The Goals Of This Guide
If you are reading this guide, you should know: My goal is to help you master the Knockback Jinx, and apply it into your arsenal in as many ways as you can. As stated before, I grew up playing the old movie tie-in games - particularly Chamber of Secrets on the GameCube. I have a very strong emotional attachment to Flipendo, as it was used very extensively in the first four games (mostly the first three, but I believe it remained in the fourth in a similar vein to this game's Basic Cast).
While it is a usable spell in Hogwarts Legacy, it's far from the strongest tool in your toolbox by the end of the game. If you're purely going for optimization, just put Transfiguration, Diffindo, Incendio, and Accio in your set and call it a day. But if you're here to become a true Flipendo master...you've come to the right place.
This guide will touch upon some story events in regards to getting Flipendo in the first place, but will attempt to strip context away from any beats mentioned. However, if you are not comfortable with this, please skip the section on getting Flipendo, and just go directly to upgrades and combinations.
Finally, this is not meant to be the final say on everything. My goal is to help you build successful tactics and loadouts based around the Flipendo spell. If you have an idea not covered, please share it with me.
Gaining Flipendo
Gaining the Knockback Jinx is done through the optional Assignments given to you by professors. Specifically, Flipendo is learned by completing the second assignment for the Herbology teacher, Professor Garlick. However, this quest doesn't unlock until a few hours into the game. Below are some plot beats, given the least amount of context and detail as possible, to show you the Road to Flipendo.
1: You will find a mission similar to the old games, in which you have to sneak by a group of prefects to get out of bounds.
2: You will find a magic book with pages missing.
3: In order to find the missing pages, you will have to meet with a man named Richard Jackdaw.
4: You attend your first flying class
5: One of your friends shows you a secret room
Some time after completing the quest involving a secret room, you will receive a letter from Professor Garlick, detailing her first assignment, which will net you Wingardium Leviosa. To do this, you need to attack with certain plants - visit Dogweed and Deathcap in Hogsmeade for the mandrake, and get the Venomous Tentacula from the greenhouses themselves.
After finishing this...you are ready.
Garlick will send you a similar letter. This time, you must grow and harvest Fluxweed, and also use all three combat plants at once. Fluxweed can be purchased from The Magic Neep, but must be grown in a bigger pot than you'll have by default. Go to Tomes and Scrolls and get a larger pot.
Afterwards, buy either the remaining needed seeds from Dogweed and Deathcap, or buy the plants themselves. Complete your assignment, and then learn Flipendo.
Flipendo: Purpose And Perks
Flipendo raises an enemy up into the air for a moment or two, and makes them hover there, before letting them fall back down. However, it also has a hidden use that is situational, but very good. When fighting trolls, if they slam their club down and take a moment to hoist it back up, you can cast Flipendo to flip the club back up and bonk the troll on the head, resulting in a window where you do massive damage.
On its own it's not the best spell, and is outclassed by things like Accio or Depulso. However, Flipendo can be made very good if you put some effort into it.
Flipendo also gains significant benefits from the Dark Arts tree. So, here are the upgrades you are going to want:
1: Knockback Curse - This gives Flipendo the "Cursed" effect, which causes enemies struck by it to take additional damage
2: Blood Curse - Now, when you deal damage to one Cursed enemy, all other Cursed enemies also take a fraction of that damage. This is especially useful with Flipendo, because it has a very short recharge time, meaning you can get a lot of enemies cursed in a short amount of time.
3: Enduring Curse - the Cursed effect lasts for a longer period of time
4: Curse Sapper - Defeating a cursed enemy restores a small amount of your health. Similarly to the Blood Curse, you'll have just about everybody Cursed with Flipendo with minimal effort, meaning there's a lot of opportunities to regain a bit of health. This has saved me in tight situations before.
After that, you're gonna want to head on over to the Core talents tree and pick up two more talents:
1: Basic Cast Mastery - Basic Cast attacks will reduce spell cooldowns. Flipendo's cooldown is already short, but think of it this way: the shorter it is, the more enemies you can curse. Furthermore, this perk applies to all spells, not just Flipendo.
2: Basic Cast Airborne Absorption - Basic Cast attacks against airborne enemies will recharge your Ancient Magic meter. As Flipendo keeps bad guys in the air for a moment, this is a great way to rack up ancient magic quickly.
