doesn't get the obvious hint that someone trying to get a spirit box response is best left alone in the room. On certain parts of maps, I've also experienced cases where ghost orbs were technically available yet they were glitched out and not visible at all. This is another reminder of being mindful and taking nothing for granted.

Hypothetical scenario: you find the ghost pretty quickly and you even get EMF5 as a confirmed evidence type in almost no time at all. It seems content in staying put in its original ghost room but you're testing for all the other evidence types and you seem to get nothing, despite your continued persistence and vigilance.

No freezing temps or UV means no Jinn. No freezing temps or spirit box means no Twins. No freezing temps or DOTS means no Oni. No freezing temps or ghost writing means no Shade. But both DOTS and especially ghost writing most of all are notorious for being rare to see so best not to rule out Shade just yet and spare a thought for the possibility of an Oni as well.

Same thing applies to both the Spirit and the Wraith but you may have already confirmed that it's not the latter with an easy salt test. It could be a Goryo in which case you should be checking for DOTS from outside of the room. But if you're certain there are no DOTS and no ghost orbs, then it can't be a Raiju. And if the ghost has touched doors or windows a few times but leaving no fingerprints at all, then Obake is impossible.

By the time the ghost is ready to start hunting, you might suspect that it's a writing ghost that is simply feeling too lazy or stubborn to write anything down - a common occurrence. Then it initiates the first hunt and you go to hide. Footsteps sound normal like the average ghost both in terms of speed and volume and it's walking well within range of your electronic gear. Even if it is a writing ghost, it's too loud to be a Myling. In case it's a DOTS ghost, it's too slow to be a Raiju. The fact that it's normal speed already rules out the Twins. By this point in the investigation, it might have already turned off the fuse box at least once to kindly let you know it's not a Jinn.

So based on the absence of evidence overall, it has to be either a Spirit or a Shade, right? Not even a chance that you could be dealing with an Oni or Goryo? Well let's smudge the ghost in the next hunt and count down the time until it hunts again. You see it approaching you and it phases out like the average ghost: Oni is impossible. After the hunt is over and you're waiting, it doesn't even make it to 120 seconds let alone 180 before hunting again: Spirit is impossible.

Now the shortlist consists of just Shade and Goryo. If you truly believe it's a writing ghost, it would make sense that it didn't feel like writing anything down if you've been hanging about in the ghost room for a long time. It would also make sense that it's a Goryo if you've not been watching the DOTS like a hawk, via a video camera and from outside the ghost room. But did it feel like it first hunted at a normal time? Did it ever start a hunt in the same room as you? Best bet is to drain your sanity to zero, take two pills to get back to 50% and go in again. The ghost hunts as soon as you enter the house again.

With all the evidence you've amassed, it's undoubtedly a Goryo. But this hypothetical scenario played out the way it did because there was a combination of you getting absent deductions correctly as well as being incorrect in one by assuming on probability alone that it had to be a writing ghost. But as I shall say again: take nothing for granted. Although you've worked out it's a Goryo, try looking a bit longer to confirm those elusive DOTS you missed. Even DOTS ghosts can sometimes play up a bit and hide their silhouettes longer than you would expect.

Note: there may currently be a potential bug in the game where any ghost can produce a random EMF reading without doing an ability or even having one. So take everything mentioned here about this particular tactic with a grain of salt.

Have you ever wandered through a building with an active EMF reader in hand and then suddenly out of nowhere, you get a very arbitrary EMF level 2 reading even though nothing happened? No door, window or light switch was touched, and it clearly says level 2 so there's no chance of confusing it for an item being thrown or a ghost event. Well this seemingly arbitrary EMF level 2 reading indicates one thing: the ghost just used its unique ability.

Now before I list the ghosts that can do this, I must first mention the exceptional ghosts that do officially have unique abilities but manifest themselves in different or more obvious ways:

Poltergeist has a very obvious unique ability being its multi-throw and it does actually produce an EMF level 2 reading from where the ability was invoked. But the multi-throw is quite obvious if you witness it and the level 2 reading might get camouflaged by all the various level 3 readings instead. Its increased throw power is not officially classed as an ability for the record.

Banshee officially does use an ability when it stalks its target but this seemingly does not produce EMF readings. The best way to think about it is like this: all ghosts can wander to wherever they set a waypoint, something that never produces EMF readings anyway. But when the Banshee does it, it has a high probability of wandering to its favourite target instead. That's why the tally for abilities used can be absurdly high with Banshees because its ability is actually tied to a mechanic that is commonly used by all ghosts in the game.

Jinn has the unique ability of draining 25% sanity from any player within its 3-metre radius or in the same room as it. However, it does this by interacting with the fuse box so the EMF reading occurs at the fuse box and not in any random spot on the map. And if the evidence type is available, there is a 25% chance that it can instead produce an EMF level 5 reading.

Mare has an ability that is not unique in any sense as all ghosts have a very slim chance of replicating it as a standard interaction by coincidental timing but it still technically is classed as an ability, and that's to instantly turn off a light switch after you've turned it on. This obviously produces an EMF level 2 reading but focused on the light switch and not in any random spot on the map.

Demon has a unique ability which is to initiate a hunt at any sanity, but the fact that it started a hunt is a more obvious and far more pressing matter at hand!

Yurei has a unique ability that doesn't always do it but sometimes can involve door interactions. For this reason, it will appear as an EMF level 2 reading on the relevant door just like any other basic door touch. But without doors, I have yet to witness an EMF reading at a random spot on the map with no physical or audio cues in regards to the Yurei.

Onryo has its unique ability tied to blowing out candles which cannot be tracked with EMF readings. Although you can get a reading if the Onryo's ability is prevented by a crucifix, but that denotes the crucifix being burnt and is not a direct confirmation of an ability being invoked.

Moroi has its ability in the form of its curse but this is inflicted via spirit box responses and paranormal noises heard via the paramic, none of which can be tracked with an EMF reader.

Thaye can age up to a maximum of 10 times and each time is classed as it invoking an ability according to the post-game statistics. However as far as I'm aware, this ability does not produce EMF readings.

The reason I mention all of this is because you can make a LOT of progress in an investigation simply by acknowledging which ghosts are 'abled' and which ones are 'disabled' and I say this in a particular context. An 'abled' ghost is able to produce a seemingly random EMF level 2 reading without any interactions that you could see or hear. A 'disabled' ghost is a ghost who either possesses no abilities or has a unique ability that either can't be tracked with EMF readings or produces differing levels of EMF readings at centralised locations based on the specific ability.

What does all of this mean when investigating? Here's the simplest way to think about it: if you have an EMF reader in your hand and it produces an EMF level 2 reading out of the blue with absolutely no sign of any interactions whatsoever, you can cross off the list the following 19 ghosts:

Spirit
Poltergeist
Banshee
Jinn
Mare
Revenant
Shade
Demon
Yurei
Oni
Yokai
Hantu
Goryo
Myling
Onryo
Raiju
Moroi
Deogen
Thaye

As of the game's current version, there are only five ghosts in the game ( I'm currently aware of) that can do an ability that isn't directly tied to an interaction with either doors or objects that can be tracked with EMF level 2 readings, and three of them have a 25% chance of producing EMF level 5 readings when using these abilities.

Wraith can produce EMF readings at the exact location to which it teleported. Bear in mind, the EMF readings are produced only at the destination point of the Wraith's teleport, NOT at the origin point from which it teleported.

Phantom can produce EMF readings when it invokes its wandering ability to stalk a random player anywhere on the map. But completely opposite to the Wraith, its wandering ability can only be traced with an EMF reader at the origin point of where it started to wander from and not the final destination point.

The Twins surprise even me by being listed here but despite relaying it via anecdotal experience, I can say that I've noticed the Twins invoke their ability and have it produce EMF readings out of thin air despite the fact that no objects could be seen or heard to be thrown. I could be mistaken but until proven otherwise that this is not the case or it was simply a bug, I still see the Twins as abled for now and will thus keep them on the shortlist.

Obake can produce EMF readings whenever it chooses to invoke its ability, that being where it halves the duration of all remaining fingerprints on the map. What I am not certain about is if the Obake still can use this ability with zero available evidence but if it can, this is a useful thing to know if you're doing zero-evidence runs and the Obake is one of your few remaining options!

The Mimic can produce EMF readings out of the blue by virtue of mimicking any of the other ghosts on this shortlist and invoking their abilities!

