Town of Salem Guide for Competitive Play (Ranked)

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Town of Salem Guide for Competitive Play (Ranked)

Postby Chancell0r » Mon Aug 28, 2017 5:14 am

Welcome to my Town of Salem guide for competitive play (classic ranked). With Season 1 now here I thought it would be a good idea to share my guides on all roles. I've played nearly 2,000 games, ran three big Town of Salem Tournaments on Discord and am a pro-active member of the high elo ranked community. I've played many games with (super) high elo players, a lot of whom helped both directly by giving their input to some roles (shoutout to SCD) and indirectly by just playing brilliantly :D .

This guide is not a guide for complete beginners. The ToS Wikia is a great place to use when you're playing your first classic games. This guide is aimed at those who want to improve their game in Ranked or want to start playing Ranked for the first time. Following this guide will undoubtedly give you more wins and elo.

If you're interested in playing Ranked with others and learning more advanced strategies, join our Discord server which will be the best place for Ranked when Season 1 is released. Click here for the link.

If anyone has any questions, corrections, extra input or whatever, reply to this thread and I should hopefully respond within a few days.

The layout of this guide will be as follows:
Town
-General Town Guide (Voting for Roles & Scumreading)- click here
-Town Invests click here
-Town Support click here
-Town Killing (incl. Jailor) click here
-Town Protectives click here


Mafia
-General Mafia guide click here
-Mafa Killing (GF and Mafioso) click here
-Mafia Support (Bmer, Consig, Consort) click here
-Mafia Deception (Forger, Framer, Disguiser, Janitor) click here


Neutrals
-Neutral Killings click here
-Neutral Evils click here


But first, let's go over some acronyms you'll find on the guide and in Ranked:

TP Town Protective - Doctor (doc) or Bodyguard (BG)

TITown Investigative - Investigator (invest), Lookout (LO), Spy or Sheriff

TKTown Killing -Vigilante (vig), Veteran (vet), Jailor and Vampire Hunter (VH)

TSTown Support - Medium (med), Escort, Mayor, Retributionist (ret/retri) or Transporter (trans)

NBNeutral Benign - Amnesiac (amne) or Survivor (surv)

NKNeutral Killing Serial Killer (SK), Arsonist (Arso) or Werewolf (WW)

NENeutral EvilJester, Executioner (exe) or Witch

Mafia roles – Godfather (GF), Mafioso, Forger, Janitor (Jani), Disguiser (disg), Blackmailer (bmer), Framer, Consort or Consigliere (consig).

RT - Random Town

TPower - Jailor, Retri or Mayor.

Actions:

Bmed – blackmailed
Transed – transported
Rbed – roleblocked
Witched – controlled by a witch

Miscellaneous:

Scum - Any evil/non-town role.
dn - deathnote
CC - Counter Claim
VFR– Vote for Roles
Scumreading – Being able to spot who is evil either through voting patterns and/or how they are acting.
Townreading – Being able to spot who is town through voting patterns and/or how they are acting.
GT – Gamethrow
Inno - Innocent
Claimspace - A role that an evil person can claim, that is still available given the roles alive in the game.
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Re: Town of Salem Guide for Competitive Play (Ranked)

Postby Chancell0r » Mon Aug 28, 2017 5:15 am

“A passive Town is a losing Town” - Edward Bishop, 1692


Town of Salem is fundamentally a game of an uninformed majority (Town) versus an informed minority (Mafia), with some extra flavours (Neutrals). It is obvious that in order for Town to win, they must become informed, so what’s the quickest way for them to become informed before they lose majority? The answer is to not be passive.

Town members need to share information, lynch evils and protect each other. If you’re a TI role, it’s often more beneficial for you to share information earlier rather than later - for example, posting your results daily. This is to prevent evils stealing YOUR spot in the rolelist and getting Townies lynched (you also provide valuable info to the town). It may seem counter-intuitive at first to reveal roles and information early, because you’re "giving the evils an easy target”, but you must remember that TPs, Lookouts and Transporters exist who can protect you. You’re also making it much more difficult for evils to claim a role, and therefore they are easier to find (you want to play an aggressive game, not sit around and wait for evils to get majority). This is even more important in the new rolelist. With three random towns, you need to be active from the beginning of Day 2.

It goes without saying that in order to do this Town must vote people up. Whether it’s because of a lead from a TI, scumreading, or VFR (see below), voting people up heavily favours Town because Town benefits from gaining information (someone claiming a role is information). THIS IS NOT RANDOM LYNCHING!!!. You should CC (counter claim) any role that is the same alignment (TI/TS, etc) as you. If you’re a Bodyguard and someone else claims Doctor, you should come out and counter their claim. Don't stay quiet and just protect them as they could be evil! (it doesn’t mean they’re evil, but it will look less suspicious later in the game for you). Town has the inherent benefit of being able to claim roles early in the game, it’s more risky for evils to do this in case their claimspace for that role is lost.
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One of the biggest skills in the game is not just down to what role you get, but how well you can read others and vote evils (i.e. what isn’t dependent on your role). Whether you're a medium or a mayor, you should be making the same reads. Therefore, Townies needs to employ scumreading and pay attention to the rolelist and claims. If someone claims a role, you need to remember it - you can keep this in your will or in a notepad file, if it helps. Cross off roles as they die, and compare them to previous claims to see if anyone’s claim is now more suspicious. Confirming the RT slots are really important (refer to them as RT1, RT2 and RT3)

You should keep a Last Will as every role. This includes Veterans, Mediums and Retributionists. Put down people’s claims in your will, as well as other information you’ve spotted (such as suspicious voting patterns). Click the spoiler for an example will. Note that I put the players number in brackets next to their name which helps with identifying them quickly.

Spoiler: Chance da INVEST

N1: Macs (4) - Sheriff/exe/WW

rose sheriff
tort medium
hazard tk
pingu ti
frames tp

non voters/splitters on consig:
illuminate, elysium, frames, extra

︀︀︀︀︀ ︀︀︀︀︀︀︀︀︀︀︀
Scumreading

Scumreading is the action of determining who is evil without using anything specific to your role (i.e. it can be done with any role). The single best way of scumreading is by paying attention to see who is voting and who is not (and who people are voting). Town is favoured by voting so therefore evils are sometimes reluctant to vote. It’s actually voting people up which is generally a lot more reliable than seeing who just votes Guilty or Innocent to work out who is evil. You should also look for people defending others who later turn out to be scum, and those who are quite quiet.

For example, if someone gets lynched and they turn out to be evil, you should look at who didn’t vote them up - they are a lot more likely to be evil than those who did vote them up and guiltied them. Note: Skilled evils can often blend in as a Townie more than actual Townies, so it’s not 100% reliable. This is why you should be an active Townie, so the TIs will be more likely to check someone evil!

Also look out for people who are not confirmed themselves confirming other people, force them to reveal the information to prove this. Witches will often whisper to evils, so pay attention to who is whispering who - especially if a witch is killed, go back and check who they were whispering to.

Examples:
-If person X gets accused of being evil, but person Y steps in and asks something like “exe?”. If X turns out to be evil, Y is likely also evil.
-Someone is quiet and has not voted anyone all game, but still says things like “inno” when people are on stand.
-Accusing someone of being evil but then not guiltying them.
-Not claiming they were transed/rbed.
-Abstaining (esp. on possible jesters)
-Not counter claiming (cc-ing) role claims.
-Inconsistent voting, i.e. if they haven’t voted against a lot of evils but a lot of town.
-Vote splitting
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Voting for Roles

The most controversial strategy in the game, VFR (Voting for Roles) is statistically proven to help Town. It's a very common misconception among new/inexperienced players that VFR is a simply a lazy way to win or that it is boring. With the evil roles playing competently, VFR is completely natural and provides a fun, difficult game for everyone which rewards the most skilled players (for Townies, how they can read the evils, and for the evils, how they can lead the town into chaos). A competitive game works well if it rewards the most skilled players, hence VFR should be used competitively.

What is VFR?

VFR (voting for roles) is forcing players to claim a role, and voting them up if they do not do so (you must claim a role on stand, otherwise you can get suspended). It is NOT random lynching.

How to use VFR as Town

You start on Day 2 (some people may have claimed Day 1). As Town, you want to get as many role claims as possible. You want to lock evil roles into a claim as early as possible. To do this, you want to claim before you are on the stand. CCing (counter claiming) roles is extremely important and allows for the most efficient gathering of information. Typically, you should pick a player at random (one that hasn't said much, hasn't claimed) and push for their role. Once they've claimed, ask for CCs (i.e. if they claim Sheriff, ask for TI CCs). If voting has began, you should then ask someone who hasn't voted nor claimed/CCd. As these are more likely to be scum, you are locking them into a claim.

