You’re wandering through the Forbidden Forest, heart pounding because a giant spider just tried to turn you into lunch, and you finally spot it. A shimmering chest. You crack it open, expecting a legendary robe, but instead, you get that dreaded notification: Your gear slots are full. It is the single most annoying thing in the entire game. Honestly, starting with only 20 slots feels like a prank by the developers. You’ll find yourself deleting perfectly good scarves just to make room for a pair of goggles that look ridiculous anyway.
If you want to stop fast-traveling back to Hogsmeade every twenty minutes to sell loot, you need to know Hogwarts Legacy how to get more gear slots. It isn't just a side quest; it’s a survival mechanic.
The Merlin Trials: Your Only Real Solution
Let’s be blunt. There is exactly one way to expand your inventory, and that is by completing Merlin Trials. You can’t buy more space with Galleons. You can’t find a bigger backpack in a shop. You have to go out into the Highlands and solve puzzles left behind by a legendary wizard who clearly had too much free time.
But you can't just walk up to these trials and start them. You first have to complete the "Trials of Merlin" main story quest. This happens relatively early, right after you help Nora Treadwell defend herself against some Ashwinders near Lower Hogsfield. She introduces you to Mallowsweet.
Mallowsweet is the "key" to every trial. Without it, the trials won't activate. You can buy the seeds at The Magic Neep in Hogsmeade. Pro tip: buy the seeds, not the leaves. Grow them in the Room of Requirement. You’re going to need dozens of them, and buying leaves individually is a total waste of money. Once you have your Mallowsweet, you’ll see leaf icons all over your map. Those are your tickets to a bigger inventory.
How the Milestone System Actually Works
The game doesn't give you a new slot for every single trial you finish. That would be too easy, wouldn't it? Instead, Hogwarts Legacy uses a tiered challenge system hidden in your Field Guide.
You’ll find this under the "Exploration" tab in your Challenges menu. There are five tiers of rewards for the Merlin Trials. The first tier requires you to complete two trials. Once you do that, you get four new slots. The next tier requires six more trials. Then ten. Then fourteen. By the time you finish the final tier, you'll have a total of 40 gear slots.
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That is double your starting capacity.
It sounds like a lot of work, and frankly, it is. There are nearly 100 Merlin Trials scattered across the map, but you only need to complete 52 of them to max out your gear capacity. You don't have to do every single one unless you’re going for that Platinum trophy or 100% completion. Focus on the ones near Floo Flames first to save time.
Navigating the Different Types of Puzzles
The trials aren't all the same. Some are basically a test of whether or not you’ve unlocked specific spells. If you run into a trial and can't figure it out, you probably just don't have the right magic yet.
Take the "Large Stone Ball" trials, for example. You’ll see a giant circular depression in the ground and a massive boulder nearby. You usually need Depulso to shove that ball into the hole. Sometimes Wingardium Leviosa works better if the terrain is rocky. Then there are the "Small Stone Balls." You’ll see three platforms with four holes each. You have to find three groups of five small stones and lead them to the platforms using Accio.
One of the trickiest ones involves butterflies. Or moths, technically. You’ll see stone pillars with crystals inside. Find the swarms of glowing moths nearby and use Lumos to lure them back to the pillars. It’s exactly like the moth-and-frame puzzles inside the castle.
Then you have the "Pillar Destruction" trials. These are the easiest. Just use Confringo or Bombarda to blast every pillar in sight. If you see pillars with symbols on them, you’ll need Flipendo to rotate the top stone until the symbols match the bottom stone. This one trips people up because you have to stand at a specific angle to make the block flip the way you want.
Why You Should Care About Gear Rarity
A common mistake is hoarding "Well-Appointed" or "Superb" gear just because it looks cool. Don't do that. In the early game, the stats matter way more than the rarity. If you have 20 slots and 15 of them are filled with green gear that has lower defense than your current outfit, sell it immediately.
Legendary gear (the orange stuff) is the only thing worth holding onto long-term because it has the best trait slots. Everything else is just fuel for your bank account. Once you unlock the Room of Requirement, you can use the Loom to upgrade your gear and add traits, which makes those 40 slots even more valuable. You’ll want space to carry different sets for different builds—maybe one set focused on Herbology damage and another on Ancient Magic.
Managing Your Inventory Before the Max Upgrade
Until you’ve ground out those 52 Merlin Trials, you have to be smart.
Check your inventory after every single mission. It’s tedious, I know. But the worst feeling is finishing a major dungeon like the Map Chamber or a Keeper's Trial and realizing you left three Legendary chests behind because you didn't have room.
Remember that you can change the appearance of any piece of gear to look like something else you've previously owned. This is a "transmog" system. If you find a cool-looking hat but it has terrible stats, you can sell it and still keep the look. Just hover over your equipped hat in the gear menu and press the "Change Appearance" button (square on PlayStation, X on Xbox). This means there is absolutely zero reason to keep gear in your inventory just for the aesthetics. Sell it. Get the gold. Keep the slots open.
Practical Steps to Maximize Your Efficiency
Stop ignoring those leaf icons on your mini-map. If you’re flying to a quest marker and you pass a Merlin Trial, land and do it. It takes two minutes. If you wait until the end of the game to do them all at once, you will burn out.
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- Stock up on Mallowsweet seeds from The Magic Neep early on and keep a large potting table running in the Room of Requirement.
- Focus on the first two tiers of the challenge immediately. Getting from 20 to 28 slots feels like a massive relief and requires very little effort.
- Unlock Confringo and Depulso as soon as possible. Without these, about half of the Merlin Trials are impossible to finish.
- Claim your rewards manually. This is the part that bugs most players. The slots do not unlock automatically. You must go into the Challenges menu, find the Exploration tab, and click on the completed Merlin Trial milestone to actually get your extra space.
The Highlands are huge, and the loot is constant. By prioritizing these trials, you transform the game from an inventory-management simulator back into a wizarding adventure. Once you hit that 40-slot cap, you can finally clear out a bandit camp without checking your menu every five seconds. It changes everything.