TES IV Oblivion - Efficient Leveling Simplified

So this is a quick video to explain and demonstrate how 'efficient leveling' works in Oblivion. There are really two main ways to do it. You can either do +5+5+1 or +5+5+5. I prefer the former because I like to get my Luck up at the same time as other attributes. Plus Agility, Speed, and Personality are pretty pointless, so the wasted potential isn't much of a loss.

The video will show most of what you need to know, but a few extra things need to be explained further. You level up in Oblivion by increasing *major* skills only. Minor skills do nothing for leveling up, but they do lots for increasing attributes.

Basically, let's say (like my video example) you want to increase Strength and Intelligence by 5 points and Luck by one point in a single level-up.

Let me first state that all skills are governed by attributes. This means that a certain selection of skills will effect certain attributes and how they increase whenever you level up.

You will need to train or boost up ANY skill that is governed by the Strength attribute such as Blunt, Blade, or Hand to Hand.

You will also need to train or boost up ANY skill that is governed by the Intelligence attribute such as Conjuration, Mysticism, or Alchemy.

Whichever skill you choose will need to be trained up by 10 levels. So if you want a +5 to Strength, you will need to train Hand to Hand 10 times DURING the current level up, but BEFORE you get the message to rest and meditate on what you've learned.

So the first step is to choose the first attribute. Level up a minor or major skill that you want to raise. If it's a major skill, only do it 9 times, not 10. This will cause you to level up before you can boost up to the +5s. If you are already close to leveling up, just train a couple times or however many times you need to be one skill increase away from the next level.

Now, if you need to increase a skill that is under a certain attribute, simply train a minor skill which is governed by the same attribute. For example, if you got 6 skill increases by Conjuration as a major skill and accidentally got 3 from another major skill, go and increase Mysticism by 3 and then the final 1 from Conjuration to level up. This totals up to 10 increases in any one skill that is governed by Intelligence. Starting to make sense?

Next is Strength. Using 100% Chameleon, enemies won't give a care in the world about you. Trolls regenerate health instantly on the hardest end of the slider, so they're perfect for training Strength skills and Marksman. The hits you do don't add up until you stop attacking, so be wary of this.

So, in the end, by increasing an Intelligence skill 10 times, and a Strength skill 10 times, with one of the 10 for Intelligence being the final one from Conjuration (as in the video), when I level up I can have a +5 to anything I want or need.

By the same token, if I wanted... say a +5 to something else instead of +1 to Luck, I would just train Speechcraft 10 times to get a +5 to Personality. See what I mean?

Hope this video and tutorial helps. If you want to see ANYTHING else done in Oblivion, just request it in the comments.

Thanks.

Game: The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion
Developer: Bethesda Game Studios
Music: Bethesda Game Studios
Voiceover: Me

[Max-pjok]

I don’t think you will see this but out of all the videos I’ve watched which were even 30 minutes long yours was the only one that explained this well tysm

[LDisillusion]

Agility and speed are not pointless. Agility keeps you from being staggered as often during combat. That's pretty good. Speed effects fast travel times and how fast you move which is key in dodging attacks. They are not the best attributes but pointless, I don't think so. Now personality is pointless. lol

[liwendiamond]

If there's one thing Skyrim did that improve the Elder Scroll Experience, it was to do away with this silly and fiddly level up system. Of course the "Perfect Character" wasn't required to beat the game, but many gamers are min maxers by default, that is, they will always seek to gain the maximum amount of stats as efficiently as possible even if they'd rather play the game normally.

I was always picking Major Skills that wouldn't evolve naturally on their own to avoid gaining a level before I was ready for that 5-5-5 or 5-5-1. Kept a notepad by my side to keep track of it all and of course maximized Endurance as early as humanely possible to gain the most bonus health. Figuring out the puzzle was initially fun, but afterwards it was a simple chore. Skyrim was much more forgiving and allowed you to just play the game as one should and not worry about inefficient stat increase. So liberating. That alone was enough to convince me never to touch Oblivion or Morrowind again. Because gaining a level without 5-5-5 felt wrong and fucked my childhood.

[SseriousGgamer]

I've spent 40 days on this game literally trying to perfect my character design . I've made more than a hundred characters over and over again because I wasn't satisfied with my custom class. I always wanted to play on very hard and master every step of the leveling system. Trying to get 3-5's every level . Constantly starting over and over and over again. I Fucking hate this endless cycle of nonsense. I wish I was a noob, I wish I sucked at oblivion and never worried about this . I remember the good old days when I started oblivion . The days that I didn't even worry about making a custom class or perfecting my character . Until the day that picking a Breton and a high elf became a nightmare. Choosing the 7 major skills correctly . Using a blunt weapon most of the game even after you chose blade as your major but I didn't want to level up, starting a new game at level 12 because you realized that choosing block blade and heavy armor is keeping you from getting +5 in endurance. Starting over again because I stupidly chose mercantile as my major so I can control my leveling, but only made me angry because restoration was a better option . STARTING AGAIN BECAUSE MY CHARACTER IS TOO SLOW WITH SPEED AT 35, AND HEAVY ARMOR IS MAKING ME RUN LIKE IM HANDICAPPED. Starting over because I chose high elf and I'm getting raped in oblivion realms by literally everything. FUCK YOU OBLIVION . This horrific nightmare still haunts me today . I was playing oblivion today and I just gave up . There's no such thing as a perfect character, it's make belief . We all want it but never got it. Screw you Bethesda . You did this on purpose . My life is never going to be meaningful unless I make the perfect character .

