Daedalian keys locations in Hogwarts Legacy: full guide

Daedalian keys locations in Hogwarts Legacy: a complete walkthrough

The Daedalian Keys side quest in Hogwarts Legacy sends players on a guided chase through Hogwarts Castle to recover sixteen flying keys. Each key leads to a House Cabinet, and every cabinet yields a House Token. Sixteen tokens together open the chest tied to the player’s house, which is the actual payoff of the entire quest. The trick is that every key spawns, flies a short scripted route, and waits at a specific cabinet, so missing a step usually means backtracking rather than failing the quest. The IGN guide on the Daedalian Keys quest and key locations walks through the full route and notes that the same quest applies across the PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox Series X/S, and Switch versions of the game.

This guide collects the route logic and the order in which the keys reveal themselves, explains how to start the quest without wasting fast-travel charges, and calls out the spots where players most often lose the key mid-flight. It also covers the small quality-of-life decisions that determine whether the player finishes the quest in a single play session or has to come back later.

How to start the Daedalian Keys quest

The quest begins with an NPC conversation rather than a discovered item. The fastest route is to fast travel to the Transfiguration Classroom Floo Flame in the Astronomy Wing, then look for Nellie Oggspire nearby. Talking to her starts the side quest, and her dialogue explains the core loop: a key appears, flies to a cabinet, and the player has to catch it in the slot. The quest also tells the player to head to the Astronomy Tower to find the first key.

From the Floo Flame, climb the Astronomy Tower. At the top, a key spawns and immediately begins flying back down. The IGN walkthrough notes that the first key can be picked up near a classroom that sits in front of a locked cabinet on the way down. The interaction is short: position the avatar so the key passes through the center of the slot and use the prompted action to lock it in.

Opening the first cabinet rewards a House Token and triggers a follow-up conversation with Nellie, who explains that tokens unlock the player’s house chest. To open the chest fully, the player must collect all sixteen. There is no partial reward, so the practical implication is that the side quest is best treated as one continuous route rather than a few keys grabbed between main missions.

How the quest loop works in practice

Every Daedalian Key follows the same three-step pattern:

The key spawns in a specific sub-zone of a castle wing, usually near a Floo Flame, landmark, or named classroom.
The key takes off and flies a short scripted path that ends at a House Cabinet.
The player opens the cabinet, receives a House Token, and immediately sees the next key spawn in a related location.

The pattern is friendly to players who prefer exploration, because each new key almost always appears near the area the player just left. Players who treat the side quest as a structured route tend to finish it in roughly thirty to forty minutes once they have unlocked enough Floo Flames, while players who grab keys opportunistically usually need two or three play sessions to clean up the remaining cabinets.

One mechanic worth noting is that the keys only appear after the previous cabinet has been opened. A player who runs past a flying key without catching it will not see the next one until the current chain is resolved, which is why backtracking is the most common cause of the quest feeling “stuck.”

Daedalian keys locations in order

The following list follows the natural progression of the quest, starting at the Astronomy Wing and finishing in the deeper castle wings. Each entry describes the Floo Flame used to reach the key, the rough spawn point, and the cabinet the key leads to. Cabinet names follow the landmarks used in the IGN walkthrough, and the order matches the order in which the quest unlocks the next key.

