This guide is a list of things that will hopefully help you on your journey through Hogwarts. I will do my best to be as spoiler-free as possible but as the game itself spoils things(such as listing every spell in the game within the menu's) whether or not something is considered a spoiler isn't entirely clear.

I guarantee not to spoil the story itself so no worries about that.

This list isn't complete as I haven't completed the game yet but I will be updating it over time. If anyone has any questions, feedback or any tips they feel should be added, please let me know.




I'm also looking for suggestions on guides to make as I've now beaten the game and am about to finish my first 100%. I've basically memorized everything and will be playing through the game again while recording so I can add videos. Please let me know if there is anything specific you'd like covered.

This section will be the most useful tips for beginners but will not be a how-to guide on what needs to be done where. This section also focuses on efficiency and may not necessarily be the most fun way to experience the game so some tips may not apply to everyone.

• Choices Rarely Matter, So Don't Stress - Only your choice of House and the ending actually do anything meaningful, as every other choice only effects dialogue. The exception is the Unforgivable Curses but you will be given every opportunity to change your mind and get them. Your House will determine your dormitory as well as your House Quest and the design put on any "House Items" meant to show off your house such as robes, scarves, etc.... So don't stress on your decisions so much and enjoy yourself.
  
• Focus The Main Story First For Efficiency - The Main Story grants access to a very large variety of spells and quality of life improvements that make the game much more enjoyable. As much fun as exploring Hogwarts is, if you don't have the ability to open locks or solve puzzles because you don't have the spell yet, you will be re-exploring Hogwarts half a dozen times to find everything. If you focus on the Main Quest first, you will be able to do everything in 1-2 trips. My personal recommendation is to just follow the track line for the main quest and only do what's necessary to keep progressing with no added exploration at the start until you can unlock locks with Alohamora. Alohamora is the time when you get almost every tool you need to do almost all puzzles. However, for pure efficiency don't start exploring until you've beaten the game.
  
• Ignore Efficiency For Pure Fun - This is a big game with a lot to do and you can only have your first experience once. Play the way you want to play and have a good time.
  
• You CANNOT Respec Talents, So Choose Wisely- You Cap at 36 Talent Points and there is no current way to Respec your Talents, though I wouldn't be surprised if a potion was added in the future it's not available now. There are 48 total Talents and only 36 points so while you can get most Talents, you can't get everything. I'll make a guide to Talents and Builds later that I'll link here later.
  
• The Dark Arts Aren't Inherently Evil - There is no morality system in this game so nothing you do is inherently good or evil. The Dark Arts are simply one method to gain strong combat power. That said, you don't need them to win fights so they aren't necessary either so simply do as you like.
  
• Do Side Quests To Unlock New Content - Side Quests and Assignments give new spells and puzzles to solve. If you don't keep up with Side Quests, then you can quickly find yourself discovering a lot of things that you aren't able to access yet or completely missing out on things you don't even know exist.
  
• Complete Challenges To Upgrade Your Character - Some Challenges give cosmetics but other Challenges give Upgrades to your character like more space for gear, more Ancient Magicka bars, etc... So keep up with your challenges.
  
• Don't Forget To Redeem Those Challenges - You may finish the challenge but you won't get the reward until you go into your challenge menu and claim the reward yourself so don't forget to claim them. Especially the Merlin Trials
  
• Reload Autosaves To Undo Mistakes - You won't often have to use this but the game Autosaves so often that you can use it like the "Master Thieves" in Elder Scrolls. Open a big chest but your bag is full? Reload, delete a green piece and open it again. Purchase or sell the wrong thing? Reload and it's like it never happened. Say the wrong thing to a friend? Reload and friendship restored! It's not needed often but it's useful when it is.
  
• Get Swift ASAP And Use It While On Foot - Being able to basically teleport will save you so much time when you are running around on foot. It's definitely the most valuable talent early on.
  
• Consider Disabling The Minimap And Quest Tracker - This only applies to those wanting an extra challenge. Turning off the Minimap and Quest Tracker make it so you have to memorize Hogwarts yourself and figure out where your supposed to go next on your own. No more constant reminders to complete your collection list either.

This section contains tips specifically geared towards looting, what gives what loot and what to do with loot. Some may seem obvious, but hoarders like myself sometimes have trouble using things.

