hissingwillows wrote:Thanks for the great guide! This has been super helpful.
Not sure if this is applicable to higher elo towns, but I've been stuck in low elo for a while and trying to get out of it. My biggest problem when playing sheriff has always been people, townies included, going "exe??? obvious exe?" when I call out mafia. Lately what I find has helped get town on my side (ESPECIALLY when finding mafia on the first night) is saying something like "Look, I found a mafia member, you want to hear it or are y'all going to accuse me of being exe?". Every time I've tried this (so far), the town quickly demands I give them my find and lynches the mafia. Again, this might not really apply to higher elo, and could totally just be a strategy for lower elo or entirely situational.
The hardest part of low elo games is getting fellow townies to put up suspicious people or get claims, even if there's a couple people pointing out it helps town. Anyone else have tips on how to get them on your side that aren't in the guide? I've had better luck in Ranked Practice trying to convince people to VFR.
You're not wrong, I'm ranked around 2070 elo and I've seen during dead queues some 1300 elo players in my games who are completely "he could be exe" as Town. The counterplay is somewhat dependant on the elo. In high elo, the concept of a conflict is more understood. You post your conflict Day 2, usually whisper to the jailor. Do it ASAP and not late. Just don't expect Town to hang them day 2. State your conflict, town will recognise it, and then proceed with VFR. Your conflict will not go unheard, but it's important to VFR as much as possible (ideally you will get almost everyone to claim and then hang you or the mafia day 2). Beware, if the mafia claims a better role than sheriff (like escort, ret, lookout) it's common they will believe them over you. Don't panic or spam, the next day just interrogate people who you think were defending the mafia or people who you think generally might be evil. Keep playing as town as possible. Write down all claims, track people abstaining/not voting etc.
In low elo, what you said was a good idea. You can also be like "hang me to prove I'm legit" etc. Low elo players are monkeys by nature, so you have to pretend you yourself are a monkey. To them, hanging an executioner's target is the equivalent of losing their family in a car crash. They are scared. Petrified. They will try anything they can to avoid that possibility. Just remind them that a 1 for 1 trade will always benefit town early in the game because of the information you can receive from voting patterns and the fact that evils are weaker when they are smaller, whereas Town has wills and stuff (it's also a bigger % loss for evils).
I used to play sheriff really aggressively, I would just spam and scream until they hanged the mafia. My sheriff winrate as a result was appalling, something like 30-40%. Don't do that. You're limiting the time Town has to gather more information. Be patient, relaxed, and play like a logical townie. Also, never inno the person you found as Mafia. If you 100% know they're evil, then guilty them. You just look evil if you inno the person you're accusing of being bad.
Hope the guide helped, I might update it after my uni exams next month