Last update: 4/10/22

I'm working on this guide by myself, and as such it takes a while to get information down. I try to give as accurate of information as I can to try and help you learn the game and make an informed decision on which loadouts match your playstyle.

Keep in mind that this game is still very new. New things may be discovered, and updates may change any statistics. Keep this in mind when looking at exact numbers, as they may be different after updates.

In the following sections, I will be providing information on the various weapons and tools available to the hunters.

The hunters have 2 goals, eliminate all ghosts, and survive until the emergency evac. If either of these goals are met, the hunters win. The best strategy to play as a hunter would be to spend the first 4 minutes of the match searching for the ghosts, using every tool at your disposal to find them. Your team should have a good spread of damage, tracking, and trapping weapons and gadgets to help hunt the ghosts down.

Near the entrance to every stage is a generator, where you can swap your loadout at any time for free. If you're having trouble finding ghosts using one gadget, or everyone took support weapons, you should swap your loadout to use the appropriate gear. You should also change your loadout to be combat ready when midnight arrives. Opening the generator also refills your gadgets such as C4 and Medic Kit. Just remember that the generator has a 10 second cooldown.

After 5 minutes, if any ghosts are still alive, all of them are revived (even if you vacuumed them up) and become stronger. They are now going to try and kill you, so your best bet is to be prepared. Until you get the muscle memory to swap your loadout to a full-combat one, and how far you have to run to reach the entrance, you should always go toward the entrance to the stage when there is about 50 seconds remaining. Once there, swap out your weapon for a higher damage one, gadget for an offensive one, and perk for one more combat focused. Then, get ready because the ghosts are coming. Most games will end right here, with one side dying. But, on the off chance both sides are still standing after 4 more minutes, the emergency evac arrives and the hunters can leave the map to win the match.

Spectral Cannon is a good all around weapon. It is never a bad choice, but it is rarely the best choice. You should use this weapon if you are ever unsure which one to use, or do not have a better one unlocked.

Direct hits deal a flat 27 damage to both ghosts and props. It has a small splash damage radius that scales down with distance. The splash radius is tiny and should not be relied on
Great attack speed, firing 5 shots in about 2.3 seconds
Seems to have no maximum range, and no damage fall off
Extremely accurate
Decent reload speed
Only carries 5 shots

Salt Shotgun is a very niche weapon thats best against extremely aggressive ghosts. It has a very high knockback to keep ghosts at bay, while also dealing high amounts of damage at close range. Ideal for fighting aggressive ghost players, protecting support, or fighting ghosts off at midnight.

Hits deal up to 62 damage, scaling with distance, knocks the target back based on damage dealt
Extremely fast attack speed, firing 2 shots in about .6 seconds
Very short effective range, heavy damage fall off
Hits whatever its aimed at, its a shotgun
Pretty good reload
Only carries 2 rounds

Ghost Masher is your anti-ghost melee weapon. It has short range, but deals consistently high damage. This is another great weapon against aggressive ghosts and can finish them off well when their prop is broken. However, it deals very little damage to props. Ideal for fighting aggressive ghost players, or fighting ghosts off at midnight.

Hits on ghosts deal 52, while props only take 18
Decent attack speed, swing 10 times in about 9.6 seconds
Melee range
No need to reload/recharge

Sledgehammer is your anti-prop melee weapon. Very similar to the ghostmasher, but is not useful once the prop breaks. Ideal for smashing props to find ghosts, and dealing heavy damage to large props.

Hits on props deal 37 while ghosts only take 3
Bad attack speed, swing 10 times in 11.25 seconds
Melee range
No need to reload/recharge

Project X is a minigun weapon that is very effective at dealing high amounts of damage very quickly, but slows you down while firing. This is ideal for killing trapped ghosts quickly, or fighting at midnight.

Hits on props deal 19 damage while ghosts take 15
Attack speed starts slow but ramps up quickly
Seems to have no maximum range, no damage fall off
Extremely accurate
Takes forever to cool down when overheated
No max ammo, instead generates heat and can overheat, becoming unable to shoot. Overheating takes about 5 seconds.

Frostbite is an SMG with a high fire rate, decent damage, and slows ghosts on hit which eventually freezes them. This is ideal for slowing and stopping fleeing ghosts, or keeping aggressive ghosts back.

Every shot deals a random amount from 3-6. Props only take damage while frozen, which takes about 1 second.
Amazing attack speed, fires 60 rounds in 4.5 seconds
Seems to have no maximum range, no damage fall off
Extremely accurate
Decent reload speed


Reaper is a sniper rifle that reliably deals high damage at long range but has a low fire rate. This is ideal for hunting down ghosts, either shooting them from a distance if you notice them or killing them as they run away.

