Banshee

Banshee
Strength	Focuses on the same player until that player is killed or has left the game
Abilities	Performs singing ghost events more often than other ghost types Frequently roams to target player outside of hunts
Weakness(es)	Cannot kill players other than the target if the target is inside Can produce a unique screech on the parabolic microphone
Evidence

„The singing siren, known for attracting its victims through song. It has been known to single out its prey before making a killing blow.”

—The Journal

The Banshee is a type of ghost in Phasmophobia. Banshees are noted for the distinctive screech that they produce on the Parabolic Microphone, as well as their targeting of only one specific player during hunts.

Behaviour

Activity

The Banshee has a higher chance of performing singing ghost events over other types.

If all of the following conditions are met:

• The ghost event is a singing event,
• The ghost event is targeted towards the hunt target, and
• The hunt target causes the Banshee to disappear prematurely (by going near it);

Then the hunt target's sanity will decrease by 15%, instead of the usual 10%.

Like other ghosts, who the Banshee targets for a ghost event is random and based on distance; being the hunt target by itself does not increase their chance of being the ghost event target.

For female ghosts, there are 2 other singing vocalizations that are not considered true singing events, hence the Banshee's sanity deduction from these is the standard 10%.

When in a D.O.T.S. state, the Banshee will try to move towards its hunt target instead of the nearest player.

The Banshee cannot change favorite rooms by itself in any difficulty. This can be overridden via the sanity wish when using the Monkey Paw.

Abilities

When the Banshee performs a roam outside of hunts, if the hunt target is inside the investigation area, it has a 2/3 (67%) chance of triggering its ability which makes it roam to the target. Unlike the Wraith's and the Phantom's abilities, this will not create any EMF reading. The ability fails if the ghost and the hunt target are on different floors except if:

• The map is Point Hope,
• The Banshee was in a basement or an attic for all other maps.

When a Parabolic Microphone is used, the Banshee has a 33% chance of making a unique shriek-like paranormal sound instead of a regular whisper.

Hunt

At the start of the game a player is randomly selected as the hunt target. If the hunt target leaves the game or dies, a new hunt target will be selected. The new target is not random: the Banshee will select the next alive player in the list (established by the order the players joined the lobby), with the first in this list being the host.

The Banshee's hunt threshold is 50%, but it only checks the target's sanity when trying to hunt, rather than the average sanity like other ghost types, meaning that only the target needs to be at or below 50% sanity for it to attempt to hunt. As a result, the Banshee can appear to start hunting from as high as 87% average sanity, or as low as 12% average sanity, on the Sanity Monitor, depending on the target's current sanity and number of other players.

When a Banshee hunts, it will mostly follow standard hunt rules, but it is unable to detect, and will ignore all players other than its hunt target. It will not attempt to chase other players and is unable to kill them, even if it comes into direct contact with a non-target player, instead passing through them. The Banshee will react to Incense lit by other players within range, but this will not allow for completion of the "Repel a ghost while it is chasing someone" optional objective unless the Banshee is also chasing its target when this occurs.

If the hunt target is outside the building, the Banshee will still use its target's sanity to decide whether to hunt. However, if it does hunt, it will hunt like any other ghost, chasing any opportune player.

Evidence

• Ultraviolet
• Ghost Orb
• D.O.T.S Projector

Strengths and weaknesses

These are the strengths and weaknesses as listed in the journal:

Strength: Banshees will weaken their target before striking.

Weakness: Banshees can sometimes be heard screaming with a parabolic microphone.

Strategies

Identifying the target player of a Banshee both conclusively identifies it and can provide players with a significant edge, such as making hunt-related objectives much easier, and enabling the other players to continue investigating during hunts with impunity, though it is important to note that the target player must be inside the investigation area for this to be applicable. Alternatively, the target player can altogether prevent hunts indefinitely by topping up their sanity with Sanity Medication and staying outside the investigation area to never drop below the hunt threshold, for a completely safe investigation. There are several methods players may use to identify a Banshee's target:

