Phasmophobia‘s weekly challenge system is the best way to tackle new types of trials and test how impressive your ghost-hunting abilities truly are. The Paranormal Paparazzi challenge is one of the many unique ones you can attempt.
If you’re looking to earn a ton of cash and quickly level up, completing weekly challenges is your best bet. But since every challenge looks very different from the rest, it can be rather daunting to tackle each new one. Luckily, this is one of the more straightforward and doable challenges if you learn what it entails, so here’s how to complete the Paranormal Paparazzi challenge in Phasmophobia.
What is the Paranormal Paparazzi challenge in Phasmophobia?
The Paranormal Paparazzi challenge is one of Phasmophobia‘s weekly challenges you can complete for a $5,000 cash prize and 5,000 experience. A different challenge cycles in each week and all challenges can be rotated back in again, so Paranormal Paparazzi will regularly pop up from time to time as it is selected from the pool.
The description for this challenge is, “You’ve got cameras, lights, and sound. Find that ghost type!”
Paranormal Paparazzi Phasmophobia challenge rules
The Paranormal Paparazzi challenge mostly follows the rules of Professional difficulty with a few extra modifiers for the theme. Before tackling this challenge, here are all of the specific rules you need to know about.
- You must complete this task on the Point Hope map.
- The grace setup period is two minutes.
- Your sanity starts at 100 percent.
- The sanity drain speed is 150 percent.
- All screens in the truck are active and working.
- The fuse box is accessible, but it always starts turned off.
- The Monkey Paw Cursed Possession is always available to you.
- There are lots of hiding spots available on the map.
- The challenge loadout does not include Sanity Medication, EMF Readers, Salt, Thermometers, Crucifixes, or Incense.
- The challenge equipment you are given includes a mix of all Tier levels.
- Tier I: Ghost Writing Book and DOTS Projector.
- Tier II: Head Gear, Spirit Box, Sound Sensor, and Parabolic Microphone.
- Tier III: Video Camera, Motion Sensor, Firelight, Igniter, Tripod, Ultraviolet, Flashlight, and Photo Camera.
How to complete the Paranormal Paparazzi Phasmophobia challenge
To complete the Paranormal Paparazzi weekly challenge in Phasmophobia, you must correctly identify what kind of ghost is present on the Point Hope map three different times. You can complete these three games at any point, but to obtain the bonuses associated with this challenge, you need to finish all three matches within the week it is active.
Since you’re missing some key equipment, successfully finishing this task ultimately comes down to a mix of luck and strategy. It’s impossible to identify some types of ghosts with absolute certainty since you can’t actually test for their evidence, so luck plays a big role in how easy or tough this trial is for you.
Phasmophobia Paranormal Paparazzi challenge tips
There’s no way to guarantee you successfully catch the correct ghost type in Paranormal Paparazzi every time since it will be completely random with each contract you tackle, but here are some tips to increase your chances.
Learn the map first
The toughest part of this challenge is the map it takes place on. Point Hope is one of the trickiest spaces to navigate, so it’s a good idea to learn the map before you start trying to tackle this challenge.
I recommend creating a custom match with the friendly ghost option turned on so you can freely explore the entire lighthouse without worrying about the ghost hunting you. Once you feel like you’re familiar with the map, you’ll have a much easier time successfully finishing this trial.
While you’re already playing in a custom match to prepare for this trial, consider learning the locations of all Point Hope Cursed Possessions and completing the Point Hope Ferryman of the Drowned Badge Easter egg. This will not only ensure you’re as prepared as possible for the challenge but also grant you access to a pretty special reward.
Play with friends
Point Hope is officially labeled as a small-sized map, but it has 10 circular floors with plenty of rooms to investigate which means it doesn’t feel small at all. You’ll have a much easier time successfully completing this challenge if you can round up some friends to play with you.
With more than one player, this 10-story home becomes much less daunting since you can get equipment down and cover the entire building more quickly to increase your odds of success. The match also continues as long as one player is still alive, so ghost-hunting with allies means you have a lot more time to investigate even if you perish.