[cavegoat]

Say goodbye to immersion if you want to play your game like this. I started playing Oblivion in the default manner. Choose a bunch of skills that I want to use a lot as major, and just have at the game. Later, I started choosing skills and leveling up in a manner that game me significant boosts in the beginning of the game and so on. Always worrying about having my strength trained significantly so I could start carrying more early on in the game. Worrying about endurance early on to have maximum health bonuses per level. The game becomes extremely easy, and I get bored because I'm not "putting myself into the world". It's only my own opinion of course, but I just stick with getting lost in the experience. It's so much more fun for me this way.

[Anvilshock]

Wow, are you ever so much exciting to listen to, and the breath noises really make this video a true gem of the history of motion picture!

[gilpita]

i didn't have no idea that Oblivion got such a complex leveling up system, thanks for the video and description

[paulkielty]

For anyone just getting into Oblivion (IE due to backwards comparability) this isn't necessary to play and enjoy the game.

It's something you do after you have had your fun with your first few runthroughs.

A simply made character is perfectly capable of competing the game, efficient leveling is for meta or hard playthroughs.

[MrOvalek]

You don't need to increase single skill by 10 points to achieve +5 to governing attribute, you need 10 points in any combination of skills governed by that attribute(for example: Endurance governs Block, Heavy Armor and Armorer, so you can raise your Armorer by 3, Heavy Armor by 3 and Block by 4 for a total of 10 points and you can raise your Endurance by a +5 when you level-up). Also if you want to increase your Luck(doing 5/5/1), do it right from Level 1 and consider choosing Thief birthsign and/or Custom Class with Luck as a favored attribute, so you can start with 65 Luck(Later in the game - when your Attributes and skills are maxed, Luck has NO EFFECT whatsoever)

[Chugins]

I'm so fed up with this leveling nonsense... I'm about to create my third character in 2 days because I keep learning through trial by error that my custom classes are not made properly for this efficient leveling.

I'm torn, because I don't want a gimped character, but I also don't want to spend all my time making sure that I get all 5's in the attributes that I want. If I could get 3 or 4 every time I'd be okay, but even that seems hard. I put all my most used skills as major skills because I didnt know about this "efficient leveling", now I level up super quick and at level up I'm getting 2's (3 max) across the board for my attribute increase options. So frustrating.

[masterk]

Ill do the 5’s method so i can be done with leveling attributes by like lvl 40, that way i could raise whatever skills anytime i want

[unoiamacutie]

I'm doing the 5/5/5 method with Intelligence, Willpower, and Endurance so I can have a high amount of Magic, Health, and Fatigue by level 10-12.

Then I'm going to do the 5/5/5 method again on Strength, Speed, and Agility which will only leave me with Personality and Luck to deal with. Or I may switch it up.

[TotoyDestiny]

Sorry for changing the topic but please help me about strong points of the summon creatures. This is only i known so far:
Lich and Xivilai is best on magic war
Storm Atronach best on daedra creatures
Fire Atronach best on undead creatures
Gloom Wraith best on close range battle

[deadstar]

only atribute u need to lvl efficiently is endurance sins it affects ur hp per lvl

[sebastiangniadek]

Can someone explain to me why I cant lvl like in the video?
My problem is that when i try to lvl up and get something like +4 enurance, I reload and grind a couple more points in the required skills to be +5. But instead of getting +5, I still have +4. When I finally get over it and select the +4 option i notice that I can lvl up again with my endurance being +3 or something. Am I doing something wrong? Why isn't it adding up to each other?
I would really apriciate the help. Its litterly pissing me off

[moisesalonzo]

I went to the same location as you in the mountains there is no castle or barn there, just a small camp site for 1 person at the top and a small metal rod sticking out of the ground there, I searched the whole area and found nothing just the bridge and oblivion gate nearby, you probably have a bonus pack in your game or mine is just missing building

[eizhowa]

I don't understand this at all. I have 2 + 0 + 2 + 4 + 4 + 2 + 2 + 0 and it has been like that for ages. Is 16 the limit? It never changes no matter how much I train!

[tyrander]

5-5-1 is not efficient leveling because Luck has no practical value for a normal player. It aids you a little bit with arena betting, That is all. The fractional skill point increase you get from each Luck point is not noticeable, but the points you can put into other attributes are noticeable.

[jhatchoou]

should i have to turn my volume all the way up to hear or is it just everyone else that does things correctly?

[HashBandicoot]

Morrowind Luck is the GOAT stat, Luck in Oblivion is garbage.