Hogwarts Legacy - Disillusionment observations and tricks

This is one of our series of Hogwarts Legacy tips for beginners.

The Disillusionment charm in Hogwarts Legacy may seem like "stealth mode" in other games, but it is in fact much more than that. There are a lot of things you can do with it that normally you wouldn't be able to do in other games with stealth or invisibility. This makes it insanely powerful and makes a stealthy approach to combat one of the most efficient.

• Sliding down a ramp always ends Disllusionment.
• Protego/blocking or Dodging ends Disillusionment.
• You CAN be targeted while under Disillusionment. For example, you may get the prompt to block or dodge because of an incoming attack.
• It just means they have found you, but if you can put enough distance or break line of sight, they can lose sight of you again.
• In both cases, you can try to just keep running, especially if you have the Talent of running while stealthed.
• If you are out of range, the attack cannot hit.
• If you get behind cover, the attack will hit cover and you are still safe.
• If you run sideways the attack can sometimes end up firing where you were instead of where you are now.
• You can run past an enemy and get out of their line of sight (e.g., run behind them) before they detect you. Once the detection meter on an enemy starts, typically there is a short time window before they turn and start searching.
• At long range, you can attack while invisible and stay invisible.
• Depending on the distance to enemies who can see you, you can usually get two or three attacks in before Disillusionment is automatically cancelled.
• Be careful to move back occasionally as spell casting automatically walks you forward, even if it will walk you off a cliff.
• A nice sniping combination is Glacius - Diffindo, and typically Disillusionment will not end because of this.
• Also, it seems Glacius stops the target from being able to locate you while they are frozen.
• If they are not dead, they will try to search for you afterwards, approximately where you were casting the spells.
• Enemies controlled by Control or Force spells also seem to have reduced ability to detect you, e.g., If you are Disillusioned and you Accio someone to you and even if you cast a spell like Incendio on them while they are floating.
• Deploying Venomous Tentacular or Chinese Chomping Cabbages does not break Disillusionment. Further, enemies do not react to being attacked by them.
• Thunderbrew does not break Disillusionment, although the distance at which it works is so short that you are likely to be detected.
• Enemies breaking off combat because they can't find you will generally not reset their health.
• You are taught to use attacks to distract enemies. This works for the most part.
• Often a Basic Cast will do, but you can attract more attention with a noisy spell like Confringo.
• You do NOT have to hit anything breakable.
• If you hit a red Explosives barrel, that can cause enemies to walk to investigate. But if that barrel explodes and does NOT kill an enemy, they will strangely know where you are at the time of the explosion and move to search for you.
• If an enemy is standing on a breakable platform, sometimes destroying that platform (even with just a Basic Cast) will cause them to fall, and no matter the distance or their level / remaining health, they are instantly killed.

The alternative to Disillusionment is the Invisibility Potion.

• It lasts only a short time, but it is stronger than Disillusionment -- There is no chance of detection while you are under the effect.
• Casting Disillusionment while under the effect of an Invisibility Potion does not end Invisibility, and when Invisibility ends, you are still under Disillusionment.

If you only have to hide from one target, another possibility is Transmutation.

• As soon as an opponent is Transformed into a barrel, combat immediately ends and they immediately lose sight of you.
• In-combat state resumes after they have recovered but they have to find you all over again, and if by that time you have gone behind cover (even nearby) and they cannot find you, then you are safely hidden.

Note that there are some scripted encounters in the game that are apparently meant to thwart Disillusionment:

•  Enemies are brought in by script / cutscene.
• You can try to hide and dash for cover, but the intent is to force you into combat so it rarely works.
• You slide down a slope uncontrollably into the enemy encounter area.
• Sliding down a slope always ends Disillusionment.
• Enemies automatically detect you when you are at a certain distance.
• This is not common. There is at least one instance of this in the quest instnace when you have the opportunity to learn the Imperio curse.
• Enemies arrive when you exit the designated combat area, but they also instantly leave when you exit that area.