Tip #1: THE spell to use : The best spell to use when dueling – to score those really high points – is the Body-Binding Spell. (But to earn the 'Charming Dueller' badge you'll also need to learn to preform the Levitation Spell, Tickling Spell, Disarming Spell and the Freezing Spell.) So forget about the others and concentrate on perfecting these five charms.
You need the spell book 'Curses and Counter-Curses' in order to cast them. Find it here: Christmas at Hogwarts.
Tip #2: Cast the Spell : You can either use your cursor or keys. Try both in order to find your prefrerred method.
Click the first letter to start and again when the white circle around the letter is at it's biggest. The spell then moves on to the next letter where you do the same - click once and twice when the circle is at it's biggest before moving on to the next.
Do not follow the line with the cursor as it moves from letter to letter - go straight to the next letter and wait for the line to reach it. As the line meets the letter you click it.
Try and hit it when the line is at the centre of the letter.
Some find it easier to do it in a rhythm - some use the rhythm in a piece of music. Feel your way around for what works for you.
Tip #3: Practice makes perfect : Well, not necessarily but it's the place to start.
Duel against people from your own house in order to practice before moving on. You can do that through the "Wizard's Duel"-site or challenge your in house friends.
Only practice the spells previously mentioned...
When you are able to score 140 points or higher regularly, you are ready to move on to compete against people from other houses for real points.
Tip #4: Find the right opponents : A good way to start when dueling for actual house points, is to duel those with fewer points than you.
An easy way to find these are through the 'Recent activity'-site in your common room or in the Great Hall.
Find it where you can write comments.
- Check the list for activities with '(username) has beaten (username)' or '(username) has drawn with (username)'. That way you can find the people who are most likely to accept your challenge.
- Hold your cursor over the username and a small info-box appears. Here you can see if the person is still online, what house the person is in, and how many house points they've got.
If the points are at a number you feel confident you can beat, and the person is online from another house, click on the username or – as I do – right-click and choose 'open in a new tab' to get to their profile.
- On the persons profile you can check both the 'Current house points' and 'Total house points'. A person may only have a few current house points, but several thousand total house points, then this is not someone you want to start out dueling against.
(Current house point is only the number of points gain in the running House Cup competition).
- You can also check how many Potions they have brewed to get at feeling if the points originates from brewing or dueling. If you still feel confident you want to duel them, click on the 'Wizard's Duel' button on the sign named 'Spells'.
- After sending the challenge you can go back to the activity list and find a new opponent.
(When you right-click you can return to the list you came from. That way you don't miss a good opponent that you otherwise would have missed by leaving the list to challenge a user.)
Tip #5: Way out of bad spells : When you perform a particularly bad spell there is a way to redo it - a sort of 'panic-button'. You simply refresh the page - but you need to be quick!
DO NOT use your keys when refreshing the site. Find the refresh symbol/button in your browser's menu bar and click on that.
It will most likely look like one of these:
If you use your keys to cast spells, you can place your cursor over the refresh button as the spell is being prepared on the screen (after you click 'Cast spell now'). This way you can quickly click on it, if necessary.
Tip #6: Rematch when you can : Each time you've done a duel, check the previous duels you've done on your 'Wizard's Duel'-site. Here you can see how the duels went and rematch those you've already duel against - choose the ones that you've beaten/drawn with, or know you can do better against.
Some will keep accepting your duels and when you've found a number of people who will, you can simply keep playing these without having to find new opponents.
If the float of duels die down, simply go back to the activity list and find new users to challenge.
As you get better you can, of course, also try your luck by clicking one of the crests of the other houses on the 'Wizard's Duel'-site.
Tip #7: When you are challenge : If you were to get challenge by someone you don't know, always check them out on their profile before accepting or declining.
You can always decline a challenge, just like you might experience that your challenges are decline by others.
Good luck dueling!
(I feel like I should say; "And may the odds be ever in your favour", but that's another book series. =D)
