How to max all attributes in TES IV: Oblivion Remastered (No Glitches or Exploits)

A short guide on how to max all your attributes to 100 without using glitches or exploits.

Introduction

This guide will help you to achieve the following without using exploits or glitches (like the going to jail trick):

• A character that is level 45 instead of the usual cap of level 44
  
  
• With all attributes at 100 and 2 of them at 110. More on that later

The Short Version

We are going to raise luck to 95 and get the remaining 5 luck by something called Zenithar's Blessing. By the time you reach level 44, all your skills are at 100, you should have luck at 95 and 4 other attributes at 100. The remaining 3 attributes should be very close to 100. To get the final level and the remaining points you need to read a book called Oghma Infinium at the right time.

Character Creation

• Race & origin: You can do this with any race/origin combo, but figuring out the right way to assign your virtue points might be more challenging for one combo compared to the other.
  
  
• Birthsign: You need to use the thief birthsign to have all attributes at 100. That being said. Using a birthsign like the lord will still grant you 100 in all attributes except luck. Luck really isn’t valuable at higher levels.
  
  
• Favorite attributes: You need to pick luck as your favorite attribute. For the other favorite attribute, I recommend putting it in your lowest starting attribute.

Zenithar's Blessing

Luck is an annoying attribute to raise since you need 4 virtue points instead of 1. Therefore 1 extra point of luck is worth more than any other attribute. Lucky (pun not intended) for us there is a way to get 5 luck for free by getting Zenithar’s blessing. You can get it by completing the quest: “Umaril the Unfeathered”. The blessing acts like a permanent buff.

Oghma Infinium

By completing a quest called: “Hermaeus Mora” you will receive a book called Oghma Infinium. Do not read it right away! Reading it will do the following:

• Raise 2 attributes by 10, depending of which “path” you choose. This is the trick to getting 2 attributes above 100.
  
  
• Raise 3 skills by 10, depending of which “path” you choose.

You need to read the book after the 2 attributes and the 3 skills you want to raise are already at 100 (the 3 skill don’t have to be major skills). For example. “The Path of Steel” requires you to have 100 speed, strength, blade, blunt and heavy armor before you should read it. You will end up with 2 attributes at 110 and 3 skills at 110. The amount of XP gained from the skill increases is also enough to get an extra level and thus more virtue points to spend.

Which path to pick?

• The Path of Steel: gives 10 strength and speed. This equals to about 6 extra health, 50 extra encumbrance, slightly increased movement speed and increased jump length.
  
  
• The Path of Shadow: gives 10 agility and speed. This equals to about 13 extra fatigue, slightly increased fatigue regeneration, movement speed and jump length.
  
  
• The Path of Spirit: gives 10 intelligence and willpower. This equals to about 27 extra fatigue, 20 extra magicka and slightly increased magicka regeneration .

To me, increased movement speed and jump length are worthless. In that case The Path of Shadow is just 13 extra fatigue and fatigue regeneration. Not all that noticeable. You are better of choosing The Path of Spirit, which gets you more than double the fatigue on top of the magicka bonuses. Pick The Path of Steel if you run out of inventory space (but do you really need 50 extra encumbrance on top of the 500 you already have at 100 strenght?). The extra 6 health is negligible.

Other Skill Boosts

There are a few more quests that can raise your skills above 100. Unfortunately doing these quests won't grant enough XP to get to level 46. You can do them, but are not required:

• The Fork of Horripilation
  
  
• A Rat Problem
  
  
• A Shadow Over Hackdirt

How to assign virtue points

There are several ways to assign your virtue points and end up with max attributes. The problem you might run into when your character nears max level, is that there are 2 or less attributes to choose from when you level. At that point you are going to waste points. There are 12 points to spend, and you can only give each attribute a max of 5 points per level. So if you only have 2 attributes to max, you are only spending 10 points each level (and you waste 2 points each level). To prevent this from happening, here are a few tips to assign your virtue points.

