Hogwarts Legacy – How To Capture Beasts For Your Vivarium

TL;DR

  • Unlock the Vivarium after completing Percival Rackham’s Trial and subsequent main quests
  • Master the Nab-Sack capture system using stealth and immobilization spells
  • Manage your sanctuary with strategic species selection and capacity planning
  • Generate valuable crafting materials through regular interaction with your beasts
  • Progress to unlock breeding mechanics and additional Vivarium biomes

The Vivarium in Hogwarts Legacy represents a magical sanctuary within the Room of Requirement where you can rescue and care for various magical creatures. This specialized area serves as both a conservation space for endangered fauna and a practical resource generation system for your character’s progression. Understanding its mechanics early will significantly enhance your gameplay experience and resource acquisition.

As a dedicated beast sanctuary, the Vivarium provides multiple gameplay benefits beyond simple creature collection. Regular interaction with your captured animals yields valuable materials essential for gear upgrades and trait enhancements. The system also introduces breeding mechanics that become available during later game stages.

Strategic management of your Vivarium becomes increasingly important as you encounter rarer species throughout the wizarding world. Proper species selection and capacity planning can optimize your material production and support your overall character development strategy.

Gaining access to the Vivarium and beast capture mechanics requires progressing through specific main story quests in Hogwarts Legacy. The unlocking sequence typically occurs during the mid-game campaign, approximately 10-15 hours into your playthrough depending on side content completion.

The critical path begins with completing Percival Rackham’s Trial, after which several essential quests become available:

  • The Helm of Urtkot – This adventure takes you through ancient tombs featuring complex Moth Mirror puzzles that test your problem-solving abilities.
  • The Caretaker’s Lunar Lament – This quest grants you the essential Alohomora locking charm, enabling access to previously restricted areas and containers throughout the game world.
  • Beast Class – Your initial introduction to magical creature handling, teaching fundamental petting and feeding mechanics.

Once you’ve successfully completed these prerequisite missions, you’ll receive the pivotal main quest called The Elf, the Nab-Sack, and the Loom. This marks your official introduction to the beast capture system and Vivarium mechanics.

You'll be able to capture Beasts a few hours into the campaign.

You’ll typically gain access to beast capture capabilities approximately 12-15 hours into your campaign, depending on your playstyle and side quest completion rate.

Deek the house elf serves as your guide through the beast capture tutorial, providing you with the specialized Nab-Sack spell. This magical device functions similarly to containment equipment in other fantasy settings, allowing you to safely capture and transport magical creatures.

Successful beast capture requires mastering several complementary techniques:

  • Stealth Approach – Activate Disillusionment to remain undetected while approaching skittish creatures. This spell dramatically increases your capture success rate, especially with more elusive species.
  • Immobilization Spells – Several spells can temporarily disable creatures, making capture significantly easier:
    • Levioso – Lifts targets airborne for brief periods, creating capture windows.
    • Arresto Momentum – Slows creatures dramatically, reducing their escape capability.
    • Glacius – Often considered the optimal choice, this freezing spell immobilizes targets for extended durations.
  • Nab-Sack Execution – Once you’ve immobilized a creature, activate the Nab-Sack and complete the button prompt sequence. Multiple successful inputs are required, with the number varying by creature type and rarity.

Advanced capture strategies involve understanding creature behavior patterns. Many animals will attempt to flee when threatened, requiring you to pursue them while maintaining spell effectiveness. If creatures become too frightened and despawn, utilizing fast travel between nearby points can reset their spawn conditions.

Once you place animals in your Vivarium, you'll pet and feed them to earn materials.

Proper capture technique ensures you can efficiently build your Vivarium population without excessive time investment.

After completing your initial capture objectives, returning to the Room of Requirement unlocks the Vivarium proper. This sanctuary system, while generous, operates under specific constraints that require strategic planning:

  • Capacity Limits – Each Vivarium biome can accommodate up to 12 individual creatures total.
  • Species Restrictions – You’re limited to housing four distinct species types per Vivarium instance.
  • Population Management – The system allows flexible distribution, such as maintaining 11 common Puffskeins alongside one rare Hippogriff. However, once you’ve reached the four-species limit, you cannot introduce additional creature types without removing existing residents.

Regular interaction with your Vivarium inhabitants generates valuable resources. Using the brush for grooming and providing appropriate treats encourages creatures to produce materials essential for gear enhancement and trait application.

Several Hogsmeade establishments support your Vivarium operations:

  • Brood and Peck – Located in northeast Hogsmeade, this shop sells creature materials that can supplement your collection efforts.
  • Tomes and Scrolls – Found in the southern district, this vendor offers blueprints for the Beast Feeder and Beast Toybox. These structures can be constructed within your Vivarium using the Evanesco spell, enhancing creature happiness and material production.
The Vivarium does have limitations, but you'll soon unlock some additional options.

Understanding these limitations early helps you develop effective species rotation and material farming strategies.

As you progress further in Hogwarts Legacy’s beast capture narrative, additional Vivarium functionalities become available. Breeding mechanics represent a significant late-game feature, allowing you to produce offspring from compatible creature pairs. This system not only expands your collection possibilities but also provides additional material generation opportunities.

The game gradually unlocks additional Vivarium biomes through main story progression. These new environments accommodate different creature types and expand your overall sanctuary capacity across multiple specialized habitats.

Strategic considerations for advanced Vivarium management include:

  • Material Optimization – Focus on creatures that produce materials relevant to your current gear enhancement needs.
  • Species Preservation – Prioritize capturing endangered or rare species to ensure their conservation within your sanctuary.
  • Time Investment – Regular check-ins with your tamed creatures ensure consistent material production without requiring extensive active gameplay.
  • Progression Alignment – Time your Vivarium development with your overall character progression to maximize synergy between resource needs and creature capabilities.
Check back on your tamed creatures from time to time.

Consistent engagement with your Vivarium population yields compounding benefits throughout your Hogwarts Legacy experience.

Action Checklist

  • Complete Percival Rackham’s Trial main quest
  • Finish The Helm of Urtkot, The Caretaker’s Lunar Lament, and Beast Class quests
  • Learn Nab-Sack usage in The Elf, the Nab-Sack, and the Loom
  • Capture initial creatures using stealth and immobilization spells
  • Visit Brood and Peck and Tomes and Scrolls in Hogsmeade
  • Establish regular Vivarium maintenance routine for material generation

No reproduction without permission:SeeYouSoon Game Club » Hogwarts Legacy – How To Capture Beasts For Your Vivarium Complete guide to unlocking and mastering the Vivarium beast sanctuary in Hogwarts Legacy