Dishonored 2 M08: The Grand Palace part 2 - Grand Palace

Dishonored 2 presents one more elimination before we go after the big bad.

Grand Palace key items and objectives
• Eliminate Duke Luca Abele
• Collect Delilah’s Spirit
• Through the Pantry (special action)
• Sunken Storage (special action)
• Friends in High Places (special action)
• Haunted by the Past (special action)
• Addressing Karnaca (special action)
• Painting: My Name on Their Lips
• Painting: Her Face is My Smile
• Blueprint: Blade Conversion
• Bonecharm x 4
• Rune x 2

General layout and tips

The map above shows the layout of the level area. Here's a convenient new tab link to the clean version.

This mission is slightly randomised: the Duke and his body double can each appear in multiple locations - the throne room (2F), the private gardens (2F), the Duke's office (4F), Delilah's quarters (4F) or the Duke's quarters (5F). To initiate the non-lethal elimination you must accurately identify and approach the body double. The second mission objective cannot be achieved until you have obtained a key held by the (real) Duke. Other notable locations worth a visit are the First Captain's Office and the vault.

The Through the Pantry special action is achieved by discovering the hidden entrance to the vault; Sunken Storage and Haunted by the Past are both achieved in the vault itself. Addressing Karnaca is completed in the Duke's quarters. Friends in High Places is awarded for the non-lethal elimination.

There are two paintings, one blueprint, two runes and three bonecharms in the Grand Palace.

Walkthrough

You arrive at the Grand Palace carriage station. There are two guards down below the carriage platform; you can pickpocket them or just ignore them completely and go up to the platform. Walk across the rails to the palace if you like; I prefer to go down the stairs the other side of the platform. Two elite guards are waiting below, but they’re easy to ambush once they’ve finished chatting. Zip across the water and climb the rocks up to the palace. This brings you up behind a hedge at Grand Palace Station where you can eavesdrop on some plotters.

The Grand Palace is unique in that your target and his double can be in a number of different locations - basically the main rooms of the palace. We're going to go on a tour of most of them as we collect the loot in the palace, but since we can't predict where the duke and his double will be, you need to be adaptable. Here's the strategy:

• As you approach an area, if you hear the duke order his guards to leave him alone with his thoughts, hide somewhere and wait for the guards to leave, then ambush them and hide the bodies. Creep back and eavesdrop on the duke.
• If the duke talks about renovations or running the nation, that's the real one, and you should leave the area; you can loot it out when you come back for the elimination later.
• If he complains about having to gain weight and not getting credit for his paintings, that's the double; approach him and have a chat, then loot the room as normal.

Throughout this level you should work hard to kill or knock out sleeping guards and civilians rather than ignore them, stash bodies whenever possible, and close doors behind you. There are too many instances of guards moving between zones independently to be confident that your trail won't be uncovered if you get sloppy.

Infiltration

Take the civilian and guard out when they stop chatting, then use the large lights to get close to the next two guards without being seen. After they finish their chat, you can grab the one further back without the other spotting you, then grab the other. Do yourself a favour and clean up the bodies, just in case.

The courtyard beyond is guarded by a hound and an elite guard. They're more trouble than they're worth; I like to just sneak past using Blink/Far Reach along the rocky path up the right side, to get to the upper level. Near the top you can zip to a light fixture and ambush one guard. Another two guards are sleeping, assuming you've been quiet, so dispatch them too. Collect Document: Palace District Under New Orders from this level.

Be cautious up here - a clockwork soldier patrols the gallery which joins the two doors out of this level. Drop a stun mine at one end and wait patiently for it to trundle into it. Getting rid of this guy now makes things much easier.

Around the gallery you'll find several doors but the one you want to start with is on the right side (facing into the gallery, with your back to the front door and carriage station) and has a civilian sleeping outside. Inside, two civilians are having a chat. Knock them out - it's easiest with sleep darts and Domino/Slow Time - and take the bonecharm.

Now we'll clear the collectibles and special actions. I like to start at the top and work down.

The Duke's quarters

Facing into the gallery with the front doors and carriage station at your back, you want to be on the right side. Hug the right wall to find a doorway leading to a stairwell. Go all the way to the very top to find the duke's quarters. On my visits there were not guards inside, but several patrolling outside who could spot me through the windows sometimes. They're not hard to clear out.

In the suite you’ll find some minor loot and Document: Petition Project. Take the internal stairs right up on the top level look for some raw whalebone and the Umberwood Egg loot item in the desk area. In the side room off this top level is Audiograph: A Better Serkonos and Document: Note to Grand Counselors, and, on the balcony, one of the real duke’s paintings, which for some reason isn't worth money can can't be collected, ha. You can use the microphone here to unlock special action Addressing Karnaca, which mysteriously doesn't seem to have any gameplay consequences.

Duke's Office

Go down one level from the Duke's quarters to find an office adjoining a luxurious suite. Take the door at the carriage station end, noting the inactive clockwork soldier. This room, the office, contains a guard and a civilian. If you enter it triggers the guard to patrol towards the door, and you can retreat, close the door, and watch through the keyhole. When he stands with his back to you, open the door and nab him, dragging him out of the civilian's sight. You can then grab the civvy at your leisure. Place a stun mine in front of the clockwork soldier (there are two in this room if you're out) and hide behind a desk. Shoot a bolt at the glass opposite you'll need to smash to get at the loot behind it, and the clanker will come to life and step forward onto the mine. Nice.

