Gravehounds



"The supernatural hounds of Brigmore will hunt you relentlessly unless you can discover their secret."

- A hint from a loading screen

Gravehounds are dead wolfhounds that have been reanimated by the Brigmore Witches. The ability to create gravehounds is granted through Delilah Copperspoon's Arcane Bond, though is a hard ability to master, with Delilah favoring those that can. Gravehounds are encountered in the DLC The Brigmore Witches at the Brigmore Manor during the mission Delilah's Masterwork. They make a reappearance in Dishonored 2 during the missions The Royal Conservatory and Death to the Empress.

The Brigmore Witches
Gravehounds are only encountered within the grounds of Brigmore Manor and inside, where they function as guards for the coven. Although they can be found patrolling the manor with their mistresses, they are more commonly found as a disembodied, glowing skull found on the ground. Disturbing the skull will cause it to take on its regular form and attack, unless it is destroyed.

If Daud opens the crypt entrance, a pair of witches will call a few gravehounds to keep watch over it with the promise of a "treat".

Dishonored 2
The gravehounds return when Delilah comes to power and are found guarding important areas for the witches, such as the Royal Conservatory. Several are found within the building and a pair of them guard Breanna Ashworth's office.

Upon the protagonist's return to Dunwall, it is revealed through the witch's dialog that they took advantage of the Overseers' foiled assault on Dunwall Tower by putting down and resurrecting the wolfhounds present. Consequently, there are many gravehound skulls lying in wait in the grounds and several patrolling the Tower's interior. One gravehound sleeps on a bed in the royal chambers and, if the protagonist talked to Delilah's statues within the tower, another pair stand vigil in front of Delilah's throne.

Combat
Gravehounds behave similarly to live wolfhounds, attacking and immobilizing the protagonist if they allow them to come too close. When a gravehound is defeated, it will revert into a skull, which must be destroyed to prevent the gravehound from resurrecting itself. The most common method of destroying a skull is by hitting it with a sword, but it can also be shot by a bolt or bullet. Daud or Emily can also respectively use Pull or an upgraded Far Reach to collect the skull and then throw it, causing it to shatter. Far Reach in particular will cause the skull to be flung past Emily (unless caught manually) causing it to shatter on impact. Corvo's Blink Assault can instantly kill an activated grave hound and send its skull flying at the same time. Skulls are also vaporized by Walls of Light, regardless of the wall's allegiance.

An inactive gravehound skull will be immediately activated should the protagonist get too close. This will also alert any nearby enemies, including other inactive skulls.

Active gravehounds are unusually perceptive as they can detect the protagonist on the chandeliers during Death to the Empress, while the witches and the Clockwork Soldiers cannot.

The Deep Grave bone charm in Dishonored 2, especially the four-trait crafted variant, is particularly useful, especially with inactive gravehounds as there is a slight chance of them being destroyed upon spawning.

Trivia

 * Thomas comments on fighting a gravehound, witnessing it resurrect itself. He informed Daud that he had to crush its skull to be sure it was dead.
 * Killing gravehounds and destroying their skulls does not count as a kill and does not lock the Clean Hands or Cleanest Hands achievements.
 * The monster from the in-game book The Howl From Beyond appears to be a gravehound.
 * It is revealed through dialog in Dishonored 2 that the creation of gravehounds is not just a supernatural ability - the current phase of the moon has an effect on their creation too.
 * Unsuccessful attempts often cause the resulting creatures to be deformed and aggressive towards their own kind.
 * Gravehounds are hostile towards the Grand Serkonan Guard. During The Royal Conservatory, it is possible to lure a gravehound towards the patrolling guardsmen. Because they will not destroy the skull, a gravehound can single-handedly kill most of the NPCs outside the Conservatory.
 * Near the beginning of the One Last Fight mission in Death of the Outsider, Billie Lurk can find the remains of a wolfhound on an altar which was a failed attempt to a gravehound by a former witch.