Town of Salem Tips Guide - 7 Things the Game Doesn't Tell You

If you manage to log in to Town of Salem with no issues, you’re pretty much thrown into the deep end straight away. The game does explain some basics, the in-game menu lists all of the roles for you to peruse, but ultimately it does very little in the ways of actually teaching you how to play the game well. Thankfully I had some friends help get me up to speed before I started and today I’d like to do the same for you. Here are seven Town of Salem tips for all of you new players.

Dont Use Your Username if You’re Playing With Friends

This shouldn’t really be a huge surprise. Like with any board game with hidden roles, it’s generally advantageous if your friends can’t figure out who you are based on your reactions. For example, if you have a habit of getting quiet when you’re the Godfather, your friends can use that against you. They can’t do that, however, if you keep changing your name before every Town of Salem match. Make it hard for them to figure you out. You never know which of your friends will end up being Mafia.

A smaller, but equally important tip is to not use the same cosmetics every game. If you always have a fox pet, that makes it easy for folks to identify who you are.

There Are a Bunch of Roles You May Not Know About

Even if you’re playing vanilla Town of Salem, there are a lot of roles that have a small chance of appearing outside of the normal ones. For example, the Retributionist can revive a single person after they’ve been killed. The Transporter can really mess up plans, swapping any two players for a single night. With a Transporter in the game it’s entirely possible for a member of the Mafia to kill one of their own allies!

The official Town of Salem website has a quick explanation of each role. Be prepared for any of them!

Don’t Expect Them to Be in Most Games — An Investigator Lesson

That said, many of the roles in Town of Salem won’t appear in most standard games. Some roles will always appear like the Escort, Doctor, Investigator, Sheriff, and Medium. Others are about a 50-50 coin flip such as the Veteran and Vigilante. The ones we mentioned above have a very, very small chance of appearing. For the most part, you don’t need to plan for them unless something happens to indicate there’s one in the town.

This is especially important if you’re the Investigator. Each night you’ll be able to check out on player in the game. After the night ends, the game will tell you three different potential roles they could be. Like we said, there are certain roles that show up more frequently. If the game shows Mafioso, Crusader, and Trapper, chances are they’re Mafioso. The same can be said for evil roles. Even though they don’t show up in standard games, the Investigator might suggest a Vampire or Werewolf as a possibility. Take this information as a freebie since they won’t appear in standard matches!

You Can Influence Your Role by Purchasing Scrolls

Tired of getting roles you don’t like? The Town of Salem in-game store actually has scrolls you can buy for 800 Silver or 200 Gold. When equipped, these increase the chances of getting a specific role should it appear in the game. They do not make it more likely for the role to appear. With how rare some roles are, fans of the less common roles usually run scrolls so they have a better chance of getting it should it finally appear.

Scrolls do not disappear until they are consumed and you play the role the scroll is for. You only need to purchase a new one once it has fulfilled its functionality.

Dont Give Away Your Role, Even if You’re a Townie

The entire point of Town of Salem is to figure out everyone’s role and remove the opposition. For the Mafia, this means killing the most useful members of the town. This means the Jailor, Sheriff, Veteran, and any other role that can kill them in the night. Other roles are less useful, but even so you should strive to keep your role secret until you absolutely must reveal details. Basically, don’t say who you are until the town is thinking about putting you on the stand.

Write Notes in Your Last Will, Not Your Notes Section

The game gives you two different sections to write in, three if you’re the Mafia. While you can absolutely put important information in your notes section, these are completely private. It’s common for innocent members of the town to track their activities in their last will. This way, should they die, that information becomes public knowledge.

If you’re an Escort, for instance, it’s helpful to jot down who you’re visiting each night. Put this info in the will before the night ends. Should you visit someone and end up getting killed, the town will know who to blame.

Stick Around After You Die

Finally, just some advice on being a good sport. Don’t leave the game once you’ve died. In Town of Salem the Medium can speak to the dead at night. If you’re killed by someone before you get a chance to put that in your will, you can tell it to the Medium afterward. Without dead players the Medium role is entirely useless. Don’t ruin someone else’s game just because you’re too impatient to stick around and see if your side pulls out the victory.

Have any other important tips for fellow Town of Salem-ers? Leave them in the comments below!