A huge THANK YOU to community member Tango for writing up this guide, which was originally posted on r/AmongUs.
Preparing yourself (for just in case you need it)
If you don't want to dive into multiplayer right away, Among Us has a single player game mode called Freeplay. It's one of the options available on the start screen, when you boot up the game.
Freeplay mode is a pressure-free environment where you can walk around and explore the map of your choosing, assign yourself tasks, or practice sabotaging/killing/venting as an Impostor.
When you start the game in Freeplay mode, there will be a laptop behind you on a table. Using this laptop you can select which tasks you'd like to do (or mark them as complete), or switch to one of the roles. The Impostor roles are marked red, the crewmate roles are marked cyan.
There will be dummy players spread throughout the map, but they'll be immobile. If you report a dead body or press the emergency button, they will vote at random (which means there's a slight chance of them voting for you, too!). It's possible to win or lose in Freeplay mode, but doing so will simply reset the room.
Playing online
It's a good idea to tell people if you're new to the game. It's not a guarantee they'll go easy on you (telling people you're new is, after all, an "imp strat") but if you have a hard time remembering places or doing tasks, other players might help you explain those things in the lobby or during meetings.
It's also a good idea to stick with another player during the game, who will be able to vouch for you and tell others where you've been. There's a roughly 1 in 5 chance that the person you chose to stick with is an Impostor and you'll end up being among the first to die but hey, it's a learning experience.
Lastly, the most important piece of advice is to just be nice to play with! This is far more important to people than playing with someone who is good at the game. This means: don't disconnect at the start of the game because you didn't get the role you wanted, don't cheat, don't press the emergency button without a reason, and don't insult others when they make mistakes.
Among Us has a fairly gentle learning curve, and it only takes a few rounds to get the gist of it.
Win conditions
| Crew | Impostors |
|---|---|
| Every crewmember has completed every task that was assigned to them | Enough of the crew has been killed off that there's only 1 crewmember left per Impostor |
| or | or |
| All Impostors have been ejected | A critical sabotage (O2 or Reactor meltdown) wasn't fixed in time |
A note on settings
The default setting for Among Us on PC is mouse controls. This does not allow you to walk while looking at the task or sabotage map, nor does it allow you to perform actions while walking.
At the start screen, go to Settings (the cogwheel icon at the bottom) > General > Under "Controls" select Mouse + Keyboard
The default setting for Among Us on mobile is touch, which has the same issues as the default settings for PC mentioned earlier.
At the start screen, go to Settings > General > Under "Controls" select Joystick
Beginner crew tips
First time playing
Being a crewmate is a lot less stressful than being an Impostor. There will always be more crewmates than Impostors in any given game, and the process of trying to find the Impostor is a group effort, so you don't have to shoulder that responsibility all by yourself. If you're playing with more experienced players, you can let them take charge during the investigation while you stick to the easier (but still vital!) role of telling the crew what you did during that round.
When a body gets reported (or an emergency meeting gets called), generally speaking people will want to know the following things:
- Where you were at the moment the body was reported
- Which other players are currently with you
If players want more information from you, they might also ask about the following:
- Which rooms or areas you were in before you reached your final location (your "pathing")
- Which tasks you had
- Which other players you came across
That sounds like a lot of information to keep track of, because it is! Even experienced players don't always have perfect memory of what happened during a round, especially if it was a long one. Saying "I don't remember" is a valid answer, too. If you were sticking close with one person during the round, they will usually help you out, as well.
General gameplay advice
- Don't ever randomly accuse. At least cite a reason, even if it's a bad one.
- Always report bodies during a critical emergency (meaning O2 or Reactor sabotage). The moment a body is reported during an O2/Reactor sabotage, the emergency is immediately cleared. This is not the case with a lights or communications sabotage, which will still need to be fixed afterwards.
- Fix sabotages. Yes, it's a trap to go to electrical to fix the lights, and someone is going to die, so that person might as well be you. That still beats leaving the lights off, which gives the Impostors a huge advantage.
- When reporting a dead body, name the location you found it, and who else you walked past or saw in the area.
- Only Impostors and engineers can use the vents. If you see someone enter or exit a vent and you don't have any engineers in your game, immediately run to the emergency button to call a meeting. If you do have engineers in your game an emergency meeting isn't necessary, but it's still something to keep in mind.
- In games with visual tasks enabled, pay special attention to who you see doing visual tasks - those players are confirmed safe.
- Don’t vote someone out based on an accusation from just one person if nobody else has been able to speak up yet. Give the accused the opportunity to defend themselves, and sometimes accusers lie.
