How to play Cult (all Roles) Like a Boss

All about them Cult boys.

I'm putting all Cult roles in one guide since A) you will change roles a lot and B) this might get outdated quickly. Current as of Patch 1.0.8.

1) Introduction

Hey there, this is Cubes, and this guide is about playing as the Cult. The Cult is one of two Evil factions that can spawn in any ToL game. Your objective as Cult is to kill/convert any and all Blue Dragon players, as well as any Neutral Killers that seek to do you harm. Some facts about the Cult

• There can be a maximum of 4 Cult members at any one time, not including an Evil King. However, if you lose members due to death, or they become King, you can convert more.
  
• There are 6 possible classes
  
• Every Cult game starts with a Cult Leader and either an Invoker, Ritualist, or Seeker.
  
• Sometimes, you will get an Evil King. You won't know they're evil though.

Some acronyms

BD- Blue Dragon

NS- Not suspicious

NK- Neutral Killer

CL- Cult Leader

Invo- Invoker

Apos- Apostle

Phys- Physician

Psy- Psychic

Alch- Alchemist

2) General Playstyle

Cult games tend to play much slower compared to Unseen games. Since only the CL can kill and convert, he has to choose between killing or converting. It's not uncommon for Cult games to go past 10 days, and for there to be multiple nights when no one dies.


One of the most interesting parts of playing as the Cult, is that when the CL dies, the Cult member who has been in the Cult the longest becomes the new CL. In addition, the CL only has a limited number of charges of Eradicate, their kill ability, and the only way to replenish these charges is either by sacrificing a current cult member, or having someone new become the leader.


This makes all cult members expendable, including the CL. Rooting out all the Cult members is a difficult task, as there's always someone alive who can convert.


Since Cult members are so expendable, if you get converted into a non-CL role, you should be using all your abilities when possible. You never know when you might be sacrificed, killed, or promoted to CL.


You want to win the game by converting BD more than killing them, and using your numbers advantage to waste days executing BD or delaying execution of your own members.

3) The Cult Leader

Abilities

Blood of Mithras

This is an active day ability which allows you to sacrifice a Cult Member of your choice at night, gaining you 2 charges of your Eradicate ability for the next night. You can rechoose if and who you're going to sacrifice as often as you like during the day, but the decision is set in stone once you hit night. The member you choose will still be alive that night and can use abilities, but will die the next day. Has infinite charges.

Rupture

Rupture is an active day ability that causes a player to bleed, and die in 2 nights if they do not get healed by an Alch or Phys. This acts identically to the Assassin's Nightshade poisoning. You can only use it once per day, and you have 4 charges of it. Note that you can not use it during an accusation, an execution, or after the execution.

Brainwash

Brainwash is a night ability that attempts to convert a player to the Cult. You can use it as many times as you want, but it has a 1 day cooldown.

Eradicate

Eradicate is a night ability that kills 2 targets. If you are the original CL you start with 2 charges, but if you become the CL, you only get 1. Charges are replenished by using Blood of Mithras during the day.

Strategy

Playing a good CL requires being able to read the court well, and using the abilities of your semi-random cult members well. For instance, if a member is under suspicion, it may be worth it to sacrifice them before they get executed the next day. Or perhaps you've picked out who the pally is through inferring whispers, so you can deal with them. Paying attention during the day is so important.

Convert vs. Kill

Since you have to choose between converting or killing, it's important to figure out what you need more, or what will work to your advantage. If you've identified a key BD target, you need to weigh the ease of converting vs. the gain of killing. Converting is much easier to do, and is harder to prevent. However there are naturally more convert immune targets than there are kill immune targets, and a failed convert is a huge waste. Still, converting should be your main way of dealing with a threat.

Killing a target is much harder to pull off successfully, and killing at least 1 key, convert-immune target is usually required. Thankfully, you usually get a lot of chances at killing across multiple CL's, so it's not impossible. The best way to use Eradicate is in combination with Rupture. Using Rupture on a target early in the day will draw a lot of attention to that person at night. You can then use that opportunity to Eradicate a more important target.

Strength in Numbers

The cult's advantage is in having large numbers, to heavily influence the court discussion. Games with a strong Cult presence tend to go on forever, with several days passing by between executions. While some of this is luck, smartly using Brainwash can make sure your numbers stay high. With high numbers, your cult members can more successfully lie and cover for each other in court.

What to Claim

As a starting CL, what you claim is going to be dependent on the information your cult is able to give you. There's no one role that is best, so you need to be flexible with your claims and journal. Claiming Princess or Observer can protect you if there's a Princess in game, while claiming Pally is a solid choice since you already know who is and isn't suspicious. Knight is good, as Knights are generally expected to live long. If you've been occupied, avoid claiming Hunter or Butler. And remember, once you've claimed something, you need to either stick with it or silence everyone who knows, if that's even possible.

