Hogwarts Legacy’s Best Spell Slot Set Ups & Upgrade Combinations

There's barely a second in Hogwarts Legacy where witches and wizards won't be casting spells with their wands, and so knowing the best spell slot set-ups is essential to getting the most out of the magical experience. After all, there are 24 different spells to learn (alongside three Unforgivable Curses), but with a limited capacity to equip them, deciding which abilities to run can be a difficult decision. Of course, the answer lies partly in player's own personal preferences, but Hogwarts Legacy's best spell slot set-ups and talent upgrades can provide them with seamless, satisfying gameplay all around.

Technically, there are a total of 34 magical abilities that the student can possess, but ten of these are classified as essential spells. Thankfully, these don't need to be equipped, and players will always be able to use them regardless of their current spell combinations. Some of Hogwarts Legacy's best spell combos are even reliant on essential spells, such as Stupefy and Petrificus Totalus. In order to maximize their abilities in-game, players should make use of these ten spells as much as possible alongside the following spell slot set-ups and talent upgrade combinations.

Best Utility Spells To Equip For Exploring In Hogwarts Legacy

A player character standing and casting Lumos in Hogwarts Legacy's Deathday party room, a secret location most players never discover.

When playing Hogwarts Legacy, students (especially those who are fans of the main Harry Potter series) will be doing a lot of exploring around the castle and the surrounding highlands. To make the process a bit more convenient and enjoyable, they'll benefit from equipping the most useful utility spells in the game: Lumos, Disillisionment, Wingardium Leviosa, and Levioso. These abilities will most frequently be required of players when solving basic puzzles, stumbling across secrets inside Hogwarts, or roaming the open-world map in general.

Newer players might find that swapping one of these four spells with Accio makes for a more productive spell slot combination. After all, finding all Field Guide pages in Hogwarts Legacy will prompt the use of the pulling spell, and so it might be more convenient to keep Accio around until a bit more exploring has taken place. But every witch and wizard, no matter how experienced, can make use of the Human Demiguise talent upgrade for this specific spell slot set-up. Sprinting while using Disillusionment is a time-saver, and it alone makes stealth a much more viable option in Hogwarts Legacy. Human Demiguise is available at level 5.

Highest Damage Spell Slot Combination For Hogwarts Legacy Combat

A Hogwarts Legacy student casting an orange spell at an enemy, sending sparks flying.

Most spells in the wizarding world RPG are combat-related, and so it can become overwhelming trying to pick the best ones in the heat of battle. A good spell slot set-up to fall back on is the one that deals highest damage spell combos in Hogwarts Legacy: Glacius, Accio, Diffindo, and Incendio. It's ideal for offensive spell slot set-ups to contain at least one spell of every type (or color) to truly master combat in Hogwarts Legacy, and this list covers Control, Force, and Damage respectively all while dealing some of the most fatal blows to enemies.

Players will find success using these spells in any order, but the most effective combinations are Glacius with Diffindo and Accio with Incendio. Glacius roots enemies in place, which makes it a lot easier to deal damage to multiple enemies with the piercing Diffindo spell. On the other hand, Accio pulls targets to the player, and the close-range fire spell Incendio makes them take considerable damage over time. To make things even more brutal, each of these four spells have a talent upgrade available in the Spells skill tree, with those for Incendio, Accio, and Diffindo being available at level 5, and Glacius' upgrade being unlocked at level 16.

Hogwarts Legacy's Most Chaotic Spell Slot Set Up

Hogwarts Legacy's Professor Hecat casting a spell on a levitating student.

The spell combos with the highest damage are certainly effective, but it's still possible to create an even more fun and chaotic spell slot set-up. To turn the wizarding world into their playground, witches and wizards might be interested in equipping Transformation, Depulso, Expelliarmus, and Bombarda. Again, using these magical abilities in any order will yield exciting results, but the standout combination that's sure to cause complete disarray is Transformation and Bombarda.

Transformation is likely the strongest Control spell in the game, and it's essentially the non-dark wizard's Avada Kedavra, as it turns any target into a destructible object that can be killed in a single hit afterward. Bombarda, which causes a large explosion, has an interesting interaction with Transformation, as it causes the item to burst and deal significant area-of-effect damage.

Depulso is similarly powerful and probably the game's best Force spell, and they should make use of it whenever it's off cooldown to keep targets at bay. Expalliarmus is the cherry on top for this chaotic spell slot set-up in Hogwarts Legacy, especially against enemies who don't wield wands (like goblins), because players can then hilariously turn their own weapons against them.

To make these entertaining spell combos in Hogwarts Legacy even more fun, players should be sure to invest in the Bombarda, Depulso, and Transformation Mastery perks on the Spell skill tree. Bombarda's upgrade increases its effective range, and Depulso's creates an additional blast much closer to the player's own body, which is excellent for pesky close-ranged enemies. However, Transformation Mastery is what truly makes this spell slot set-up shine, turning each target into an explosive barrel that pairs perfectly with upgraded Bombarda. Upgrades for Depulso and Bombarda are unlocked at level 16, whereas Transformation Mastery is available at level 22.

Best Spell Slot Combination For Dark Wizards In Hogwarts Legacy

Two Dark Wizards casting the Avada Kedavra spell towards the sky in Hogwarts Legacy's trailer.

There are pros and cons to being a dark wizard or witch, but the best spell combination for the dark arts in Hogwarts Legacy make turning evil quite tempting. In order to use it effectively, students will need to invest in a number of perks, and so it's best to start purchasing these upgrades as soon as they decide to turn to the dark side. However, even without these advanced skills, players can feel like a menace in the wizarding world by using Arresto Momentum, Expelliarmus, Flipendo, and most importantly, Avada Kedavra.

There isn't a specific combination to use with this list of spells, and so students should feel free to use them however they see fit - that is, until unlocking Disarming Curse, Knockback Curse, Slowing Curse, and Avada Kedavra Mastery in the Dark Arts skill tree. With all of these perks unlocked, each of the four spells will inflict the Cursed status onto a target, making them take extra damage.

Using ugraded Flipendo, Arresto Momentum, and Expelliarmus, players will be able to curse every foe on the battlefield, and Avada Kedavra Mastery will synergize extremely well; upon using the Unforgivable Curse, it'll cause every single cursed enemy to die instantaneously. So although Avada Kedavra has a longer cooldown of 90 seconds, dark witches and wizards can spend this downtime inflicting everyone with this status effect, and by the time the killing spell is available to use, they'll be able to wipe out all of their opposition with a single swish and flick of their wands.

These four spell combinations are just a few of the options players can experiment with, but when combined with Hogwarts Legacy's best talents, the game becomes an absolute blast to experience. Whether they're trying to explore the map, deal the most damage, create anarchy, or even be the downfall of wizardkind itself, Hogwarts Legacy's best spell slot set-ups and talent upgrade combinations have all of their magical needs covered.

Editor’s Note: Harry Potter creator J.K. Rowling has been accused of transphobia by those in the LGBTQ+ community. Although not directly involved in the development of Hogwarts Legacy, Rowling does stand to earn royalties from the game. We would like to reiterate our support for trans rights and that trans identities are valid. Support services are listed below for trans people impacted by discussions of transphobia.

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