Flipendo now causes enemies to 1: take extra damage, 2: share that extra damage with each other, and 3: heal you if they die. Furthermore, Flipendo is also helping you gain Ancient Magic quickly.
You should build a loadout that plays into these strengths. Flipendo pairs well with high-damage spells that can be cast on enemies in that second or so when they're frozen in the air.
EDIT: I neglected to mention the traits that you can sew into your clothes. There is a trait called Unforgivable, and it makes Cursed enemies take extra damage. In the hopes of becoming a Flipendo master, I typically run Unforgivable III on all my clothes, but this is, quite frankly, severe overkill.
Loadout Suggestion One: Keep Them In The Air
Fielded Spells:
1 Flipendo
2: Any Red Spell
3: Levioso
4: Accio
The point of this loadout is to keep the enemies in the air for as long as possible, and fill your Ancient Magic Meter. Open with Flipendo to get the curse, wham once or twice with Basic cast, and then finish with any red spell of your choice (I am currently fielding Confringo, because I like the extra projectiles it gives you when it's upgraded, but I've found that all four red spells are useful in this slot). After that, use Levioso or Accio to continue to build up your meter, and then cast Flipendo again on a different enemy when it's recharged.
Use Basic Cast a lot during this process to speed up the recharge time.
Loadout Suggestion Two: Aggression Is Key
1: Flipendo
2: Expelliarmus
3: Levioso, Arresto Momentum or Glacius
4: Bombarda
This loadout is more about taking advantage of the Curse effect, and not allowing the enemies to fight back.
Open with Flipendo, and wham a couple of times with basic cast. Then, use Expelliarmus BEFORE the enemy hits the ground. This will disarm them.
Enemies take critical damage both when they are in the air and when they have had their weapon disarmed, but it does not stack. We are opening with Flipendo first because of one reason: Expelliarmus deals direct damage as well as disarming the opponent. We're trying to maximize damage by having the concussive force of Expelliarmus hit the Cursed enemy while it is trapped in the air. This will also disarm them, which lengthens the window when you can do critical damage.
After that, use a yellow spell to freeze them in place for a moment. Levioso, Arresto Momentum, and Glacius all work for this task. Levioso gives you the additional advantages of building up the magic meter, as discussed last time, but I find that Glacius is the most aggressive yellow spell, and pairs well with the final step: Bombarda.
Use Bombarda as the end of your combo. It deals a lot of damage, especially to a disarmed, cursed, and possibly-frozen opponent. Glacius can also be upgraded to create an explosion that damages nearby enemies when a frozen foe is struck.
Out of any of these loadouts, I find this one works best for Executioners, Dugbogs, Trolls, or any enemy that can't be knocked into the air. Flipendo still staggers and curses them, and then the two Red spells in your inventory can be used to better effect than the spells in either of my other suggestions.
Note: Expelliarmus also can be upgraded to Curse enemies. I still hold that Flipendo first is the better opening when striking the same opponent twice, but a cursed Expelliarmus can be used to curse even more enemies, furthering that strength that you have.
Loadout Suggestion 3: Support Expelliarmus
https://steamuserimages-a.akamaihd.net/ugc/2053116427863801223/3ED82ADF11C0162F9F77B76B33AEFD5D6FF22A17/?imw=256&&ima=fit&impolicy=Letterbox&imcolor=%23000000&letterbox=false
As a warning: while many of my techniques are most effective against a single enemy that you can bully, they are also able to be applied to a wider variety of situations. That is not so for this one. This requires you to bully a single enemy for a prolonged period of time, so it's best used after you've limited yourself down to four foes or less.
1: Expelliarmus
2: Depulso
3: Flipendo
4: Levioso
This strategy revolves around keeping your enemy from their wand for as long as you can. Open with Expelliarmus, and then immediately follow up with Depulso. Wham a few times with basic cast, and then cast Flipendo. Wham a few more times, and then cast Levioso. Spam basic cast as much as possible to get your other spells back up, and then repeat Flipendo, Depulso, and Levioso as many times as necessary.
Happy Flipendo-ing!
I hope you've enjoyed - tell me what you think!
Now, I'm exhausted. I'm off to bed.
(If you get the reference, you are an absolute god)
Source: https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2939150500
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