You can tell a lot about a ghost by the way it hunts, sometimes you might even be able to identify it outright with just a single hunt. Other times you'll get a seemingly average ghost, nevertheless you can use a single hunt to rule out many ghosts. For the first hunt, it is recommended that you carry a smudge stick with you and try to perform as many of these tests as is physically possible. I am going to list all sorts of traits about ghosts and which ones to cross off in the event that they're completely normal during hunts:

• If the ghost's movement speed sounds like its footsteps match the same normal speed of the average ghost (1.7 m/s) outside of line-of-sight and appears to accelerate gradually in movement speed with line-of-sight while chasing you, you can rule out the following ghosts:
  
  Jinn (if the fuse box is switched on)
  Revenant
  Hantu
  The Twins
  Raiju (if it does not speed up nearby electronic equipment)
  Deogen
  Thaye
  
  
• If the ghost's visibility appears to be normal during hunts, you can rule out the following ghosts:
  
  Phantom
  Oni
  Obake (if it never changes ghost model)
  
  
• If the ghost appears to be able to hunt again after 90 seconds but before 180 seconds have passed since it was smudged, you can rule out the Spirit
  
  
• If the ghost appears to leave behind boot imprints in disturbed piles of salt during the hunt, you can rule out the Wraith
  
  
• If the ghost appears to be throwing objects during the hunt at normal frequency, you can rule out the Poltergeist
  
  
• If the ghost appears to change targets and chase anyone, even with every player in the building, you can rule out the Banshee
  
  
• If you are certain that you are above 40% average sanity and the ghost starts a hunt in a lit room, you can rule out the Mare
  
  
• If you are certain that you are above 35% average sanity and/or the ghost starts a hunt in the same room as any player, you can rule out the Shade
  
  
• If you are certain that the ghost started a hunt just outside the default radius of a crucifix but within a 5-metre radius of it, you can rule out the Demon
  
  
• If you are out of sight of the ghost and you are talking or an electronic device in your hand is malfunctioning during a hunt and the ghost is able to reliably track you and find you, you can rule out the Yokai
  
  
• If you can hear the ghost's voice and footsteps during a hunt from a good distance beyond the radius of electronic disturbance, you can rule out the Myling
  
  
• If the ghost appears to be incapable of starting a hunt after blowing out a candle three times, or appears to start a hunt within the 4-metre radius of a lit candle, you can rule out the Onryo
  
  
• If you have not seen any evidence of an orb in the ghost room and the ghost maintains the same normal speed during each hunt, you can rule out the Mimic
  
  
• If the ghost maintains the same normal speed during each hunt despite average sanity getting lower and lower for each successive hunt, you can rule out the Moroi

Have you counted how many ghosts we're able to cross off the list on the sole basis of their hunting mechanics? You could potentially cross out as many as 22 ghosts which is a staggering amount! The only notable exception of those listed above is the Banshee because its unique hunting mechanics are only applicable in multiplayer games and have no bearing or make any discernible difference for those playing singleplayer. But let's say that you have a ghost that is so completely normal and average during hunts that it has passed ALL of the above tests! What few ghosts still remain on the shortlist?

Banshee (in singleplayer)
Yurei
Goryo

Each one is capable of triggering a cursed hunt in which the ghost only has a grace period of 1 second. This very brief grace period only applies to the first cursed hunt however, it also does extend the duration of the cursed hunt as well as each following hunt by an extra 20 seconds. ALWAYS alert the team and get consent in a multiplayer lobby before using one!

Monkey Paw is the newest cursed possession and impacts the game in many different and intriguing ways! You use it like the spirit box by talking in local chat and saying the following:

I wish to see the ghost - triggers ghost event in front of you followed by a hunt, just like the Summoning Circle. But it also negatively impacts your vision for the duration of that hunt.

I wish for activity - temporarily increases the ghost's activity, but it also locks the front door for 2 minutes, destroys the fuse box and increases rate of sanity drain by 50%.

I wish to trap the ghost - temporarily locks the door(s) connected to the ghost's current room for 1 minute, but you or your friends can get locked in and the ghost starts a hunt after the door(s) unlock.

I wish to be sane - forces individual sanity of all players to 50% regardless of previously having higher or lower sanity.

I wish to be safe - unblocks the closest hiding spot, but destroys the light bulbs in the room you make the wish, and allows the ghost to know your exact location when a hunt starts.

I wish to leave - unlocks all the locked doors even during a hunt, but temporarily slows you.

I wish to revive my friend - self-explanatory, but there is a chance it could instantly kill you.

I wish for sun/rain/clear sky/fog/snow - self-explanatory, but you lose 30% sanity.

I wish for knowledge - crosses out one evidence type and all corresponding ghosts in the journal, but immediately teleports the ghost to your location and starts a hunt as well as deafening and blinding you for the remainder of the investigation!

Tarot Cards are definitely the most fun of the cursed possessions when in a group, Russian Roulette being the way to do it as they are high-risk, high-reward. With the exception of the cards that can alter your sanity, dealing cards by default does not cost sanity and the deck includes a wide variety of cards that can make or break a game with a single pick. Even if you don't trigger a cursed hunt, dealing all 10 cards in the deck will still add 20 seconds to the hunt duration.

The Wheel of Fortune - 20% chance (green restores 25% sanity, red depletes 25% sanity)
The Tower - 20% chance (forces the ghost to do an interaction)
The Fool - 17% chance (does nothing and also appears on every card dealt during a hunt)
The Hermit - 10% chance (sends the ghost to its room and keeps it there for 60 seconds)
The Devil - 10% chance (causes a ghost event)
Death - 10% chance (starts a cursed hunt)
The Sun - 5% chance (restores 100% sanity)
The Moon - 5% chance (depletes 100% sanity)
The High Priestess - 2% chance (revives a dead player)
The Hanged Man - 1% chance (instant death)

Voodoo Doll doesn't need much explaining at all. It has a total of ten pins, nine of which cost 5% sanity each and can force the ghost to do interactions, and the heart pin which costs 10% sanity and instantly triggers a cursed hunt. If you try using it with zero sanity, all pins will be pushed into the doll at the same time and also trigger a cursed hunt. It's not a popular cursed possession but it does have a few good uses. In addition to getting the ghost to hunt while costing less sanity than most other cursed possessions, it can also force interactions that can potentially give you EMF level 5, ghost writing and even DOTS evidence. Therefore, the best use of the Voodoo Doll is to use it after you've found the ghost room but are still struggling to obtain evidence.

Haunted Mirror simply shows you which room the ghost is currently located, but it drains its user's sanity rapidly by about 7.5% per second, which includes the raising and lowering animations. Even if you don't use the mirror for long enough, each use will drain a minimum of 20% sanity. If you reach zero sanity with it or attempt to use it in that state, the mirror will crack and instantly trigger a cursed hunt. The sanity cost on small maps isn't worth it half the time and the larger maps have rooms that look similar to each other and may be difficult to distinguish. Use it with caution!

Ouija Board is the classic cursed possession! Asking the ghost where it is or what is its favourite room, costs a hefty 50% sanity, as does asking for the location of the bone. Less important questions such as when the ghost died, how it died, why it's there, if you're insane, they all cost 5% sanity for each question. Asking about its age however becomes very useful if the ghost happens to be a Thaye as the Ouija Board will confirm with exact numbers if the ghost is aging!

But you must be careful when using the board - saying 'Hide and seek' or asking it a question that will leave you with zero sanity or failing to say 'Goodbye' before walking away from the board, these are all things that will deplete your sanity to zero if it isn't that low already, and will make the board disintegrate and instantly trigger a cursed hunt. It is best used for finding the ghost and the bone in much larger maps where sanity drain in the dark is slower and you trade sanity for knowledge of exact locations in order to save a lot more time.

Music Box is a bit underrated in my honest opinion! While it can drain up to 75% sanity of any player who happens to be within close enough range to it while listening to the entire song from start to finish, you can use it sometimes to lure the ghost and it can also help complete a lot of objectives in one fell swoop. The ghost will appear when it is 5 metres away from the box while it's playing, and this counts as a ghost event. Of course if the ghost gets close to it, or you either try using the box with zero sanity or reach that state while it plays, it will instantly stop playing the song, close the box and start a cursed hunt.

Another thing about the Music Box is that it has an interesting effect on a few ghosts. Shades have a chance to appear in their shadow form during the ghost event part. Due to their impaired hearing, Yokais will not appear for a ghost event until the Music Box is only 2.5 metres away from them. Mylings can't be heard singing unless you're within 12 metres distance away from them and perhaps most terrifying of all, Wraiths can pick the worst moment ever by teleporting on top of you while the song is playing and be close enough to instantly start a cursed hunt which will almost certainly kill you before you can react!

Summoning Circle is my absolute favourite! Why even bother looking for the ghost when you can bring the ghost to you? Like with the Music Box, you can do a lot of objectives in one with this cursed possession as the ghost event (which also gives Shades a chance to show their shadow form) lasts for 5 seconds. However, the ghost starts hunting immediately after that with no grace period at all. And as a means to be mindful of the Summoning Circle, each candle costs 16% sanity to any player nearby when they are lit. Furthermore, if someone tries lighting the last candle with less than 16% sanity, the ghost will hunt immediately. And if someone tries to light the last candle while the ghost is already in the middle of a hunt, it will teleport the ghost right on top of them and instantly kill anyone foolish enough to be near the circle! Unless you're trying to speedrun, always make sure you've got enough sanity for the circle as well as an escape plan!

Do you remember what I said about how not respecting sanity is the biggest and most common mistake that players tend to make in higher difficulties? Being a candle bearer is essentially the way of paying the most respect to your individual sanity and the average sanity of your group. It's least essential in street houses where the rooms are smaller and the lighting is superior to anywhere else. But in any map that isn't a street house, the lighting tends to be lower in quality and so patchy at the best of the times that you're still losing sanity in dark patches of large rooms or hallways despite the main lights being switched on. This becomes an even bigger problem in multiplayer when sanity-drain in the dark is doubled.

Firelights are great for mitigating sanity loss but the problem with them is that the ghost can blow them out and they can also extinguish over time, with the exception of the tier 3 lantern, meaning you need two inventory slots for the firelight as well as an igniter to keep it lit. Or at least, that's what you conventionally need to do. Unconventionally however, you do have a couple of tricks up your sleeve and these help a lot for when the ghost room is far away from the front entrance or when you need to go looking for the fuse box in total darkness. The trick here is to find the ghost room and then leave your igniter just outside of it, ideally on a raised surface so it is easy to spot and pick up when needed.

