You don’t have to get out and walk to play Wizards Unite — Here’re our tips

Sometimes, you just want to sit around and do nothing but play Wizards Unite. It takes some ingenuity, but we’ve done it and so can you!

Although Harry Potter: Wizards Unite is best when played while walking around with your mobile device. Not everyone can, or wants to get out and adventure the neighborhood around them, though. If you’re feeling lazy, or are otherwise limited in mobility, here are our tips and tricks to playing Wizards Unite without having to be too active.

Activate Dark Detectors at Inns

In Wizards Unite, Dark Detectors can be deployed near Inns, which will lure Traces to you. You can place up to three Dark Detectors at once for 30 minutes. The more Dark Detectors that are added, the more powerful the Traces are that will appear.

Keep the game open all the time at home

When you’re out on a walk, you’ll be using cellular data to play the game, and if you’ve got limited data, you probably don’t want to be out and about for too long. Plus, you might run down your battery. At home, however, you can plug your phone in and open the game (make sure you’re on your Wi-Fi network). We’ve encountered a number of instances where new Traces or ingredients appear right inside our homes. This method doesn’t work as fast as going outside and wandering around, but it does get you a few XP.

Expert Tip: Closing and opening the game will get a few ghost steps (the game registers you as moving a few steps) and reactivate any possible Trace sitings.

Open Portkeys

Portkeys let you open a portal to another world. Once opened, you can return magical items by traveling to different AR environments. Once you’re finished, you’ll be transported back to your actual location.

Unfortunately, unlocking a Portkey Portmanteaus requires, not just a key, but also movement. You’ll have to walk 2, 5, 7, or 10 km before the key will unlock the portmanteau. I recommend, if you don’t want to travel too much, unlock 2 km Portkeys as often as possible. If you keep the game open whenever you go out, you’ll eventually move 2 km.

Go on a driving adventure

The biggest hack to playing Harry Potter: Wizards Unite is to have someone drive you around so you can look for things to fight and collect. Ideally, you should head to an area that has a lot of Inns, Greenhouses, and Fortresses all in close range, so even if you do get out of your car and walk, you won’t have to go far.

When Pokémon GO first launched, lots of people took Uber or Lyft to various locations around town. If you don’t have a non-player friend to do the driving, hire a car!

Warning: You can’t play Wizards Unite while driving. You’ll need to either pull over at a particular location or have someone else do the driving while you do the playing.

Install Harry Potter: Wizards Unite on your most-used device

Make sure you’ve got Wizards Unite on your main mobile device. This way even trips to Target or the local Starbucks give you a chance to earn some movement credit for the Porkey Portmanteaus and you may find some traces. The nearest grocery store or your favorite bar might even be tagged as an Inn, Greenhouse, or Fortress where you can camp at and gather important ingredients or XP.

Open up your wallet

Finally, you can spend some cash inside the game at Diagon Alley so you don’t have to walk to Inns or Greenhouses. It’s also the place to buy Keys, Dark Detectors, Slugs & Jiggers, and more.

Buy Dark Detectors so you can lure Traces to Inns and not have to walk around to find them. Buy Spell Energy so you don’t have to dine at Inns to replenish. Buy Keys and other ingredients so you don’t have to walk around to find those either. By making in-app purchases, you can pretty much avoid moving around for all aspects of the game except unlocking Portkey Portmanteaus.

Anything else?

It’s still the early days for Harry Potter: Wizards Unite. If there are other ways discovered to experience the game while being lazy, we’ll add them here. Otherwise, let us know your thoughts below.

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