Harry Potter Hogwarts Mystery Tips: How to get free energy, practise lessons for rewards

The Harry Potter universe is ripe for spin-off stories and, with Harry Potter Hogwarts Mystery, we’ve got one. This prequel set in the ‘80s follows the story of a player-created student at Hogwarts as they learn spells, make friends and unravel the secrets of the venerable old school. To ease your journey, here are a few Harry Potter Hogwarts Mystery tips to get you started - including how to get some free energy where you’re running low.

Harry Potter Hogwarts Mystery Tips:

How to get free energy in Harry Potter Hogwarts Mystery:

As you’re making your way through the game’s main story, you’re going to hit roadblocks where you’re too low on energy to make a move.

There’s currently no way to get free energy during lessons, or while you’re completing an event. But if you’re free to wander the halls of Hogwarts, you can pick up a couple of free energy pieces here and there.

What you have to do is explore Hogwarts by using the icons at the corners of the environments. When you’re inside the building you can easily traverse the school by using the staircases on the left-hand side of the corridor.

While you’re exploring, tap everything you can. Sometimes you’ll get lucky and find interactable objects that’ll give you and extra energy. We’ve seen it happen with a house elf in a hallway, as well as with Hagrid’s dog Fang out in the grounds.

With thanks to David Colton over on our Harry Potter Hogwarts Mystery friendship and lesson question answers page, here's a list of the kind of things you can interact with:

• Castle Grounds: Tap the stick near your character. Hagrid's dog, Fang, will pick it up and you'll get one energy.
• Castle Dungeons: There's a House Elf peeping around a corridor corner, tap it and it'll run away and give you an energy.
• Lower Floor- West: Tap the unlit brazier next to the great hall door and you'll get an energy.
• West Towers: Tap the picture of flowers on the left next to the Prefect's bathroom.
• East Tower: Touch the black picture immediately to the right of your character as you enter the area.

The game’s pretty stingy with free energy, but anything you can get will speed up the process of getting to the next story.

Don’t expect to play through the game in one sitting:

As Potter fans we’re used to binging on the latest book or movie as quickly as we can - but that’s just not possible with Harry Potter Hogwarts Mystery unless you’re willing to pay.

Above all, this is a mobile game - and a quite aggressively monetised one at that. Pick it up to play little and often rather than clearing an hour in your day to try and make progress.

From very early in the game, the maximum amount of energy you have is only really going to get you about a third of the way through an activity. This, coupled with the time limits for most activities, mean that you won’t get very far if you’re only playing the game once a day too.

Think about how your answers match your skills:

When you’re making friends at Hogwarts, you’ll frequently get a choice of how to take the conversation forward. Often in Harry Potter Hogwarts Mystery, these question answers map quite closely onto the three main attributes that govern your character’s performance in the game - Courage, Empathy and Knowledge.

Try to pick the best attribute for the situation. If the character you’re speaking to is scared, maybe pick a response that sounds courageous, or if you’re dealing with an egotistical character like Professor Snape, use your knowledge to suck up to them.

This applies to Friendship activities as well. Early in the game, you have to encourage your homesick friend Ben. Courageous and empathetic dialogue options work best here, which makes sense when you’re trying to boost someone’s self confidence.

Attend extra practice lessons to earn rewards:

While you’re making your way through the main story, check in on classrooms from time to time to see they’re open.

Sometimes you’ll be able to practice things you’ve already learnt to earn rewards like gems and gold coins. These are useful because not only do they provide you with useful stuff, but give you something else to do if you’re waiting for the next part of the story to unlock.

Be ready to focus:

The only part of the game that really requires timing, reflexes and dexterity is the Focus mini-game. This is where you have to tap the screen when the glowing ring is within the boundaries shown.

When the game tells you to Focus, get ready to concentrate. You only get one shot, and the window for success is super small compared to the slow-pace of the rest of the game.

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