Dishonored 2: Best Powers [Top 10 Abilities]

Unable to get through the enemies? Here are all the Best Dishonored 2 Powers that you need to get in order to breeze through your playthough!

It doesn’t matter if you pick to move through Karnaca as Corvo Attano or Emily Kaldwin; you’ll have access to a unique subset of super-natural abilities in Dishonored 2 that can totally shape what you are capable of and all the crafty aspects you can dispose of, disable or bypass your enemies.

Key Takeaways
  • Dishonored 2 has unique supernatural abilities that differentiate its gameplay from other games.
  • These powers can be unlocked using Runes scattered throughout the game.
  • The powers are divided into the following sections:
    • The best General Powers include Shadow Kill, Agility, and Bone Charm Crafting.
    • The best Emily Kaldwin’s abilities are Shadow Walk and Domino.
    • The best ones from Corvo Attano’s powers are Lasting Possession and Stop Time.
    • Powers for Great Confusion include Reflexes, Doppelgangers, and Windblast.

Best Powers In Dishonored 2

Here is a quick overview of every Best Power in Dishonored 2:

General PowersRuneDescription
Shadow Kill 2Enemies who are not aware meet their demise by turning into ashes upon being killed
Agility 2Higher jumps and less damage from falls
Bone Charm Crafting1Create your very own distinct Bonecharms, with a certain possibility of corruption.
Shadow Walk4Assume a stealthier form for a short time.
Domino4Link human targets so they die or fall unconscious together.
Lasting Possession1Extend duration
Stop Time6Halt time briefly
Reflexes (Improvements)1Use a barrier to divert incoming projectiles
Doppelganger (Emily)4Call forth a spectral version of yourself that lures enemies towards it
Windblast (Corvo)4Unleash a powerful burst of wind capable of shattering doors and redirecting projectiles

General Powers

dishonored 2 powers
Dishonored 2 Powers

Corvo and Emily share the exact same set of Enhancements, passive boons that sound fine but can totally inform your playstyle. Hence, the Dishonored 2 best general powers from my side are:

1. Shadow Kill

To be honest, this will save you a lot of time and level-wide alerts. Dead corpses will turn to ash once you have killed an unsuspecting target, so you won’t have to tuck their body in a hiding spot, and the passersby won’t even notice that someone was killed there. This can still be useful on a Low Chaos run: killing many guards along the way won’t bring Karnaca into turmoil, even if it weighs somewhat on your conscience.

Also, keep in mind that the two upgrades to this power will turn all kills into ash or bodies into bloody swarms,  so sneaking assassins should be fine with just the basic power.

2. Agility

Getting to a higher vantage point always comes in handy; it doesn’t matter if you plan on knocking out a room full of guards or getting all fired up to slice the throats of some high-priority targets to kick off a murderous row. Being at a higher level will make it easy for you to traverse the very vertical level layouts, giving you the edge of vaulting up to the rooftops that were once out of your reach.

No doubt, you could use Far/Blink Reach to enable your access to most heights, but being able to hop up to a ledge with your stealth instincts is greater than the basic run and jump. Also, the extra oomph of a double jump will make it much easier to land on your enemies with the precise pinpoint for quick kill/ stealth knockout.

3. Bone Charm Crafting

This one is ultimate in detained satisfaction. Getting your skills up in the Bonecharm Charming is a great way to modify how you play the game. Trait-Synergy turns incremental buffs of Bonecharms into significant leads once you start stacking your favorite effects.

Although it is very expensive to access, acquiring Craft Runes is your best bet for developing your suite of power beyond the general limits, as you can transform your Bonecharms into Runes slots until later. Also, you can effectively include two Bonecharms into one to save on space.

You may feel a little less powerful initially, but Bonecharm Crafting is specially designed for long-term investment, which is vital for learning more powers and upgrades for later use.

Emily Kaldwin’s Abilities

dishonored 2 emily powers
Emily Kaldwin in Dishonored 2

The Queen of Dunwall has a lot of powers that linger on trickery, where you can set up all types of misdirection or total avoidance. It won’t matter if you’re aiming for a High or Low chaos playthrough; these are the Dishonored 2 best abilities that will constantly come in handy:

1. Shadow Walk

Dishonored 2 made this ability famous way before the actual game was released. This is a shapeshifting one in which Emily moves into a crawling creature of uncontaminated shadow, creeping along the ground and staying passively hidden unless you start running circles around the guard’s feet in rooms that have good lighting.