Astronomy Wing, near the Defence Against the Dark Arts Tower Floo Flame. Look for a large rhino skeleton on the lower floor. The key flutters around the skeleton and takes off up the stairs. Follow it to the House Cabinet at the end of the hall.
Library Annex, near the Potions Classroom Floo Flame. Walk through the double doors flanked by knight armors and look near the stacked cauldrons. The key flies down the winding stairs next to the classroom. The cabinet sits at the bottom of the stairs.
Library Annex, near the Central Hall Floo Flame. From the Floo Flame, head down the stairs to the large fountain, then right toward the ornate green double doors. The key is in front of a set of paintings. It flies back up the stairs, across the Great Hall, and to the cabinet near the Arithmancy Puzzle Door.
Central Hall Floo Flame. This time go up the stairs, not down, and turn left toward the Viaduct Entrance. The key is hidden behind the next staircase. It leads back down the same stairwell and ends at a cabinet on a mid-level landing.
Library in the Library Annex. The key is hidden between the large bookcases on the right side of the room. Follow it back to the Floo Flame and turn right to the House Cabinet on the west wall.
Great Hall. Enter, turn around, exit through the double doors, and go through the next two door sets. The key is near a stairway in front of several paintings on the second floor. It leads to a cabinet by the Entrance Hall doors.
Great Hall, again. Walk toward the large fireplace on the left. The key whizzes in front of it, then flies to the west side of the hall, circles the right-most column, and takes off down the right passageway. The cabinet is in the second-floor hallway above.
Great Hall, third visit. Exit through the right-hand double doors, descend the courtyard stairs, and go right through the archway. The key is in the circular Quad Courtyard, near a Field Guide Page statue. It leads to a cabinet under the covered arches.
Grand Staircase Tower. After fast traveling, turn right and descend the assembling spiral staircase. The key is on a landing partway down. It leads to the cabinet next to the Arithmancy Puzzle Door on the path to the Reception Hall.
Faculty Tower in the South Wing. Walk straight ahead through the door near where Gladwin Moon usually stands, then up the stairs. The key is on the second floor. It leads to a cabinet on the right side of the stairs just descended.
Faculty Tower, second key. Use the same door near Gladwin and climb all the way to the second statue along the path. The House Cabinet is here, and the key is down the long corridor with the clockwork and moving keys. It flies back to the same cabinet.
Clock Tower Courtyard Floo Flame in the South Wing. Unlock the door on the left, climb to the top, and find the key on the left side of the second floor. It leads to the House Cabinet in the same wing.
Bell Tower Courtyard in the Bell Tower Wing. Walk up the left-side stairs and through a single door. The key is straight ahead. It leads to a cabinet up the next staircase.
The Map Chamber in the Secret Rooms. Fast travel into the chamber; the key appears in the same space and leads to a cabinet inside the chamber complex.
Remaining keys, located deeper in the South Wing and Reception Hall. These follow the same spawn-fly-cabinet pattern and can be collected by working outward from the previous cabinets.
Final key. After the fifteenth cabinet is opened, the sixteenth and final key spawns in the same wing as the player’s house chest, completing the token set.

Because each key is anchored to a named landmark rather than a coordinate, players who have unlocked the relevant Floo Flames can complete the chain in a single loop without backtracking across the entire castle. Players who have not unlocked all the Floo Flames will need to walk sections of the route, which is the single largest factor in how long the quest takes.

Recommended route through the quest

The most efficient order mirrors the order in which the keys unlock, because each new key appears near the previous cabinet. The route below is a planning template, not a fixed path, and assumes the player can fast travel to every Floo Flame listed.

Step	Floo Flame / Landmark	Key spawn hint	Cabinet location
1	Astronomy Wing, Defence Against the Dark Arts Tower	Rhino skeleton on lower floor	End of the upstairs hall
2	Library Annex, Potions Classroom	Stacked cauldrons by the knight armors	Bottom of the winding stairs
3	Library Annex, Central Hall	In front of paintings near the green double doors	Near the Arithmancy Puzzle Door
4	Central Hall	Behind the staircase toward the Viaduct Entrance	Mid-level landing on the return stairs
5	Library, Library Annex	Between the bookcases on the right	West wall near the Floo Flame
6	Great Hall (north exit)	Second-floor paintings after two door sets	Entrance Hall side door
7	Great Hall (fireplace)	In front of the large left fireplace	Second-floor hallway above the right column
8	Great Hall (right exit)	Quad Courtyard near a Field Guide Page statue	Covered arches on the west side
9	Grand Staircase Tower	Mid-landing on the assembling spiral staircase	Arithmancy Puzzle Door, Reception Hall path
10	Faculty Tower, South Wing	Second floor, past Gladwin Moon’s door	Right side of the descent stairs
11	Faculty Tower, South Wing (upper)	Long corridor with clockwork and moving keys	Same cabinet area as the previous key
12	Clock Tower Courtyard, South Wing	Second floor, after unlocking the left door	Same wing, upper level
13	Bell Tower Courtyard, Bell Tower Wing	Straight ahead past the left stairs	Up the next staircase
14	Map Chamber, Secret Rooms	Inside the chamber itself	Cabinet inside the chamber complex
15	South Wing, lower corridors	Near the previous cabinet	Same wing
16	House chest wing	Final key in the player’s house area	House chest cabinet