Who to Convert

Usually, you should be trying to convert your biggest threats, Paladin and Observer. However, if we're going by how useful the classes are to the Cult, there are a few considerations.

• The Apostle is the best supporting Cult class as of 1.0.10. Information is king, and no single class in the game can control information quite like the Apostle. The Noble and the Psychic both turn into the Apostle when converted.
  
• Any class of Royal Blood keeps their Royal Blood when converted. This includes the Noble, the Princess, and the Drunk. Noble Blood lets you step forward for King before others, which is incredibly useful for the Cult. It opens up a spot so more people can be converted, while putting a confirmed Evil King in power, which is a huge advantage.

4) The Seeker

Abilities

Expose

Expose is an active day ability with 1 charge. It reveals that night to all the Cult members who the Prince imprisons.

Gaze

Gaze is an active night ability with 2 charges. It will tell you what a player's class type is. They will show up as either Offensive, Killer, Social, Support, Investigative, or Special.

Identify

Identify is an active night ability with 2 charges. It will tell you what a player's faction is.

Who can be converted into a Seeker

The Observer, the Paladin, and the Princess can all be converted into the Seeker. You can start as one at the beginning of the game also.

5) The Ritualist

Abilities

Will of Mithras

Will of Mithras is a passive ability. When you are sacrificed, you will give the CL an extra charge of Eradicate.

Teleportation

Teleportation is an active night ability with 3 charges. It swaps the positions of 2 players, meaning that anyone who targets one of those players with an ability, will instead target the other. This works exactly like the Court Wizard's Tornado.

Brotherhood

Brotherhood is an active night ability with 1 charge. It will make all Cult members appear as members of the Blue Dragon that night. This affects the investigative abilities of the King, Paladin, and Observer.

Who can be converted into a Ritualist

The CW, the Merc, and the Phys can all be converted into the Ritualist. You can also spawn as one from the start of the game.

6) The Invoker

Abilities

Bewilder

Bewilder is an active day ability with 1 charge. It disables the King's abilities for the day. These include the Royal Finger and Decide Fate.

Chains of Corax

Chains of Corax is an active night ability with 2 charges. It occupies the chosen player as long as they are not occupy immune.

Strings of Corax

Strings of Corax is an active night ability with 2 charges. You control your target, causing them to target someone else of your own choosing.

Who can be converted into an Apostle

The Butler, the Drunk, the Knight, and the Hunter can all be converted into the Invoker. You can also spawn as one at the start of the game.

7) The Apostle

Abilities

Dark Words

Dark Words is a passive ability that allows you to talk with dead Cult Members at night. It's always active, and neither dead BD members nor the Psychic will be able to hear what you say.

Eavesdrop

Eavesdrop is an active day ability with 2 charges. It lets you hear the next 4 whispers when you use it.

Faint Whispers

Faint Whispers is an active day ability with 2 charges. It lets the Cult whisper to one another without anyone else being notified that the whispering is going on.

Mind Warp

Mind Warp is an active night ability with 2 charges. It causes your target to receive incorrect feedback from their abilities for that night. For instance, a Paladin who inspects a Cult member the night you target them with this ability will be told that their target is NS.

Who can be converted into an Apostle

Only the Noble and the Psychic can become Apostles. Note that you can NOT have this class at the start of the game.

8) The Evil King

Playing as the Evil King honestly deserves its own guide, and so I won't expand on it here. Just know that if you become the Evil King, you will no longer know who is Cult and who isn't. You won't get to see new converts, and new converts won't be able to tell you are Cult. While extremely rare, it's possible that the members of the Cult change in such a way that the old members are unable to tell the new ones that you are confirmed Cult.

9) BFF's and Arch-Nemeses

(Private) Enemy #1, The Paladin

Without a doubt, the Paladin is the strongest class against you. Paladins only spawn in Cult games, there can be up to 2 in one game, and they are here to make your job impossible. More than anything, a good Cult game requires a longer game to allow for their numbers advantage to take affect. Paladin flies in the face of that. The longer the game goes on, the more certain it is that the Paladin will find a Cult member and out them.

Kill or Convert

I prefer killing outed Paladins as opposed to converting them. A converted, outed Paladin has a very hard time convincing the town that they're good in the late game. If there's someone you think is Paladin but hasn't been offically outed to the Court, converting them is a little more viable.

The Prince

If the Paladin is your most dangerous enemy, then the Prince is 1b in terms of danger level. He can jail any of your members, preventing them from using abilities, sharing information with the Cult, and even killing them if he feels like it. He can't be converted either, so you need to kill him or hope the NK can do it.

Kill or Convert

You need to kill this guy ASAP.

