Hogwarts Legacyhas a wide range of combat options for players to consider, and a firm comprehension of them all is key to mastering any Ashwinder bandit camp or grouping of Ranrok’s Loyalists. Players can fire basic spells as much as they like, but eventually humanoid enemies will always have a colored bubble shielding them against anything but a spell that matches that color. Instead,players can hurl out Chinese Chomping Cabbagesor hoard bars on their Ancient Magic meter to clear enemies in mere moments, let alone using the Killing Curse for particularly tanky opponents.
Hogwarts Legacy’s Avada Kedavrawill get players out of sticky situations if there is one enemy that is troublesome, though it is not an end-all-be-all for combat encounters because it has a much longer cooldown window than any other spell and has no AoE properties. Rather, it is a one-hit kill on almost any enemy or boss. This is great news for players who want to make quick work of late-game foes, but players will soon learn that Avada Kedavra is obsolete against the final boss ofHogwarts Legacy’s main questline, though there may be reasonable explanation as to why.
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Avada Kedavra is Faithful to Hogwarts Legacy’s Gameplay But Not Its Narrative
Casting Avada Kedavra has a significant effect in gameplay, but that effect is not respected inHogwarts Legacy’s narrative. Even if players cast Avada Kedavra on Theophilus Harlow and instantly wipe his health bar, for example, he is visibly alive in the cutscene that follows his defeat and shows him being apprehended after Natsai Onai leaps in the way of his Cruciatus Curse.
Many branching paths in the game’s story would surely need to be accounted for if the Killing Curse literally killed the character in-game, though it is still great that the spell is as lethal in combat as it is supposed to be. However, learning the curse takes quite a while since it only unlocks near the end ofSebastian Sallow’s relationship questline inHogwarts Legacy, meaning that players will not be able to rely on it in combat throughout most of the game unless they wait to tackle side quests until afterward.
Hogwarts Legacy’s Ranrok Dragon is Technically Not ‘Alive’
There will likely be fans upset that the final boss cannot be dealt with instantly with Avada Kedavra, but because the curse only canonically works on living beings,Hogwarts Legacymay have found some clever wiggle room with Ranrok Dragon. The dragon might not be technically classified as a living being since it is manifested from Ranrok using Miriam Fig’s wand to unleash the repository of frothing Dark Magic that the Keepers have kept sealed and hidden beneath Hogwarts.
Ranrok absorbs this swirling crimson substance and becomes the Ranrok Dragon that players then fight asHogwarts Legacy’s final boss, but because it is composed of magic and adorned in what looks like metal or stone, Avada Kedavra is not effective on it at all.
Players will notice the curse is ineffective if they try to cast Avada Kedavra on it, and not making the final boss a living being is actually a genius way to ensure that players do not anticlimactically fell the dragon in a single hit.Hogwarts Legacy’s final boss fight against Ranrok Dragonis quite elaborate with multiple phases, and instead of always dealing direct damage players often need to cast particularly colored spells at bubbles that appear to make the boss vulnerable.
This whole approach would have been redundant if players could simply end the fight as soon as it starts. Of course, casting Ancient Magic whiletaking a swig ofHogwarts Legacy’s Maxima Potioncan cut the dragon down almost as quickly.
Hogwarts Legacyis available now on PC, PS5, and Xbox Series X/S. PS4 and Xbox One ports are scheduled to release on May 5, and the Nintendo Switch version arrives June 20, 2025.
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