IT DOES NOT MATTER IF YOU REVEAL THE MAYOR/JAILOR/RETRIBUTIONIST

In fact, it's normally much better for the Jailor to reveal himself Day 2, especially with multiple TP claims - this almost guarantees the Jailor will be able to execute for the next two nights. For this reason, you should generally avoid lynching TP claims on Day 2. Just note down everyone's role claims and who isn't voting.

If you are presented with a contradiction (normally involving NEs) - the simplest being X saying Y is mafia, Y denying this, you need to lynch the scummiest one and execute the other if appropriate.(edited)
︀︀︀︀︀ ︀︀︀︀︀︀︀︀︀︀︀︀︀︀︀︀ ︀︀︀︀︀︀︀︀︀︀︀
How to use VFR as Mafia

First, you must understand that VFR can be beaten by evils. If you just give up and say "VFR sucks" on the stand, it shows you are not a skilled player and it ruins the fun for everyone else. During N1 chat, you should coordinate some claims - you don't all want to be claiming Sheriff! (see Mafia section for best fakeclaims). Once you have a roleclaim in mind (by Day 2), you will now pretend you are Town and you are that role. Claim before and CC the real townies and post your fake will. However, you want to mislynch a Townie - you need to figure out who is a Townie and is playing badly (not voting or claiming) and take advantage of this, especially on the second and third trial where Town are more likely to Guilty. If you are going to put up a fellow evil, it's best to do this on the first trial where town are less likely to guilty.

You want to control the VFR yourself, try and steer it away from fellow mafias. Make sure you tell your Mafia N1 to vote and CC!


Town Investigative click here
Town Support click here
Town Killing click here
Town Protectives
click here
General Mafia Guide click here
Mafia Killing click here
Mafa Support click here
Mafia Deception
click here
Neutral Killing click here
Neutral Evil click here
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Re: Town of Salem Guide for Competitive Play (Ranked)

Postby Chancell0r » Mon Aug 28, 2017 5:21 am

Town Investigatives


The Town Investigative (TI) roles are Sheriff, Investigator, Lookout and Spy. They all collect information to try and find who is evil or confirm Townies. The key to being a good TI role is to claim early and post results often, since these roles are very easy scum claims. If you investigate a jailed target, it's important to share this result quickly as it can prove yourself.

Sheriff

Sheriff - Each night you can interrogate one person. You can find every mafia role apart from the Godfather. You will also find the Serial Killer and the Werewolf (WW only on full moon/even numbered nights).

Sheriff is one of the hardest roles to prove and therefore one of the most common scum claims. Because of this, you’ll generally need to claim early, CC other TI claims and vote with Town actively. Be active (post results when appropriate, coordinate your results with other TIs) - obviously you should always be active, but because it’s a common scum claim it’s more important. A lot of people claim Sheriff on Day 1 as a result.

You need to be paying attention to voting patterns (see general scumreading guide) to identify likely evils (i.e non-voters, splitters). When you do find an evil, you will need to tell the town as soon as possible - sometimes even before discussion has began (whisper your result to a bunch of people). Never withhold this information in fear of “looking like an executioner”, additionally, it is EXTREMELY UNLIKELY that your target was framed, (framer is quite rare and they would have to have visited the same target! - very unlikely!)

You can push for jailor/vigilante to kill your target if Town isn’t voting them (it makes you look a little less like an executioner). Key point: When you accuse someone, notice who follow you and who try to deflect attention/split votes - splitters are likely evil and you should check them that night (make sure to tell town who was splitting/deflecting attention). Note: The most effective Towns will still vote two other people up for claims, and then lynch the confirmed scum on the third trial.

Investigator

Investigator - Each night you can investigate one person which will narrow their role down to three possibilities (more with Coven).

Investigator can be played quite similarly to Sheriff - look at voting patterns, investigate non-voters/claimers and quiet people. It’s generally a good idea to push for someone’s role before you share what their result is, this way they might claim something outside of their invest results and then you can reveal and trap them. It’s important to be active, and share results as often as you can. Don’t spend five nights finding results and keep them to yourself! As usual, if there is a TI claim, you should CC and post your will.

If you suspect someone of being a random mafia role, you can check them again later to see if they've been promoted to mafioso.

Lookout

Lookout - Each night you can watch one person and see all visitors to that person.

The strongest TI role in the game, the Lookout can be extremely powerful if played correctly. Normally, you will want to be secondary protection to TPower roles by watching the town protective. You can also team up with a town protective or transporter to be on each other. You should always watch confirmed townies (such as Mayors) - this helps you, because if you’re watching someone else and the Mayor dies and you can’t tell Town who the killer was, you will be extremely suspicious. As usual, reveal results to the town and never be afraid to look like an executioner. However, sometimes you might want to take some caution when revealing results, especially if you saw someone visit someone else it's not obvious why they visited. You don't want to give an evil role a free correct will - wait to see if the visited person claimed something happened to them, if not push on the visitor to post their role and will. You might have found an Arsonist, random mafia or even a witch. If people claim a role day 1 (like sheriff, medium, retri etc), it might be a good idea to watch them to try and confirm both yourself and TP. Otherwise, try and watch names that you think will be attacked N1 (i.e. boring names like Jonathan Corwin).

Look out for spies revealing the random mafia visits, as you can find random mafia this way.

Watching people who are indicating they are blackmailed (they are quickly voting and cancelling votes) is not a bad idea if you don't know who the Jailor/TP are.

Spy

Spy - Each night you can bug a player's house which reveals what happened to them that night, and you can see Mafia visits. You will see if a player was attacked, healed, transported, roleblocked, witched, vested, killed by a veteran etc, but not silent things (like douses and investigations on them). Mafia visits are randomised; the last visit is not necessarily the one who was attacked.

You want to be bugging suspicious players, as they are more likely to lie about what happened to them (they might fake that they were rbed/transed, or won't reveal that they were witched). It's not a very good idea to bug confirmed townies for no reason*. If two people are claiming Vigilante and that they will shoot each other, bug one of them. If you see they were attacked and their defense value was too high, you know that they are the evil. If you see nothing, they are probably the real Vigilante (note: they could both be evil, but unlikely).

*Bugging revealed mayors/other HVT (high value targets - including Day One claims) can have its benefits if there is a lookout. Lookout is the strongest TI role because it can confirm who is a visiting role and who isn't (preventing Godfathers/Mafiosos from claiming it).

If there are no mafia kills and you see people visited by the mafia, immediately call both players out and force them to claim and post a will. The mafia has usually hit NK/NE/NB or a jailed/healed target. Be extremely cautious of Mafioso's fake-claiming doctor and saying they healed the neutral they attacked.

Spy is a fairly common scum claim now, so it's much better to claim earlier than later. As always, CC TI and always have your will ready to paste. Note: Make sure your will can be easily read. Each night you will receive two bits of information - the visits and the bugged house. Make sure it's clear who was visited by mafia and who you bugged.

General Town Guide click here
Town Support click here
Town Killing click here
Town Protectives
click here
General Mafia Guide click here
Mafia Killing click here
Mafa Support click here
Mafia Deception
click here
Neutral Killing click here
Neutral Evil click here
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Re: Town of Salem Guide for Competitive Play (Ranked)

Postby Chancell0r » Mon Aug 28, 2017 5:28 am

Town Support


Town Support roles are the strongest Town Alignment. There are five Support roles - Medium, Escort, Mayor, Transporter and Retributionist.

Medium

Medium - Each night, you can communicate with the dead in the graveyard. Once you are dead, you can use a one-time seance to speak to someone alive one night.

Mediums should always relay information from the dead back to the town, such as investigative results, mafia visits, if someone was rbed/witched/transed etc. The first thing you should do on N2 is say your name and ask the dead to repeat it, and ask if there are any other mediums. Make sure to only listen to the people who are Town, as evils will sometimes try and confuse you. Put in your will if there any other mediums or not. Note that sometimes another medium might be jailed - just ask them to repeat back some phrases from the night before (if they don't get executed, of course!). Close your will to save it. If you are jailed, you can semi-confirm yourself to the jailor by copy and pasting phrases that the dead are saying.

Medium is the fairly common scumclaim like Sheriff, and for this reason claiming it Day 1 is not a bad idea (it will also look less suspicious in a janitor game). Make sure to CC other TS claims.

Escort

Escort - Each night, you can block someone from using their role’s night ability (as long as they are not roleblock-immune).

An extremely powerful role late game, an escort can often save the game for Town. You should always roleblock N1 to prove your existence - it is better to lose one night of investigative results than get yourself mis-lynched for not proving yourself! Roleblocking a Day 1 TS/Jailor claim is a very good idea.

