The Ultimate Dishonored Bone Charm Guide: Build the Perfect Assassin

Finding the perfect dishonored bone charm can completely change how you approach Dunwall's treacherous streets. These mystical, whalebone carvings grant supernatural passive boosts that turn your assassin from a fragile stealth-artist into an unstoppable force of nature. If you want to optimize your build, understanding how every dishonored bone charm works across the franchise is the key to mastering your powers. Whether you are playing as Corvo Attano, Daud, Emily Kaldwin, or Billie Lurk, these charms provide the tailored enhancements needed to support a ghost run, a high-chaos slaughter, or anything in between.

The Lore and Forbidden History of Bonecharms

To truly appreciate these items, one must look at the dark lore of the Empire. Long before the rise of the modern industrial age, the citizens of the Isles tolerated the use of these mystical carvings. For instance, in the freezing northern region of Tyvia, hunters carved charms from bear teeth or walrus tusks to ward off bad luck or assist with daily survival.

However, as the industrial revolution gained steam—spurred by Esmond Roseburrow's groundbreaking research into the explosive power of whale oil—the Abbey of the Everyman stepped in to aggressively suppress the practice. The Abbey branded these items as heretical witchery, claiming they were directly tied to the Outsider and the Void.

Today, carrying or creating these charms is a severe criminal offense. The Abbey even maintains a dedicated workshop inside the Office of the High Overseer designed solely to locate and destroy them. Despite this active persecution, the black market thrives, and desperate citizens still carve them in secret. When you find a dishonored bone charm, you are tapping into a forbidden, ancient magic that the authorities would execute you for possessing.

Bone Charms in the Original Dishonored

In the original game, these artifacts are crucial for shaping your character's capabilities. In the first game, each dishonored bone charm is made of two bones bound together, suggesting a dual-trait structure, though gameplay-wise they offer a single, powerful passive effect. These charms are scattered across Dunwall, humming with a low, haunting "song" that you can track using the Heart.

You start with a limited capacity of three active slots, but you can purchase blueprint upgrades from Piero Joplin to expand your carrying capacity up to six slots. The DLC expansions for Daud (The Knife of Dunwall and The Brigmore Witches) further expand this capacity, allowing Daud to equip up to eight charms by the end of his journey.

A crucial mechanic that players should keep in mind is the randomized spawning system. Out of the 35 possible charms designed for the base game, only 26 will spawn in any given playthrough. These are chosen when a mission level loads, meaning you cannot easily guess which ones you will receive.

The Evolution of the Crafting System in Dishonored 2

Arkane Studios completely overhauled the system in Dishonored 2. Instead of relying purely on random drops, players can now unlock the "Bonecharm Crafting" ability. In this game, standard charms are carved from a single bone, which makes them slightly weaker individually than their predecessors. However, the crafting system allows you to sacrifice charms you find to learn their traits, and then use raw whalebone to craft custom charms.

By unlocking upgrades like Trait Synergy, you can stack the exact same trait up to four times on a single custom charm. For example, stacking Swift Shadow four times allows your crouched stealth movement speed to equal your standard walking speed. This degree of customization lets you build highly specialized characters. Whether you are tracking down a hidden dishonored bone charm in the flooded ruins of Dunwall or crafting a custom four-stacked variant in Karnaca, these items are essential to your success.

Corrupted and Black Bone Charms: Embracing Risk and Power

To add tactical depth, The Brigmore Witches DLC introduced Corrupted Charms, which returned in Dishonored 2 and Death of the Outsider. These are unstable artifacts made by breaking apart functional charms and fusing them back together with crude whalebone. They provide massive, game-changing benefits but carry severe negative penalties.

Conversely, Dishonored 2 introduced Black Bonecharms. These legendary items cannot be crafted or learned, and they do not have any negative traits. Sacrificing a black dishonored bone charm yields a generous four raw whalebone (compared to the standard one or two), but doing so means losing a unique, powerful ability for the rest of your playthrough.

These corrupted options force players to carefully weigh the pros and cons of their builds. For players who prefer pure power with no drawbacks, hunting down the rare Black variants is the ultimate goal.

Death of the Outsider: Void Energy and New Traits

The standalone adventure, Dishonored: Death of the Outsider, shook up the formula once again. Playing as Billie Lurk, you no longer rely on traditional mana. Instead, Billie's supernatural abilities draw directly from a regenerating pool of Void Energy. This fundamentally changes how you evaluate restoration charms.

In this adventure, you can find unique black charms that directly enhance Billie's unique powers, such as Foresight, Displace, and Semblance. Furthermore, you will encounter members of the mysterious Cult of the Outsider who actually wear these charms on their belts, utilizing their magical benefits in active combat against you. Defeating these cultists allows you to loot their charms, though looting a duplicate automatically converts the item into raw whalebone.

Community Strategies & Player Experience Optimization

In the wider gaming community, optimization is a major point of discussion. According to community reports and player experience, the random nature of these items in the first game led to a popular meta-strategy known as "save-scumming." Because a dishonored bone charm's identity is locked only when the level loads, players found a few notable exceptions.

For instance, the charm stuck in the vice in the Back Yard of the High Overseer Campbell mission can be re-rolled. By saving your game before approaching the yard and loading that level, you can repeatedly grab the charm until you get the highly coveted Strong Arms charm, which is a massive help for non-lethal Ghost runs.

Another community-favorite strategy involves the New Game + feature in Dishonored 2. By carrying over your learned traits into a new playthrough, you can immediately craft a four-trait Strong Arms or Swift Shadow charm early in the game. Players report that combining multiple instances of Swift Shadow makes your crouching speed so fast that you can outrun patrolling guards while staying completely silent.

If you are looking to jump back into Dunwall or Karnaca to test these builds yourself, you can check out the official Dishonored on Steam store page to grab the definitive editions of the games.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you craft a dishonored bone charm?

In Dishonored 2 and Death of the Outsider, you must first unlock the "Bonecharm Crafting" ability in your power tree. Once unlocked, you can sacrifice any standard bone charm you find to learn its specific trait. After learning the trait, you can use raw whalebone (obtained by finding it in the world or sacrificing unwanted charms) to craft a brand-new custom charm. With upgrades like Trait Synergy, you can even stack the same learned trait up to four times on a single custom charm.

Can you get every dishonored bone charm in a single playthrough?

No, you cannot obtain every single charm in a single playthrough of the original Dishonored. The game features a randomized pool of 35 standard charms, but only 26 of them will spawn in any given run. In Dishonored 2, while the drops are still somewhat randomized, the robust crafting system allows you to learn and recreate any standard trait you find, making it much easier to acquire your desired build over the course of a single playthrough or via New Game +.

What is the best dishonored bone charm for a stealth build?

For a stealth-focused playstyle, the absolute best charms are Swift Shadow (which increases your movement speed while crouching) and Strong Arms (which speeds up how quickly you can choke out enemies). Stacking Swift Shadow four times in Dishonored 2 allows you to crouch-walk at the speed of a standard sprint, making it incredibly easy to slip past guards undetected. If you are playing a non-lethal run, Lucky Needle is also highly recommended to ensure you never run out of Sleep Darts.