Then when you make your way back to the front entrance to grab more stuff from the van, grab another igniter and leave it somewhere by the front entrance so that you and others can find it. Whenever you make a trip backwards or forwards, first put out the firelight and then light it up again so you're essentially 'refreshing' the firelight's light and giving it more time each trip. This way, you reap the benefits of a lit firelight while freeing up an inventory slot for something that isn't an igniter!

Have you ever noticed before that when you activate the Parabolic Microphone display, there is a timer in the bottom-right corner that counts how long the device has been switched on for? (Note: you must upgrade the paramic at least once to see this after the Ascension update!) You might think this is a relatively minor and unimportant detail but after understanding its potential, I can tell you that I've solved cases, even a couple of zero-evidence cases no less, simply with nothing else but using the paramic as an in-game stopwatch!

It's very simple: you switch on the paramic the moment you enter the map and drop it by the front door. Then whenever you need to come back outside to grab more items from the van, you pick it up and switch it off whenever you exit the map. The implications of using the paramic for this specific function are greater than they might initially appear on the surface.

For one, this tactic allows you to still 'respect' your sanity without having to worry about turning on light switches or lighting up candles (while at the same time making investigations go quicker) simply because you always have a timed record of how long you've spent in the dark. Two, you can conflate the time you've spent in the dark with any sanity lost via ghost events despite the fact that the sanity chart in the van is broken. And three, you can tell what your sanity is at when the ghost starts its first hunt. This doesn't always solve the case and some ghosts can be lazy hunters at times but when it works, you can purge about 18 or 20 ghosts from the list simply because the ghost hunted early and the paramic timer (assuming it's correctly used) helps confirm that!

On a side note, there is also a timer on the daily achievement clipboard in the van but it counts down instead and you can't stop it. My recommendation is to leave the paramic you use as a stopwatch by the entrance, and anything else you're trying to test the ghost for in terms of time-based mechanics, you can bring the daily clipboard further into the map and even leave it in a hiding spot.

This tactic is best used in singleplayer. Multiplayer is much more difficult to manage and coordinate but still doable as long as your friends are familiar with these tactics and know how to reliably employ them. You can only bring two paramics to any investigation so it's still valid and totally possible for duos. Anything with three or more players however, you might want to consider asking those without paramics to be candle bearers just so that you all have a general idea of where average sanity is at despite the broken sanity chart.

In order to make sense of this advanced tactic, we must establish a few basic premises before going into further detail. Let's use a Nightmare difficulty investigation as an example: you as an individual player, start off with 100% sanity. There should also be four sets of sanity pills with each set restoring 25% of your individual sanity. This means that given the right amount of time and sanity lost before consuming pills, one player could have as much as 200% sanity at their disposal over the course of an entire investigation. This is the case in singleplayer by default as average sanity is your individual sanity anyway.

Multiplayer however complicates and distorts the picture entirely. Not only is sanity drain in the dark twice as fast as singleplayer, but you also have to contend with average sanity being the sum of all the individual sanity percentages divided by the number of people in the group. So while taking a set of pills will still restore your individual sanity by 25%, it only restores average sanity by 6.25% in a team of four players. Thus in terms of average sanity, a team of four only has 125% at their disposal. And each time a player dies, every remaining player loses 15% of their individual sanity as well.

The point I'm trying to make here is that taking sanity pills in multiplayer games has very little impact to the point of being negligible, especially on Nightmare difficulty. You either start respecting sanity by playing accordingly, or you persist and persevere with zero sanity even if it means nobody touches the pills. You may ask, why bother treating the sanity pills as if they are emergency rations?

Because in multiplayer, the ONLY means of sanity pill optimisation is to literally treat them as emergency rations - they are best reserved for the sole survivor of the group in case everyone else has already died, either because the ghost is very dangerous or incredibly difficult to identify. The 15% sanity loss for each player that dies is irrelevant if you're already at zero sanity, but average sanity is calculated based on the players who are still alive. If there is just one surviving player, their individual sanity becomes the average sanity: just like in singleplayer, the sole survivor is in the position to optimally consume all the pills and fully restore the average sanity back to 100%!

This advanced tactic only works in multiplayer games and is under the assumption that you're only communicating in-game and not via anything else such as Discord. Dead players cannot speak, but they can still communicate. Some might even attempt to gather items and spell out the identity of the ghost or a trait of it. While it is clever, it's not always practical because a dead player might not have enough nearby items to spell out the word they want to convey and what's more, it could cost more time and sanity than the remaining surviving players can spare.

Which is why it is up to the surviving players to be aware enough to notice that the dead is trying to tell them something. The only way you can reliably do this is to ask questions that can be answered with either a yes or a no. For example, if you're in the truck and a dead player has a blue cup in their hands, you can tell them to say 'yes' by throwing the cup at the computer screen, or answer 'no' by throwing the cup to the ground. Or they could pick up the bunny to say yes or pick up the teddy to say no. Whatever arrangement you have, the dead cannot talk in words so it's up to you as the surviving player(s) to set the terms and command them to follow accordingly.

Ask them questions like these:

'Do you know what the ghost is?' - If they answer yes, then check the list of possible ghosts and ask if it is one ghost and if they say no, keep asking until they respond with a yes.

'Have you seen any evidence?' - If they answer yes, then ask if they have seen ghost writing or EMF Level 5. Dead players cannot see things like DOTS but they can see if the ghost has written in any of the books, and they can also pick up objects the ghost has thrown and bring them to an active EMF reader left anywhere nearby in case there is EMF level 5.

'Do you know where <object> is?' If they answer yes, they can lead you to an item that you may have lost or thought to be missing. This could be a key piece of equipment to identify primary evidence or even things like missing smudge sticks left by their corpses.

'Has the ghost changed room?' - If they answer yes, try looking on the map and asking them which room it is, one room at a time.

Don't forget as well that dead players can follow the ghost around when it hunts. They are able to discern if it's a normal speed ghost or if it's fast or slow. They can tell if it sounds quieter than usual and confirm a Myling, or if it is less or more visible to confirm either Phantom or Oni. Just because your team member(s) died does not mean they are incapable of helping to solve the case - be a professional necromancer and put those friendly ghosts of yours to work!

There may be times where the ghost is being so incredibly stubborn and not giving you much in the way of evidence. In such moments, it seems like no matter what you try to do, the ghost refuses to cough up that elusive second piece of evidence and this is something that can impede the investigation immensely by being so costly in both time and average sanity. I mention this because this is not such an uncommon scenario as some might think and if the tools for primary evidence aren't giving you enough, you need to think and react accordingly. Believe it or not, you do have a couple of tricks up your sleeve to alleviate your struggles.

For example: let's say that you have DOTS as an evidence type and for whatever reason, none of the other evidence types are yielding any fruit despite your best efforts. You can still use secondary evidence to save time and shorten the list of possible ghosts. If you can see the DOTS with the naked eye, you know it's not a Goryo. If you can see disturbed salt piles then it's not a Wraith. Or if the ghost hunts and appears to be of normal movement speed, gradually accelerating based on line-of-sight with electronic equipment glitching out in proximity and even phases out like the average ghost, you can rule out Phantom, Oni, Raiju, Deogen and Thaye in just one hunt!

In this hypothetical scenario, you've deduced that it's impossible for EMF5 or ghost writing to be one of the evidence types! So you can open your journal and cross out those two evidence types completely. Furthermore, there are only ten ghosts in the game that have DOTS and you've already shortened the list down to three: Banshee, Yurei and Yokai. Besides DOTS, what else do these three ghosts have in common with each other? Ghost orbs! Perhaps you've not been vigilant enough in your search for orbs, in which case you can just use secondary evidence to finish off the job. Or they might in fact be the hidden evidence type. Regardless, these three ghosts being the only available options means that you can tick the box for ghost orbs with confidence and if you're lucky, the orbs really are hidden and either freezing temperatures, spirit box or ultraviolet might surface and be the conclusive sign to finish off the investigation!

A lot of players tend to panic or get frustrated when they can only find one evidence type but as I've explained above, sometimes one evidence type is enough to crack the case and identify the ghost. Especially for ghost hunters that have taken things a step further and accustomed themselves to doing zero-evidence runs, then one evidence type is like a hack to such players! Think about it: even with just one confirmed evidence type, that still rules out at least half of all 24 ghosts on the list and you can get a lot more done with that than you would initially think!

Insanity is the latest official difficulty where you start with 75% average sanity, pills only restore 20% sanity per set, and the ghost only gives you one available evidence type and is laughably restrained by a grace period of just 1 second, meaning that the absence of Cursed Possessions is one of the things you should be least concerned about. Unless you all take pills before setting foot in the building, every ghost in the game is going to feel like an early hunter compared to the experience of every other difficulty setting. Ghosts such as the Yokai and the Thaye can potentially hunt at the very beginning just like the Demon! Relative to time spent before the hunt begins, even the Shade can seemingly hunt as early as the Mare or the Onryo on lower difficulties!

But the key thing to note is that Insanity combos are different from Nightmare combos because you have a LOT more deductions to make with just secondary evidence. Hell, you might even have a scenario where the one and only available evidence type is one which the ghost stubbornly refuses to reveal, making it something akin to a zero-evidence run! In any case, here is what to expect when playing Insanity.

SPIRIT / WRAITH / JINN / SHADE / ONI / GORYO / MYLING / THE TWINS / RAIJU / OBAKE

Goryo is impossible as there are no DOTS.

Obake is impossible as there is no ultraviolet.

1) Get salt and lay it down in the ghost room.

If the ghost cannot step in salt piles, you can confirm Wraith.

