Attempting Percival's First Trial Again, This Time at Level 14 With New Spells and Better Gear | Part 1
Published on HivePostify by @venapboyz · Tue Sep 01 2026
Hey gamers, how are you all doing? It's been a while since I've been able to post around here but I'm back and diving straight into the action. Life gets busy sometimes and the PC ends up sitting there collecting dust while the real world demands attention, but we always come back eventually and today is that day. And what better way to return than by heading straight back into one of the toughest challenges the game has thrown at me so far — Percival Rackham's first trial. As the title says, this is attempt number two. The first time I walked in there I got absolutely humbled by that final Pensieve Guardian boss, which forced me to step back, grind side quests, level up, grab better equipment, and come back when I was actually ready to compete. Well, ready or not, we're going back in. And because there's a lot to cover, I'm splitting this into two parts. Today is Part 1 covering everything leading up to the trial entrance itself, and the next post will be the trial proper. So let's get into it.
Meeting Up With Professor Fig at the Tower
The first thing on the agenda is linking up with Professor Fig, who as you might remember from last time was already out at Rackham's Tower scouting the area ahead of me. So I fast travel as close as I can get, hop on the broom for the remainder of the journey, and arrive at the North Ford Bog region to find Fig waiting right where I left him. But the moment I land and the conversation starts, it's clear something has changed since the last attempt. The situation around the tower has escalated. Ranrok's goblin loyalists haven't just been passing through this area — they've set up a full camp around the base of the tower.
Fig fills me in with that characteristic calm he maintains even when things are clearly not calm at all. The goblins are here in larger numbers than before and they're actively organized around the tower, which tells you everything you need to know about how much Ranrok's intelligence network has been working overtime. They've connected this location to something significant — maybe not the trial specifically, maybe not the ancient magic, but enough to warrant a dedicated deployment of loyalists with clear orders to investigate and secure whatever they can find. Fig says we need to deal with them before we can get anywhere near the tower entrance. And just like last time, the suggestion is to use Disillusionment and try to pick off as many as possible before the situation forces a full open combat. Smart approach. Let's go.
Fighting Ranrok's First Wave of Loyalists
Okay so here's where things feel noticeably different compared to my first attempt at this sequence, and I want to be honest with you all about that difference. Being at level 14 now versus where I was before genuinely changes how this fight plays out. And it's not just the raw stats — the health pool is bigger, the spell damage is higher — it's the spells themselves and how many I can have loaded at once. At this point I've got two full spell sets equipped, each carrying four combat spells, which means I've got eight different spells I can cycle between during a fight just by flicking between the two loadouts. That flexibility is a complete game changer when you're facing a mixed group of enemies with different shield types and different behavioral patterns.
My current combat rotation is feeling really clean. I open with Disillusionment stealth takedowns using Petrificus Totalus wherever possible to thin the numbers before the alert goes out. Once the fight goes loud I'm switching between Accio to pull enemies off their feet and into range, Levioso to break yellow shields and launch enemies into the air for vulnerability combos, Expelliarmus for red shield breaking and disarming, Confringo for range damage and setting targets on fire, Incendio for close range burn damage and web clearing, and Glacius for freezing and creating the shattering combo opportunity. Rolling between two spell sets mid-fight to access all of that without having to stop and remap anything is the kind of fluidity that makes combat genuinely enjoyable rather than just a series of button presses.
That said — challenging is still the right word for this first wave. These aren't low-level scrubs. The Loyalist Warriors have solid health and hit hard in melee range. The Loyalist Archers keep pressure on you from distance while you're trying to manage the melee threats up close. And the Loyalist Ranger types mix it up with both range attacks and shield charges that catch you off guard if you're not watching your positioning. I came out of the first wave in decent shape but it wasn't a comfortable stroll by any means. The improvement over last time was real and measurable — I was making decisions faster, recovering from mistakes better, and burning through enemy health bars in fewer spell cycles. But they made me earn every kill.
