Lesser Known Tricks & Strats (v1.11)

Rare tricks and strategies that you may not know about!
This guide is up to date with v1.11.

READ THIS

Things that are self explanatory and have no depth to them - things that have no special strategies or tips - will NOT be in this guide, as the title of the guide implies.

The title of the guide is "Lesser Known Tricks & Strats", not "A tutorial on literally everything in the game".

The most important strategy is to not use the wiki. The wiki is full of inaccuracies and outright misinformation, and things that are correct are usually just plagiarized from another site, just like all dot fandom wikis. Do not trust it.

The second most important thing is to complete the main tutorial and read all tutorials that pop-up while playing. I have seen countless people refuse to do the tutorial, or absentmindedly close the pop-up tutorials without a second thought, as though they're a pop-up ad on a website, only to complain they don't understand or don't know what to do afterwards.
You should also read your research notes to know what tools do and what counts as evidence, or else you're going to have a bad time.

See all up to date Forewarned guides here:
https://steamcommunity.com/id/AveryHyena/myworkshopfiles/?section=guides&appid=1562420

Combat

Using the Torch

The torch doesn't have as bad range as you think. Aim a little to the left, and you'll have 'increased' range.
Why does this work? In Forewarned, all of the equipable items are actually physically in your hand. If this were a different game, swinging the torch would cast a ray from the center of your screen inline with your crosshair. But in Forewarned, physically hitting the enemy with the actual torch is what matters. The torch is on the right side of the screen, so moving your camera left makes it much easier to hit enemies. Aim with the torch, not the crosshair! And aim for mummy's and sleeper's outstretched arms for the same reason. You can also just run directly through these threats to ignite them without getting hurt, however it only works on ritual mummies, not regular reanimated mummies because for some reason, they have faster reaction times. Keep in mind that this is also dependant on latency. If there is high latency, a sprinting mummy may still hit you as you run through it.
This also applies to all other equipment, including things like Akar's Staffs, Heka amulet, and metal detector.
As of v1.0.0, the torch now has a 'burst' visual and audio effect when you have successfully repelled a threat.

The Heka Amulet

You can use a Heka Amulet to repel all ambient threats, including the versions found in banishment rituals. These ambient threats are; zealots, snakes, crocodiles, abominations and sand worms. (The massive albino crocodile CANNOT be repelled by any means). The amulet remains activated and effective if dropped on the floor.

Akar's Staffs

Against non-mummy enemies (snakes, crocodiles, abominations and sand worms), Akar's Staffs have a 'fear' effect. Landing a hit on one of these enemies creates a small "fear" effect around it in a radius, so that when other enemies come close, they are repelled as though an explorer repelled them by, for example, swinging a torch.
This fear radius does not stay stationary around where the projectile hit the enemy, but rather is attached to the enemy that was hit. Meaning that when an enemy is repelled by a Staff's projectile, it will retreat back and also repel other enemies along its path if they are close enough.

Akar's Staff of Tempests

Getting hit with a bolt from this staff will make you drop your currently equipped item on the floor, as it electrocutes you. This both applies when the Mejai is using it to shoot at players in phase 2 of the banishment, as well as if a player hits another player with it in phase 3.

Akar's Staff of Tides

Getting hit with a waterball from this staff will cause you to start drowning, darkening your screen for a short time, similar to the effect of spiders. This both applies when the Mejai is using it to shoot at players in phase 2 of the banishment, as well as if a player hits another player with it in phase 3.

Abominations

If you repel an abomination and it backs away, that means it's going to come back to attack again. If it fully turns around and runs away, that means it's going back to a spawn point (the area covered with webs). This also applies to the ones in rituals - if it's backing away, it's going to attack again. And if it turns around, then it's going away to despawn.

The Snake

You can blow up the snake before it's even left its hole.
If you repel the snake after it has left its hole, it will return and stay there for 40 seconds before roaming the halls again. This time is not affected by difficulty.

Spiders

Spiders do absolutely 0 damage, they only blind you. Some people do not believe this, so a video proving it is here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5rY6-9wt7n8
Spiders also don't make impassible webs, they only make webs that you can walk through without the need of a torch. The only impassible webs are ones that are generated with the map and can be removed before the mejai has spawned (minus the webs behind the Lower Tomb door).

Massive Albino Crocodile

He can literally never hit you as long as you keep running. You can run through him and even if he attacks, he will miss. Stopping at any time, or standing in a corner = you WILL be hit.

