If you have played augmented reality (AR) games on mobile devices before, then chances are that you are familiar with Niantic, Inc. as the game that very much popularized the AR concept on mobile games, Pokémon GO, is still among the top games on both the Apple App Store and the Google Play Store. Though Niantic, Inc. has been active on the mobile gaming industry since 2012 and still only has 3 games on their app portfolio today, Pokémon GO, Ingress Prime, and their latest release, Harry Potter: Wizards Unite are all well-loved games that will surely be around for a long time.
Co-developed and co-published by Niantic, Inc. and WB Games San Francisco as part of Portkey Games, Harry Potter: Wizards Unite is one of the most highly anticipated game adaptation of the popular franchise. Although the game holds some similarities with Pokémon GO, as these games are typically compared and contrasted by people who played both games, Harry Potter: Wizards Unite certainly has unique mechanics and features on top of the franchise popularity itself to captivate and immerse both fans of the Harry Potter universe as well as players who love AR adventure games.
Ready your Wizardry hat and wand as the Satute of Secrecy Task Force is in urgent need of wizards and witches to end the calamity that has stricken the world of wizardry. Harry Potter: Wizards Unite’s story takes place after the events in the novel and movie series. Foundables or magical people, artifacts, creatures, or memories that belong to the wizarding world has found its way into Muggle World. As these should not be seen by ordinary people, your primary task is to search these Foundables and retrieve as many of them as you can. As simply searching and retrieving magical Foundables will be much of a bore to anyone, magical creatures or spells known as Confoundables serve as enemies you need to defeat before you can claim each Foundable you discover. You enter into a combat of sorts and catch a variety of spells, each appropriate for the challenge at hand and each spell you cast costs spell energy.
While spell energy is your basic stamina for engaging into the main activities of the game and does not replenish over time, you will find sources of it as you venture out into the world. Your first few minutes in the game, as well as your first access on menus and features, will be guided by a quick tutorial that is easy enough to follow even for total beginners. Although there are details here and there that won’t be discussed extensively on the tutorials, much of it is actually best left for your own exploration and research. As long as you travel in the real world to find Foundables and have spell energy to spare, you should have sustainable progress at least at the early part of the game. If you already started the game and have some areas you find a little too challenging, or if you are raring to download and star playing the game, then our Harry Potter: Wizards Unite beginner’s guide is sure to provide you with tips, cheats and strategies that will help you jumpstart your wizardry adventure.
1. Trace Glyphs Correctly With Good Speed
Your adventure in Harry Potter: Wizards Unite primarily revolves a lot around walking around looking for Foundables. Much like Pokémon in Pokémon GO, Foundables can be found randomly on any location can can appear on your screen once you come within a certain range from it. Although they can practically pop up just about anywhere, Foundables are easily located near unique establishments like Fortresses, Inns, and Greenhouses in the map.
Foundables are grouped into 10 unique categories and each one is represented by a different colored icon and symbol on the map. Once one of it appears near you, you can simply tap on it to initiate an encounter. As Confoundables exist as a challenge prior to you retrieving a Foundable, you need to cast a specific spell against it and in as much as there are seemingly a wide variety of spells to master on the early part of the game, you will realize soon enough the variety based on the spell patterns that you have repeatedly encountered.
While attempting to capture Pokémon in Pokémon GO simply requires you to slide a finger on your screen up at varying speeds to attempt to capture your target, the method of eliminating Confoundables in Harry Potter: Wizards Unite is truly a more challenging activity. Depending on the Confoundable, a specific spell must be activated by tracing the pattern of the glyph that appears on your screen. Just to be clear as well, the arrowhead on one end of the glyph signifies the latter end of your trace. Time is also of the essence here and the efficiency of your spell drops as you attempt to trace the glyph. Depending on your tracing skills, the spell’s efficiency will be raised higher and the higher its efficiency level, the better your chances of successfully eliminating the Confoundable. Additionally, though, Confoundables have threat levels indicated by a meter you will see prior to casting a spell. Higher threat levels also influence your chances of successfully eliminating the confoundable so early on, don’t be surprised or dismayed if a masterful spellcasting results in failure several times.
