Swords

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Corvo and his opponent fight with swords.

Swords are the only melee weapons available in Dishonored, and are part of the standard equipment for most combatants, including the City Watch, Overseers, assassins and Corvo Attano.

Variants

The City Watch Sword is a standardized sword made from industrial steel, reliable and utilitarian. It is the first weapon that Corvo finds, during his escape from Coldridge Prison, and it is used until he acquires his personal sword from a stash in the Dunwall Sewers.
The Officer's Sword is Corvo's sword in the Prologue and can be wielded again if he doesn't pick up a City Watch Sword in Coldridge Prison. He can get it from one of the Officers that spawn. It is the only sword without an image and a description in the inventory.
Corvo's Folding Blade is the primary right-hand weapon for most of Dishonored. Its mechanism is resilient and efficient for both stealthy assassinations and open melee combat. This utility combined with its dense metal makes it perfect for defensive maneuvers. It can be upgraded by Piero Joplin for 600 coins, to be more effective at "locking blades" and pushing away enemies.
Two more blades, the Overseer's Sabre and the Assassin's Blade, are found at the start of The Flooded District. They can be completely bypassed if Corvo wishes. The Overseer's Sabre, standard issue for all Overseers, is made for functionality, working well against any foe within its reach. The Assassin's Blade has a more elegant design, and proves as an excellent tool for any form of elimination.
If Corvo leaves Daud's stronghold without retrieving his gear or picking up a sword, he can find a Gang Cleaver, a rough cleaver used by street bandits. This weapon hacks more than it slashes.

Combat

Damage

All swords share the same damage output. Under normal difficulty, common City Watch guards will die after three to four hits, although they will most likely be killed by a counterattack before that.

Attack

Corvo normally slashes with his blade when he does not perform a counter or assassination maneuver. There are four slash animations when Corvo is standing, but only one while he is crouching.

Block

Block only works on sword strikes, and it may be bypassed if enemies crouch and then attack. However, if Corvo manages to perform a well-timed block, enemies will be thrown off-balance, allowing him to deliver a fatal counterattack. Despite this, not all enemies can be instantly killed in this way.

Dismemberment

It is possible to dismember enemies during combat. Often, an enemy can be dismembered no matter how many times he is hit. However, if the player slashes them continuously, even while aiming at a particular limb, Corvo will only kill the enemy with the same animation as a counterattack. In order to dismember an enemy, follow these steps:

Stun or parry the enemy.
Once the enemy is off guard, target a limb. To successfully dismember the limb, Corvo must step away from the target and slash the body part. If the player stands too close, the enemy will be killed.
The limbs of the various enemies are jointed, so they need to be hit in the correct spot, as follows: for arms, aim below the elbow; for legs, aim below the knee, or slash the foot; for heads, slashing any part of the head will cause it to fall off; for torsos, aim below the waist, slicing the enemy in half.

It should noted that dismembering an enemy does not work every time. Furthermore, it is unwise to attempt this when fighting large groups of enemies, unless Blood Thirsty has been fully upgraded.

Locking Blades

When Corvo and his opponents strike at the same time, they will lock blades. If Corvo can overpower his opponent by continuously attacking, he can throw them off-balance, similar to using a well-timed block.
Corvo can also be thrown off-balance, though he is not as vulnerable as his enemies in this case.

Fatal Attack

If Corvo's target does not detect his approach will be able to assassinate them, causing instant death. Only humanoid enemies suffer a special death animation, with wolfhounds simply dying as Corvo swings his sword. It is impossible to deliver such an attack to a River Krust, as they will not open their shells until they are aware of a threat.
Corvo can perform drop assassinations (if he is above an enemy and undetected) by leaping from above and landing on his target, which lets Corvo drive his sword through them. A successful drop assassination also prevents Corvo from suffering any fall damage.
After Corvo successfully throws an enemy off-balance, he can rush forward and deliver a fatal attack. This can be done by blocking their attacks, winning a blade-locking, or through violent and continuous attacking.
- The Royal Interrogator is known to be immune to this type of fatal attack, though he is still susceptible to assassination and drop-assassination.
- City Watch officers have a brief period of vulnerability before firing their pistols. They will still often block or dodge Corvo's strikes if he attempts to attack them during their aiming. If they dodge Corvo's strikes twice, they will kick him away from them, so it is wise to stop attacking them if they dodge the first strike.

Special Death Animation

Each of Corvo's assassination targets has a unique death animation when approached and killed from the front.
- Morgan Pendleton: Corvo grabs Pendleton by the collar, then slits his throat
- Custis Pendleton: Corvo grabs Pendleton by the neck, then impales him through the side of his neck
- Farley Havelock: Corvo stabs his pistol hand, then bends it toward his head, shooting Havelock with his own pistol
- All main targets have the same death animation if approached from behind: Corvo will turn the target around to face him, impale them in the chest, rip out the blade and stab it through the back of their neck.

Trivia

Corvo's folding blade has a unique design, even for Dishonored's art style. It is telescopic, meaning that each of its three sections are housed inside of each other--with a simple squeeze of the handle, the cross-guard opens and the middle section of the blade shoots out, the point unfolding from within it.
- At present, the actual mechanics of the sword are unknown. It is theorized that a trigger on the front of the handle is pressed inward toward the palm, activating a double-action switch, which causes an internal spring to pull the middle section of the blade out the top of the handle, locking it in place. The final section extends from the middle in much the same fashion. Upon pressing the trigger again, the switch resets, unlocking the blade and pulling the two sections back inside the handle, allowing the blade to be easily stored and concealed.
Corvo's folding blade is the only sword that will be bloodied if the high chaos path is followed during the game.

Gallery

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