Sleepers

Sleepers are enemies found in the TNT area of the Sand-Spider tomb variation. (And in the embalming room of the Snake tomb variation).
They act similarly to sprinting mummies. If one has targeted you, to avoid getting injured, you can bait an attack and wait until it swings twice - one for each arm - and then you are safe to go in and attack with your torch.
Another good way of dealing with them is to stealth-kill them. They only aggro and lock onto a player once their getting up animation is complete. Using this knowledge, you can stand behind it until the animation is finished, after which it will just slowly walk away and you are safe to easily set it on fire.
Because they are essentially just sprinting mummies, you can also run through them.
Be aware, sleepers can activate other sleepers should they walk over one.

Health

The number on your Smart Watch is your heart rate, and means nothing, it is just flavor text. What actually indicates your health is the color and word.
100%-75% health = "Healthy" (Green)
74%-50% health = "OK" (Yellow)
49%-25% health = "Injured" (Orange)
24%-1% health = "Critical" (Red)

How To Actually Get Evidence

Important info

- All naturally occurring evidence is chance based
- You CANNOT rule out evidence except in extremely specific circumstances. Eg. Evidence from ectoplasm is always guaranteed, evidence from some spirit events can be guaranteed. DO NOT rule out evidence just because "we haven't gotten it yet". If you do this, you will eventually get the Mejai wrong.
- The chance of getting evidence increases based on the amount of the tomb you explore, the amount of objectives you complete, and the amount of treasure you collect.
- All evidence besides electronic and tremors requires the Mejai's Sah or Shut form (invisible or wraith) to be in the immediate area for there even to be a chance to get it in the first place.
- You will know if the Mejai is near you if it either manifests into its Shut form, or you get a sound cue. The sound cues that alert you to the Mejai's presence are creepy sounds that are ALWAYS accompanied with hearing your own heartbeat. Do not confuse them with regular tomb ambience. Trying to get evidence without knowing the Mejai is close or the interaction rate is high is a waste of time, better spent on exploring the tomb and collecting treasure.
- The transmitter is the most valuable evidence tool, as it can give you destruction, disturbed tombs, extinguished flames, footsteps, magnetic distortion, and reanimation, AND negatives of those evidences. If you get a vocal response, but doesn't do what you ask, you can rule out that evidence.

Destruction

- A spirit event that destroys sarcophagi counts as destruction, not disturbed tombs.
- In tomb variation 5 (Underground Palace), if the spirit event with the Mejai's Shut form flying around in a circle does not also destroy the statues around the room, you can completely discount destruction being evidence.
- Do not get fooled! If you see a broken pot, it does not always mean you have destruction! Things can be broken by default before you've even entered the tomb, and TNT also has a massive range for destroying objects.
- Using the transmitter and aiming your crosshair at a destructible object, you can command the Mejai to destroy something by saying, "Destroy this" / "Destroy these", for the chance to get this evidence.

Disturbed Tombs

- When the Mejai disturbs a tomb, it plays a very specific sound of the sarcophagus lid slamming that isn't used anywhere in the game at that stage. A trained ear could discern disturbed tombs happening across the map.
- In tomb variation 5 (Underground Palace), if the spirit event with voices coming from a sarcophagus saying "let me out" happens, but the Mejai does not burst out of the sarcophagus after, you can completely discount disturbed tombs being evidence.
- If you are not sure you heard disturbed tombs, you can use your tablet to look inside a sarcophagus. If it has been disturbed, there will be purple-blue scratches on the inside.
- Leaving a sarcophagus open does not prevent disturbed tombs evidence, this is misinformation. It does not matter if it is open or closed.
- Using the transmitter and aiming your crosshair at a sarcophagus, you can command the Mejai to disturb it by saying, "Disturb this tomb" for the chance to get this evidence.

Electronic Disturbances

- Electronic evidence is always global, every player gets it at the same time (eg. flickering flashlight) no matter where they are in the tomb.
- You can place a radio in the tomb to increase your chances of getting this evidence.

Extinguished Flames

- Using the transmitter and aiming your crosshair at lit flames, you can command the Mejai to extinguish them by saying, "Extinguish these flames" / "Extinguish this fire", for the chance to get this evidence. On the rare occasion there are no wall torches or braziers nearby, you can command the Mejai to extinguish your torch, if you are carrying one, by saying, "Extinguish my torch".

Footsteps

- Just like disturbed tombs, footstep evidence has specific sounds that are not used anywhere else, including for player footsteps.
- Using the transmitter, you can command the Mejai to produce footsteps by saying, "Can you dance?", for the chance to get this evidence.

