No need for a hidden blade here
When I came across the stealth kill section in Hogwarts Legacy, I laughed out loud a bit. There had been some rough tussles up to that point, and there are Dark Arts at play here, but this is something else. Here’s how to unlock Petrificus Totalus in Hogwarts Legacy.
How to unlock stealth kills in Hogwarts Legacy
That’s a phrase I never thought I’d have to write!
Like many spells in Hogwarts Legacy, Petrificus Totalus will unlock after a certain point in the story. You’ll approach a keep inhabited with goblins with Professor Fig in the Percival Rackham’s Trial mission. This is following the Jackdaw questline, as well as the flying class mission. Once you’ve cleared those, you’re nearly there.
Although the spell says it “incapacitates” enemies, it basically kills them and removes them from the game (there’s no Spider-Man-esque “webs” to save them here). And much like other AAA games, stronger, more elite enemies cannot be “one-shot” by this ability.
How to stealth kill using Petrificus Totalus
As for how to trigger Petrificus Totalus, you’ll want to sneak up on enemies with the Disillusionment (cloaking) spell and press the Square (X on Xbox) button when they’re unaware of your presence (and after you’ve unlocked it via the story). The enemy will turn to stone and essentially die (in one case an enemy rolled off a cliff!). As long as you remain undetected, you can chain Petrificus Totalus to take down multiple enemies (and sometimes clearing combat challenges in the process).
Note that you can add an additional talent point in the (very small) stealth tree to obscure yourself even further. That way if you really like using Petrificus Totalus, you can use it with ease. Also, if you want to target enemies that are clumped together, remember to use your basic spell cast (aimed, ideally) to distract foes: that way they’ll potentially fork off in different directions, leaving them open to be picked off.
