It’s Levi-O-sa, not Levi-o-SA.
As a Harry Potter fan, I knew that I would enjoy the open-world aspect of Hogwarts Legacy, but the combat surprised me. While briefly frustrating, once I had the hang of it, I was prowling through the game looking for duels. I even had a hard time moving on to other games because I had found such a rhythm with the spell casting.
This game is adaptable to the player, so you can move through the story no matter what your play style is. Still, there are a few spell combos that will let you fight like a pro against all sorts of enemies.
Basic Loadout Tips
Your loadout is the diamond of four spells that you keep at the ready. Even after unlocking every spell, you can only cluster four at a time, so select your magic strategically. While switching spells is easy, and you aren’t being pummeled while you deliberate, there are a few tips to keep in mind to make your duels seamless.
First, consider the shields your opponents will likely have. Hogwarts Legacy likes its color coding, and you can put that to use. Force spells (Accio, Depulso, Descendo, and Flipendo) are purple and break purple shields. Control spells (Arresto Momentum, Glacius, Levioso, and Transformation) are yellow and break yellow shields. Damage spells (Confringo, Diffindo, Experlliarmus, Bombarda, and Incendio) are red and break red shields. You can use this simple strategy to your advantage by keeping one of each color on your loadout at all times.
With that in mind, it’s also helpful to keep the colors in the same spot each time if possible. It helps you mindlessly use what you need in the heat of battle. For example, I keep Accio and Depulso on rotation in the left-most spot. Whenever I need a force spell, I already know what buttons to hit.
Utility spells (Disillusionment, Lumos, Reparo, and Wingardium Leviosa) can be subbed in at the bottom when needed. They aren’t useful in combat, so they don’t need to be in the loadout all the time. Keeping these tips in mind, here are some very useful spell combos.
Float and Fall
Levioso – Descendo
Of all of the spells you could use, Levioso and Descendo aren’t anything special on their own. Levioso can buy you a little time in a fight, but it doesn’t deal much damage. Meanwhile, Descendo deals damage commiserate with the height from which your enemy falls. Putting these two together ends up being pretty useful!
Cast Levioso to break a yellow shield and lift your enemy. Then cast Descendo to smash them to the ground. Also, if you upgraded Levioso with Talent Points, you could be lifting multiple enemies at once. It’s not a bad combo to whip out.
Basic Cast Barrage
Levioso – Basic – Basic – Accio – Basic – Basic – Confringo/Bombarda/Diffindo
There’s a reason you have to learn this combo early in the game. It’s incredibly useful, and it often produces Ancient Magic for you to gather up during the fight. Use Levioso to hold an opponent still, and then hit them with Basic Cast two or three times to deal damage. Then, you want to cast Accio before the opponent hits the ground, pulling them back to you for a few more rounds of Basic Cast. Finally, you hit them with a big damage spell. Confringo, Bombarda, and Diffindo are all powerful and can hit an enemy that is further away than Incendio can.
This barrage is convenient because it isn’t affected by spell cooldowns, and it never lets your enemy get a shot in. I used this combo all throughout the game on my first playthrough. It just never stopped being useful.
Violent Transformation
Transformation – Confringo/Bombarda or Ancient Magic Throw
While the Transformation spell is one of the last to be unlocked, it really comes in handy once you have it. While Levioso is helpful to keep in the loadout to break yellow shields, it should be immediately replaced by Transformation. The spell turns your enemy into an object, effectively removing them from the fight for a long time. Also, you can use your Ancient Magic Throw to hurl them at another enemy.
The real game changer is upgrading Transformation with Talent Points. This turns your enemy into an explosive barrel that you can throw at enemies or detonate with Confringo or Bombarda. Most of the time, this completely eliminates two enemies! Plus, it’s just kind of fun to blow things up.
Curses
Imperio – Crucio – Avada Kedavra
If you’re going down the dark path, you have a lethal combo at your disposal. However, the Talent Point upgrades to the Dark Arts will enormously help your cursed spell combos. Imperio Mastery will allow your new minion to curse his former teammates. Also, by activating Crucio Mastery, you can send a projectile to curse nearby enemies when you hit one with Crucio. Enduring Curse allows cursed enemies to stay cursed longer, and Blood Curse will deal damage to all cursed enemies if a cursed target is hit. Finally, Avada Kedavra Mastery kills all cursed enemies.
So with all of those talents unlocked, casting Imperio first on one of the bigger or stronger enemies brings them to your side. For example, it’s nice to have a troll switch teams and curse enemies for you instead. Then, casting Crucio at one opponent in a group can curse most of your enemies at once. And after using Avada Kadavra, every cursed enemy dies.
Because curses have longer spell cooldowns, you could stack your loadout and spend Talent Points to equip a spell that will also curse your enemies. Flipendo, Arresto Momentum, Expelliarmus, and Stupify can all be upgraded to also curse enemies and will remain usable while your Curses cool down. Expelliarmus is a powerful option in both damage and utility. Meanwhile, Stupify is perfect if you’ve perfected blocking with Protego.
These spell combos are just a few of the possibilities in Hogwarts Legacy that can get you all the way through the game. Whether you prefer the Dark Arts or the potions and plants route, this game’s combat is surprisingly fun. You can create your own go-to combos easily by considering the best spells and the best traits to match your play style.