It’s generally a good idea to roleblock each night because gauging reactions can be a good way to scumread players (those who don’t claim they were rbed is often suspicious). Your role becomes particularly important when there is only one mafia killing left (e.g. mafioso/godfather), as you can indefinitely prevent the mafia from killing (unless amne remembers mafia killing). If you rb someone and there are no kills (with only one mafia killing left), you should keep rbing them unless other information arises (a confirmed townie says they were attacked and healed). You can also confirm people as non-mafia killing.

Sometimes, it’s a good idea to keep the killing mafia rbed, and focus on finding the other evils. Also note, if a lookout finds a mafia killing who turns out to be the Godfather, it means the mafioso was rbed or jailed. Pay very close attention to things like this - you have to be very vigilant as escort!

In some games with a Witch, you might be needed to block a Vigilante or a Jailor who is protecting the Mayor. Communication is key!

Mayor

Mayor - You have the day ability to reveal your role to the town (confirming you as Town), and allows your vote to count as three instead of one. It is one of three "power" roles (TPower).

Revealed mayors cannot be healed by doctors, but can be protected by BodyGuards (and lookouts/transporters). Since there is no exact role ability, you just need to follow the general scumreading/town guide. Knowing when to reveal is the hardest part. You can still claim “TS” without claiming your actual role (and should CC other TS claims), some Mayors claim medium instead, as mediums are less threatening than mayors, so evils might avoid you for a little bit.

You shouldn’t try and aim for an epic last second reveal, generally an earlier reveal to lead the town is better (to prevent being led by evils). Day 1 reveals aren’t as bad as you may think - it confirms a Town, a lookout can watch them to confirm if theres a bodyguard/other lookouts. Alternatively, it's not a bad idea to be jailed and get the jailor's name so you can avoid him in VFR.

Transporter

Transporter - Each night, you can swap two players (including yourself), causing players who target one to target the other.

An extremely powerful role, there is no perfect guide. However, you should never transport two townies together. You want to be swapping town with evil each night. It is generally a good idea to swap yourself/other voters with non-voters throughout the game, unless you form an alliance with a confirmed TP (town protective) - although they may better going on a TPower role (this is entirely situational, though). This means the confirmed TP will stay on you, and you can transport the TP with non-voters/scummy people. If you are attacked, you are protected, and if the TP is attacked, someone else will take the hit (hopefully another evil).

Be on the look out for players who don’t claim they were transported, as often they are evil. If someone (i.e. Jailor) asks for TP, and TP is still alive, do not transport them - the only exception is if there is a witch stopping the jailor. Transport townies with players who you think are evil. It’s extremely important that you save who you are transporting in your will in case you die that night. Use names and not numbers in your will!

Only transport yourself if a better role has been exposed (mayor/jailor, possibly retri). Otherwise, the TP should naturally stay on you as you are very powerful.

Retributionist

Retributionist
- You have a one-use ability to revive a dead town member. It is one of three "Power" roles, and is extremely important to protect.

The best way to benefit town is to revive the first dead townie, even if it is only a medium. By doing this, you are able to confirm at least two people (often three) - yourself, the revived player and any mediums. Make sure to whisper to your target as soon as they are revived telling them you are the retributionist, otherwise evil players will do this and normal players might find it hard to tell who is the real retri.

You can whisper to them as soon as the night clock hits 0 - the whispers will show just before day begins.

General Town Guide click here
Town Investigative click here
Town Killing click here
Town Protectives
click here
General Mafia Guide click here
Mafia Killing click here
Mafa Support click here
Mafia Deception
click here
Neutral Killing click here
Neutral Evil click here
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Re: Town of Salem Guide for Competitive Play (Ranked)

Postby Chancell0r » Mon Aug 28, 2017 5:49 am

Town Killing


Town Killing roles can have a huge impact on the outcome of a game. They are the Vigilante, Veteran and Jailor.

Jailor

Jailor - A unique "power" role, each night you can jail someone. This makes them night immune, and prevents other abilities being used on them. From N2 onwards, you can execute players and you have three executions. You lose your executions if you execute a town member.

Usually the most powerful Town role, Jailor is one of three Town Power roles and should be protected at all times. You should jail every single night, including N1. Make sure to save your will before night ends with their claim/other information in case you die. If you jail a Werewolf on a fullmoon or a Serial Killer any night, they will attack you unless you execute them (jailing a SK N1 is therefore an almost unavoidable death, although the SK is normally lynched the next day).

In the new Ranked list, you should be jailing to execute and not just to gather roles. You are a Town Killing role after all. You need to employ great scumreading in order to do this. The safest way to play as Jailor is to jail non-voters/non-claimers. If two Townies die N1, and a townie gets lynched Day 3, going into N2 it is 6 town vs 6 evils. You therefore have 6 evil and 5 town players to jail, so you're more likely to jail an evil role. You should not be afraid to execute N2, even if you're remotely suspicious. Not executing N2 can often cause Town to lose voting majority.

ALWAYS execute any non-town claims (Jester/Exe).

If during Day 2 for example there are 3 TI claims, 2 TK claims and 2 TP claims, you should out yourself as the Jailor - this is because at least one of the TP claims will be legit and stay on you, hopefully giving you at least two executions (that night and the next night). That night, you should be jailing a non-voter and a non-claimer. If they claim something like Sheriff, you should execute. Why? Because they weren't voting and didn't CC TI, plus it's a Werewolf night.

If someone is confirmed evil/acting very scummy, tell the town "I'm executing 7 tonight" - so the TIs will not waste a night. An outted Jailor with TP alive is very powerful for Town.


If you do execute a Townie, hope is not lost. You are now an escort/TP. You can try and focus on lynching a mafia killing (if you have the votes) and jailing the other one, to prevent mafia from killing at all. You can jail a mayor for safety too (you cannot be witched into executing a Mayor if you lost executions).

Summary: Never be afraid to execute people you think are scummy.


Vigilante

Vigilante - You can shoot a player at night. You have three bullets and you cannot shoot N1 (unless witched). If you shoot a town member you will suicide the following night.

Shooting a town member is more damaging than a jailor executing a town member as the vigilante will commit suicide the following night, therefore you will need to be very careful with who you are shooting. You will need to employ scumreading, but be very confident with your reads (consistent non voters, scummy roles/wills, quiet).

Since the recent update, you can no longer use deathnotes to confirm yourself, therefore it’s recommended you whisper to a confirmed town the day before who you will be shooting (or whisper to people the morning after you shoot).

If there are any transporters in the game, you should try and find who the transporter is before you shoot anyone or announce who you are shooting to the town. It’s also common to claim Veteran as Vigilante, to deter Witches from controlling you (you can also ask an escort/transporter to protect you from being controlled). If there are only immune roles left in the game, you really shouldn’t be shooting anyone.

Always keep in your will who you are shooting and what night, in case your target is immune ("Your target's defense value was too high to kill") and you die the same night.

As usual, CC TK. If it gets to it, you might have to shoot a fellow TK claim. It's usually not recommended because if it's an evil role claiming TK they will almost always be immune (although this can be beneficial to set up a conflict) and there's a decent chance of another RT vigilante. If it's a veteran, ask them to alert if you're going to shoot them. In the new Ranked list, there is a higher chance of there being another TK in the game. If your CC is voting with Town and you trust them, it's still better to shoot a non-voter/claimer than your CC.

Veteran

Veteran - A unique role, you can go on alert at night, shooting and killing anyone who visits you. You can go on alert a maximum of three nights.

Veteran is a role that can be extremely powerful or extremely damaging. A “vet bait” is the name given to something you say or do in order to bait evils to attack you. Alerting N1 is extremely controversial, and normally shouldn’t be done without saying something Day 1 (it's also the night you are least likely to be attacked.). One of the most effective vet baits is to put yourself as the town leader during the day. Push for people’s roles/wills, vote up people and order people around, evils won’t like this and will want you dead. However, be aware that a TP might decide to stay on you, so it might depend on without or not a town power role has been revealed. Note that in high level ranked, where lots of role claims are made Day 2, the "surprise vet" is less common as you're revealing you're a TK. This is still fine.

As usual, always CC TK – if someone else claims to be veteran, they are 95% scum since Veteran is unique (only one per game. It could be a Vigilante faking Vet, though). Claiming vigilante in a witch game is not a bad strategy, as a witch might try to control you. With the recent update, you cannot have deathnotes as a veteran, so confirming yourself is more difficult – whisper to people in the morning of the next day after you’ve killed someone telling them how many people you shot. Note, if you are mauled by a werewolf and you alert, you and the werewolf will both die.

General Town Guide click here
Town Investigative click here
Town Support click here
Town Protectives
click here
General Mafia Guide click here
Mafia Killing click here
Mafa Support click here
Mafia Deception
click here
Neutral Killing click here
Neutral Evil click here
Last edited by Chancell0r on Thu Dec 14, 2017 10:57 am, edited 9 times in total.
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Re: Town of Salem Guide for Competitive Play (Ranked)

Postby Chancell0r » Mon Aug 28, 2017 6:29 am

Town Protectives


There are only two Town Protectives, the Bodyguard and the Doctor. They are some of the most important town roles.

