Players of The Elder Scrolls 4: Oblivion Remastered have discovered an unusual exploit that’ll allow you to level up your Security skill from 1 to 100 in a matter of minutes – and you can do it from the opening hours of the game. Although it’s not as versatile as attributes like Luck in Oblivion Remastered, Security is an important skill to have. It solely governs all use of lockpicks throughout the game, whether that’s to open locked doors or chests. The higher your Security, the easier it’ll be to pick locks.

But lockpicking is used for far more than just stealing in Oblivion Remastered. Learning to pick locks is a central part of many main and side quests, and not just those related to the Thieves Guild or the Dark Brotherhood. One way or another, you’ll have to learn how to get into places you’re not supposed to be in, and that means mastering Oblivion‘s difficult take on the lockpicking mini-game. To prevent too much frustration, there’s an easy way to bump up your Security skill, and gain a few levels while you’re at it.

How To Level Security Quickly

Using The Lockpicking Exploit

To easily level up Security in Oblivion Remastered, you’ll first need to find any single locked door or chest anywhere in the game. If you like, there are a couple right in the tutorial, in the Imperial Sewers you’ll run through at the very beginning of the game.

Interact with the locked door and play the lockpicking mini-game until you have at least one tumbler set – in other words, until one of the cylinders is raised to the top of the lock and set in place, becoming slightly faded out. Just make sure you don’t set all the cylinders, as you’ll need to keep the lockpicking mini-game open to use this exploit. If you’re having trouble, see our guide to lockpicking in Oblivion Remastered for a rundown of the basics.

Now, position your lockpick under the already set tumbler, and just mash the button you use to set the tumbler – Space on PC, A on Xbox, X on PS5. Each time you do it, the game will respond as if you’d actually set a new tumbler, granting you points towards your Security skill. Thanks to Oblivion‘s new leveling system, these points will also go towards your overall character level. You can do this repeatedly until you hit Master rank in lockpicking which, depending on the level you start at, should take you at least into the double digits.

Pros & Cons Of Using The Lockpicking Exploit

Should You Really Level Security?

Of course, getting your Security skill up in the early hours of the game will make your lockpicking exploits much easier. Whenever you fail to set a tumbler correctly, at least one other tumbler will fall back down, setting you back in progress and, on more difficult locks, causing no end of frustration. However, the higher your Security skill, the fewer tumblers will fall back down when you make a mistake while lockpicking. At Master level, you never drop tumblers.

However, the fact that this exploit increases your base character level could become an issue. Oblivion uses level scaling. Many enemies you encounter in-game will roughly match your level, and will have loot comparable to your own. In theory, this ensures an even and fair challenge throughout the game, allowing you to explore freely without the worry of wandering into an area you’re underleveled for, and preventing you from finding useless loot. In practice, level scaling can actually make certain parts of the game significantly harder, especially for new players.

Therefore, I’d recommend getting a little experience in Oblivion before grinding your Security skill, just enough to be sure you understand the basics of combat and have a good grasp on your build. This way, you can handle whatever challenges The Elder Scrolls 4: Oblivion Remastered throws at you, including its most difficult lockpicking challenges.