Oblivion talk:Increasing Skills

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Archive 1: Jul 2006-Jan 2011

Added some methods for training Magic without the Arcane university.

Some training methods listed didnt include the best option, which is always a custom spell at minimum stats, while others only included that option and not the next best for those without spell making. So I added the best options, then put an asterisk and at the end of the table explained which methods were best for each player. Feel free to add any notes!

1. The conjuration one may not be the best option, someone should definetely check that. 2. I tried to make an asterisk at the bottom of the table to keep the consistancy and make it easier to see that I was connecting the asterisk at the bottom with the asterisks in the table, but it turned into a block instead (I knew this would happen, I just dont know how to fix it).

Again, I dont feel this needs a full undo. Considering there are many quests to get to the spell making point, there needs to be a "next best thing" option for those that cannot access a spell making altar.--Catmaniac66 16:39, 22 April 2011 (UTC)

There you go for '*'. 46.162.71.111 18:38, 22 April 2011 (UTC)

Using nowiki is the preferred method. --Brf 18:55, 22 April 2011 (UTC)

Thanks for that, and is there a better second method for Conjuration? I picked that one because you start with both if you pick conjuration.--Catmaniac66 18:58, 22 April 2011 (UTC)

That's what I usually use for Conjuration grinding. Also, for future reference, you don't need to use HTML codes to prevent asterisks from converting to bullet points, simply use "<nowiki>" tags.

• Becomes

* This

Dlarsh^(T,C) 19:07, 22 April 2011 (UTC)

I wasn't sure whether to start a new topic for this, because it's in the same general ballpark as the above discussion.. But in my opinion the tips given for Destruction training should be replaced. It's so much faster/easier to use the four Everscamps (with game difficulty set or temporarily set to maximum, to maximize the number of valid hits possible per target) than the tips provided. It doesn't require custom spells/AU altar access, although nothing stops players from using custom spells, the Everscamps respawn infinitely and it's easy to avoid substantial damage from them.67.187.170.172 16:59, 15 March 2015 (GMT)

I have an idea...

If one was to do the Grand Champions Arena Quest, and then use restore health on him, could he be used for practice/grinding?114.78.124.94 06:36, 26 April 2011 (UTC)

Theoretically, yes. But it's pretty inconvenient to have to wait until then instead of, say, heading into a dungeon and fighting the creatures there. rpeh •T•C•E• 07:14, 26 April 2011 (UTC)

Moved note

Although far more click-intensive, you can cast spells even faster than the standard "block while casting" strategy. This is done by clicking the left mouse button (default "Attack") in the middle of the spell. The timing on this is difficult to judge, but if you do not have anything equipped in the weapon slot, you can use the spellcast animation for reference. When casting a spell effect on yourself, such as "Detect Life," you will want to click just as your character begins to open his hand. Remember to hold down the right mouse button (Block) and the C key on your keyboard (to continually cast the spell). Also, be careful when doing this. Although the animation does not play, if an NPC walks in front of you, it will hit them like normal. You can see an example of this being done here.

I moved this here for discussion. This appears to just simply be casting the spell as soon as possible, getting better timing. Im just putting it here for discussion (the youtube video definetely has to go though).--Catmaniac66 04:40, 19 May 2011 (UTC)

Dang, you beat me to the revert! Such a lengthy explanation for what is basically "casting a spell quickly" seems... pointless at the very least. Plus, like you said, no youtube.--Kalis Agea 04:43, 19 May 2011 (UTC)

I was unaware of the "no videos" policy, but I figured it wasn't as simple as other methods which require you to only hold down a button or two. It takes specific timing and I wanted to be detailed so people would know what to look for. Anyways, I've been using it to grind out a new character I spent a few hours planning and it has greatly decreased the amount of time spent actually grinding. ;) (Hope I got the formatting right here, I've never taken part in any Wiki editing before. :P) MonopolyMan 01:58, 20 May 2011 (UTC)

Detail is usually appreciated, and it would be here. Just not in such... excessive?... detail. Maybe it's just me, though. As long as the video goes (yes I know that's been discussed in three posts already) I'm don't much care either way.

