Does anyone have a custom build that they feel is pretty doable and pays pretty well? I'm just wondering what other players do for custom builds. Thank you!

This is an entirely subject thing and pretty much comes down to the player, there are plenty of videos on youtube of players doing 0 sanity, 0 evidence runs for 10x rewards on the normal maps, this really all comes down to the individual player and how well they know the game.

I would say a modified professional is doable for some normal games. A 2x multiplier can be very chill and quite fast (changed in a way to make some things easier and some harder). A 9-10x multipler with No-Evidence and 1 hunt only-runs can also give some decent income. But in the end it highly depends on your skill level and what you're comfortable doing over and over again.

Or if you're only interested in leveling, then doing 15x on Sunny Meadows and just opening and closing the van could also get you 1 level per minute, if your PC can do the full load-cycle in 40 seconds, which is a fast technique with the least amount of effort i've seen so far and which can obviously be done while doing other stuff.

And obviously don't miss out on the weeklies.

Here's a decent setting (based on one suggested by Insym a few version updates ago). If you know how to manage your sanity, and know how to get evidence or tells quickly, it's really doable on the normal maps.

Player:
Starting Sanity: 0
Sanity Pill Restoration: 40
Sanity Drain Speed: 100%
Sprinting: Off
Player Speed: 100
Flashlights: Off
Lose Items on Death: On

Ghost:
Ghost Speed: 150
Roaming Frequency: Low
Changing Favorite Room: None
Interaction Amount: High
Event Frequency: Low
Friendly Ghost: Off
Grace Period: 0
Hunt Duration: High
Kills Extend Hunts: Off
Evidence Given: 3
Fingerprint Chance: 100
Fingerprint Duration: 120

Contract:
Setup Time: 0
Weather: Random (or perhaps Snow, as freezing evidence might be quicker to spot)
Doors Starting Open: High
Number of Hiding Places: None
Sanity Monitor: On
Activity Monitor: On
Fuse Box at Start of Contract: On
Fuse Box Visible on Map: On
Cursed Possessions quantity: 1
Cursed Possession #1: Haunted Mirror

This nets you a 4x multiplier.
You can adjust some settings that don't matter much to higher, but you will get very little benefit as we are keeping 3 evidence so it doesn't give much past 4x (could maybe push to a 4.3x or something, but you'd be really hurting for speed, which kinda defeats the purpose).

The trick is to use two sanity pills right from the get-go so you have 80% sanity.
Then when you walk into the place, use the Haunted Mirror to check the location of the ghost. Immediately top up sanity as needed, and gather evidence.
Since you have 3 evidence, and high activity, it should be pretty quick. Low events so not much to eat at your sanity, depending on a bad run of luck. Both monitors so you can use those to check for ghost tells (sanity drains, twin activity or emf 5, etc).

Risks: Really early hunters (demon, thaye, banshee I think, and mimic doing those) can get you pretty bad. You have no sprint, no hiding spots, long hunts.
Set a custom equipment setting with only the stuff you need (or have a friend bring it all and sit in the van with it, though sanity pills will be worse off).

If all goes well, you should be able to determine the ghost within a couple minutes. Try finding the bone, take some pictures, see if there's any doable objectives, and then move on.
Usually pretty quick, and barring some unlucky situations, should be rather safe.

I don't think the 15x-but-do-nothing trick does anything anymore. Not only guessing the ghost wrong completely destroys your bonus, you have to actually DO something to get points (take a few pictures or get an objective, etc). Last time I immediately stopped a mission (opened, closed the door after I noticed I was missing some equipment), I got a 0 score. 15x 0 is still 0.
Doing a Custom setting that gives you the quickest way to determine the ghost is the way to go. If I could reliably do 2 evidence before risking hunts from sanity drain, I'd push higher than 4x... but getting Nightmare level bonus in sub-5min runs isn't bad (maybe higher if you take a while looking for the bone or doing objectives).

Originally posted by Kaisoku:

I don't think the 15x-but-do-nothing trick does anything anymore. Not only guessing the ghost wrong completely destroys your bonus, you have to actually DO something to get points (take a few pictures or get an objective, etc). Last time I immediately stopped a mission (opened, closed the door after I noticed I was missing some equipment), I got a 0 score. 15x 0 is still 0.

Well yeah, obviously guessing the ghost wrong gives you 0 points, but 1 out of 24 guesses will be correct (that's simply how probability works), which gives you 1500 XP or 15 levels on Sunny Meadows with a 15x multiplier. I can do a single guess in 40 Seconds, which are ~90 guesses per hour or ~3,75 correct ghosts per hour. That's roughly 45-60 levels you can make per hour on average. I've already made 200 levels the past 3 days that way without really doing anything.

Obviously everybody needs to decide themselves, if they want to exploit it or not. It's just an option for those, who might not have the concentration or motivation to put much effort into the game but still want to have some of the higher tier unlocks. I for example do it, if i'm too tired to do proper investigations, when i'm having migraine or if i need to brainstorm for something else and can't put that much effort into it.

Originally posted by Maya-Neko:

Well yeah, obviously guessing the ghost wrong gives you 0 points, but 1 out of 24 guesses will be correct (that's simply how probability works), which gives you 1500 XP or 15 levels on Sunny Meadows with a 15x multiplier.