- Stick around people who you know or believe to be safe. Avoid being alone, especially in rooms with a vent.
- Don’t crowd around the same spot with all the other players (this most often happens during the card swipe task on The Skeld, or keys on Polus, or while fixing lights) - this is a free kill for the Impostor.
Tips for finding bodies & catching impostors
- Occasionally check smaller rooms you walk past for dead bodies even if you have no business being in the room itself.
- If you see two players enter an area and one player leaves, check back to see if the other one’s still alive. If you see two players enter an area and nobody leaves, check back to see if either of them got killed and the other one vented.
- Keep track of other players’ movements & suspicious behavior, such as wandering around seemingly aimlessly or faking tasks (someone not standing long enough at a location to finish a task, or attempting to do a common task that isn't on your task list).
- Know which vents lead where. If someone was killed at electrical, the person claiming to have been in the Medbay or Security is also a suspect, especially if they were there by themselves. On the Skeld, the vents between Electrical, Security and the Medbay are directly connected to one another.
- Impostors can’t do tasks, but they can fix their own sabotages. A player fixing a sabotage reflects well on them, but it doesn’t automatically mean they’re safe.
Visual tasks
"Visual tasks" are a unique set of tasks that allow crewmembers to verify their innocence, but only if visual tasks are enabled in the lobby's settings. When visual tasks are enabled, an animation plays during or after these tasks are completed that other players can see. This way nearby players can tell with certainty that the person doing the task isn’t an Impostor.
If a lobby doesn't have visual tasks enabled, they're not meaningfully different from other types of tasks.
- Try to do visual tasks so at least 2 other people can see you do them. However,
- There is a risk involved with saving up all your visual tasks until you need to clear yourself near the end of the game, especially if the task takes a long time to do, or is on the other side of the map. Impostors sometimes claim to have visual tasks (more specifically, Submit scan) to prevent themselves getting voted off and stall for time.
The game has the following visual tasks:
| Map | Task |
|---|---|
| The Skeld | Submit scan (also known as Medbay scan) |
| Empty garbage | |
| Clear asteriods | |
| Prime shields | |
| MIRA HQ | Submit scan |
|
Polus |
Submit scan Clear asteroids |
| Airship |
NONE (The Airship is the only map to not have any visual tasks) |
Common tasks
Common tasks are tasks that are assigned to either every crewmember, or none of them. If you don't have a common task assigned to you, no other player will have it, either. One way to find out if someone is an Impostor or not is by catching them try to fake a common task that isn't on your task list.
The game has the following common tasks:
| Map | Task |
|---|---|
| The Skeld | Fix wiring |
| Swipe card | |
| MIRA HQ | Fix wiring |
| Enter ID code | |
| Polus | Fix wiring |
| Swipe card | |
|
Scan boarding pass Insert keys |
|
| Airship |
Fix wiring Enter ID Code |
Tasks with a countdown timer
These tasks usually take a long time. The important thing to remember is that you don’t have to stand in one place during the whole duration of the countdown, you can leave and complete the task later, after the countdown has finished.
The game has the following tasks with a countdown timer:
| Map | Task |
|---|---|
| The Skeld | Inspect sample |
| MIRA HQ | Ship diagnostics |
| Polus |
Inspect sample Reset router |
| Airship | Develop Photos |
Beginner Impostor tips
First time playing
As Impostor you will want to blend in with the crew and act and talk the same way they do, so you avoid detection. You do this by “faking tasks," which generally means standing still on one location for the duration it would take to finish the task there.
Much of the advice in this section for crewmates applies here as well, with the crucial difference that it's in the crew's best interest to tell the truth about where they've been, while as Impostor you will often need to lie to not place yourself at a murder scene.
But most importantly, don't out your partner(s) to the crew. Having a partner who gets caught immediately or is too scared to kill anyone is frustrating, but having one who rats you out ruins that round for everyone.
General gameplay advice
Killing
- Don’t kill in rooms other people have seen you enter.
- Try not to kill in high traffic areas. You're more likely to get caught, and bodies are likely to be found quicker.
- If every single player is crowded around the exact same spot, it’s a free kill.
- Don’t kill when the cameras are blinking red - this means someone’s watching.
- Use lights sabotage to pick off stragglers, or use lights sabotage after killing someone to help make a clean escape.
Venting
- Impostors can vent - don’t jump in or out of vents in front of other people.
- Other players can’t see you when you’re inside a vent, but you can see them.
- The kill cooldown doesn’t go down when you’re inside a vent, watching cameras, the admin table, vitals, or door logs.