Feel free to reword it as you see fit, I just thought I'd throw the method out there for others to use. You can hear the sound of the spell cut off sooner and see the detect life symbol renew sooner than it would otherwise so I am almost certain the casting time is faster. MonopolyMan 02:06, 20 May 2011 (UTC)

I may actually put that on my task list (the rewrite). In any event, I don't want you to think that it the edit isn't appreciated or that I'm picking on the new guy; it is, and I'm not.--Kalis Agea 02:12, 20 May 2011 (UTC)

No, no, not at all. Check up on Catmaniac's page, I understand you guys have guidelines/policies to follow and I have no issue with you doing so. ;-) Also, just curious, have you had a chance to test it out for yourself yet? MonopolyMan 02:16, 20 May 2011 (UTC)

I used this tecnique (or something like it) on my Xbox360 before it broke down. I'll go ahead and test it on my computer once I get around to rewriting the passage (today or tomorrow).--Kalis Agea 02:21, 20 May 2011 (UTC)

(←) Funny, I've been using this particular method for a long time, and I wanted to bring that up now for some reason, and I find this. I can tell you, it is faster and much more efficient. I prefer using a dagger to hit, as it seems to be slightly faster than unarmed. If you're not sure about the timing, best thing is to just keep clicking until you actually take a swing, in any case, you'll get the hang of that. ~ Dwarfmp 19:57, 21 May 2011 (UTC)

Is this true at all?

"You may want to dispatch these enemies quickly once this happens since a hand-to-hand blow will neither damage your armor nor increase your armor skills."

Am I reading this wrong? From what I've seen, hand to hand attacks DO damage armor and DO count towards experience in light/heavy armor. dtm 12:13, 1 June 2011 (UTC)

I thought that sounded like bullshit when I read it too. =) But if you test this in-game, you'll notice it is actually the case. Weroj 12:53, 1 June 2011 (UTC)

Well unless NPCs are different than goblins (both have weapons and both can do hand to hand damage), from what I've seen in the past hour, hand to hand has made all my armor go to zero health, and I have been "farming" hand to hand damage to increase block/light armor/heavy armor also. From goblins though. dtm 13:03, 1 June 2011 (UTC)

Edit - nevermind goblin hand to hand IS different than NPC hand to hand. I specifcied NPC hand to hand on the main page since it is kinda misleading dtm 22:03, 1 June 2011 (UTC)

Hedge Wizard

(moved from the article)

Possibly the fastest way to increase armor and block skills is to find a bandit hedge wizard. Once you get close she will stop casting attack spells and use a summoned dagger while enhancing her attack with a spell. Having a reasonably high restoration level and a low cost healing spell will help a lot as you can expect to get hit up to 30 times a minute. Unlike other enemies that eventually wear out their weapons, the summoned dagger is perpetual.

Moved because anything starting with "possibly" is clearly speculation. This kind of tip shouldn't go on anyway - it depends what people are trying to do and how they're trying to do it. We have plenty of other skill increasing tips. rpeh •T•C•E• 10:58, 24 August 2011 (UTC)

Spells

I've just reverted several edits by 70.15.66.73. The problem with using Bound Dagger instead of a Summon Skeleton spell is that it unequips your current weapon, which is really inconvenient. Draining your health repeatedly is also a rather bad idea. Please discuss changes to this long-standing article, as these tips have survived testing by many players. rpeh •T•C•E• 05:26, 4 October 2011 (UTC)

id just like to say, training spells on self isnt that smart, it can quite often block your vision, i use on touch which costs the same. (^{I plead Lazyness}_{Eddie The Head} 05:29, 4 October 2011 (UTC))

That doesn't work. You need to actually inflict damage, and all summoning spells work on self. rpeh •T•C•E• 05:30, 4 October 2011 (UTC)

i meant like with alteration and mysticism (^{I plead Lazyness}_{Eddie The Head} 05:35, 4 October 2011 (UTC))

Armour/Armourer/Combat Training - Hackdirt and Robber's Glen Cave

The best place I've found for training defensive skills is the caverns under Hackdirt (just south of Choral.) If you fast travel there at night, you'll land next to a ruined building, walk around to the open side of it, then look in the back corner and there will be a trapdoor. Go down the door and 5-6 heretics will rush to you (even with 100 sneak) and begin attacking you, but all they have are clubs with a Dam. rating of 3. Since my character uses light armor this has turned into a wonderful place to train heavy armor and increase endurance. Be warned though, your armor condition will decline rapidly, and they will follow you if you exit the area. The heretics do respawn after a couple of days, so you can return as often as needed.

12.25.54.192 14:47, 15 February 2012 (UTC)Mike C.

I'm playing a bit of a lazy power-leveled/glitched runthrough at the moment and Robber's Glen Cave can also be a great place to train defensive/offensive/magic/armorer skills while farming loot and enchanted items for a 100% Reflect Damage build or whatever, especially once your character is up around 15-20 and has access to reasonably effective spell reflection/absorbtion/resistance in whatever form you prefer. If you run straight down to the last large room with the tree branches lying across the canyon and hang out in there, the dozen imps in the cave will all come swarming in. There's plenty of room to stand and get hit for a while then run around casting magic at them or punching them to death individually or whatever. If you get a bit overwhelmed and have reasonable acrobatics skill you can fall into the canyon without taking too much fall damage, regroup, and then come charging back up the ramp to the top level to finish the job. The real benefit is the boss monster in the final room. On my first visit a Minotaur Lord spawned in whose horns prevent it from exiting the room, it gets stuck under the archway. Not sure if this is fixed or simply luck, it would be a good idea to Save before entering the cave for the first time so you can reload if some other Boss spawns. After tuning the difficulty slider to suit your level (or level of patience), you now have a captive Minotaur Lord to muck around with in whatever fashion suits the combat/defensive skills you're trying to train. Handy! See other sections of this talk page and the tips in the relevant Skill articles to avoid unwanted side effects e.g. wear junk armour found in loot to avoid unenecessarily damaging your "proper" kit and needing to use your Armorer skill.