• Sell All Old Gear - You will find lots of gear on your journey with unique looks and statistics but early on, only numbers matter so equip your best gear and sell the rest. The unique looks can be set on any piece of gear and you keep the appearance in your list of choices even after the item is sold.
  
• Spend Your Money - There isn't any reason to save it. Buy things you want or need because you'll earn more later.

• You Can Loot On The Fly - Some areas on the overworld are kind of a pain to land with your broom and you may not want to actually jump around to get the loot in them. So instead, just don't land and fly up to the chest or sack with your broom and loot it while still on your broom.
  
• Accio Loot! - It's not uncommon to see a sack far away and you can't figure out how to get there. Luckily Accio is able to move bags and(in rare and specific cases) chests right to you so you can loot them.
  
• Treasure Is Random - No treasure besides the Eyeball Chests is set in stone. It's random every time you loot it. So if you want a specific collectible or trait, you can save then reload if you don't like what you got. This works for gear as well but there is less point to doing so.

Each chest and bag has a unique look to determine what's inside of it so you can always know what you're looting.
Note: I'll include pictures as soon as I can.

• Pouches - Money
  
  
  
• Bags - Money or a gear piece
  
  
  
• Eyeball Chest - 500 Galleons
  
  
  
• Standard Treasure Chest - Random gear piece
  
  
  
  
• Massive Treasure Chest - Random Legendary gear piece
  
  
  
• Small Hexagon Chest - Random Collectable Room Decoration
  
  
  
• Small Tube/Cylinder Chest - Random Collectable Wand Cosmetic
  
  
  
• Small Silver Chest in Bandit Camps - Random Trait for Gear
  

There are many approaches to combat so do what's best for your playstyle.

• Change Dodge Key On Keyboard - Ctrl is an awful dodge key, pick something easy to click like V.
  
• Stealth Can Win a Fight Before It Starts Or Let You Escape - Turn invisible and use Petrificus Totalus along with it's perk and you can one-shot most things and heavily damage anything else. Invisibility Potions can be used to make an escape if necessary or insta-kill in combat. Use Glacius or Arresto Momentum to catch a single enemy away from the group for an easy finish if they are being difficult to stealth behind.
  
• Defense Before Offense - Dodging, Blocking and Countering is more important than attacking in this game because of how hard enemies hit and how much damage you can do just by countering. Always prioritize defending yourself.
  
• Dark Arts = Easy Mode - Avada Kedavra Mastery not only kills any enemy but any cursed enemy. So the more enemies you curse, the more you can one shot. Imperio Mastery makes an enemy cursed and inflict curses when they attack. Crucio Mastery curses and enemy and spreads that curse to other enemies when you basic attack them. If you act quickly, you can curse every enemy in a short time then kill them in a single attack which can make any hard battle easy as it ignores health and level entirely. Add in Curse Sapper and you get a free heal every kill as well.
  
• Items Are Your Friends - From Plants to Potions, items make combat easy with stuns, damage, defences and escapes. This can be abused to make yourself unkillable and keep your enemies from ever being able to defend themselves. It just costs money and/or time to make the items.
  
  • Endurus Potion Potency - Makes you invincible and auto-attacks enemies that use ranged attacks.
    
  • Maxima Potion Potency - Increases damage a lot and breaks shields with basic attacks
    
  • Focus Potion Potency - Reduces cooldowns of spells and potion lasts longer the more you use spells. Mix with Ultimate 1 Bar Combo listed above to make the potion last all battle.
    
  • Venomous Tentacula + Noxious - Venomous Tentacula shoots acid at enemies from range and Noxious increases its damage and causes it's attacks to break shields.
• Traits Make A Great Thing Better - There are various traits you can add later in the game that increase damage dealt and reduce damage received. Play around with the Traits to find what suits you best. For example, a Stealth build should focus on Ambush Traits while an Upfront Combat build should consider Concentration Traits.
  
• Ancient Magicks Can Finish A Fight - Ancient Magicks give you an ability to deal massive amounts of damage to a singular target once you have them charged up. Save them and use them on the "boss" of any group and you can sweep up the weaklings however you like for easy victory.
  
