Deus Ex: Human Revolution players always had the ability to use brawn, stealth or diplomacy except during the mandatory boss fights. Needless to say, this was very frustrating for players who specced their characters for stealth or diplomacy.
With that in mind, Square Enix promised that all bosses in the upcoming Deus Ex: Mankind Divided can be passed passively; But this doesn't mean that characters with high persuasion and diplomacy skills will be able to talk bosses into surrendering or joining the cause.
"Some of the communication about that has been muddled a little bit," explained gameplay director Patrick Fortier. "People took all different kinds of parts and muddled them into one. So, there are verbal debates with certain NPCs, [and] classic boss fights are another thing. They're two separate things. Having said that, in a classic boss fight we will support combat, stealth, lethal, non-lethal, in ways we didn't necessarily manage in Human Revolution."