Although Pokemon GO's big anniversary event is stealing a lot of the spotlight this month, Harry Potter Wizards Unite has some big news of its own. It's hard to compete with the massive virtual event that PoGO is throwing in July, but Wizards Unite is making a massive update of its own with the addition of some brand new skill trees.
Although each witch and wizard already has a profession with some special benefits, the new skill trees will be available to everyone level 4 and above, regardless of their specialization. The new SOS skill trees were just confirmed by Harry Potter Wizards Unite and it sounds like an excellent new way to gain special abilities, bonuses, and increase motivation to login to the game and make progress on the daily basis.
At this point, the new skill trees are still in the "coming soon" category and a more specific release date has not been confirmed just yet. That said, this sort of announcement (similar to the Knight Bus) usually isn't made until the feature is within just a few weeks of launch. It seems highly likely that we'll learn a lot more details about the new skill trees (including their release date) within the next few weeks of July. For now, there's a whole lot of initial information to digest though...
When and how To unlock new SOS skill trees
Every witch or wizard, level 4 and above, regardless of selected Profession, will soon be granted access to a set of new SOS Training skill trees full of never-before-seen lessons. By unlocking these lessons you’ll gain access to skills that have far-ranging effects that can’t be found anywhere else. It’s up to you to decide what skills to invest in based on your own personal playstyle.
What do the new skills do?
Perhaps some of your spells have been feeling a little lackluster? Mastery will increase the power of your spells and help you better trounce those meddlesome Confoundables. Finding Fawkes a little too eager to flee? Departure Denial reduces the chance that a flighty Foundable escapes after you cast a spell. Fancy improving your Potion-brewing skills to levels even Professor Snape would be proud of? Potions Effect boosts the strength of your Potions and Brew Time Reduction shortens how long it takes to brew them.
What are Field Charms?
Through SOS Training you can also unlock a set of new spells that you invoke directly on the Map called Field Charms. Cast the Trace Charm on existing Traces to reveal even more Traces nearby. Cast the Inn Charm on Inns to generate additional Spell Energy on the Map. Cast the Greenhouse Charm on, you guessed it, Greenhouses, to conjure rare Potion Ingredients. While you alone can see the extra Traces revealed by your Trace Charms, all nearby players can take advantage of the bonus Spell Energy and Potion Ingredients from anyone’s Inn and Greenhouse Charms so be sure to coordinate with fellow players for optimal benefits.
How to earn new skills more quickly
What’s the key to unlocking all of these unique skills? Continuing to develop your magical potential as a wizard in the SOS Task Force of course! To help with your professional development, the SOS Task Force will be providing Field Guides, Ministry Manuals and Defense Against the Dark Arts Books, three new resources you can collect and use alongside existing Restricted Section Books to unlock these new skills. The best part is, Field Guides and Ministry Manuals can be obtained from doing the same things you’ve already been doing—returning Foundables and placing images in the Registry, and Defense Against the Dark Arts Books can be earned by participating in in-game events.
There's obviously still a lot to learn about the specifics of each skill tree, but it sounds like there's a lot of room for customization and some great opportunities to make progress through the game in a different way than the traditional level up mechanic. Leveling up in Niantic games does offer some immediate rewards and longterm benefits, but progressing through a skill tree feels a lot more rewarding and will likely impact gameplay a lot more. It will be very interesting to see if a similar feature ever works its way over to Pokemon GO...
Be sure to check back in the comings days for more Wizards Unite strategy guides, news, and updates. Until then, keep your wands at the ready!
Harry Potter: Wizards Unite is available now in select regions on Android and iOS devices.
Source: Harry Potter Wizards Unite