Investigator

Mechanics
When investigating someone, the receives a message which includes a target's possible roles. Below lists the possible investigative results in Classic Salem since Version 2.0.0.6501:


 * ,, or.
 * ,, or.
 * ,, or.
 * ,, or.
 * ,, or.
 * ,, or.
 * ,, or.
 * ,, or.
 * ,, or.
 * ,, or.
 * ,, or.

In the Coven Expansion DLC, some new roles were added to the investigative results. They are listed below:
 * ,, , , or.
 * ,, , , or.
 * ,, , , or.
 * ,, , or.
 * ,, , or.
 * ,, , or.
 * ,, or /.
 * ,, , or.
 * ,, , or.
 * ,, , , or.
 * ,, , or.

However, there are some exceptions to an 's results:
 * If the investigates a disguised, they will get the investigative results of the role of the person said  had disguised as.
 * If the investigates a person who is framed by a  or hexed by a  the person will display under the /'s investigative results.
 * If the investigates a person who is doused, they will get the 's investigative results.
 * If the investigates a, no result will appear.

Surviving as an

 * Always consider if it's worth exposing yourself as an, and how many players are left in the game, as well as what roles are left. Once other players know you are an , you will become a target, or some sort of priority to the . But if you know that you have roles, revealing yourself as an  early and giving everyone information about suspicious evils can help the  win.
 * Make sure to do your best not to reveal who the are, as you could end up making them a target for kill-capable  and . Remember that simply posting in your  that someone is good may lead experienced evil players to conclude that the said person is important (e.g. you put that someone is a confirmed ).

Note: This equation may not be correct due to the addition of the new roles in the Town of Salem: The Coven expansion.
 * Using math to figure out roles for a given Role List can give the a much greater insight. Take the old Ranked list and the result ',, , , or ' as example: (Ignoring the Any slot, as it has negligible influence, and assuming the  has already been identified)  can only appear as , as 1 of 7 roles, so the chance of there being a  in game is 14%. A  can occur as one of the  slots. There are 5  roles, so on the first role there is an 80% chance that there is no . If the 'locked role' was  or , the next slot has a 75% chance of not being  (3/4), otherwise an 80% (4/5). This results in a total chance of 62% of 'two not-', aka 38% for '1 or 2 '. If you now take the 14% of  and the 38% for  and scale them up to a sum of 100%, you get the exact chance that an investigated / is role X. In this case, its 26% for said person to be a  and 74% for said person to be a . Note that his values are exclusively correct the moment you get the investigation result on Night 1. Every single revealed role changes the ratios (i.e. if a target is cleaned, the chance for a  in the game raises from 17 to 100, turning the investigation odds to 60% /40% ).
 * A less complicated and precise version of the math strategy is simply counting the kinds of roles left and seeing which has a higher probability. For example, if someone is "//". However, both roles are already dead. Thus, there is a higher chance the person is  since the slot of being  or  in the  slot and Any slot is much smaller. However, beware that the townies you accuse of being evil might be actually filling the  and Any slot.
 * As of the Coven DLC, the probabilities of each role are changed. Adjust your math accordingly.


 * The is much more powerful in Classic Mode due to not all the roles being available. Here is a list of all results in Classic Mode that reveal more than you think:
 * ,, or -  or
 * ,, or -  or
 * ,, , or framed - , , or framed
 * ,, or -
 * ,, or -  or
 * ,, or -  or
 * ,, or -  or
 * ,, or -  or
 * ,, , or doused - or
 * All other results not listed are no different in Classic Mode than they are otherwise.
 * Always investigate people who claim any roles that seem suspicious. Sometimes,, , and even a may pose as a victorious , a , or even a.


 * If there is a - work together. At daytime, discuss with each other about who you are both going to visit. At night, both of you choose the same person. For example, if the 's investigation says your target is not suspicious and yours says that they are the,  or , that person is definitely a.
 * However, this can backfire, as a, , , , or can interrupt your plan. Also, if you both visit a  on alert, both of you will die. A  can also use your information to help the.
 * Because there may be a in the game, the  can try to trick real  to make  think you are  instead. To avoid this, make sure you wrote your  properly and in the exact order of your investigation result. Writing investigation results in a different order may lead other  to think you are a poorly-played.
 * Write the best will you can. You can make or break a game depending on your will. Consider leaving out important roles though, as the will probably target them the second they get their hands on your will in a way such as a 's cleaning.
 * If you receive a result with possible good and bad roles, try to ask what their role is. For example, if you received something like ",, ", ask the person their role. If they say a role you didn't get, for example, that they are a or refuse to reveal, they might be a  or  trying to keep suspicion off of themselves.
 * You should write down any claims people make about their roles, and investigate them later; catching someone lying about their role is an easy way to determine that they're evil.

