Onryo

## Evidence

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> „*The Onryo is often referred to as "The Wrathful Spirit". It steals souls from dying victims' bodies to seek revenge. This ghost has been known to fear any form of fire, and will do anything to be far from it.*”
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>
>
>

—The Journal

The **Onryo** is a type of ghost in Phasmophobia. The Onryo is noted to be wary of fire; however, when the fires go out, beware its vengeance, for an Onryo may decide to hunt once there are no flames keeping it at bay.

## Behaviour

### Activity

If a player is currently dead, the Onryo will blow out sources of flame (lit firelight, igniter, or campfire) at a higher frequency. More dead players increases this frequency. It will blow out flames at the same frequency as other ghosts if no players are dead. The Onryo may *appear* to more frequently blow out flames below 60% average sanity, but this is because of its hunt attempts rather than an actual increased chance to interact with them.

Contrary to the journal, flames do not make the Onryo more likely to leave a room.

### Ability

Counterintuitively, flames can both prevent hunts *and* cause a hunt:

* If the Onryo attempts a hunt within 4 metres of any type of flame, it will blow out the flame instead, and the hunt will fail. This does not restart the hunt cooldown timer, unlike a crucifix. If both a crucifix and a flame are within range, the flame will take priority over the crucifix for preventing the hunt.
* Every third flame that the Onryo blows out will cause it to attempt to initiate a hunt, regardless of current average sanity. This hunt can be blocked by normal prevention methods (e.g. a crucifix) or another flame.
	+ Note that there can be a delay of up to ~6 seconds before the hunt actually initiates.
	+ If a flame prevents a hunt or is blown out during a hunt, it will count towards the three-flame rule.
	+ Whether it was the same item being blown out does not matter; it can be the same firelight blown out 3 times, 3 firelights each blown out 1 time, or any other combination.
	+ There is a bug where, after blowing the third flame while unable to hunt or during a hunt, the Onryo will wait the end of a cooldown before using its ability, instead of canceling it. This currently applies to the Incense's cleansing cooldown and the hunt cooldown.

Consequently, there are several situations (non-exhaustive) which might occur:

* One firelight and one crucifix is within range of the Onryo, and it blows out the firelight as its third flame. The ability is triggered, but the crucifix will prevent the hunt, losing one charge.
* One firelight and one lit igniter is within range of the Onryo, and it blows out the firelight as the third flame. The igniter will prevent the hunt and be blown out.
* One firelight is within range of the Onryo, and it attempts to hunt naturally. The firelight prevents the hunt and is blown out.

### Hunt

Onryos have a hunt sanity threshold of 60%, compared to the standard 50% baseline.

## Evidence

* Spirit Box
* Ghost Orb
* Freezing Temperatures

## Strengths and weaknesses

These are the strengths and weaknesses as listed in the journal:

*Strength: Extinguishing a flame can cause an **Onryo** to attack.*

*Weakness: When threatened, this ghost will be less likely to hunt.*

## Strategies

The Onryo's aversion to fire, while a powerful tool against it, does come with risks of its own. However, with sufficient firelights and diligent relighting of them whenever they're extinguished, the Onryo may be kept from hunting indefinitely, which may also serve as identification for the ghost on reduced evidences difficulties. On the other hand, only having one lit firelight within range of it increases the risk of it hunting as a result of blowing it out if said firelight is being re-lit, or other flame sources are being activated nearby. The latter is even riskier if one or more players have died, as the Onryo will blow out firelights in increasing frequency. Players should consider whether having flames lit near the ghost is worth it to prevent hunts, or if they should be disregarded outright and simply play around the Onryo's heightened hunt threshold.

### Identification

The Onryo can be tested using several ways, by looking for flame priority, preventing hunts with flames, or the three-flame rule:

* Place one crucifix in the ghost's area, then a firelight directly on top.
	+ Note that this is less reliable with Tier II or III crucifixes as they have a range that is greater than or equal to the flame range.
* Place two crucifixes in the ghost's area, then multiple firelights spread out and covering the crucifixes' ranges.

When sanity is deemed low enough, keep the firelights lit in a timely manner.

* If the crucifix is activated without the firelights going out first, then it is not an Onryo.
* If the ghost seems to not hunt with multiple firelights active, or hunts in an area where no firelights are lit, then it may be an Onryo.

The third method is to keep track of the number of flames the ghost blows out, and observe whether the ghost tries to hunt every third flame. Note that igniters and the campfire on the campsites also count towards hunt prevention and starting the ability hunt.

In Sunny Meadows, several lit candles can be found in the chapel, which ghosts can blow out. If the ghost is located there and hunts very early (and is otherwise not a Demon), then it may be an Onryo.

## Trivia

* The famous "grudge ghost" from *Ju-On* franchise was said to be an Onryō: it attacked whenever lighting was either lit or extinguished in a swift action, as a reminder of its violent death. Any sudden movements produced in front of this ghost were interpreted as hostile.

## References

1. ↑ https://youtu.be/orMdTJvdOVM?t=2288
2. ↑ *"...Candle blow out (to stop a hunt) is 4m not 3m..." cjdxn4, Developer (on Reddit). 4 January 2022.*
3. ↑ https://discord.com/channels/435431947963990026/765596827537244200/908512732003852338