How to solve the Merlin Trial south of Hogwarts in Hogwarts Legacy

In Hogwarts Legacy, completing Merlin Trials is essential if you want to expand your inventory and get more slots for your collection of gear items. There is no other way to get more gear slots than to complete milestones on the ‘Complete Merlin Trials’ challenge. Legend has it that Merlin himself created the trials when he was himself a Slytherin student at Hogwarts. Fortunately, there are plenty of Merlin Trials — challenges that require you to solve puzzles using your magic spells — dotted around the Hogwarts Legacy map, but some are easier than others. One of the more difficult Merlin Trials is in the South Hogwarts region, immediately south of the Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry itself.

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How to complete the Merlin Trial south of Hogwarts

In this Merlin Trial, your goal is to get a large stone sphere (or ball) into a circular stone recess. The large stone ball is a short distance southwest of the Merlin Trial marker, and the circular stone recess is at the bottom of the cliff, on the lakeside, southeast of the large stone ball.

The best spell for this Merlin Trial, and others like it, is Wingardium Leviosa, but you can also use force spells like Accio, Depulso, Descendo, and Flipendo to move the ball. Given that the circular stone recess is much lower than the large stone ball’s starting position, you can also use gravity — that’s the name of a law of physics, not the name of a spell — to get the ball to its target. It’s more difficult (although maybe more fun) that way.

Unlike most other Merlin Trials, this one has just one target, so once you’ve got that large stone sphere into that circular stone recess, the Merlin Trial will be complete, and you’ll be one step closer to a larger inventory.