Different players use a variety of different behaviors throughout the day/night phases to help themselves get out of being lynched or killed. These include: why players whisper, suspicious role claims, suspicious behaviors in general, and psychology.
Whispering
Whispering could mean many things:
- They are sharing their roles.
- An Investigator might ask for their target's specific role, since their investigation leaves them with multiple possibilities (and some may be evil).
- A Sheriff will know if their target is "Not Suspicious", which means a high chance of them being a Town member.
- A Lookout or Spy might have seen a visit and will ask their target if they were role blocked, jailed etc. to determine the visitors' roles.
- If their target was attacked, the Doctor who healed them might reveal their role to them if the Doctor trusts the person they healed.
- A Consigliere might pretend to be an Investigator or contact a Neutral role to gain their vote for the Mafia.
- A Witch might have found a killer or Mafia member and will want to team up with them to stay alive.
- Townies whispering their roles to a confirmed Town (e.g Veteran, Vigilante, or revived Town member).
- The Retributionist whispering a revived Townie that they were the one that revived them. This is often done before the day phase starts to prove themselves.
- They are Mafia establishing their next target.
- Sometimes, the Mafia can't wait to find out at night what the investigated target of the Consigliere was. However, if they converse during the day, they are doing this in plain view of the Town. This may lead to suspicion and is what some players call a "rookie move". The best way to figure out what they are saying is to whisper them back asking why the whispers. If they fail to answer this will increase the suspicion and therefore will get them lynched. They can also be called out by a Spy.
- They are a Neutral Benign role who is trying to choose a side.
- Neutral Benign roles, especially Amnesiacs, have a hard time choosing a side to play with. This is why they gain information by whispering, because otherwise, they will make each side to assault them with propositions (also by whispering). Keep that in mind before saying something like "These whispers are suspicious".
- They are exchanging information.
- If people are whispering around discussion or voting, they could be trying to grasp valuable information or are communicating with fellow players for protection methods.
- It might not mean anything at all.
- Some players might be friends just chatting with each other. Others might recognize each others' names from a previous game. Don't assume too much.
- Spytests.
- When someone claims Spy, many people will whisper a string of numbers to each other. The person claiming Spy, if they are really a Spy (or Blackmailer) can see these numbers and repeat them in full public view, proving their innocence.
- However, Spies can no longer see whispers - only Blackmailers can. So if someone asks for a spytest to prove their innocence, and pass, they are a Blackmailer.
- When someone claims Spy, many people will whisper a string of numbers to each other. The person claiming Spy, if they are really a Spy (or Blackmailer) can see these numbers and repeat them in full public view, proving their innocence.
Role-claiming
Anybody can go wrong when claiming a role, and it is very easy to claim poorly.
- There is a role that has Basic or higher Defense, and has been found.
- Many evil roles tend to claim Medium when they have been found by an investigative role because of the lack of night abilities. The only role that could get away with claiming Medium (without being one themselves) is a Janitor, unless a Lookout saw them in action, or a Sheriff visited them.
- Another common claim is Sheriff, as their Last Will is very easy to make up. Sheriff can be an even more common claim in Ranked since many Townies value good Last Wills. For the Werewolf and Executioner, this is common because it fits in their investigation result.
- Experienced players might say that they were a Survivor wearing a vest or the Executioner if a Vigilante attempted to shoot them. Some inexperienced players may go on to say that they were jailed that night, but if the Jailor dies or says that they didn't jail that player, then that player is very likely to be lynched or killed by the Jailor.
- Town mistakes and misconceptions:
- Because many evil roles claim Medium, the real Medium may be lynched if they were asked to reveal their role to the Town. The only way to prevent the real Medium getting lynched is by having an investigative role saying "No, that player is a Medium. I checked last night." or that they are "Not suspicious". Lookouts only see dead Mediums during a seance.
- Survivors are another role that gets lynched regularly the moment they reveal because when investigated, they will show up as a loner, which means the player is a Survivor, Witch, or Vampire Hunter. They will most likely get lynched because the reward outweighs the risk (which is very little). Survivor is also a common excuse for Night Immunity, and thus is a suspicious claim. There is no clear way to figure out if someone is a Survivor except for a Consigliere or Witch.
