How to complete the Survival of the Fittest challenge in Phasmophobia

Some Phasmophobia challenges provide you with helpful buffs and modifiers, but the vast majority are designed to be extreme trials that often seem impossible to complete. The Survival of the Fittest challenge is one of the most difficult ones you can face.

In this challenge, you’re working with no sanity, no evidence, and lots of missing equipment. Everything about this trial is incredibly tough, so here’s how to complete the Survival of the Fittest challenge in Phasmophobia.

What is the Survival of the Fittest challenge in Phasmophobia?

The Survival of the Fittest challenge is an extreme trial that occasionally rotates into Phasmophobia as the featured challenge of the week. Just like all other weekly trials, it has a special theme and modifiers to alter how the contract functions.

Survival of the Fittest Phasmophobia challenge rules

Survival of the Fittest is one of the most difficult and complex challenges you can tackle in Phasmophobia because all of its special rules work directly against you. If you want to complete this one, you need to know exactly what you’re in for before attempting to do so.

• The challenge has to be completed on 42 Edgefield Road.
• Your sanity is stuck at zero percent.
• The ghost won’t give you any evidence.
• There is no grace period for setup.
• The fuse box starts turned on and its location is marked on the map.
• You have access to an array of equipment across all three tiers.
  • Tier I: Head Gear, Salt, Crucifix, Spirit Box, Firelight, Incense, and Sound Sensor.
  • Tier II: Motion Sensor, Parabolic Microphone, Igniter, Flashlight, and Photo Camera.
  • Tier III: EMF Reader and Sanity Medication.
• Although you have two Sanity Medication, they do not work for this challenge since your sanity is stuck at zero percent no matter what.
• You’re missing Video Cameras, Tripods, Ultraviolet, Ghost Writing Books, DOTS Projectors, and Thermometers.

How to complete the Survival of the Fittest Phasmophobia weekly challenge

To finish the Survival of the Fittest challenge in Phasmophobia, you need to identify the ghost type at 42 Edgefield Road three times. Once you do, you get to claim $5,000 cash and 5,000 experience. Depending on how many other weekly challenges you’ve completed, you also might earn a couple of Phasmophobia achievements.

Phasmophobia Survival of the Fittest challenge

Even if you have a lot of experience playing Phasmophobia, this is one of the most daunting challenges you can face, so here are some tips you can consider to help make it easier.

Move all equipment to the front door

With no setup grace period and barely anything to work with, you need to make the most of your time, so you might consider starting each of your attempts by moving all the equipment you want to use to the front door.

As soon as you step foot inside, the ghost can technically hunt you right away since you don’t have any sanity or grace period to set up your gear around the map. The contract officially begins the first time you open the door, so you can kind of sneak your way to an advantage if you don’t open the door until you first have all the items you want to use sitting by the front door.

Every second counts, so even though the trek from the truck to the front door on 42 Edgefield Road is shorter than the distance between the front door and the truck on most other maps, it’s still important to seize every advantage you can get.

Play with other ghost hunters

There are many challenges and contracts you can easily complete by yourself, but in the Survival of the Fittest challenge, you really need all the help you can get. The more players you have working alongside you, the better your odds of success.

When you tackle this trial alone, the contract ends as soon as the ghost manages to catch you. But with even just one ally alongside you, your odds increase immensely, as you can continue investigating from the afterlife. If you manage to get a full squad of four ghost hunters, your odds of success are a whole lot higher since you have the buffer of four players to keep the match going as long as possible.

Even if you don’t have friends who play Phasmophobia, you can use the matchmaking feature to find random lobbies to join or host one yourself. This isn’t a challenge you want to face solo, so seek out all the help you can get.

Look for unofficial evidence and ghost behaviors

Since none of the ghosts will give you any actual evidence, the key to success in this trial is picking up on unofficial evidence and general ghost behaviors. You can use the same strategies you might already be familiar with from similar challenges like No Evidence, Apocalypse, and Detectives Only to determine what kind of ghost you’re working with here.

Some types of unofficial evidence you can watch out for in this challenge are as follows.

• Ghost speed: Pay attention to the speed at which the ghost moves because this information can help you identify it.
• Photos: Take a photo of the ghost and check the photo in your journal. If it’s labeled a “ghost photo” but you can’t see a ghost in it, then you have probably found a Phantom. You can also rule out the Phantom if you do see a ghost in the photo.
• Singing: If you hear singing events more frequently than usual, it might be a Banshee.
• Salt: If the ghost steps in Salt, you can rule out the Wraith.

• Airball event: If a floating, misty ball of white air comes at you, you can rule out an Oni. This ghost cannot perform this type of event.
• Activity chart: Some strange patterns on the activity chart can be indicative of The Twins.
• Lights: Look for light sources that the ghost can turn on, including computers, televisions, and other such types of light. When the ghost turns any of these on, you can rule out the Mare. When you activate a light source and it’s turned off pretty quickly, it also might be a Mare since this ghost loves darkness.
• Shyness: If you’re not picking up much activity and don’t seem to be getting hunted as often as you would expect considering you have no sanity, it could be the Shade. This ghost is exceptionally shy and unwilling to do anything.
• Fuse box: Pay attention to the fuse box to possibly identify some ghost behavior.
  • If a ghost turns on the fuse box, you can rule out the Hantu.
  • If a ghost turns off the fuse box, you can rule out the Jinn. The fuse box can also turn off on its own if too many lights are on or flipped on and off at once, so you have to measure this behavior carefully to rule out a Jinn.

Carry Incense at all times

Incense is your best bet for both avoiding hunts and narrowly escaping death in this challenge, so you should always have some ready to go. You can burn the Incense whenever you’re worried a hunt might occur soon or you can use it during a hunt to disorient the ghost for a short period of time to make your getaway.

Learn the map layout

There’s a high likelihood you’ll be hunted at least once if not many more times in this challenge, so one of the best ways to prepare is to learn the map layout beforehand. If you’re familiar with this space, running and hiding during a hunt is a lot easier.

I recommend creating a custom mode where the ghost is friendly so you can explore this map without worrying about hunts. Take note of any hiding spots you like and areas you might be able to loop around to easily evade the ghost. Once you feel confident you know this house, switch modes again to tackle this challenge and it should be a lot easier to finish.