Mastering gear upgrading in Hogwarts Legacy is essential for boosting your character’s power, defense, and combat efficiency. This guide covers everything you need to know about upgrading gear, applying traits, and farming the necessary materials.
How to Unlock Gear Upgrading in Hogwarts Legacy
Before you can enhance your gear, you need to unlock the necessary tools and mechanics:
Unlock the Room of Requirement – Available early on in the main quest.
Complete "The Elf, The Nab-Sack, and The Loom" – A quest given by Deek, teaching you how to capture magical beasts.
Obtain the Enchanted Loom – Earned from Deek’s quest, this workstation allows you to upgrade gear and apply traits.
You can find detailed walkthroughs of all three of these quests (and many more) in our Complete Story Walkthrough.
The Enchanted Loom: How It Works
The Enchanted Loom is where the magic happens. Literally. It allows you to upgrade gear stats and apply powerful traits.
How to Get It:
Conjure the loom using 8 Moonstone in the Room of Requirement.
How to Use It:
Interact with the loom to:
Upgrade gear (boosts stats like Offense and Defense)
Apply traits (adds special effects like more spell damage or resistances)
How to Upgrade Gear in Hogwarts Legacy
Upgrading gear boosts its base stats and makes your character significantly stronger. Here’s how it all breaks down:
Gear Upgrade Basics
Only Superb (Blue) gear or better can be upgraded.
Each piece of gear can be upgraded up to 3 times.
Upgrade cost increases with each level.
How Upgrades Work
Primary Offense gear upgrades boost Defense.
Primary Defense gear upgrades boost Offense.
Upgrades require magical beast materials, including:
Jobberknoll Feathers
Niffler Fur
Toad Warts
Higher tiers may require Graphorn Horns, Thestral Hair, etc.
Legendary (Orange) gear benefits most from upgrades.
Bonus Tips
Prioritise upgrading Legendary gear first for the best stat gains.
Avoid upgrading lower-tier gear unless you’re really in a pinch. In general, it’s not worth the rare materials.
Applying Traits to Gear: What You Need to Know
Traits grant passive abilities to your gear that can drastically enhance your playstyle.
Trait Slot Levels by Rarity
Superb (Blue): Level 1 Trait Slot
Extraordinary (Purple): Level 1 or 2 Trait Slot
Legendary (Orange): Level 3 Trait Slot (best for late-game)
How to Apply Traits
Interact with the Enchanted Loom.
Select gear and choose “View Traits.”
Apply any unlocked trait that fits within the slot level.
Trait Material Requirements
Tier 1 Traits: Puffskein Fur
Tier 2 Traits: Diricawl Feathers
Tier 3 Traits: Kneazle Fur
How to Unlock Traits
Clear enemy camps and defeat dark wizards.
Explore lairs and dungeons for special trait chests.
Check traits you’ve found via the Loom’s preview interface.
Bonus Tip
Traits stack across multiple gear pieces! Using the same trait on all your armour can supercharge its effect.
How to Get Beast Materials for Gear Upgrades and Traits
Magical beasts are your primary source for upgrade materials and trait crafting. Thankfully, you don’t need to hunt them endlessly in the wild– just invite them into your Vivarium!
Capturing Beasts
Use the Nab-Sack, unlocked in Deek’s questline.
Spells like Levioso, Glacius, and Arresto Momentum make captures easier.
Look for paw print icons on your map to find beast dens.
Caring for Beasts in the Vivarium
Each Vivarium can hold up to 12 beasts (max 4 species).
Feed and groom them to harvest materials.
Materials regenerate every 20–24 minutes.
Conjure a Beast Feeder to automate feeding.
Best Beasts for Materials
Puffskein: Puffskein Fur (Tier 1 Traits)
Diricawl: Diricawl Feathers (Tier 2 Traits)
Kneazle: Kneazle Fur (Tier 3 Traits)
Jobberknoll: Jobberknoll Feathers (Gear Upgrades)
Niffler: Niffler Fur (Tier 3 Traits & Upgrades)
Graphorn: Graphorn Horn (High-level upgrades)
Beast Farming Tips
Keep 3 of each beast species in your Vivarium for consistent farming.
Regularly check in to brush and feed them (or use automatic stations).
Expand your Vivariums to house more species and increase your supply.
Choosing the Best Gear to Upgrade
When it comes to upgrading, not all gear is created equal:
Legendary (Orange) gear has the best base stats and supports Level 3 traits.
More rarity = more upgrade potential.
Upgrading low-tier gear is rarely efficient unless it's temporary.
TL;DR Quick Gear Upgrading Tips
Here’s how to upgrade smart, not just fast:
Focus on Legendary gear first: maximise value of materials.
Stack powerful traits: multiple applications of the same trait compound their power.
Farm beast materials early: it takes time to build up a stash.
Explore enemy camps: unlock stronger traits.
Don’t waste upgrades on low-level gear: gear level doesn’t scale with you, so save your materials for better finds.
By following this guide, you’ll maximise your gear’s potential, making you a formidable wizard or witch in Hogwarts Legacy. Happy upgrading!
Find more guides just like this one in our complete Hogwarts Legacy Wiki.