Doctor

Doctor - You can heal a person from ALL attacks (including Werewolf, Veteran attacks, Jailors being attacked from within), but you cannot heal a revealed Mayor nor prevent arsonist douses.

For both TP roles, your number one priority is to protect the TPower roles (Jailor, retri and mayor). If someone claims a role day 1, it's normally a good idea to protect them (even medium claims). Since TP is a common scumclaim, half your job is proving yourself rather than just protecting someone. Always heal every single night, including N1.

Make sure you CC other TP claims instantly as they are a very common scum claim. Note: this includes claiming if another TP dies. If you don't know who the Jailor/TPower is going into N2, it might be a good idea to protect someone who has been voting (they are more likely to be Town), particularly if they've claimed a role. You can team up with Transporters, Lookouts and RT TPs to create extremely powerful defenses.

For example, you and a Lookout can stay on each other (make sure to put in your will that the other lookout is staying on you). If you are doing this, never self heal. You can protect a transporter and the transporter will transport you with suspicious people.

Bodyguard

Bodyguard - You can counter attack someone attacking your target (including Werewolf, Arsonist and Jailors being attacked from within) - you can protect revealed mayors though but you cannot protect from a Veteran attack.

For both TP roles, your number one priority is to protect the TPower roles (Jailor, retri and mayor). If someone claims a role day 1, it's normally a good idea to protect them (even medium claims). Since TP is a common scumclaim, half your job is proving yourself rather than just protecting someone. Always protect someone every single night, including N1.

Make sure you CC other TP claims instantly (or claim if another TP dies). If you don't know who the Jailor/TPower is going into N2, it might be a good idea to protect someone who has been voting (they are more likely to be Town), particularly if they've claimed a role. You can team up with Transporters, Lookouts and RT TPs to create extremely powerful defenses.



General Town Guide click here
Town Investigative click here
Town Support click here
Town Killing click here

General Mafia Guide click here
Mafia Killing click here
Mafa Support click here
Mafia Deception
click here
Neutral Killing click here
Neutral Evil click here
Last edited by Chancell0r on Sat Sep 02, 2017 6:49 am, edited 10 times in total.
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Re: Town of Salem Guide for Competitive Play (Ranked)

Postby Chancell0r » Mon Aug 28, 2017 6:55 am

General Mafia Guide


Mafia is the main evil faction in the game. You will need to blend in as a Townie early on whilst secretly causing mislynches, killing the important roles and getting townies to accuse each other.

Kills and claims are the most important things as a member of the Mafia. It's important that all your mafia are claiming valid roles with solid fake wills.

However, before we go onto kill and claims, I'll outline how mafia members should treat each other during the day to avoid being read like book.

You shouldn't necessarily make it clear you're on the same side. Backing each other up is great, but if one of your members is under great suspicion you will often hurt your chances if you still try and defend them. During VFR, make sure you are all voting (especially voting each other up). This is not to say you pro-actively get them on the stand, but if Townies begin a vote on them you better follow them.

Kills:

You should be killing the players who will cause you the most damage, that likely won't be protected. For the first night, this is dependent on Day 1 chat and the lobby. N1 kills are normally semi-random; don't kill targets that you think will have protection, but you might use some previous knowledge to know who is a big threat if they're Town (which they most likely will be). Sometimes you can target a day 1 sheriff or medium claim, because the TP won't think they're important enough to protect.

After Day 2, you need to be killing Town every single night. Your no.1 priority is killing the Jailor. If the Jailor has not been revealed Day 2 after a lot of voting, you should look at who has been voting and not claimed. Sometimes Veterans do this and then alert, which is why claiming Day 2 (to get the CCs out) is a good idea. You should generally avoid killing TK claims early on. Do not kill players who you think you will be able to mislynch. If suspicion is cast over a town member, do not necessarily kill them! It's a very good idea to kill confirmed Townies (like retributionists, revived townies, confirmed mediums etc) as this makes mislynching late game a lot easier. Even if they can't use their role, confirmed townies are a bigger threat. Imagine the following scenario:

Confirmed retributionist, sheriff, mafioso (claiming sheriff) and "confirmed" spy left in the game, as the night begins. Assuming the sheriff hasn't been visited by mafia or found mafia yet, killing the sheriff would be the worst move here, despite him technically being the most useful. The best strategy is to kill either the retributionist/spy, depending on who you think you will be able to convince the most to lynch the real sheriff. To do this, you should check the chat log and look at the votes and see if you can use behaviour of the real sheriff against him (i.e. he didn't vote a mafia up, you did). You can even lie about this kinda stuff as the Spy might not check.

During the early days you should be remembering the claims or noting them in your will. Click the spoiler to see an example of what my will might look like if I'm a consort:

Spoiler:
Chance da DOCTOR

N1: Rose

TI claims:
Rose (LO), Macs (sheriff), Mae (sheriff)

TS claims:
Sonder (med), Tort (esc)

TK claims:
Tom Riddle (TK), Hazard (vig)

TP claims:
Rekcah (doc)


Make sure to include your fellow mafia's claims there so they're not revealed if you die. As you can see, Rekcah is my direct CC. Killing him would not be very smart and it would be better to try and mislynch him later. Killing Tort (esc) might not be great early game either as we can frame him as the Consort (the existence of a consort will becoming evident as the games go on). Escorts are always a dangerous end-game role so they're never a bad kill!

If you notice that someone has been voting well but not claimed, there is a high chance they are the Jailor. (You may want to be aware of who is whispering to whom as well).

It's important to not kill non-voters, as these are likely other evil roles, or even better, Townies that you can mislynch easily.
︀︀︀︀︀ ︀︀︀︀︀︀︀︀︀︀︀
Claims:

Contrary to popular belief, you should generally avoid claiming roles that appear in your invest results. You should feel free to claim almost any role in the game - this will make you less predictable if you play with the same name and same people.

Some claims are more scummy than others. Medium is more scummy than Transporter, and Sheriff is more scummy than Investigator. If you are feeling confident on Day 1 you can claim a role. Getting a claim in Day 1 makes you seem more Town. Investigators generally won't check Day 1 claims Night 1. Note that you shouldn't always claim Sheriff/medium/spy day 1 when you are those roles for real, since people will pick up when you are legit and when you are not from when you claim.

The most important thing about claiming is that your mafia spread the claims. One TP, one TI and one TK is fine. Three TIs is generally not good as it only creates conflict between mafia members and not mafia and town members. However, mafia members should not try to avoid conflict completely - slightly pushing on each other makes it hard for Town to read who the mafia are after one of you die. Bussing a member of the mafia is an extremely high risk, high reward play that can sometimes be used mid-late game if you can plan out a game-winning plan (with kills, mislynches each day) if you're really struggling.

Claiming Town Investigative: Sheriff and Spy are scummy, Investigator and Lookout are better (but all are fine and you should vary it depending on the game). You can create a fake will using what people have claimed/dead people/fellow mafias. Investigator is an especially good claim if you are jailed N1 because N1 results are the hardest to fake. If you are creating a fake sheriff/invest will, make sure you "check" non-voters otherwise skilled players will call you out on this.

Claiming Town Support: Medium is scummy, but not that bad if claimed day 1 (don't claim if there is a retri claim day 1, though). Retributionist is risky, but can sometimes be game-winning. A great claim if you're jailed N2 and haven't got a will ready. Mayor is a get out of jail card, or a "whisper role" - a role you claim in whispers to people like vigilantes/jailors to get them to kill other townies. Townies often believe mayor claims in whispers. Escort will require backup from other evils and Transporter is the biggest risk but biggest reward role.

Claiming Town Protective: Bodyguard is very scummy when claimed by the Godfather - try to avoid it. It's fine for mafioso/random mafia generally. Doctor is fine for any role, although normally Godfather should take priority over TK claims (see below).
︀︀︀︀︀ ︀︀︀︀︀︀︀︀︀︀︀
Town Killing: If it's going to be claimed, it usually should be claimed by Godfather, not mafioso. This is because you are night immune and won't get killed if shot by a Vigilante. You can also claim to have shot the real vigilante and force a mislynch. There are situations that might call for other roles to claim TK though.

Conflicting with own Mafias

Engaging conflict with your own Mafia is an under-rated strategy that has the benefit of misleading Town after a mafia member dies. In situations where it is 3 townies vs 2 mafias, it can often be better for both mafias to push on each other (so one of them is lynched), making it 3 v 1, then 2 v 1 next night, and you use the fact you lynched mafia the previous day to mislynch one of the last townies. This also works in a 4 v 2 situation.

