While Dishonored 2 might not be the latest game from Arkane Studios, it’s still an incredibly popular title. We regularly find ourselves diving into the game for yet another playthrough with more stipulations. There are so many possibilities that it’s hard to find a reason not to play. In this guide, we’ll be covering the top ten powers in Dishonored 2, with each one based on how useful they are in the game.
What are Powers?
First, let’s clear up what we’re counting as powers. These are the abilities that will cost you mana to use. They’re the abilities you pick up over the course of the game and enhance with items you find. Anything that sees you doing something supernatural, such as the blink move, counts as a power.
With that out of the way, let’s dive into the top ten.
10 – Agility
Agility increases your ability to jump. You can jump higher and take less damage from falls. You can also use this as a double jump, which lets to reach higher places much faster and more accurately than with blink. This power has the bonus of opening up some incredibly stylish gameplay. Sure, you can get things perfect with blink, but using your own instincts to move around quickly is so much more interesting.
9 – Bonecharm Crafting
For those who like a big payoff after a long grind, this is the ultimate ability for you. In the early stages after picking it, you’ll be underpowered compared to most other runs. However, by the time you’ve maxed out the ability, putting all of your efforts into upgrading it, you’ll be able to do things you could only dream of in other playthroughs. For example, you can combine Bonecharms together to free up space for even more. You could even boost your trait energy so that you can pack more powers into your character, making them way more powerful than they ever have been.
8 – Shadow Kill
Interestingly, this is one of the powers that you can pick up and leave at its base level for the best outcome. Any enemies that you kill who are unaware of your presence will turn to ash. This is no good for a no kill run, but it’s great if you’re sneaking around and killing the bare minimum of enemies. The upper levels you can get will turn all bodies into ash or Bloodfly Swarms. Neither of these is great for stealth, so they’ll actually end up impeding your stealth experience. It’s worth knowing that this is a power you can have and never invest in again for maximum stealth efficiency though.
7 – Shadow Walk
This is a power that’s fantastic for stealth runs. You’re basically invisible from enemies as you transform into a shadowy creature and sneak past undetected. You also have the option to upgrade the power to include a devastating and enhanced attack. This makes you an incredibly impressive killing machine, though again, it’s no good for pure stealth runs if you’re killing everyone. Still, this is a power you can have a lot of fun with.
6 – Domino
This power is basically Emily’s signature move. It links enemies together, causing them to suffer the same fate if one dies or is knocked out. It makes clearing rooms extremely easy, as long as you can get to a decent vantage point. You can link the enemies, hit one with a sleep dart, and then see them all fall. Or, you could link them all to a mirror image of yourself, then kill that mirror image to take all the enemies down.
5 – Lasting Possession
This is an amazing power. It was also in the original Dishonored. It allows you to possess an enemy and walk through areas completely undetected. While your mana will deplete the longer you possess someone, it’s still worth using for a hardcore stealth run. When upgraded, this power can even be used to possess corpses. While that might sound gross, it’s very important when you’re hiding in a room full of guards. No one looks at the corpse as the one who killed the room full of their friends.
4 – Stop Time
This power is easily the most creative of the lot. It’s also Corvo’s signature move if he has to have one. It literally pauses time for a brief period. If you use this as an enemy fires at you, you can pluck the bullet out of the air. You could even move the enemy’s body into the bullet’s path. (https://www.greenbot.com/) The best use of the power is to pause time and sneak through packed rooms. Enemies will be shocked as they see something move through quickly, but they won’t know it’s you. Seriously, this power can be fun when played around with well.
3 – Reflexes
This power is another one that will leave you with very little to start with but make you a powerhouse towards the end of the game. When skilled up, you can improve your parry so much that you can block anything. This includes bullets, bolts, and of course, an incoming sword hit. If you’re tackling the game’s harder difficulties, then you’ll need this. It’ll make everything a lot easier by the time you’re up against the most difficult sections, and that’s exactly what you want.
2 – Doppleganger
While it might have a strange name, this power is very useful. Mostly, this power will let you cause confusion among enemies and let you slip by unnoticed. However, when fully upgraded in the right way, you can spawn two dopplegangers who will fight for you and actively kill enemies. This is almost too powerful in terms of abilities, but they’re needed just to get through the enemies ahead of you on the harder difficulties.
1 – Windblast
If the last thing you want to do is a stealth run, then this is the power for you to be using. It sends a blast of wind at whatever is in front of you. If that’s an enemy, they’re going to be pushed off a ledge, or just very far back. This is the power to use against groups of enemies because it’s so loud that it’ll alert every enemy in the area.
Those are the top ten best powers in Dishonored 2. We hope that this list helps you optimize your next playthrough in some small way.