Magnetic Distortion

- Using the transmitter, you can command the Mejai to produce a magnetic distortion by saying, "Spin my compass", for the chance to get this evidence.

Metallic Signature

- Just like any other regular evidence, metallic can be given randomly by the mejai. But it can also be detected from ectoplasm.

Radar Detection

- As with most evidence, radar also requires the Mejai's Sah or Shut form to actually be in its range. So either spread out multiple radars through the tomb, or make everyone stand the main entrance where the radar is, as a player's presence attracts the mejai to them.

Radioactivity

- Just like any other regular evidence, radiation can be given randomly by the mejai. But it can also be detected from ectoplasm.
- I have to put this here because I've seen it too many times: I know it's green and glowing, but Ectoplasm DOES NOT mean inherent radiation evidence. It only has a CHANCE to give radioactivity, just like how it has a chance to give metallic signature.
- Sometimes, if a geiger counter is already turned on, it will need to be turned off and on again before it can start detecting radioactivity.

Reanimation

- You can leave sarcophagi open to increase the chances of getting this evidence.
- Using the transmitter and aiming your crosshair at a mummy, you can command the Mejai to reanimate them by saying, "Reanimate them" / "Reanimate him" for the chance to get this evidence.

Tremors

- The only other evidence besides electronic that does not require the Mejai to be near you. As far as I understand it, the game spawns seismic "hotspots" around the tomb, one of which has the chance of becoming a reading over 10nm if the Mejai has tremors as evidence.
- The seismometer is based on your current position, not where you point it.
- If you are not close to the seismometer that detects it, you will still be able to hear a specific quiet sound cue that indicates tremors. The sound cue sounds like sand falling from the ceiling. Some random ambience may sound like this, but are different sound effects entirely.

Vocal Response

- If your voice recognition isn't working, click on Forewarned on your taskbar instead of alt-tabbing!
- If the voice recognition test screen says that your PC is not compatible, you need to set up voice recognition by going into windows settings -> speech settings -> set up your mic for speech recognition (get started). You should also make sure that the correct language pack is installed at the bottom of the speech page. Then you should restart the game.
For a full and detailed guide to fixing voice recognition, go here:
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3345023766
- The vocal transmitter is the best evidence item, as it can give you vocal response, destruction, disturbed tombs, extinguished flames, footsteps, magnetic distortion, and reanimation evidence, whereas other evidence items can only give you one evidence type. It can also give you the ability to rule out these evidences. So the transmitter is essentially 13 evidence items in one!

Mejai Basics

Inner Tomb Mejai Name Selection

The names of the Mejai are always in the same order:
Rathos | Necreph
Dekan | Talgor
Ouphris | Ataimon
Ptahmes

Difficulty Level's Effect on Mejai

The selected difficulty also effects Mejai's unique abilities. For example, how far Dekan can hear, how fast Ouphris attacks, or how fast Rathos' rage meter fills up and how many screams he has before he turns into a royal mummy.

Mejai Can't Climb Stairs

Mejai cannot path up any long stairs, for example, the ones found in tomb variation 5 that lead to a small dead end, or the ones in tomb variation 6 that lead to a dropdown on the right. They will not follow you up these stairs even if they know you're there.

Specific Mejai Tricks (Part 1)

Rathos
- It may sound counter-intuitive, but you DO NOT want to light any braziers around the tomb. Doing so increases his rage meter with almost no benefit to you, as he doesn't get stopped by braziers 99% of the time.
- If you have a lit torch in your inventory, (you don't even have to hold it, IF it appears on your hip), you can touch and walk through Rathos in his normal grey form and he CANNOT kill you. Just be careful he doesn't scream as you start to walk through him.
- Unfortunately, it seems completely random if the torch is put on your hip when you switch to another inventory slot. If you're switching to something else, make sure the torch is on your hip before being near Rathos (you'll be able to see the glow from the torch if it's on your hip).
- Swinging a torch at Rathos while he is in his normal form just increases his enrage meter with no benefit to you.
- You don't have to stare at Rathos. Simply holding the torch is enough.