The Inquisitor

The Inquisitor is a Neutral investigative role that spawns with the Sorceror. Their goal is to live to see that the Sorceror dies. However, they can be a headache for the Cult. Their investigative ability detects whether someone is a magic user. This will include ALL Cult members, and so it's likely that he will out you in court or straight up attack and kill you.

Kill or Convert

The Inquisitor can't be converted, so your only choice is to kill him.

The Other BD

The rest of the BD, in order of threat level.

1. The Physician
   
2. The Observer
   
3. The Psychic
   
4. The Princess
   
5. The Knight
   
6. The Drunk
   
7. The Court Wizard
   
8. The Butler
   
9. The Hunter

The Phys can rez a dead BD, swinging your numbers advantage back their way. The CW prevents conversions and kills. The Psychic can talk to the dead, who are generally pretty good about determining who among the living is evil.

Kill or Convert

Some classes are very useful to convert, like the Support/Social ones. Others are better off being killed, or even leaving them alive so that they can become execution fodder at some point.

The King

If you suspect that the King is Good, it's not imperative that you kill them early. Losing an early Cult member to a King investigate isn't the end of the world, and they can help sniff out Neutrals who are less helpful to you than they are to the Unseen. It's ok to wait to kill them until you can convert a class with the Royal Blood passive, to increase your chances of installing an Evil King that can add to your numbers advantage.

Detecting an Evil King before the Court does can be difficult. Oftentimes, an incompetent King is indistinguishable from an Evil King. If you're sure the King is evil, you can whisper him telling him you're cult, but it is a huge risk.

The Alchemist

The Alchemist has a weird relationship with the Cult. On the one hand, they are convert immune, bleed immune, and can heal other peoples bleed. They can also retaliate and kill you without fear of retribution. On the other hand, they can win with you, and BD tend to want to kill Alchs themselves, so it's not hard to convince them on to your side if you're clearly ahead.

I like to think of the Alch as a class you can potentially convert by convincing them. By spending your time focusing down BD, it makes it much easier to convince them on to your side. But, if the Alch is actively helping BD, or is claiming Alch on the but could be the NK, feel free to kill them or leave them to die.

The Neutral Killers

The 3 Neutral Killers are the Possessor, the Reaper, and the Sorceror. All of them are convert immune, and the first 2 stand in direct opposition to you winning the game. They are very hard to kill at night, so it's imperative that you guide the court during the day to finding and killing them ASAP.

The Reaper is the more dangeous of the NK's to you. Their Reap kill mechanic means that you can potentially attempt to convert a dead person. It won't go through, but it's a waste of a night when you could be doing more productive stuff. The Reaper also tends to work faster than the Possessor, which goes counter to your game plan. Reaper is killable at night if he is lacking souls. If you think the Reaper is low on souls, going for the kill at night is a viable option.

The Possessor also is a big threat. An aggressive Possessor is a pain the butt to deal with, randomly attacking and endangering your Cult members. The only reliable way to deal with him is through court execution. Although he's immune to death at night, he will die from bleeding if no one heals him (he will use his jump ability if he thinks he will die).

The Sorceror, compared to the other 2 NK's, is a lot better for you as a Cult. Her win condition is to kill all the BD, so she can work together with the Cult to achieve this. If she becomes King, she even gets placed as an Evil King, further helping your chances. While it seems like it's always best to get the Sorceror, the Sorceror always spawns with the Inquisitor, a nightmare for you.

The Fool and The Scorned

Both of these Social roles have weird interactions with the Cult. They're both convert immune, and their win condition is relatively independent of yours. Unlike the Alch, however, I wouldn't consider these guys as potential "converts" since they can't ever really help you.

The Fool's goal is to get himself executed during the day. This is great for you if he wins, since he wastes up an execution, prevents further executions from happening, and removes himself from the pool of potential converts. If you identify who the Fool is, it's usually safe to leave them alone. If the NK is still alive though, don't be afraid to try to kill a suspected Fool who could really be the NK.

The Scorned's goal is to stay alive to see one of 2 targets executed during the day. The Scorned is more annoying to deal with because they are immune to death at night (like the Possessor), and their potential target can be a Cult Member. It's in your best interest to have these guys executed as soon as you identify or even suspect they're the Scorned.

Note that once the Scorned wins, they stay alive but with all their abilities disabled. I've seen outted Scorned who won be left alone by the BD, and then subsequently side with the evil faction against the BD. If you think you can use a Scorned who has won to your advantage, feel free to leave them alone.

10) Creating a Good Cover Story

What to Claim

When you've been converted to Cult, you generally want to claim the class you were before. Your converted equivalent will have abilities similar to what you had before, which helps to keep your journal accurate. If you start as Cult, claiming an investigative class is always a solid choice. Anything can work though, if you have enough information. Which leads to ....