• Chain Spells for Massive Damage - Spells perform combos and when you add Talents they can devastate whole groups at once and even insta-kill single or groups of enemies.
  
  • Levioso/Accio/Flipendo + Descendo = Lift an enemy then slam them down.
    
  • Levioso/Accio/Flipendo + Depulso into Wall + Descendo = Lift, slam into wall, slam into ground.
    
  • Accio + Incendio = Pull enemies in then burn them
    
  • Expelliarmus + Ancient Magick Throw = Disarm an enemy and use their weapon against them.
    
  • Glacius + Diffindo/Bombarda/Confrindo/Incendio = Freeze an enemy(which increases damage of next hit) then heavily damage them.
• You Can See If An Enemy Will Die Before Using Petrify - You can view an enemies healthbar when you're about to petrify them to determine if they will die or not.

I felt that this deserved it's own section. This section will tell you the most overpowered combos in the game, several of which are guaranteed to finish enemies in combat.

• Massive Damage Combo Shotgun = Accio + Descendo + Glacius + Incendio - Pull enemy in, smash them to the ground, freeze them and burn them to a crisp. Good for purple shields.
  
• Massive Damage Combo Sniper = Levioso + Descendo + Glacius + Diffindo - Lift an enemy, smash them to the ground, freeze them and shatter them. Good for yellow shields.
  
• Last Enemy Finisher = Accio + Glacius/Arresto Momentum + Petrificus Totalus - This only works on the last enemy, and only if they are small/can be killed with Petrificus Totalus. Pulls them in, freezes them in place to end combat and then finishes them.
  
• Last Enemy Big Finisher = Imperio + Petrificus Totalus - The improved version that will let you kill any enemy, even a troll, so long as it is the last enemy in combat. Turn them friendly and repeatedly petrify them until they die. If they survive through the curse, curse them again.
  
• Group Finisher = Crusio Mastery + Basic Attacks + Avada Kedavra Mastery - Curse one enemy and then basic until all enemies are curse. Then when you Avada Kedavra any enemy they will all die.
  
• Like Fish In A Barrel = Transfiguration + Depulso - This combo is ridiculous because it feels like it shouldn't work this way but it does. Transfigure ANY enemy that can be transfigured then use Depulso to launch them and they will shatter for an instant kill. Change to Transfiguration Mastery to also make them explode.

There is lot to find in the game and many places to explore so this section will focus on making it as easy and efficient as possible.

• Wait To Actively Explore - If you try to explore before you've unlocked all your tools, you will end up wasting time on coming back to re-explore over and over. Passive exploration is fine and even helpful to increase your level but actively exploring too early will mostly just waste time finding things you can't access. I consider getting Alohamora to be the prime time to start exploring because you will have to unlock 3 Levels of Alohamora to unlock everything, and getting levels 2 and 3 require exploration anyway so you will end up having to do some re-exploration regardless.
  
• Actively Grab Floo Flames - Counter to what I just said, DO actively grab Floo Flames if you pass anywhere near them. They are your fast travel and can speed up exploring and questing considerably. Just grab them when it's convenient. You won't grab them all until you start actively exploring but that's fine.
  
• Talents Are Very Convenient But Not Necessary - Revelio Mastery and the Spell Knowledge Talents make exploration go much more quickly, but they aren't necessary. So don't feel forced to use them, but use them if you have free points available.
  
• Listen For The Sound Or Use Accessibility Options - Immediately after casting Revelio, a sound tells you what direction and how far away Field Pages are from you. For those who can't hear the sound for any reason, there is an option in the settings that adds a visual to your screen to show the direction for you. This also shows visuals for other sounds as well.
  
• Cast Revelio While Flying - If you cast Revelio while flying in the sky, you will reveal map locations instead of hidden objects. You may have to zoom all the way in on the map to show them.
  
• Cast Revelio Often And Keep An Eye To The Sky - Hidden objects are all over and that includes flying above your head. The flying Field Pages are particularly troublesome because they may be there one moment and gone the next. So using Revelio often makes sure you won't miss when it flies by.
  
• Think Hard And Use The Right Tools - Some puzzles aren't readily apparent but all can be solved through a combination of memory, logical reasoning and trying different tools. Lumos brighten things up and attracts insects, Incendio burns and lights things, Accio pulls things to you or pulls you to other things, etc... So just think over each tool, what it does, what it might do and what you need to do to solve the problem.
  
