How to complete the Detectives Only challenge in Phasmophobia

Special weekly challenges are one of the best ways to see how good your ghost-hunting abilities in Phasmophobia really are. These trials are designed specifically to test how skilled you are, and one of the most daunting challenges you can face is Detectives Only.

As the name of the challenge hints, this weekly trial is for ghost hunters capable of investigating and finding the ghost with little to no information. Detectives Only is a very tricky and tough trial, so here’s how you can complete this Phasmophobia challenge.

What is the Detectives Only challenge in Phasmophobia?

The Detectives Only challenge is one of Phasmophobia’s weekly trials. A different challenge rotates into the game each week and is available for a full week before another challenge then arrives.

Successfully completing any weekly trial mode rewards you with 5,000 experience and $5,000 cash. You also earn a lot more of both along the way depending on how many contracts you finish and what kind of bonuses you gain from them, so this is a great way to make money, gain experience, and level up very quickly in Phasmophobia.

Detectives Only Phasmophobia challenge rules

The Detectives Only challenge has a particularly tricky set of rules you want to know about before heading into this difficult challenge.

• This weekly challenge mode has to be completed on 42 Edgefield Road.
• The ghost won’t give you any official evidence.
• You always have access to the Ouija Board Cursed Possession.
• There isn’t a grace period for setup.
• All screens in the truck are on and working.
• The fuse box is accessible, marked on the truck map, and starts turned off.
• Your sanity starts at 100 percent.
• You have access to all gear, but all of it except the Head Gear is Tier I.
• The singular item that isn’t Tier I is Head Gear, which is the Tier II Head Flashlight.

How to complete the Detectives Only Phasmophobia weekly challenge

To finish the Detectives Only weekly challenge, you need to correctly identify the ghost type and complete three different contracts on 42 Edgefield Road. You can only make progress in this challenge when you get the ghost type correct, so precision is key if you want to claim the rewards.

Phasmophobia Detectives Only challenge tips

Detectives Only is one of the most difficult weekly challenges in Phasmophobia, so you might want to know some tips for how you can actually go about identifying the ghost with no actual evidence to base your guess on.

Use No Evidence rules

The Detectives Only challenge is very similar to No Evidence, so any tips you already know about for that mode can be applied here too. Just like the No Evidence challenge, identifying the ghost in Detectives Only is extremely tricky since you can’t actually test for any of the official evidence types and instead have to carefully search for other identifiers.

Pay attention to behaviors and unofficial evidence

Many ghosts have special kinds of evidence and behaviors you can still find even when the challenge rules dictate no evidence. The Mimic is a good example of this since this trickster ghost will always present fake Ghost Orbs, even in this challenge, since this is not one of its official evidence types. So if you see any Ghost Orbs during the Detectives Only challenge, you can mark The Mimic and take off.

Other unofficial evidence and behaviors you can either test or watch for are as follows.

• Salt: If you place Salt and the ghost steps in it, you can rule out a Wraith since this ghost is afraid of it.
• Photos: Try snapping a photo of the ghost. If you get a photo in your journal that is marked as a “ghost photo” but you can’t actually see a ghost in it, then you have likely caught a Phantom. This also means you can rule out a Phantom if you do see a ghost in the photo.
• Lights: Watch out for light sources that are turned on by the ghost including computers, televisions, and general light sources. If the ghost turns any of these on, you can rule out the Mare, which is a darkness-loving ghost. When you turn on a light source and it is immediately shut off, it’s also likely a Mare since most other ghosts wait a while.
• Fuse box: Some behaviors relating to the fuse box can help you identify the ghost.
  • If the ghost turns on the fuse box, you can rule out the Hantu.
  • If the ghost turns off the fuse box, you can rule out the Jinn. Keep in mind that the fuse box can also turn off if too many lights are turned on, so be sure to watch for how and why this occurs since the fuse box could turn off this way while the ghost is a Jinn.

• Early hunt: If you get a ghost hunt early on without purposefully triggering one, you might be able to guess the ghost based on how and why the hunt started.
  • If a hunt began while your sanity was very high, the ghost is probably a Demon. This ghost has a special ability that allows it to hunt at any sanity, even 100 percent. It generally doesn’t hunt until you are at 80 percent or lower, but if it uses its rare ability then it can hunt whenever.
  • If you’ve been talking a lot around the ghost and a hunt happens very early on, it might be a Yokai. Talking by this ghost increases the chance it will initiate a hunt sooner.
  • If three flames have been extinguished, the Ornyo can initiate a hunt at any sanity level.
• Singing: If singing events seem to be happening frequently, it might be a Banshee.
• Sanity changes: The rate at which your sanity changes is a factor that varies with specific ghosts and one you can use to identify them.
  • If your sanity is draining twice as fast as usual after you have witnessed a few ghost events or hunts, the ghost could be a Phantom. This ghost drains your sanity more quickly when you look at it.
  • A door slamming shut or suddenly opening near you can result in a dramatic sanity drain and is indicative of a Yurei.
  • If the fuse box is turned on and you notice around 25 percent of your sanity vanishes seemingly out of nowhere, the ghost might be a Jinn. When the fuse box is on, this ghost has a special ability to zap some of your sanity away.
  • If there have been many singing ghost events and your sanity seems lower than you’d expect, it could be the work of a Banshee. The Banshee can drain more sanity than other ghosts when it performs singing events.
  • A whisper in the Parabolic Microphone followed by a continuous decrease in the rate your sanity drains can be indicative of a Moroi’s curse.
  • Having lots of objects thrown at you plus a higher decrease in sanity than expected may be the work of a Poltergeist.
  • If you experience a ghost event and notice your sanity drains at twice the expected rate, the ghost could be an Oni.

• Airball event: If a ball of white air comes barreling at you, you can rule out an Oni since this ghost is incapable of performing this ghost event.
• Ghost speed: The speed at which the ghost moves can help you identify it.
• Shyness: When the ghost seems super unwilling to do anything, it might be the very shy Shade.
• Activity chart: Some specific strange patterns on the activity chart can be used to identify The Twins depending on what kind of behavior they have performed and how close in time they do so.

Use the Ouija Board

The Ouija Board Cursed Possession will always be present in the Detectives Only challenge, which means you can use it to your advantage. This is a deadly yet powerful tool since using it will immediately trigger a cursed hunt right after, so use it with caution.

There are lots of questions you can ask the Ouija Board, but for this challenge, your best bet will be to ask where the ghost is. A specific room name will be spelled out for you, which will help you determine exactly where the ghost is so you can get to work investigating it.

The Ouija Board spawns in the same place every time, so finding and using this tool is easy enough.