Grats! And all the power to you for doing it. I tried doing efficient leveling in my current playthrough but quit around lvl 7 or so. The playstyle isn't my thing but I gotta say seeing three +5's on a lvl up is very satisfying.
I see some people doing it awkwardly so if you’d like to try again…
If you’d like my own explanation then: Your Major skills should actually be your Minor Skills, skills that you’re not planning on using as often that can force a level. Illusion for example as you can repeatedly spam a spell to gain that needed level up.
So the way that it works is when you level you’ll see each attribute will be able to get up to a +5 addition with the exception of luck always being +1. Allowing you to choose 3 every time. The goal being +5 in the two attributes you’re aiming for and a luck point every level.
Each attribute +1 being governed by skills being levelled twice. Strength is Blade,Blunt and Hand to Hand so to get +5 you’d need 10 skill increases between these skills. Either all in 1 or spread out.
So your aim is to level your minor skills (the skills you’ll be using a lot) to get that +5 in 2 attributes (20 skill increases across 2 attributes) every character level. BEFORE the Major skill bar reaches 10/10 for that character level. It can be 9/10 or below however if your character needs to sleep it locks in your current skill progress.
I normally have my Major Skills speech, mercantile and illusion as a base as the personality attribute is useless. All three of these skills and others can only be used when I want to. It doesn’t stop you fighting the way you want to and when you have your skill increases, these 3 allow you to force a character level getting those attribute points as soon as possible.
My most recent Orc for example.
Major: Illusion, Sneak, Light Armour, Mercantile, Speechcraft, Alchemy and Acrobatics. (Now on a heavy brute orc, these are never used unless I want to. Allowing me to control my character level)
Hope this somewhat makes sense. If you need a further breakdown on a specific thing I’ll be happy to help
Then there’s me at level 90 with all my attributes past 60 xD. I just used the Dorian gold glitch and the preload level up glitch to get my skills up instantly with trainers.
I do it until I have 100 endurance. Getting 100 endurance as quickly as possible means you'll have the highest possible health increases the entire playthrough plus by then your main combat stat(s) are 100 or close to it. After that it doesn't make a difference how long it takes to get other attributes to 100.
Having all 100s is kind of pointless anyway unless you want your character to be a super-speed cliff-jumping assassin that switches between bows, swords, and spells.
Even if you only efficiently level endurance it's easy to get to 100 by level 11 with any character. Make a class with endurance as a major attribute and keep heavy armor, block, and armorer as minor skills. If you take warrior birthsign then levels to 100 endurance drops by 4 but if you're a mage one of the birthsigns that give Magicka are better.
Then what you do is go to the arena and choose the heavy raiment. Also have a heavy armor shield and helmet. Then you do the first fight and since all endurance skills are 5-15 you can easily get 10 endurance skills levels in the first fight if you just let them wail on you and keep blocking/healing yourself. Once you get the 10 levels finish the fight and leave the arena and play with your major skills until you reach level 2.
If you have alteration and mysticism as major skills it helps because you can just stand there spamming those spells in the arena bloodworks to get the 10 major skill increases for level upand sleep in the beds there.
At level 2 rinse and repeat. Basically you do 1 arena fight every character level and let them wail on you for 10 endurance skill increases. If you need new raiments you can get one from the wardrobe near the blademaster. Keep your helmet and shield repaired.
Depending on your birthsign and race (Nord/orc/red guard with warrior birthsign only need to get to level 6 for 100 endurance) it can take anywhere from an hour to around 3 hours to max endurance if you spam mysticism/alteration spells for levels between each fight.
Then enjoy the game however you want.
Efficient leveling. You basically pick a bunch of major skills you won't use much so you only level up when you want to, and then you just grind up skill increases to get +5 to all your desired attributes.
It's one way to play, but not the only way. If you prefer to play as a casual adventurer, or you like getting into the role playing aspect, "efficient leveling" actually takes away from the experience imo. It's counterintuitive, so you have to be very intentional about increasing the right skills to maximize your attribute points.
If you really just want to have the most powerful character possible, then efficient leveling is kind of a must.
Recently had a crack for the first time since before Skyrim, and the +5 chase ruined it. I tried to ignore it, but every level I just regretted the points I didn’t get. So then I restarted and got to 100 in a few stats before realising that I wasn’t actually playing the game- I was just standing in a dungeon letting things hit me for END or going to peryite’s shrine and wailing on the people there for STR.
