Unbelievable Trick to Hit 100 Stats at Level 1 in Oblivion Remastered

In the newly released The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion Remastered, players have discovered a jaw-dropping method to achieve 100 stats at Level 1, giving their characters an unprecedented edge right from the start. This technique, which has set the gaming community abuzz, allows players to max out their attributes and skills before even stepping out of the tutorial sewers of Cyrodiil. For fans of the classic 2006 RPG and newcomers alike, this strategy offers a thrilling way to experience the remastered version of Bethesda’s iconic game, redefining what it means to be overpowered from the get-go. Here’s how to achieve this feat, why it works, and what it means for your journey through Tamriel.

Understanding the Goal: 100 Stats at Level 1

In Oblivion Remastered, a character’s power is determined by eight primary attributes—Strength, Intelligence, Willpower, Agility, Speed, Endurance, Personality, and Luck—along with 21 skills like Blade, Sneak, and Destruction. Normally, these stats range from 0 to 100, with attributes starting around 30-50 depending on your race, birthsign, and class, and skills beginning at 5 for minor skills and 25 for major skills. Leveling up typically grants 12 Virtue Points to distribute among attributes, with each point increasing an attribute by 1 (except Luck, which requires 4 Virtue Points per increase). Skills, meanwhile, improve through use, training, or reading skill books, contributing to your overall level.

The idea of hitting 100 in all stats at Level 1 seems impossible under normal circumstances, as you’d need to gain dozens of levels to accumulate enough Virtue Points and skill increases. However, players have found a clever combination of game mechanics, strategic character creation, and a lesser-known exploit that allows for this extraordinary boost right at the start. This method doesn’t rely on mods or cheats but instead uses the game’s own systems in a way that Bethesda likely didn’t anticipate.

Step 1: Character Creation for Maximum Potential

The foundation of this strategy lies in optimizing your character creation to start with the highest possible stats and the best setup for exploiting the game’s mechanics. Here’s how to set up your character:

Race: Choose a High Elf (Altmer). High Elves start with the highest base attributes in the game, particularly in Intelligence (50), which is crucial for maximizing Magicka, and Willpower (40), which aids in Magicka regeneration. Their total starting attributes are 330, giving you a strong foundation.

Birthsign: Select The Thief. This birthsign grants a +10 bonus to Luck, Speed, and Agility, pushing your starting Luck to 60 (50 base + 5 from class bonus + 5 from favored attribute + 10 from The Thief). Since Luck is the hardest attribute to raise (requiring 4 Virtue Points per point), starting with a high value is essential.

Class: Create a custom class. Choose Luck and Intelligence as your favored attributes for an additional +5 to each, bringing your starting Luck to 65 and Intelligence to 55. For your major skills, select a mix that includes at least one skill from each attribute (except Luck, which governs none), such as Blade (Strength), Conjuration (Intelligence), Restoration (Willpower), Sneak (Agility), Athletics (Speed), Armorer (Endurance), and Speechcraft (Personality). This ensures you can level each attribute efficiently later.

Specialization: Opt for Stealth as your specialization to boost the growth rate of skills like Sneak and Security, which you’ll exploit heavily.

This setup maximizes your starting attributes and positions you to take advantage of skill-boosting exploits that contribute to attribute increases indirectly.

Step 2: The Sneak Exploit—Leveling to 100 in Minutes

One of the most powerful exploits in Oblivion Remastered allows you to level your Sneak skill to 100 while still at Level 1, and it’s been confirmed to work in the remastered version. This exploit is key to the strategy because it rapidly boosts an Agility-governed skill, which in turn allows you to manipulate your attributes later.

Location: Head to the Imperial City Market District as soon as you exit the tutorial sewers. You can fast-travel there immediately after escaping.

