Hogwarts Legacy Lock Picking: How to Use Alohomora

Follow the Main Story Quests

You can’t pick locks from the very start of the game, unfortunately – where would be the fun in that! Progress through the main story quests until you reach “The Caretaker’s Lunar Lament”. This is where you’re introduced to lockpicking and Demiguise Statues. Bring any Demiguise Statues you find back to Gladwin Moon to unlock harder locks later on.

There are three difficulty levels of locks at Hogwarts: Level 1, Level 2, and Level 3, from easiest to hardest.

The Alohomora Spell

Alohomora is the Unlocking Charm, and it’s the spell that lets you open every locked door and chest at Hogwarts. You learn it automatically as part of “The Caretaker’s Lunar Lament” quest above, so there’s no separate spell page to find or wand unlock to track down beforehand.

Once you’ve learned Alohomora, you don’t cast it manually the way you would a combat or exploration spell. Just walk up to a locked door or chest and interact with it to start the lockpicking sequence below.

How to Pick Locks in Hogwarts Legacy

As soon as you’ve learned Alohomora, get close to a lock and interact with it to start picking.

This is how the start looks. There’s a green spark and a red spark near the centre of the lock. The green spark controls the outer gear, and the red spark controls the centre gear. Use the right stick on the controller for the red spark and the left stick for the green spark.

Move the right stick and put the red spark in one of the holes in the red gear, then move it around until the centre of the gear starts to move. Stop moving once only the centre is turning – you’ll see the red spark settle into the centre gear, like in the screenshot below:

Do the same with the green spark. Move the left stick, put the green spark in one of the outer gear’s holes, and move it around until the outside gear starts to move. The outside gear will glow green.

Both gears – the centre and the outside have to move at the same time – for the lock to open. Keep both controller sticks in position until it clicks open.

Upgrades

Level 2 Upgrade: Bring Gladwin Moon 9 Demiguise Statues for the lockpicking upgrade.
Level 3 Upgrade: Bring Gladwin Moon another 13 Demiguise Statues for the highest upgrade.