182.239.128.251 04:42, 9 May 2023 (UTC) Cheers, CJ

Text dump of less effective tips

All of these are less effective than the few remaining. I also made 2 tips that remained less wordy.

• Go into a city's barracks and pick up a worthless item (the bounty should only be one gold). Resist arrest, and the guards will start attacking you. When you have had enough, yield and pay the bounty. Be careful about doing this outside of the barracks, as citizens may come to your defense, causing important quest-related people to be killed.
  • You can also use these rats to build up Strength skills (Blade,Blunt,Hand to Hand), or Marksman Skill. Up the Difficulty all the way and attack. Then use a Restoration spell like Convalescence (Restore Health 15pts on Target) to heal the rats when their health gets too low. Then leave and do a wait outside the basement door to regain your Health and Magicka. Be sure to watch your health level and the health of the rats closely. Also you'll need to be at Apprentice level in Restoration in order to use that spell. And make sure it's not a Major Skill.
• In Fort Roebeck go to the room on the first level with the drawbridge. Jump across, or lower the bridge then raise it and cross before it raises. Continue forward until a Conjurer spots you and starts to chase. Run back to the drawbridge room and jump in the water. The Conjurer will get stuck at the bridge and endlessly summon creatures that are dropped into the water if you position yourself southeast of the center. The creature summoned depends on your level, but some of them such as scamps can't swim and will not fight back while you practice your offensive skills on them. Having the Fin Gleam helmet is helpful but not necessary.
• On the Weynon Priory grounds, in an area across from the stables, there are two sheep. The female (without horns) will not attack you and will hardly move even when being bashed around. Use a poor quality weapon and heal the sheep (with spells or by waiting) as needed.
• Use your horse for target practice. If you have obtained Shadowmere, she is unkillable. Otherwise, be sure to do minimal damage and only attack until your horse's health is low, then let your horse heal for an hour.
• Similarly, you can attack any horses found outside city stables; as long the gate to the corral is closed, the horses cannot run away from you. However, you need to be careful that you are not seen while attacking horses.
• Once you have completed the Dark Brotherhood questline, your speaker will remain in the Dark Brotherhood Sanctuary. She is an essential character, and you may attack her as often as you wish. You will never get a bounty for this, the others in the sanctuary will never come to the aid of one or the other and when knocked unconscious she will shortly recover without any effect on her disposition towards you. She will fight back, however will always accept your yield if you have had enough.
• If you are level 15+ you can create two short duration custom weakness spells - Weakness to Poison 100%,Weakness to Magicka 100% all for 3-5 sec. Then make a few potions of magicka (alchemy 50+ would be nice) and a few poisons of Damage Fatigue. Go to some location with undead enemies for example - Vendir(Ayleid ruins just south of Chorrol), find a dread zombie, then drink your restore magicka potions, cast your Weakness spells as many times as you can(make sure that when you cast the next spell, the first one has not yet worn off, at least 10 times each). The resistance should be drastically lowered and you can now poison zombie, thus decrease its fatigue by thousands or even millions, zombie will collapse to the ground and you can use it as training dummy. If the difficulty slider is set to max, you will never be able to kill the zombie with simple unenchanted weapon or with moderate spells, as it regenerates hit points too quick.
• If you have the Shivering Isles expansion, you can kill Gaius Prentus at the Strange Door without getting a bounty

To avoid simultaneously training Armorer skills, you can use junk equipment for training. Take any equipment that you have obtained in loot and were planning to sell, and use the equipment until it is completely broken. You can then sell the damaged item; as long as your Mercantile skill is 25 or higher, you will receive the same amount of money. Or stash the damaged items at your home base until a later time when you want to train armorer skill. Or, alternatively, enchant armor with anything and you will still be able to wear it when it is broken while still earning experience. Or if you're training offense and not defense, just don't wear armor at all. Your weapon, of course, will still need repairs. (Unless it's a Bound weapon, which would be training your Conjuration skill instead.) Or if you have the funds, you can always just trek into town and have your local blacksmith do the repairs for you.

— Unsigned comment by Catmaniac66 (talk • contribs) at 06:21 on 24 August 2013

Multiple Spell Training possible?

