Board Thread:Off-Topic Posts/@comment-37468018-20181111170930

This is the Current Meta for all roles and factions in Ranked (Vanilla) Town of Salem. If I'm wrong, correct me.

Imagine every sentence starting with "In the current meta,"

Town - Town has become more aggressive. They will kill their own members to confirm a Random Town spot, and are constantly claiming their role immediately and posting their will.

Jailor - Jailor's now claim day one, and expect TP, LO, Spy, and Escort on them to confirm roles. As the Jailor, the fate of the game usually rests in your hands, you can kill all the evils in the game, and are given the highest protection by the Town. Every night your interrogations escalate, and being aggressive is usually the way to go.

1.) Passive is not an option - If someone does not claim they are executed. If someone did not CC a claim, they are probably executed. If a will is late or false, immediate execution. Jailors are now ruthless and have no mercy. Generally, if a Sheriff or Lookout finds the mafia on day one, check the people who didn't vote those people up, they are typically mafia in denial about their partners dying. Ask all TI's to claim immediately, because TI claims later can easily mislead you.

2.) The real leader of the town - If you claim day one, you are almost guaranteed to live onto d2. Most people will whisper you their roles. This means you know the most out of all the Townies, you know the inner-workings of the Town. Vigilantes will ask you who to shoot, and for good reason, you do know who they should shoot. Your executes, aside from lynching, are the most powerful asset to the Town, so use them wisely. Let lynching kill suspicious people.

Sheriff - Sheriff's are one of the most powerful roles in the Town if used correctly. As the Sheriff, your main goal is to eliminate the Mafia, which you are quite capable of doing. You can't fool a Sheriff, aside from a few things, so having an easy check is always valuable. If you know what you're doing, you're almost assured to find a member of the Mafia by night three.

1.) Lynching is not what's powerful - If you or a different Sheriff/Lookout manage to get lucky and find a Mafia member on the first or second night, pay attention to who votes for them, you will usually find a mafia member.

2.) Two faults - There are three main obstacles for a Sheriff. The first is being mistaken for an Executioner. This, contrary to popular belief, isn't as much of a pressing issue anymore. Most townies are willing to take the risk to find a member of the Mafia and confirming NE is good for them anyway. The second is a Framer. A smart Framer can completely trick you, but lucky for you, those are very rare. Usually, Framers won't know where to start, so this isn't a huge factor. The main issue, however, is the Godfather. The Godfather has Detection Immunity, so your ability is completely useless against them. This means that each "NS" can't be completely trusted, and make sure to keep this in mind, because many Sheriffs will check the Godfather N1 or N2 and be convinced they are safe until the end of the game.

3.) Suspicion - Unfortunately, a Sheriff is very easy to fake, so many evil players will claim to be a Sheriff, making you more suspicious. The only real way to separate yourself from the crowd in this department is to stay loyal to the jailor, vote accusations, and/or find a member of the mafia. While these are things you must usually do, you have to be more wary of it while being the Sheriff.

Investigator - Investigator isn't the most powerful TI, but the idea of the Investigator makes it one. Cutting 16 roles to claim down to 1 or 2 is ridiculous, but some Mafia is so afraid of the presence of a Mafia member that will be stuck as a Vigilante or Bodyguard forever. Remember that, unlike most other TI's, you confirm Town just as often as you confirm Mafia, so you're a less aggressive role.

1.) Shoot first - There is only really one current strategy for an Investigator, which is asking for a players role in a whisper or the beginning of the day. If they claim something outside of your result, you know they're evil. If they claim within their result, out them and wait for cc's. Depending on how many there are, kill them. The problem with this strategy is that many evils are aware of it, so they will often claim within their result and proceed to feed on a passive TK or TP who doesn't cc. So be careful.

Spy - Spies are one of the most important roles in the town, but also one of the most suspicious claim. Simply put it, bugs are useless. Your real ability is seeing Mafia Visits. First of all your MUST claim at the very beginning of day one, otherwise you are very suspicious. The simple reason for this is that any member of the Mafia can mimic your ability flawlessly, so you aren't necessarily special. To separate yourself, you must place suspicion off of yourself.

1.) Passive - Unlike almost every other current role in the game, you don't need to be aggressive to have your voice be heard, simply claiming spy and sharing your will is plenty of info for the town. Being aggressive doesn't exactly help you much in many different ways. You do have a small shield because you can't really 'confirm' yourself so there will always be a haze of suspicion around you. Just be sure to constantly remind the town of your info and you'll do fine.

2.) Confirming others - Your most powerful ability is confirming other Town members. Anyone visited is confirmed not-maf, not confirmed because of Neutrals, but confirmed not Maf. You can easily confirm an Escort by confirming if a Mafia Visit was to someone who claimed to be roleblocked, and you can easily confirm if a Consig is phony by seeing if mafia visits line up with their will, although this is less common.

3.) Random Mafia's - A common issue for town is telling apart the RM's. Just remember to ask who was visited what happened to them. If nothing, a Framer, Disguiser, or Consgiere is on the loose. If blackmailed or blocked, it's a simple Blackmailer or Consort. If it was a x2 to the person who died, it's a Janitor if the person was cleaned, or it's a Forger/Disguiser depending on the will. As soon as you find the RM's the deception and power the mafia has diminishes.

4.) Suspicion - Unfortunately, a Spy is very easy to fake for the mafia, so many evil players will claim to be a Spy, making you more suspicious. The only real way to separate yourself from the crowd in this department is to stay loyal to the jailor, vote accusations, and/or find have different results compared to other spies. In the last one mentioned, let yourself be hanged. A trade-off between a Town and Mafia is always good unless it's Jailor.

Lookout - The most powerful TI, easily. The Lookout confirms roles and is almost like a TP. If you stay on Jailor, you're golden.

1.) Indirect Power - while the lookout used to find Mafia visiting a player who is dead, now the Lookout finds if a fake will doesn't add up. If the Werewolf claims that they were a Doctor and on the Jailor night one, you can confirm if this is true. If not it's an easy kill. If so, they are almost confirmed

2.) Priority - What will often happen is, the Mafia wants to kill the Jailor. So they have to kill the TP, so they have to kill you. While you're the first to go, this is fine, because the TP and Jailor are more imporatant then you. Just remember to be important while you're alive

Other roles coming soon. 