In order to master locks in Hogwarts Legacy, you’ll have to master the unlocking spell.

Throughout Hogwarts, Legacy lockpicking is one of the key skills you’ll need to learn to explore the castle. Hogwarts is full of locked doors, many of which hide secret chests, references, and the field guide pages required to 100% the game.

While some of the doors don’t require lockpicking and instead come in the form of symbol door puzzles, others use padlocks, which when you begin the game, are unable to be unlocked if you haven’t reached the correct point in the story.

But how does lockpicking in Hogwarts Legacy work? How do you get the Alohomora spell? Keep reading to find out.

Hogwarts Legacy guides:

Hogwarts Legacy Merlin Trials | Hogwarts Legacy Statues | Hogwarts Legacy Keys | Daedalian Key locations | Elder Wand location | Hogwarts Legacy killing curse | Hogwarts Legacy pages

Hogwarts Legacy locks minigame explained:

The minigame to open locks in Hogwarts Legacy isn’t explained very well in the game, but we’ll do our best to explain it to you here.

You have to rotate the inner and outer lock until the red and green lights are in the correct spot. The lights can only appear every 45 degrees, so they can only appear on set angles. Your controller will also vibrate when you have the light in the correct spot.

This is all it takes to open the locked doors in Hogwarts Legacy.

Hogwarts Legacy lockpicking explained: How to open doors with Alohomora

The main spell used for Hogwarts Legacy lockpicking is Alohomora. The spell, which first appears in the first Harry Potter book, opens doors and unlocks padlocks, however, in a deviation from the main series, some locks in Hogwarts Legacy can be enchanted with stronger locks.

The quest to unlock Alohomora is available once you’ve reached the main story quest, “Prepare For Your Seach For The Final Keeper.”

You’ll be asked to find out what Gladwin Moon, the school caretaker, wants. Once you speak to Moon, you’ll be given the quest “The Caretaker’s Lunar Lament.” This will see you sneak through the staff tower, recovering Demiguise statues.

During this mission, you’ll be given the Alohomora spell, which will allow you to unlock level-one locks that are throughout the castle. This is an unmissable quest and is required for progressing further in the game.

Hogwarts Legacy lockpicking explained: How to open level 2 and level 3 doors with Alohomora

Later doors in the game will require you to have the Alohomora 2 and Alohomora 3 spells.

These can unlock the level 2 and 3 doors that are found throughout the castle, including the ones to unlock the doors to the balcony outside the headmaster’s office.

In order to unlock the higher tier of spells, you’ll have to collect Demiguise statues and return them to Gladwin Moon. There are 30 statues to be found throughout the world.

Frustratingly, even once you’ve unlocked the highest tier of Alohomora, you’ll still have to pick the lower level doors every time, instead of them unlocking automatically.

Hogwarts Legacy lockpicking explained: Headmaster’s corridor door

There is a door in Hogwarts Legacy that can’t be opened by lockpicking. This door, which contains one of the three Hogwarts secrets, which are required for Hogwarts Secrets challenge can be found in the Headmaster’s corridor.

To find this key, head to the Headmaster’s office and exit onto the balcony. Run up the stairs to the highest door, which is locked behind a level three lock.

Once you’ve unlocked the correct level of Alohomora, you can open the door and inside, you’ll find another, special key called the Key of Unlocking.

Head back down to the corridor outside the headmaster’s office and run to the other end where you’ll see a huge black door. Open it, and follow the corridor to the end for a surprise that we won’t spoil here.

It leads to one of the Hogwarts Secrets, if you want to learn all about them and how to find them, you can read our Hogwarts Secrets guide.