Every shot deals 17 damage, followed by two ticks of 3 damage each, and an explosion that deals 44 damage. This totals 67 damage. The explosion deals splash damage with a tiny radius.
Very slow attack speed, fires 5 shots in 8 seconds
No maximum range or damage fall off
Pinpoint accuracy, comes with a scope for long distance shots
Fairly long reload

!!NOTICE!!
This weapon has been (heavily) nerfed as of the most recent patch. Numbers are out of date.
Harpoon Bazooka is a great support weapon that helps secure kills, but deals very little damage. It attaches a chain to the target, and pulls them toward you for a few seconds. This is ideal for catching ghosts that are trying to flee, or pulling ghosts into traps or away from your team.

Every shot deals 10 damage, followed by three ticks of 4, 5, and 6 damage each, totaling 25.
Attack speed relies on how far the harpoon flies, but it does not shoot fast. If you hook a ghost, it lasts about 4 seconds
Seems to have no maximum range or damage fall off
Very accurate, though the projectile has a low speed and may be dodged
No ammo/energy means no need for a reload

Riot Shield is, well, a riot shield. It protects you from ghost attacks, while allowing you to fight them back. It even blocks props flying at you. Ideal for protecting allies, or buying time for the emergency evac. Testing the exact amount it blocks is tough because I'm doing everything in the training arena.

Attacks deal 11 to props, and 6 to ghosts. Its a defensive tool, not a weapon
Attacks 10 times in about 6.2 seconds
Melee range
No ammo/energy means no need to reload

The flamethrower is great at clearing out entire rooms in search of hidden ghosts as you can damage several props at once without wasting any time, but it is very unreliable for damage. Ideal for sweeping through large rooms to find the ghosts.

Holding the fire button deals 6 damage per tick. When you release, the burn slowly whittles down, decreasing in damage until it fades after 6 seconds.
Burn ticks are four at 6, one at 5, three at 4, three at 3, two at 2, five at 1 for a total of 59
Props do not take damage immediately, instead they burn after a delay of about 1.3 seconds
Spends 30 ammo in 4.8 seconds
Short range
Hits everything you point it at, plus has decent spread.
Decent reload speed

The radar is a short-range ghost detecting equipment. It is used to tell you when you are near a ghost (or a ghost effect). The stronger the reading, the closer you are. It does not tell direction. Pairs very well with spectrophone.

The vacuum is an important gadget that someone should carry at all times. When a ghost is killed, it drops crystal-like remains which other ghosts can use to revive. The vacuum is the only way to remove the remains and prevent a revive. This does not stop the midnight revive.

Defibrillator is used to revive fallen hunters. If a ghost knocks a hunter down and doesn't eat their soul, you can use the defib on them to bring them back up. This item is usually useless, but it doesn't hurt to carry one.

The medic kit is used to fully heal hunters. You can either use your main action button (default LClick) to heal yourself or a hunter you are facing, or use your secondary action button (default RClick) to throw the medkit onto the ground so other hunters can use to heal themselves. Each medkit has 3 uses. Make sure everyone is fully healed when midnight strikes.

The spectrophone is a long-range ghost detecting equipment. Opposite the radar, it doesn't tell you when you're near a ghost (or ghost effect), only if there is one in the direction you are facing. Pairs very well with radar.

The pathfinder reveals ghost footprints. Through the screen on the device, you can see the path the ghosts traveled in the last 15 seconds. This is entirely useless on ghosts that are not moving, but is excellent at following one if you lost it around a corner.

The trap is a simple device you drop on the ground to catch ghosts and keep them locked in one place. It deals 1 damage at a fairly fast rate against trapped ghosts. Ghosts that enter the trap's radius cannot leave it until they break it. The trap can be broken with one attack, so it is very fragile. However, the trap has no time limit and lasts until you pick it up or it is broken. You can use it to block off an escape route, buy yourself a bit more time as you run, or make it harder for them to dodge.

The grenade is a high damaging, one time use damage gadget. Throw it at a ghost or ghost prop, and it sticks. It bounces off of normal props. After about 4.8 seconds, it explodes in a large radius. Ghosts stuck to it take anywhere from 250-270 damage, while any in the vicinity take damage based on how close they are to the center of the explosion. This damage can hurt and even kill the person who threw it, but does not affect other hunters. You can hold the main action button (Default LClick) to "cook" the grenade and start the timer before throwing. You get 2 grenades by default.

Can't say much about the grappling hook. It lets you get to places you can't normally, or run around the map faster. It cannot be used to swing, and takes 6 seconds for it to recharge so it is pretty inefficient. Anywhere it can take you, ghosts can reach too so it can't be used to cheese.

C4 is another high damage, one time use gadget. Throw them with main action (Default LClick) and ignite with second action (Default RClick). it deals 225 damage to whatever its stuck to, but deals 300 to anything immediately next to it. Large explosion radius deals less damage the further from the center. You can throw both (or 3 if you have the perk) on the ground before igniting. This gadget can hurt and kill the person who placed it, but not other hunters.

