How to Defeat Theophilus Harlow Boss Fight on Hard Difficulty

Hello everyone. Here is a guide on how to defeat Theophilus Harlow boss fight on hard difficulty. This is an optional boss which you’ll encounter during Harlow’s Last Stand quest. It is one of the final quests in Natty’s quest line. You’ll do this quest quite late in the game, and there are several things you can do to have an easier time defeating this boss.

First, there are some talents that are recommended for this fight. Here is the list of them:

• Wiggenweld Potency I and II – This talent is a must-have on hard difficulty since most enemy attacks will remove a large chunk of your health.
• Swift – During this boss fight, you’ll be facing many enemies, so being able to quickly reposition and avoid getting surrounded is essential.
• Maxima Potion Potency – Many of the enemies you encounter during this fight will be shielded, and this talent will allow your attacks to break enemy shields, regardless of their color. On top of that, it will significantly increase your damage output, so it is a must-have for any boss fight.
• Basic Cast Mastery – This talent will reduce your spell cooldowns each time you hit an enemy with a basic cast, which makes it mandatory for almost all builds.
• Noxious – This talent will increase the damage of your Venomous Tentaculas and will cause their attacks to break enemy shields. This makes the talent extremely useful since you’ll be facing many shielded enemies during this fight.
• Transformation Mastery – With this talent, you can quickly eliminate one enemy and also use the barrel they turn into to deal massive damage to other opponents. Be mindful not to use this spell against enemies shielded with red or purple shields since that will cause the spell to fail.
• If you are okay with using Dark Arts, the talents that upgrade the Unforgivable Curses are extremely useful here.

The difficulty of this fight depends entirely on whether or not you’re willing to use the Unforgivable Curses. If you decide to use them, you should start the fight by Transforming one enemy into an explosive barrel and throwing that barrel into another enemy. After that, use Imperio on one of the opponents and Crucio on another one.

You can then use Ancient Magic to eliminate the rest of the opponents, and once Harlow appears, use Avada Kedavra to make quick work of him. This will be followed by a QTE during which you need to mash the button displayed on the screen. Once you’re done with QTE, the battle will end.

If you decide not to use the Dark Arts, the fight will be significantly more challenging. Before you start this quest, be sure to have at least four bars of Ancient Magic ready. This will immensely help you against Harlow and his Ashwinders.

When the fight starts, use the Transformation spell to turn one of the enemies into an explosive barrel. Immediately after, throw this barrel into another opponent. This will eliminate two of them.

You should then use the Swift talent to quickly reposition yourself and avoid getting surrounded. After that, use two Venomous Tentaculas and drink a Maxima Potion. This will provide some distraction and while Maxima Potion is in effect, you’ll be able to break enemy shields with ease. Just blast them with your high-damage spells like Confringo, Bombarda, Diffindo, etc, and you’ll make quick work of them.

Shortly after, a second wave of enemies will appear. Use the same tactic against this wave and you’ll have no problem defeating them.

Moments later, Harlow will show up. During the first phase of the fight, you and Natty will fight against Harlow alone. He will often shield himself with different shields, but this shouldn’t be the issue if you use another Maxima Potion. With Maxima Potion Potency talent, your attacks will break his shields, and you’ll easily be able to blast him with your spells.

Once you get Harlow to half health, another wave of Ashwinders will appear. When that happens, use the Swift talent to make some distance from Harlow and then Transform one of the Ashwinders into an explosive barrel. Throw this barrel at another opponent, and then use Ancient Magic to quickly eliminate the remaining Ashwinders.

Once you’ve defeated all of the Ashwinders, drink another Maxima Potion and use your high-damage spells on Harlow. When you deplete all of his health, a QTE will start during which you’ll need to mash the button displayed on the screen. Once you do that, the fight will be over and a cutscene will start.

There are a few things you’ll need to keep in mind during this fight:

• Ashwinder Assassins can summon Inferi, so it is highly recommended to eliminate them first. Either throw an explosive barrel into them or quickly focus them down while your Maxima Potion is in effect.
• On hard difficulty, Harlow can easily one-shot you if you aren’t careful. He can summon a firestorm which is indicated by the ground below your character turning orange. When this happens, quickly roll away, or you’ll risk getting one-shot by this ability.

• Harlow can also use a levitation spell against you which is indicated by a glowing red circle appearing around your character’s head. If you get hit, it will deplete almost all of your health, and while you’re in the air, you will likely get hit by another one of his attacks, which will result in game over. Because of that, be sure to keep an eye on Harlow, and quickly dodge whenever you see a red circle around your head.

Hopefully, this guide will help you defeat Theophilus Harlow on hard difficulty. Thank you for reading and see you soon with more guides for Hogwarts Legacy.