Always vote against your Mafia in VFR, because if they're lynched, the jailors/investigators will be looking at who didn't vote the Mafia up.

General Town Guide click here
Town Investigative click here
Town Support click here
Town Killing click here
Town Protectives
click here
Mafia Killing click here
Mafa Support click here
Mafia Deception
click here
Neutral Killing click here
Neutral Evil click here
Last edited by Chancell0r on Thu Sep 21, 2017 12:05 pm, edited 12 times in total.
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Re: Town of Salem Guide for Competitive Play (Ranked)

Postby Chancell0r » Mon Aug 28, 2017 7:05 am

Mafia Killing


The Mafia Killing (godfather and mafioso) should be in charge of killing. See the guide above on killing and make sure you both click the same target!

Godfather

You are in charge. At the start of N1, you should select a target to kill (make sure Mafioso follows you). Then, you should talk to your mafia about claims ("I will claim TK or TI, what are you guys claiming?"). Tell them to vote so they don't look scummy, and tell them to follow your lead (if you're confident). If you are called out as BG/GF/Arso, you have a number of options:
1) claim you are bodyguard, post will straight away (if you haven't claimed already)
2) claim the accuser is evil
3) claim you are doused (don't do this instantly though, and obviously only in Arsonist games)

Now, if you're playing aggressive (as you should be), you will probably have already claimed something different before you're accused of BG/GF/Arso. When this happens, you should immediately engage conflict with the accuser. Instead of just giving up, try and lynch the Investigator or mislynch someone else. If things really aren't looking good for you and you really think you're going to be lynched, start pushing on your own mafia. This will make them seem more town-like after you're lynched.

If they trust you, since that person is obviously an investigator, you can whisper to them and ask them to check someone who isn't in your mafia (and tell them you will protect them). This makes you seem more Townie and helps you get information.

If one of your mafia members are 'weak' (i.e. called out by a Sheriff, weak defense), make sure you vote them up and guilty. Then, cast suspicion on someone (not another mafia) who didn't vote it up, and then kill someone who did vote up and guilty your mafia, and try to mislynch the scummy Townie who didn't vote up your mafia.

If you notice one of your mafias was jailed N1, you can immediately claim to be TP/TI/TS saying that [fellow mafia] was jailed. This is risky because if you die it's obvious the other person is mafia too, but because you're immune you have less chance of dying (SK and Vig immune). This is why Godfather is sometimes better for the more risky claims in SK games (like transporter).

TK claims are normally great for Godfather, but as usual don't limit yourself. See what you think you can work well with. If you're going to claim TP, doctor is normally better because if it's just you and a few others left, BG claims are inherently suspicious as Godfather.

Mafioso

Mafioso - You are not night immune, do not claim Vigilante (unless investigated). Best claims are TS/TI/TP - whatever you feel like. If someone reveals they were transported day 2, and two other people claim to be roleblocked, it might be better to claim TP or TI.

Make sure you and the godfather always select the same target. You are also the person who is told whether someone is immune or not:
"Defense value too high" = they are NK, exe, surv or vesting BG.
No message = Doctor heal or Witch

If you find an immune evil, whisper to them during the day at some point telling them who you are. If you are confident, you can have a pre-made doctor will and post publicly that you healed them (only do this if you get the "target's defense value too high to kill" message, meaning immune).

It's strongly encouraged for the mafia/NK to communicate early on if they can, to split kills - you can battle for victory when Town has lost majority.

NEVER REVEAL A PLAYER AS BEING IMMUNE IN YOUR DEATHNOTE. The Mafia need the NK to stay alive for at least for a few nights to kill some townies.

General Town Guide click here
Town Investigative click here
Town Support click here
Town Killing click here
Town Protectives
click here
General Mafia Guide click here
Mafa Support click here
Mafia Deception
click here
Neutral Killing click here
Neutral Evil click here
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Re: Town of Salem Guide for Competitive Play (Ranked)

Postby Chancell0r » Mon Aug 28, 2017 7:31 am

Mafia Support


Mafia Support roles are on average stronger than the deception roles. They are the Consigliere, Blackmailer and Consort.

Consort

Consort: Arguably the strongest random mafia role (possibly second to Janitor), you should avoid claiming Escort. You have the power to block TPs, Jailors, Vigilantes, Retributionists, Amnesiacs and even Arsonists.

Just like the Escort, Consort becomes more powerful later in the game when information has been gathered. It's generally a bad idea to roleblock N1 because if there's a Spy you are confirming someone as non-mafia straight away (the benefit of blocking that person does not outweigh this - the only exception to this is Consigliere). You don't want the Town to get knowledge of the existence of a Consort early on, otherwise they have time to put in preventative measures (i.e. transporters).

For claiming, any claims are fine, however it's your job to act the most "townish" out of your fellow mafia - if you are jailed you cannot save yourself (unless there's a witch), but if your fellow mafia are jailed you can roleblock the Jailor. Pay very close attention to claims and votes, you want to find the Jailor/TP very early on.

If the Jailor is known (but not necessarily the existence of a Consort), the other Mafia can make what would otherwise be risky plays to tip them over into majority/vote balance. For example, if it's 3 evils vs 5 town, the non-Consort mafia can make an "exe" play (claiming someone is mafia, saying they visited the dead person, etc). This lynches a Townie, and the "exe" should be jailed and attempted to be executed, but then the Consort roleblocks the Jailor whilst the Mafia kill off another townie (preferably the Jailor), making it 3 evils vs 3 town - vote balance. Normally at this point in the game, the NE is either dead or already revealed, so town are more willing to believe the Mafia.

Consigliere

Consigliere: A lot of people's favourite roles, the consig can find out the exact role of a target - note that doused targets will show up as Arsonist.

The only random mafia role that should visit randomly N1 is the Consigliere. This is because the benefit of knowing another's exact role outweights the confirmation that player may now have of being non-mafia. You can choose to not visit later on if there's a Spy (but remember, that Spy isn't necessarily "confirmed" to the Town either), since you really want to be checking non-claimers or non-voters to see if they're NB/NE/NK. Investigator isn't a terrible claim (especially without a Spy), but don't forget to make sure you use that actual Investigative results. As usual, claim whatever you think you can work well with.

If you find a Jester, you "confirm" yourself by "shooting them" as long as another Townie dies that night. You can ask the Jester to say "I got lucky [dead townie who died that night] was my target" after they have been guiltied (meaning your TK claim is semi-legit, as he would have been immune when you shot him). You should make sure you guilty him otherwise it looks very suspicious. If the Jester has any integrity they will not haunt you (you can ask for a haunt request, which Jesters should normally follow if they're being helped).

Blackmailer

Blackmailer: An underrated role, you can read whispers and prevent people from speaking during the day.

Reading whispers is extremely powerful - you are often given access to a lot of information in a very short space of time. It's crucial you pay attention and notice when YOU are being whispered to. Avoid claiming spy because the existence of the role is obvious to the town, TP/TS/TI are better (as usual, depends on the situation and what other mafia are claiming). It's powerful to BM players with info/just generally skilled players who are Town. Lookouts are a good target.

You generally shouldn't blackmail N1. You might consider acting bmed yourself through Day 2, it will make you less suspicious when people are being blackmailed for real later on (you don't HAVE to BM, but it is encouraged if the situation calls for it later on). However someone can counter you if they are a Spy as you weren't visited, so you will have to prepare for that conflict. Blackmailing can also be used to get people lynched (such as Jailors).

The common signal for a player being bmed is to spam vote (X has voted against Y, X has cancelled their vote.)

General Town Guide click here
Town Investigative click here
Town Support click here
Town Killing click here
Town Protectives
click here
General Mafia Guide click here
Mafia Killing click here
Mafia Deception
click here
Neutral Killing click here
Neutral Evil click here
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Re: Town of Salem Guide for Competitive Play (Ranked)

Postby Chancell0r » Mon Aug 28, 2017 7:38 am

Mafia Deception


Mafia Deception roles are fairly weak and usually very situational (bar Janitor). They are the Framer, Forger, Disguiser and Janitor.

Framer

One of the weakest roles in the entire game, your ability is fairly unlikely to actually work and will in most cases just lead to someone being confirmed as non-Mafia. Do not visit N1 because you do not know if there's a Spy. If you're confident there's not a Spy then you can make yourself useful by visiting targets likely to have a Lookout - you can then claim to be TP/another Lookout

If there is a Spy and you are one mislynch from majority, you can frame someone and claim you watched them and saw another Townie visit them. The Spy should recognise this and push on the "visitor".

But in most cases you will just have to stick to a regular TP/TS/TI claim. It's not encouraged to act like a Jester.

Forger

Forger: You are able to replace someone's will with whatever you want.

