Werewolf Game Strategy: How to Win as a Villager, a Werewolf and the Seer
Good werewolf game strategy starts with counting, not with reading faces. Most games are decided by three rules: when the werewolves win, what a day with nobody out costs, and the vote that comes last. This page explains those rules, then what to do as each role on night 1, on day 1 and in the endgame. Every tactic is tied to the rules Wolf Village runs. The complete rules explain each role.
Try the seer's opening tonight
The three rules that decide most games
1. The count. The village wins when every werewolf is dead. The werewolves win the moment they equal or outnumber everyone else alive. The minion and the fox count as "everyone else", not as werewolves. There are three exceptions. A jester the village votes out wins alone at once, and a fox still alive takes either win, unless they are in love. Lovers from different sides win as the last two alive, and a werewolf in such a pair doesn't count for the pack. The game checks for a winner after each morning's news and each vote, once any hunter has shot. While the roles of the dead are revealed (on by default), the day screen tells you how many werewolves are still hiding.
2. A day with nobody out still ends in a night. If the village can't agree, nobody leaves, and the werewolves attack as usual. So count before you settle for nobody. Look at how many players are alive this morning:
- An odd number: a day with nobody out leaves the village one vote fewer before the werewolves catch up.
- An even number: it costs no vote, and it gives the seer one more night.
3. The last vote. When everyone else is just one more than the werewolves, a wrong vote loses the game. That is 3 players alive with 1 werewolf, 5 with 2, or 7 with 3. A wrong vote ends the game at once, and a day with nobody out ends it at dawn.
Rules 2 and 3 assume that every attack kills and nobody else dies. A save, the village idiot's card, the witch's poison, the hunter's shot, lovers, the cursed one and the fox can each change the count.
Why votes tie. The vote is a show of hands: on the count of three, everyone points, and someone taps the player with the most votes. The game records only the result. With an even number of hands, or with the werewolves splitting their votes, two players often get the same number. Then the village talks some more and votes again, or lets everyone live. A tie on an odd morning, or at the last vote, helps the werewolves. So name the two players with the most votes and point again between just those two. With a sheriff, the sheriff's vote counts double and breaks ties.
What each role is worth
Wolf Village weighs every card, and the sheriff, by what it is worth to the village, to tell whether a setup is balanced. A villager is worth 1.
| Role | Weight | What it means for strategy |
|---|---|---|
| Seer | +7 | the most valuable card in the game, so the werewolves hunt it |
| Witch | +4 | two potions: one save and one kill |
| Doctor | +3 | a save each night, by default never the same player twice in a row |
| Hunter | +3 | a last shot at any death |
| Sheriff | +2 | a double vote, elected by the village |
| Mason, Village Idiot | +2 each | a trusted pair; a vote that removes nobody |
| Villager | +1 | a vote and a voice |
| Jester, Fox | −1 | they play alone |
| Cupid, Cursed | −3 | lovers die together; the cursed one can join the pack |
| Minion, Werewolf | −6 | the minion is worth as much to the pack as a werewolf |
The seer outweighs a werewolf. So the night is a hunt for the seer, and the day a hunt for the werewolves.
As a villager
Villagers have no power, so their weapons are memory and arithmetic.
- Night 1. In Everyone at once and Pass the phones nights, you take a secret turn too: you pick the player you suspect most. Take as long over it as a seer would over a look. A quick tap can give you away. In a Voice narrator night, keep your eyes closed and stay still.
- Day 1. You know more than you think. The lobby showed the roles in this game. The morning tells you who died, and by default their role. The player the werewolves claimed was not a werewolf, because the pack can't attack its own. Ask people for reasons, not feelings. Remember who pointed at whom: everyone points at once, so each vote is a public record. When a werewolf is voted out and shown, look at who pointed elsewhere.
- Endgame. Count every morning. At the last vote, don't let a tie stand: point again between the top two.
As a werewolf
The werewolves know each other from the start. Survive the days, and remove the village's information at night.
- Night 1. Agree fast. On your own phones, each werewolf picks, and the pack sees each other's picks live ("Sam is eyeing Alex"). If the pack disagrees, the player most of you chose is the victim, and chance breaks a tie. On shared phones with the voice narrator, one tap chooses for the whole pack. With no information yet, take the player whose word the village trusts most.
- After a save. If the morning says the doctor saved your victim, attack the same player again. By default the doctor can't protect the same player two nights in a row. In Classic below 17 players there is no doctor, so a failed attack means the witch used her healing potion, and it is gone.
- In the Fox setup. Your attack does nothing to the fox. If the player you attacked is still alive and the morning mentions no save, that player is the fox. Get the village to vote it out, because a fox alive at the end steals your win.
- Day 1. Talk like a villager, with reasons. Don't defend a packmate too hard. If the vote is going against one of you anyway, pointing at them too can buy you trust.
- Endgame. The count is your friend. At the last vote, a tie is almost a win: if nobody goes out, your attack ends the game at dawn, unless a save, the witch's poison, the hunter's shot or a fox gets in the way. On any odd morning, a tie still costs the village a vote. Avoid voting out a player who claims to be the hunter: the shot comes before the game checks for a winner.
As the seer
The seer is worth more to the village than any other card.
