A day earlier than expected, Harry Potter: Wizards Unite has launched for mobile devices on iOS and Android. The follow-up to Niantic’s hugely successful Pokemon GO is poised to make a massive splash over the next months (if not longer) but like POGO, there is a lot for players to take in and uncover.
One element of Harry Potter: Wizards Unite that players might be curious about is the Portkey, an item in HP lore that wizards use to instantly transport from one place to another. In Wizards Unite, Portkeys are single-use items that take players to a new environment where they can unlock rewards and XP while completing an objective.
How to Get and Unlock a Portkey Portmanteau
The first thing players will need is a Portkey Portmanteau, which is similar to an egg in Pokemon GO and can be found while exploring the in-game world. Each Portkey Portmanteau must be “unlocked” by a key, but players will only have one gold key to start but it has unlimited uses (one at a time). They can also pay Harry Potter: Wizards Unite gold for silver keys, which are single-use Portkey Portmanteau unlocks or earn them through leveling up.
Once a key has been slotted in a Portkey Portmanteau in Harry Potter: Wizards Unite, the player must travel/walk the kilometers associated with the item. Like Pokemon GO eggs, these items come in 2, 5, and 10km options.
Using the Portkey
Once the player has traveled the necessary distance to unlock the Portkey Portmanteau, the item will open and a Portkey will be available for use. It’s unclear how many Portkey possibilities there are, but the most common one seen in Harry Potter: Wizards Unite is the boot seen in Harry Potter and The Goblet of Fire.
In order to use the Portkey, the player will need to find a large enough space to walk around using the AR camera. Niantic has focused a lot of its games on the idea of going outside and exploring the environment, so we recommend finding a large space to use the Portkey.
After you put the Portkey down, a portal will open to a new area that you must physically walk through. This area will be rendered in-game and shown using AR on the player’s phone.
Inside of this new area, the player will be given an objective like tapping on items or finding magical creatures scattered around the area. As you complete these objectives, you will earn items for use in Harry Potter: Wizards Unite as well as XP for various categories.
It’s a familiar mechanic for Niantic but one that fits well with the Harry Potter: Wizards Unite universe and unlocks new gameplay. Who knows if using a Portkey will be as fun the 10th (or 100th) time, but for now it’s clever mechanic in the mobile game.
Harry Potter: Wizards Unite is available now for iOS and Android.