If you want to become incredibly powerful in the combat system of Hogwarts Legacy, you should definitely study the Dark Arts. With these spells and the corresponding talents, you’ll be able to instantly take down bosses and wipe out entire groups of enemies with a single cast.

And don’t worry—there are no negative consequences for using this magic in the game. In this guide, we’ll walk you through how to access the spells, how to unlock their full potential, and where you can test them out before unlocking them.

How to Unlock Unforgivable Curses

Access to all three Unforgivable Curses is unlocked exclusively by completing a series of side quests from your Slytherin companion, Sebastian Sallow. Look for quest icons shaped like speech bubbles on the map to progress through his story.

1. How to Get and Use Crucio

This is the first curse you’ll be able to learn. You can acquire it during the side quest “In the Shadow of the Study,” which becomes available after the main quest “High Keep.”

Freedom of Choice: Your dialogue choices don’t prevent you from learning magic. You can choose not to learn it right in the middle of the quest. If you change your mind, just find Sebastian in the Crypt later and ask him to teach you. The key is to do this before his storyline concludes.

Spell Mechanics: In its basic form, Crucio deals periodic damage and completely paralyzes the target for 20 seconds.

Curse Mark: The spell places a special cross-shaped mark on the enemy. Cursed enemies take slightly more damage from your attacks.

Features: Paralysis does not affect large enemies (such as trolls), but the debuff is still applied. However, Crucio works perfectly on “Notable Enemies” (mini-bosses with a large health bar).

The “Crucio Mastery” talent: Must be leveled up. If you attack an enemy affected by Crucio with basic attacks, homing projectiles will fly out of them. These curse other nearby enemies and pierce shields of any color (this property applies to all Unforgivable Curses).

2. How to Get and Use Imperio

The next Unforgivable Curse is unlocked in the quest “In the Shadow of Time” (the quest will appear shortly after winter begins in the game).

Spell Mechanics: Allows you to subjugate an enemy—they will fight on your side for 20 seconds, taking reduced damage.

Who can be subjugated: Virtually any enemy, except for major story bosses. Imperio works flawlessly on giant spider queens and trolls. Subjugated elite mobs deal massive damage to their former allies.

“Imperio Mastery” Talent: Attacks by a subjugated enemy will apply curse marks to other enemies.

Tactics: You can attack a target under Imperio with impunity—they won’t strike back. However, it’s more advantageous to keep a subjugated enemy alive so they can distract the crowd.

3. How to Obtain and Use Avada Kedavra

The fastest way to kill any enemy in the game.

The quest “In the Shadow of the Relic” appears at the very end of the game. The recommended level for this quest is 28 (though you can complete it earlier).

Spell Mechanics: Instantly kills any target, regardless of their health.

How to bypass the long cooldown: To balance things out, the spell has a cooldown of 1.5 minutes (90 seconds). To solve this problem, use a Focus Potion, which you can buy or brew using a recipe from Pepin’s shop in Hogsmeade. The potion reduces the cooldown of Avada Kedavra from 90 to 35 seconds.

The Ultimate Combo for Clearing a Crowd

The secret lies in the “Avada Kedavra Mastery” talent. With it, the killing curse strikes not just a single target, but ricochets off all cursed enemies on the battlefield.

The ideal rotation for any battle:

  1. Cast Crucio on one of the enemies.
  2. Spam him with basic attacks to scatter the cursed projectiles and apply curse marks to all other enemies.
  3. Cast Avada Kedavra. Result: the entire group of enemies dies in one second. This makes you incredibly overpowered in the late game.

How to Test The Dark Arts in Advance

If you don’t want to wait until the end of the game, you can try out the spells in the Dark Arts Battle Arena. It’s located in the Forbidden Forest, near the “East Wing of North Hogwarts” Floo Point. Access to the arena is available to owners of the Digital Deluxe Edition or through a separate purchase of the Dark Arts Pack. Here, Crucio, Imperio, and Avada Kedavra are temporarily added to your arsenal, though you won’t be able to test the talents.

Additional Ways to Enhance Dark Magic

Even if you don’t have the Unforgivable Curses yet, you can start building the Dark Mage build immediately after unlocking the talent tree (after the story quest “Rest in Peace, Galcrad”).

The Dark Arts branch includes skills that allow you to cast curses using standard abilities:

Stupefy: Applies a mark upon successfully parrying and counterattacking.

Curses via standard spells: You can level up curse application through Expelliarmus, Flippendo, and Arrest Momentum. Talent points cannot be reset, so only level up the skills you actually use. It is recommended to choose Flippendo, as it has the fastest cooldown, allowing you to quickly curse enemies in a combo with Avada Kedavra.

Blood Curse: Dealing damage to one cursed enemy deals damage to all other marked targets.

Damage Boost: The game features an “Unforgivable” stat on equipment that increases damage against cursed targets.

Enduring Curse: Increases the duration of the mark from 20 to 40 seconds. (Note: This talent does not affect the duration of Crucio and Imperio, so it is not necessary to take it.)

Curse Sapper — Level 22: An incredibly powerful survivability talent. Restores a substantial amount of health every time you kill a cursed enemy. Given how easy it is to scatter marks across the battlefield, this skill will provide you with endless healing.