Dekan
- You can still run vs Dekan, just stop when you hear footsteps coming closer. But even if Dekan hears you, you can move away from that location without making sound and Dekan will try to attack where you used to be.
- Crouching only matters on brutal and if you're close to him. Do not crouch-walk everywhere. Crouching while standing still also does NOTHING. You are already making 0 sound by standing still.
- Sound you make while moving is based on your movement speed, not if you're crouching, walking or sprinting. This also means that players using the bird pet are slightly easier for Dekan to hear.
- Dekan has Reanimation as evidence, which is more dangerous than usual, since igniting a mummy is a fairly loud sound that Dekan can hear. Wait until he's some distance away before burning a mummy!
- The torch itself does not produce sound. However, activating some equipment like the flashlight does make a little bit of noise.
- You can open a sarcophagus to produce a loud distraction. However, when Dekan hears it, he will destroy the sarcophagus, making it unusable.
- Taking damage makes sound that Dekan can hear.
- When pathing to a set waypoint, Dekan will always take the most efficient path (without dropping off ledges), so to avoid him while he's about to pass you, make sure you're out of the way of the most efficient path. For example, if he's going around a corner, stay on the OUTSIDE of the corner because Dekan will usually try to hug the inside.
- Dekan cannot hear environmental effects, such as chests opening, traps, or the sound of moving cloth in tomb variation 5.
- Dekan is 100% blind and does not react if you shine bright light in his face. Some people do not believe this so a video proving it is here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mEP8x70NiOo

Ouphris
- The Heka Amulet has a separate pool of uses for Ouphris. When an amulet prevents an attack, it subtracts 1 from this pool AND the regular pool of uses. There's three uses in the 'Ouphris pool', so you can do this three times before the amulet breaks and the rest of the uses are wasted. This is also per game, not per player.
- If you have no amulet charges left, you can run up the entrance ramp to lose him, or any other large stairs (most stairs work).
- Ouphris is just a walking timer that counts down until he whistles and attacks. This time is decreased as difficulty increases. Hiding from him when he already knows where you are, running from him or trying to "loop" him will not work, the timer will continue to go down regardless. And unless you have a Heka Amulet or can get into an area Ouphris can't path to, for example out of the tomb, you will die, you cannot otherwise outrun him or lose him when he is following you.

Necreph
- Torches still produce light when put away in your inventory. Make sure to extinguish them with mouse2!
- Avoid dropping any sources of light, as dropped light sources for some reason are far more powerful that if someone was simply carrying them in their hand despite them visually being the same brightness. This causes Necreph to attack from a lot longer distance away.
- Necreph is attracted to ALL light shone onto players from equipment, not just the light you're using. This means you are NOT helping by standing on the entrance ramp whipping a flashlight around the room, since this means no one can enter that room without you killing them if Necreph is there.
- Light produced by the tomb, for example the rooms that are permanently hit in tomb variation 3, or the spinning fire serpents in variation 5, does not count and will not aggro Necreph.
- It is possible to take a picture of Necreph without dying, you just have to be far enough away. This distance changes depending on difficulty.
- Necreph doesn't actually teleport. He just deactivates and turns invisible, then moves fast around the tomb until he reappears. His chains sound effect also follows him when he does this.
- Necreph appears near the middle of rooms and hallways, so hug walls and corners to avoid accidentally walking into him if he appears in front of you.
- Do not use the tablet's fullscreen mode. It's more disorienting and makes it almost impossible to see the blue lever.
- Necreph has a 'grace period' where he cannot kill you for a short time after arriving from a teleport if he teleports on top of a player.
- In tomb variation 6, the tomb is bright enough from the skylight to be able to see without the need of a tablet.
- You do not need to stare at walls. It takes a fairly long time for Necreph to attack you after you start looking at him, and to count as looking at him, your crosshair must be directly over him. Some people do not believe this, so a video proving it is here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bCM6fQr_kAc

Specific Mejai Tricks (Part 2)

Talgor
- It seems to be a popular misconception that talking makes him go away. Your microphone only slows him down and stops him. Do not just stand in front of him.
- Torches are still useful vs Talgor. He ABSORBS flames, not just extinguishes them. When he does so, the flames get visibly sucked into him, giving you a good idea of where he is.
- Nightvision is BAD against Talgor. He distorts it and the loss of saturation isn't as noticeable. Just walk around with a torch and flashlight, and when he's near (loud sound and greyscale colors), use the normal tablet vision to locate him.
- If you are consistently loud enough, Talgor will completely stop moving. In this stunned state, he loses his hitbox and you are safe to walk through him. Just keep making noise or he will regain his hitbox. This is also dependent on latency.
- The radio is inconsistently effective on Talgor. If you turn on a radio and drop it in Talgor's path, he will slow to a stop. When stopped, he will instantly disable the radio and then, in most cases, turn around and go in the opposite direction, even if you are standing right in front of him. However, Talgor sometimes decides to not turn around and will just keep chasing you. This seems to be caused by dropping the radio too close to Talgor. Get some distance, then drop the radio and let Talgor walk into it. 99/100 times, this results in Talgor turning around and going in the opposite direction. Using the radio in your hands also does nothing, you HAVE to drop it.
Some people do not believe this, so a video demonstrating it is here:
https://youtu.be/oKd4ZtVyN8U
- Talgor actually has terrible vision. A lot of the time if you move just 45 degrees to the side (or even less sometimes) he loses you and forgets that you're there.