It's rare you can use the will to your advantage - normally just clearing the will is good. If you want though, you can copy someone's will during the day, paste it into your will and then forge that person (pasting their own will) and then at the bottom writing something like "14 TOLD ME HE IS JAILOR" or "14 IS NOT TOWN" to try and get another mislynch. People generally won't suspect that the will has been forged.

TP/TS/Ti claims are good, Lookout isn't terribly bad unless it's obvious there is a forger in-game.

Disguiser

Disguiser: Each night you can visit someone to disguise as them. If you are killed that night, your role will appear as the person you disguised as. If you are lynched the next day, the same thing will happen. If you are investigated that night, your invest results will show up as the person you disguised as that same night.

The number one rule with Disguiser is to know what role you are disguised as. N1 you should visit the person you are killing so you know their role and can disguise well (this will only last for a day, though). It's still better to survive than getting killed and confusing Town.

TI/TP claims are generally the best, as you can cause mislynches easily. However, you shouldn't intentionally try and get yourself lynched unless you think you can cause a mislynch.

If you disguise one night and don't know what as (again, you should normally disguise as the person you're killing), and you're called out by a sheriff - you can not claim a role, pretend to be anti-vfr or whatever. Even though this is still bad, his makes up for the fact you don't have a will (or more importantly, your role in your will). Remember you should always push back on a sheriff rather than just letting yourself getting lynched. Taking down a townie with you is the best way to go out.

Janitor

Janitor - You can clean someone, removing their role and will.

One of the strongest mafia roles, you should avoid claiming medium (unless you claim day 1/beginning of day 2) and always clean the first three nights. This gives your mafia more claimspace early on. The janitor is powerful because it removes roles, not because it removes wills!

If you clean a Jailor, you can copy their will and claim to jail your fellow mafia.

General Town Guide click here
Town Investigative click here
Town Support click here
Town Killing click here
Town Protectives
click here
General Mafia Guide click here
Mafia Killing click here
Mafa Support click here

Neutral Killing click here
Neutral Evil click here
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Re: Town of Salem Guide for Competitive Play (Ranked)

Postby Chancell0r » Mon Aug 28, 2017 8:11 am

Neutral Killing


The Neutral Killing roles are the Serial Killer, Werewolf and Arsonist. It's important for the NKs to kill townies early, focusing on the mafia later on. The Town are a bigger threat to you than mafia early on.

Serial Killer

Serial Killer - You can kill one person each night.

Serial Killers should be targetting the same targets as the mafia - active townies. Yes, this means that you might get a double kill one night, but that's better than killing another evil early on. Avoid claiming Doctor, TK is a good claim since you are immune. TS is difficult since you cannot necessarily find evils early on to back you up - TIs aren't a bad choice (TS and TP are fine, always depends on context).

You want to make sure you're active and voting - avoid being jailed. If you are jailed and you haven't claimed (or it's N1), retributionist/transporter/mayor are good claims - a lot of players will mistakenly trust you and "give you a night".

Try and scumread the mafia as best you can, and help them by providing a will that might defend them (if needed). NK and Mafia should be working together early game.

A lot of NK wins are the result of kingmakers (a third party choosing a player). You can say things like "this will be my first SK win" or "I helped you win" or "I played better". You should try really hard at sweet-talking. Note that if you are found out with a lot of townies dead, Town shouldn't be lynching you because they will give mafia majority - you should tell them this.

If you are attacked and there is a spy, you can claim to have been healed - hopefully a mafia member will come forward as the "doctor" - they will know you weren't healed since they received the message "defense value too high".

Arsonist

Arsonist - You are able to douse one player each night. One night you can choose to ignite all other targets instead of dousing.

The weakest NK, you should be dousing people who you think will survive. It's not necessarily bad to ignite N3/N4 (in fact it's usually better), especially if Townies are dying quickly you can quickly secure evil majority. With 4 mafias, the mafia are quite a big threat to you especially as your kill rate is so slow. Douse voters, TK/TI are the best claims- you can claim Investigator and that your targets are BG/GF/Arso.

If investigated, you should claim you are doused (try to avoid claiming BG). TK is a very good claim, although you will be guaranteed to be CCd.

Try to lynch people you haven't doused. A lot of the luck comes down to who you douse early on and whether or not they are killed by mafia.

Werewolf

Werewolf - You are able to rampage at someone's house every other night, killing the person there (unless they were jailed) and any visitors.

A mediocre NK, depending on the day 2 lynch/N1 deaths, you want to be mauling either Town or Mafia. If three townies are dead going into N2, you want to be aiming to hit a mafia member. If evils are suffering you want to hit a Townie. Sheriff claims aren't brilliant, if jailed a retri/trans claim is good as you'll often be given a night to prove yourself. Pretending to be an executioner isn't the best strategy because any good Jailor will execute you that night.

As with the other NKs, TK is a very good claim as you are immune. If you know that TP is a Doctor and you know who the jailor is, you can attack the Jailor/Doctor without worry of being killed by a bodyguard (but be aware if you think the mafia will also try to hit the Jailor). If there is a transporter protecting the Jailor, attacking the Jailor is a good idea as you will kill the Transporter.

General Town Guide click here
Town Investigative click here
Town Support click here
Town Killing click here
Town Protectives
click here
General Mafia Guide click here
Mafia Killing click here
Mafa Support click here
Mafia Deception
click here
Neutral Evil click here
Last edited by Chancell0r on Sat Sep 02, 2017 6:49 am, edited 6 times in total.
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Re: Town of Salem Guide for Competitive Play (Ranked)

Postby Chancell0r » Mon Aug 28, 2017 8:50 am

Neutral Evil


The Neutral Evils - witch, jester and executioner should be trying to help the NK/Mafia early game whilst trying to achieve their personal win conditions.

It is extremely important (especially as witch) to count how many evils vs town there are. If there are 4 evils vs 4 townies, do not vote anyone up unless you are 100% sure they are town.

Jester

Jester - You want to get lynched.

In aggressive towns with good players, you want to be slow voting (if at all), and generally a slow claimer. Don't CC roles (necessarily), if you are on stand you should claim to be a role that has already been claimed. Note that lynching Jesters isn't necessarily bad for town (it's 1 for 1), and confirms the NE - it's sometimes easier to get lynched in higher elo towns than lower elo because of this.

Sheriff/Spy/Medium claims are good, avoid claiming TK because you are not night immune. Also avoid claiming TP if possible since a lot of townies are hesitant about lynching TP roles, especially early on.

Witch

Witch - You get to control one player into another, whilst revealing the exact role of the first player you control.

You want to find evil roles as soon as possible. N1 you should witch someone who didn't speak Day 1 into another person who didn't speak Day 1 (don't witch someone likely to have a LO on them). If you find an evil, that's great, but don't make it extremely obvious by whispering to them immediately.

You can wait until votes start happening, or other people are whispering to let them know who you are. You should always try an establish contact with an evil role if you find them. If you find mafia, ask them who the other mafia are. You should then be trying to find the Jailor or TP, to prevent them from doing their jobs.

Controlling retributionist claims N2 is risky but usually worth it, especially if 3 townies are dead by N2.

You want to support the evil you found (you can claim to have rbed them, or they rbed you), but don't make it extremely obvious you're working together (as with any evils, gently push on each other to blend in).

Executioner

Executioner - You will have a target that is a Town member (not Jailor or Mayor) that you want to get lynched, if they die otherwise you will become a Jester and will want to be lynched.

The most obvious executioner play is to come out as a sheriff and say your target is Mafia, but sometimes Town's are too scared to lynch because you might be an executioner (when really, town should lynch either and execute the other if appropriate). A strategy that works better in higher elo is to try and claim within the same alignment as your target. You want to get them on the stand for a role on the second or third trial (where town are more likely to guilty)

When they are on the stand, you can post a contradictory will, CC them, lie and tell the town "this is a RT claim and he wasn't voting, guilty".

Generally, you shouldn't reveal yourself as an Executioner after you've won - you can have a lot of fun causing further chaos, wasting a Jailor execution or town lynch. Obviously this is completely up to you.

Some strategies:
Claiming you transed yourself with your target but they did not claim it.
Claiming you roleblocked your target but they did not claim it.
Claiming they were visited by mafia when no mafia killed.
Claiming you bugged them and they were witched but didn't claim it.
Claiming you shot them later in the game and they were immune.