The pattern is consistent enough that players who learn the spawn landmarks can predict the next key before opening the current cabinet. This is also why a fast-travel route that follows the Floo Flames in the order above is significantly faster than a freeform exploration approach. For broader context on History of the Internet, the History of the Internet provides a concise reference for this section.

How the House Tokens and chest reward fit together

The chest reward is what turns the side quest from a collectible hunt into a meaningful progression step. Each House Token is a key-shaped item that the player physically deposits into the house chest, and the chest only opens once all sixteen are present. The contents of the chest vary by house and provide cosmetic gear tied to that house’s identity, which is why the reward is consistent across versions of the game despite differences in difficulty or platform.

Players who want to plan around the reward should consider three practical points:

The chest cannot be opened partially, so collecting ten tokens and ignoring the rest does not unlock any tier of reward.
Tokens are account-wide within a single playthrough, so there is no need to revisit the same cabinet on a different character if the player has already collected the token on another save.
The cosmetic gear from the chest is a set piece, not a stat upgrade, so it does not change combat balance and is safe to pursue at any point in the main story.

For players who care about the house identity, the reward is the most direct way to round out a house-themed playthrough. For players who only want the side quest finished, the practical advice is to treat the tokens as a checklist and to avoid leaving any cabinet unopened until the end, because the quest will not progress to the final key otherwise.

Common problems and how to fix them

Even with a clear route, a few failure modes show up repeatedly. The list below is ordered from most to least common, with the diagnostic signal that points to each cause.

Symptom	Likely cause	Fix
No key appears after opening a cabinet	The player ran past the key mid-flight and broke the chain	Reload the previous cabinet area, walk slowly, and let the key re-spawn on its scripted path
Key flies away and disappears	The player went too far from the key’s route, or fast traveled mid-flight	Stay within the same room until the key reaches the cabinet, and avoid sprinting past the trigger zone
Cabinet will not open after catching the key	The player caught the key but did not trigger the interaction prompt	Approach the cabinet directly, wait for the prompt, and use the same action that caught the key
Quest appears stuck at a specific key number	The previous cabinet was opened in the wrong wing, and the next key spawned there instead	Use the in-game map to confirm the wing and Floo Flame listed above, then fast travel to the correct landmark
Token is missing from the chest	The token was not deposited, only collected	Reopen the inventory, confirm the token is held, then return to the house chest and deposit it manually

The single biggest time saver is to stop sprinting once a key is on screen. The key’s flight path is short and predictable, but it despawns quickly if the player is too far away when it reaches the cabinet. A walking pace keeps the trigger zone active and avoids the reload loop that most players hit at least once.

Tips for finishing the quest in a single session

The Daedalian Keys quest is one of the few Hogwarts Legacy side activities that rewards preparation more than exploration. The tips below come from the route logic described above rather than from any specific community strategy.

Unlock Floo Flames in the order the quest visits them, starting with the Astronomy Wing and Library Annex, because every later key depends on a Floo Flame that is close to the previous cabinet.
Save the game immediately after opening each cabinet. A single misclick on a flying key can break the chain, and a quick reload returns the player to the last good state.
Approach each key from the side rather than head-on, because the catch prompt is easier to trigger when the key is already moving toward the cabinet.
Keep the in-game map open during the Great Hall segments, because three of the sixteen keys are anchored to different exits of the same room and the route is easy to confuse.
Do not fast travel while a key is in the air. The key despawns on fast travel, and the chain only re-anchors at the next Floo Flame after a reload.

