Banshee

Target selection

• At the start of the contract, it randomly picks one player as its hunt target.
• If the target dies or leaves the game, it picks a new one within 2 s at most. The new target isn’t random: it takes the first living player on the list (the order in which players joined the lobby) who isn’t the previous target, unless only one player is left.

Activity

• Its activity depends on its target’s sanity, not the team’s average.
• It sings a lot. When it does a ghost event, it first has a 1/3 chance of choosing the singing ghost event. If that fails, it chooses among the five types of ghost event (singing included). Overall it sings 46.67% of the time, versus 20% for other ghosts. With The Devil Tarot Card it only has the normal 20%.
• If its target interrupts a singing ghost event by getting close, they lose 15% sanity instead of the usual 10%.
• Being its target doesn’t make it pick you more often for ghost events: that’s still random and based on distance.
• Unlike almost every other ghost, it can do long roams even when it isn’t in its favorite room, and it does them 50% of the time.
• When it shows up on the D.O.T.S Projector and its target is inside the investigation area, it has a 2/3 chance of moving to a point within 2 m of that player.

Abilities

• Stalking. On its short roams, if its target is inside the investigation area, it has a 2/3 (67%) chance of going to a point within 3 m of that player. Unlike the Wraith and the Phantom, this does not leave an EMF reading. It fails if the short roam conditions aren’t met (for example, if the target is on another floor or the path is much longer than the direct distance).
• Screams. With the Parabolic Microphone or the Sound Recorder, it has a 33% chance of making one of its 20 unique screams instead of a regular paranormal sound.

Hunt

• Threshold: 50%, but of its target’s sanity, not the average. That’s why, on the Sanity Monitor, it can seem to hunt at an average as high as 87% or as low as 12%, depending on the target’s sanity and how many players there are.
• During a hunt it ignores everyone but its target: it doesn’t chase them and can’t kill them, even if it touches them; it passes through them harmlessly.
• It does react to Incense lit by other players. But the optional objective “Repel the Ghost with Incense while it’s chasing someone” only counts if it was chasing its target at that moment.
• If its target is outside the investigation area, it still uses that player’s sanity to decide whether to hunt, but during that hunt it chases anyone, like a normal ghost.

Other details

It’s always female: it uses a female name and ghost model.

Strategy

• Rule it out by gender. If the ghost has a male name, or shows up with a male ghost model and voice during a ghost event or a hunt, it isn’t a Banshee. You can also spot this (with more difficulty) on the D.O.T.S Projector.
• Finding its target confirms it and gives you a big edge: hunt-related objectives get much easier, and everyone else can keep investigating safely during hunts (as long as the target is inside the investigation area). The target can even prevent hunts altogether by taking Sanity Medication and staying outside the investigation area so they never drop below 50%.

Ways to find the target:

• By sanity. If it hunts with the average above 50% and one or more players are below 50%, one of them is the target. If it doesn’t hunt with the average below 50% but someone has high sanity, that player is probably the target. Be careful not to mistake it for ghosts with a different hunt threshold, like the Demon or the Shade.
• With bait. With Incense or an escape route ready, one player stands in plain sight and tries to attract it (talking into the microphone, holding active electronics or letting it see them). If it ignores them, try another player, until you find the target. If you already know it’s a Banshee, several players can do this at once, spread apart, and see who it runs for. It’s riskier, but it helps when the sanity method is inconclusive or on Nightmare and Insanity, where there’s no Sanity Monitor. Everyone must be inside the building.
  • It can walk toward someone by chance after losing sight of its target, especially in hallways or cluttered rooms. Watch whether it speeds up with line of sight, or step out of its way to see if it’s really following you.
• By where it goes. Outside of hunts it tends to walk toward its target: if one player gets a lot of activity nearby, or even hunts that start far from the ghost room, they’re probably the target. Motion Sensors and Salt help you track it.

If the target dies or disconnects, it picks another. On Nightmare and Insanity, or with the “Kills extend hunts” setting on, if it kills its target it picks another instantly and keeps hunting.

Playing solo, you can’t identify it by its target, so you have to look for other signs:

• Its screams on the Parabolic Microphone or the Sound Recorder. It only has a chance to scream, so don’t rule it out if it doesn’t.
• Lots of singing ghost events.
• It walks toward you often. The Phantom does this too, but it leaves an EMF reading and the Banshee doesn’t.
• If there’s a Sanity Monitor: touch it during a singing ghost event and check whether you drop 15% instead of 10%.

Trivia

• In Irish folklore, the banshee is a female spirit who heralds the death of a family member by wailing or shrieking. Her name means “woman of the fairy mound” or “fairy woman.”
• It’s one of the two ghosts you can rule out by gender alone. The other is the Dayan.

Change history

Version	Change
Alpha, 7 March 2020	All players can hear its footsteps, not just its target.
Alpha, 13 March 2020	Requires Fingerprints as evidence instead of Bug.
Alpha, 25 March 2020	Removed sounds that only its target could hear.
Alpha, 3 July 2020	Can no longer hunt within 5 m of a Crucifix, instead of switching targets when the Crucifix is used up.
Alpha, 15 July 2020	Removed the chance of its ability failing on players with high sanity.
Alpha, 26 August 2020	No longer hunts if its target is outside the building. Later, the Crucifix range against it goes up to 6 m.
Alpha, 25 September 2020	If its target is outside, it hunts like any other ghost.
Alpha, 29 September 2020	The Crucifix range goes back to 5 m.
0.3.0	Before this version, its evidence was EMF Level 5, Fingerprints and Freezing Temperatures.
0.5.0	Its rare ability to hunt at any sanity moves to the Demon. Gains a unique sound on the Parabolic Microphone and prefers singing ghost events.
0.5.2.0	The Crucifix no longer has extra range against it. Starts walking toward its target outside of hunts. Singing ghost events take 5% more sanity from its target. Whether it hunts is based on its target’s sanity. Its Parabolic Microphone scream is changed.
0.10.0	Improved how it stalks its target.
0.13.0	Can now change favorite rooms. Gains 20 unique screams.
0.15.1.0	Always appears as female (name and ghost model).