General Town Guide click here
Town Investigative click here
Town Support click here
Town Killing click here
Town Protectives
click here
General Mafia Guide click here
Mafia Killing click here
Mafa Support click here
Mafia Deception
click here
Neutral Killing click here
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Re: Town of Salem Guide for Competitive Play (Ranked)

Postby UzayAltay » Sat Sep 02, 2017 3:21 pm

Hello .
First Edward Bishop says this in 1693 , not 1692 :)
Second , you can not whisper anybody until day begins , kills announced , and revived Player announced .
If I am wrong at second case , inform me ( I am sure at first case :) )
46-46 Spoiler: Town Games(27-32)

NFM50,NFM51,NFM52,14D,14E, NFM54 ,14H (AF), 14G, NFM 55, NFM 56, 15C, NFM 57, NFM 58,15F,SFM45,16B, VFM36, 16D , SFM 47 , VFM38, NFM62 , 16G ,VFM 39, EpisodeXVII, 17B , 17C , VFM44 , 17D , 17F,18C,18D,18E,VFM55,VFM57,SFM64, 19C,VFM58,VFM59 ,19D,VFM60,SFM66,SFM67,VFM64,SFM70,VFM69,XX7,XX9, VFM71,VFM72, VFM73, VFM74, 21A,VFM75,VFM76,XX14,VFM77,XX16,VFM78,VFM79

Scum Games (19-14)

NFM 48 , NFM 49 , TFM 65 ,TFM 66 , Episode XV ,TFM68 ,VFM 34, NFM61 , VFM42 , SFM53, VFM43,17E,VFM49,SFM60,CFM19,VFM54, EpisodeXIX, SFM63, 19E, 19F ,VFM62 ,VFM63,XX3,VFM66,XX5,VFM67,XX6,SFM72,XX8,VFM70,XX10,SFM76,SFM80
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Re: Town of Salem Guide for Competitive Play (Ranked)

Postby Chancell0r » Sat Sep 02, 2017 6:47 pm

UzayAltay wrote:Hello .
First Edward Bishop says this in 1693 , not 1692 :)
Second , you can not whisper anybody until day begins , kills announced , and revived Player announced .
If I am wrong at second case , inform me ( I am sure at first case :) )


Can you provide a source to back up your first claim? ;)

And for the second, I am 1000000% sure you can whisper as soon as the night clock hits 0. I have done it hundreds of times in games. :)
Check out my Competitive Ranked guide for all roles in Ranked.
https://www.blankmediagames.com/phpbb/v ... =3&t=73489


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Re: Town of Salem Guide for Competitive Play (Ranked)

Postby UzayAltay » Sun Sep 03, 2017 3:36 am

Interesting , maybe because of I played on mobile I can't whisper until day begins , when I try it Nothing happens . Maybe on site / steam it is True . Because of this , I generally send a very very long whisper with my will and scum-Reads when day begins :) ( I can generally remember role - claims so don't keep role-list )

And it is a very very good Guide .
46-46 Spoiler: Town Games(27-32)

NFM50,NFM51,NFM52,14D,14E, NFM54 ,14H (AF), 14G, NFM 55, NFM 56, 15C, NFM 57, NFM 58,15F,SFM45,16B, VFM36, 16D , SFM 47 , VFM38, NFM62 , 16G ,VFM 39, EpisodeXVII, 17B , 17C , VFM44 , 17D , 17F,18C,18D,18E,VFM55,VFM57,SFM64, 19C,VFM58,VFM59 ,19D,VFM60,SFM66,SFM67,VFM64,SFM70,VFM69,XX7,XX9, VFM71,VFM72, VFM73, VFM74, 21A,VFM75,VFM76,XX14,VFM77,XX16,VFM78,VFM79

Scum Games (19-14)

NFM 48 , NFM 49 , TFM 65 ,TFM 66 , Episode XV ,TFM68 ,VFM 34, NFM61 , VFM42 , SFM53, VFM43,17E,VFM49,SFM60,CFM19,VFM54, EpisodeXIX, SFM63, 19E, 19F ,VFM62 ,VFM63,XX3,VFM66,XX5,VFM67,XX6,SFM72,XX8,VFM70,XX10,SFM76,SFM80
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Re: Town of Salem Guide for Competitive Play (Ranked)

Postby Joacgroso » Tue Sep 05, 2017 8:02 pm

I haven't read this but it seems amazing. For posts like this the forums should have a like button. Posting so I can save this and read it tomorrow :)
I have a question. If I'm evil, how can I know when someone is evil and when is a scummy townie?
Joacgroso wrote:I feel like I went from Light Yagami to Keiichi Maebara.

I still hope one day the game will have private lobbies. They would really help.
Also, please nerf vampire hunters.
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Re: Town of Salem Guide for Competitive Play (Ranked)

Postby Cirque » Wed Sep 06, 2017 8:30 pm

This is a very useful guide, and I will eventually read the whole thing! I would tell people to do this in games, but I'm still in the low ELO part of Salem, and they most likely will not listen. Hopefully, if I get up to high ELO players, then I will hopefully have a more enjoyable time of playing this game.

Thank you for making this!
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Re: Town of Salem Guide for Competitive Play (Ranked)

Postby Chancell0r » Thu Sep 07, 2017 8:51 am

Joacgroso wrote:I haven't read this but it seems amazing. For posts like this the forums should have a like button. Posting so I can save this and read it tomorrow :)
I have a question. If I'm evil, how can I know when someone is evil and when is a scummy townie?


Most people who aren't your mafia are going to be Town, so there is a high % that if you call someone out for not voting, they are town (there are only 2 people who aren't town who aren't mafia). The NK should normally be voting.

Some obvious ways of recognising the NE/NK
1) they say a townie is a member of the mafia
2) they have a defense value too high but claim healed

If they have a detailed will, normally they are town (especially lookouts). If you are VFRing, just vote someone up who didn't vote and who isn't your mafia. More often than not they are going to be a scum townie :). The best thing about this is that you're not then 100% evil, since you never called them out as evil via a TI will, your "evidence" was them not voting/not claiming - which is what a lot of townies use.

Always attack voters. If you're NK and mafia gets lynched via scumreading, the first votes normally aren't mafia. You may want to target mafia in this list as it's very mafia-favoured.
Check out my Competitive Ranked guide for all roles in Ranked.
https://www.blankmediagames.com/phpbb/v ... =3&t=73489


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Re: Town of Salem Guide for Competitive Play (Ranked)

Postby Chancell0r » Thu Sep 07, 2017 8:53 am

Cirque wrote:This is a very useful guide, and I will eventually read the whole thing! I would tell people to do this in games, but I'm still in the low ELO part of Salem, and they most likely will not listen. Hopefully, if I get up to high ELO players, then I will hopefully have a more enjoyable time of playing this game.

Thank you for making this!


You're welcome. For low elo games, they don't like the word vfr. They assume you are evil. You have to say things like "4 is being quiet, I think he's evil". As soon as an evil get lynched, say "8 and 10 didn't vote mafioso up, what are their roles?" etc. You have to try and explain your reasoning, especially if there are no actual leads. It's hard. What Elo are you btw? You can find good, pro-VFR low elo players on our discord (link in sig).
Check out my Competitive Ranked guide for all roles in Ranked.
https://www.blankmediagames.com/phpbb/v ... =3&t=73489


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Re: Town of Salem Guide for Competitive Play (Ranked)

Postby Cirque » Thu Sep 07, 2017 9:53 pm

Chancell0r wrote:
Cirque wrote:This is a very useful guide, and I will eventually read the whole thing! I would tell people to do this in games, but I'm still in the low ELO part of Salem, and they most likely will not listen. Hopefully, if I get up to high ELO players, then I will hopefully have a more enjoyable time of playing this game.

Thank you for making this!


You're welcome. For low elo games, they don't like the word vfr. They assume you are evil. You have to say things like "4 is being quiet, I think he's evil". As soon as an evil get lynched, say "8 and 10 didn't vote mafioso up, what are their roles?" etc. You have to try and explain your reasoning, especially if there are no actual leads. It's hard. What Elo are you btw? You can find good, pro-VFR low elo players on our discord (link in sig).


Right now I am 1348. I think it started me at about 1254, so I'm slowly climbing up the ladder. And I used your strategy of ccing Town if you are evil, and it totally worked. I told my Mafia (as Framer) that I would claim Doctor and I would cc the real ones, and they all told me that the strategy would fail. But actually, I got the 2 Doctors and an Arsonist killed because everyone believed my claim. And we won.

And I definitely try what you suggested, but what if I would want to start VFR D2? How would I come about saying that somebody is suspicious?

And I will consider joining the Discord, but I tend to be a shy person so I might not talk a lot.
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Re: Town of Salem Guide for Competitive Play (Ranked)

Postby UzayAltay » Fri Sep 08, 2017 6:45 am

Chancell0r wrote:
Cirque wrote:This is a very useful guide, and I will eventually read the whole thing! I would tell people to do this in games, but I'm still in the low ELO part of Salem, and they most likely will not listen. Hopefully, if I get up to high ELO players, then I will hopefully have a more enjoyable time of playing this game.