When fully decked up with Shadow Run and Enhanced Shadow Attack, this ability can turn you into an absolute slaying machine, as you’re almost invincible during all the brutal execution animations – or if you prefer a non-brutal approach, Shadow Walk is still the only choice for slipping by a large group of enemies, then sucking the memories out of whichever poor sap gets covered from the group.

2. Domino

Shadow Walk may be flashy, but Domino feels like Emily’s genuine signature power. Linking up your targets to either brutalized or hit simultaneously is simple, even with Domino’s distant ability; just find a high pole/perch, peer down on your opponents, and start planning all the skillful tricks you can get up to with Domino.

If you’re feeling specifically feisty, try generating a Domino link from an opponent to a mirror image Doppelganger, then implementing yourself to score the kill. Or, link a room of opponents together, shoot one with a Sleep Dart, then loot all their bodies before they hit the ground in their third form of sleeping: snoring.

Corvo Attano’s Abilities

dishonored 2 corvo attano powers
Corvo Attano in Dishonored 2

When it comes to Corvo’s powers, they are almost identical to the set he had in the previous part of Dishonored, but this time, you get to pick and select which upgrades to unlock for the Royal Saviour. Rat flocks are less of a factor in Karnaca than they are in Dunwall, but still, you can roleplay as a death-bringing Pied Piper with the hungry flock. For everything else, try to contemplate a little bit:

1. Lasting Possession

This one is great for stealth, Ghost-Style moments where you aim to pass through properly, undetected. If you Unlock Corpse Possession, the number of potential hiding places in the levels will surely increase.

If you’re really finding a challenge, Lasting Possession is vital for scoring the impressive Circle of Life Trophy/Achievement, where you bob your Possession in between a person, rat, fish, hound, and the blood fly linked to a single activation. Good luck finding the perfect options and sequence to execute it.

2. Stop Time

This one is undoubtedly Corvo’s best ability: A signature power to bend and freeze time. This is a lifesaver; it’ll help you set up all kinds of mystical maneuvers. Throw an unconscious body off a perch, then hit the ammunition right out of the air.

It will allow you to perform simple executions like sneaking past entire armies with ease, and the power to spool time forward step by step can create some memorable moments of hilarity as the surprised guards of citizens react to your existence in shock with their low and slow voices. In terms of pure creative potential for the bizarre murders or exclusions, nothing tops stop time.

Powers For Great Confusion

powers in Dishonored 2
Dishonored 2 Powers Great Confusion

If you’re just looking to see the world burn and are fine with brutalizing anyone and everyone in your vision, these powers will help you well. But if you’re striving towards a stealth playstyle, passing on the following abilities/powers might be best and saving your runes for something extra valuable.

1. Reflexes (Improvements)

Mastering your defensive skills is crucial for survival in challenging battles. Parrying incoming attacks becomes essential when facing a group of enemies; mindlessly slashing is effective only with the element of surprise.

Invest in Superior Deflect to skillfully redirect gunfire and bolts. Leveraging these deflections allows you to eliminate nearby opponents swiftly, proving invaluable in large-scale conflicts. Adept Parry extends the timing windows for parries and ensures a near-perfect success rate.

2. Doppelganger (Emily)

It’s unquestionably neat to enchant a mirror reflection of yourself, though, in training, your Doppelganger can be a tad awkward. If you want to transform Emily into a one-woman army, you’ll need the Deadly Shade and Twin Shades upgrades, which will let you generate two clones that can attack and even kill your opponents.

But for stealth targets, the complexity that Doppelgangers cause among opposition ranks can just as quickly be replicated by a Howling Bolt and a quick Far Reach jump to a high vantage position.

3. Windblast (Corvo)

Sonic Boom, Force Push, whatever you’d like to call it – Windblast is the genuine form to produce an inflammable entry into an all-out carnage because it gives almost zero determination for stealth runs. Windblast can be handled to send unsuspecting victims traveling over the rim of a towering building, or even the differences in a gang-on-one fight if you regularly get surrounded.

That’s a situation you’ll need to get used to because handling Windblast is a surefire idea to inform everyone in the level that there’s a tremendous battle going down on a masked invader, and your opponents will come for you in packs.

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Martin Bell is a News Writer on eXputer who’s been invested in the latest technology and games since the very early years of his childhood. He’s clocked in several hours into CS:GO and other eSports games and is enthusiastic about PC hardware. His passion for gaming and PC hardware shows in the News stories that he breaks for his audience. He is a professional journalist who loves networking with people in the industry to catch the latest scoop before it hits the mainstream media. Experience: 5+ years || Education: Bachelor's in Journalism || Broken 250+ News Stories || Mainly Covers News Articles on eXputer

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