Investigating the Camp and Finding Ranrok's Orders
Once the last loyalist goes down and the combat music fades out, Fig and I take a moment to look around at what the goblins had actually set up here. And this is one of those small details that Hogwarts Legacy handles really well — the camp isn't just a bunch of enemies standing around a fire. It's an actual organized operation with tents, supply crates, a command area, and most importantly documents. There's a note sitting in the command area of the camp, and when you pick it up and read it the picture becomes much clearer.
The note contains explicit orders directly from Ranrok himself — and they're not vague. He's telling his loyalists to take everything they can find in and around the tower. Strip it. If there's anything of magical significance, anything that connects to the old power or the ancient magic traces his network has been following, he wants it secured and transported immediately. Reading this while standing in the ruins of the camp they set up to execute those orders is one of those moments where the main story antagonist stops being an abstract threat and starts feeling like a genuinely present danger. Ranrok isn't reacting to events — he's actively hunting down the same locations we're investigating, which means every time we arrive somewhere connected to the trial and the Keepers, we're potentially racing against his people getting there first. That urgency adds real weight to what's coming.
Fig reads it over your shoulder essentially and his expression tightens in that way it does when he's recalibrating his assessment of how serious the situation is. No time to dwell on it. Clear the camp, note secured, move to the next problem.
New and Stronger Goblin Enemies Appear
Of course it couldn't just end with clearing the first wave. Because right as you're wrapping up the investigation of the camp and thinking the path to the tower might be clear, a second wave of Ranrok's loyalists shows up — and this group is noticeably tougher than the first. These aren't the standard Loyalist Warriors and Archers you just worked through. This wave brings in Loyalist Sentinels, which are the heavy armored variant with significantly higher health, a Loyalist Commander type who coordinates the others and has both a shield and ranged magic attacks to deal with, and additional Ranger types who are faster and more aggressive than the previous batch.
This is where the level 14 stats really have to do some work because the Sentinels in particular soak up damage in a way that forces you to commit to proper spell combos rather than just cycling through your loadout randomly and hoping something sticks. The correct approach is to identify the shield color, use the matching counter spell to break it, then immediately chain a high-damage follow-up before the shield regenerates. Against the Commander you want to use Expelliarmus first to strip their offensive capability before they get off a heavy magic attack, then use the opening to deal burst damage while they're disarmed and staggered. Glacius is excellent here too — freeze a Sentinel, shatter the freeze with a follow-up cast, and the ice shards damage whoever is standing nearby which helps when they're bunched together.
I won't pretend this second wave was easy because it wasn't. There was one moment where I got caught between a Sentinel closing melee distance and a Ranger hitting me from the opposite direction simultaneously and my health dropped fast enough that I had to break off and use a Wiggenweld Potion mid-fight rather than push through it. But the difference from the previous attempt was that I had the potion to use, I knew when to use it, and I recovered from the situation rather than getting finished off. That's the kind of thing that separates a prepared attempt from an underprepared one.
Entering the Tower and Speaking with Percival
With both waves cleared, both the camp investigated, and the immediate area finally secured, the path to the tower entrance is open. Fig and I make our way inside, work up through the tower the same way as before — looting any chests along the way, using Revelio to make sure nothing gets missed — and reach the top where Percival Rackham's portrait is waiting on the wall. This conversation with Percival feels different on the second visit. Not because the dialogue has changed — it hasn't — but because you know what's on the other side of this exchange now. You know the puzzles, you know the guard encounters, and you know what the final boss looks like. So hearing Percival lay out the parameters of the trial one more time has a weight to it that the first visit didn't quite have.
He tells you the same things he did before — the trial awaits below, Fig cannot accompany you inside, the ancient magic will guide you, trust what you perceive. Fig reminds you to be careful in that understated way of his that actually communicates genuine concern pretty effectively. And then it's time to go back down to the base of the tower, find the ancient magic portal, and step through into the trial once again. The puzzles are waiting. The Pensieve Guards are waiting. And at the end of all of it, that Pensieve Guardian is waiting too — hopefully for the last time. So gamers, we're right on the edge of the real action.
Part 2 is where the trial itself begins and where we find out if all that grinding and preparation actually paid off. See you in the next post!
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