Ataimon
- You can blind Ataimon with the camera flash.
- Ataimon can get stuck on his Abominations.
- When stunned, he fully loses his hitbox and you can run through him.
- After recovering from a stun, flashlights will continue to flicker for a short time, during which he cannot be stunned again.
- Rapidly clicking the flashlight DOES NOT stun him any faster.

Ptahmes
- When staring at Ptahmes, the time he takes before he teleports and disorients you decreases with difficulty.
- Ptahmes' 'enrage' timer instantly resets when you look away. You can stare at him for as long as you want, as long as you occasionally look away for a microsecond.
- When Ptahmes is teleporting, always keep moving as he will always teleport close by players.
- Use the camera to stun him and force him to teleport without getting disoriented when you need to see to look for jars or if you don't know where to go. If you know where you're going, you don't need to waste a picture.
- Small things like the bird pet or the swinging chain trap will still block your "vision" to Ptahmes if your crosshair is over it so that it counts as you not looking at him.
- When arriving from a teleport, Ptahmes will make similar "squishy" gore sounds at his destination that he makes when initially teleporting. Use this sound to determine where he has teleported to in order to avoid accidentally running into him.
- Similarly to Necreph, Ptahmes has a 'grace period' where he cannot kill you for a short time if he teleports on top of you.

Example of VS all Mejai on brutal difficulty, locked chests

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bRt7NEBDK6o

Maps

There are 6 unique tomb variations, 2 per variation. One is the 'tutorial' tomb, one has snakes, one has sand and spiders, one has water and crocodiles, one has abominations and nightmares and the final one has sand worms and a complex layout.
See my map guide for more info! https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3032600639

The Blue Lever

- Don't go looking for the blue lever too early. The blue lever only appears when the mejai has spawned. You will know when this happens because you will hear a loud roar, and a gameplay hint (if they are turned on) will tell you the mejai has assumed physical form. The blue lever's location is determined by players' current positions at the time the mejai spawns, so that it's not too close. This logic can be manipulated by spreading players throughout the map.
- The mejai also does not "guard" the blue lever. It's just RNG where they path to, it's all in your head.
- The blue lever cannot spawn in "special" rooms. For example, TNT areas, trap puzzle rooms, or the entrances to / inside of the prison chamber and treasury. The only exception to this is the Spinning Spikes and Platforms Puzzle Room in tomb variation 6, where the blue lever can still spawn despite it seeming like a "special" room.

Getting Lost?

A good strategy to make sure you've explored 100% of the tomb is just following one wall. The only time this goes wrong is occasionally on the older tombs or commonly on Outdoor Ruin, where loops will spawn, meaning if you just hug one wall you will either never see the rooms inside of the loop or you'll be stuck inside the loop forever until you change walls.
For finding your way in TNT mazes, see my TNT maze guide! https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3061502951

Ushabti Puzzles

REMINDER:

Things that are self explanatory and have no depth to them - things that have no special strategies or tips - will NOT be in this guide, as the title of the guide implies.
This includes simple puzzles such as the Sarcophagus Puzzle, or the Sobek Statue puzzle, as there are no special strategies or tactics.

---

Solving the Ushabti Puzzle rewards you with 100xp and 100g-400g depending on the type of puzzle:
100g: Sarcophagus
200g: Tomb-Specific, Compass, Keys
300g: Lights Out, Sliding Tiles, Animal Memory
400g: Laser

Sliding Tile Puzzle

Use a circular motion to move a specific tile to where you want it to go. Focus making a row or column along one side first. You only need to remember one algorithm and perform it twice.
To know how to solve ANY configuration of tiles easily, see my sliding tile puzzle guide here: https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3221816322
For some reason, some people think you need to grab and drag the tiles manually. You just have to tap the interact button once to move a tile into the empty space.