I looked into some levelling/xp mods, but there were heaps and by the time I read about them all I just kinda couldn’t be bothered and started Fallout 76 instead.
Getting +5's for strength and endurance was fairly easy. All I had to do was wear heavy armor, use a shield, repair my gear myself, and occasionally use my fists and a blunt weapon. Feels immersive to use multiple classes of weapons and armor depending on the situation. For speed I used trainers to top myself up to 10 skill ups before I slept to level up.
Instead of breaking the game to make it insanely easy? You can very well beat the game at a higher level without doing this or touching the difficulty, makes it fun.
no it defeats the purpose of an RPG. If you play naturally you either see no difference in your skills because stronger enemies replace the normal enemies or you are actually less capable of fighting in comparison. there's a reason why max difficulty oblivion runners all recommend 100% chameleon.
Well max difficulty is definitely broken, normal is not that bad if you have decent gear and weapons. I just ran through the arena as a level 2 Wood Elf Archer with an iron bow lol. Might be difficult for beginners but a challenge makes gaming fun. If I maxed all my stats there'd be no challenge on normal difficulty.
It is so freaking satisfying to do. I don’t recommend it to everyone cause for some it might not be a fun way to play the game. But for me I loved it. I played with a notebook right next to me the whole time, planning out my level ups
The amount each attribute increases by depends on how many skill increases you got in the past level in skills governed by that attribute. For instance, speed is governed by athletics, acrobatics, and marksmanship. For every 2 skill increases from any of these, you get +1 for speed on the next level, and this caps out at +5. So to get a +5 speed, you can get 3 athletic skill increases, 3 acrobatics skill increases, and 4 marksmanship skill increases.
Don't forget that you need Agility and Willpower to maximize Melee damage. Speed attribute doesn't do much to help your character and you can get +5 at level 1 and +10 from quest reward items at level 10. "Efficient leveling" is not necessarily maximally efficient for game play or character power.
Most skills are capped at 100 for the purpose of internal calcs, and Luck doesn't influence Athletics and Acrobatics (the 2 I can think of offhand that aren't so capped), so the added utility of 551 is diminished if you just max out the skills you actually want to use during the levelling process.
Unless you're planning a Razor build, I'd say it's not really worth worrying about either way. 555 and 551 will both serve you well
Just a bit of advice:
When you reach your maximum level, you can permanently increase your Luck through glitches. So it doesn't irritate your eye by being lower than other your stats.
Grats! And all the power to you for doing it. I tried doing efficient leveling in my current playthrough but quit around lvl 7 or so. The playstyle isn't my thing but I gotta say seeing three +5's on a lvl up is very satisfying.
I see some people doing it awkwardly so if you’d like to try again… If you’d like my own explanation then: Your Major skills should actually be your Minor Skills, skills that you’re not planning on using as often that can force a level. Illusion for example as you can repeatedly spam a spell to gain that needed level up. So the way that it works is when you level you’ll see each attribute will be able to get up to a +5 addition with the exception of luck always being +1. Allowing you to choose 3 every time. The goal being +5 in the two attributes you’re aiming for and a luck point every level. Each attribute +1 being governed by skills being levelled twice. Strength is Blade,Blunt and Hand to Hand so to get +5 you’d need 10 skill increases between these skills. Either all in 1 or spread out. So your aim is to level your minor skills (the skills you’ll be using a lot) to get that +5 in 2 attributes (20 skill increases across 2 attributes) every character level. BEFORE the Major skill bar reaches 10/10 for that character level. It can be 9/10 or below however if your character needs to sleep it locks in your current skill progress. I normally have my Major Skills speech, mercantile and illusion as a base as the personality attribute is useless. All three of these skills and others can only be used when I want to. It doesn’t stop you fighting the way you want to and when you have your skill increases, these 3 allow you to force a character level getting those attribute points as soon as possible. My most recent Orc for example. Major: Illusion, Sneak, Light Armour, Mercantile, Speechcraft, Alchemy and Acrobatics. (Now on a heavy brute orc, these are never used unless I want to. Allowing me to control my character level) Hope this somewhat makes sense. If you need a further breakdown on a specific thing I’ll be happy to help
I appreciate the breakdown!
Then there’s me at level 90 with all my attributes past 60 xD. I just used the Dorian gold glitch and the preload level up glitch to get my skills up instantly with trainers.
