Surviving Ghost Hunts

This guide is going to aim to break down what to do and not to do during a ghost hunt. A lot of the quantitative data here was taken from the Phasmophobia Wiki on Fandom. You can find the whole wiki here: https://phasmophobia.fandom.com/wiki/Main_Page

Introduction

A lot of players, new and old, have a lot of trouble avoiding ghosts when it comes time to be hunted. Some of the mechanics can be a bit confusing, so I'm writing this guide in order to help others understand what to do during hunts that will help you survive.

Before a Hunt

Preparation beforehand is just as important as your actions during a hunt. Before a hunt, make sure you set up the following;

Always Know Your Escape Path

The best course of action after finding the ghosts room is to scope out the area for hiding spots. Don't choose anywhere too close, since the ghost can spawn in nearby rooms as well as it's own. Closets can be inviting, but ghosts will see you immediately if they happen to open the door, and on higher difficulties most of them will be blocked off. Choose a place behind a door, or even better multiple doors, where you can hug the wall out of sight. Any door, open or closed (besides tent doors, which only work closed) will block line of sight, meaning if you can't find a good spot with a closed door, try opening the door towards you to help cover yourself.

Have Your Equipment Ready

If you've been in the location for a while and have lost a fair bit of sanity, be sure to at least bring a smudge stick and lighter somewhere inside, preferably near the ghost room. These are invaluable if you're in a bad place to run when a hunt starts, just make sure you light them when the ghost is close to you. They will blind the ghost temporarily and cause them to start wandering, giving you a short window to break line of sight and hide. Crucifixes are great as well, but they only cover a 3 meter radius area of protection (5 meters if it's a Banshee), meaning on bigger maps/rooms, they can fail quite often. However, they can work well as a gauge for when the ghost is trying to hunt you due to the visual cues of the crucifix's deterioration.

Depending on the difficulty, there is a set amount of time between when the ghost shows that a hunt is going to start, and when it actually moves and begins hunting. This grace period changes depending on your difficulty.

• Amateur: 5 seconds
  
• Intermediate: 4 seconds
  
• Professional: 3 seconds
  
• Nightmare: 2 seconds
  
• Cursed Hunts: 1 second

During a Hunt

The beginning of a hunt is characterized by lights flickering, electronics malfunctioning, and the ghost making some noises.

A surefire way to tell if a ghost is hunting or not is to attempt to flick a lightswitch. If the switch moves (whether the light turns on or not), then the ghost is not hunting. However, if the switch DOESN'T move when you click it, then the ghost is hunting.

Use Sprint Sparingly

You can only outrun a few ghosts, as the line of sight acceleration will make them catch you eventually. Since the hunters have the athleticism of an asthmatic baby, use the sprint to cut off line of sight instead of using it to gain distance. The ghost cannot hear your walking or sprinting sounds, only your voice and electronics, so don't worry about moving around near the ghost if it can't see you.

Turn Off Your Electrical Devices and Stay Quiet

Ghosts can track you down through electronics that are left on, such as your flashlight or EMF reader. Make sure you turn these off before getting to your hiding spot, so the ghost won't be attracted towards you. The ghost is not attracted to dropped electronics.
On top of this, do not ever talk locally or use your radio if the ghost is hunting. It can hear sounds from far away (except the Yokai, which only hears nearby voices), and will come nearer to your location if you do. With the change of the hunts being localized to the ghost's location, it can be beneficial to let your teammates know when a hunt is occurring on larger maps, since it won't hear you from long distances. If you're playing single player, just know your microphone is going to always be open, meaning you don't need the push to talk keys in order to make noise.

Cut Corners

This is arguably the most important one. When a ghost starts hunting, don't take the first room/closet available to you, as the ghost likely sees where you went and will follow you there. Cutting corners will drop line of sight of the ghost, and make it resort to wandering instead of following your route. A hiding spot isn't very good if someone sees you enter it.

These are best for general advice, but what about very open maps, such as the hallways of Asylum or the campsite?

The ghost is going to see you from far distances and go to the point it last saw you. In this case;
• Again, cut as many corners as possible.
  
• Once out of its line of sight, do your best to enter a hiding spot or continue cutting corners.
  
• Worry more about covering distance than finding a hiding spot if it's nearby. It will likely check close spots such as tents if you hide too quickly.

After a Hunt

With a "fairly" recent update, it became more difficult to discern when hunts had ended, since the ghost only affects things near to it when it's hunting. In order to be sure a hunt has ended;

• You will no longer hear the ghost talking/singing/making noises
  
• You will no longer hear the ghost's loud footsteps
  
• Nearby lights stop flickering
  
• The activity meter inside of the van will no longer be at 10
  
• The ghost will turn off all lights that you had turned off. This is audible, and easy to tell anywhere on the map.

If you are really trying to be efficient, you can time the hunts when they begin. Hunts have varying set times depending on the map size and difficulty. Here is a chart from the Phasmophobia wiki showing the exact hunt times for each map and difficulty:



On Nightmare difficulty, if the ghost kills a player, it will extend the hunting time and continue to hunt other players down until the time runs out.

All ghosts, except for Demons, have a minimum period of 25 seconds before another hunt can start. Demons only need 20 seconds. Make sure you leave the building, or stay prepared for another hunt to occur.

Summary

In short, follow these steps each hunt to ensure your safety;

• Cut corners
  
• Sprint wisely
  
• Turn off your stuff and stay quiet
  
• Always be prepared for a hunt.

Following these simple steps will greatly increase your survivability each game and help you acquire some more of that cold hard cash.

If you enjoyed this guide or got some use out of it, or have some criticisms, feel free to let me know. Happy hunting!

[Hambone]

@waffler1209 When the ghost is hunting, it won't use the spirit box. However, some ghosts have special dialogue when hunting, where they say things like "Where are you" and "I'll find you" etc. So the ghost was just trying to freak you out

[waffler1209]

hey i swear ive heard it before but to be sure: if a ghost has spirit box as its evidence and it starts a hunt can it talk through the spirit box? i once threw a spirit box down and went in a closet cus it was hunting and i hear it go "WHERE ARE YOU"
is it just the ghost's neutral hunting sounds or sum else?

[Hambone]

@Omega Red thank you, I will add that really quick!

[Omega Red]

In the newest update, when the hunt ends the ghost will turn off all the lights that you turned on. So if you know your hiding spot in advance, having the light turned on can be a good hunt ending indicator. Even if you are in a locker or closet you should be able to see the light go out at the end of the hunt

[Breaker Bravo]

Oh yeah. it's big brain time.

[Kansaria]

Thank for the guide

[iron man in heaven smh]

good guide

[Hambone]

@takedown Thank you, glad to hear it helped you out!

[takedown]

still new to the game, but this is awesome for beginners to understand how things work.. perfect!

[Hambone]

@Vengeance You get evidence through the various pieces of equipment, most of which are entirely by chance if they occur. Have you played the tutorial? It should help you flesh out how everything works.