'Lights Out' Puzzle

In general, you should aim for the whole puzzle to become symmetrical and make symmetrical actions to solve it. For the easy method, you only need to light two rows and remember seven algorithms, two of which are just reversed versions.
To know how to solve ANY configuration of lights easily, see my 'lights out' guide here: https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3221798100

Light Ray Puzzle

The solution is always the same per tomb variation, so you can just remember it.
For all laser puzzle solutions, see my laser puzzle guide!
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3063056075

Library

The idea that books "spawn in" over time or after you start placing books is MISINFORMATION. All books are there from the start and does not require you to do anything to "make them spawn".
There are also currently no bugs associated with books failing to spawn. You're just suffering from the Dunning-Kruger effect. You're not as good as you think you are at finding books, and your ego can't take it. I've been playing the game the entire time the library has existed, AND been playing in other people's games. If the library being bugged is as prevalent as people say, surely I would have gotten a single bug by now, in at least one of my hundreds of games, right? I am not special, I am not the Chosen One. Maybe, just maybe, I haven't gotten a bug because it is not bugged.
There are ten books in total.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sG4DfqcL-KY
Books also can only be found inside the library plus the two in the library entrance. NEVER anywhere else.
Books are not moved by the librarian and only move when players move them. The event where the librarian reaches out from behind a bookcase only knocks uninteractable prop books over, not any books needed for the puzzle.
Other than the two books on the table at the entrance, all 8 other books are always found on the floor, and will never be already in a bookcase.

Circular Rune Puzzle

The symbols do not need to be in the correct orientation exactly like the pages, they only need to be in the correct positions RELATIVE TO EACH OTHER.
This means you will only ever have to turn a maximum of two rings to solve it, because technically, at least one symbol is always already solved. You should just choose one ring, and then match the other two rings to the chosen ring.
Some people do not believe this, so a video demonstrating it is here:
https://youtu.be/NAYGfg_khUU
You can also solve this puzzle before pressing the blue button. It does break the puzzle a bit, so if you get trapped in the room, press the blue button until the doors open enough to escape. There are four scrambles in total, these are the solutions:
Eye, Cat, 'Ribbon': Turn the Eye 6 times. Turn the Cat 1 time.
Snake, Bowl with shapes, Eye with Sword: Turn the Bowl 6 times.
Bug, Anubis, Sun: Turn the Bug 4 times. Turn the Sun 2 times.
Ouroboros, Ankh, 'Winged Pharaoh': Turn the 'Winged Pharaoh' 4 times.

Lava Tile Puzzle

If there's two of the same letter, look one letter ahead to see what it could lead to. There is only one true path.
"Catacomb" is the only word with a 'true' 50/50. There are two C's that lead to the O, which means there's literally no way to know which C is correct if you haven't done this puzzle before. While looking at the O, the correct C is always the one on the left.

Metallic Button Hunt

The best thing to do is sprint along the wall and look up and down fast to cover as much area as possible in a short time. The metal detector only needs to detect the buttons for them to instantly appear.

Animal Memory Puzzle

A trick to do all three stages easily and quickly is what I call memory storage - being aware of your personal memory capacity and changing data types when you run out of space. Try to remember as many of the symbols as you can, commit them to memory, then convert the remaining symbols into numbers based on their location on the wall. Because of how human brains store data, it's way easier to store 5 words and 3 numbers than it is to store 8 words!
Of course, you don't have to convert them to numbers, you could convert them to anything, like colors or places. I'm pretty sure this is how people remember digits of pi or perform massive math equations.
I sometimes do another "conversion" after that to remember the last two even easier. For example, remembering the 1st and 6th animals would turn into "sweet 16", the 4th and 7th might be "agent 47", and the 4th and 2nd might be "the meaning of life" (hitchiker's guide) etc. You could even do this with the whole sequence and create a story out of it, similar to a mind palace. For example, I could remember the sequence of 471624 as "Agent 47 at his 16th birthday party discovered the opposite to the meaning of life". Converting groups of things you need to remember into stories or ideas like this is a great way to remember them.
Also, words like "bug" are easier to remember than "scarab" or "beetle".

Compass Puzzle

The direction of north may differ, but the orientation the heads needs to be in is always the same. The order is Baboon (monkey), Anubis (jackal), Pharaoh (human) and Horus (falcon) for north, east, south and west respectively.
If you are having trouble determining the direction of north, drop the compass on the floor and look at it there. The player character holds the compass strangely which makes it appear as though it's slightly off by about 20 degrees when it is in your hand.

Rituals

Likely Canopic Jar Spawn Locations

Canopic jars have a high chance to spawn in trapped puzzle rooms, the treasury, prison chamber and inner tomb. If you can't find a jar, check those places!
Also I don't know where this misinformation came from, but Canopic Jars cannot "break".