- Don't overuse vents. It messes up your pathing and gives you a higher chance of getting caught.
- Venting activity can be seen on the Admin table, if connected vents are located in rooms. Hallways or open spaces like the outside area on Polus aren't tracked on the table.
- The admin table doesn't show you which player is venting, only that someone is doing it.
Sabotaging
- Sabotage early and often. You’ll learn to strategize with experience, but until then it’s far worse to under-utilize sabotages than to use them too much.
- You can still sabotage after you’ve died. If you play with a more experienced partner, you will want to be careful with this and let them take charge, as both Impostors share the same sabotage cooldown.
- Crewmembers can’t call an emergency meeting when a sabotage hasn’t yet been fixed. If someone catches you venting and is running towards the emergency button, sabotaging something will prevent them from pressing it.
- O2 and reactor are critical sabotages that have to be fixed in time, or the crew loses the game.
- Reporting a dead body instantly clears O2 and reactor meltdowns, but not lights or communications sabotage.
- Use O2 and reactor sabotages to distract the crew or lure them away from dead bodies.
- Impostors can fix their own sabotages. Doing this might make you look more trustworthy and helps with crafting your alibi.
- If a round starts with only 3 people left (with 1 of them being the Impostor), it's practically a guaranteed win for the imp. Don't sabotage the reactor immediately at the start of the round though, in case the crew fixes it before your kill cooldown is finished. Instead wait until there's only a few seconds left on the emergency button cooldown to sabotage. Because checking the button freezes the kill cooldown, instead remember how many seconds there are left for the button, and use your kill cooldown to calculate the moment you need to hit sabotage.
Blending in & crafting alibis
- NEVER try to fake visual tasks if visual tasks are enabled.
- In general try to move to another location after killing someone and make sure other players see you there.
- Only self-report as a last resort, for instance if another player caught you killing someone. Never do this if you have the opportunity to vent or run away. Self reporting makes you look incredibly suspicious, and even if you get away with it the first time, you’re unlikely to get away with it the second. It is however fine to report a body you killed earlier if some time has passed and you’ve been seen elsewhere by other players. It’s even better to bring an eyewitness who can confirm for the rest of the crew that the body was already there when you found it.
- People don’t usually remember what was said during the previous discussion round. They sometimes don’t even remember to vote off the second person if they’ve narrowed down their suspects to the final 2. If it comes down to a 50/50 situation, always try to get the other person voted off first.
- If you make a mistake, make it part of your alibi. E.g.: "Why would I report a body on 5 if I was the Impostor?"
- Never admit guilt. You got caught red handed killing someone and reported? Tell the crew they did it and self-reported. If you're lucky they will not know who to believe and vote you both out, and if you're even luckier they might vote out the other person first.
You & the other Impostor(s)
- Do not betray your Impostor buddy to earn the trust of the rest of the crew, this never works.
- Do not betray your Impostor buddy because you got caught. Even after you get voted out, you’re still on the same team!
- Basicallym don’t throw the other Impostor under the bus, but also don’t go out of your way to cover for their mistakes if they mess up and get caught. If the whole crew agrees that one particular player is most likely the Impostor, going out of your way to defend them might make you look suspicious, too.
Killing priorities
Prioritize killing the following:
- Confirmed innocents - If you end up at a point in the game where there’s only a few players left and someone needs to be voted off, you don’t want to be up against players the other crew trusts, so you will want to get rid of them.
- The person at cameras, admin or door logs - These players keep more close watch of player movement than the rest and can ask difficult questions during discussion rounds, if they’re not the ones sounding the alarm to begin with. Besides that, the rooms these players are in are nearby vents and they’re usually alone.
- Intelligent players - This is the person asking questions and demanding answers. They’re the ones most likely to catch you telling a lie or pressing you on having a weak alibi, or conversely, notice that you’re being awfully quiet.
- Part of a pair - These players stick together and will vouch for each other during discussion rounds, and they’ll convince the rest of the crew to not vote their partner off, either. While often difficult to break up, it is possible using sabotage (especially lights/doors) and if you score a kill with no other eyewitnesses, the surviving player is automatically a primary suspect.
Deprioritize:
(Note that these players often make for easier kills, and this list isn’t to say they should never be killed.)
- Players deemed suspicious - Sacrifice them during voting rounds instead.
- Two players who are hard accusing each other.
- Players who think you’re safe and/or vouched for your innocence
- Dumb or inattentive players - They usually get themselves voted off, and might take others down with them.
- Lone wolves