Lightweight increases the speed of your sprint. This sprint speed is faster than what ghosts get, and is one of the best perks in my opinion. It is excellent for sweeping the map and finding ghosts.

Healing aura gives you a small green circle. Any ally inside the circle regains health at a rate of about 1 health per second. It is very slow, and much less efficient than medic kits. Healing auras do not stack, meaning even if all 4 hunters have it, they still only heal so fast. Do not use more than 1 on a team.

Coldblooded is one of the worst perks. It prevents ghosts from seeing you through walls. This directly counters one of the ghost perks that allows them to see you through walls, and prevents them from seeing you at midnight. However, the ghosts likely already know where you are at midnight, and the reduced health makes this perk extremely weak.

Juggernaut is probably the best perk to grab at midnight. Doubling your health at the cost of being unable to sprint. Once midnight hits, you won't be running much anyway, and that double health makes you a lot harder to kill.

Quick reload is a good perk that reloads all weapons (and cools down Project X) much faster. Pairing it with low-ammo weapons like Spectral Cannon and Salt Shotgun can greatly increase sustained DPS.

Extended mag is a good perk that puts more ammo in your clip. Pairing it with high-ammo weapons like Frostbite and Flamethrower can greatly increase your burst DPS.

Extra gear lets you carry more consumable gear. You now get 2 medkits (for a total of 6 heals), 2 traps, 3 grenades, or 3 C4. This is just generally good.

Overkill is a meme perk. It replaces your gadget with a weapon. This means you could take a ghost-killer weapon like the Ghostmasher, and a prop-killer weapon like the Flamethrower to help catch ghosts if you struggle with detection gadgets. Or you can carry two offensive weapons so you don't need to reload as often. Weapons can't be swapped once you start reloading, but Project X can be put away while overheated so you can still shoot while it cools down.

Gadgeteer is another meme perk. It replaces your weapon with a gadget. You could take 2 tracking gadgets like Radar and Spectrophone to hunt down efficiently, the defibrillator and medic kit to really lean into support, or both grenade and C4 to pump out a ton of damage.

In the following sections, I will be providing information on the various powers and abilities available to the ghosts.

As a ghost, most of the time you will run, hide, and dodge the hunters until midnight, at which point you will go on the offensive and kill the hunters before the emergency evac arrives. You will use various abilities, traps, and possess items to keep yourself safe until its time to strike back.

The toughest part about playing as a ghost is knowing when to fight. Typically, hunters will travel in groups and have more firepower that you, so fighting is rarely the best option. If a hunter catches on that you're in an area, its time for rapid-fire threat assessment. Larger possessed props hit harder from being flung than smaller props, while smaller props are harder to hit. Aggressive powers such as poltergeist and corruption push the odds in favor of the ghosts. There are too many variables to explain in depth how to decide, but a good rule of thumb is the team with more people wins most often, and hunters will usually win equal fights.

After 5 minutes, the clock strikes midnight and all ghosts are revived and empowered. The hunters now have to survive 4 minutes before an emergency evac arrives. At this point, the hunters have likely regrouped near spawn and have changed to more aggressive builds designed for combat. Your stat boost from midnight makes the fight much more fair and gives you a great chance of winning a straight up fight. There are two primary tactics to employ. Go fast and hard, or slow and careful. If all of the ghosts attack at the same time with damaging abilities while possessing heavy props to overwhelm the hunters and kill them before they can kill you. Otherwise you can possess smaller props or gargoyles and dive in for a couple of small hits before leaving, making the hunters burn their powerful aoe attacks on only one or two ghosts, leaving them vulnerable for the others.

Ghosts build up ectoplasm while standing still. If they aren't possessing a prop, ectoplasm builds up extremely fast. Ectoplasm is drained slowly while moving, and high amounts make ghosts easier to track and find. Ectoplasm is a mechanic designed to counter ghost strategies that involve camping in hard to find locations.

I'm not 100% sure how ectoplasm interacts with each of the tracking gadgets, but I believe the radar gets a higher reading based on ectoplasm, and the spectrograph detects ghosts from further away. I will need to do further testing to figure it out exactly. Ectoplasm is sort of hard to test by yourself in the practice arena.

Building ectoplasm isn't the end, however. Ghost players can lose ectoplasm in two ways. The most common is by moving. If you don't see any hunters around, take a lap or two around the room or hop back and forth between two possessed props. Just be sure to watch the ectoplasm gauge, as if you run circles in a very small area like behind a couch, it will not decrease. Another way to decrease ectoplasm is by spamming taunt (default V). Some props have special noise abilities (default H), these abilities to not decrease ectoplasm and appear to serve no actual function.