• 100% Of Challenges Is Less Than 100% Of the Map - You can collect every single reward that Challenges give long before collecting everything on the map. So if you feel like you want to complete the challenges, you can do so and save 100% completing the Map for later. This will let you experience exploring in smaller doses and when you finally beat the game, you'll have much less to grind out for 100% completion.
  
• Fly Low For Infinite Boost - Depending on your brooms upgrade level, there are various heights above the ground that you get infinite boost on your broom so fly low to fly fast.

Otherwise known as the Room of Requirement.

Your Room gives you the ability to produce potions and plants as well as breed beasts to give you a variety of different help in the rest of the game. Doing these things is expensive and time consuming though so this section will help you make them as efficient as possible.

• Hopping Pots Are Overpowered - Hopping Pots are the single most overpowered thing in the Room. Normally to create a potion you must learn the recipe, collect the ingredients and craft the potion. The ingredients are a pain because not all of them can be grown or easily collected so you'd have to buy them but the Hopping Pots cuts out the ingredients in exchange for crafting a random potion you have learned instead. For a one-time purchase from 'Tomes and Scrolls' in Hogsmeade, you can create up to 3 Hopping Pots in your Room and they will each create a random potion that you know the recipe in 12 minutes after you collect the previous potion. So learn every potion in the game early, setup 3 pots and come back to stockpile on all of your potions for minimal effort and for free.
  
• Beast Feeder Makes Raising Beasts Easy - This item, purchased from 'Tomes and Scrolls', cut out the feeding portion of raising animals and make it easy to group up animals for cleaning and collecting. Just put the brush on your bar and brush every Beast you can and once they've fed, you'll be ready to collect. Note that sometimes they take time to get to feeding so just feed those ones yourself.
  
• "Give Me The Big One" - Only purchase the largest version of any planting table or potion table. This means 5 Small Pots, 3 Medium Pots, 2 Large Pots and a T-Shaped Potion Table. Personally, because of the Hopping Pots, I find the Potion table unnecessary at all BUT maybe you'll need to mass produce at some point. Instead, I recommend growing Mandrakes, Chinese Chomping Cabbages and Venomous Tentacula almost exclusively.
  
• Ever-Changing Room, The Secret To Mass Production - Your Room is not set in stone. You can choose to Mass Produce a thing and ignore the rest. For example, you are allowed 7 Plant Tables. Make that 7 Tables with 5 Small Pots and in 10 minutes you can have 35 Mandrakes or 175 Dittany Leaves. Do this once for each plant then change to 7 Tables of 3 Medium Pots or 7 Tables of 2 Large Pots for similar effects. This keeps your Room clean and clear so you only grow what you need at any particular time while getting rid of excessive extras.
  
• Think About The Layout - Your Layout is important to make your Room Convenient. I layout my Hopping Pots in a line next to one pillar by the entrance, my Desk of Description by the other pillar and my Enchanted Loom in the Center. Everything else is put in such a way that, should I wish it, I can go in a circle around the room and grab everything with minimal movement. You don't need to go this hard but I do strongly recommend keeping you Hopping Pots and Desk of Description in very easily accessed spots at the very least.
  
• Dismantle Everything For Free Moonstones - Dismantle all the default stuff for an easy bunch of moonstones for little effort early on. You can redecorate later if you want.

This section will help optimize your room for the easiest use with most effect.

You cap out at 4 Refuges, each allowing 4 species of Beast and 12 Beasts each. This means 16 Beast species and 48 Beasts in all. There are only 13 Beast Species in the game so that means you can have 3 extra copies in 1 of the rooms.

• Only Necessities -A Beast Feeder, 3 of each Beast with an extra set of Mooncalfs and Jobberknolls in the 4th room are all that you need. Anything more is unnecessary. No need to breed. No need for toy box.
  
• Some Beasts Are More Used Than Others - Mooncalf and Jobberknoll are the most used, followed by Diricawl, Fwooper and Giant Purple Toads then Hippogryph, Thestral and Kneazle then finally Unicorn, Phoenix and Graphorn. Make more room for those you use the most and less room for those you use the least.
  
