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A beginner’s guide to customising wands in Hogwarts Legacy

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Ayaan Paul
Ayaan PaulFeb 09, 2023 | 09:00

A beginner’s guide to customising wands in Hogwarts Legacy

Avalanche Software’s role-playing game set in the Wizarding World is dropping this weekend. Here’s all you need to know about customising your wands in the game.

Just as in the books and the movies, wand selection in Hogwarts Legacy will take you to Oliivanders, where the eponymous shop owner himself will hand you your wand.

A series of wands will be presented to you, but all of them will be incompatible. Finally, Mr. Ollivander will get one for you in a scene out of the main stories. After all, “the wand chooses the wizard”.

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The features of your wand can then be adjusted before making a decision. Your wand choices from your Pottermore fan account can be migrated to the game, if you have one. Else, the game will provide you with a  random wand for you to customise. 

The wand you choose at Ollivanders is yours to keep for the entire duration of the game. You can't go back and reverse your decision, so make sure you don't have any changes in look or feel. Once confirmed, wands can only be altered by beginning a new save in the game.

However, you shouldn’t stress too much over the design and aesthetic of your wands as the various different customisable elements are for purely cosmetic purposes and won’t affect your game experience in any way.

Every wand has five customisable attributes that include:

Length

Your wand can be anywhere from 9 1⁄2 inches to 14 1⁄2 inches long, with increases in every quarter inch. 

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Style

There’s a total of eight wand styles in Hogwarts Legacy, with each style having three different colour variations — resulting in a total of 24 different wand styles:

  • Classic (Grey, Black, Grey-Brown)

  • Notched (Warm Brown, Light Brown, Dusty Pink)

  • Soft Spiral (Light Brown, Warm Brown, Black)

  • Spiral (Ash Brown, Dark Brown, Green-Grey)

  • Crooked Spiral (Dark Grey, Warm Brown, Pale Brown)

  • Stalk (Dark Brown, Warm Brown, Honey Brown)

  • Ringed (Dark Brown, Pale Brown, Buff)

  • Natural (Warm Brown, Honey Brown, Grey)

Flexibility

There are many different flexibility options to choose from in Hogwarts Legacy. Your wand can be anywhere from quite bendy to unyielding. Wand flexibility or rigidity denotes the degree of adaptability and willingness to change possessed by the wand-and-owner pair

Wood Type

There are 38 different wood types you can choose for your wand in Hogwarts Legacy. Some of the most popular wand woods include:

Holly

Harry holding his holly wood wand

Holly is known to be one of the most powerful wand woods and is often used by those who are pure of heart. It is said to have a strong connection with magic and is believed to protect its owner from harm. It is often associated with good luck and is favored by many powerful wizards. For example, Harry Potter's wand is made of holly and he is considered to be one of the most powerful wizards in the Wizarding World.

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Vine

Hermione holding her vine wood wand

Vine wands were among the less common types, and their owners were nearly always those witches or wizards who sought a greater purpose, who had a vision beyond the ordinary and who frequently astounded those who thought they knew them best. Vine wands seemed strongly attracted by personalities with hidden depths. An example of a famous witch using a vine wand is Hermione Granger.

Willow

Ron holding his willow wood wand

Willow is a flexible and adaptable wand wood, and is believed to bring good fortune and peace to its owner. It is often used by those who are gentle and kind-hearted, and is favored by those who have a strong connection to magic. An example of a famous wizard using a willow wand is Ron Weasley.

Elder

Dumbledore holding the Elder Wand

Elder is considered to be one of the rarest and most unpredictable wand woods. It is believed to bring great power and success to its owner, but can also lead to a downfall if not used properly. Elder wands are often favored by those who are bold and daring, and are not afraid to take risks. The most famous wand made of this wood, and perhaps the most infamous wand ever created, was the Elder Wand, one of the Deathly Hallows that was reputed to be the most powerful wand ever made.

Core

There are three different core types to choose from at Ollivanders in Hogwarts Legacy, according to Wizarding World lore:

Unicorn Hair

Unicorn hair generally produces the most consistent magic, and is least subject to fluctuations and blockages. Wands with unicorn cores are generally the most difficult to turn to the Dark Arts. They are the most faithful of all wands, and usually remain strongly attached to their first owner, irrespective of whether he or she was an accomplished witch or wizard.

Minor disadvantages of unicorn hair are that they do not make the most powerful wands (although the wand wood may compensate) and that they are prone to melancholy if seriously mishandled, meaning that the hair may ‘die’ and need replacing.

Dragon Heartstring

As a rule, dragon heartstrings produce wands with the most power, and which are capable of the most flamboyant spells. Dragon wands tend to learn more quickly than other types. While they can change allegiance if won from their original master, they always bond strongly with the current owner.

The dragon wand tends to be easiest to turn to the Dark Arts, though it will not incline that way of its own accord. It is also the most prone of the three cores to accidents, being somewhat temperamental.

Phoenix Feather

This is the rarest core type. Phoenix feathers are capable of the greatest range of magic, though they may take longer than either unicorn or dragon cores to reveal this. They show the most initiative, sometimes acting of their own accord, a quality that many witches and wizards dislike.

Phoenix feather wands are always the pickiest when it comes to potential owners, for the creature from which they are taken is one of the most independent and detached in the world. These wands are the hardest to tame and to personalise, and their allegiance is usually hard won.

Hogwarts Legacy will first be available on PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, and PC on February 10, before releasing on old-generation consoles and Nintendo Switch this summer.

Last updated: February 09, 2023 | 09:00
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