Dealing with Results

 * The first thing you need to know is that you need to keep up with the updates. For example a player who last played in 2014 would get confused of the new changes and will ask questions to the town, in which will be a give away to evil roles.
 * Even if you find a or  on the first night, don't immediately tell  about it. Claims on the first two days make anyone seem like an, and even if you manage to hang the player, the  or a  will try to attack you as soon as possible, preventing you from discovering more. It is best to wait, writing everything in your  and whispering to known . You can decide to reveal yourself on Day 3 or later, but a Day 2 reveal is generally unwise.
 * A can be the downfall of an  since they wipe out wills, revealing them only to the  (or possibly the ). If this is a threat to you, try to find good roles. Finding a  or a  and whispering your findings to them will allow the  to retain your findings after you being cleaned, if the person you whisper to is trusted by the other . This works especially well with the ; an informed  is a lethal one.
 * In the Town of Salem - The Coven (DLC), results tend to be much more broad due to the added roles.


 * Remember to record the roles people have "claimed" in your, not just what you discover through your investigation; catching lies is one of your main roles. Under most circumstances, members have no reason to lie about their roles.


 * Someone appeared to be ",, or "? Take account if there were any deaths by or . If there weren't, the person is most likely a  or a  who decided to only shoot people with enough proof. Also, most games (like Classic Mode and Ranked Practice) just have one , so if there is a known , it's easy to see the.
 * If there's no in the graveyard, and the  dies, investigate that player again. If their results don't change, they're a proven  to you. If they show up as,  or , they are most likely a  promoted to a  but there is always the chance that they were doused after your first check.


 * If someone is shown as ", or ", remember that they might be framed. If you're unsure, you can visit them later to see if you get the same result.
 * However, know that sometimes the will frame the same person throughout the entire game. If you do think that he is getting framed, tell a  to check him and see if anyone visits him, as you check him again.
 * Framed people always come up as to a . Therefore, if a  investigates someone and finds them not suspicious the same night that you investigate them and get a result of ",, ", then they must be a  or ; they cannot have been framed.
 * If it's impossible for there to be a, it is dangerous for the to lynch them, since they might be a . However, a  or  can bypass this by executing or shooting them; provided it's impossible for there to be a , there's no risk of them being a  member.


 * If someone has come up as //, and has started to whisper to seemingly random people, investigate the people they whisper to. It could be an unknowingly leading you to the people they are planning to join later.
 * If someone has come up as /// in a match, they may have been hexed. If a has found them as not suspicious the same night, they're either a  or a . If they come up as, they're either a hexed  or a . It is impossible to tell because, unlike frames, hexes don't wear off.
 * If someone claims, you can investigate them to catch them trying to get away easily to the end. If someone claims but comes up with ///, they are likely a  or  trying to hide their night immunity, however, it is possible that they are doused.
 * If no result appears, and you were not role blocked and your target was not in jail, than your target is a.
 * If your target was purged by a, all hexes and douses will wear off, giving you more accurate investigation results and signaling that they did not have doused or hexed investigation results.

Fake-Claiming
is a relatively easy role to fake-claim (in terms of difficulty to, it is comparable to ), as many will out themselves and their role to throw suspicion onto someone else or even get someone lynched. It is an especially powerful fake-claim as well because people expect evils to claim easier fake-claims, and you can throw suspicion onto someone claiming, , or another hard-to-prove, easy-to-claim role, and in some cases, force mis-lynches.

Have the on people trying hard to get someone lynched, especially as, as they may be an. If someone announces "X is " in a binary fashion, they are probably, or fake-claiming. Pay attention to people whispering a lot, and asking for roles, as this is common for trying to narrow down results (You may use this strategy to your advantage if you prove yourself as . Claim you are narrowing down investigative results, and they will most likely go along with it.). Silent players are most likely the, , or trying to stay under the radar, but they may be just a player who is normally silent.

Another useful tool for fake-claims is when  out themselves as their role to try and get someone lynched. If the lynch is not successful, or suspicion is cast on them for Bussing, you can "confirm" their claim. A problem with this is that when the person dies and their role was false, you may be outed as a fake.

A great help for fake claims that aren't a  is a  revealing. Claiming to have investigated them before they revealed puts a confirmed bit of information into your will which nobody can claim is false.

One way to fake claim as is by using the graveyard. Use the graveyard to get their roles and scramble up when you investigated them so you can have investigated them on different nights when they were alive. Of course, smart will see that your  lists only dead  and may call you out. Another way of doing this is through a mix of graveyard and claims. When someone claims it normally is what is in their investigative result so you should be safe there. But if you are not sure, just list them as framed or doused.

If you aren't sure on what to put for a certain player's role (eg: you were asked to investigate player X to prove yourself), put in the framed results. You can then pretend they were framed, which can buy you another day if there is no. If you are asked to investigate them again you can pretend the "" is framing whoever you are asked to investigate so you can't prove yourself to the.

Similar strategies can be used for hexes and douses.

If someone claims and posts their will, check the order of the results. If they are not in the correct order (e.g., , , or ) that player is most likely a who forgot the order of Investigation results for people they have interrogated.

Trivia
Patch 2.2.0.8155 swapped the investigative results for the  and so that it was more balanced for a  in non- ranked games.
 * Prior to Version 1.5.11.5389, there were different investigative results. They were removed because they were considered unbalanced and made gameplay difficult for certain roles.
 * The results listed below were the results following the balance change, but before the Town of Salem - The Coven (DLC).
 * According to a poll made by Naru2008 the is the fourth most loved role in Town of Salem with 192 votes as their favorite, the main reasoning being that those users loved validating claims and opening (or closing) claimspace.