Possible Canopic Jar spawns inside the Inner Tomb

- Tomb variation 1, 2, 4 and 5 have two possible chest spawn locations and both can spawn at the same time.
- Tomb variation 3 and 6 only have one possible chest spawn.

Use the Heka Amulet

As stated before in the Combat section, the Heka Amulet can work on all regularly spawning ambient threats. This can be useful for if you're struggling in banishments, as you can activate an amulet and drop it on one side of the table, then defend the other side with your torch.

Use flags to mark ward activation order

DO NOT use the colors of flags to remember the ward activation order. You're making it harder for no reason, and this often confuses other players who sometimes have learned a different color order to you. Instead, you should place a number of flags to show what order the wards need to be activated in. For example, put one flag in front of the ward that needs to be activated first, then two flags in front of the second, etc. In this way, there is literally nothing extra you need to recall during the ritual.

Memorize the Hierodex

If you want planning the ritual to go super fast, you can memorize the Hierodex (this can also help with a certain Ushabti puzzle). Here's how I memorized and remember it:
Numbers
Numbers are extremely easy to remember because you never actually need to add hieroglyphs together like the Hierodex suggests. Combining hieroglyphs was just never implemented for some reason. This means you don't need to remember the exact translation, just the order.
You can remember them by realizing that the symbols generally get more complex as the value increases, and that the man is the best, and frog is the second best, because frogs are cool (of course).
Letters
Letters can be more tough to memorize, but I can do it, so you definitely can too. This is how I memorized and remember every single letter (keep in mind some ways I memorize letters involves cubing knowledge, so if you see a term you don't recognize, it is likely a cubing term):
A - The bird at the start + brute force memorization.
B - B like a Boot.
C - The hook looks like a C.
D - It looks like a di-. How? I don't know.
E - Similar to an E perm.
F - If you're a slug then F.
G - Brute force memorization.
H - Lines crossing like an H perm.
I - A single feather looks like an I.
J - Jperm is a snake because he left us for mario kart.
K - K for Kup (cup), with a handle on the right because it comes first because it's default.
L - L for Lion.
M - The bird in the middle + brute force memorization.
N - Squiggle line kind of looks like multiple Ns combined + Brute force memorization.
O - Looks like an O.
P - Brute force memorization / You can kind of imagine the square being the top of a P.
Q - Brute force memorization.
R - Brute force memorization.
S - The rectangle shape is like a snake.
T - I imagine it being the top of a T.
U - The bird at the end + brute force memorization.
V - V perm is another bad PLL like F perm, so it's similar to F.
W - Just U but with a lightning bolt.
X - The letter X Looks like K, so the hieroglyphs are also similar. Has handle on the left because it comes after K.
Y - Diagonal lines like how Y perm is a diagonal corner swap.
Z - Brute force memorization.

Extras

- You actually do not need to time pulling levers together. You can spam the lever and hold it up.

- Taking a picture of a dead teammate or the mejai's Sah or Shut form or anything else that is NOT an objective (check your journal) does nothing. This is not Phasmophobia.

- Lore pages and rare artifacts CANNOT spawn inside the inner tomb, however, levers and chests can. (Levers can only spawn in Tomb Variation 1's inner tomb).

- There is ALWAYS at least one rare artifact in every map. There is a very high chance for two (which is the maximum) to spawn, even on small maps.

- In the windowed room with the relic collection, there are 10 shelves for up to 50 Ushabtis. They are not map or relic dependant, you just get a random Ushabti each time. Ushabtis also do not get reset when prestiging along with lore pages.

- Contrary to popular opinion and what the equipment description suggests, the Divining Rod only detects gold piles. It does not detect; rare artifacts, lore pages, the relic, canopic jars, or levers. Some people do not believe this, so a video demonstrating it is here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZpvYIOcobus
- Make sure to prestige when at least around 38,000 gold to get most of your equipment back to level V, besides from non-essentials, after prestiging. Here are exact gold values:
Essentials: 34,965g - Everything minus Smart Watch, Marker Flags, Timer, Divining Rod, and Hierodex
Essentials + Watch: 36,745g - If you play multiplayer and you want to upgrade the smart watch, it costs 1780g more
ALL EQUIPMENT: 45,825g

