Hogwarts Legacy has taken the Internet by storm recently, with its faithful recreation of the Harry Potter universe landing it immense critical and popular acclaim. Of course, no matter how good a game may be, it can always be made slightly better with a few changes.
While console players are at the mercy of Avalanche Software, PC gamers can take matters into their own hands via mods. Whether it’s quality of life changes or adding Dragons as a mount, PC gamers have a few ideas on how to make Hogwarts Legacy’s experience truly stand out.
As such, we’ve prepared this guide on how to install Hogwarts Legacy mods and our picks for the best mods out there currently. Let’s jump right into it.
How to Install Hogwarts Legacy Mods?
-
Vortex
The easiest way to install mods is by letting third-party software do the heavy lifting for you. We know this sounds a little shady, but all we mean by that is installing Nexus Mods’ mod manager, Vortex. The advantages of Vortex are numerous, but the main ones include automatic updates to your mods, easy deletion and installation, and automatic dependency resolution. As such, using a mod manager is the easiest way to install mods.
If the idea of a mod manager turns you off from modding your game, don’t worry; you can install mods manually as well. To do so, you’ll first have to download the mod you want to install. Next, navigate to Hogwarts Legacy’s file via your File Explorer. Next, head over to the Phoenix file, then to Content, and finally to Paks. Paste whatever the mod’s files into this directory, and you’ll have installed your mod manually.
Remember, you’ll have to delete these files and re-download the updated versions if a newer version of the mod comes out and you’d like to install that instead. Furthermore, all mod dependencies must be resolved manually, as some mods may depend on other mods, which will require separate installation.
The Best Hogwarts Legacy Mods: Ranked
Hogwarts Legacy is still fairly new, so no massive mods have come out yet. Don’t expect anything on the scale of Mount and Blade full conversion mods, as mod developers simply haven’t had enough time. Still, some pretty cool stuff is still out there, and we’ve compiled a little list of all the mods we enjoy.
1. Dragnogryff
-
Dragonogryff
This one is our absolute favorite simply because of how cool it is! In essence, this mod lets you ride a dragon! If that doesn’t sell you on this mod, we really don’t think anything can. The dragon animations are silky smooth, the models are from the game itself and are super badass, and the implementation does not feel clunky or forced. In general, this is just a great mod.
2. Talent Reset Potion
-
Talent Reset Potion
A huge oversight that the developers of Hogwarts Legacy made was not having some way to reset your stats later in the game. After all, one may realize a little too late that the build they went for is abysmal. Thankfully, PC gamers do not have to wait for Avalanche Software to rectify their mistake. This mod adds a potion into the game which resets your Talents, letting you select them afresh. Importantly, this does not break the game’s immersion, and the mod even features custom images for the new potion!
3. Nimbus 2000 Broom
-
Nimbus 2000 Broom
This mod is for all the die-hard Potterheads out there who were disappointed with the broom designs in Hogwarts Legacy. This mod adds a faithful recreation of the Nimbus 2000 to the video game. For the uninitiated, the Nimbus 2000 was the broom Harry Potter used for his first three years in Hogwarts. Of course, the broom couldn’t exist in Hogwarts Legacy, given it predates the events of Harry Potter, but it’s still nice to have it.
4. Smaller UI
-
Smaller UI
If the User Interface in Hogwarts Legacy seems a little too aggressive for your liking, this mod is for you. It makes everything in the UI smaller and less invasive, creating a much more immersive and enjoyable experience. While UI customizability may be added by Avalanche Software later, PC gamers can get their UI minimization here.
5. Mouse Controls for Broom
-
Mouse Controls For Broom
One of our biggest grievances when playing Hogwarts Legacy was how awful the broom controls were. While horizontal steering was possible with the mouse, vertical shifts had to be made with L-Ctrl and L-Shift! Add the fixed camera to this mess; the entire experience was bad.
Luckily, the mod above fixes the most annoying part of broom riding by adding mouse controls for broom movement. Given this mod’s effect on gameplay, we cannot recommend it enough!
6. Ascendio
-
Ascendio
If performance issues are plaguing your Hogwarts Legacy experience, Ascendio is the mod for you. While it will not allow the game to be run on a Pentium IV, it will make an appreciable difference in stuttering and frame drops. We highly recommend this if you have trouble maintaining a stable frame rate.
7. Instant Spell Cast
-
Instant Spell Cast
Finally, this is a very simple quality-of-life mod that provides the ability to affix a hotkey to each of your 16 spells. This means you no longer need to navigate to the appropriate spell set before casting your desired spell. While the change is pretty minor, it has an appreciable impact on the flow of combat, making it far more enjoyable.
Conclusion
We hope this guide has been helpful in exposing you to different mods out there and has inspired you to do some exploring of your own. Remember, mods are a wonderful addition to any game and can make it a far more rewarding experience. Imagine playing Fallout or Skyrim sans mods! We hope that at least a few of these mods tickled your fancy.
