There are various ways you can tweak Among Us depending on what type of game you’re looking for, so we’ve suggested some game builds below.
Frantic games:
If you want to play a fast and frenetic game, you should have a quick kill cooldown, lots of short tasks, short discussion time and short voting time, plus confirm ejects off. This build means the game moves very quickly, with less time for debate and long discussions. It also means you’ll never be fully aware if you ejected an Impostor or not until the end of the game. It favors Impostors, though the high amount of short tasks do mean the crew doesn’t have to work as hard to win.
Methodical games:
This style of game is largely the opposite, and if the fun of Among Us comes from the deduction, you’ll favor this. It features either a long kill cooldown or 2 emergency meetings (both together is quite unfair on the Impostors), as well as long discussion time and long voting time. Together, these two categories can clear 2 and half minutes if you really want to get into it, though many players find anything over 90 seconds to be too long. Confirm ejects are a must for these games, as it lets players know if their suspicions were correct. This build favors crewmates, so having more long tasks can address the balance, while including visual tasks goes well with the spirit of deduction.Player speed offers no real advantage either way, but most players seem to favor something between x1 and x1.75, so it’s best to stick with that when starting out.
How many Impostors should I have?
It depends on whether you want to lean into the mystery aspect of the game (in which case, just have one Impostor), or want to a more pressured playthrough (in which case, have more Impostors).
As for group sizes, it’s best to stick to just one Impostor if you have five players or less, and to avoid having three Impostors until you have eight or more players. Of course, a lot of players stick with a solo Impostor even in a ten player game, but you should probably include some of the Lone Impostor settings to keep the balance right.Lone Impostor: With just one Impostor, the crew has a significant advantage. The best way to balance this is to have quick kill cooldowns of 15 seconds or less, long kill distance, only 1 emergency meeting, and Impostor vision should be at least 0.5 higher than crewmate vision, arguably even more.Three Impostors: Here, the Impostors have the advantage. For that reason, you want long kill cooldowns, probably of over 40 seconds, and only a short kill distance. It might be best to stick with just the 1 emergency meeting, as frequent meetings being called can abuse the long kill cooldown and make it too difficult for the Impostors to work. Impostor vision can still be higher, though only by around 0.2. When playing with two Impostors, a balance between these two approaches is advisable.
Six Letter Codes
Earlier versions of the game had four letter codes when joining rooms, or setting one up as host. However, following an update, this was changed to six letter codes. If you still have four letter codes, you will need to update your version of the game to play with people on six letter codes.
General Advice
You want to try and keep a balance between whether your game favors the Impostors or the crewmates.Long meeting cooldowns, short kill cooldowns, no visual tasks, don’t confirm ejects, long kill distance, lots of long tasks and silence during discussions will favor the Impostor. As impostors’ objective is also to sabotage the game rather than complete specific tasks, they may repeat tasks so that they look like they do have a clear objective. Other things to look out for when trying to catch an impostor are randomly pausing, walking away from a body (as they may be the killer), and never calling emergency meetings.Impostors use this ability for killing Cremates, turning them into ghosts (or ending the game, if the Crewmates no longer have a voting majority as a result).The kill cooldown ranges from 10 to 60 seconds, depending on the game options. Upon spawning in for the first time in the match, The Impostor’s kill cooldown starts at 10 seconds from the beginning of the game.After an emergency meeting or the Impostor killing a character, the cooldown will change to that of the in-game options. The kill distance may be short, medium, or long, depending on the game’s options. However, the kill cooldown pauses when The Impostor is in a vent uses a moving platform, a ladder, admin, security, doorlog or vitals; resolves a sabotage; opens the emergency button interface; or opens the customize menu in freeplay , and will only resume when such actions are stopped.While killing someone, the Impostor will teleport towards the target, slicing their body in half and leaving only a bone sticking out. The now-dead Crewmate will become a dead body, which Impostors or other Crewmates can report. Dead bodies will remain on the map until an emergency meeting is called, either by reporting a body or using the emergency button.The opposite of each of those things described above favors the crewmates. If you’re playing a few games together, tweak the settings each time to figure out what balance works for you.