If the ghost can step in salt piles, you can rule out Wraith.

2) Assuming the ghost is not a Wraith, proceed with trying to get the ghost to hunt and do more than one hunt if necessary to determine any of the following:

If the ghost immediately gains a noticeable increase in movement speed with line-of-sight when more than 3 metres away from you, you can confirm Jinn.

If the ghost does not immediately gain a noticeable increase in movement speed with line-of-sight when more than 3 metres away from you, or if the ghost intentionally switches off the fuse box at any point during the investigation, you can rule out Jinn.

If the ghost appears to be phasing out of visibility for intervals lasting only fractions of a second during hunts, you can confirm Oni.

If the ghost appears to be phasing out of visibility for intervals ranging between 0.3 seconds to 1 second during hunts, or if the ghost ever does a mist ghost event at any point during the investigation, you can rule out Oni.

If the ghost sounds quiet enough that you can only hear its voice and footsteps during hunts by the time your flashlight starts to flicker, you can confirm Myling.

If the ghost sounds loud enough that you can hear its voice and footsteps during hunts clearly before it is in range to make your flashlight flicker, you can rule out Myling.

If the ghost sounds like it is either slightly faster or slightly slower during hunts than the normal speed of the average ghost, you can confirm the Twins.

If the ghost sounds like it is moving at normal or noticeably faster speed than usual, you can rule out the Twins.

If the ghost sounds like it is moving at noticeably faster speed when close to active electronic devices, you can confirm Raiju.

If the ghost sounds like it is not moving at noticeably faster speed when close to active electronic devices, you can rule out Raiju.

3) Assuming the ghost is neither of the above, smudge the ghost during a hunt and hide.

If the ghost is incapable of hunting again until 180 seconds have passed since it was smudged, or if the ghost started a hunt in the same room as you or any other player, or if you are certain that average sanity was above 35% when the ghost started hunting, you can confirm Spirit.

If the ghost is capable of hunting again between 90 to 180 seconds since it was smudged, or if you're certain that you have reached zero sanity, and take enough pills to get back to 50% average sanity and have a lit candle but are not getting hunted again, you can confirm Shade.

WRAITH / PHANTOM / BANSHEE / YUREI / ONI / YOKAI / GORYO / RAIJU / DEOGEN / THAYE

Deogen is impossible as there is no spirit box.

1) Ascertain if you can see DOTS with your own eyes first:

If you can see the DOTS silhouette through the lens of a video camera while outside the ghost room but not with your own eyes, you can confirm Goryo.

If you can see the DOTS silhouette with your own eyes, or if the ghost ever clearly changes its ghost room, you can rule out Goryo.

2) Assuming the ghost is not a Goryo, lay down salt in the ghost room.

If the ghost cannot step in salt piles, you can confirm Wraith.

If the ghost can step in salt piles, you can rule out Wraith.

3) Assuming the ghost is not a Wraith either, proceed by getting the ghost to start hunting and determine any of the following:

If the ghost appears to be phasing out of visibility for intervals ranging between 1 second and 2 seconds during hunts, or if a ghost event occurs and the ghost's physical model vanishes after you have taken its photo and both the heartbeat and electronic disturbance have ceased despite still being able to hear the ghost, you can confirm Phantom.

If the ghost appears to be phasing out of visibility for intervals ranging between 0.3 seconds to 1 second during hunts, or if a ghost event occurs and the ghost's physical model remains after you have taken its photo, you can rule out Phantom.

If the ghost appears to be phasing out of visibility for intervals lasting only fractions of a second during hunts, you can confirm Oni.

If the ghost appears to be phasing out of visibility for intervals ranging between 0.3 seconds to 1 second during hunts, or if the ghost ever does a mist ghost event at any point during the investigation, you can rule out Oni.

If the ghost does not appear to sense your voice or your flashing electronics in your hand during hunts, you can confirm Yokai.

If the ghost does appear to sense your voice or your flashing electronics in your hand during hunts, you can rule out Yokai.

If the ghost sounds like it is moving at noticeably faster speed when close to active electronic devices but moves at normal speed away from them, you can confirm Raiju.

If the ghost sounds like it is not moving at noticeably faster speed when close to active electronic devices, you can rule out Raiju.

If the ghost does not appear capable of accelerating in movement speed during hunts based on line-of-sight, you can confirm Thaye.

If the ghost does appear capable of accelerating in movement speed during hunts based on line-of-sight, you can rule out Thaye.

4) If all of the above ghosts have been ruled out, determine either of the following:

If the ghost targets only one person during hunts and ignores all others in multiplayer when everyone is in the building, or emits a unique scream audio via the parabolic microphone, you can confirm Banshee.

If the ghost targets anyone it sees and can change targets during hunts in multiplayer when everyone is in the building, or if you ever hear an interaction that sounds like two door touches at the same time, you can confirm Yurei.

PHANTOM / POLTERGEIST / BANSHEE / JINN / DEMON / HANTU / GORYO / MYLING / OBAKE / THE MIMIC

Hantu is impossible as there are no freezing temperatures

Goryo is impossible as there are no DOTS

1) Use a video camera to look for a ghost orb.

If you can see a ghost orb, you can confirm the Mimic

If you cannot see a ghost orb, you can rule out the Mimic

2) Assuming the ghost is not the Mimic, lay down a crucifix or two in case the ghost attempts to start hunting early.

If the ghost tries to hunt when you are certain that average sanity is above 50%, or if it hunts again after a cooldown period of between 20 to 25 seconds, or if it has been smudged and hunts (again) after a period of between 60 to 90 seconds, you can confirm Demon.

If the ghost starts hunting outside the base radius of the crucifix but you can tell that it started a hunt within the 50% bonus range of it, you can cross out Demon.

3) Assuming the ghost is not a Demon either, place an active EMF reader by the fuse box. After that, start draining your sanity (if necessary) and get the ghost to start hunting in order to determine any of the following:

If the ghost appears to be phasing out of visibility for intervals ranging between 1 second and 2 seconds during hunts, or if a ghost event occurs and the ghost's physical model vanishes after you have taken its photo and both the heartbeat and electronic disturbance have ceased despite still being able to hear the ghost, you can confirm Phantom

If the ghost appears to be phasing out of visibility for intervals ranging between 0.3 seconds to 1 second during hunts, or if a ghost event occurs and the ghost's physical model remains after you have taken its photo, you can rule out Phantom

If the ghost appears to be throwing objects during hunts with immense power and alarming regularity, or if you ever witness or hear a multi-throw at any point during the investigation, you can confirm Poltergeist

If the ghost does not appear to be throwing objects during hunts with immense power and alarming regularity, you can rule out Poltergeist

If the ghost appears to get an immediate boost in movement speed with line-of-sight but then slows down when 3-metres away from you, or causes an interaction at the fuse box while the power is on at any point during the investigation, you can confirm Jinn.

If the ghost does not appear to get an immediate boost in movement speed, or if the ghost ever intentionally turns off the fuse box, you can cross out Jinn.

If the ghost sounds quiet enough that you can only hear its voice and footsteps during hunts by the time your flashlight starts to flicker, you can confirm Myling

If the ghost sounds loud enough that you can hear its voice and footsteps during hunts clearly before it is in range to make your flashlight flicker, you can rule out Myling

4) If you are certain that is none of the ghosts mentioned above, take pills to restore sanity if necessary and proceed by having both a source of UV light and a parabolic microphone ready, looking for these clues:

If everyone in a multiplayer lobby is in the building during the hunt but the ghost doesn't target some players, or if you ever hear a scream via the parabolic microphone at any point during the investigation, you can confirm Banshee.

If the ghost touches any surface on which it can leave fingerprints but leaves behind either unique fingerprints or no fingerprints at all, or if it ever shapeshifts during hunts, you can confirm Obake.

BANSHEE / MARE / REVENANT / YUREI / YOKAI / HANTU / ONRYO / RAIJU / OBAKE / THAYE

Hantu is impossible as there are no freezing temperatures

Obake is impossible as there is no ultraviolet

1) The Mimic is a possibility with this combo; check for fingerprints, freezing temperatures or spirit box.

2) Once that is done, proceed by having just one crucifix and a lit candle on top of it ready, looking for these clues:

If the ghost tries to hunt (or burns the crucifix) within 6 seconds after blowing out the candle for the third time, you can confirm Onryo.

If the ghost tries to hunt (or burns the crucifix) within the radius of the candle while it is still lit or it does not attempt to hunt after blowing out the candle for the third time, you can cross out Onryo.

3) Assuming the ghost is not an Onryo, drain enough sanity so that the ghost starts to hunt and then determine any of the following:

If the ghost does appear to move very slowly during hunts but then instantly gains tremendous movement speed with line-of-sight, you can confirm Revenant.

If the ghost seems to move at normal speed or faster speeds without line-of-sight of any player, you can rule out Revenant.

If the ghost does not appear to sense your voice or your flashing electronics in your hand during hunts, you can confirm Yokai.

If the ghost does appear to sense your voice or your flashing electronics in your hand during hunts, you can rule out Yokai.

If the ghost sounds like it is moving at noticeably faster speed when close to active electronic devices but moves at normal speed away from them, you can confirm Raiju.

If the ghost sounds like it is not moving at noticeably faster speed when close to active electronic devices, you can rule out Raiju.

If the ghost does not appear capable of accelerating in movement speed during hunts based on line-of-sight, you can confirm Thaye.

If the ghost does appear capable of accelerating in movement speed during hunts based on line-of-sight, you can rule out Thaye.