- In a Classic Mode game, many players are quick to lynch the second person who claims a role. However, because of the Random Town slot in the roles, it is perfectly plausible to have two players with the same roles.
Suspicious Behaviors
- Applauding Neutral Killing Roles
- When a Mafia member gets killed by a Neutral Killing role, the other Mafia members often say something along the lines of: "Good job Serial Killer!"
- Being too quiet
- If a person has not talked at all for a long time in the game and they start to talk right near the end, they might be a Neutral Killing or Mafia trying to make themselves fit with the Town.
- If a person is not talking at all, or they have nothing to share, they can be either a Jailor or a Bodyguard, which are either important roles or hard to claim, or they could be an evil role. However, they could also be an AFK user or just a quiet player in general.
- If someone claims a Town Investigative role, and does not share any leads for about 5 nights or more, there is a good chance that the person is evil and faking a role.
- A guilty player can be found especially if said player is good at the game. Look for players with good avatars that aren't talking. There is a good chance they have something to hide.
- If someone has been quiet for a long time, it is safe to assume they are not a Jester or an Executioner. However, some Jesters remain completely silent on purpose to get lynched, so keep that in mind.
- Being too talkative
- If a player spams or talks way too much, they are most likely a Jester or Executioner. Keep in mind the person could be trolling Town or a talkative person (in character). Many people roleplay when there are no leads, or they are a Neutral Benign/Neutral Evil role.
- If someone is trying too hard to act like a Townie, (commentating on things, talking too much, telling Town what to do, etc.) they are most likely evil. Keep in mind that they still could be a Jester, Executioner, Veteran, or even an unrevealed Mayor.
Reverse Psychology
One of the best, but also a very risky, strategies to avoid being killed at night or lynched is to use "reverse psychology." This means telling players exactly what you want them to do, knowing that they will do the opposite. If you tell the Town "please kill me tonight," the Mafia and Neutral roles probably won't go after you, figuring you're useless. Some Sheriffs or Investigators will visit you, proving your innocence. This works extremely effectively with Jesters in particular. If you voted guilty on a Jester and you think he will haunt you, plead the Jester to kill you tonight, telling him you don't want to live anymore or saying it will make you very happy. The Jester will likely pick someone else just to annoy you, but in reality, this is exactly what you wanted.
Another way to possibly buy yourself a night is to do everything you can to make yourself look annoying and suspicious during the day. Evil roles tend to ignore players they figure will be hung the following day. The only downside to this is Vigilantes and a Jailor. If a Vigilante has proven himself to shoot randomly or a Jailor executes at will, do not bother trying this, they will likely not be able to see through your plan.
If you are put on trial as an evil role and you have no credible defense, admit to the Town who you are and tell them everyone you killed, how you killed them and why you killed them, and why this role is stupid. If you are convincing enough, you will be bought one more night and not hanged for the fear of being a Jester.
Bussing
Bussing is a somewhat common strategy used explicitly by the Mafia, Vampires, and Coven members, which involves lynching a member of your team on purpose to seem like a confirmed Townie. Bussing isn't against the rules as long as you do this with the intention to win. This is used especially in Ranked, but can also be used in Custom or even Classic mode.
Strategy
- A solid claim if you want to bus (or figuring out if someone is bussing) is Sheriff, Investigator, or Lookout to hang your target.
- Since the victim often doesn't say a credible defense on purpose, it is easy to lynch them. From then on, you can act as a "confirmed" Townie, which can be game-changing. You can make claims on who is innocent or guilty and people will often listen to you. However, a few experts might catch on, especially in high Elo ranked.
- The victim is often someone who is not important to the Mafia, such as Janitors and Forgers with no abilities left. It is also commonly used by Framers when there are no more Town Investigative roles left because they are useless otherwise.
- For Vampires, bussing can be used once they have four members, so the Vampires can thin out the Town and immediately refill the lost member with a conversion that night (For example, four Vampires and four Townies are remaining in a game. A Vampire busses another Vampire and gets the latter lynched. Another Townie is converted to a Vampire that night, so the Vampires now have the majority with one more Vampire.)
- This can also be used on a member of the Mafia who is Away From Keyboard, gamethrowing, a bad player, or someone you feel is incredibly likely to be successfully lynched. Counterclaiming them or putting them in a fake Town Investigative's Last Will as a member of the Mafia (or other evil) can help you win.