Now we can loot this area out. As well as the minor loot you can collect Audiograph: Conversation with Kirin Jindosh (possibly low chaos only), Document: First Captain’s Safe on the desk in the corner, Blueprint: Blade Conversion in a cabinet, and Painting: My Name on Their Lips above the fireplace.

Delilah Copperspoon's Chambers

From the Duke's office, open the door by the fireplace and go through to another set of doors leading to Delilah Copperspoon’s Chambers. There’s one guard on a lengthy patrol here; knock him out right by the doors if you can, to avoid being spotted by nearby civilians. When he’s down, clear the two civilians who wander around these joined rooms, then clear them of minor loot, some raw whalebone, Book: Delilah’s Diary, and a corrupt bonecharm under the sink in the bathroom. Also grab Painting: Her Face is My Smile, tucked away in a corner near the piano.

The Throne Room

Return to the gallery and take the door opposite the stairwell, leading out onto a rooftop. Dispatch the civilian; for some reason walking around up here usually gives you a mission clue, but it also gives you easy access to the throne room below - see that sloping roof to one side?

Getting in and out of here seems pretty easy, but the room contains an arc pylon - you’ll die if you walk around in here while the trap is active, even if you stay up high. What you want to do is zip to the first light fixture, wait for the coast to be clear (or make it clear with sleep darts), then zip over to the head of a statue right by the whale oil tank and security panel. This gets you past the arc pylon. Hide behind the throne and take the whale oil tank out of the wall to disable the arc pylon as soon as it’s safe. Don’t rewire the arc pylon or it will kill people. When it’s all clear, grab the bonecharm on the throne.

First Captain's Office

Our next stop is the First Captain’s Office, which is right by the throne room. There are several routes in here but the easiest way is to exit the throne room via the doors at ground level (not the ones going outside), which puts you in a room with four exist and a circular seat in the middle. If you’ve skipped the throne room because the duke or his double is in there, you can sneak into this same circular seat toom via the pool room or the dining hall, clearing out any guards and civilians as you go.

In the circular seat room, knock out the civilian and carry her with you as you take the first exit clockwise of the throne room doors - the one without any doors. Go through the next set of doors and open the first door on your right. Dump the civvy here and dispatch the two guards lying around drunk.

Exit the bunk room and sneak up the corridor, When you approach the corner, zip across to the other side of the room to avoid being spotted by the elite guard at the desk. Ambush him, then grab the Cape of Suggunto loot item and Document: Security Reinforcement, which tells you where the real duke is. Use the combination you got from the duke's office to open the safe and collect the rune and some loot items. Clear the area of minor loot and ammo as you go.

Eliminate Duke Luca Abele

It's time. By now you should know your way around and have located both the duke and his double - if not, check the private garden, which is most easily reached from the roof of the throne room; it's on the far side, about as far from the carriage station as you can get.

If you haven't yet spoken to the double, do that now, then go find the real duke, wherever he is, and kill or knock him out, lotting his body for the vault key. As we mentioned earlier the duke and his double always send their guards away so it's really easy to chat with the double and take out the duke. If you're going for the non-lethal elimination, hoist the duke over your shoulder and make your way to the duke's quarters on the top floor. Since you cleared out the gallery and everything else radiates off it or the stairwell, you shouldn't encounter any trouble.

That said, I usually found a brand new guard had turned up in the bedchamber, standing by the elevator. You'll need to dump the duke outside and sneak in to sleep dart or use Far Reach/Blink to ambush him before you can approach the bed and dump the duke's body there.

After the cutscenes, make your way back to the stairwell, watching out for guards who will have moved around after the elimination.

Breach the Vault

Take the stairs all the way to the very bottom level. When you hear voices, hide behind the pillar and shelves: there's a guard and an elite guard just ahead. Usually, once they stop chatting they both move towards your hiding spot, but the elite turns back and goes to faff about in the pantry, allowing you to grab his pal with ease before taking him down, too.

Grab Document: Note to Kitchen Staff near your hiding place then locate the suspiciously blank wall of wooden panelling in the pantry. Look to the left of it to spot a button hidden in the nearby shelves. This leads to the vault and gives you special action Through the Pantry.

Collect the Bastilian Coast loot item and Blueprint: Folded Galvani Resin from the table. Ignore the vault door and instead enter the side room with the creepy shrine to Delilah. Collect the bonecharm, then bash the screen in the corner and the planks beyond. Swim as far as you can to where the roof slopes down, equip any bonecharms you have for extended breath underwater or swim speed, then dive down and through the jumbled mass of debris for a rune. This isn't super easy so use the heart to help you find the rune and surface in a side tunnel just past the debris for a breather. Doing this unlocks special action Sunken Storage.

Return to the main vault and listen carefully; there's a clockwork soldier inside. Unlock the door and step in cautiously. Drop a stun mine (or a stack of springrazors, or whatever) to destroy the clanker so you can loot at your leisure. There’s heaps of stuff in here - the Umberwood Desk prism loot item, the Broken Gazelle vanity item (which grants you special action Haunted by the Past, by the way), raw whalebone and heaps of minor loot items. Say goodbye to your heart, then interact with the effigy to make Delilah mortal.

How you escape the Grand Palace is up to you, but I like this way: head up to the vault’s upper level (some more minor loot here) and push a button to open the back door. Take the whale oil out of the panel right next to you to power down the arc pylon, then stun mine or evade the clockwork soldier. From there it’s super easy to go down to the private dock area and walk across the rocks to meet the skiff - don’t ignore the waypoint and trek all the way back to the start of the Ravinia Boulevard area thinking Meagan will be there, like I did.