4. If the ghost is neither of the ones mentioned above, restore average sanity with pills if necessary and determine any of the following:

If the ghost does appear to target and chase only one player during hunts in multiplayer when everyone is in the building, or if it successfully finds its target numerous times by triggering the motion sensor in any other room on the same floor as the ghost room, or if it emits a unique scream via the parabolic microphone at any point during the investigation, you can confirm Banshee.

If the ghost appears to target anyone it can see and changes targets during hunts in multiplayer when everyone is in the building, or if it seemingly does not seem to trigger the motion sensor in an attempt to follow you or stalk you in different rooms that are on the same floor as that of the ghost room in singleplayer, you can rule out Banshee.

If you are certain that you are above 50% sanity and the ghost starts a hunt from a dark room or area, or if the ghost (on more than one occasion) immediately turns off a light switch after you have turned it on, you can confirm Mare.

If you are certain that you are above 40% sanity and the ghost starts a hunt from a lit room or area, or if the ghost ever turns on a light switch at any point during the investigation, you can rule out Mare.

5) If the ghost has passed every single test so far and has ruled itself out of being any of the mentioned ghosts so far, there is only one viable option remaining.

If the ghost ever does an ability or interaction that sounds like two door touches occurring at the exact same time, you can confirm Yurei.

SPIRIT / POLTERGEIST / MARE / REVENANT / SHADE / DEMON / MYLING / MOROI / DEOGEN / THAYE

Moroi is impossible as there is no spirit box

Deogen is impossible as there is no spirit box

If the ghost ever turns on a light switch at any point during the investigation, you can rule out Mare.

1) Lay down a crucifix or two in case the ghost attempts to start hunting early.

If the ghost tries to hunt when you are certain that average sanity is above 50%, or if it hunts again after a cooldown period of between 20 to 25 seconds, or if it has been smudged and hunts (again) after a period of between 60 to 90 seconds, you can confirm Demon.

If the ghost starts hunting outside the base radius of the crucifix but you can tell that it started a hunt within the bonus 50% range of it, you can rule out Demon.

2) Assuming the ghost is not a Demon, drain your sanity enough so that the ghost starts hunting and then determine any of the following:

If the ghost repeatedly does not appear capable of hunting again until after 180 seconds have passed since it was smudged, you can confirm Spirit.

If the ghost does appear capable of hunting again between 90 to 180 seconds after having been smudged, you can rule out Spirit.

If the ghost appears to be throwing objects during hunts with immense power and alarming regularity, or if you ever witness or hear a multi-throw at any point during the investigation, you can confirm Poltergeist

If the ghost does not appear to be throwing objects during hunts with immense power and alarming regularity, you can rule out Poltergeist

If the ghost does appear to move very slowly during hunts but then instantly gains tremendous movement speed with line-of-sight, you can confirm Revenant.

If the ghost seems to move at normal speed or faster speeds without line-of-sight of any player, you can rule out Revenant.

If the ghost sounds quiet enough that you can only hear its voice and footsteps during hunts by the time your flashlight starts to flicker, you can confirm Myling

If the ghost sounds loud enough that you can hear its voice and footsteps during hunts clearly before it is in range to make your flashlight flicker, you can rule out Myling

If the ghost does not appear capable of accelerating in movement speed during hunts based on line-of-sight, you can confirm Thaye.

If the ghost does appear capable of accelerating in movement speed during hunts based on line-of-sight, you can rule out Thaye.

3) Assuming that all mentioned ghosts so far have been ruled out, restore average sanity back to
around 50% and go back into the building with a lit candle, but also make sure that the lights in the ghost room and surrounding rooms/areas are all switched off in order to determine the following:

If the ghost is not hunting while you're at 50% average sanity, or if it has always started hunts in rooms that were not occupied by any players, you can confirm Shade.

If the ghost is able to start hunting from dark rooms or areas despite getting average sanity back to between 50 and 60%, and if the ghost has never turned on a single light switch during the investigation, or if it immediately turns off a light switch (preferably more than once) after you have just turned it on, you can confirm Mare.

SPIRIT / WRAITH / PHANTOM / POLTERGEIST / MARE / YOKAI / ONRYO / THE TWINS / THE MIMIC / MOROI / DEOGEN

If the ghost ever turns on a light switch at any point during the investigation, you can rule out Mare.

1) Use a video camera to look for a ghost orb.

If you can see a ghost orb, you can confirm the Mimic

If you cannot see a ghost orb, you can rule out the Mimic

2) Once that is done, proceed by laying down salt, as well as having just one crucifix and a lit candle on top of it ready, looking for these clues:

If the ghost cannot step in salt piles, you can confirm Wraith.

If the ghost can step in salt piles, you can cross out Wraith.

If the ghost tries to hunt (or burns the crucifix) within 6 seconds after blowing out the candle for the third time, you can confirm Onryo.

If the ghost tries to hunt (or burns the crucifix) within the radius of the candle while it is still lit or it does not attempt to hunt after blowing out the candle for the third time, you can cross out Onryo.

3) Assuming the ghost is neither a Wraith nor an Onryo, proceed to drain your sanity in order to get the ghost to start hunting and determine any of the following:

If the ghost repeatedly does not appear capable of hunting again until after 180 seconds have passed since it was smudged, you can confirm Spirit.

If the ghost does appear capable of hunting again between 90 to 180 seconds after having been smudged, you can rule out Spirit.

If the ghost appears to be phasing out of visibility for intervals ranging between 1 second and 2 seconds during hunts, or if a ghost event occurs and the ghost's physical model vanishes after you have taken its photo and both the heartbeat and electronic disturbance have ceased despite still being able to hear the ghost, you can confirm Phantom.

If the ghost appears to be phasing out of visibility for intervals ranging between 0.3 seconds to 1 second during hunts, or if a ghost event occurs and the ghost's physical model remains after you have taken its photo, you can rule out Phantom.

If the ghost appears to be throwing objects during hunts with immense power and alarming regularity, or if you ever witness or hear a multi-throw at any point during the investigation, you can confirm Poltergeist

If the ghost does not appear to be throwing objects during hunts with immense power and alarming regularity, you can rule out Poltergeist

If the ghost does not appear to sense your voice or your flashing electronics in your hand during hunts, you can confirm Yokai.

If the ghost does appear to sense your voice or your flashing electronics in your hand during hunts, you can rule out Yokai.

4) Assuming it is none of the ghosts mentioned above, do not take any sanity pills: do whatever is necessary to reduce average sanity down to zero and keep on allowing the ghost to hunt multiple times in order to determine the following:

If you can hear footsteps that sound like the normal movement speed of the average ghost, and if the ghost has never turned on a single light switch during the investigation, or if it immediately turns off a light switch (preferably more than once) after you have just turned it on, you can confirm Mare.

If you can hear footsteps that sound slightly slower or slightly faster than the normal speed of the average ghost, or if you happen to witness an obvious case of simultaneous interactions at any point in the investigation, you can confirm the Twins.

If you can hear footsteps that get faster at the start of each following hunt while average sanity is declining, you can confirm Moroi.

JINN / REVENANT / SHADE / DEMON / YUREI / ONI / HANTU / ONRYO / THE TWINS / THE MIMIC / MOROI

Moroi is impossible as there is no spirit box

1) Use a video camera to look for a ghost orb.

If you can see a ghost orb, you can confirm the Mimic

If you cannot see a ghost orb, you can rule out the Mimic

2) Once that is done, proceed by having just one crucifix and a lit candle on top of it ready, looking for these clues:

If the ghost tries to hunt when you are certain that average sanity is above 50%, or if it hunts again after a cooldown period of between 20 to 25 seconds, or if it has been smudged and hunts (again) after a period of between 60 to 90 seconds, you can confirm Demon.

If the ghost starts hunting outside the base radius of the crucifix but you can tell that it started a hunt within the bonus 50% range of it, you can rule out Demon.

If the ghost tries to hunt (or burns the crucifix) within 6 seconds after blowing out the candle for the third time, you can confirm Onryo.

If the ghost tries to hunt (or burns the crucifix) within the radius of the candle while it is still lit or it does not attempt to hunt after blowing out the candle for the third time, you can cross out Onryo.

3) Assuming the ghost is neither a Demon nor an Onryo, drain enough sanity so that the ghost starts to hunt and then determine any of the following:

If the ghost immediately gains a noticeable increase in movement speed with line-of-sight when more than 3 metres away from you, you can confirm Jinn.

If the ghost does not immediately gain a noticeable increase in movement speed with line-of-sight when more than 3 metres away from you, or if the ghost intentionally switches off the fuse box at any point during the investigation, you can rule out Jinn.

If the ghost appears to be phasing out of visibility for intervals lasting only fractions of a second during hunts, you can confirm Oni.

If the ghost appears to be phasing out of visibility for intervals ranging between 0.3 seconds to 1 second during hunts, or if the ghost ever does a mist ghost event at any point during the investigation, you can rule out Oni.

If the ghost appears to not be able to accelerate in movement speed with line-of-sight while looping it, or if you can hear inconsistent footsteps that sound very fast in or near its ghost room but are slower when further away with the fuse box switched on, you can confirm Hantu.

If the ghost appears to have normal movement speed or is able to accelerate in movement speed with line-of-sight during hunts, you can rule out Hantu.

If the ghost sounds like it is either slightly faster or slightly slower during hunts than the normal speed of the average ghost, you can confirm the Twins.

If the ghost sounds like it is moving at normal or noticeably faster speed than usual, you can rule out the Twins.

