How to breed beasts in Hogwarts Legacy – Guide

After you’ve unlocked the Room of Requirement and made some progress in Hogwarts Legacy, you may get a side quest from Deek regarding animal breeding. The quest is called ‘Foal of the Dead,’ and on completion you’ll be able to breed beasts in the game. Here’s our quick guide on how to breed beasts in Hogwarts Legacy.

Note: For more information, check out our Hogwarts Legacy guides and features hub.

How to breed beasts in Hogwarts Legacy

As mentioned, you’ll need to complete Foal of the Dead to breed beasts in Hogwarts Legacy. It acts as a tutorial of sorts, and gets you prepped with the right equipment to get you started. In the mission, Deek asks you to go track down and capture Thestrals: one male, and one female. The game directs you to their beast den, which is just north of Hogwarts Castle.

Once you arrive, you’ll find the spooky animals a bit skittish. Use Leviosa to freeze one in place and then capture it using the Nab-Sack. It might take some effort, since Thestrals require far more button prompts than smaller beasts in order to capture. The best advice I can give is to freeze them before they take to the air using Leviosa, and then cast Leviosa again once you get closer. This should give you enough time to make it through all the prompts.

With your Thestrals in tow, your next task is to go to Hogsmeade. Visit the Tomes and Scrolls shop and purchase the Beast Pen. Now, head back to the Room of Requirement for your next steps. The Room will expand the Vivarium, unlocking the swamp biome. Inside, you’re able to place the Breeding Pen and both Thestrals. Finishing this side quest unlocks beast breeding, which you can do in any of the biomes.

Related: How to upgrade the Vivarium and unlock more biomes in Hogwarts Legacy.

Screenshot by PC Invasion

Using the Breeding Pen to make new friends

After you placed the Breeding Pen (it takes a lot of room), you can activated it with the pedestal sign to the right of the gates. There, you’re able to choose which animals you wish to breed. You must have a male and a female of that species. They will have ‘male’ or ‘female’ icons next to their name when highlighted.

Once you’ve chosen, the female animal will be locked in the pen, and you’ll get a notification showing you how much time it’ll be until the offspring is born. For the Thestrals in the aforementioned quest, the timer was set for 30 real-time minutes. Beasts can be bred again afterwards.

So cute! Screenshot by PC Invasion

Breeding beasts in the game is fairly straightforward. Your reward for doing so is increasing the number of certain animals, which you can then care for and use for Gear-enhancing materials with the Loom. And yes, offspring can offer you materials right away. You won’t need them to grow up first.

Hogwarts Legacy is available via Steam.