See those little leaf icons scattered across your Highlands map? Each one is a Merlin Trial, a short spell puzzle built around a ring of old standing stones. There are 95 of them, and while that number looks scary, they quietly fix one of the most annoying parts of Hogwarts Legacy: a gear inventory that fills up every time you clear a bandit camp.
This guide covers how to unlock the trials, how to keep your Mallowsweet stocked, how to solve all nine puzzle types, and exactly how many trials you need for every gear slot upgrade.
How to Unlock Merlin Trials
You can walk past trial sites from the start of the game, but you cannot activate any of them until you finish the main quest Trials of Merlin. It becomes available after The Girl from Uagadou and starts near Lower Hogsfield, the village just south of the castle, where you meet the researcher Nora Treadwell.
Nora is studying the runes Merlin left behind, and her quest walks you through your first trial: place Mallowsweet on the swirling stone seal, then light the nearby braziers. Once it is done, every trial in the Highlands is fair game.
- Map icon: a leaf symbol marks each trial. Icons appear once you discover or get near a trial, and unsolved ones stay on your map after that, so you can plan routes from the pause menu.
- Cost: every trial consumes one Mallowsweet Leaf when you start it.
- Spells: most types need a specific spell. If you do not have it yet, mark the spot and come back later. Nothing is lost by waiting.
How to Get Mallowsweet Leaves
Running out of Mallowsweet is the number one reason a trial route stalls. You have two ways to restock.
- Buy leaves: Timothy Teasdale at The Magic Neep in Hogsmeade sells Mallowsweet leaves for 100 Galleons each, and seeds too. Some other vendors stock a few, so grab them when you see them.
- Grow your own: buy Mallowsweet Seeds at The Magic Neep in Hogsmeade and plant them in a pot. A plant takes about 10 minutes of unpaused play to mature, and each harvest gives you several leaves.
- Room of Requirement: once you unlock it, set aside a few small pots just for Mallowsweet (small is all it needs). Each harvest gives 5 leaves after about 10 real minutes. It is cheaper than buying and keeps a steady supply going while you quest.
How to Solve a Merlin Trial
Every trial follows the same rhythm, and after two or three it becomes second nature.
- Travel to a leaf icon and find the round stone seal on the ground.
- Interact with it to place one Mallowsweet Leaf and start the trial.
- Cast Revelio. Trial objects light up, which tells you the puzzle type and where its pieces are.
- Use the right spell to finish the puzzle. A few types are timed, so plan before you start.
- The stones glow when you succeed, and the trial is ticked off on your map and in the Field Guide.
If you fail a timed trial, it resets after a short while so you can try again. Walk a little way off, scout the layout properly, then go back in.
All 9 Merlin Trial Types and Solutions
The 95 trials reuse nine designs. Learn these and most trials go quickly, though some hide a piece behind rocks or ask you to clear an obstacle first. Zoom the world map all the way out to see completed and total trials per region.
| Trial type | Spell | How to solve it |
|---|---|---|
| Unlit braziers | Incendio or Confringo | Light every brazier before the flames die. Find a spot where you can see all of them first. |
| Broken statues | Reparo | Find the rubble piles nearby and repair each statue. |
| Stone slabs | Confringo or Bombarda | Destroy the marked slabs. Revelio shows any you missed. |
| Stone balls in a plate | Accio | Pull the small stone balls into the matching holes in the stone plate. |
| Large boulder | Depulso or Wingardium Leviosa | Move the big ball into the large hole, usually down an obvious slope. |
| Rotating cube pillars | Flipendo | Flip the top blocks until the symbols match the pattern on the base. |
| Moths and hollow stones | Lumos | Cast Lumos near the moth swarms and lead each one to a hollow stone. |
| Heads on pillars | None (basic cast) | Hit every stone sphere on the pillars. Revelio finds the ones hiding behind rocks. |
| Platform course | None | Jump across the stone blocks to the finish without touching the ground. |
Trials That Trip People Up
- Braziers: the timer is the problem, not the spell. Confringo travels further than Incendio, so you can light distant braziers without running.
- Stone slabs: one slab is almost always tucked behind a rock or tree. Pulse Revelio before you give up.
- Moths: move slowly with Lumos active. Sprint and the swarm drifts back to where it started.
- Cube pillars: look at every face of the base before flipping. The target pattern is right there, just easy to miss in the grass.
Merlin Trial Rewards: Every Gear Slot Tier
Solving trials does not raise your inventory on its own. You need to open the Field Guide, go to Challenges, then Exploration, and claim the Merlin Trials reward each time a tier fills up.
The counter resets after every tier, so the numbers below stack. You start with 20 gear slots, and Merlin Trials are the only way to raise that.
| Tier | Trials needed for this tier | Running total | Gear slots after claiming |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | 2 | 24 |
| 2 | 6 | 8 | 28 |
| 3 | 10 | 18 | 32 |
| 4 | 14 | 32 | 36 |
| 5 | 20 | 52 | 40 |
Checklist: 52 trials for the maximum 40 slots, and all 95 for the Merlin’s Beard! achievement (Complete all Merlin Trials). Completionists, you’ll want to know that the leftover 43 trials give nothing but that achievement and a clean map.
Tips for Clearing All 95
- Batch by region: stock 10 or more leaves, pick one region and sweep every leaf icon in it before moving on.
- Fly between sites: once you have a broom or a mount, trials that look far apart on the map are a short hop.
- Use the map: the Hogwarts Legacy interactive map helps you spot clusters before you set off.
- Learn spells first: Confringo, Reparo, Accio, Depulso, Flipendo and Lumos cover almost every type. Story progress unlocks most of them.
- Claim as you go: rewards wait in the Challenges menu until you claim them. Check it whenever you are near a tier.
It’s a marathon, not a sprint. Mix a few trials into each play session and the count climbs faster than you expect.
Merlin Trials FAQ
How many Merlin Trials are in Hogwarts Legacy?
There are 95 Merlin Trials spread across the open world map. Each one is marked by a leaf icon on the map.
How many Merlin Trials do you need for max inventory?
52. The five tiers ask for 2, 6, 10, 14 and 20 trials, and claiming all of them raises your gear slots from 20 to 40.
Where do you buy Mallowsweet in Hogwarts Legacy?
Most merchants sell the leaves for around 100 Galleons each. For a cheaper supply, buy Mallowsweet Seeds at The Magic Neep in Hogsmeade and grow them yourself.
Why didn’t my inventory increase after a Merlin Trial?
Rewards are not automatic. Open the Field Guide, go to Challenges, then Exploration, and claim the Merlin Trials tier.
Is there a reward for completing all Merlin Trials?
Only the Merlin’s Beard! trophy or achievement. Inventory upgrades stop after 52 trials.
Take Your Time: Merlin Trials are some of the most relaxing content in the game: short, quiet puzzles in pretty spots, with a real reward for the first 52. If you are deciding whether a return trip to the Highlands is worth it, our take on whether Hogwarts Legacy is worth playing in 2026 covers it, the live Hogwarts Legacy player count shows how many people are still exploring on Steam, and everything we know about Hogwarts Legacy 2 covers what comes next.