I have found the best way of farming is first doing 7 games to collect relics, then all you need to do is farm gold and treasure on a small map without bothering with the mejai or inner tomb.
- Set the map to Cursed Sand Ruins on Brutal difficulty with these modifiers: [Medkits: Off] [Timed: 6 Minutes] [Blessing of Osiris: Off] [Spirit Interaction Frequency: Lower] [Locked Chests: On] [Starting HP: 1]. You should be at a 77% bonus. You could make it three minutes timed, but I've found that it rarely results in 50/50s, so for more consistency, I choose 6 minutes. 3 minutes only gets you an extra +3% anyway.
- First, do seven games where you collect the relic. These 7 games are just for the relics that are required to prestige while maximizing gold efficiency as much as possible. In order to maximize gold efficiency, make sure to solve the Ushabti puzzle after pulling the blue lever, and it gives you 100-400 gold for solving it which is also multiplied by your bonuses. If you only take the relic, you can earn ~340g/minute, but if you do the ushabti puzzle, you can earn ~375g/minute.
- Then when all relics are collected, use the same map and settings, except you can turn off timed as it will now do nothing (you should now be at a 65% bonus), and only collect gold, artifacts and lore pages. Do not bother with evidence at all.
- Remember to bring a tablet and metal detector for the puzzle rooms, and TNT for the TNT rooms. You can use the camera to take bonus pictures of bodies, mummies, hieroglyphs etc. if you really want to, as this does not give you extra gold.
I've found this gets you around 1,000-1,500 every 3 minutes, which I think is the fastest way to farm. Using this method, it takes me on average 1.75 hours to get the 45,825g required for all equipment.
Averages
All gold, artifacts, lore pages: 455g/minute
All gold plus the gold inside the inner tomb, artifacts, lore pages: 292g/minute
Relic, All gold plus the gold inside the inner tomb, artifacts, lore pages: 340g/minute
Ushabti puzzle, Relic, All gold plus the gold inside the inner tomb, artifacts, lore pages: 375g/minute

- There are prestige icons up to prestige 30, after which you will have the same icon.

- It currently takes 33 points to buy everything from the point store.

- The bird is objectively the best pet. The other pets do nothing if you're good at the game. However, it doesn't matter how good you are, you will NEVER gain the effect of the bird without equipping it. For example:
Cat: Just don't die.
Dog: Have game-sense and listen for sound cues.
Crocodile: Know how to navigate flooded areas and/or drain them beforehand.
Snake: Have game-sense and knowledge of how the snake behaves, or blow it up with TNT. To avoid the acid sprays in various traps, just learn how to navigate and solve them properly.
Spider: Being poisoned by a spider doesn't really do anything in the first place.

[MadDogHux.ttv]

LMAO, not only was I reading Avery's guides but dude is a G and taught me first hand too. Can't up vote this enough.

[AveryHyena]

@hayleyhatesyou You're being pedantic. When Necreph turns invisible and moves around the tomb, we call that a teleport because it's what it is meant to be within the lore and what the game calls it, and also saying "he teleported" is faster and easier than "he's invisible and is moving fast around the tomb while his hitbox is deactivated". It is most of the time sufficient to call it a teleport when talking about his movement, unless you are a pedant.
"Also, if he runs everywhere, why are footsteps not evidence for him?" Because I am talking about how the game itself actually works. In the lore, he teleports.

[󠁳⁧⁧hayleyhatesyou]

Necreph

- Necreph doesn't actually teleport. He just deactivates and turns invisible, then moves fast around the tomb until he reappears. His chains sound effect also follows him when he does this.

- Necreph has a 'grace period' where he cannot kill you for a short time after arriving from a teleport if he teleports on top of a player.


So... which is it?
Also, if he runs everywhere, why are footsteps not evidence for him?

[Alcatrax]

probably the best guide for the game, so many of the others are out of date. thanks for making this.
that voice chat tip for clicking the toolbar is incredible, i was going crazy over the voice recognition not working randomly

[AveryHyena]

@leslie.drew Nope, you're wrong. Sorry. but I already know everything.
I left them out of the guide because this guide is for "Lesser Known Tricks & Strats", not "Every ushabti puzzle explained".
Things that are self explanatory and have no depth to them: things that have no special strats or tips, will NOT be in this guide.

[leslie.drew]

The remaining new puzzles I know of but you have yet to mention (I know it is because you haven't encountered them yet so I'll just try my best and give out less information on the puzzle so it won't be spoiled for you.)

are the "constellation puzzle", the "snake statue" puzzle and the "rotating wheel" puzzle.

[AveryHyena]

@Greenmovie13 It appears dependent on your viewmodel, not worldmodel. Unless it is on your hip, in which case it uses the worldmodel hitbox and acts as though it's on the ground on in a vr player's hands.

[Greenmovie13]

does the range of the torch depend on what you see client-side or does it depend on what anyone else sees? the animations swing in different directions depending on your perspective