FNaF 3 Mechanics and Strategies

This guide will explain the mechanics of FNaF 3 and how to use them to your advantage with strategies.

Springtrap's Mechanics

Springtrap is the only enemy in FNaF 3 that has the ability to end the night when he jumpscares the player. His AI at night 1 is 0 so he becomes active on night 2, his starting position is randomly selected from the cameras 6-10 (cams 6, 7, 8 ,9 and 10), springtrap will move towards the player to adjacent cameras (including adjacent vent cameras) and will rarely backtrack during the night but he is vulnerable to the audio button which can be used to forcefully backtrack him, his normal movement will occur at random but he does make a sound effect that resembles whistling when he moves (note that P. Freddy can make the same sound effect), there are two versions of this sound effect, a soft one and a louder one, the softer version will play when springtrap moves between the cameras 5 and 3, the louder version will play when he moves between the cameras 1, 2 and vent cam 15, he will also play the same version when he is outside the office (window and doorway) or even inside the office. When springtrap enters the vent he can no longer be affected by the audio button until he leaves the vents, if the alarm goes off (because of a ventilation error) springtrap's AI becomes more aggressive (he moves faster).

Maintenance Panel and Error Mechanics

Error Effects and Causations

Audio Devices:
this system is what allows you to use the "play audio" button in the monitor, an error for this system will appear if the player overuses the audio button and will not allow the player to use the audio button until the system is rebooted.
Number of audio usage allowed before error for each night:
Night 1: Unlimited Uses
Night 2: 10 Uses
Night 3: 4 Uses
Night 4: 3 Uses
Night 5+: 2 Uses

Camera System:
this system is what allows you to use cameras in the monitor, an error for this system will appear if the player overuses the cameras and will not allow the player to use the cameras until the system is rebooted.

Ventilation:
this system is what allows you to seal vents in the monitor, an error for this system will appear if the player gets jumpscared by a phantom enemy other than P. Mangle and will not allow the player to seal vents until the system is rebooted, it will also unseal any already sealed vents, make phantoms more aggressive and give the player a "blinking" effect, it can also set off an alarm that makes springtrap more aggressive after some time(which means it is better to reboot ventilation first if the alarm is enabled).

Rebooting

it takes about 7 seconds to reboot one system and about 13 seconds to reboot all, it is suggested that you reboot each system manually unless all systems are down at the same time.

Phantom Mechanics

Phantom Balloon Boy
First Appearance: Night 2
Jumpscare Effects: Ventilation Error
BB is the most commonly encountered phantom of the entire game, he is able to appear on all the non-vent cameras but has a significantly higher chance to appear on cam 1 and cam 10. To counter him you have to quickly switch to another camera(on night 2 you have about 2 seconds but that time decreases in later nights) if the player looks at BB without switching cameras then BB will close the monitor and jumpscare the player, it is possible to play audio and switch cameras without getting jumpscared if the player is fast enough.

Phantom Mangle
First Appearance: Night 2
Jumpscare Effects: Audio Error(after the static sound effect is done)
Mangle can appear on cam 4, it is recommended to avoid looking at cam 4 because if mangle happens to be there then there is no way to counter her attack, the player can avoid switching cameras for a certain period of time but mangle will force the monitor down at some point.

Phantom Chica
First Appearance: Night 3
Jumpscare Effects: Ventilation Error(has a higher chance to set off the alarms)
Chica will randomly appear on cam 7 and will appear more frequently on later nights(she replaces the arcade machine's monitor with a distorted image of her face), the player has about half a second to switch cameras in order to avoid her attack, if the player does trigger chica's attack then chica will go to the left side of the office and wait for the player to close the monitor and look at the left side of the office.

Phantom Foxy
First Appearance: Night 3
Jumpscare Effects: Ventilation Error
Foxy will randomly appear on the left side of the office standing in front of the box with the toy animatronic parts(he appears more frequently in later nights), he will wait there until the player looks left and then he will jumpscare the player(if foxy appears in the office as the player has the maintenance panel open then he will not jumpscare the player immediately), this makes him the only completely non-avoidable enemy of the game, the player can avoid looking left but will eventually be forced to reboot systems because of system errors.

