Tarot Cards in Phasmophobia: A Comprehensive Guide

In Phasmophobia, Tarot Cards are a unique cursed possession that can significantly impact your ghost hunting experience. These cards offer a variety of effects, ranging from triggering ghost interactions to directly affecting the player's sanity or even causing instant death. Understanding how Tarot Cards work and what each card represents is crucial for any serious Phasmophobia investigator.

Similar to other cursed possessions, the Tarot Cards will spawn randomly. You may not always get this item during an investigation, but if you do, they can trigger ghost interactions or affect the player directly. Each card has its own draw rate, so you may get repeats in the same deck.

Tarot Card Basics

During Phasmophobia contracts Tarot Cards have a 1 in 7 chance of being the cursed possession during that contract. They will have one specific spawn location on each unique map. There are 10 cards that can be drawn. You can receive multiple of the same card type in one deck, such as drawing The Sun twice. Different card types will have different and independent chances of being drawn, The Hanged Man being the lowest.

Once all 10 Tarot Cards have been used there will be no more to use or any more given. When all the Tarot Cards have been used all hunts that occur in the future will be extended by 20 seconds, even if no Tarot Cards that cause hunts are drawn. Each Tarot Card will have a unique effect on either the player or the ghost. The card once used will burn up and disappear leaving a colored flame that will be dependent on the card type.

You can only draw the cards within the investigation area for them to be used and work. There is a method that can be used to use Tarot Cards outside of the investigation area, but this is not an intended feature. To do this stand at an Exit Door enter the door and quickly leave while drawing a card in the process. This will make the card take effect and will still use up 1 card. If the card you draw is the Death card, then the hunt that would be caused from that card will not occur. Note that the Hanged Man card will still take effect regardless of where the player that used the card is.

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How to Use Tarot Cards

If players find Tarot Cards, they will be given a deck of 10 randomly generated cards. There are 10 possible card types the player can draw, each having a unique effect on either the player or the ghost. After being used, each card will burn up and vanish in a uniquely-colored flame.

Explore the investigation area, paying close attention to the floor and tables. Make sure to stay in the investigation area. Right-click on your mouse to draw a card. Each card deck has 10 randomly generated cards. You can stop drawing at any point, or you can draw all 10 cards.

Once the Tarot Cards have been located pick them up using your pick up key-bind(E) once in hand you can draw one card by pressing right mouse click. Repeat until all cards have been used.

It is recommended to use one card at a time and analyze what is occurring as you may potentially make contracts more difficult, if not dangerous. You can take a picture of the Tarot Cards for extra money.

When a card is used, it will burn in a colored smoke. Once all ten cards have been used, no more will be given to the player for that contract. As a cursed possession, tarot cards have a 1 in 7 chance per contract of being chosen as the cursed possession to spawn on a default difficulty (except Insanity), with one specific spawn location per map. Tarot cards can be picked up with an empty hand and one card can be drawn at a time.

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Though tarot cards cannot be drawn outside of the investigation area, this can be bypassed by drawing a card and walking outside of an exit door during the card-pulling animation.

Cursed Possessions often carry as much risk as reward during investigations in Phasmophobia and Tarot Cards are a prime example. If you come across the Tarot Cards during your contract, it is best to use them in a safe location on the map such as near a hiding spot or the entrance. Each Tarot Card has its own unique ability that will immediately take effect upon use.

However, sometimes a card will turn out to be The Fool (similar to a Joker) and no effect occurs. You can draw up to 10 cards from the deck altogether, and doing so will not drain sanity. Some Cursed Objects are safer to use than others, depending on their abilities, and it’s up to you and/or your party to decide whether to use them or not. There is no penalty for not doing so, but no reward-related bonus if you do.

Only one Cursed Possession will spawn on the map per contract (unless you alter it in Custom settings), and each type will always spawn in the same specific location.

The Tarot Cards and Their Effects

There are 10 unique cards that can be drawn, but each card has a different draw chance. When a Tarot Card is drawn, it will vanish in a colored flame.

