Those of you who might’ve started on Skyrim as your first Elder Scrolls game are in for a treat in Oblivion Remastered because the leveling system is more organic. At the same time, leveling in Oblivion Remastered or Oblivion, in general, can be confusing or slower because a lot depends on your moment-to-moment activities. So here’s how to get the most out of it.
Leveling Up Through Major Skills
The leveling process in Oblivion Remastered highlights the importance of your chosen class. Each class determines your Major Skills, and leveling up your Major Skills contributes to the overall Experience bar. That means leveling your Major Skills is the fastest way to gain levels in Oblivion Remastered.
To check your Major Skills, open your character sheet and go to the Major Skills tab. Thankfully, each class allows for different combinations of armor and combat modes, but regardless, you need to stick to your class’s Major Skills.
For example, if one of your Major Skills is Heavy Armor, then you need to be wearing Heavy Armor to increase your proficiency in that skill. Each class can have only seven Major Skills.
Minor Skills Also Give Experience
That isn’t to say Minor Skills are irrelevant. Increasing your proficiency in them also gives overall Experience; however, they give much less compared to Major Skills.
Still, don’t worry too much about straying off your class specialties since most actions in Oblivion are rewarded. It’s just that your class really matters a lot when it comes to leveling up, unlike in Skyrim.
As a tip, you can create your own Custom Class, and you’ll want to pick either Athletics or Acrobatics among your Major Skills. Because you can actually level up your Athletics just by sprinting, and Acrobatics can be leveled up just by jumping. That’s a lot of overall Experience just from performing the usual in-game exploration actions.
What to Do Once the Experience Bar is Full?
Once your in-game Experience bar is full, the game will usually tell you that you need to rest up in order to level up. To do this, simply find a bed and a safe area, and sleep for one hour.
The game will then let you allot Virtues to increase your Attribute points (which are determined by Race and other factors). You’ll want to focus your Virtue points on where your Race or class is proficient.
For example, Knight or Crusader classes need Strength and Endurance, or mages need Intelligence, etc. You can also try to cover up your class or character’s weaknesses using Virtue points, if you think you’re dying too much because of a certain Attribute.
Choose Carefully, There’s No Respec
Now, you will need to plan your character and playstyle ahead. There’s no in-game respec potion or NPC in Oblivion and Oblivion Remastered. So, as fun as it is to experiment, you’re stuck with your mistakes and choices.
Technically, there are some command lines you can use to respec, but that would be cheating, and a topic for another time.
Level Scaling Also Exists in Oblivion Remastered
It’s a controversial feature, but level-scaling is still present in Oblivion Remastered. No matter how high you level up, enemies and loot will adjust to your level. It keeps things challenging forever, of course, but at the cost of apparent progress, since it can often feel like you’re not outleveling enemies or areas.
There’s also a huge drawback to level-scaling since loot also scales. Thus, getting unique loot at Level 1 means that the item is forever stuck at Level 1. Hence, finishing special quests early might not be the best approach to the game, and it might be better to stick with weapons of your level.
