The lockpicking mini-game in The Elder Scrolls 4: Oblivion Remastered is notoriously difficult, but there is an easy way to make it so that you never have to play it again. Lockpicking is different in every Elder Scrolls game, but most players today are likely more familiar with Skyrim‘s approach to lockpicking: spin the pick, rotate the lock, fail, and try again. It’s a lot easier to read than Oblivion‘s lockpicking mini-game, and a lot harder to break lockpicks, too.

Needless to say, coming from that to Oblivion‘s lockpicking mini-game, where the correct tumbler setting is difficult to read, the slightest misstep could set you back multiple attempts, and picks seem to break if you look at them wrong, can be jarring. Even as a longtime Oblivion fan, it took me a little while to get back into the swing of its lockpicking mini-game when the remaster came out. Thankfully, there’s an easy way to automate the lockpicking process in Oblivion, although it requires a one-of-a-kind item related to a quest that’s slightly off the beaten path.

How To Start Nocturnal’s Quest

Finding The Skeleton Key

In order to find the unbreakable lock, which Oblivion refers to as the Skeleton Key, we’re going to be completing a quest for the Daedric Lord Nocturnal. The quest, also called “Nocturnal,” can only be begun after you reach level 10, by traveling to her shrine north of Leyawiin. It’s located along the main road out of Leyawiin, roughly parallel with the map text that reads “County Leyawiin.” You may learn of its existence by asking around about Daedra; some NPCs have special knowledge of Daedric shrines, and will mark them on your map for you.

If you’re in the area of Nocturnal’s Shrine but can’t find it, check your compass to see if its icon appears.

Travel to the point indicated, using Leyawiin itself as a handy fast travel point if you need it. Speak to Nocturnal’s adherents near the shrine. In particular, you’ll want to talk to Mor gra-Gamorn, and tell her you wish to approach the statue. She’ll be cautious at first, but eventually admit that Nocturnal may have called you, and so allow you to worship at the shrine. Interact with Nocturnal, and she’ll make a request: her Eye has been stolen by thieves, and she wants you to get it back.

How To Get The Unbreakable Lockpick

Finding The Culprits

Nocturnal suggests that the culprits were two Argonians living in Leyawiin, so we’ll head in that direction next to ask around. Your best bet is to talk to city guards. You’ll have the usual dialogue options available, in addition to one that reads “Eye of Nocturnal,” but asking about that directly won’t get you any useful information. Instead, choose the “Leyawiin” dialogue option whenever prompted.

Eventually, one of them will tell you that they’ve heard two local Argonians, Weebam-Na and Bejeen, talking about a valuable jewel they recently stole. If you can’t get them to talk about it, try playing a couple rounds of Oblivion‘s persuasion mini-game to curry their favor.

You’ll need to find Bejeen and Weebam-Na, then eavesdrop on their conversation in order to find out where the Eye of Nocturnal ended up. It’s easiest to do so by sneaking into Weebam-Na’s house, marked on the map above, and hiding somewhere out of sight. It’s easy enough to stay unseen in the house’s entryway. If they see you, Weebam-Na and Bejeen will stop talking.

Finding The Eye Of Nocturnal

Let the entire conversation between the thieves play out, and you’ll learn that they stashed the Eye of Nocturnal in Tidewater Cave. This is southeast of Leyawiin; it’ll automatically be marked on your map. Walk or fast travel over, and enter Tidewater Cave to move onto the next stage of the quest.

Tidewater Cave is a relatively small dungeon, but it is inhabited by deadly Kalperklan Trolls. Like all trolls, they’re weak to fire attacks, so consider using spells or enchanted weapons to deal a little extra damage. Do feel free to explore the cave a bit; there are chests in the southeasternmost and northeasternmost rooms with some randomized loot.

Trolls are also afraid of water, and won’t attempt to chase you across it at any depth, so you can use this to your advantage and take them out with ranged attacks.

To find the Eye of Nocturnal, though, take the first left as soon as you enter. At the end of the long corridor you come upon, take another left. Follow this path to its very end, dive into the water and swim through the opening, and you’ll find the Eye of Nocturnal floating on your right beside yet another chest. The Eye should be fairly easy to see with its bright, unnatural glow.

Pick up the Eye and take it back to Nocturnal’s Shrine by foot or by fast travel. As thanks, Nocturnal will grant you the Skeleton Key, primarily used as a lockpick that can never be broken – but it has some additional effects, too.

Skeleton Key Effects & Uses

The Skeleton Key is effectively an unbreakable lockpick, which, in theory, means you’ll save a lot of money on lockpicks. However, thanks to a peculiarity of Oblivion‘s lockpicking mini-game, having the Skeleton Key also means you’ll never have to play the lockpicking mini-game again (unless you really want to). By pressing R on PC, X on Xbox, or Square on PS5 during lockpicking, your character will “auto-attempt” to open the lock. The game calculates a chance of success based on your Security skill and the lock’s difficulty, then rolls the dice to see whether you succeed.

If you do, the lock opens; if you don’t, your lockpick breaks, which is the main thing preventing you from just spamming auto-attempt until you get it open. However, with the Skeleton Key, that’s a non-issue. You can simply auto-attempt every single lock until it opens for you, so you’ll never have to pick a lock manually again.

Certain (usually story-relevant) locks in Oblivion always require keys, and still can’t be picked even if you do have the Skeleton Key.

If you do enjoy the challenge of manual lockpicking, though, it’ll be a bit easier with the Skeleton Key. Simply having the item in your inventory raises your Security skill by 40 points. Depending on your base Security stat, that may mean set tumblers will be less likely to fall when you fail to set another tumbler correctly. Having this option at your disposal will make it easy to get into any door or chest in The Elder Scrolls 4: Oblivion Remastered.