4) Assuming the ghost is not any of the ones mentioned so far, take sanity pills to restore your average sanity to 50% and go back into the building with a lit candle:

If the ghost appears to not be hunting at all, or if it only ever seems to start hunts from rooms that are not occupied by any players, you can confirm Shade.

If the ghost is capable of hunting at 50% average sanity, or if it has started a hunt from the same room as any player, or if it has ever done an interaction or ability that sounds like two door touches occurring at the same, you can confirm Yurei.

Whether it's by sheer misfortune in a Nightmare/Insanity game or because you're intentionally doing it in an organised Custom lobby, there is no truer test of your investigative methods and knowledge of Phasmophobia than zero evidence games! My recommendation is to recreate the same settings as either Nightmare or Insanity, but then set available evidence types and cursed possessions both to 0.

It makes the most logical sense to describe how to go about the investigation in chronological order: when you start the game with high average sanity and conduct tests that are best done early on. You should know by now which pieces of secondary evidence can confirm ghosts which is why I'm not going to list them: I'm only going to mention what ghosts you can rule out along the way.

Be under no illusions: your sanity and your ability to keep track of it matters more in zero-evidence runs than at any other time. Either you go in the dark completely and use the paramic to time yourself, or you can head in with a candle and lighter. Whichever you choose, the first thing to do is switch on the breaker to at least warm up the place. Once you've turned it on and you've found the ghost's location, go back to the truck and grab some salt, a UV glowstick and also a photo camera to make money from footstep pics as well as a bone if you've seen it. The following clues can occur at any stage of the investigation including in the beginning stages so we will list these first.

If the ghost steps in salt piles, you can cross Wraith off the list.

If the ghost at any point does a ghost event and does not disappear before your eyes when you take its photo, you can cross Phantom off the list.

If the ghost does not seem to stalk you (in singleplayer) by triggering motion sensors that are placed on the same floor of the building as the ghost room but a decent distance away from it, and if you're not hearing any unique screams via the paramic, you can cross Banshee off the list.

If the ghost at any point intentionally turns off the fuse box, you can cross Jinn off the list.

If the ghost at any point tries turning on a light switch, you can cross Mare off the list.

If the ghost does a ghost event when you know that you have 100% sanity due to carrying a lit candle the whole time, or it does multiple ghost events with very high average sanity, you can cross Shade off the list.

If the ghost does a ghost event in mist form, you can cross Oni off the list.

If the ghost at any point intentionally turns on the fuse box, you can cross Hantu off the list.

If the ghost ever clearly changes its ghost room, you can cross Goryo off the list.

If the ghost does not appear to have a ghost orb floating in its favourite room despite searching for it with a video camera, you can cross the Mimic off the list.

At this stage, you may have crossed off a few or most of the ghosts mentioned above, depending on how (in)active the ghost is. But there's still work to do before we want to test its hunting capabilities, specifically setting up a few things for particular ghosts that are a lot more difficult to rule out. We want to set up a few piles of items for a Poltergeist, grab a parabolic microphone for a Banshee and keep the nearby doors fully open for a Yurei.

You don't have to be in the same room as the ghost to use the paramic: you can use it from a short distance away. Either stay in the light to be sure of your sanity or if you're confident that you won't get touched by ghost events, you can choose to use the paramic in the dark and drain your sanity just enough to be ready for early-hunting ghosts. You can do it one fell swoop or do it in certain decrements of average sanity, but keep track in your mind of where your sanity is at, hold a lit candle in your hand when you feel you've done enough and then proceed.

I must throw in a disclaimer about the following clues: not all of them are concrete 100% of the time! Use caution and your best judgement to decide if the ghost in question is doing anything or indeed nothing at all to merit ruling out any of the possible choices.

If you are certain that you are between 50 to 60% average sanity but no ghost hunts initiate for a decent amount of time in any dark rooms or areas, you can cross Mare off the list.

If you are certain that you are between 50 to 70% average sanity but no ghost hunts initiate for a decent amount of time, you can cross Demon off the list.

If you are certain that you are between 50 to 80% average sanity but no ghost hunts initiate despite you talking or asking the ghost valid questions in its presence, you can cross Yokai off the list.

If you are certain that you are between 50 to 100% average sanity but no ghost hunts initiate despite the ghost blowing out a candle three times, you can cross Onryo off the list.

If you are certain that you are between 50 to 65% average sanity but no ghost hunts initiate despite active electronic equipment in the ghost's presence, you can cross Raiju off the list.

By this point in the investigation, if the ghost hasn't yet tried to kill you, it's time to tempt it further. Always be wary of the possibility that you might not have been cautious enough in your approach and your methods, because you may have already mistakenly crossed out the ghost's true identity. But if you're adamant about what the ghost is not, then carry on and get your average sanity to drop below 50%. I strongly advise AGAINST hiding in the first hunt for two reasons: the threat of the Deogen is a possibility until proven otherwise and because you want to smudge the ghost. Once you've established if it's safe enough to do so, then you can hide and wait out the hunt.

If the ghost phases out of visibility during hunts like the average ghost, you can cross Phantom off the list

If the ghost appears to neither throw objects during hunts with much power nor throw them consistently every half second, and it has not done any multi-throws or has not visibly moved any objects with great power at any point of the investigation, you can cross Poltergeist off the list

If the ghost chases and then changes targets in the middle of the same hunt in multiplayer when everyone is in the building, you can cross Banshee off the list

If the fuse box is on but the ghost does not immediately speed towards you with line-of-sight before slowing down at three metres distance away, you can cross Jinn off the list.

If you are certain that you are at least above 40% average sanity and the ghost has initiated a hunt in a lit room or area, you can cross Mare off the list

If the ghost neither sounds very slow without line-of-sight on you, or doesn't immediately speed towards you with line-of-sight, you can cross Revenant off the list.

If you are certain that you are at least above 35% average sanity and the ghost has initiated a hunt, or the ghost has initiated a hunt in the same room as a player, you can cross Shade off the list

If you are certain that the ghost initiated a hunt just outside the base crucifix radius but within the 50% bonus range of it, you can cross Demon off the list

If the ghost phases out of visibility during hunts like the average ghost, you can cross Oni off the list

If the ghost's footsteps appear to be at average ghost speed and can gradually accelerate with line-of-sight during hunts, you can cross Hantu off the list

If the ghost's footsteps and voice can be heard during hunts from beyond the default electronic disturbance radius, you can cross Myling off the list

If the ghost initiates a hunt (or gets blocked by a crucifix) within the radius of a lit candle, you can cross Onryo off the list

If the ghost's footsteps appear to be at either average ghost speed, very slow or very fast while you are hiding during hunts, you can cross the Twins off the list

If the ghost's footsteps appear to not get faster while in proximity to active electronic equipment, you can cross Raiju off the list

If you observe the ghost's physical form for the entire duration of hunts and it never seems to shapeshift, you can cross Obake off the list

If the ghost has been smudged during a hunt and seems to regain its senses after the base duration of the incense used, you can cross Moroi off the list

If you are certain that you are at least above 40% average sanity and the ghost has initiated a hunt, or the ghost is neither moving very fast nor able to find where you or any other players are hiding, you can cross Deogen off the list

If the ghost appears capable of gradually accelerating with line-of-sight during hunts, you can cross Thaye off the list

Assuming the ghost hasn't given you a definitive answer as to what it is yet, as long as you've been observing every major and minor detail and following all the above to the letter, your shortlist should be down to about a quarter of the entire ghost roster. The protocol so far is to carry on doing more tests and get it to hunt a few more times. Some ghosts are easy to rule out early on but depending on certain circumstances, others are harder to rule out or they may have not yet presented the necessary evidence for you to conclusively cross them out.

One such example is the Yokai: based on my experiences, one of THE most slippery ghosts of the lot when it comes to absence of evidence. It's not impossible for a Yokai to display zen-like patience when people are trying to talk its ears off and get it to hunt when average sanity is still high enough and even though it's less capable than the average ghost in the middle of standard hunts, it could still find you and your flashing electronics in your hiding spot by virtue of it setting a waypoint close enough to your hiding spot.

Even though it's technically possible to rule out a Yokai early on, you don't want to jump the gun either because you'd be amazed at what similar traits and behavioural patterns can be replicated by other ghosts. This is a prime example of why certain ghosts such as the Yokai sometimes require multiple tests to determine if a ghost's actions were down to blind, random chance or if they are consistent enough to cross out another ghost or two.

Another example is the Mimic: NEVER underestimate this ghost's ability to play the long game of all long games in zero-evidence runs! You could have a lengthy investigation where the Mimic is just pretending to be the seemingly-perfect average ghost, moving at average ghost speed during every single hunt, never standing out or performing a unique action that would give up the ghost. It can also punish you for trying to play the short game: ghost disappearing after a photo like a Phantom? Chasing you non-stop during a hunt like a Deogen? They might be confirmations of those very ghosts, but the Mimic can also exhibit such traits at random.

Unless you've observed incontrovertible evidence that exposes it outright, don't immediately jump to conclusions: keep testing the ghost for what it's appearing to be and if it stays true, you can at least rest assured that you're not going to be bamboozled by the Mimic! Then again, even in Custom lobbies with zero available evidences, its fake orb can still be seen with a video camera so you should in theory never have to subject yourself to this sort of scenario!

