Few games have the ability to devolve into a friendly shouting match between friends as quickly as Among Us does. The wildly popular game can go a couple of different ways. If the impostors do not do a good job, the game can be quite boring.

However, when the impostors know what they are doing, they can strike fear into the hearts of all the crew members and will cause utter chaos. Nobody watches a murder mystery movie where the killer is easily identifiable. Among Us is the same way. The game is most enjoyable when the impostors keep the crew members on their toes at all times, scared to go anywhere.

Updated November 24, 2023, by Ashely Claudino: Whether playing with friends or entering a match with random players, there's barely ever a dull moment in Among Us. While you can play without thinking too much and simply enjoying the moment, it's also fun to come up with a few strategies to quickly find out who's the impostor or to get rid of the crew as quickly as possible.

We've updated this guide in order to add a few tips for fellow impostors, and we've also made some changes to it easier for readers to navigate through it.

23 Do: Keep Track Of Who Is Around You

Beware Of Your Surroundings

Far too many impostors get tunnel vision; they have one singular purpose, and that's to kill. What they fail to remember is that other players exist. If someone sees you walk into a room with someone and then you leave by yourself, it's obvious that you killed someone. Try to keep track of people in the area around you. If you know most people are on the left side of the map and you see someone alone on the right side, and nobody has seen you recently, feel free to kill them and make a quick escape.

Keeping track of people is a skill that comes from experience and playtime. The more time you spend as an impostor the better you will be at knowing when you can go in for a kill.

22 Don't: Use Vents Too Often

Getting Caught Venting Is A Near Death Sentence In Among Us

Vents are a fantastic way to quickly move around the map. They are an invaluable tool for an impostor when they are used to their full potential. Proper vent usage can be the difference between a win and a loss. However, using vents is always risky. Every single time you drop into one, you're risking somebody seeing you enter or leave it. Get caught going through even one time and your game is finished.

If the Engineer role is turned on, you might be able to convince the crew that you got the job and can vent freely.

21 Do: Have An Alibi

Keep Your Friends Closer And Your Enemies Closer

Whenever a body is found and deliberations begin, everyone starts to say what they were doing and why they couldn't be the killer. As the impostor who killed someone, it is imperative that you have an excuse.

When making up an alibi it is important to consider where other people are. If you say you were in electrical, but someone else was there, you'll be caught red-handed. Try not to be the first person to speak and base your lie on what others are saying.

20 Don't: Be Kill Happy

Slow And Steady Wins The Race

One mistake newer impostors make is playing the game like it is a team deathmatch. They try to end the game just as quickly as it started. Don't be afraid to slow it down a little and take some time to make a plan. A round is longer than you think it is. Spend some time trying to blend in and get a feel for how the game is going before starting to pick off the crew one by one.

When you're killing players recklessly, there's a higher chance that you'll get caught, as opposed to taking your time and striking when you know it's safe to do so.

19 Do: Remember To Sabotage

Play All Your Cards

As an impostor, you have tools to make your life easier. Remembering to sabotage in Among Us allows you to manipulate the map to your advantage. Doing something as simple as turning off the lights can give you the edge you need to pick up a quick kill or two with minimal risk involved. Turning off the lights severely restricts the crew's ability to see, meaning that you can kill with near impunity.

There are multiple forms of sabotage, such as taking away oxygen, setting a timer for the ship to blow up, closing doors, and more. All of them are useful to the impostors. Using the right sabotage at the right time can be game-winning.

18 Don't: Fake Visual Tasks

Advanced Players Can Tell If You're Faking A Task

If the Visual Tasks setting is on, it's much easier to verify who is a crewmate. There are certain tasks, such as the ones that require you to perform a scan in Medbay or take out the trash in Storage, that play visual animations, making it possible for everyone on the ship to identify you as a crewmate.

If you're an impostor, you won't have any tasks at all, which means you can't perform visual tasks. This way, if you're standing near the trash take-out area but the visual tasks animation won't play, it's a dead giveaway that you're an impostor.