To start off, be sure both you, and your device, are in great condition for the glyph-tracing activities. Truthfully enough, it’s an already challenging feat on its own so you don’t want your device’s screen to extra slippery or too dry as you attempt to trace your first glyph in an encounter.
Another thing to consider here is how comfortable and proficient you are with the finger you will be using whenever you need to trace a glyph. As some players in Pokémon GO may prefer using their thumbs to spin Pokéstops and trigger encounters, they switch to holding their device with one hand and using their index finger on the other to improve their throwing skills. The same can hold true for Harry Potter: Wizards Unite as many players will find it easier to trace with their index fingers.
Lastly, focus first on accuracy than speed and try to trace the glyphs you encounter as perfectly as you can. Once you are familiar with the shapes of each glyph, you can begin working on improving your speed little by little. As a beginner, you may even feel pressured by catching a glimpse of the decreasing bar above your screen which impacts the proficiency of your spell. In effect you may be triggered to trace as fast as you can and leave huge errors in terms of correctly tracing glyphs. Simply ignore the bar on your first encounters and focus on getting the “feel” of your screen as you attempt to secure more accurate traces from one encounter to the next one.
2. Maintain A Good Supply Of Spell Energy
Each spell you cast in Harry Potter: Wizards Unite costs spell energy and contrary to what players may have expected or wished, this energy does not replenish over time or through walking. There are, however, Inns and Greenhouses scattered around you to help you gain bits of energy with every visit on them. If you have not played Pokémon GO before, then you may want to check local landmarks or notable places in your area for these establishments. Parks and malls typically sport a lot of these so if you are up for playing the game for a good long while, you may want to take your walking exercise to these spots.
The most basic establishment in Harry Potter: Wizards Unite are Inns that appear much like houses with chimneys on your map. Within proximity, you can simply tap on an Inn, and trace an upward bending curve to dine for free and restore a bit of spell energy. Inns have a cool down period of 5 minutes after each visit and smoke coming out of its chimney indicates that it is still in the cool down period. Once the smoke fades, you can visit and dine at the Inn again.
Like Inns, Greenhouses are also widely available on the map and offer ingredients that you need to collect to craft potions. You will choose one of three choices per visit and slide up on your screen to pull your chosen plant off the pot for random ingredients to be received. In some cases, you will also be rewarded with spell energy in addition to the ingredients you receive. Greenhouses have a similar cool down time like Inns and while red flags appear on top of them, cool down period is still in effect.
It is important to note that there is a maximum energy cap which you can see whenever you visit an establishment or engage in an encounter. Initially the cap is 75 but it can be further extended by spending 150 gold per 10 points of extension. You cannot go over the max value so be sure to avoid claiming daily log in rewards and daily assignment rewards if your spell energy is still full and simply save claiming them for later.
3. Balance Capacity Between Potions And Ingredients
By tapping on the suitcase icon at the bottom center of your screen and clicking on your vault, you can browse through your inventory categorized accordingly under each of the available icons. Of these 5 categories, we will focus on potions and ingredients for now. These are the first two icons you will see from left to right and clicking on each will show you how many of each item in the category you have in your inventory.
Potions are special consumables you can use to help you on your journey. Some potions can help you make your spells stronger and some can heal your wounds in-between and on battles at the Wizard Challenges. Although potions can be obtained as rewards for various accomplishments, you can also brew your own provided that you have the right and necessary amount of ingredients. To do so, simply tap on the suitcase and then hit the potions icon. Brewing potion takes time and the more potent the potion, the longer it takes to brew it and requires harder to obtain ingredients. You can queue up to four potions for brewing at a time so it may be a good idea to fill the queue up before resting away from the game.
