Phasmophobia Co-op Guide (Team, Communication)

This guide attempts to reveal the problems during coop and provides suggestion, especially focus on team organization and communication for players smoothly to complete their aim and objectives.

There is lots of information from Steam Community, guides, Blogs and YouTube tutorial and guides discover most of the content about Phasmophobia. I suggest reading those guides and YouTube which talk about basics at first if you are beginner. Understanding mechanics makes you know how it works.

Strongly recommend reading other guides in Community which listed in following (where smoothly to complete your mission and reduce time spent):

• Ghosts’ properties, it will easily to determine ghost type.

• Equipment properties, understand what equipment use for (which can easy to determine ghost type), and take appropriate amount for adventure and pick suitable equipment for investigate.

• Map and position, familiar maps will help for finding the way, can be reduce chance to getting lost. Level, different level will have attributes (e.g. Duration of Setup Phase, sanity drop, income).

This guide explains ideas to all in general, although different players will have their style and strategies, it helps for coordination.

At the lobby, clarify the role, understand the team hunting direction and discuss to bring appropriate equipment would make the process smoothly.

Role
Determinate every players role will help for understanding everyone duty, easy for coordination. Problems found that players lost their aim and confuse in achieve which objectives when unclear roles occur, messy opinion makes consensus not happen resulting in a long period of operation, moreover, players concern their loss of equipment.

Sponsor
Sponsor who is the player give support to the team on equipment and the backup work, one vacancy. Those players who scare of ghost may fit for this place. Reason to set this role is equipment will lost if a player get killed by ghost, there will be a great lost if a player bring expensive equipment such as sensor, moreover, the team lack of information to understand their situation if all the teammates go to adventure. Therefore, sponsor main duties are monitoring and provide information, and help to transport equipment and setup at early period, also some backup work, and try not to be killed. The following are explanations of the role duties:

• Deliver objective board information to teammate, adventurer may forgot those objective and the name of ghost, teammates also wants to know those objectives complete or not.

• Transport equipment, adventurer are busy at setup phrase, help them move equipment to the front door where increase the speed for hunting.

• Monitoring the status board, report to teammates regularly about sanity, level of total activity, level of sensor and the position of teammates, also the computer monitor. These would make a great help for giving information to teammates and discuss to determine the type of ghost.

Adventurer/Investigator
Adventurer who is the player gives support to the team on equipment and the backup work, one to three vacancies. Those players who are exciting in adventure and hunting may fit for this place. Reason to set this role is the mission require to hunting ghost, adventurer not to bring much equipment, complete objectives as soon as they can. Adventurer need to find evidence and taking photo, experience interacting. The following are explanations of the role duties:

• Setup, transport equipment to front door and pick suitable equipment for hunting, set equipment when the place of main ghost activity found.

• Search, search the ghost, and pick suitable equipment to search the place of main ghost activity.

• Interacting, call the ghost and experience abnormal, and capture it with the local environment.

• Finding evidence, capture those evidence and mark it down when found.

Hunting direction
Discuss an effective strategy among your team will make the team complete objectives as soon as possible. Each player will have their own style to hunting, prevent the mission into chaos during hunting, sharing your style to hunt with your teammates and find a method for hunting that most of the team agree, for instance, take ghost picture and its activity then leave, or find bone and complete all the objectives before leave. There can be reduce argue and maximize the completion, also the chance of survive.

Equipment and support
Discuss with sponsor and others adventurer what equipment needed for hunting, basically depends on what’s level your team want to achieve, however, you will not know what the objectives are before you enter the game, those objectives 2-4 randomly generate, you may know what objectives will show and what equipment need to bring if you experienced several times of play.

I suggest bring more consumable equipment (e.g. Salt Shaker, Smudge Sticks) when you playing intermediate or higher, it may support your adventure and help you reveal a sign to taking valuable picture, those won’t be wasted because the total income compensates your expenditure, Professional and Intermediate income multiplier higher than Amateur.

Briefing
Sponsor should read the objectives board and deliver message to teammates when all in the truck, message should include what objectives are, the name of ghost and it response to single or multiples. Reason to do that may reduce others teammates spend time on the objectives board, adventurer can transport equipment at first and they can know which equipment take for searching, and it is remind for teammates and your team may discuss strategies during the transport equipment period.Transportation
When all teammates gather in the truck, move equipment from truck to around the front door will reduce your time to pick it when you are in adventure, even you can throw it inside. Sponsor should help to transport equipment after briefing for speed up the process. Recommended to use the following method for transportation:

After briefing, the order of transportation is essential equipment (which it is requiring for use to fulfil objectives, usually Thermometer, EMF and Ghost Writing Book), Photo Camera, Glow Stick, UV Flashlight, Flashlight and Candle, Sensors and consumable equipment, and the last is Video Camera and Tripod.