17 Do: Memorize All Tasks

Stand Near Task Locations Whenever Possible

As you become more acquainted with the game, you'll start to know which tasks can be performed in each area of the map; the same goes for everyone else on the ship. Standing idle near locations where there are no tasks is extremely suspicious since anyone who has played more than a few dozen games will be able to identify whether you're completing a task or faking it.

If you memorize most of the tasks available on each map, you will be able to easily pretend to complete tasks in just about any room. However, be sure to keep an eye on the completed tasks bar on the upper left corner of the screen.

16 Don't: Talk Too Much

Keep Quiet If You Can

Some impostors are guilty of talking themselves into an early death. They feel the need to prove their innocence so much, that they overshare and raise suspicion. A good impostor only says what they need to say to stay alive. During group discussions, you should focus on stating your alibi and lowering your suspicion as much as possible. Try not to accuse others too often because what usually ends up happening is that people will decide to vote off one accused, but if they were innocent, then they'll vote off the accuser next.

The saying, "anything you say can and will be used against you," holds true in Among Us. Learning when to stay quiet is a crucial skill for an impostor.

15 Do: Sabotage The Reactor And Oxygen

Take Them Out Any Way You Can

One of the most useful tools in an impostor's arsenal is the ability to sabotage the work of the other players, but it's a careful process that has to be done right. Sabotaging left, right, and center will make it obvious that you aren't doing other things, but a clever imposter will make good use of sabotaging the Reactor and the oxygen.

Both of these tasks are not easily ignored by players, they're a great way to hinder progress, find people, and prevent other players from calling an emergency meeting. If you have had trouble isolating people to finish off, pretending to rush off to fix a catastrophe can easily land you alone with an unsuspecting victim.

14 Don't: Take Charge In Emergency Meetings

Don't Get Yourself Into A Pickle

As much as you can say too little in an emergency meeting, it is also possible to say too much. A guilty man babbles, and if you always take command in meetings and try to immediately deflect blame onto other people without answering questions yourself, people will start to take notice.

This little-known trick is good for crewmates as well: if you've not run into other players in a while, rather than asking what they have been up to, volunteer what you have been doing. Regardless of your role, being too hasty to decry your innocence could get you thrown out the airlock faster than you can say "I saw orange vent!"

13 Do: Gain Someone's Trust

Make Friends That Can Back You Up

An excellent strategy is to follow someone around for a short while and not kill them. They will most likely vouch for you if there was a scenario where you easily could've killed them without being caught but didn't. Having an unknowing ally on the crew side helps alleviate some suspicion aimed in your direction. You can even trick them into vouching for you by vouching for them first.

In a game where people inherently distrust everyone, tricking someone into gaining your trust is a priceless resource that can protect you for a long time and help lead you toward an easy win.

12 Don't: Spend Too Long In Admin Or Security

Don't Waste Time

Using the vents to sneak around the maps and popping into Security and Cams to see where your wayward crewmates might be is a good way to advance the game if you're having trouble getting kills. However, these tasks, as well as accessing the Admin console, can also make it harder to get kills.

When you're in a vent or accessing some kind of panel, your kill cooldown counter doesn't go down. So while you might have sat happily in a vent for the last thirty seconds or so waiting to pass by, you might find yourself leaping out and going "aha!", only to have egg not just on your helmet, but also on your face.

11 Do: Talk During Emergency Meetings

Be Sure To Ask Questions And Seem Interested In Finding The Impostor

While it is easy to imagine that you can't damn yourself if you say nothing at all, keeping completely silent during Emergency Meetings and dead body reports can land you in just as much hot water. After all, it can seem a little bit 'sus' if everybody else is clamoring to prove their innocence, and you are notably silent.

When it comes time for players to try to work out who the impostor may be, take care to be involved in the conversation. Listen to what is said, have your cover story straight, and be ready to back up other players in the hopes that they will remember your aid and return the favor. And if somebody asks you a question, try not to stammer.