If the ghost initiates a hunt (standard, not cursed) in less than 180 seconds after it was smudged, you can cross Spirit off the list

If the ghost can reliably track your voice and/or your flashing electronics in-hand and find you during hunts, you can cross Yokai off the list

If the ghost shows a trait unique to a certain ghost, its behaviour with that ghost remains consistent throughout the investigation, and the behaviour and movement speed during hunts is also consistent with said ghost for at least three hunts, you can cross the Mimic off the list

If the ghost does not start hunts with faster movement speed the lower the average sanity is, you can cross Moroi off the list

We're approaching the end and if its true identity has yet to be revealed at this point, then this is genuinely a tough ghost that aims to make a marathon out of the investigation. It's time to review what ghosts you know are impossible choices and those that are not certain or still give you doubt. By this point, I would say that due to the likelihood of certain ghost traits and behaviours, as long as you've followed everything mentioned above to the letter, the shortlist at most should be reduced down to a maximum of just three ghosts.

At this late stage, you have to be persistent and keep on trying. Yes, there's a slight possibility that you might have ruled out the ghost's true identity by mistake, it can happen. So too can the ghost be one of the remaining three and yet it has done nothing to give you that elusive evidence that would crack the case. All you can do is persist, hang in there, stay alive and be thorough in doing your job! Now let's talk about two of the remaining ghosts in particular that you should focus on.

The Mare is very much a possibility at this late stage especially if you're dealing with a ghost that has not once turned on a light switch during the entire investigation. Although it's slightly uncommon, you will likely encounter ghosts that copy this exact behaviour without actually being Mares themselves and this is what potentially throws a spanner in the works when it comes to the more stubborn ghosts in zero-evidence runs.

If you're playing singleplayer and have actually been wise to conserve your sanity pills, you have the benefit of restoring 75% sanity and then deliberately losing 15% in the dark and then holding a lit candle in your hands to keep yourself at 60% average sanity and see if the ghost is able to start hunting at that range. Multiplayer doesn't really allow you to do this unless you employ sanity pill optimisation which is only viable if there is just one survivor remaining from the entire group. The only other option is to do controlled-spamming of the light switch wherever the ghost happens to be and preferably see if the ghost can do it more than once but this is by no means guaranteed regardless of whether or not the ghost is a Mare.

If the ghost turns on a light switch at any point during the investigation, or if you are certain that it started a hunt from a lit room or area when average sanity was above 40%, and if you've tried turning on a light switch multiple times in order to bait the ghost into turning it off immediately but it hasn't done so, you can cross Mare off the list

The Yurei is another troublesome ghost to think about. Its weakness is not worth wasting smudge sticks over in my honest opinion as it can ruin the test just by doing an ill-timed ghost event and an accurate test might be impossible depending on what part of the map constitutes the ghost room. Assuming the ghost hasn't turned on a single light switch at this point of the investigation, what this ultimately means is that the Yurei is in a similar camp as the Mare: either it does its ability or you've got no conclusive way of ruling it out.

Try to make sure that ALL nearby doors are wide open as possible so that it's easier to notice which doors are being closed if it uses its ability. Having said that, you unfortunately can't coax the Yurei into doing an ability or interaction where you hear the specific audio - it either does it or it does not. The bullsh*t Yurei is one that never uses its ability once. If that happens, you can't really win without taking a very lucky guess.

If the ghost has not once done a door interaction with a double-door touch audio after all this time, or if you smudge it (outside of a hunt) and it leaves its room (provided this is tracked with accurate placement of motion sensors and it doesn't do a ghost event) before 90 seconds have elapsed, you can cross Yurei off the list

The Goryo is still a possibility at this stage if the ghost has never changed rooms, but the problem is that although it's rare, any other ghost in the game can potentially do the same and behave just like a Goryo in that regard. And it may be anecdotal to say it, but I've been in zero-evidence situations before where even ghosts like Yureis never change rooms for entire investigations, even if they go on for well over an hour!

So just because the ghost doesn't change rooms, does not automatically mean it can only be a Goryo, especially if other options have not conclusively been ruled out yet. Thankfully, the 'Goryobake' dilemma is a thing of the past now that it's easier to confirm Obakes and rule out Goryos with more conclusive pieces of secondary evidence. But unlike the updated Obake, it is still by no means simple to positively identify a Goryo in zero-evidence investigations.

If the ghost ever does change its ghost room at any point during the investigation, you can cross Goryo off the list

At the end of the day, RNGesus is your dark lord and saviour when it comes to which ghost you're going to get. Do not feel bad or worthless for getting the ghost wrong: those of us who do zero-evidence runs regularly have all endured the growing pains that come with it. And the more you keep doing it, the more you'll improve and become a much better investigator over time.

Sometimes a zero-evidence run will be simple, other times it will be a gruelling process of elimination. But if you pick the correct ghost, it feels amazing to beat one of the biggest challenges in Phasmophobia. If you can do zero-evidence runs and get the identity of the ghost right at least eight or nine times out of ten, you're easily within the top 1% of Phasmophobia players worldwide!

Player

Starting sanity: 0
Sanity pill restoration (%): 10
Sanity drain speed (s): 200
Sprinting: On
Player speed (%): 100
Flashlights: On
Lose items on death: On

Ghost

Ghost speed (%): 100
Roaming frequency: High
Changing favourite room: High
Interaction amount: Low
Event Frequency: Low
Friendly ghost: Off
Grace period (s): 1
Hunt duration (s): High
Evidence given: 0

Contract

Setup time (s): 0
Weather: Random
Doors starting open: High
Number of hiding places: None
Sanity monitor: Off
Activity monitor: Off
Fuse box at start of contract: Off
Fuse box visible on map: Off

Reward multiplier x10.00

Entropy is my go-to Custom preset for zero-evidence runs. It used to be easier to adapt to in its past iteration but in the wake of changes made to the Custom scoring multiplier and the introduction of Insanity difficulty, I've revisited Entropy and fashioned it more as a bridging point between Insanity and what Phasmophobia is like when all the settings are turned up to the maximum challenge.

Zero evidence and zero starting sanity are the main takeaways here. There are also no hiding places but that does not include permanent ones. But zero grace period is just absurd and so like Insanity, there is at least one second to cut you a little slack. You still have normal movement speed as well as sprinting, and the ghost's movement speed remains the same as ever, so all that you've learnt so far is still very much applicable in this preset. Because zero evidence runs can sometimes take a short while, I've configured the settings just enough so that you get amply rewarded for your time with a x10 multiplier!

Player

Starting sanity: 0
Sanity pill restoration (%): 0
Sanity drain speed (s): 200
Sprinting: Off
Player speed (%): 50
Flashlights: Off
Lose items on death: On

Ghost

Ghost speed (%): 150
Roaming frequency: High
Changing favourite room: High
Interaction amount: Low
Event Frequency: Low
Friendly ghost: Off
Grace period (s): 0
Hunt duration (s): High
Evidence given: 0

Contract

Setup time (s): 0
Weather: Heavy Rain
Doors starting open: High
Number of hiding places: None
Sanity monitor: Off
Activity monitor: Off
Fuse box at start of contract: Broken
Fuse box visible on map: Off

Reward multiplier x15.00

Apocalypse is the Custom preset named after the update and the challenge that came with it. It's also now a built-in preset that's listed as 'Apocalypse III' with a golden skull icon by it. Others might refer to it as 'x15' or 'Hell' but it's basically Phasmophobia in its most challenging state when you've set a Custom lobby to maximise the pain and punishment! Don't expect to survive often or correctly identify the ghost in most of your runs because it's not that kind of Custom preset! And with the fuse box broken, take everything you've learnt about the ghosts so far and consider that you have absolutely no way of correctly identifying a Jinn, besides painstakingly ruling out every other ghost on the list which in itself is virtually impossible most of the time.

But still, if you're as crazy as I am, here are some tips to boost your chances in Apocalypse. No matter what map you play, bring whatever gear you think you're going to need right to the front door, as you need to save time in between hunts especially if you've smudged the ghost and it's torturous enough just walking around at half speed! Also, if you're going to play a small map, Ridgeview Court is the best small Apocalypse map without question. Assuming it's a Deogen, you have a dining table to walk around right by the front door and if it's not a Deogen, you can hide by the permanently-open spot right next to the fridge in the kitchen. Ridgeview basically has the bare essentials for Apocalypse right by the front door!

For medium maps, your best overall bet really is Brownstone High School. Yes it's big but that's kind of the point and there are plenty of rooms down each hallway to duck into for cover when the ghost hunts. With Prison you could easily get the ghost either in the front area or upstairs, or in one of the cell blocks if the game really hates you! And do you honestly want to go to Maple Lodge Campsite on Apocalypse when there is always heavy rain? Sunny Meadows is of course large but very much doable thanks to its size and layout, hence the Apocalypse challenge!

Now that prestige, level-scaling, and tiered equipment are things in Phasmophobia, it's very different compared to pre-Ascension days. Whether you mostly play solo or are the lobby host that provides the majority of the equipment, your approach must be economical while trying to avoid dying as much as possible. You can choose to prestige once you have reached level 100, all the way up to prestige 20. I will not specify a super-specific speedfarming method, but I will list a few key points that can make a big difference.

• Professional Level 1 - You start level 1 with no money and no spare equipment; you do not have enough in terms of secondary evidence to reliably and consistently crack higher difficulty cases. This is why you want ghosts to exhibit all three primary evidence types so that your starter items may suffice for the job, and Professional difficulty gives you a 3x multiplier to get you started.
  
