Phantom

## Evidence

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> „*A Phantom is a ghost that can possess the living, inducing fear into those around it. They are most commonly summoned from Ouija Boards.*”
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—The Journal

The **Phantom** is a type of ghost in *Phasmophobia*. It is known to drain the sanity of those that have sight of it during a manifestation.

## Behavior

### Abilities

If a successful photo is taken of a Phantom, the ghost will be invisible in the photo, and the photo will not contain any interference.

Furthermore, if the photo is taken during a ghost event,

* The ghost will physically disappear
* Electronic equipment will cease to malfunction
* Players will no longer hear their heartbeats
* The event sound will continue to play for the duration of the event

If the photo is taken while the Phantom is in a D.O.T.S state, it will also physically disappear.

If the photo is taken during a hunt, the Phantom will also be invisible in the photo, but it will continue to physically flash in and out, and the hunt will *not* be affected in any way.

The Phantom has an ability where it will choose a random player and travel to their location (as opposed to a regular roam). This will create an EMF Level 2 reading at the targeted location. This behavior is somewhat similar to that of the Banshee and the Wraith; unlike Banshees, Phantoms do not select a player to target until they die or leave the game, and do not do this as often; and unlike Wraiths, the Phantom physically walks to that point rather than teleporting, and will set off Motion Sensors and disturb Salt on the way to it.

Being within 10 metres of a Phantom while in pseudo line-of-sight (where heartbeats play) reduces the player's sanity by 0.5%/s. This only applies during ghost events and hunts, and is separate from passive sanity drain. This does not apply during ghost events if the Phantom was made invisible by taking a picture.

### Hunt

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

 Standard ghost

## Evidence

* Spirit Box
* Ultraviolet
* D.O.T.S Projector

## Strengths and weaknesses

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

*Strength: Looking at a **Phantom** will drop your sanity considerably faster.*

*Weakness: Taking a photo of the **Phantom** will make it temporarily disappear.*

## Strategies

### Identification

A good way to identify a Phantom is to observe whether the ghost is invisible for longer intervals on average during hunts (more than 1 second); this will usually indicate a Phantom.

Taking a photo of a Phantom during a ghost event is also a fair indicator. The main identifier is the ghost disappearing from view, but its vocalisations can still be heard. Additionally, the photo will be labelled as **Ghost**, but the Phantom will not be visible in the photo, and there will be no interference pattern on the photo.

* Note that occasionally, desync may cause the same effect if the picture is taken right at the end of the ghost event, *even if* the ghost is not a Phantom. This may make this semi-unreliable; checking with other players about whether the photo is completely clear may help you to arrive at a conclusion (though it is not definite).
* This could also happen at the very end of a hunt.
* This is better to do with a Summoning Circle or Music Box, since the "ghost event grace period" is generally fixed or predictable.
* Taking photos of any ghost from a different floor will not produce interference, though for all other ghosts the ghost will still be visible.
* There is a bug where it is possible to take a photo of a ghost that is invisible while it is in D.O.T.S state. The ghost would be invisible in the picture and there would be no interference. Be mindful of this to not misidentify this ghost as a Phantom.

The Phantom's sanity-draining ability could be used to identify it, though this is rarely the main strategy used, as the player must discern normal sanity drain due to darkness/other factors, from the actual sanity drain caused by a Phantom.

If activity (interactions or hunts) is noted in a room far away from its existing favourite room, and a player has recently been in that far-away room, then the ghosts could be narrowed down to a few ghosts, one of these being the Phantom. Note that some ghost events or custom difficulty settings make it normal for any ghost to move far away in this manner. On the other hand, this is more reliable on big maps, since ghost activity for a generic ghost is more likely to be confined to a small area relative to the map size.

### Survival

Since the Phantom is visible much less frequently during hunts, it will be harder to track, and players may die as a result of not knowing exactly where it is in time. Specifically, it will be much harder (and not recommended) to loop the ghost, while blinding it using Incense must be treated with caution: stand at the end of a suitably long hallway, and smudge slightly earlier than one would normally do to avoid being caught off guard.

## Trivia

* Etymology-wise, Phantom pulls from as early as Greece with the word *φᾰντᾰ́ζω,* or *phantasma*, which stands for an apparition or a ghost. It could also be translated to something that is not real in general, like a dream or an illusion. As such, phantoms in most tales typically elaborate more on the concept of being an illusion version of something that already exists. The Phantom could be said to be a dream ghost.
* Contrary to the journal's description, the Ouija Board has no relation to the Phantom's ability to wander.

## History

 7 August 2020
 0.3.0 | Prior to 0.3.0, the evidence was EMF Level 5, Ghost Orb, and Freezing Temperatures.

## References

1. ↑ *"only phantoms and banshees walk to the target..."* Shuee, Community Helper (on Discord). 7 June 2022.
2. ↑ Wikitionary etymology

## Notes

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