10 Don't: Stack Kills

It's A Risky Strategy

Stack killing is the act of killing someone when everyone is piled onto one square, making it impossible to know who did it. There are a few problems with this. First, it puts suspicion on everyone in the room, which is a double-edged sword for the impostor. The biggest problem is that veteran players are waiting for the stack kill.

People will bait the impostor by faking a stack and moving off of it to see who the killer is. Stack killing is a high-risk play with little reward. A stack kill is at best one free kill, but the risk and amount of suspicion it puts on everyone in the area makes it a poor choice against good players.

9 Do: Work With Your Teammate

Teammate Is Crucial

As an impostor, you have a friend to work with. Using your co-op partner to its full potential is a skill that can elevate your impostor gameplay. People tend to try to find somebody to group up with to stay safe since an impostor has a kill cooldown. If you and your partner stay together, other players may feel safe around you.

If you're well-coordinated, you can your teammate can take out two players at once, which is both super effective and cool. Remembering that Among Us is a team game is crucial to becoming a better impostor. Your teammate is an asset that needs to be used to win.

8 Don't: Follow Players Too Closely

Don't Scare The Crewmates

If your cooldown timer is almost up, it can be tempting to change your course and follow somebody who has been alone for a long time. But if you don't succeed in catching them unawares before the alarm is called or somebody reports the other body you left behind, then "you're sus."

This kind of behavior is commonly referred to as camping, and it is not only annoying but also a waste of your time. It makes you look sketchy, keeps you from well-timed sabotage missions, and might lose you an easy kill if you've been trailing one crewmate and ignoring everybody else. Next thing you know, they'll have all the tasks done and you'll be feeling pretty embarrassed.

7 Do: Keep Track Of What You've 'Done'

Don't Repeat Fake Tasks

If you're not a very good liar, then being the impostor is not going to be your strongest play. In scenarios like this, it's important to have a list of 'truths' that you can bring out to confirm your innocence.

After all, the first time around, everyone might believe you if you say you were busy fixing wires and didn't see the imposter. However, if you say that you were on wires the second time around, too, you risk sounding like you're either a very unhelpful crewmate or a very forgetful impostor. Map out your supposed tasks list in your head, and don't just stick to it in meetings — try to travel around that way, too. No sense saying you were in Weapons if someone else saw you in Storage when the body was found...

6 Don't: Ignore Dead Bodies

Self-Report If You Have To

Many impostors tend to ignore dead bodies on the ground and not report them. The problem with that is if someone sees you leave a room and then they go in and find a body, you will be the prime suspect. However, if you report it, people are less likely to think that you're the impostor. Try not to report everybody you see though, as that becomes suspicious.

Reporting bodies can lead to your suspicion level being lowered or even someone innocent being voted off the ship. Knowing when to report a body is a powerful tool that should not be overlooked.

5 Do: Learn Your Map Well

Memorize Every Room

Being the impostor means you’re going to have to lie to the other crewmates about your identity. Winning impostors are always great at seamlessly hiding their true identities from unsuspecting crewmates.

If you learn the map you’re playing on, this will be essential to your impostor victory. You will start seeing where the crewmates most often gather and learn where tasks are located on a specific map. You can then fake tasks by standing next to the task location, convincing other crewmates that you’re safe to be around.

4 Don't: Push The Blame On Crewmates

False Accusations Can Get You Caught

Jumping too hard to blame another crewmate can be your downfall as the impostor. It’s important to fake the sense of teamwork good crewmates have. This means that you must strategize when you accuse another crewmate and why.

When a crewmate accuses you of being the impostor, most often blaming another random crewmate will not help. The crewmate who accused you has already made up their mind about you being guilty, and your job is to convince everyone else of your innocence. If the other crewmates believe you’re looking out for the safety of the entire team, they’re more likely to trust you.