You’re wandering through the Scottish Highlands, the music is swelling, and suddenly you see it. That familiar circular stone pattern on the ground. You’ve got Mallowsweet in your pocket. You’ve got the spells. But honestly? After the fiftieth time, Merlin's Trials in Hogwarts Legacy can start to feel like a bit of a chore. We’ve all been there, standing in the rain near Feldcroft, wondering why a legendary wizard felt the need to leave 95 different puzzles scattered across the grass just so we could carry a few extra pairs of gloves.
It's a grind. There is no point in sugarcoating it. However, if you want to stop destroying gear every ten minutes because your inventory is full, you have to play Merlin’s game.
The Reality of the Mallowsweet Grind
The most annoying part isn't even the puzzles; it’s the plant. You can’t even start a trial without Mallowsweet leaves. If you're buying them individually from The Magic Neep in Hogsmeade, you're doing it wrong. You're wasting gold. Total rookie move. Instead, grab a seed packet and head to the Room of Requirement. Use a large potting table with five small pots. In about ten minutes, you’ll have more Mallowsweet than you’ll ever actually need. It’s basically a weed.
Merlin was a Slytherin, by the way. Most people forget that because of the whole "King Arthur’s advisor" thing, but the lore is pretty clear. He was a student at Hogwarts and a member of the house of the serpent. These trials were supposedly designed to challenge his fellow Slytherins. Some are clever. Some are just… moving rocks.
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Why Your Inventory Space Actually Matters
You start the game with 20 gear slots. That is nothing. It's a joke. You’ll fill that up in a single run through a goblin camp. By completing Merlin's Trials in Hogwarts Legacy, you can eventually double that capacity.
The progression is tiered, which is where people get confused. You don't get a reward for every single trial. You have to hit specific milestones in your Challenge Menu.
- Two trials get you the first upgrade.
- Then you need six more.
- Then ten.
- Then fourteen.
- Then twenty.
If you do the math, you only actually need to complete 52 trials to max out your inventory. There are 95 in the game. This means if you see one that looks like a total nightmare—looking at you, parkour stone pillars—you can literally just walk away. You don't need them all for the gameplay benefits, only for the "Merlin's Beard!" achievement/trophy.
The Different Types of Trials (And How to Not Fail Them)
There are about nine variations of these puzzles. Once you recognize the pattern, you can solve them in under thirty seconds.
The Large Stone Ball trials are usually the most straightforward. You find a big circular depression in the ground and then look for a giant boulder nearby. Depulso is your best friend here. Sometimes you need Wingardium Leviosa if the physics engine is being cranky. Just shove the ball into the hole. Done.
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Then there are the Small Stone Orbs. You'll see platforms with four holes in them. There are usually three sets of these. You need to find the piles of five small balls nearby and use Accio to lead them to the platforms. Pro tip: if you can't find the balls, cast Revelio. They’ll glow blue through walls and bushes.
The Brazier Trials are the ones that actually require a bit of timing. You have to light three or four braziers on pillars. The catch? They start sinking into the ground the moment you light the first one. If they hit the bottom, the fire goes out and you have to start over. Confringo is better than Incendio here because of the range. If they're far apart, use Arresto Momentum on the pillars to slow their descent. Most players forget that works, but it saves so much frustration.
The Ones That Everyone Hates
Let's talk about the Moth Mirrors. They’re essentially the same as the moth frames in the castle. You find a stone pillar with a crystal inside, find a swarm of glowing moths, and lead them back with Lumos. Simple? Sure. Until the moths are hidden behind a destructible wall or halfway up a cliff.
The Pillar Parkour trials are the actual worst. You have to jump from the top of one stone pillar to the next without touching the ground. If you have a broom, you might think you can cheese it. You can't. Touching the broom usually resets the trial. You have to actually use the jump button.
Then there are the Exploding Pillars. You just hit them with Confringo. That’s it. It’s barely a puzzle. It’s more of a stress reliever.
Regional Breakdown: Where to Focus
If you’re just starting out, stay in the North Hogwarts Region and the South Hogwarts Region. The trials there are significantly easier. As you move south toward the Poidsear Coast and Marunweem Lake, the puzzles get more complex.
- North Ford Bog: Very few trials, mostly easy.
- Forbidden Forest: Dense trees make Revelio essential.
- Hogwarts Valley: High concentration of trials, great for knocking out a bunch of milestones at once.
- Cragcroftshire: Usually involves more climbing and verticality.
The difficulty doesn't necessarily scale with your level, but the spells required do. You can’t complete certain trials until you’ve unlocked Flipendo or Confringo. If you see a stone cube with symbols on it, you need Flipendo. You have to match the symbol on the top block with the one on the bottom. It’s a bit like a magical Rubik’s cube, but much easier once you realize you can hit it from different sides to change the direction of the flip.
Hidden Mechanics and Lore Nuggets
Most people don't realize that Merlin's Trials are actually mentioned in the "History of Magic" lore as a legitimate training exercise. They aren't just a game mechanic invented for the RPG; they fit into the world-building of how ancient magic users interacted with the landscape.
Interestingly, if you look closely at the architecture of the trials, they use the same Elder Gothic style seen in the ruins around the map. It suggests that Merlin wasn't just a wizard, but an architect of the very magical foundations of Britain.
Also, a quick technical tip: if a trial seems "broken" and the vines won't clear even after you've used the Mallowsweet, fast travel away and come back. The game sometimes struggles with the physics triggers if you've been playing for several hours without a restart. It's a known bug that can save you a lot of confusion.
Your Checklist for Efficiency
To handle these trials without losing your mind, follow this specific order of operations. It’ll save you hours of backtracking.
- Mass Produce Mallowsweet: Don't even start hunting trials until you have at least 60 leaves in your bag.
- Unlock Flight First: Do not try to do these on foot. Wait until you have your broom. It makes finding the "hidden" orbs and moths ten times faster because you can cast Revelio from the air to see the blue outlines across a massive radius.
- Prioritize the "Milestone" Trials: Stop once you hit the 52-trial mark unless you are a completionist. The extra 43 trials give you zero gameplay benefits other than the satisfaction of a cleared map.
- Keep Your Spell Sets Ready: Map Confringo, Accio, Lumos, and Flipendo to the same spell diamond. You’ll use these four for 90% of the trials. It prevents you from having to menu-dive every time you hop off your broom.
- Use the Map Filters: You can zoom all the way out on the world map to see a tally of how many trials are left in each specific region. It helps you track which areas you've already cleared out.
Clear your inventory one last time, head to the Highlands, and start with the easy ones in the north. You'll have that maxed-out gear capacity before you even reach the third act of the main story.