Players who follow this pattern usually finish the quest in under an hour of active play, even on a first playthrough, because the route collapses into a single loop rather than a series of separate trips.

Why this side quest is worth prioritizing

From a design perspective, the Daedalian Keys quest is a useful example of how Hogwarts Legacy uses a short, repeatable interaction to teach players how to read a quest chain. The loop is simple: spawn, fly, catch, deposit, repeat. Each cycle adds a small reward, and the only failure mode is the player leaving the trigger zone. The quest also ties into the broader progression system through the house chest, which is the kind of low-stakes but high-completion reward that encourages exploration without blocking the main story.

For players who want to round out a house-themed playthrough, the chest reward is the most direct way to lock in a cosmetic identity. For players who are focused on the main story, the quest can be parked indefinitely and picked up later, because the keys are static spawns that do not scale with story progress. For completionists, the sixteen keys are a checklist that does not depend on timed events or weather, which makes it one of the more reliable side activities to finish alongside the Field Guide Pages.

Verifying completion and depositing the final token

Once all sixteen cabinets are open, return to the house chest and deposit the last token. The chest only opens when the token count is sixteen, so the visual cue is the chest lid lifting rather than a notification. The reward gear appears in the chest inventory, and the side quest updates to a completed state. At that point, the Daedalian Keys quest is finished, and the player can move on to other castle activities without worrying about the chain breaking.

Players who want a final check can use the in-game quest menu to confirm the side quest status. If the quest is still active, the most likely cause is a missed token, which is solved by revisiting the wing associated with the missing key number and rechecking the cabinet listed in the route above.

Frequently asked questions

How many Daedalian keys are there in Hogwarts Legacy?

There are sixteen Daedalian keys in total. The first key appears at the Astronomy Tower after talking to Nellie Oggspire, and the remaining fifteen unlock in a fixed order as each cabinet is opened. All sixteen are required to open the house chest.

Where do I start the Daedalian Keys quest?

Fast travel to the Transfiguration Classroom Floo Flame in the Astronomy Wing and find Nellie Oggspire nearby. Her conversation starts the quest and explains the basic loop, after which the first key spawns at the top of the Astronomy Tower.

Do the Daedalian Keys respawn if I miss one?

The keys themselves do not respawn on a timer, but the chain can be re-anchored by reloading the previous cabinet area. A slow walk toward the key usually triggers the spawn again, and the next key will not appear until the current cabinet is opened.

Can I complete the Daedalian Keys quest on any platform?

Yes. The quest applies to every version of Hogwarts Legacy, including the original PC release, the PS4 and PS5 versions, the Xbox Series X/S versions, and the Switch version. The route and the reward are the same across platforms.

What is the reward for collecting all sixteen Daedalian keys?

Each cabinet yields a House Token, and all sixteen tokens together open the chest tied to the player’s house. The chest contains a cosmetic gear set associated with that house, which is the only reward for completing the quest.

Why does the next key not appear after I open a cabinet?

The most common cause is that the previous key flew out of range before reaching the cabinet, which breaks the chain. Reload the previous area, walk slowly, and let the key re-spawn on its scripted path. The next key will appear once the current cabinet is opened.

Do I need to fast travel between every key?

Fast travel is not required, but it is the most efficient way to chain the keys because each new key is anchored to a specific Floo Flame. Players who have not unlocked every Floo Flame will need to walk some sections, which is the main reason the quest takes longer on a first playthrough.

Can I open the house chest with partial tokens?

No. The chest only opens once all sixteen tokens have been deposited. Partial deposits do not unlock any tier of reward, so the practical implication is to finish the chain before expecting any chest contents.