What the look shows. Each night you pick one other player, not yourself, and see the answer at once: "is a werewolf!" or "is not a werewolf." Only a werewolf shows as one, including a cursed one who has turned. The minion, the fox and the cursed one (until they turn) all show as "not a werewolf". In Basic none of those roles is dealt, so "not a werewolf" there means a true friend. Your visions stay on your role card: open the game menu and tap Check my role to see them again.
The seer's opening:
- Night 1. Look at the player whose word the village will trust most. If they are a werewolf, they are the most dangerous one. If not, you have an ally to steer with.
- Day 1. If you found a werewolf in a small game, say so. In Basic with 4 to 6 players there is only one werewolf, so one vote on it wins the game. Otherwise, stay hidden and steer: push suspicion toward your werewolf, and away from your cleared player, without saying why.
- A counter-claim. The lobby lists one seer. So if someone else claims to be the seer, one of you is lying. With the roles of the dead revealed, the vote shows the table who it was.
- Endgame. At the last vote, say everything: each night, each name and each answer. A seer killed tonight still sees tonight's look, but the dead stay silent. A look you never shared is lost.
- In the Fox setup. Your look kills the fox at dawn, though you are told "not a werewolf". The morning says the player has "vanished without a trace" ("Gone at dawn" on screen). If the player you looked at vanishes, they were the fox, and the village no longer has to find it.
As the doctor
The doctor protects one player each night from the werewolves' attack. By default, the doctor may protect themselves, but never the same player two nights in a row, themselves included.
- Night 1. Protect yourself. You are the one player you know is not a werewolf. Then you can't protect yourself on night 2, so choose someone else.
- Day 1. Never say whom you protected. The morning says only that the doctor saved the victim, not who it was. The werewolves know whom they attacked. If you name the player, they know who you are.
- Endgame. If a seer has claimed, protect them, but remember you can't do it two nights running. At the last vote, a save buys the village one more day. Your protection stops only the werewolves' attack: not the witch's poison, the hunter's shot or a broken heart.
In the Fox setup, the doctor can't protect themselves.
As the witch
The witch has two potions, each for one use in the whole game: a heal and a poison. She may use both in one night. She may heal herself, but she can't poison herself.
- Night 1: heal early. At night the witch is shown the werewolves' victim: "Tonight the werewolves attack Sam." The pack can't attack its own, so the victim is not a werewolf (though they could be the minion). A heal keeps a sure non-werewolf in the game. One exception: on shared phones in a Pass the phones night, if the werewolves haven't all played when your turn comes, you decide on the heal without seeing the victim.
- Day 1. Stay hidden. A save tells the werewolves that their attack failed. In Classic below 17 players there is no doctor, so they know the witch healed, and that her heal is gone.
- When to poison: late, and on evidence. The poison kills that same night, and the doctor's protection doesn't stop it. The morning tells everyone that a player was poisoned. A poison on a villager costs the village as much as a wrong vote. So poison a player the seer has named, or a liar the revealed roles have exposed.
- Endgame. The poison wins games at the last vote. With 1 werewolf and 2 others alive, poison the werewolf and the village wins at dawn, even if the attack kills someone, even you (unless it turns a cursed one).
As the minion
The minion is a human who wins with the werewolves. The minion knows who they are, but they don't know the minion. In the Fox setup the host's switch is off, so the minion doesn't know them either.
How the minion hides:
- Night 1. You have no night power. In a pass night you take a secret turn like a villager, so your turn gives nothing away. The werewolves may attack you, because they don't know you.
- Day 1. The seer's look says "not a werewolf" for you, so no look can catch you. That makes you the safest player to claim seer. A false "werewolf" result on a villager can send the vote the wrong way. Each vote spent on you is a vote not spent on a werewolf.
- Endgame. In the count you are a human. In the vote you are a werewolf. With 1 werewolf, the minion and 2 villagers alive, the game isn't over. But two hands against two can tie. After one more attack, the werewolf and the minion outvote the last villager, and the pack wins. The village wins once every werewolf is dead, whether you are alive or not, so protect them.
The hunter, the sheriff and the rest
- Hunter. The hunter shoots one player at any death: by attack, by vote, by poison or by a broken heart. The shot comes before the game checks for a winner. So in the endgame, claim the hunter when the vote turns on you, and name the player you will shoot.
- Sheriff. The village elects a sheriff on day 1, before the talk. The werewolves want the badge, so elect a player the seer's night 1 look could clear. When the sheriff dies, they pass the badge to a living player who can still vote, or throw it away. Their role is shown at death too (by default), which tells you how to read their choice.
- Village Idiot. The first vote against the idiot shows their card and spares them, but they lose their vote. That day nobody leaves, so it counts as a day with nobody out: on an odd morning it costs the village a vote.
- Masons. Two villagers who know each other from the start. Vouching for each other out loud tells the werewolves who you are.
- Cursed. If the werewolves attack the cursed one and nobody saves them, they turn. The morning says so, but not who. That is one fewer human and one more werewolf, with no death: worth two attacks to the pack.
- Jester. If the village votes the jester out, the jester wins alone (unless in love), and everyone else loses, the werewolves included. A player who seems to want the vote may be the jester.
- Fox. Stay alive and stay boring: be the player nobody needs to check. Unless you are in love, the village and the werewolves both need you gone before the end.
- Cupid. When one lover dies, so does the other. Lovers from different sides play only for each other and win as the last two alive. One attack can take two village players.