How do you use incense in Phasmophobia? If you didn't already know, smudge sticks, or incense, are neatly tied herbs used for healing or warding off evil spirits. In real life, they can contain all manner of ingredients from rosemary to garlic, and they're often wafted through the air once lit to rid the area of a bad aura.

Using smudge sticks in Phasmophobia can be your key to staying alive - if you're lucky. Not only does using incense pop up in some objectives, but it can also be used to help identify some of the 24 Phasmo ghost types or even buy yourself some time during a deadly ghost hunt. Here's how it works.

How do you use incense in Phasmophobia?

To use Phasmophobia incense, you must first be holding the smudge stick in your hand and have an igniter in your inventory. To light the stick, simply hit the interact button when holding it or when looking at one placed on a surface.

Luckily, an igniter doesn't take up inventory space, so you can still be holding two other items as well as this and the incense stick. Once lit, the incense automatically burns down, and it can of course only be used once, so be careful when you use it. You can carry up to four per job, but they cost $15 a piece.

Incense is one of the hardest items to use correctly in Phasmophobia, as you can't just light it and wait. With each stick only burning for five to seven seconds, you have to time it right. Usually, this will be when a ghost starts a hunt. Incense won't stop it, but it will disable it briefly, giving you a chance to make a run for it. You can also use incense to prevent a ghost from hunting for up to 90 seconds (180 for a Spirit), but the ghost must be within range of the smudge stick when lit, so this can be hard to get right.

Which ghosts react to incense?

Some ghosts have special behaviours when it comes to smudge sticks. While this isn't classed as a type of evidence, it can be used to help identify the ghost type you're dealing with.

The most notable is a Yurei, which returns to its ghost room when incense is burned nearby. This can be one way to test if a Yurei is present.

Spirits and Demons both react differently to incense when it comes to using the sticks to prevent hunts. While all other ghosts are blocked from hunting for 90 seconds, Demons are only stopped for 80, while Spirits cannot hunt for massive 180 seconds.

Smudge objectives

Another use for incense in Phasmophobia is in job objectives. These objectives vary for each investigation, and three appear in the van at the start of each job. Rarely, and only once you have unlocked incense, you may get the following objectives:

  • Cleanse the area near the ghost using Incense
  • Repel the Ghost with Incense while it's chasing someone

Completing these objectives get you extra money at the end of the job, but it's often not enough to worth risking your life, so only do it when you think you're safe or if you're playing with a team.

So, smudge sticks in Phasmophobia can help get you out of a jam, or mellow out a ghost while you scout for clues during an investigation. They do burn pretty quickly, though, so use them sparingly. If you need something else to keep the ghosts at bay, check out our guide to using a crucifix in Phasmophobia and all the questions you can ask on a ouija board. If texting ghosts isn't your jam then use the undead equivalent of Discord and try these spirit box commands instead.