While everyone is excited to be attending classes in Hogwarts Legacy, at some point you will have to put those lessons to use in combat. As you explore outside the school or during missions, you will run into various creatures that will attack you. While we’ve yet to see more than bits and pieces of combat. Let’s take a look at what we know about the game’s combat — from what kind of abilities you can use, to what you can expect to be fighting!
Gameplay
As Hogwarts Legacy is an action RPG, combat will be in real time. You will be able to attack enemies with various forms of magic, and can perform maneuvers such as dashing and counter attacking. Additionally, you will be able to use the environment to your advantage, hurling objects such as barrels at your enemies, and likely using structures to help block magic aimed at you.
While we haven’t gotten to see anything as far as UI in battle (if there even is any), it can be assumed that there will be no bar for your health in this game; from the gameplay footage shown, we can see that when you get hit, a section of the screen (the section being the direction you got hit from) will flash red. As you take more hits, the screen will likely turn more and more red until you heal or are defeated.
Spells and Charms
As a Wizard or Witch, you are obviously going to be learning a variety of spells and charms throughout the game. While it’s not clear how they can all be learned, it is confirmed that you will learn abilities in classes, these likely being your most basic ones. It is also confirmed that you will be able to learn spells by befriending students. It is even hinted at that there will be a way to learn spells even beyond your professors’ understanding.
In the State of Play video released recently, we can see some of the variety of magic spells players will be able to use. Some of the charms demonstrated appeared to be Protego to protect the player from harm, Levioso to lift objects and enemies off of the ground, and Stupefy to stun a target. We can also see some more aggressive spells being used, such as Incendio, Flipendo, and Oppugno. You will be able to combine these and many more magical abilities to create combo attacks on enemies, and finding combinations that work for you will help shape your combat style.
On top of the spells and charms, you will also be able to use finishers on enemies. Though it’s not clear when or how often you will be able to use these, they will definitely help you in taking enemies down quickly.
Potions and Plants
On top of your magic abilities, you can carry potions and plants that will help you in various ways in combat. You can create and plant these while in Hogwarts. Potions can be used to give yourself an extra boost in battle, such as temporarily making your spells stronger.
Plants can be deployed to assist you — examples of this are throwing small plants on the ground to swarm and distract enemies, or using the Mandrake seedling to stun surrounding foes. You will likely start off only being able to brew simple potions and grow small plants, but as you progress in the school year, you will learn how to create more potent things to aid you better.
Talents
To further boost your effectiveness in combat, you will have access to an extensive talent system in Hogwarts Legacy. After completing challenges and gaining enough experience, you can spend points to upgrade spells, potions, and plants to increase their power. You will be able to use these points to focus on your favorite types of magic, increasing the effectiveness of your chosen playstyle.
Enemies
There will be a wide variety of enemies opposing you on your journey. Some of the enemies you will be facing include powerful Goblins, creatures that have been corrupted by a magical force, and even other Wizards and Witches. Each enemy will have a unique combination of offensive and defensive abilities — some of them may be aggressive attackers, while others will prefer to stand back and incapacitate you.
You will need to learn what each enemy is capable of, and how to counter them. Your foes will also have weaknesses, and as you progress and learn more spells, you will be able to easily exploit them once you learn what they are.
With all of these abilities at your disposal, it looks like there will be many ways that you can approach combat in Hogwarts Legacy. Hopefully before the game gets released, we will get more information on the various spells we can learn, and how we can choose to enhance our abilities through talents.