  
• Challenge Mode - This is the alternative and arguably better way to make a fast start out of the blocks! This game mode sets the terms and provides the equipment free of charge - you don't have to worry about losing your gear and having to repurchase it each time you die. And if you complete Challenge Mode on the designated map enough times for the weekly objective, that is a 5,000 reward in both XP and dollars! This is best reserved for when you prestige and restart from level 1 all over again.
  
  
• Increase Difficulty at level 14 - Whether it's Nightmare, Insanity, or Custom, once you hit that level where you can purchase incense, it really is time to start chasing the big bucks. You need larger reward multipliers when you notice that level-scaling starts to slow down your progress significantly. If you are confident in your abilities (with just tier 1 equipment) to do Custom runs with zero evidence and/or zero sanity to earn more money than what Insanity can offer, then go for it!
  
  
• To upgrade or not to upgrade? - Just because you unlock the option to upgrade items as you level up, it doesn't necessarily mean that you always should acquire every single upgrade as soon as it becomes available to you. Especially if finances are tight, things such as swapping out glowsticks for UV flashlights, or being able to take photos slightly faster than the polaroid camera, they do not really provide enough in value to spend $3,000 right away. This is not to say that you should never upgrade them, only that it is better to increase your bank account first and acquire them when you are more comfortable and have better financial freedom.
  
  
• Don't die! - Especially if you're the one in a lobby who is expected to provide gear, you are the one most under pressure to stay alive so you can continue to play the provider. When it comes to rewards and trying to level up and prestige as optimally as possible, measure the risks and rewards of your current investigation. For example: you can figure out the ghost and get the optional objectives for a solid investigation bonus. But if you go looking for the bone and/or try to fill up the photo album with nothing but 3-star photos, you might be dealing with a stubborn ghost that wastes your time and is more likely to hunt you and eventually kill you. DO NOT attempt to get a perfect investigation in every single game you play: that will cost far too much time and will not always be a possibility anyway. Only aim for perfect investigations if circumstances allow you to do so in good time. As long as you correctly identify the ghost and complete the optional objectives, that is the most important thing in terms of optimal levelling and prestige.
  
  If you want my recommendation on how to level and prestige but you're not interested in speedrunning it like the x12.97 Camp Woodwind method, here is what I would do to quickly advance, at least if I am playing solo: I would do Challenge Mode and then Professional investigations until I unlock tier 1 incense at level 14. As soon as I have incense with which to smudge the ghosts, I would then load up my Entropy preset in a Custom lobby.
  
  Camp Woodwind is the best map for this because you can place crucifixes at the picnic benches as soon as you enter, as well as hide behind them from the ghost and use them to loop the ghost as well, not to mention the option of looping them around the campfire as well. As long as you're familiar with the map layout and the limits of each designated area, you'll do fine in Camp Woodwind. Even if you are not speedrunning though, in terms of time spent on accumulating XP and money, the most efficient way to do it is to complete as many objectives as possible in a matter of just one or two minutes, and if you can correctly deduce the ghost then fantastic! If you want to stick around longer to identify the ghost then do it, so long as you mitigate unnecessary risks.
  
  Sometimes the perfect run will be too costly in time and effort. On small maps at least, It only adds a bonus 50 points to the investigation bonus, which is just another 500-600+ XP and dollars on top of the total sum. But in the time it took you to get that perfect investigation which was worth between 4,000 to 5,000 XP depending on the custom preset you use, you could arguably have done two to four or five runs where you hit at least 3,000 each run, roughly doubling if not tripling your gains over time.
  
  But if you insist on going for that perfect run, my recommendation is to fill up the photo album with the bone, disturbed salt piles, burnt crucifixes and interaction photos from firelights that have been blown out by the ghost - yes, you can get multiple photos from the same firelight that has repeatedly been blown out by the ghost! Even if the ghost photo is one of the optional objectives, you can take it AFTER you have completed the album with safer and easier 3-star photos instead of risking the ghost photo being less than 3 stars. If you have at least tier 2 incense, it's MUCH easier than ever before to take the ghost photo during hunts!

The Ascension update has introduced gear of different tiers. A few pieces of gear in particular are SUCH gamechangers once upgraded to tier 3, that I feel they merit a separate section just to highlight what they allow you to do. If you're struggling with a higher difficulty game or a zero-evidence run, it's worth knowing these tips and tricks to give you an edge over even the most stubborn ghosts! I will not mention the gear for the primary evidence types as they are self-explanatory; I speak about the tier 3 gear that is utilised mostly for obtaining secondary evidence. While I love the waterproof lighter and lantern, I'll be listing things that have greater gameplay implications than just being outdoors in the heavy rain. Here are the pieces of equipment which in my honest opinion, truly make a huge difference:

• Black Salt - Quite possibly my favourite of all the tier 3 gear! The applications and methods of utilising this substance is insane. You can technically use it to prevent ghosts from roaming or wandering away from the room but I prefer NOT to do this. The reason for this is because once you have acquired the tier 3 upgrade for salt, this becomes another survival tool during hunts even if you have run out of incense.
  
  If you need to slow down a fast ghost while looping it or trying to run down an awfully long corridor to escape, you can just plant a line of black salt, and it will force even the fastest of ghosts to temporarily slow down to a crawl. You can plant multiple lines of this and if the ghost disturbs most/all of the salt piles, that is an easy filler for your photo album. And if the ghost visibly walks over an unavoidable salt pile during the hunt but does not disturb it, you can confirm it's a Wraith.
  
  Another aspect that really makes it shine during zero-evidence runs is that you can plant a row of parallel lines of black salt, spacing them out enough so that the intervals of reduced movement speed force the ghost to move slower for longer. This is absolutely fantastic for observing the ghost during hunts with a lot less pressure, and confirming whether or not it is a Phantom, an Oni or an Obake! But be warned: if the ghost can see you even while it is being slowed down, it will 'remember' how long it has seen you for and will suddenly accelerate with a lot more movement speed before it started stepping in the black salt. So remember to break line-of-sight and hide before that happens!
  
  
• Incense - On top of smudging the ghost for 7 seconds, this stops the ghost from moving while it is blinded and disorientated during hunts for the first 5 seconds. Yes, that is self-explanatory and there is not much else to add to that, other than it's incredibly powerful and like black salt, it can allow you to make more observations and deductions than you'd be able to get away with when using lower tier incense and gear.
  
  
• Parabolic Microphone - Apart from the stopwatch element of the original model, I was indifferent to the paramic before the Progression update as it had its pros and cons in almost equal abundance. But the tier 3 version alleviates any doubts and scepticism of the old paramic's most avid haters. Being able to pinpoint the exact location and direction of where sounds originate from, is an upgrade in quality of life bordering on heavenly! As much of a joy as this is to use, it's an extraordinary piece of equipment until it acts as a transmission device for the Moroi's curse.
  
  
• Motion Sensor - You can arguably do this with the tier 2 version but tier 3 is better and more consistent. You might look at this on the digital map in the van and think a circle-shaped sensor is not such a big deal, and you could be forgiven for thinking that. But the majority of ghost rooms happen to be either small or medium-sized and what tier 3 motion sensors are brilliant at doing is letting you know that the ghost is still occupying its favourite room.
  
  Why do I mention this particular detail? Because if the ghost hunts and then ends it, it will immediately go back to its favourite room and if it's in the right spot, will instantly set off the motion sensor. But what if after the hunt ends, it doesn't set off the motion sensor anymore? Well that's a pretty strong indication that it changed its favourite room before the hunt. The significance of this in zero-evidence runs is that if the ghost was setting off the motion sensor in its favourite room when returning back there after each hunt, but at some point no longer triggers the motion sensor, then it has changed rooms and you can cross Goryo off the list: one of the most annoying ghosts to face with zero evidence!
  
  
• Sound Sensor - The tier 3 sensor allows you to change the shape of the area coverage, as well as being able to increase or decrease the radius from tier 2, giving you many options to tailor the sound sensors to your liking depending on which map you're investigating. But the best thing of all about the updated motion sensors, and the real reason why I mention them in this section at all, is the sound playback feature from the comfort and safety of the van! Sound sensors provide the missing audio so that you can listen to whatever you can see on CCTV, as well as listen to the things you cannot see.
  
  This gives you the potential opportunity to solve investigations in ways that were not quite possible pre-Ascension. If a friend is in the building when the ghost is hunting and you are in the van keenly listening to any sounds the sensor picks up, you can listen to the footsteps of the ghost and determine its movement speed. If you are adamant that you didn't turn on a single light switch in the map and yet the sound sensor picks up the ghost using a light switch, you can use that to cross Mare off the list. Are there noises that sound like multiple items being flung all over the place? Sounds like you can confirm Poltergeist. Do you hear an interaction that sounds like two door touches, either different door audios or the same one played twice, occurring at the exact same time? Sounds like you can circle Yurei in your journal.

This guide was always intended primarily to help those who struggle with Nightmare difficulty or wanted to make it their normality. But even Nightmare can sometimes be not enough of a challenge for some players and now Insanity difficulty is a thing, hence why I decided to mention zero-evidence investigations in case you feel like upping the ante. In addition to Insanity, you've also got Purgatory, Apocalypse and basically any way in which you wish to tailor the game. Ultimately, you do you.

I will do what I can to keep this guide updated when it comes to edits or new ghosts and maps. If you feel that the guide is missing something or if there is a piece of information that is factually incorrect, please post in the comments below. All the information I have sourced either comes directly from the developers themselves or relayed via content creators as well as admins and moderators from the official Phasmophobia Discord, which I highly recommend you join if you haven't already. It can be a great source of information and you can join better-quality lobbies than anything you might come across in browsing public lobbies!