Dishonored: Complete Guide

A full guide to the original Dishonored (2012): how stealth, powers and Chaos really work, which powers and bone charms to buy, a mission-by-mission outline with non-lethal solutions for every target, achievement advice, and the DLC.

Researched September 2026 — current as of the final PC release (Game of the Year content with all DLC; the game is no longer patched). Live games change; check the linked sources if something differs.

Quick Start

1. Decide your run before Mission 1. Low Chaos (few kills) and High Chaos (lots of killing) change the city, dialogue, and ending. A first run on low Chaos is the "intended" story.
2. Upgrade Blink first. The Outsider gives you Blink for free; spend your first runes upgrading it to Blink 2 (longer range). It is the most important tool in the game.
3. Sleep darts and chokeholds are your non-lethal kit. Grab an enemy from behind and hold to choke them out; hide the body where others will not find it.
4. Hide every body. Unconscious or dead, a discovered body raises alarms. Bodies left in water or near rats can die, which counts as a kill.
5. Use the Heart. Equip it to point you to runes and bone charms; use it on characters for secrets.
6. Runes buy powers, bone charms add perks. There are 40 bone charms; you can activate three at first, and upgrades raise that to six (per Wikipedia).
7. Every target has a non-lethal option. You never have to kill a mission target.
8. Save often, in multiple slots. Quicksave before risky moves; keep a manual save at the start of each mission.
9. Look up. Rooftops, balconies and pipes are almost always safer than streets.
10. Chaos is about kills, not detection. You can be seen and still be low Chaos; killing lots of people is what pushes High Chaos.

Core Mechanics

Stealth

• Enemies have a detection meter shown by marks above their heads. Break line of sight quickly and they return to patrol.
• Crouching makes you quieter and harder to see. Running is loud.
• Leaning around corners (hold the lean key and strafe) lets you peek without exposing your body.
• Light matters less than line of sight; hiding behind objects is what counts.
• Doors can be peeked through keyholes.

Chaos

Chaos is calculated from how many people you kill (and some other violence). It affects:

• How many rats and plague-afflicted Weepers appear in later missions.
• How guards and allies react to you.
• Emily's behavior and drawings.
• The ending and final mission tone.

Low Chaos requires keeping kills low across the whole game; the final mission is noticeably calmer in low Chaos. Killing a mission target by assassination does count toward Chaos, which is why non-lethal eliminations matter.

Powers (Runes)

Enhancements (passives) are Agility (higher jumps and better mobility; level 2 adds more), Blood Thirsty (adrenaline-powered combat finishers), Vitality (more health) and Shadow Kill (enemies you kill turn to ash, so no bodies to hide).

Suggested rune order, stealth: Blink 2, Dark Vision 1, Agility 1, Bend Time 1, Possession 1, then Agility 2 and Possession 2. Suggested rune order, combat: Blink 2, Bend Time 1, Blood Thirsty, Vitality, Windblast or Devouring Swarm, Shadow Kill.

Bone Charms

There are 40 bone charms scattered through the missions (the Occultist achievement is for collecting 10). You can activate three at first and upgrade to six, so treat them as a loadout. Look for charms that boost stealth (faster choke, quieter movement), mana regeneration, and health from food. Use the Heart to find them.

Gear and Upgrades (Piero's workshop)

Coins buy upgrades from Piero at the Hound Pits Pub. Useful upgrades:

• Quiet Movement style stealth upgrades for your boots.
• Crossbow upgrades: more ammo capacity, range and reload speed.
• Pistol upgrades (accuracy, reload, capacity) only if you are fighting.
• Spring razors and grenades are loud and deadly; skip them on low Chaos.

Controls (PC defaults)

Crouch, lean and interact keys are listed under Options; check them there, since several differ from other shooters. Rebind freely; the game has an FOV slider.

Mission Walkthrough Outline

Prologue: Dunwall Tower

Corvo returns to Empress Jessamine Kaldwin. She is assassinated, Emily is kidnapped, and Corvo is framed.

Mission 1: Dishonored (Coldridge Prison)

Escape the prison. No powers yet. Take it slow, choke guards, and use the sewers. Get the prison key, then the lever-operated gate.

Mission 2: High Overseer Campbell

You receive the Outsider's Mark and Blink. Target: High Overseer Thaddeus Campbell at the Abbey of the Everyman.

• Non-lethal: Find the Heretic's Brand in the Abbey, knock Campbell out, and brand him. He is exiled among the plague victims instead of dying.
• Side: Slackjaw and Granny Rags introduce side quests. Granny Rags' request (poisoning the Bottle Street Gang's distillery) is a lethal task; helping Slackjaw keeps things non-lethal.

Mission 3: House of Pleasure (The Golden Cat)

Targets: the Pendleton twins, Custis and Morgan. Rescue Emily.