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Here's a breakdown of each card and its effect:

Card	Draw Chance	Effect
The Tower	20%	Causes a ghost interaction and increases activity for 20 seconds. The card once used will burn blue.
The Devil	20%	Gives or takes away sanity: Green = +25% sanity, Red = -25% sanity. This card will either give the player + 25% sanity if the card burns green, or will take 25% sanity if the card burns red.
The Fool	Unknown	No effect. This card has the ability to disguise itself as another card. When drawn, this will appear as a randomly selected card before turning into The Fool. When this card is drawn no effect is applied. This card will burn light purple. During hunts you should not draw any extra cards as all cards drawn will turn into The Fool which makes them all have no effect.
Death	10%	Initiates a cursed hunt. This card will trigger a cursed hunt. When drawn this card will burn purple. Drawing a Death card initiates a cursed hunt. Cursed hunts cannot be prevented, examples of this would be using cursed possessions such as Tarot cards or the Voodoo Doll.
The Hermit	10%	Triggers a Ghost Event towards a player. This card will trigger a ghost event towards the nearest player to the ghost. When drawn this card will burn pink.
The Hanged Man	1%	Instantly kills the player. This card will instantly kill the player. This card will also apply even if the player is outside the investigation area. This card only affects the player that draws it. When drawn this card will not have a burn color. It is impossible to draw the real version of this card if the 'Friendly Ghost' custom difficulty option is turned on.
The Moon	5%	Immediately drops the player's sanity to 0%. Lower sanity will increase several aspects of the game such as the frequency of ghost events, hunts and flickering lights making them more common. When drawn this card will burn white before the effect applies.
The Sun	Unknown	Fully restores the player's sanity level to 100%. This Tarot Card will restore the players sanity to 100%. Higher sanity will prevent the frequency of ghost events, hunts and flickering lights. When drawn this card will burn yellow before the effect applies.
The High Priestess	Unknown	Revives a dead player at random. This Tarot Card will revive a random chosen dead player at their corpse where they died. if no one is dead at the time of the card being drawn, the next player that dies will be revived. Multiple cards will not stack. If a player is killed during a hunt and is revived, they cannot be killed again in the same hunt. If you are playing solo this card will revive you after you die. This card will burn light yellow before the effect applies.
The Wheel of Fortune	Unknown	If the card burns green, the player gains 25% sanity. If the card burns red, the player loses 25% sanity. Having lower sanity will make ghost events, hunts and flickering lights more common while having higher sanity will reduce the frequency of ghost events, hunts and flickering lights.
The Empress	Unknown	Teleports the ghost back to its "room" and traps it there for one minute. This card will teleport the ghost back to it's ghost room and will trap it there for 1 minute. This does not affect hunts. This will make it easier to locate the ghost. When drawn this card will burn cyan. Forces the ghost to walk to its favorite room and prevents it from roaming out for 1 minute.

Each card has its own draw rate, so you may get repeats in the same deck.

The Tower is one of the most common cards at a 20% draw rate. When this card is drawn, it will cause a ghost interaction and increase activity for 20 seconds. Ghosts can interact with objects, doors, electronics, and more. If you have a D.O.T.S. Projector, you may be able to see the ghost.

With the same draw rate as The Tower, this card can either help or harm you. If the card burns green, you'll get 25% sanity, but if the card burns red, you'll lose 25% sanity.

At a 10% draw rate, this card triggers a Ghost Event towards a player. In most cases, this will affect the player closest to the ghost.

At a 5% draw chance, this card will immediately drop the player's sanity to 0%. When your sanity is low, you become the ghost's top target.

As the opposite of The Moon, this card fully restores the player's sanity level to 100%, regardless of the starting level.

If you're nearing the end of your investigation and have a few teammates dead, this card will resurrect a player at random. If no player on your team is dead, this card will instantly revive the next player who dies. Keep in mind that if a player dies and is revived during the same hunt, they won't be killed again until the next hunt.

At a 1% draw chance, this card is the rarest and deadliest card to pull. When drawn, the player is killed instantly.

You'll usually find the ghost interacting with the objects in the room, fingerprints, freezing temperatures, or others.

This is similar to a regular hunt, but it will ignore any hunt cooldowns and sanity thresholds.

The ghost room is the specific room that is favored by the ghost.

That concludes how to use Tarot Cards in Phasmophobia.

Thanks for reading our article! If you’d like to learn more about spirituality, check out our in-depth interview with Jennifer McVey, Cht. ↑ Jennifer McVey, Cht. Spiritual Director.

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