Please take a look at this screenshot:


The way I color coded the attributes is as follows:

• Red group: Attributes that I can raise to 100 by repeatedly raising that attribute by 4 (the remainder is divisible by 4). Example: I can raise strength to 100 by adding 4 fifteen times.
  
  
• Blue group: Attributes that I cannot raise to 100 by repeatedly raising that attribute by 4 (the remainder is not divisible by 4).
  
  
• Green group: You need to pick 3 attributes that you are going to max last. Ideally the 3 attributes are roughly of equal value. This doesn’t mean you can’t raise these attributes before the others are at 100 (wouldn’t recommend it). It just means that the final virtue points you are spending before you hit level 45 should be between these 3 attributes. The attributes in the green group should not be attributes you want to raise to 110 by reading the Oghma Infinium.

First you are going to raise the blue attributes so that the remaining virtue points left to 100, is divisible by 4 (like the red group). You don’t need to do this for the green group. You can do this by adding 5 points to an attribute and putting the remaining points in the green group. For example. If the attribute is 35, add 5 point and now it is 40 (the remainder 60 is divisible by 4). For attributes like 30 and 50 you might need to do that twice. (see screenshots).



Now that all attributes are in either in the red group or the green group, assigning points is simple. Everly level up pick luck until luck is at 95. You have 8 points remaining every level. Either give 4 points to a red attribute twice or divide the 8 points between the green attributes. Make sure that all attributes in the green group stay roughly at the same value and don’t max out the green group before you max out the red group. In the video above you can see a demonstration of me assigning points until max level.

[Carbonanza]

@Tommy Congrats on maxing out your character. I would consider that an exploit yes. Probably not the intended effect. Another downside to doing that is by the time you are level 52, the enemies have also scaled to 52. So keeping your level as low as possible is probably more beneficial.

[Tommy]

I assume using Drain Skill spells to lower your skills and train them with skill trainers is considered as exploit. I did that and leveled my Athletics and Acrobatics skill over 100 which gave me enough XP to increase all my attributes to 100 at level 52.

[Carbonanza]

@Mizu Haru I would pick origin 1 (Arnesia). Luck and endurance as favourite attribute. Less thinking, from the start. Honestly with a bit of planning you can reach 100 with all origins and races. Good luck!

[Mizu Haru]

I'm trying to follow this guide as an Argonian, but unsure how to pick my starting origin and base stats.

So, the origin options are

Strength - 40 (for both)
Intelligence - 40/50
Willpower - 30/40
Agility - 50/40
Speed - 50/40
Endurance - 30
Personality - 30
Luck - 50

Thief stars give +10 Agility/Speed/Luck so those would bump to 60/50 | 60/50 | 60

Then custom class Luck gives another 5, and (if following the guide) +5 to either endurance or personality.

So, picking Origin 1 I would have 4 stats in the red group (two at 40, two at 60, all able to reach 100 with +4 per level), one stat at 35, and two at 30.

Picking Origin 2, I would have three stats at 50, two at 40, one stat at 35 and two at 30.

Any recommendations?

[Carbonanza]

@Abel Skyblade I'm not sure what you mean by that. Do you mean the minimum level (to keep enemies from scaling) you can reach while keeping luck as low as possible?

[Abel Skyblade]

how would you level if you wanted to max everything except luck?

[Mr. Mike]

Thanks for this! I'm gonna leave str/agi/per/luck 10 levels lower, and supplement the lost points with the ring of perfection, just so I can use a different star sign like mage or lord

[Carbonanza]

@Love You Yes, your luck will be at 105!

[Love You]

What happens if you get Zenithar's Blessing after level 100 luck? Will it be 105 luck?

[Carbonanza]

@asmoranomar Very good question. Without the thief stone, you miss out on an equivalent of 60 virtue points. That is the same as 15 levels of luck. The target without the thief stone should be 80 (Zenithar's blessing can boost this to 85). I'll update the guide with this info.