Deogen

## Evidence

>
> „*Sometimes surrounded by an endless fog, Deogen have been eluding ghost hunters for years.
> These ghosts have been reported to find even the most hidden prey, before stalking them into exhaustion.*”
>
>
>
>

—The Journal

The **Deogen** is a type of ghost in *Phasmophobia*. It has a talent for quickly rushing down players during a hunt no matter where they are, but is slow to approach when closing in for the kill.

## Behaviour

### Ability

If the player asks any question through the Spirit Box while standing within 1 metre of the Deogen, it has a 33% chance with each question to produce a unique response of constant heavy bull-like breathing, instead of a regular response.

### Hunt

The Deogen's hunt sanity threshold is 40%, instead of the usual 50%.

During a hunt, the Deogen always has line-of-sight with all players on the map; in other words, it does not use the "roaming" mechanic. When the hunt begins, the Deogen will pick the nearest player (by straight-line distance) to move towards. It will occasionally "refresh" and repick the nearest target throughout the hunt. One can also use Incense to stun the Deogen temporarily and force it to change its target when the smudge effect runs out.

When the Deogen is chasing a player, its speed is based on its *pathfinding* distance to the target player and has three thresholds: above 6 meters, between 6 and 2.5 meters and below 2.5 meters.

* > 6m: 3 m/s
* Between 2.5 - 6m: Assumed speed gradient between 0.4 - 3 m/s
* < 2.5m: 0.4 m/s

If the Deogen is smudged or is otherwise not chasing any player, its speed will remain at its current speed, or 1.6 m/s if its current speed is greater than 3 m/s. Otherwise, the Deogen does *not* alter its speed based on line-of-sight while chasing a player.

During a hunt, the Deogen flickers and is on average invisible for shorter and visible for longer compared to most other ghosts:

## Strengths and weaknesses

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

*Strength: **Deogens** constantly sense the living. You can run but you can't hide.*

*Weakness: **Deogens** require a lot of energy to form and will move very slowly when approaching its victim.*

## Evidence

* Spirit Box
* Ghost Writing
* D.O.T.S. Projector

On difficulties with only 1 or 2 evidences (e.g. Nightmare), the Deogen always has Spirit Box as one of its pieces of evidence due to its unique response.

## Strategies

### Hunt

If you have not ruled the Deogen out, it is best to choose a hiding spot which you can easily leave before the Deogen corners you, or have Incense prepared. Once a Deogen is close enough to the player for its weakness to kick in, it becomes the slowest ghost in the game. Provided players do not accidentally trap themselves in a tight space with no way out, surviving a slowed Deogen is almost trivial as it is virtually impossible for it to catch up to its targets so long as they keep moving. In some cases, it may even be possible to skirt the ghost in a way that would normally be impossible with other ghosts, such as in the kitchen of 42 Edgefield Road. Looping the Deogen around a piece of furniture (e.g. a kitchen island) at a moderate speed is common practice.

It is worth noting that when the Deogen is stunned with smudge sticks, it will maintain the speed at it was at when affected; in most cases, the Deogen will be moving at its minimum speed, meaning that the Deogen will only roam a very short distance before being able to chase players again.

Keep server lag in mind; if you misjudge the ghost's server-side position and move away too late, it may kill you. Since the Deogen only switches targets periodically and not in real time, avoid having players stand behind each other to prevent the Deogen from rushing into another player to reach its target, because the Deogen *can* kill non-targets unlike the Banshee.

### Identification

The most straightforward form of identification is for the ghost to hunt; if it approaches the nearest player at high speeds and slows down drastically as it approaches, then it is a Deogen. Note that a "young" Thaye, a Revenant that has detected someone, and a Hantu when the power has been out for a while and room temperatures are at their lowest, may move at similar speeds, but without slowing down drastically (if at all); mistaking them for a Deogen can be deadly. A non-hunt way would be to constantly track the ghost and look for the signature heavy breathing through the spirit box, though this will be more tedious.

### Miscellaneous

Being visible for longer during hunts makes it easier to obtain ghost photos of; have a camera ready where needed.

## Trivia

* "Deogen" is a ghost from the Flemish (Belgian) late 18-century tale called *De Ogen* (Dutch for "the eyes", pronounced /de'oːɣən/). The tale is about a strange yellow-eyed fog haunting the Sonian Forest which likes to stalk its victims at night, moving slowly when being looked at and fast while being turned away from.
* Because the Deogen always has line-of-sight with all players, most "safe spots" that take advantage of a lack of line-of-sight will not work, resulting in death. In fact, this may also result in the Deogen killing players through walls that are sufficiently thin.

## History

 0.9.0 | The Deogen no longer has an increased chance to interact with the D.O.T.S. Projector or the Ghost Writing Book.

## References

1. ↑ *..."Now I got confirmation from the OG Phasmo dev himself DKnighter who sent me the following values..."* PsychoHypnotic, 16 Sep 2022 (on Discord).
2. ↑ *"It's got nothing to do with LOS."* cjdxn4, Developer (on Reddit).
3. ↑ *"Both moroi and deogen it is"* Stonewoot, Community Helper (on Discord). 7 July 2022.
4. ↑ *"Moroi and deogen both have guaranteed Spirit Box on nightmare."* Shuee, Community Helper (on Discord). 1 July 2022.

## Notes

1. ↑ This refers to the time between the start of two consecutive flickering-ins.