What you should be primarily and regularly concerned about are the capacity limits attributable to both potions and ingredients. Initially, you can only have a maximum of 50 potions and 200 ingredients you can carry. While these may seem a lot you can easily max both of these out so careful planning and usage is a constant task you must keep an eye on to utilize your inventory more efficiently. For starters, brew the potions you need or will be needing based on your planned activities. Don’t hesitate to use potions when the threat level of the Confoundable you must eliminate is too challenging for your current level. Grab opportunities to partake in Wizard Challenges whenever you get close to a Fortress. If you have a good amount of spell energy and some healing potions, don’t hesitate to take on these challenges and spend potions when you need to.
On top of structures and Confoundable traces you can see on the map, ingredients can also be seen scattered randomly in some places. Simply tapping on whichever you see can add those ingredients to your inventory. As we mentioned earlier as well, you can claim good amounts of random ingredients from Greenhouses which is why you may easily rack up 200 ingredients and run out of space quickly for looting additional ones. As such, it is important to regularly brew potions and queueing the maximum of four can help ease out space concerns on your inventory.
On top of constantly managing your inventory and keeping a good balance between potions and ingredients, you also have the option of spending gold to increase the maximum capacity of each item type and while gold is much like premium currency that is not as easily earned, spending on these at any point in time will be a good decision.
4. Focus On The Profession Suitable For You
Once you hit level 6 in Harry Potter: Wizards Unite, professions will be unlocked and you can choose one from 3 available professions as to which one you would like to be a part of. Each profession is unique and has their own advantages in encounters and specializations in combat.
On top of their intrinsically unique traits, you can further customize your build through stat and proficiency boosts granted by lessons you can learn which very much works like a skill tree. Learning lessons consume scrolls and spell books which you can earn through rewards from Wizarding Challenges as well as some achievements. To view professions, you can simply tap on the suitcase icon and click on professions or tap on your avatar at the lower left side of the screen and tap on profession under your picture (or that space where you are supposed to put your picture in).
Take note that while you can switch at any time from one profession to the next for absolutely free, the investments made on one profession can no longer be retracted. Likewise, the further down the line the skills you unlock on the lesson tree, the more powerful you become on a certain profession which makes shifting constantly among these professions very costly on terms of scrolls and spell books and likewise makes you less proficient in all of them.
Having a good idea of each one’s advantages and perks and relating the same to your preference ought to help you make the right choice from the get-go and while there are seriously no right or wrong choices, it is best to go with how you would want to build your wizard. Aurors are the renowned DPS masters in the world of wizards. These types of wizards deal more damage against dark forces but takes more damage from beasts. Magizoologists are the top defensive wizards with a fair good share of healing spells to boot as well. These wizards are designed to handle beasts but are disadvantaged against battles with curiosities. Lastly, but not the least, are Professors who share a good deal of offensive and defensive skills. They have debuff and healing spells and can do goo da damage as well. Professors deal extra damage against curiosities but are weak against dark forces.
Choosing which profession to take shouldn’t be rushed into. Be sure to go and check on available skills to pick up as you unlock lessons for each profession before spending scrolls and spell books on that profession. Likewise, if you have skills you like on the lower end of the tree, make sure to trace the path that you must take to get there quickly and avoid investing on some lessons you can save for later.
5. Don’t Hesitate To Challenge Fortresses
In Addition to Inns and Greenhouses you will find on the map, the most noticeable ones, considering their sheer sizes, are Fortresses. These Fortresses contain the rarest and most valuable Foundables but also offer a wide variety of foes through the Wizarding Challenges that it carries. Beating the first one unlocks more challenging ones. Wizarding Challenges, like raids in Pokémon GO, can be taken on entirely on your own or with other players. As for beginners, you can easily take on the initial levels of Wizardry Challenges but just the same, be sure to have a good stock of spell energy and health potions before you head in.
