As you wander beyond the castle grounds in Hogwarts Legacy you will come upon dozens of Merlin Challenges — circular platforms that react when Mallowsweet is placed on them. If you take the time to solve these puzzles, you'll be rewarded with experience points that you can use to level up your character's abilities.
To unlock Merlin Trials, you'll first need to complete the "Trials of Merlin" sidequest which becomes available relatively early on. There are dozens of fun puzzles to complete in Hogwarts Legacy, which is one reason that this is one of the best PC games and best Xbox games out there.
Merlin Trial Locations
Merlin Trials can be found all over the world map and are marked by a Mallowsweet Leaf symbol that kind of looks like a feather. Simply mark one of these as a waypoint, then make your way there by foot, broom, or beast in order to take on the Merlin Trial challenge that awaits you.
How to solve all Merlin Trials in Hogwarts Legacy
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Each Trial of Merlin in Hogwarts Legacy is unique to some extent, but they all fall into one of nine different puzzle types that require specific spells to solve. Sometimes it can be hard to figure out what kind of puzzle you're after, but if you do a bit of poking around you'll find puzzle elements from one of the nine possible puzzle types.
If you're having issues locating puzzle parts then use Revelio to make them glow blue. You might need to search around the Merlin Trial platform, but don't get too far or the parts you solved already will be reset. Here's how to solve each of the nine Merlin Trials puzzle types.
Statue Repair Merlin Trial
Required Spell: Reparo
Use Revelio to locate destroyed statues near the Merlin Trial platform. Then go up to each broken statue and repair it with Reparo.
Sphere smashing Merlin Trial
Required Spell: Confringo
These challenges feature three groupings of stone spheres on raised pedestals. Your goal is to find these groupings and blast all of the balls with Confringo.
Platforming across stones Merlin Trial
Required Spell: None
You'll know it's this challenge if you see a line of white stone platforms that have a purple shimmer to them when the Merlin Trial is activated. The goal is to jump on all of them, but if you fall you have to start over. With far-apart stones, your best bet is to get a running jump from one platform to the next.
Cube symbol alignment Merlin Trial
Required Spell: Flippendo
This challenge involves totems that are made of two stone cubes stacked on top of each other. You'll need to use Flippendo from the correct angles in order to line up the symbol of the top cube with the bottom cube. You'll need to do this for three stone stacks in the area.
Exploding stones Merlin Trial
Required Spell: Confringo or Incendio
If you see cracked stone with green highlights, you'll want to go to all of them and use either Confringo or Incendio to destroy them all. There are typically five of these in an area.
Torch lighting Merlin Trial
Required Spell: Confringo
Three fire basins will be around the Merlin Trial platform. You'll need to quickly light all three of them with Confringo before they douse themselves in water. All need to hold fire to finish the trial. Some pedestals are shorter than others so you should do the shorter pedestals last.
Rolling stone and bowl Merlin Trial
Required Spell: Accio and/or Depulso
Using Accio and/or Depulso you'll need to move a large stone ball so that it lands in a stone bowl somewhere nearby. If the ball gets too far from the puzzle area it will disappear and reappear where you first found it.
Moth lighting Merlin Trial
Required Spell: Lumos
This type of challenge involves stones with crystals inside of them. The goal being to put a moth in each one. Cast Lumos near the blue moths and then lead each moth grouping to the three separate stones to complete the puzzle.
Stacking stones Merlin Trial
Required Spell: Accio, Depulso, or Wingardium Leviosa
Use Accio, Depulso, or Wingardium Leviosa to place a grouping of five small stone orbs onto platforms. There are usually three of these to complete in an area.
Merlin Trials tips and tricks
- Use Revelio: Sometimes when you get to a Merlin Trial platform you might not see anything to interact with. Use Revelio to identify any puzzle elements around you. Note that some won't glow until after you've activated the platform with Mallowsweet Leaves.
- Try the trial at night: If you're having trouble completing a trial, change the time of day to night by going into the map and pressing the Wait button. Sometimes puzzle elements are easier to see in the darkness.
- Make sure to have plenty of Mallowseet on you: You need these leaves in order to activate the Merlin Trials so you'll want to periodically head to Hogsmeade to buy more or grow your own.
How to get Mallowsweet in Hogwarts Legacy
How do you get Mallowsweet in Hogwarts Legacy?
You can either purchase this plant from a shop like The Magic Neep at Hogsmeade, or you can grow it yourself in the Room of Requirement. Seeds for growing them yourself can also be purchased from The Magic Neep at Hogsmeade, but you'll need to have unlocked plant tables to grow them yourself. You can purchase larger plant tables from Tomes and Scrolls at Hogsmeade.
Make Merlin proud
You can solve Merlin's Trials using the various magical spells that you learn at Hogwarts. There are dozens of these puzzles all around the world map but as long as you know what the main trick is to solving them you should be able to breeze through them and earn plenty of experience points.
Some of the challenges are difficult and it might not always be easy to locate the puzzles themselves after reaching Merlin Trial platform. However, if you use Revelio it might help identify puzzle elements in the area. I've also found that doing the puzzles at night can make it easier to identify items revealed by Revelio.
Good luck out there and make Merlin proud!