Use Sound Sensors and Motion Sensors to locate the ghost
I’ve found the easiest way to locate the ghost on this map is to use all four Sound Sensors and all four Motion Sensors to pinpoint where the ghost room is. Since you have the Tier II Head Gear, equip it and fill all three slots with only sensors instead of carrying a Flashlight.
Once you’ve got your Head Gear on and three sensors ready to go, head into Point Hope and begin placing them around the map. I recommend starting with one in the living room, one near the middle of the map like in the bathroom or games room, and one near the top of the lighthouse somewhere around the children’s bedroom or patience room. Return to the truck after you get your first three down to grab the other one.
If you’re lucky, you might locate where the ghost is right away upon returning to the truck if any noise or movement is featured on the screens, If not, repeat this process until all of your sensors are placed around the map. Place a Sound Sensor on every other floor or so then place your Motion Sensors on any floors you didn’t cover with a Sound Sensor to have eyes on as many rooms as possible.
You only have a total of eight sensors to work with while there are 10 floors to investigate, so it’s impossible to cover all of them. If none of the sensors you place are picking anything up, head back in and move two of them to the two floors you missed.
Continue to move your sensors around if you aren’t picking up any activity. Usually, though, you should pick up some sound and movement using this method. I’ve always been able to track down the ghost fairly quickly this way. Once all of your sensors are down, you can switch to using a Tier III Flashlight instead if you want to be able to see better as you continue your investigation.
Place Video Cameras and DOTS Projectors as soon as possible
Video Cameras and DOTS Projectors are two powerful pieces of equipment you can use early on to make your Paranormal Paparazzi challenge experience easier. If you’re still struggling to find the ghost room after placing all of your sensors, move on to adding your four video cameras around areas of the map that allow you to see many locations at once.
Some good spots to place them are the living room area, the game room on the fourth floor, the children’s bedroom on the seventh floor, and the bathroom on the fifth floor. You may end up needing to move your cameras around to narrow down the ghost’s location if you’re not picking up much.
If you’re lucky, you might spot Ghost Orbs, witness objects flying, see a door creak open, or otherwise witness ghost activity that can give you a better idea of where the ghost is so you can place your equipment down there. You only have two DOTS Projectors, so it’s generally best to hold off on placing these until you do know where the room is, but throwing them down with cameras can also be a good way to potentially catch evidence early on.
Use other challenge methods to help
Since you don’t have access to all of the gear types in Phasmophobia for this challenge, consider trying other challenge tactics like those you use for the No Evidence challenge or The Apocalypse Draws Near challenge. This means taking into account specific ghost behaviors, hunting patterns, and speed since you don’t have all of your trusty gear to rely on.
Be careful with the Monkey Paw
The Monkey Paw can be a very useful tool, but it can also be deadly if you’re not careful, so be cautious if you choose to use this Cursed Object. Using it too much will result in a cursed hunt which means the ghost will try to kill you.
If you do want to use the Monkey Paw, I recommend wishing for knowledge or wishing for activity. All wishes are quite dangerous and many of them are not worth attempting, but these two can provide very useful information if you’re lucky.
If all else fails, guess, reroll, and try again
Sometimes luck just won’t be on your side, so consider taking an educated guess on the contract you’re stuck on and then reloading to try again. My first round was easy since all three pieces of evidence were ones I could test and it ended up being a Mare as I caught Ghost Orbs, Ghost Writing, and a Spirit Box response, but in my next match, I was unable to get any evidence for what ended up being a Raiju even though I should’ve been able to get some of its required evidence.
Some ghosts will simply be easier to catch than others, and luck plays a massive role in how difficult or easy this challenge is, so just keep trying new contracts until you eventually determine the ghost type for this challenge three times.
Since all challenge gear is provided to you, there’s nothing to lose. You can try this trial as many times as you like without fear of losing equipment or cash, so just keep at it since you’re likely to learn along the way and eventually get it done.
