Phantom

Activity

• It disappears in photos. If you take a photo or video of it (in its full form, translucent form, shadow form or D.O.T.S state), it physically disappears as soon as the capture succeeds, though it carries on with what it was doing (a ghost event, for example). The photo or video shows no ghost and no interference.
  • If it was during a ghost event, electronic equipment stops malfunctioning and the heartbeat stops playing.
  • If it was during a hunt, it disappears for a moment and then keeps flickering.
• Looking at it drains sanity. During ghost events and hunts, each player who hears their heartbeat makes everyone lose 0.5% sanity per second, on top of passive sanity drain. For example, if 3 out of 4 players hear their heartbeat, each one loses 1.5% per second.

Ability: roaming to a player

• Sometimes, instead of a normal roam, it picks a random player inside the investigation area and goes to a spot within 5 m of them.
• Where that roam ends it leaves an EMF Level 2 reading, at the player’s head height (standing).
• This ability doesn’t use the roaming state and can bypass the 30 s limit on ghost states.

Hunt

It flickers differently: during a hunt it stays invisible much longer than other ghosts. It’s visible only 11.5% to 14% of the time (normal is 30.7% to 33.2%), with invisible stretches of 1.1 to 2 s.

How to identify it

• By the flicker. If during hunts it stays invisible for more than 1 s at a time on average, it’s probably a Phantom.
• With a photo. The Phantom doesn’t show up in the photo and there’s no interference. If it was during D.O.T.S or a ghost event, it also disappears from view. D.O.T.S is the most reliable: during hunts it’s rarely visible (and the flicker already gives it away) and ghost events can be rare. On difficulties with less evidence it won’t always have D.O.T.S.
  • Sometimes desync produces the same effect if the photo is taken right at the end of a ghost event or a hunt, even if it’s not a Phantom. Ask the others whether the photo came out clean, though that doesn’t fully confirm it either.
  • It works best with the Summoning Circle or the Music Box, because the timing of the ghost event is more predictable.
  • Photos from a different floor never have interference, but with any other ghost you’d still see it.
  • A photo of the Goryo in its D.O.T.S state also has no interference and doesn’t show the ghost.
• By sanity. Its sanity drain is almost never the main test: it’s gradual, not as strong as the Moroi’s or the Jinn’s, and it’s hard to tell apart from the normal drain from darkness and other factors.
• By where the activity shows up. If there are interactions or hunts in a room far from the favorite room, where a player has just been, the ghost may be one of a few, the Phantom among them. Some ghost events or difficulty settings make any ghost wander off like that, but on large maps this sign is more reliable.
• By the EMF. An EMF 2 reading that appears out of nowhere, with no interactions or far from the ghost room, could be the Phantom. The Wraith does something similar: rule it out with Salt or by checking with a Tier III EMF Reader whether the reading is at head height (Phantom) or floor level (Wraith). Also rule out the Poltergeist, whose ability leaves EMF 2 at head height.

Survival tips

• Since it’s barely visible during hunts, it’s hard to track and you can die from not knowing where it is. Looping it is not recommended.
• Be careful with Incense: stand at the end of a long hallway and use it a little earlier than usual so it doesn’t catch you off guard.
• Tracking it by the sound of its footsteps is a good idea.

Trivia

• Phantom comes from the Greek phántasma: apparition or ghost, and also something unreal, like a dream or an illusion. In many tales, “phantoms” of this kind are an illusory version of something that exists; the Phantom would be a dream ghost.
• Although the journal says they’re commonly summoned with Ouija Boards, in the game there’s no connection at all: the cursed possession being the Ouija Board doesn’t make the ghost any more likely to be a Phantom, or the other way around.

Change history

Version	Change
Alpha, 6 March 2020	Now spends more time invisible during hunts.
Alpha, 7 August 2020	If it’s visible and nearby, it now drains the sanity of anyone who sees it.
0.3.0	Before this version, its evidence was EMF Level 5, Ghost Orb and Freezing Temperatures.