Thank you for making this!


You're welcome. For low elo games, they don't like the word vfr. They assume you are evil. You have to say things like "4 is being quiet, I think he's evil". As soon as an evil get lynched, say "8 and 10 didn't vote mafioso up, what are their roles?" etc. You have to try and explain your reasoning, especially if there are no actual leads. It's hard. What Elo are you btw? You can find good, pro-VFR low elo players on our discord (link in sig).

They dont like any word which accuse someone .
10 minutes ago

Me ( confirmed escort ) : Jax is too silence , let is vote him up .
Jax : Yes , I am silence , but you are noisy.
( lyched 3 days later , turned godfather )

Another match , this time I am confirmed lookout
Me: Guys , Player A and B is too silence , Let is VFR one of them ( at this time it is LyLo)
Town: Last time we follow you , you lynch a lookout ( he was afk )
(Player A turned witch , player B turn consort.)

Note: ELO 1182

EDIT :about cc real townies
I did it Everytime . I became scum 3 times ( more but at other ones I claim first ) in Ranked , Mafioso , blackmailer , Jester . Both of them It worked about 2-3 days . At the first one I cc doc claim , real doc cc 1 day later . We hang first doc claim , turned NK . Town can't decide which of two is real doc , but after other mafias dead , they kill both TP claim .
At the second one , it was about the work , my claim was as believable as real one ( again doc ) , but jailor Jails and exe me , say me I trust you but Find mafia is more important than keep doc alive , Mafioso kill real doc , it is 2 v1 ( jailor has exes , instant lose . )
At the third one , jailor Jails a Med N2 , and killed by SK . I cc med D2, and accuse real Medium became SK , the Result was myslynch . The Interesting think next day , I said Jailor misread the feedback , it is jailors fault , sorry , and they believe me ( when there is 4 TS dead ) , I win later in A Jester roulette , and solo win because of town abstain at last second .
Last edited by UzayAltay on Fri Sep 08, 2017 10:07 am, edited 4 times in total.
46-46 Spoiler: Town Games(27-32)

NFM50,NFM51,NFM52,14D,14E, NFM54 ,14H (AF), 14G, NFM 55, NFM 56, 15C, NFM 57, NFM 58,15F,SFM45,16B, VFM36, 16D , SFM 47 , VFM38, NFM62 , 16G ,VFM 39, EpisodeXVII, 17B , 17C , VFM44 , 17D , 17F,18C,18D,18E,VFM55,VFM57,SFM64, 19C,VFM58,VFM59 ,19D,VFM60,SFM66,SFM67,VFM64,SFM70,VFM69,XX7,XX9, VFM71,VFM72, VFM73, VFM74, 21A,VFM75,VFM76,XX14,VFM77,XX16,VFM78,VFM79

Scum Games (19-14)

NFM 48 , NFM 49 , TFM 65 ,TFM 66 , Episode XV ,TFM68 ,VFM 34, NFM61 , VFM42 , SFM53, VFM43,17E,VFM49,SFM60,CFM19,VFM54, EpisodeXIX, SFM63, 19E, 19F ,VFM62 ,VFM63,XX3,VFM66,XX5,VFM67,XX6,SFM72,XX8,VFM70,XX10,SFM76,SFM80
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Re: Town of Salem Guide for Competitive Play (Ranked)

Postby Chancell0r » Fri Sep 08, 2017 9:44 am

Cirque wrote:
Chancell0r wrote:
Cirque wrote:This is a very useful guide, and I will eventually read the whole thing! I would tell people to do this in games, but I'm still in the low ELO part of Salem, and they most likely will not listen. Hopefully, if I get up to high ELO players, then I will hopefully have a more enjoyable time of playing this game.

Thank you for making this!


You're welcome. For low elo games, they don't like the word vfr. They assume you are evil. You have to say things like "4 is being quiet, I think he's evil". As soon as an evil get lynched, say "8 and 10 didn't vote mafioso up, what are their roles?" etc. You have to try and explain your reasoning, especially if there are no actual leads. It's hard. What Elo are you btw? You can find good, pro-VFR low elo players on our discord (link in sig).


Right now I am 1348. I think it started me at about 1254, so I'm slowly climbing up the ladder. And I used your strategy of ccing Town if you are evil, and it totally worked. I told my Mafia (as Framer) that I would claim Doctor and I would cc the real ones, and they all told me that the strategy would fail. But actually, I got the 2 Doctors and an Arsonist killed because everyone believed my claim. And we won.

And I definitely try what you suggested, but what if I would want to start VFR D2? How would I come about saying that somebody is suspicious?

And I will consider joining the Discord, but I tend to be a shy person so I might not talk a lot.


1348 is good. You should notice a difference above 1.4k. And yeah, claiming early and ccing real townies is really really good. It's quite easy to win as evils in lower evil towns as they don't like being aggressive day 2 - make sure you make the most of this to try as you will gain a lot for winning as evils :)

For day 2, ask if anyone has leads, and then say "if we don't get some roles now, we lose majority tomorrow. there are 3RT slots. I'm sheriff, does anyone CC TI?" etc. Just be gentle, ask for wills, if you're too aggressive they will lynch you.
Check out my Competitive Ranked guide for all roles in Ranked.
https://www.blankmediagames.com/phpbb/v ... =3&t=73489


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Re: Town of Salem Guide for Competitive Play (Ranked)

Postby UzayAltay » Sun Oct 01, 2017 5:25 am

Hello , do you think Should I suggest VFR in my ELO , because the day before I kill "Revived Jailor " When 2 TPs alive . Because of 2 of my mafia dead , and plus it is a werewolf night , I risk to attack the jailor and it worked , no TPs nor Werewolf visit Jailor . We Lynch WW next day , and after our kill , it is vote-balance , mafia win .
I know VFR good , but I don't trust TPs . Another example :

I was vigilante . Jailed N1 , claim my role as normal . Than at D2: Jailor says I claim vigi and it is suspicious . Than I say He is jailor , I am a normal vigilante and TP on jailor .
Jailor was died D3.We somehow win this game ( Sherrif Find Mafioso , one of the RMs was dead , Werewolf defend Mafioso but we still Lynch Hım with my help , than I shoot Werewolf , say immune D4 but no-Lynch . Than I shoot A suspicious Player , werewolf attack same player , so I died .
He turned Janitor , because of My will Revealed , Werewolf is conf. Evil , and it is a 3v2 with both evils known )
46-46 Spoiler: Town Games(27-32)

NFM50,NFM51,NFM52,14D,14E, NFM54 ,14H (AF), 14G, NFM 55, NFM 56, 15C, NFM 57, NFM 58,15F,SFM45,16B, VFM36, 16D , SFM 47 , VFM38, NFM62 , 16G ,VFM 39, EpisodeXVII, 17B , 17C , VFM44 , 17D , 17F,18C,18D,18E,VFM55,VFM57,SFM64, 19C,VFM58,VFM59 ,19D,VFM60,SFM66,SFM67,VFM64,SFM70,VFM69,XX7,XX9, VFM71,VFM72, VFM73, VFM74, 21A,VFM75,VFM76,XX14,VFM77,XX16,VFM78,VFM79

Scum Games (19-14)

NFM 48 , NFM 49 , TFM 65 ,TFM 66 , Episode XV ,TFM68 ,VFM 34, NFM61 , VFM42 , SFM53, VFM43,17E,VFM49,SFM60,CFM19,VFM54, EpisodeXIX, SFM63, 19E, 19F ,VFM62 ,VFM63,XX3,VFM66,XX5,VFM67,XX6,SFM72,XX8,VFM70,XX10,SFM76,SFM80
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Re: Town of Salem Guide for Competitive Play (Ranked)

Postby RageMallor » Sat Oct 14, 2017 6:45 pm

Hey, Chancell0r, Great and amazingly detailed guide! Color-coded with useful tips and links everything! Did you write it all yourself? That's cool.

This is very helpful, and I think it should be pinned. (If that's a thing around here).
Is this a block of text that can be added to posts you make?
Does it have a 400 character limit?

To be able to identify me in any ToS game, I'm the guy who always uses this smiley: :L
The name I always use: RagemZuru
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Re: Town of Salem Guide for Competitive Play (Ranked)

Postby Chancell0r » Sun Oct 15, 2017 3:36 pm

RageMallor wrote:Hey, Chancell0r, Great and amazingly detailed guide! Color-coded with useful tips and links everything! Did you write it all yourself? That's cool.

This is very helpful, and I think it should be pinned. (If that's a thing around here).


Ya, I wrote it all myself. It already is pinned in this sub-forum.

Thanks for reading :)
Check out my Competitive Ranked guide for all roles in Ranked.
https://www.blankmediagames.com/phpbb/v ... =3&t=73489


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