Method: Find a shop with a sleeping NPC, such as Jensine’s “Good as New” Merchandise, where Jensine sleeps upstairs at night. Position yourself in a corner near her bed where you can enter Sneak mode without being detected. The trick is to auto-run into the corner while sneaking—on a console, you can use a rubber band to hold the joystick in place; on PC, you can bind a key to auto-run. Leave your character in this state, and your Sneak skill will increase continuously as the game registers you as “sneaking past” the sleeping NPC.

Result: Within 20-30 minutes, your Sneak skill will hit 100. Since Sneak is a major skill in your custom class, this alone will give you enough major skill increases (10 points total across your major skills trigger a level-up) to qualify for a level-up. However, do not sleep to level up yet—stay at Level 1 for now to keep enemies weak and continue exploiting other skills.

Step 3: Maxing Other Skills with Exploits

To push your attributes to 100, you need to max out the skills they govern, as skill increases indirectly influence attribute growth through leveling. Oblivion Remastered retains several exploits from the original game that allow you to rapidly level skills to 100. Here’s how to tackle a few key ones:

Security (Agility): In the Imperial City Market District at night, find a shop door with a lock (e.g., Edgar’s Discount Spells). Some tumblers in these locks are already set (darker than the rest). Position your lockpick under a set tumbler and spam the “set tumbler” button without fully picking the lock. You’ll hear the level-up sound repeatedly, and within 5 minutes, your Security skill can reach 100. This boosts Agility further.

Armorer (Endurance): Visit Peryite’s Shrine, where the NPCs are frozen in a trance. Attack them lightly to damage your weapon, then repair it with a Repair Hammer. Repeat this process—each repair action grants Armorer XP. With enough hammers (bring 20-30), you can level Armorer to 100 in about an hour, boosting Endurance.

Conjuration (Intelligence): Cast a low-cost Conjuration spell, like Summon Skeleton, repeatedly in a safe area. To speed this up, use a Fortify Magicka spell or potion to increase your Magicka pool, allowing more casts. Conjuration levels at 6.0 XP per cast, making it one of the fastest skills to train. You can hit 100 in under an hour, raising Intelligence.

Restoration (Willpower): Cast a basic healing spell, such as Heal Minor Wounds, on yourself repeatedly. Stand in a safe spot and spam the spell. Restoration levels more slowly (0.6 XP per cast), but with patience, you can reach 100 in a couple of hours, increasing Willpower.

Blade (Strength): At Peryite’s Shrine, attack the frozen NPCs with a weak dagger. Each hit grants Blade XP. Since they don’t fight back, you can safely level Blade to 100 over a few hours, boosting Strength.

Repeat similar methods for other skills—Speechcraft (Personality) by spamming the persuasion minigame on NPCs, Athletics (Speed) by auto-running into a wall, and so on. The goal is to get as many skills as possible to 100 without leveling up, which keeps you at Level 1 while amassing skill increases.

Step 4: The Felldew Exploit—Pushing Attributes Beyond 100

Here’s where the magic happens. A lesser-known method from the original Oblivion, still functional in the remastered version, involves the Felldew addiction mechanic from the “Addiction” quest in the Shivering Isles expansion. This exploit, noted by players on platforms like X, allows you to temporarily drain your attributes and then restore them in a way that lets you exceed the normal cap of 100.

Start the Quest: Travel to the Shivering Isles (accessible early via the portal in Niben Bay) and begin the “Addiction” quest by speaking to the Dunmer in New Sheoth. You’ll be directed to consume Felldew, a drug that causes addiction.

Felldew Withdrawal: After consuming Felldew, you’ll enter withdrawal, which drains several attributes (Strength, Intelligence, Willpower, Agility, Speed, Endurance, and Personality) by a significant amount—often down to 0 or near 0. This effect is permanent until you complete the quest.

Level Up During Withdrawal: While in withdrawal, your attributes are at their drained values. Now, sleep to level up for the first time. Because your Sneak (and potentially other major skills) has increased by 10+ points, you’ll gain a level. At Level 2, you’ll receive 12 Virtue Points to distribute. Since your attributes are drained to near 0, you can now assign Virtue Points to them, effectively “increasing” them from their drained state.

