You have many unique tools at your disposal when hunting ghosts in Phasmophobia. Cursed Objects are some of the most powerful yet dangerous ones with the Monkey Paw being an especially tricky tool to use.
The Monkey Paw can randomly be selected as the chosen Cursed Possession on any map, so knowing how to use it is essential if you need some help investigating. Here’s how to use the Monkey Paw in Phasmophobia.
What is the Monkey Paw in Phasmophobia?
The Monkey Paw is one of the seven Cursed Possessions you can find in Phasmophobia and can be used to trigger various wishes. These wishes can grant many different benefits like discovering the ghost’s location or reviving a fallen friend. This item is shaped like a severed hand and twitches slightly after you pick it up to indicate that it is ready for use.
You can generally find this item sitting on some kind of surface throughout all of Phasmophobia’s playable maps. Since it is fairly small and quite dark, it can be tough to spot, so be sure to scour each map carefully when searching for this item. It only has one possible spawn location around each map, so you can check all of the possible Cursed Object spawn locations to make finding it easier.
What does the Monkey Paw do in Phasmophobia?
The Monkey Paw is a Cursed Object that can be used to grant wishes. All wishes have unique effects, but this item can generally be used to gain knowledge or trigger helpful abilities. The wishes also come with drawbacks, so using them is powerful but sometimes deadly if you’re not careful.
How to use the Monkey Paw in Phasmophobia
To use the Monkey Paw, you need to tell it a specific wish. You can choose to use Phasmophobia’s microphone speech mode, in which case the Monkey Paw responds to your audible wishes, or instead activate the Use button for the text-based UI that allows you to select from the available wishes.
While some equipment like the Ouija Board and Spirit Box comes with no instructions or guidance on what players are able to ask, the Monkey Paw has specific wishes you can discover around the Sunny Meadows Mental Institution map.
All Monkey Paw wishes in Phasmophobia
Here are all of the wishes you can make with the Monkey Paw in Phasmophobia. Each wish also comes with a massive drawback, so you should be aware of and ready for the outcome before you choose to use any of them.
| Wish | Positive effect | Negative effect | Tag location |
|---|---|---|---|
| I wish for activity / I wish the ghost would do something | All ghost activity is doubled for two minutes. | The fuse box breaks permanently and the front door is locked for two minutes. | Chapel |
| I wish for knowledge | One incorrect piece of evidence and one incorrect ghost type are crossed out in the journal. | A hunt is initiated immediately afterward and your sight and sound are dampened until you leave or the ghost kills you. | Restricted Wing |
| I wish to revive my friend / I wish for life | A fallen friend is revived. | The player who makes the wish has a 50 percent chance of dying. | Classroom |
| I wish to be safe | The closest hiding spot opens up. | All lights in the room shatter and for the rest of the round, the ghost can hear and detect the player who made this wish no matter how far away they are. | Left Matron’s Office |
| I wish to see the ghost | A ghost event is initiated, trapping the ghost for five seconds. | The player who makes this wish has their vision obscured by a dark fog and the ghost initiates a cursed hunt. When the hunt ends, normal vision is restored. | Manager’s Office |
| I wish for sanity / I wish to be sane | Every player has their sanity set to 50 percent. | All players lose sanity at a rate of 1.5 percent and the ghost may change its favorite room. | Kitchen |
| I wish to leave | All doors are immediately unlocked, even if a hunt is active. | All players have their speed reduced and vision slightly obscured for five seconds. | Hospital Wing |
| I wish the ghost was trapped / I wish to trap the ghost | Teleports the ghost to its favorite room and traps it there for one minute. The ghost cannot hunt, wander off, or use its abilities for this time period. | All doors around where you are also lock for one minute. After one minute passes, a cursed hunt begins and all doors are unlocked. | Female Dorm Room |
| I wish for clear skies | The weather clears up outside. | All players have their sanity drained by 25 percent and are blinded briefly. | Morgue |
| I wish for snow | It starts snowing outside. | All players have their sanity drained by 25 percent and are blinded briefly. | Morgue |
| I wish for rain | The weather changes to light or heavy rain. This wish has a 50 percent chance of granting either light or heavy rain. | All players have their sanity drained by 25 percent and are blinded briefly. | Morgue |
| I wish for sunrise | The weather changes to a sunrise. | All players have their sanity drained by 25 percent and are blinded briefly. | Morgue |
| I wish for fog | It becomes foggy outside. | All players have their sanity drained by 25 percent and are blinded briefly. | Morgue |
| I wish for anything | The Monkey Paw randomly grants one of the other wishes. | The negative effect of the randomly chosen wish is triggered. | Waiting Room |
All of the wishes you can ask the Monkey Paw can be found on tags in specific rooms around the Sunny Meadows Mental Institution map. You don’t need to find any of the tags to actually use the wishes, though, so you can start using this special item right away if you desire to do so.
I recommend skipping the tag-gathering process entirely since the Sunny Meadows Mental Institution map is massive and quite cluttered. Instead, you can jump straight to using any wish as soon as you find a Monkey Paw, although all the tag locations are listed here too in case you do want to find them yourself.
Others Asked
What makes “The Apocalypse Draws Near” challenge in Phasmophobia particularly difficult?
The challenge is difficult because players start with zero sanity, the ghost’s speed is 150%, there’s no evidence given, and there’s no setup time or hiding places. Additionally, flashlights and UV lights don’t work, and players must complete the challenge on the Sunny Meadows Restricted map.
What special task do players need to complete in the Phasmophobia holiday event?
Players need to gather cookies scattered around each map and feed them to the ghosts to earn special holiday rewards.
What is the method for identifying ghosts in Phasmophobia?
To identify ghosts in Phasmophobia, players use various tools to uncover evidence fitting the ghost’s characteristics. Specifically, each ghost can be identified using three types of evidence out of seven total options: DOTS Projector, EMF Five, Fingerprints (Ultraviolet), Freezing Temperatures, Ghost Orb, Ghost Writing, and Spirit Box.
