Onryo Behavior

[Tabasco]

Hi,
i played the actual Challenge mode with no evidence and tried to rule out the onryo.
Some people Says the Candles Work like a Crucifix, some People say after 3 candle Blows they Hunt.
I had 75% sanity and lit the candles 6+ times, no hunt/crucifix burn (like Insym in his video does). I ruled Onryo out but at the end it was an Onryo?!

Do i need lower sanity for them to hunt? Even after i stopped litting the candles it doesn't start hunting.

[Cathulhu]

If they blow out 3 candles and try to hunt, that can be cancelled by *another* open flame nearby. If you're using multiple candles, or have an open match/lighter, the extra fire can prevent the Onryo hunt.

You shouldn't need lower sanity for the Onryo hunt to work.

[Tabasco]

it doesn't hunt after the last candle.

[Cathulhu]

But like, are you using more than one candle? Are you picking up the candle and lighting it or are you lighting a lighter then lighting the candle? If there's an open flame nearby after it blows out its 3rd candle it'll prevent the hunt. If it's just one candle, is the ghost blowing out the candle or is the candle going out on its own? Onryos are finicky to test.

[Watcher Rat]

It also bases it off of flames...so, for instance, if you light three candles, and have two of them on crucifixes. It blows out two candles, and as you move to relight one of them, it blows out your lighter. Then, it tries to hunt, but is too close to a flame, and it blows out the flame instead as a hunt prevention. You think you are only just getting your third flame blown out, when it's actually the fourth, and when no hunt occurs, you cross out Onryo.

The most definitive result in an Onryo test is to have two flames directly on top of a crucifix, and make sure your sanity is low (with the current challenge, that's easy to do with the mirror as the cursed object). If the crucifix ever burns while the flame is lit and directly on top of it, then it can't be an Onryo, since it will never burn the cross first. Any other result you get has a certain amount of interpretation to it since the candles don't last forever, and you never know quite where the ghost will hunt from.

[Shurenai]

Originally posted by Tabasco:

it doesn't hunt after the last candle.

If the last candle wasn't also a 3rd candle then it won't hunt.

Take for example you have 4 candles. You light all 4- The ghost blows out 1, 2, and then 3 & 4 happen at basically the same time because it blows out 3 and attempts to hunt but the 4th candle cancels the hunt like a crucifix would and gets blown out too.

Now,if you did the above and ONLY relit the candles every time the 4th one goes out, it would never hunt after blowing out the last candle since the last candle is the 4th- The one that prevents the hunt.

Specifically,
A: Candles act like a crucifix for an Onryo. It prevents it from hunting in a 3m area around the candle. If it attempts a hunt in range of a lit candle/fire source, it will blow that out and cancel the hunt.
and
B: After 3 candles are blown out it will attempt to hunt, and if there is a lit candle OR crucifix it will be stopped from hunting; But it'll only burn a crucifix if there is no remaining lit flame in range.

So, for one way to Properly test for an Onryo, You need to:
A: Make sure your sanity is either low enough it CAN hunt, OR that it's high enough that no other ghost could concievably hunt except the Onryo from blowing out candles.
B: place your crucifixes so as to prevent hunts
and
C: Put candles by your crucifixes- at least 2 each and near enough to you so you can keep them lit, and count the number of candles blown out AND how long it's been without a crucifix being lit up.

For example, If you're solidly at 0 sanity, the ghost is going to want to frequently hunt, if you get your crucifixes and candles in place and it's blown out like 40 candles and hasn't burnt either crucifix yet and hasn't hunted either, Then it's 100% an onryo.

[VulgarMonkey]

Would just like to add, a long with the good information provided here, there is a 1-6 period in which the Onryo will hunt as a result of it's ability. It's not always 'instantaneous'.

You mention you lit the candle 6+ times. A possibility for why you might be missing the Onryo's ability is you are re-lighting the firelight before the Onryo has activated it's ability (within the activation period) - which means the same firelight is being extinguished instead of a hunt occurring. Understandably you might then think you have a non-Onryo that loves extinguishing firelights, but instead the Onryo is extinguishing the firelight a fourth time as means of hunt-prevention. This happened to me first time I tried testing the ability, I was just spam igniting the firelight and being confused why I wasn't getting hunted.

The Wiki[phasmophobia.fandom.com] is actually spot-on imo about how the Onryo's ability works.

[Tabasco]

Thanks all :) i hope i can cross out onryo properly in the future :D