Part 99

Dishonored 2 skills guide covering Blood Thirst, Bonecharm Crafting, Dark Vision, Devouring Swarm, and Domino.

Blood Thirst (2 runes)

Used By: Corvo, Emily

Upgrades: 3

• Blood Thirst: Use pent-up adrenaline to deal one-hit kills.
• Adrenaline Burst: Build up adrenaline faster.
• Greater Blood Thirst: Kill multiple enemies within range.

Blood Thirst is a fun brawling skill, giving access to adrenaline-fueled instant kills whenever enough certain actions (drop assassinations, sword swings, parrying) are taken in battle. The upgrades all help hone the skill's deadly edge. Players aiming for low chaos have no need for this technique, though.

Bonecharm Crafting (1 rune)

Used By: Corvo, Emily

Upgrades: 5

• Bonecharm Crafting: Can craft charms with some chance of corruption.
• Witch Crafting: Charms w/ 3-4 traits have lower corruption chance.
• Trait Synergy: Use same trait up to 4 times when crafting.
• Master Crafting: No corruption occurs in 3-trait bonecharms.
• Craft Runes: Can use whalebone to make runes, or vice versa.

This skill tree allows players to make personalized bonecharms. To do that, sacrifice bonecharms to earn their skills permanently, then create charms containing up to 4 of those skills. Chances of corruption (charm gains an unwanted extra 'bad' ability) exist, though they can be mitigated as prowess increases.

One of the more interesting techniques is Trait Synergy, allowing charms to have the same ability multiple times. This is of particular interest when a charm relates to ammo recovery (Lucky Needle), movement speed (Swift Shadow), skill utility (Agile Will), and others.

For more info on bonecharm abilities, see that specific section.

Dark Vision (2 runes)

Used By: Corvo, Emily

Upgrades: 3

• Dark Vision: See living beings through walls.
• Greater Dark Vision: See living beings/security/objects thru walls.
• Premonition: Visualize enemy routes and their destinations.

Dark Vision has been toned down a bit since the first game, but it's still very useful. While active, intermittent pulses highlight living beings, even through walls. Its 'greater' upgrade accentuates many more things as well: corpses, books, any loot object, security devices, hidden switches, and so on. Even when nothing's around, the skill's dimming effect acts as a pseudo night vision.

The skill is great for stealth-oriented players. The downside is it's a lot less helpful in bright areas, as its highlighting doesn't show up well near spotlights, some sunlit scenes (especially mission #3), etc. For the other 98% of the time, it'll be just fine, so invest in its 'greater' upgrade as soon as possible. Premonition isn't that useful.

Devouring Swarm (4 runes)

Used By: Corvo

Upgrades: 4

• Devouring Swarm: Summons a ravenous rat swarm that attacks foes.
• Greater Swarm: Swarms contain more rats.
• Rat Piper: Swarms follow one's path, as long as foes are gone.
• Twin Swarms: Can summon two smaller, independent swarms.

Another returning power from the first game, this allows Corvo to summon a vicious swarm of rats that attack nearby living creatures and (assuming they aren't interrupted) completely devour corpses. The upgrades are pretty fun, especially the last two. Rat Piper makes a rat swarm follow one's path when it has no foes, essentially letting them clean up any wave of mutilation. Twin Swarms allows two swarms to exist, which can create extra chaos, though it requires an extra casting.

Although the obvious upside is having no corpses to clean up, Devouring Swarm has other synergies. Summoned rats can be immediately possessed for using pint-sized shortcut tunnels, while certain bonecharms turn rat killing into free health and mana. Some magic-using opponents may be able to turn swarms against the user, however, so don't bother siccing 'em on those types.

That said, since most of the ability's usage is killing-oriented, and the rat swarms may attack indiscriminately, those on Clean Hands playthroughs may not need an extra headache to deal with. It's certainly in the running for most fun power, though!

Domino (4 runes)