Dishonored 2 has been out for less than a week, but its new pesky antagonist is already giving players fits. Bloodflies, as I said in my review, are the perhaps the coolest new addition to the Dishonored series, and they are well-placed in Dishonored 2 as obstacles for side-quests, alternate paths or simply loads of loot.
You'll encounter them pretty early on, finding a building infested with Bloodflies, and the only tip given as "move slowly and avoid the nest." Let me know how long that works out for you, because there are about half a dozen nests, some of which lay directly in front of the only pathway through the building. So what can you do?
Well, you can take the fly-swatter approach and attack the Bloodflies with your sword, but, if there is a nest nearby, they're just going to keep coming – but they'll be angry and follow you now. You could also just run by them screaming, but you'll lose lots of health while doing so. So basically, you're screwed … unless of course you follow these tips.
Incendiary Bolts
This is probably the simplest solution, but it has a few drawbacks. Incendiary Arrows are wildly effective Bloodfly killers. Target the nest directly, and a single Incendiary Arrow will not only destroy it, but all Bloodflies in its immediate vicinity. This will also not earn the ire of any lingering Bloodflies – they'll go on about their business as though you didn't just murder their entire family.
There is also no need to upgrade the Incendiary Arrows to their second stage if this is your only purpose for them. If you're playing the game in a high-chaos or low-Mercy fashion, then you may want to get the upgrade, which allows for a greater radius of fire and the potential to immolate two human enemies at once. For Bloodflies, however, the upgraded Incendiary Arrows will not be any more effective, so you're better off saving your cash for something else.
The most obvious drawback to this strategy is that you can only have 5 Incendiary Arrows at a time, and the upgrade to your crossbow bolt capacity does not increase this. You may be able to clear out one area of Bloodflies, but what happens when there are two in one level, or perhaps more than 5 nests in one building? At any rate, this will get you started.
Far Reach/Blink
This one is pretty obvious: If you're at point A, and you want to get to point B, but there is a Bloodfly nest in the way, simple use Far Reach, or Blink for all you Corvo players, to skip past the middle man.
What's the problem? Well besides the fact that these aren't the most accurate solutions, it will also only work for that exact situation. If a Bloodfly nest is an obstacle, go ahead and use Far Reach or Blink, but if the Bloodfly nest is guarding something – a door or a Rune, for example – skipping past the next isn't going to help you much, is it?
Never mind that some nests are found in clusters, so skipping past one nest will likely land you directly in the crosshairs of two.
Bend Time
Bend Time is a Corvo-exclusive ability that lets you stop or drastically slow down time. Luckily for us, Bloodflies don't descend from a mystical time-traveling species of mosquitos, so we're good. This will get you almost every possible benefit of Bloodfly killing – you'll get to move around them, and grab something they might be guarding.
The main drawback of this strategy is that the Bend Time ability costs a lot of mana. So you'll be buring through Addermire's Solution like no body's business, cutting into your available funds you may achieve
Shadow Walk
The Shadow Walk method will function very similarly to Bend Time – Bloodflies do not detect you during Shadow Walk, so you can walk all up and trough their dwellings, including right up to their nest. This is, again, excellent for bypassing, and, you'll still be able to open any doors they might be guarding.
However, since you become much lower to the ground with Shadow Walk, you won't be able to grab anything they might be immediately guarding, such as a rune, without popping out of Shadow Walk – which makes this less effective for that end goal.
Bonecharms
There are a few different Bonecharms you can covet to avoid or aid in your conquest of Bloodflies.
Bitter Blood will allow you to get much closer to a nest without agrroing the Bloodflies, allowing for a non-lethal, non-mana-consuming method of traversing dangerous territory.
Savage Scream will make it so Nestkeepers (crazy dudes who hang around infested areas and try to stop you from disturbing the Bloodflies) have a chance to kill nearby Bloodflies if they scream at all. So give them a crossbow bolt to the body and watch as the Bloodflies around them fall to the ground.
Spiritual Sacrifice will restore your Mana upon killing Bloodflies (and rats, for that matter). This makes high-cost strategies such as the Bend Time method more sustainable.
Hopefully, this makes your trips through the infested buildings of Dishonored 2 all the easier to traverse. Remember that killing Bloodflies does not effect either your Chaos or your Mercy ratings, so swing away Merrill.