Wizardry Challenges require a Runestone before you can engage in one. The Foundables you can obtain depend on the type and level of Runestone you use and once you clear a chamber in the Wizarding Challenge, you instantly unlock the next one that offers a more challenging foe or foes. Each chamber holds a unique enemy and a battle ensues as you tap on an enemy. Chamber levels typically determine the number of enemies you need to defeat to finish it and claim your rewards. There is also a time limit within which you must defeat all foes and higher chambers also require higher focus to enter into.
Much like encounters with Confoundables you face in the world map, battles in the Wizarding Challenges involve tracing glyphs. It’s closer to an actual combat, though, which mixes in both offensive and defensive spells. Initially, you will have to focus your wand on an enemy and keep it locked on until the glyph for your offensive spell appears. A quick and comparatively easy glyph to trace appears and doing so activates you spell to damage the enemy. After a short while after the enemy is hit, he will attack you and you must do a quick swipe which is a random diagonal one from one corner of the screen to its opposite end and so on.
Although you will receive some free Runestones at the early part of the game, retrieving new Foundables as well as other accomplishments can earn you more. As of this writing, you can very much engage in multiple Wizarding Challenges in any single Fortress so long as you have Runestones to spare.
6. Accomplish Daily Assignments, SOS Assignments, And Achievements
On top of the regular rewards you receive outright for defeating Confoundables, collecting Foundables, and visiting Inns and Greenhouses, there are plenty of additional rewards you can claim from the various missions and achievements you accomplish while playing the game. These are mostly easy to do as each one forms part of the usual activities you engage in as you dive into the wizardry world.
The most basic of these are the daily missions which covers a variety of activities to do in the game and rewards you with the most basic resources you need to progress your game. You can receive spell energy, experience points, potions, ingredients, scrolls, and even gold by achieving simple feats, some of which you may achieve without even looking at the list first.
SOS Assignments, on the other hand offer additional experience points for smaller tasks that you can accomplish. SOS assignments come in sets of 3 and finishing all these assignments give you gold as a bonus reward. Achievements offer one-time rewards and can take much longer to accomplish. Achievements, however, typically offer much bigger rewards and objectives set may come in the form of tiers where you can get to the next one by competing the previous level.
You can access missions and achievements via the checklist icon at the bottom right of your screen. Be sure to take note of the missions you have once you log in on the game and try to accomplish as many as you can to earn more rewards and boost your growth further.
7. Keep Walking To Unlock Portmanteaus
Similar to hatching eggs in Pokémon GO, Niantic’s encouragement for players to sweat it out and venture into the world around them is through Portkey Portmanteaus in Harry Potter: Wizards Unite. You will noticeably see the box-like Portmanteaus randomly on the map and tap on them to acquire them. You can have 8 Portmanteaus at the same time and you will have a golden key to unlock one of them at a time while walking. Additional silver keys can also be obtained through levelling up and collecting Foundables. If you still need more you can always purchase additional ones from Diagon Alley.
Unlocking Portmanteaus will require a distance walked of 2, 5, or 10 kilometers. Successfully completing this feat will unlock the Portmanteau. It will be you call, though, on whether to initiate an AR only encounter or hold it off for later and typically, it’s a better choice to do so sooner than later. The AR encounter is unique as you would have to look around the area with your device to find 5 Wrackspurts to earn a variety of rewards. Wizarding XP, ingredients, as well as Foundables that can only be found through Portkeys are up for grabs so be sure to do your best in every Portmanteau AR encounter.
And there you have it, this ends our beginner’s guide for Harry Potter: Wizards Unite. We hope that we have shed some light on some confusing bits about the game that may not have been thoroughly explained by the in-game tutorials and guide. Likewise, we hope that the tips and strategies we shared will successfully make better wizards and witches of our readers as well as lead on to other strategies that are a little more complex than what can be covered by our simple guide. If there are relevant tips we have failed to mention, or if you want to add additional strategies to the ones we mentioned in our article, then feel the magic all around you and drop us a line in the comments!