Phantom Freddy
First Appearance: Night 3
Jumpscare Effects: Ventilation Error
Freddy can randomly appear whenever the player is not looking at the monitor or the maintenance panel, he will appear on the hallway Infront of the player's office and he will start walking across the hallway, freddy will randomly duck down and then jumpscare the player unless the player has the monitor or the maintenance panel opened, to counter freddy the player has to open either the monitor or the maintenance panel and wait for freddy to walk all the distance until he is out of sight. If springtrap is at the office window or the doorway then the player should pull up the monitor or the maintenance panel to avoid freddy's jumpscare as in this scenario freddy can attack without a warning.

Phantom Puppet
First Appearance: Night 4
Jumpscare Effects: The jumpscare takes about 17 seconds as the player is stunned during the jumpscare, the player can only look around the office with puppet's face blocking most of their view, the player is not able to open the monitor or the maintenance panel(during the jumpscare the player will be vulnerable to other enemies, most importantly springtrap can move closer and freddy can attack), after the jumpscare finishes the player may get a ventilation error but will not give the blinking effect nor enable the alarm.
The puppet can appear on cam 8 and is the biggest threat to the player after springtrap, to avoid the puppet the player has to simply avoid checking cam 8 as this is the only camera that the puppet can spawn, if the player does check cam 8 when the puppet is there then they can quickly check either cam 7 or 4 in hopes that they trigger either mangle or chica to overwrite puppet's attack with their weaker attacks.

Strategies

After learning all that information you should learn how to use it to your favour.

General Tips

Try avoiding the cameras that phantoms appear and always locate springtrap so you know how to react effectively on every occasion, use the audio button on cameras adjacent to springtrap's location in order to force him to backtrack, remember to seal vents adjacent to him so that he doesn't use them as shortcuts to your office, keep tack of the audio uses so that you know when the next audio error will occur(especially if springtrap is close to your office). It is also recommended to wear headphones as springtrap will have sound effects signifying that he is close to you or that he entered the vents.

What to do at the start

After you locate springtrap use the audio button to get him to cam 10, then seal vent cam 14, this is the best position to be in as it is a good distance from the office and springtrap's mobility is limited as he will most likely try to move to cam 9. A thing to look out for is P. BB as it is very common for him to appear on cam 10.

What to do mid-game

If you find springtrap at cameras 2-5(cams 2, 3, 4 and 5) try to get him to cam 5 ASAP and then seal vent cam 13, then you can stop as it is not suggested to try and get springtrap to backtrack more than that.

What to do if springtrap is peeking behind the window

If springtrap is peeking outside the window then quickly go to cam 2, use the audio button and close the monitor(at this point it is a good idea to keep track of the audio usage to know when the next error will be) keep doing that until springtrap has left the window, if he backtracks to cam 2 then seal vent cam 15 and you can try to get him to backtrack even more or keep him there, if he backtracks to any other camera then you should be safe, if he went forward to the doorway or cam 1 then you should try to be faster.

What to do if springtrap is in the hallway blind spot(not visible)

If you don't see springtrap in any camera or around your office then he is either inside the office or in the hallway blind spot, if he is in the hallway blind spot then try to get him to cam 1 and keep him there.

What to do if springtrap is peeking behind the doorway

If you see springtrap on the left side of the office then don't open the maintenance panel, instead turn to the right and quickly open the monitor and play the audio button at cam 1 and wait to see if he moved there, if he did then quickly close the monitor and go to the maintenance panel to reboot the audio devices(unless you have many uses remaining and you deem it to not be necessary to risk it yet), if he did not appear in cam 1 then close the monitor but stay in the right side of the office and wait for a few seconds, then try again. If it is 5AM then you can just stare at springtrap and pray to any religious figure is prayed upon at your area.

Rebooting Prioritization

If springtrap is far from you:
1st Ventilation
2nd Audio Devices
3rd Camera System

If springtrap is near you:
1st Audio Devices
2nd Camera System
3rd Ventilation

If sprigtrap has entered the vents:
1st Camera System
2nd Ventilation
3rd Audio Devices

[hashtag_rich]

what to do if two springtraps are there but one of them is not real and the other one kills me (like it says hes on cam 9 and then i'm dead the second i go to reboot my audio) (aggressive nightmare mode btw)