• Non-lethal: Slackjaw offers to handle them (shave heads, send them to their own silver mines) if you bring him Art Dealer Bunting's combination at the Golden Cat.

Mission 4: The Royal Physician

Kidnap Anton Sokolov. This is non-lethal by design. You may also choose to aid or ignore Kaldwin's Bridge side goals.

Mission 5: Lady Boyle's Last Party

Identify which of the three Boyle sisters is the target at the masquerade.

• Non-lethal: Talk to Lord Brisby, who wants her. Lead the correct Lady Boyle to the cellar and he takes her away.

Mission 6: Return to the Tower

Target: Lord Regent Hiram Burrows.

• Non-lethal: Find his confession recording and play it on the city's broadcast system.

Mission 7: Flooded District

Corvo is captured and dumped in the Flooded District. Recover your gear and confront Daud.

• Choice: You may spare Daud or kill him. Sparing him fits a low Chaos run, and his side of the story is told in the Knife of Dunwall and Brigmore Witches DLCs.

Mission 8: The Loyalists

Return to the Hound Pits Pub; fight your way through the betrayed pub and learn where Emily has been taken.

Mission 9: The Light at the End

Kingsparrow Island. Your ending depends on Chaos and on whether Emily lives. On low Chaos, the conspirators turn on each other and you can knock out Havelock rather than kill him.

Achievements Worth Planning

• Clean Hands: "Complete the game without killing anyone." Watch drowning, rat and fall deaths; they count.
• Ghost: "Complete all missions after the prologue, alerting no one or killing no one but key targets." Save-scumming is allowed; reload any time you are spotted.
• Faceless: complete a single mission after Coldridge without alerting anyone. A good warm-up for Ghost.
• Mostly Flesh and Steel: finish without purchasing any supernatural powers or enhancements besides Blink. Hard; Dark Vision will be sorely missed.
• Target achievements exist for particular outcomes, for example Excommunication (eliminate High Overseer Campbell) and Political Suicide (expose the Lord Regent's crimes and bring about his arrest).
• Occultist: collect 10 bone charms.

Pro tip: do Clean Hands and Ghost together on one run with liberal quicksaves, then do a High Chaos run for fun.

DLC

On PC, the Game of the Year Edition (October 2013) bundles all DLC; the Definitive Edition (August 2015) is the PS4/Xbox One remaster with the same content. Play the Daud DLCs after the main game; they are some of the best content in the series. Dishonored 2 and Death of the Outsider continue the story.

Running It on Modern PCs

• The game runs well on modern hardware; it is DirectX 9 on Unreal Engine 3.
• An FOV slider exists in Options.
• Frame rate: Unreal Engine 3 games commonly ship with frame smoothing caps; if your frame rate looks locked, community config tweaks are documented on PCGamingWiki.
• Very high frame rates can cause physics oddities in older UE3 games; if something behaves strangely, cap at a moderate rate.

Common Mistakes to Avoid

• Killing guards early "just this once" and then wondering why the city is full of rats and Weepers.
• Leaving bodies where they can be found or where rats eat them.
• Ignoring the Heart. Many runes and charms are hidden.
• Buying loud gadgets for a stealth run.
• Rushing past side quests; they are how non-lethal solutions unlock.
• Not reading notes and books; many safe combinations and routes are in them.

Advanced Tips

• Blink-choke: Blink directly behind a guard and choke immediately.
• Bend Time plus sleep darts lets you clear a room before anyone reacts.
• Possession at level 2 can carry you through checkpoints in human bodies.
• Drop from above: falling onto an enemy performs a lethal drop assassination, so avoid it on Clean Hands runs.
• Walls of Light and Arc Pylons can be disabled by removing their whale-oil tank, or rewired (with the rewire tool upgrade) to target guards instead of you. Rewired security killing guards still counts as kills.

FAQ

How long is Dishonored? Roughly 12 to 15 hours for a thorough first run, less if you rush.

Can I use powers on a Clean Hands run? Yes. Powers are fine; only killing breaks the achievement.

Can I kill the targets on a Ghost run? Yes. Ghost allows killing key targets as long as you alert no one; Clean Hands is the no-kill achievement.

Does being seen affect Chaos? No. Chaos is about kills and violence, not detection.

Should I play Low or High Chaos first? Low Chaos for the intended story. High Chaos is fun on a replay.

Do I need to play the DLC? Not required, but The Knife of Dunwall and The Brigmore Witches are excellent and flesh out Daud.

Which edition should I buy? On PC, any edition that includes all three DLC (Game of the Year / Definitive bundle).

Sources

• Dishonored — Wikipedia
• Dishonored on Steam
• Dishonored achievements (Steam)