Complete the Quest: Finish the “Addiction” quest by drinking from the Chalice of Reversal. This removes the withdrawal effect, restoring your attributes to their original base values—plus any Virtue Points you added during the level-up. Because the game treats the restored values as your new base, you can exceed the normal cap of 100. For example, if your Strength was drained to 0, you added 5 Virtue Points to it (bringing it to 5), and then the withdrawal ends, your Strength will be restored to its original value (say, 40) plus the 5 points, resulting in 45. Repeat this process across multiple levels by exploiting other skills to level up again, and you can push all attributes to 100.

Step 5: Fine-Tuning with the Oghma Infinium

To polish off your stats, complete the Daedric quest “Hermaeus Mora” to obtain the Oghma Infinium book. This quest becomes available after completing other Daedric quests, but you can rush it by focusing on those tasks early. The book allows you to choose a “path” (Steel, Shadow, or Spirit) to permanently boost two attributes by 10 points and three skills by 10 points. Crucially, this boost can push attributes and skills beyond 100.

Timing: Wait until your attributes and skills are at 100 before reading the book, as the bonuses will then push them to 110, maximizing your power. For example, choose the Path of Steel to boost Strength and Speed to 110 if those are already at 100.

Level Boost: The skill increases from the Oghma Infinium also grant enough XP to gain another level, giving you more Virtue Points to distribute, which you can use to top off any lagging attributes, like Luck.

Step 6: Zenithar’s Blessing for Luck

Luck, the hardest attribute to raise, can be given a final boost with Zenithar’s Blessing, obtained by completing the quest “Umaril the Unfeathered” (part of the Knights of the Nine DLC). This blessing grants a permanent +5 to Luck, which, when combined with your starting 65 Luck and Virtue Points allocated over several levels, ensures you reach 100 (or even 105 with the Oghma Infinium).

The Result: A Level 1 Powerhouse

By following these steps, you’ll have a character at Level 1 (or shortly after a few forced level-ups) with all attributes and most skills at 100, some even at 110. This makes you a godlike figure in Cyrodiil—able to one-shot enemies, carry massive loads, cast endless spells, and charm any NPC. Enemies, which scale with your level, remain weak since you’ve barely leveled up, allowing you to breeze through quests and dominate the game from the start.

The Controversy: Is This Ethical?

This method, while not using mods or cheats, exploits game mechanics in ways that some players might consider “cheating.” Posts on X and gaming forums reflect a split sentiment: some players celebrate the creativity of achieving such power, while others, like @Katharsyis, warn against over-leveling skills too early, as it can make the game unbalanced and less enjoyable due to weak gear scaling. Bethesda’s decision to retain these exploits in Oblivion Remastered—despite overhauling the leveling system to make attribute increases more flexible—suggests they may have intended to preserve the game’s quirky charm, even if it allows for such overpowered strategies.

The Impact on Gameplay

Achieving 100 stats at Level 1 fundamentally changes how you experience Oblivion Remastered. You’ll trivialize combat, as your maxed Strength and Blade skill let you kill enemies in a single hit, while high Endurance and Willpower ensure you never run out of Health or Magicka. High Personality makes every NPC adore you, opening up dialogue options and better merchant deals. Even random events, like lockpicking or gambling in the Arena, become effortless with 100 Luck (or 105 with Zenithar’s Blessing).

However, this approach sacrifices the traditional progression that makes RPGs rewarding. Quests that are meant to challenge you over time will feel like a walk in the park, and the sense of growth that comes with leveling up naturally will be absent. Some players might find this thrilling, while others may feel it detracts from the intended experience of Oblivion Remastered, which already improved the original game’s leveling system to make progression smoother and less punishing.

A Word of Caution

While this method is effective, it requires careful execution. If you level up too early without maxing out enough skills, you might miss the window to fully exploit the Felldew mechanic. Additionally, focusing solely on exploits can make the early game tedious—hours of grinding Sneak or Security might not be everyone “