I just installed Oblivion for those good old times and going for some weird kind of Spellcaster / Thief mix. Never done Spellcaster before and just found out that you create custom Spells at the Mageguild. Since i focused more on my stealhy Stuff, i was looking for a efficient way to get my magic skills up a litte. The Idea of creating a custom stell just for training sounds nice, but - and heres my question - does it work if you put multipe spelleffects in one Spell for training purpuses? Like for example one rather low effect for 1 second but with all 6 Magicschools in one spell? Just looked up for information about that here on the page, but didnt found anything about it. Either im the first one with that Idea, or it doesnt work at all, but then this information should be here to found. Havent testet it myself because i lack of gold right now, and if anyone has information to this, i would like to save that money. --91.18.4.135 05:06, 9 February 2015 (GMT)

No, it doesn't work that way, because a custom spell is categorized based on which effect has the highest casting cost. In other words, casting a spell with a combination of effects from different schools will only train the school with the effect that costs the most magicka. You can however train the schools for offensive spells (i.e. Destruction spells) without having to cast them on yourself, by creating a spell that contains a weak but beneficial self-targeted effect like Fortify Magicka, plus a high magnitude offensive effect like Fire Damage on touch. Even if you cast this spell into thin air, it counts as affecting a target and your Destruction skill will increase. FrozenWolf150 (talk) 03:25, 8 October 2017 (UTC)

Frostfire Glade + Atronach sign

I've found the frost-damaging section of Frostfire Glade is ideal for training skills like conjuration and restoration for characters with the Atronach birthsign because the area constantly recharges you; you basically have near-unlimited reserves for spellcasting practice as long as you stay in there (assuming you aren't casting spells that are too costly). Add in Breton magic resistance and/or items that give magicka resist and the damage you take is minimal so you can easily keep it in check with low-to-mid level healing spells. — Unsigned comment by 74.180.105.157 (talk) at 01:39 on 13 November 2018

Damage strength not avilable as a spell wihtout cheating

Moved from the article:

• Human enemies are the safest method if you disarm them with Disintegrate Weapon and cast Damage Strength to reduce their attack damage. They can only punch you for 1 damage, so the risk is minimal. Since they can't move and have limited reach, you can also use them to train offensive skills.

This is not realistic, since you can't obtain a damage strength spell and finding a staff or multiple scrolls sounds convoluted for training skills that can be trained in easier ways. fell freee to re-add it if I'm wrong. --Wizy (talk) 02:42, 8 November 2020 (UTC)

Categorization

• Combat Skills include Armorer & Athletics & Heavy Armor, but not Marksman nor Light Armor.
• Stealth Skills include Acrobatics, Mercantile, and Speechcraft (as well the Marksman, Light Armor)

Wouldn't it make more sense to use these categories?

• Combat skills: the literal combat skills (Blade, Blunt, & Marksman) and the defense skills (Block, plus Light & Heavy Armor)
• Magic skills: fine as is
• Other Skills: NPC interactions (Mercantile, Speechcraft), Triathlete skills (acrobatics, athletics), and 'Stealth' skills (security & sneak).

I decided against being bold and changing it because clearly folks have put extraordinary effort into the page already. Maybe there's a consensus reason for the current arrangement. — Unsigned comment by 152.44.150.22 (talk) at 19:31 on 15 December 2021

They are categorized that way because that's how the game categorizes them. There are seven each of Combat, Stealth and Magic skills, and Marksman and Light armor are considered "stealth" skills while armorer and athletics are "Combat" skills. Jeancey (talk) 20:19, 15 December 2021 (UTC)

thanks for speedy response! I had just figured that out on my own and was hoping to answer my own question before someone caught my error. I should remember that the answer is often: 'Game balance versus logic'. — Unsigned comment by 152.44.150.22 (talk) at 21:43 on 15 December 2021‎

Conjuration tip

Should the Training Tip for conjuration be replaced with the following?

Create a custom spell with the lowest duration possible and Bound Dagger and Dispel on self as it's effects. You can cast this spell repeatedly by holding down the cast key.

Asking this as this would supposedly be a more efficient method than switching between multiple spells constantly.
--Thefakewhitefang (talk) 11:33, 16 November 2023 (UTC)

Having just tested in-game... A custom Bound Dagger spell with duration 1 second doesn't even need an additional Dispel effect: it's so short you can still cast it by simply pressing the cast key. Both Bound Dagger and Summon Skeleton spells with duration of 1 second have a Magicka cost 1, so are equally useful. I've rephrased the page accordingly. --SerCenKing (talk) 15:06, 2 December 2023 (UTC)

You can cast every spell by holding the cast key, using dispel is still faster though. I checked recently. Should we get a third opinion? Or should I send a video comparison for the final check if I am misremembering?

--Thefakewhitefang (talk) 17:56, 24 January 2024 (UTC)