• Only Feed/Collect When Upgrading - There isn't much point to stockpiling resources every time you visit the Room. If you have 3 of each Beast and collect everytime you do any upgrade, you'll be ready to upgrade when you need to.

There is actually very little of use in the room.

• Only Useful Items - You only need the following in Your Room
  
  • x3 Hopping Pots
    
  • x3 Material Refiner
    
  • x3 Dung Composter
    
  • x1 5 Small Pots Table
    
  • x3 3 Medium Pots Table
    
  • x4 2 Large Pots Table
    
  • x3 T-Shaped Potion Table
    
  • Desk of Description
    
  • Loom
• How To Use It -
  
  • Hopping Pots, Material Refiners, Dung Composters, Desk of Description and Loom in the main room. Plants and Potions in the other room.
    
  • Grow 1 set of each regular plant with fertiliser. IE 5 Small Fertilized Pots of Mallowsweet.
    
  • After initial set, only grow fertilised Mandrakes, Cabbages and Venomous Tentaculas.
    
  • Collect from main room every trip. Collect from side room as necessary.
    
  • Potion Tables usually only necessary for Wiggenwald Potions but can be used for anything. 3 T-Shaped Tables is enough to make a large amount of Potions quickly.

I debated putting these Tips in the other categories but I think that they should get their own section since they can't be done in the early game. These Tips will help you once you start reaching the End-Game and become able to do more things.

• Money Isn't Necessary - After a certain point, Money Making becomes pointless because all you need that can be purchased is Potions, Combat Plants, Items to make Potions and Combat Plants, and Upgrade Materials. There are a few cosmetics but it's not hard to accidentally save up for those. You can just make some money and buy those things but be warned that some quests require you to have put effort in your room so I personally recommend doing that but I'll list the best way to actively make money anyway.
  
• How To Make Money For Those Who Want To
  
  • 1. Get the Nab-Sack via a Main Story Quest
    
  • 2. Go to any Puffskein spawn. You will be taken to one during the quest so use that one if you don't know another one.
    
  • 3. Catch all the Puffskein. One method is Accio then Nab-Sack and another is Disillusionment then Nab-Sack. Whatever method works best for you to catch them as quickly as possible.
    
  • 4. Save game, reload and catch them again. Repeat as much as you like.
    
  • 5. Do this as much as you want and when you're done, go to the Brood and Peck in Hogsmead to sell them for 120 Galleons a piece. This amount is fixed regardless of Beast so Puffskein are the best for this.
• Best Method To Catch Beasts - Disillusionment so they can't see you, walk up close and cast Arresto Momentum to freeze them in place, Nab-Sack immediately. This will catch any beast guaranteed. If you scare off the other beasts and they go to far, just cast Disillusionment and wait for a minute for them to return.
  
• ALWAYS Upgrade Gear - Seriously, it's so cheap. adds quite a bit to stats and once you start getting near 30, it gets harder to find gear better than what you already have. Just keep a couple of every beast and Feed/Brush them whenever you need Upgrade Mats and you'll never run out.
  
• Don't Be Afraid To Try New Spells - Spells really do get stronger as you progress through the game. Don't make the mistake of getting stuck on the same combo you used when you started the game. You have up to 16 Spells across 4 lines, try out some combo's and see what fits your playstyle.
  
• Skip Alohamora And Beast Taming On Story Mode - If you're just trying to collect all of your collectible chests or capture all the different beasts and don't want to actually play the mini games associated, turn your difficulty to story mode and you'll get the option to skip the mini game altogether.
  
• Save And Reload To Complete Combat Challenges - If you want to hunt just spiders, or trolls, or mongrels, etc.... Go to one of their dens and defeat them then save and reload to make them respawn instantly. Do this until your challenges are complete for easy completion.
  
• Black Flags Mean Quests - Have you ever noticed some flags are white and some are black? That's because black flags indicate there is something there you can do now so if you're looking for quests, the black flags will show you the way.
  
• You Don't Have To Kill Bandit Camps - Fly in, grab the chest and fly out. No need to kill them if you don't want/need to.

Hopefully you find these tips helpful and I will do my best to update the current sections and possibly add sections later as I feel the need. I will also create other guides and add links here as I make them. If you have any questions, feedback or any tips you think should be added, please let me know!