Sharing Information

It's critical that you share the information you gain with your fellow Cult. Every piece is significant, whether it's from your abilities, or something you've worked out after watching what people say in court. The best time, of course, is at night, when all the Cult meet in secret. The Apostle can let you whisper during the day without fear of detection. Worse comes to worst, you can leave any info in your journal before you die. Be warned that everyone will get to see information that way, not just Cult.

Keeping 2 Journals

Although it's difficult, keeping 2 journals can really help you out in a pinch. Oftentimes, the role we initally chose as our cover story no longer becomes viable. A Phys claim becomes much weaker when there are plenty of people to ressurect in late game, for instance. Having a second journal prepared can save you if, for instance, your cover class gets executed in court, then you get jailed 10 seconds later.

Once you claim one thing, you pretty much have to stick with it. Maybe if you claim to the Psychic or the Prince one thing, you can get away with claiming something else in the Court after they die. But it's a super tricky rope to walk, and requires a lot of skill and luck to get away with.

11) Chaos in the Court

The point of creating chaos is to delay any execution for that day. This gives you the time to convert more people to the Cult, find out who the Prince is, and eliminate any investigative classes that stand in your way.

Double Accusing

The double accuse is a great way to delay the Court. The idea is, when it looks like someone is going to get voted up and accused, you start accusing a second person quickly. With the other Cult voting them up to, you can create a situation where 2 people are being voted up, and there's not enough votes to get either guy up. Let's call this second person the Strawman.

The best way to do this is with a claim that's somewhat weak. If someone dies the previous night, you can claim that your Strawman visited them last night. It's not strong enough to paint them as the murderer. This works to your advantage, since if they get exe'd as a non-killing role, it doesn't immediately out you as being suspicious.

Neutrals are great Strawmen, since BD won't get too mad at you for fake lynching them. Using a Fool like this can swing a game for you easily.

Random Lynchings

Random lynchings are where the Court puts up random people to see what their claim is, in the hope of finding an obvious bad will. These are great for you, because in my experience they're usually just a big time waster. They also can reveal important roles, making easy targets for you to kill or convert. These lynchings are also great ways to get the Fool executed, another plus for you.

Using this as a strategy can backfire if your own Cult members have weak journals and claims. It's important to confirm at night that your members can hold their own if they get chosen for the random lynch, before you pursue that strategy in the day.

Spamming

What I mean by spamming is to throw out lots of information that's basically worthless. Things like "8 is NS" or "12 is killer/offensive". Overloading the Court with this kind of info can make it more difficult for BD to figure out who is Cult. If the King is leading the investigation, and lots of people are whispering him, you can spam whisper him instead. It'll be more effective than usual.

Important: Spamming here does NOT mean constantly flooding chat with messages, to the point where it's impossible to read what other people are saying. This is annoying, and a bannable offense. Do not do this.

12) Playing Against Cult

Cult Patterns

Since the Cult can't both convert and kill, and a successful Brainwash puts the ability on cooldown for a day, Cult games tend to follow certain patterns.

For instance, the Cult Leader will often alternate nightly between converting and killing. It'll look like this

Convert on Nights 1, 3, 5, 7, 9 ...
Kill on Nights 2, 4, 6, 8, ....

This is super useful imformation if you're a healing/protective class like Merc. If you know the Cult just killed someone the previous night, you can feel safe in knowing that they won't try to kill again the next night. If the NK is dead or playing slowly, you can risk not healing or protecting yourself or a key target, as they're not very likely to die.

Another easy pattern is if a Cult Leader dies. When they die, the oldest Cult member becomes the new CL. It's very likely that the first night as CL, they're going to want to convert rather than kill.

If a Cult member dies overnight, and the NK is dead, there's a really good chance he got sacrificed, and an Eradicate will be coming tonight.

Play Aggressive

The Cult wants games to last a long time. As such, you want to be aggressive as BD. Using Cold Steel early, going for more executions in Court, killing questionable claims as Prince in jail.

As a NK, you want the Cult and BD to be about even, so your playstyle should be dependent on how well the Cult is doing. If you think the Cult is winning, you want to be more aggressive. If you think the BD is winning, play passive and don't go for kills for a few nights.

13) Conclusion

Thanks for reading this guide, I hope it helps you out in your Cult games. If you have any feedback, questions, or complements, feel free to leave a message here. I do read them all.

My next guide will be either the Prince or the Fool/Scorned together. Let me know which you'd rather read.

[Tyrax Lightning]

IMHO I think I could use all the help I could get playing Prince worth buggers...

[gamer]

lol

[Eta-Carinae]

Very useful! thank you!

[bu sabruce]

or prince

[bu sabruce]

unseen guide?

[big lizard]

Not many comments here. I think you should do Fool/Scorned first, since both of them seem to be very difficult to pull off, at least from what I've seen. (As for experience, I've played Scorned once, and my target was converted to cult. Never played as Fool before.)

[Boss Sauce]

I am Boss Sauce and I approve this guide