Ah, that's what you meant! For some reason I was reading loading the map in a minute and 1 level per minute meaning you'd get 1 level per run because of some minor thing was still counting and the 15x was making it give a level's worth of xp, lol.

Getting the occasional 1500 xp makes more sense, yeah. Though it is definitely luck based.
I was doing runs with my wife to try and get the last collectibles (specific bones and cursed items.. hang man is hard to get!), and we were just guessing the ghost at the end. I got it right only once in over 50 runs. Bad luck!

Not sure why, but this subject has piqued my interest...

So, you can get a safe, quick 1/3 a level per minute (35xp) via Cursed Object photo farming.

A quick way to set it up is setting your Custom Difficulty to Apocalypse III, and then make the following adjustments:
Player
- Starting Sanity: 100%
- Sanity Drain Speed: 100%
- Sprinting: On
- Player Speed: 150%
- Flashlights: On
Contract
- Setup time: 300s
- Cursed Possessions Quantity: 7
(they should all fill out underneath)

This should still result in a 1x multiplier.
Pick Sunny Meadows Asylum. Add a single photo camera.
Upon starting the mission, grab the two cameras and the flashlight.
Run to the church and snap all the photos and then leave.

Takes about 45s in mission, with load times still about around a minute or so (I've installed my game on my SSD).
Guaranteed 35xp per mission, and if you guess the ghost right you get 100xp.

If somehow the ghost manages to hunt and kill you (ability?), you lose a single photo camera. Minimum 1 level in about 3-4 minutes (depending on load times).

The 15x luck-based one is still a higher yield, but less guaranteed progress for your time. A bad run of luck could waste an hour for nothing, while the Photo farming will net you about 20 an hour depending on your load times.

Originally posted by Kaisoku:

If somehow the ghost manages to hunt and kill you (ability?), you lose a single photo camera. Minimum 1 level in about 3-4 minutes (depending on load times).

Can't happen. The setup time will supress any kind of hunt, unless a cursed object is used which cancels the setup time.

That said, i would recommend to set the setup time down a littlebit. 60 seconds is more than enough, 120 seconds if you're a littlebit intimidated by the thought of a hunt. That allows you to get a higher multiplier, which in return allows you to get a better reward in case you occassionally guess the ghost correct or stumple upon the bone (i also tried this difficulty and literally the first test had the bone sitting next to the cursed possessions xD)

Originally posted by Kaisoku:

The 15x luck-based one is still a higher yield, but less guaranteed progress for your time. A bad run of luck could waste an hour for nothing, while the Photo farming will net you about 20 an hour depending on your load times.

it's only luck based if you do it for a short amount of time, but it gets calculatable the longe you go. Strategies like this are usually only starting to get important for goals in the thausands. Like i want to have the candles, so that's 1k levels i need to make until the wipe. That's already 16+ hours i would need to spend with the 15x strategy alone, even with bad luck it's unlikely to get over 20 hours with it, maybe 25 hours with horrible luck. No way i would spend 50 hours with the photo strategy here, just because it's more reliable^^

I would go with what Kaisoku suggested with the following changes. Sanity drain speed should be at double, which is normal pro. 1 sanity drain is amateur, you don't need it that low. You can probably just turn sanity to 100% and make pills give 0. You can turn off the activity board as it doesn't do anything if you are in the house. I would keep flashlights on, since having them off is annoying and will make doing everything slower. I would increase event frequency if you want any hope of doing ghost event objective. I would also reduce fingerprint duration, down to even as low as 15 seconds. You can also turn off the power, since you have a flashlight.

If you do all that, you get a higher modifier that isn't any more difficult. In fact I would say it is even easier since you are not fumbling with lights because you don't have a flashlight. For smaller maps you really don't need a cursed item either, though taking the board or mirror might help on larger maps. At the least it makes it faster.

Reducing evidence will increase it a lot as well but that is going to depend on how confident you are.

I use a 5.56x preset, as follows:

Player: Starting sanity 100; Pill resto 0; Sanity drain 200; Sprint off; Player speed 100; Flashlights off; Lose items on death on.

Ghost: Speed 150; Roaming frequency medium; Changing favourite room none; Interaction amount high; Event frequency high; Friendly ghost off; Grace period 0; Hunt duration high; Kills extend off; Evidence given 3; Fingerprint chance 100; Fingerprint duration 60

Contract: Setup time 0; Weather windy; Doors starting open high; Number of hiding places none; Sanity monitor on; Activity monitor on; Fuse at start on; Fuse visible on map off; Cursed possessions 0

Always pick Tanglewood. Take vid cam, dots, book, set it all up at front door/hallway area. Go back to check van for orbs. Get candle, lighter, photo cam. Find bone first, if possible. Usually I figure out where the ghost is while bone hunting. Move cam/dots/book if needed, leave a trail of lights on from ghost room to front door when you go back to check van for orbs/get more items.

At that point it's just a sanity game. I usually stay over 75% and am very rarely hunted. Most rounds take 10 minutes or less, and I get 3-5 levels (depending on what objectives I can do). If you have someone willing to van monkey, you can be less strict about your sanity and it goes even faster.