Best skills to level in Oblivion Remastered

Oblivion Remastered offers no shortage of skills for you to pursue, but which are the best to train? While some require arduous work and time commitment, you might level others up without realizing it. That said, a skill is only as good as it is helpful to you, right?

Like most Bethesda RPGs, The Elder Scrolls IV practically drowns players in skill options. There are multiple types of weapons and magic schools to specialize in, and that's before getting into the more esoteric options like Acrobatics or Mercantile. It may be hard to decipher which skills are helpful to you at a glance.

Thankfully, there's some method to the madness, and some skills stand as better choices than others, depending on your chosen playstyle. Of course, making sense of these skills and their usefulness is half the battle. The other half is using them effectively.

Major and Minor skills

When you create a character in Oblivion Remastered, you choose seven Major skills, and the unchosen become Minor skills. In addition to starting 20 points higher and training faster, Major skills also contribute to progress toward character level-ups. That is to say, the only way to truly level up in Oblivion Remastered is by progressing the Major skills chosen by your character.

There's no functional difference between a Major or Minor skill, other than the level it starts at. In that sense, even if a desired skill is a Minor skill, it's still worth pursuing. It may take more time to level it.

Best skills to level for melee characters

• Blade
• Blunt
• Block
• Armorer
• Heavy Armor

Optional or build-specific picks:

• Light Armor
• Hand-to-Hand
• Alteration
• Restoration
• Athletics

It makes sense for a melee-focused character to specialize in all forms of melee weapons. Blunt will offer a temporary shield with training, and regular attacks can silence. Training with Blade applies a weapon weakness with power attacks, and further training adds a bleed effect chance with regular attacks. Naturally, Blocking improves Fatigue and durability loss for shields and weapons used to block, and Expert training opens up a shield bash.

The choice of armor is up to players, but most melee characters will want heavy armor protection. Either boosts the durability of the armor and decreases weight as the skill increases. Going hand-in-hand with the equipment skills is the ever-important Armorer skill, which increases the effectiveness of Repair Hammers and allows the repair of magic items.

Optionally, you could specialize in Hand-to-Hand. It disarms combatants with power attacks, deals Fatigue damage, and can even hurt creatures normally immune to physical attacks (like ghosts). Restoration and Athletics might also make sense for healing and sprinting capabilities. There's also the case for Alteration, as the magic can reduce encumbrance and shield players.

Best skills to level for spellcasters

• Destruction
• Restoration
• Conjuration
• Mysticism
• Alchemy

Optional or build-specific picks:

• Light Armor
• Alteration
• Illusion
• Blunt
• Sneak

If you want to pursue the life of a mage in Oblivion Remastered, there are plenty of options. Several spellcasting schools have their place in Cyrodil, but some make a bit more sense for day-to-day use. Destruction and Restoration are no-brainers, as skill progression will eventually allow players to cast all spells in those schools. The same is true for other types of magic, but healy and hurty spells seem like a priority. 

Beyond the basics, Conjuration will allow players to start summoning increasingly powerful entities to fight alongside, and Mysticism is kind of a utility grab bag. Still, it will enable players to trap enemy souls and make the most out of the Soul Gems they come across to recharge magic items.

It might make sense to have a backup plan when an exclusively-magic approach isn't called for. In that sense, Blunt works great for mages, as the weapons can grant shielding and silence enemies. Players can couple that with Alteration magic to shield themselves when they need to be in the fray or for the odd occasion when water breathing is necessary. Illusion magic and Sneak can also have their place, the latter allowing charms, commands, paralysis, and several other effects. Sneak, of course, can help spellcasters get into just the right position before they unleash hell.

Best skills to level for rogues

• Light armor
• Sneak
• Acrobatics
• Marksman
• Blade or Hand-to-Hand

Optional or build-specific picks:

• Speechcraft
• Mysticism
• Athletics
• Alchemy
• Mercantile

Those looking for a less direct approach to the game may opt for skills like Marksman or Sneak. Marksman improves your ability with bows, adding a focus feature and the chance to paralyze targets. Sneak makes it tougher for enemies to detect you as the skill increases and increases the damage from attacks while you're undetected. Acrobatics improves your jumping, including adding the option to jump off the water's surface. Even better, it adds a dodge option at Apprentice training and can be easily leveled by simply jumping as you make your way across the realm.

As you'll likely be sneaking about and want to make as little noise as possible, putting some effort into increasing the Light Armor skill makes sense. Later ranks reduce armor weight and eventually add an armor protection buff. Taking a melee option is important to round things out. Any will work, but Blades and Hand-to-Hand make the most sense. Blades can weaken and bleed foes, and, using daggers, add synergy with Sneak to add extra damage from sneak attacks. Hand-to-Hand is just generally impressive, dealing fatigue damage and having the possibility of disarming attackers.

Optionally, Speechcraft and Mercantile will allow players to flex their charisma to get better prices from merchants and see better effects from the persuasion wheel. Athletics compliments the idea of staying away from danger, improving sprint functionality. Alchemy can be a lot of fun, as it allows players to craft deadlier poisons, better recognize ingredient effects, and handle more simultaneous potion effects. Mysticism can also prove itself useful. The spells enable players to reflect damage, sense life, and bind souls, to name a few options.

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