Elder Scrolls 4 Oblivion Remastered skills system explained

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How do Skills work?
How to increase skills
Major Skills and Minor Skills
Skill abilities and talents

Oblivion Remastered skills and the system built around them have been slightly changed since the original, though some things remain the same. As you use abilities across your time in The Elder Scrolls 4: Oblivion Remastered tied to certain skills, they'll improve accordingly to superb results.

That being said, this system isn't the most intuitive thing, so we figured it was worth an explanation for both those who are new to Cyrodiil and those who want to know what elements have changed since last time. Here's how skills work in Elder Scrolls 4 Oblivion Remastered, and what you need to do to improve them.

How do Skills in Oblivion Remastered work?

Skills in Oblivion Remastered improve as you use the abilities tied to those skills. For example, your Security skill improves as you keep trying the Oblivion Remastered lockpicking minigame, and your Blade skill improves as you fight people with swords. Effectively this is the idea of practice makes perfect – the more you do something in Elder Scrolls 4, the better you'll become at it.

As skills improve, you'll unlock new abilities at certain levels, as well as generally improving the talent as a rule. For example, going unarmed in Oblivion Remastered scales your damage to your Hand-to-Hand stat, but you can also get individual perks and new ways to punch people at specific milestones. You can check how far you are in the Skills tab of the Character menu.

How to increase skills

Skills in Oblivion Remastered can be increased in numerous ways, though the one I outlined just above is by far the most common. Still, there are other options, some permanent, some temporary.

Find a trainer (Permanent). Certain NPCs will improve a specific skill if paid to do so.
Skill books (Permanent). Certain books improve specific skills when read, and serve as special treasures hidden around the world.
Race (Permanent). The species you choose to play as can grant permanent skill buffs. The best race in Oblivion Remastered for Acrobatics, for example, is the Khajiit.
Equipment (Temporary). Certain weapons and armor will improve skills when worn.
Vampirism (Permanent). Being a vampire improves certain skills, like Hand-to-Hand and Sneak. The effect is permanent, unless you go about the rigmarole of learning how to cure Vampirism in Oblivion Remastered.

Major Skills and Minor Skills

When picking out the best class in Oblivion Remastered, you'll get both major skills and minor skills. Major Skills are those 7 specific skills tied to the class that make sense for it to know (such as a Thief knowing the Sneak skill, among others). Minor skills are all the others that aren't tied to the class you pick.

Major skills get a +20 bonus off the bat when you pick the class, and level up faster through use. Minor skills level up more slowly, but can still be levelled through use all the same, it's just a matter of speed.

Skill abilities and talents

All skills have five unlockable talents/abilities that are earned at the same milestones, which you can see in advance from the skill tab, as well as how close you are to reaching them. Those milestones are: