Hogwarts Legacy has been released for some time now, and yet many fans of the Harry Potter franchise are still excited just to be able to run around Hogwarts. There is so much to explore in and around the magical school, and players are loving their chance to finally take part in the Wizarding World.
Some are eager to role-play their favorite characters from the Harry Potter Universe. Others are looking for the most dangerous way to create the ultimate wizard. Fortunately, there are some easy builds in Hogwarts Legacy to create that can devastate most enemies in the game, helping players become the ultimate wizard.
Updated on June 29, 2023: Hogwarts Legacy has been out for a while now even for those players on the previous generation of consoles who had to wait a little bit longer to experience the joys of the wizarding world. This has given players plenty of time to test out all the various skills, gear, and upgrades to create the best builds in Hogwarts Legacy. Seeing as the nature of the game allows players to replay as members of different Houses, players might now be looking toward their second, third, or even fourth playthrough on a harder difficulty, meaning that the best Hogwarts Legacy builds are just as relevant as ever.
Explosive Fire Build
If players feel like they have a particular proclivity for pyrotechnics like a certain future Hogwarts student, Seamus Finnigan, they can try an explosive fire build in Hogwarts Legacy. First of all, players will need to learn the spells, Incendio, Confringo, and Bombarda, and also unlock the corresponding Spell Talents which will make all of these spells even more explosive. The upgraded Transfiguration spell is another great option for this build, as the transformed barrel enemy explodes on impact.
Players can then use the Enchanted Loom in the Room of Requirement to upgrade their gear with Traits such as Scorching III, Explosive III, and Destruction III, which will make their fire-based spells pack even more of a punch. Players can find most Traits in Collection Chests after taking out Bandit Camps, although some are instead obtained by completing Combat Challenges.
Ancient Magic Build
Ancient Magic is at the center of the Hogwarts Legacy story as it is a rare form of magic that few wield, with the main character being the only exception in living memory. By performing spell combos, players will fill up their Ancient Magic Meter which in turn allows them to unleash deadly and epic-looking Ancient Magic Finishers. These finishers will one-shot most enemies in the game, and thus making a build that enhances them is one of the easiest ways to become overpowered in Hogwarts Legacy.
Firstly, players will want to unlock more bars on their Ancient Magic Meter, by completing one of the game’s exploration challenges of collecting Ancient Magic Traces from ruins around the map. Next, they will want to unlock any Talents which involve Ancient Magic, such as Basic Cast Airborne Absorption which allows Basic Casts on airborne enemies to fill up the meter. Finally, players can upgrade their gear with certain Traits such as Ancient Magic Focus III and Ancient Magic III which will help the meter fill up faster and then deal more damage respectively.
Stealth Build
As players progress through the game, they will come upon the Disillusionment spell, which allows them to begin attempting to hide from their enemies. While hiding, players can cast Petrificus Totalus to permanently bind weaker enemies. That spell will also work on stronger enemies
At least, this is true if the player can stay hidden long enough to get close to their enemies. The most important aspects of this stealthy build are to gain mastery in spells like Revelio and Petrificus Totalus. It’s also hugely important to learn the Sense of Secrecy I & II talents. These make it much more difficult for enemies to spot the player as they sneak up on them. Finally, learning and brewing invisibility potions consistently will help players stay hidden as they sneak around areas with many opponents.
Good Wizard Build
Many players know how to make a dangerous, dark wizard build already in Hogwarts Legacy. This style of play is generally considered overpowered. Thus, many players haven’t bothered trying to think which combinations of spells, excluding the darker ones, can make a player character hugely dangerous. There are a lot of options though, and focusing on spells like Glacius, Depulso, Incendio, and Expelliarmus can still make a player powerful. This also allows players to role-play their favorite good characters in Harry Potter.
With a good force spell, a good control spell, and two damage spells, it’s easy to quickly navigate most enemies in the game. It may not be as overpowered as the darker spells allow a player to be, but this combination of spells is still great, especially alongside talents like Glacius Mastery, Descendo Mastery, Protego Mastery, and Basic Cast Airborne Absorption. These allow the player to focus on their unique talent, the ancient magic, building the meter again and again to demolish enemies with unbelievable force. Role-playing as mostly a good wizard has other perks too, like being a friend to the many magical creatures in the game.
Counterattack Build
It is even possible to make a devastating Hogwarts Legacy build which focuses on counterattacking and staying defensive the majority of the time. Players can focus on spells like Diffindo, Depulso, Descendo, and Flipendo. Beware that most of these are slightly later-game spells, so players will have to play through a large part of the main quest before unlocking some of these.
Once they do though, combat can begin to take a very simple shape against most enemies. Learning Diffindo Mastery, Wiggenweld Potency I & II, and every one of the Protego-focused talents can make a player extremely strong on the counter. This will make it easy to consistently time Protego spells correctly, and ruin enemies with that one simple skill. Adding Evasion Absorption and other potion potency talents is the final step to make this build devastating.
Dark Wizard Build
One of the most devastating builds in the game, which can constantly ruin enemies, is of course the dark wizard build. Role-playing as a Death Eater is definitely a fun option in Hogwarts Legacy, one which gives players a lot of creative freedom and can allow them to demolish their foes. Unsurprisingly, this build involves learning all three of the unforgivable curses later in the game and using them liberally. Crucio, Imperio, and Avada Kedavra, along with the mastery talents for all three, make a player monstrously hard to beat.
Just these alone, with some of the curse talents from the dark wizard section, are enough to ruin many opponents. Players can add a large focus to reducing the cooldowns on their spells in order to make the unforgivable curses available again more quickly. Finally, players will want to use spells like Flipendo and Expelliarmus as their backup spells. The unforgivable curses still take time to recharge, so others will be needed. To go even further in their role-play as a dark wizard, players could design a fittingly macabre hideout for themselves by using these Room of Requirement aesthetic ideas.
Herbology Build
It is surprising to see the Chinese Chomping Cabbages make an appearance on a list of overpowered builds. However, the use of magical plants such as cabbages in major fights, particularly some late-game boss fights, is not to be underestimated. If players buy seeds and grow them in the Room of Requirement, they will be able to do shocking things in a battle with them. But it isn’t the strangest thing in Hogwarts Legacy.
From using Mandrakes to incapacitate several enemies at once to the damaging properties of the Venomous Tentacula, plants and herbology are a worthy pursuit. But the cabbages, alongside talents like Fertilizer and traits for gear like Herbology III, can make for a truly destructive build. These traits and talents increase the number of cabbages thrown and massively boost the damage done by plants in combat. It’s perfect for players who enjoy the Room of Requirement and growing things. Other traits for a herbology build include Fangs III, Venom III, and Deafening III. This build is incredibly unusual but is an amazingly effective way to take down foes in Hogwarts Legacy.
Hogwarts Legacy is out now for PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S, with a Switch version coming November 14.