• Banshees will only check for the individual sanity level of the target player when attempting to hunt. If the ghost hunts above the average sanity of 50%, and one or more players are below 50% sanity, then one of them is the target. Likewise, if the ghost refrains from hunting at below 50% average sanity, but one player has high sanity, they can be presumed to be the Banshee's target; be mindful of mistaking it with ghosts that have different hunt sanity thresholds such as Demons or Shades.
• Having players act as "bait" with Incense and/or escape routes ready can definitively identify the target. Bait players should stand in plain sight and attempt to actively attract the ghost, such as talking into the microphone/holding active electronics or letting the ghost spot them; if the ghost ignores them, have another player repeat the process then proceed by elimination until the target is found. Alternatively, if the ghost is already confirmed to be a Banshee, multiple players can do this at the same time, standing separate from each-other and seeing which of them the Banshee rushes for. This method, though more risky, is useful either when the sanity-based method proves inconclusive, or when playing on Nightmare/Insanity difficulty where the Sanity Monitor is not available. Ensure that all players are inside the building when performing this test.
  • Be aware that the Banshee might coincidentally wander towards a player after it has lost sight of its target, especially in hallways or cluttered rooms, giving the impression that it is chasing that player. In that case, observe its line of sight acceleration or attempt to move out of its way to see if the ghost is actively following you.
• Banshees tend to wander towards their target outside of hunts; a player reporting frequent activity or even hunts starting near them and far away from the ghost room is most likely the target. Using motion sensors and salt can help to track the ghost's location.

Note that if the target player dies or disconnects, a new target will be selected. This also applies on Nightmare/Insanity difficulty or when the "Kills extend hunts" setting is turned on: if the Banshee manages to kill its target, it will immediately select another player and continue hunting.

On singleplayer, determining the Banshee by its target ability is impossible, making it much more difficult to identify through behavior alone, so one must rely on other potential tells or pieces of evidence. Using a Parabolic Microphone to pick up its unique vocalization might come in handy, though note that the Banshee only has a chance of producing its shriek instead of a normal whisper, so it mustn't be ruled out if the ghost doesn't produce any screams. Other singleplayer tells include a lot of singing events, and wandering to the player frequently (note that Phantoms also have this ability; theirs will, however, leave an EMF reading while Banshees will not). If the Sanity Monitor is available, touching the ghost during a singing event and checking for the 15% sanity drop instead of 10% is also a viable method. Finally, a Banshee cannot change favorite rooms, though it is much less pronounced than a Goryo, as it can still roam normally compared to a Goryo which does not roam far, and in fact can roam straight to the player, in turn producing activity far away from its favorite room compared to a Goryo's localized activity; Ghost Orbs is a nearly foolproof way to check whether the ghost has changed favorite rooms.

Trivia

• The Banshee is a female spirit in Irish folklore who heralds the death of a family member, usually by wailing or shrieking. A Banshee translates to "woman of the fairy mound" or "fairy woman" in its roots from Ireland. In Phasmophobia, Banshees can be either female or male, as the ghost's gender is randomly chosen.

History

Early Access Alpha
7 March 2020	Banshee footsteps can now be heard by all players instead of just its target.
13 March 2020	Banshee now requires Fingerprints as evidence instead of Bug.
25 March 2020	Removed some sounds that could only be heard by the Banshee's target.
3 July 2020	Banshees now cannot hunt within 5 metres of a crucifix, instead of switching targets when the crucifix is consumed.
15 July 2020	Removed the chance of the Banshee's ability not working on players with high sanity.
26 August 2020	Banshees will no longer hunt if their target is outside the building.
26 August 2020 (Part 2)	Increased the crucifix range for the Banshee to 6 metres.
25 September 2020	Banshees will now hunt like most other ghosts if its target is outside.
29 September 2020	Reverted the crucifix range for the Banshee to 5 metres.
Early Access
0.3.0	Prior to 0.3.0, the evidence was EMF Level 5, Fingerprints, and Freezing Temperatures.
0.5.0	The Banshee's rare ability to hunt at any sanity percentage has been moved to the Demon.
	The Banshee now create a unique paranormal noise on the Parabolic Microphone.
	The Banshee now prefer singing ghost events.
0.5.2.0	Crucifixes no longer have an increased effective range against Banshees.
	Banshees now occasionally walk towards its target's location when not hunting.
	Singing ghost events will now deduct an additional 5% sanity for their target player.
	Whether the Banshee can hunt is now based on its target's sanity.
	Changed the Banshee's special parabolic microphone scream.
0.10.0	Improved Banshee AI targeting when they stalk a player.