How to identify a Shade in Phasmophobia

Phasmophobia has many different ghosts you can identify, all of which come with their own specific evidence and unique behaviors. Because of this, some of them can be trickier to identify than others—with the elusive Shade being one of the toughest.

The Shade is known for being a rather shy ghost, so it generally doesn’t interact much, which makes actually determining whether or not you’re dealing with one quite tough. Luckily, there are three key pieces of evidence to watch out for plus some general clues relating to the Shade you can use to identify this ghost in Phasmophobia.

All Shade Phasmophobia evidence

The Shade has three official pieces of evidence you’ll want to watch out for when trying to determine what kind of ghost you’re dealing with. These pieces of evidence are EMF level five, Ghost Writing, and Freezing Temperatures.

For the ghost to be a Shade, all three types of evidence should be caught, although you might struggle to get them all and have to make a guess instead if you’re tackling special challenges like No Evidence or Apocalypse. If you find any evidence outside of the three needed for a Shade, then you can cross off this ghost as it is impossible for it to be one.

The Shade is already a tricky ghost to catch because of its personality, but it also has some rather tough evidence types to work with. EMF level five is notoriously difficult to get since it’s all about being at the right place at the right time, which means it oftentimes takes a while to catch.

Freezing Temperatures can be tough too, especially when you are playing on an outdoor map. Because of this, patience is key for successfully catching a Shade, and you should have ample time to thoroughly test all evidence if the ghost is indeed a Shade since it won’t want to do much.

Once you identify a Shade for the first time, you’ll also unlock a special Phasmophobia achievement called “Shade Discovered.”

Shade behavior, patterns, and clues in Phasmophobia

In addition to the Shade’s official evidence, you can also pay attention to how the ghost acts to see if its behavior lines up with this ghost. Here are the specific Shade behaviors, patterns, and clues you can watch out for to help you identify this ghost.

• Since the Shade is a shy ghost, it is generally a tougher ghost to find and is overall less likely to perform interactions.
• If there is at least one player in the room with the Shade, most of its actions are blocked as it cannot hunt or perform regular interactions regardless of how low your sanity is. It can still do Ghost Writing, though, and the Shade can hunt or become active if it chooses to head into another room.
• The higher your sanity, the less likely it is the Shade will do anything. When you have 100 percent sanity, the Shade has a zero percent chance of performing an event, and the likelihood of an event slowly increases by two percent for each point of sanity you lose.
• The Shade can only hunt when your sanity is 35 percent or less, which is the absolute lowest hunting threshold besides some special conditions involving the aging of the Thaye.
• When the Shade does perform a ghost event, it has a 67 percent chance of only performing a ghost mist event rather than a more obvious event. In this event, the ghost materializes as a bundle of mist that steadily moves around.
• If you end up being hunted by a Shade, there is a 67 percent chance it will only appear as a shadow since it’s shy.
• If you summon a Shade using Cursed Possessions including the Summoning Circle, the Monkey Paw, and the Music Box, there is a decent chance it will appear as a shadow rather than an actual, physical ghost. The percentage of how likely this is isn’t known, but it definitely has a decent chance of occurring.
• Even though the Shade is known for being exceptionally shy and quiet, this doesn’t mean you can’t get a particularly aggressive and hostile version of this ghost. I once had a contract where the ghost was so intense I thought it had to be a Demon and was shocked when I found out it was a Shade, so keep in mind the Shade may not always act as you expect it to.