Basically recommended put all the equipment inside because the door will lock when ghost hunting then you can pick it up to use.
Firstly, put essential equipment behind the door, you can clearly see it and pick it up when you finished transportation.
Secondly, put Photo Camera, Glow Stick, UV Flashlight, Flashlight and Candle inside because it can make the place brighter if any happened (Recommended to use Strong Flashlight to search and Flashlight place on the ground as a lamp).
Thirdly, Sensors and consumable equipment can put inside also for easy pick, Video Camera and Tripod can combine together and deploy it at the front door and it should facing indoor.

Checking
Confirm those essential equipment are on hand before entry, it may shorten your time to pick up on ground or in truck, and make sure some equipment you needed are near the front door. And remember the Front Door Key.

Talk about communication when hunting
I found that some plays take very long to complete or messy or lost the direction in hunting, by observation, the key of difficulties are insufficient information or overflow of junk information, without describe direction, team status, message not enough specific (especially when placing equipment). Some scene are so scary, accurate message will helps for easily complete your objectives, especially on medium or large map. I hope the following helps.Setup Phase
Most of the plays are finding frequent ghost activity point first, it is depends on your team strategies. The following is about suggestion for adventurer and sponsor in Setup Phase.

For adventurer, give a searching direction message, report to the team if any abnormal, and remind the team if you place any equipment in somewhere. You can give a message to teammates which direction you are searching and which floor you are in, for example, “I will go search second floor”, or at high school map “I will go search left side first, meet at the basketball court” (The direction base on the front door as a calibration). When see something abnormal such as “I found bone at ground floor in the room top left, but I need a camera, can xxx help me to take it?” “Here is, I found the point at second floor far end, Temp -10 degree, I drop a thermometer at the door”.

For sponsor, basic set up around the front door, response to teammates in any questions and information needed. You can help teammates to set up something but you may take risk if ghost hunt when you play at professional level, it will be great loss if you bring a lot of things and get killed.

First 5/2 minutes (For Amateur/ Intermediate)
For Amateur and Intermediate, basically as the section above, the different is you will have 5 or 2 minutes “safe time”, I suggest you can help your teammates to search together, it may faster to find the point and speed up the equipment deploy process.

Main Phase
Adventurer should keep search the point, abnormal and other ghost activity, and find evidence. Sponsor should keep monitoring and give information.

For all
There some point would help you to express accurately:
Firstly, describe directions and sector of the map (as above section). Describe your location or the place you want to go more specifically, with a specific place or which floor, which sector, anything unique or special around your location.

Secondly, discuss the plan of equipment deploy. After your team find the activity point, communicate with your team, take what equipment to that location, which one take first and who take those equipment. It may minimize the chance of all the adventurer pick the same type equipment and maximize effectiveness for capturing activity and avoid ghost hunt.

Thirdly, set equipment at a place. It should be specific where you want that equipment placed, which part of the room, camera facing direction, for example, “Can xxx place salt from corridor to the room/behind the door and place a glow stick at the door?”, “Place a crucifix at bed right side”, “Place a camera on the chair at the end, left side and facing the door”.

For sponsor
You should give valuable information to teammates regularly which include sanity, total activity, sensors, teammates positions, any objectives complete, any ghost orb shown in camera, picture in the album, even ghost movement when it shown in camera.

Sanity drop significantly will reveal a type of ghost as a sign, and sanity level alert may help adventurer beware of any dangerous in their actions. Total activity level will let adventurer aw are their situation and make response when ghost hunt or help for complete some objectives. Report adventurer positions can guide the way for them to a specific place. If any objectives complete, sponsor should tell because adventurer do not know can it be complete even they experience a horrible scene, this information can let them know should they continue or not. Sometimes sponsor should look at the computer monitor to find any ghost orb shown as an evidence, also, you can see the ghost if shown and try to guide adventurer avoid it. Check the album often and tell adventurer can they capture a valuable picture because adventurer sometimes not aware of they are not take a right picture or they have something urgent to handle.

Summarise evidence and have a look on album, determine the type of ghost and complete the form, better to discuss if you not sure which ghost is or not enough evidence. Remember fill in type of ghost before you leave.

If you feel the adventure fulfil your targets, you can leave at any time because all the objectives are optional, suggested discuss with teammate is it worth to keep on search (e.g. finding bone, Ouija Board, Dirty water, Voodoo Doll).

From lobby to leave, it can be five minutes or fifty minutes, depends on difficulties and map size, no matter how is the final results, the experience is important, I believe everyone want a professional team, improve ourselves skills, I hope above information help to solve a bit miscommunicate in the game. This guide includes the section of lobby preparation, preparation before entry, hunting, and after hunting for you.

Hope this helps for team cooperation, smoothly during hunting. I also hope everyone keep discuss in the Steam Community or somewhere else, generate ideas and share it to others, I believe no guides is perfect but through discover and discuss, hope everyone enjoy the game. Thanks all.