Among Us has skyrocketed in popularity to a high enough level that InnerSloth has canceled a sequel to fully focus solely on the original game. This is actually a wise move as many players are dedicated to blending in as a stealthy Impostor, or using all sorts of abilities and tasks to keep Mira’s mission on track.
Players may have experience on either team’s side, but might not yet realize some greater options each map contains. By using abilities specific to The Skeld, Mira HQ, and Polus, Crewmates can have an easier time identifying and defeating the Impostors. Still, once Impostors master this knowledge themselves, they too can use Map Abilities against the Crewmates.
Map Abilities to Catch Impostors in Among Us
Map Abilities can be used as a means of catching Impostors in the act or confirming that Crewmates are aiding the mission. While manning these stations can be helpful for meetings, it can also bog down task progress. They should mostly be a secondary priority, mostly used to gain more concrete knowledge about suspects.
Know Locations with Admin
Within Admin will be a console that shows the entire map and everyone’s location. However, no names or colors are visible. This can be helpful to corroborate alibis of where people claim they were and what tasks they were pursuing or catch liars red-handed. It can also spot when an Impostor has warped across the map by using vents.
Admin can very often also be used to identify when someone is killed and who their killer might be. If a pair or trio has been consistently traveling together, and suddenly one of their icons disappears, one of the survivors may be an Impostor.
Spotting with Security Camera
The Security rooms on The Skeld and Polus allow players to monitor various halls and rooms around the map; Mira HQ has no camera. The Skeld, all cameras are viewed simultaneously on a single screen. For Polus, players will need to manually switch between camera views, making due diligence very important. The cameras can be used to catch when Impostors kill in the area, may be faking, or have traveled along the vents. Remember, if one color shows up on one camera and then suddenly warps to another, they have to be a vented Impostor.
Monitoring Vitals
On Polus, next to the Office is a console to view all players’ vital signs. Green signifies that they are alive, red that they have recently died, and grey that they died some time ago. Red will gradually turn grey if someone stays at the panel. Additionally, if a player quits the match they will show as grey. The most obvious use of this is if one has spotted a pair or larger group together. If one vital sign has suddenly gone red, it may be easier to narrow down suspects. Additionally, it can be used to see deaths that have gone a long time without being reported.
Vitals is weaker evidence than other abilities, but it can still be used to reinforce findings from either Admin or Security.
Tracking the Doorlog
On Mira HQ is the Communications room. Within is a console containing a log with everyone who has traveled between the tri-intersection on the north-east of the map. Each of the three paths corresponds to a different color: green for southwest, orange for southeast, and blue for north. This data can be used to confirm where Crewmates have gone to work on tasks, or even narrow down the list of Impostors when the log shows that they went (or came from) the same direction as a found corpse.
More importantly, it can be used to pinpoint when an Impostor has skipped around via vents. If the log shows inconsistent movement - such as someone going north but being within the west of Mira HQ (or even not being on record at all) - they may be an Impostor. However, the Doorlog has the limitation of not showing which direction someone came from, only that they crossed the sensor.
Evading and Manipulating Map Abilities in Among Us
While Crewmates can attempt to use Map Abilities to flush out their enemies, there is plenty Impostors can do to thwart these actions. Each type of ability shows imperfect information, which can allow Impostors to bend the truth or gamble on a risky maneuver. Crewmates that hunker down at a console are also prime targets. All of the map consoles can also be accessed by Impostors, making it possibly to fully sway people with the actual truth.
Shift Blame via Admin
First, it is important to remember that Admin cannot determine players’ names or correct color (everyone shows as generic yellow). This can actually be used to great effect to place blame on others who moved to rooms that Imposter players were previously at, or implicate paired teams when one of them is ambushed. The Admin console is fully accessible to Impostors, allowing one to spot a secluded victim and quickly use the vents to kill them.
Additionally, in games with multiple Impostors one of them can continually return to Admin and clear their allies with lies confirming innocence. Or an even sneakier play would be to purposely rat out other Impostors with accurate Admin information and earn trust among the Crewmates.
Dodging Security
While security cameras monitor a large breadth, there are certain signs to allow getting around them. First, whenever someone is manning the Security console the corresponding camera will have a noticeable red light. When this happens, it is import to resume normal Crewmate behavior and resist killing or vents even if there is a clear opportunity. On Polus, it is easier to take risks, as Crewmates can only watch a single camera at a time.
However, cameras also have blind spots that may allow Impostors to commit violent acts without being spotted. Sabotaging Communications will also disable any camera until repaired. As with Admin, Security can be used by Impostors to falsely clear their allies of wrong doings or refute a Crewmate’s own story.
Vital Ambushing
Vitals can actually be manipulated in a manner to be extremely deadly in a crowd. Because Crewmates use Vitals as a means of identify Impostors hiding in a pair, it may actually be beneficial to purposely target these teams. Either use vent movement to suddenly sneak up on them, or attack while bypassing in tight hallways. Polus also contains several decontamination rooms, where players will be waylaid for a few seconds and make them easier targets.
A good trick will be to overlap with as many players as possible, making it hard to be singled out even when publicly executing a Crewmate.
Tricking the Doorlog
The Doorlog may seem like an obstacle, but there are several ways to overcome it. The first option is to always accurately go through the correct sensor, even if one had previously used the vents. This may require backtracking through the vents and then logging consistent sensor movement. The sensors will also only record movement once before entering a five-second cooldown. Impostors may want to purposely follow a Crewmate, or even pair with each other to claim that they just missed the sensor’s window. Additionally, the Doorlog only contains the last 20 entries, which can also allow Impostors to simply state that their movement scrolled off.
Among Us is available for PC, iOS, and Android.