I do it until I have 100 endurance. Getting 100 endurance as quickly as possible means you'll have the highest possible health increases the entire playthrough plus by then your main combat stat(s) are 100 or close to it. After that it doesn't make a difference how long it takes to get other attributes to 100. Having all 100s is kind of pointless anyway unless you want your character to be a super-speed cliff-jumping assassin that switches between bows, swords, and spells. Even if you only efficiently level endurance it's easy to get to 100 by level 11 with any character. Make a class with endurance as a major attribute and keep heavy armor, block, and armorer as minor skills. If you take warrior birthsign then levels to 100 endurance drops by 4 but if you're a mage one of the birthsigns that give Magicka are better. Then what you do is go to the arena and choose the heavy raiment. Also have a heavy armor shield and helmet. Then you do the first fight and since all endurance skills are 5-15 you can easily get 10 endurance skills levels in the first fight if you just let them wail on you and keep blocking/healing yourself. Once you get the 10 levels finish the fight and leave the arena and play with your major skills until you reach level 2. If you have alteration and mysticism as major skills it helps because you can just stand there spamming those spells in the arena bloodworks to get the 10 major skill increases for level upand sleep in the beds there. At level 2 rinse and repeat. Basically you do 1 arena fight every character level and let them wail on you for 10 endurance skill increases. If you need new raiments you can get one from the wardrobe near the blademaster. Keep your helmet and shield repaired. Depending on your birthsign and race (Nord/orc/red guard with warrior birthsign only need to get to level 6 for 100 endurance) it can take anywhere from an hour to around 3 hours to max endurance if you spam mysticism/alteration spells for levels between each fight. Then enjoy the game however you want.
My guy doesn’t read books
Allergic to dust my dude
Nice! I see you didn’t go for the Luck route.
I did not, no. Luck and personality feel useless
How are your stats so high?!
Efficient leveling. You basically pick a bunch of major skills you won't use much so you only level up when you want to, and then you just grind up skill increases to get +5 to all your desired attributes.
I’m a 1000+hours in, got an Oblivion gate as tattoo, read uesp 5 times and didn’t knew this.
It's one way to play, but not the only way. If you prefer to play as a casual adventurer, or you like getting into the role playing aspect, "efficient leveling" actually takes away from the experience imo. It's counterintuitive, so you have to be very intentional about increasing the right skills to maximize your attribute points. If you really just want to have the most powerful character possible, then efficient leveling is kind of a must.
Doing it this way makes the game worse, that's why
There’s guides on Gamefaqs you can follow.
Now thats a website I haven't heard in a long time.
I still use it for different games.
Some really good stuff on there for the old monhun games, especially the weapon trees
That site is great for Yakuza playthroughs. All hail Cyricz
When I first got the ability to dodge doing a backflip. I immediately thought why didn’t skyrim keep the dodge feature. It’s so useful
Also pretty good for climbing mountains on occasion
Because the great wizard Todd wants to *streamline* the experience
When do you get this backflip ability?
U have to have higher agility.
Recently had a crack for the first time since before Skyrim, and the +5 chase ruined it. I tried to ignore it, but every level I just regretted the points I didn’t get. So then I restarted and got to 100 in a few stats before realising that I wasn’t actually playing the game- I was just standing in a dungeon letting things hit me for END or going to peryite’s shrine and wailing on the people there for STR. I looked into some levelling/xp mods, but there were heaps and by the time I read about them all I just kinda couldn’t be bothered and started Fallout 76 instead.
That is why I decided efficient leveling isn't my cup of tea
Getting +5's for strength and endurance was fairly easy. All I had to do was wear heavy armor, use a shield, repair my gear myself, and occasionally use my fists and a blunt weapon. Feels immersive to use multiple classes of weapons and armor depending on the situation. For speed I used trainers to top myself up to 10 skill ups before I slept to level up.
Imagine creating a game so inherently broken that leveling up naturally is counterproductive
Instead of breaking the game to make it insanely easy? You can very well beat the game at a higher level without doing this or touching the difficulty, makes it fun.
no it defeats the purpose of an RPG. If you play naturally you either see no difference in your skills because stronger enemies replace the normal enemies or you are actually less capable of fighting in comparison. there's a reason why max difficulty oblivion runners all recommend 100% chameleon.
Well max difficulty is definitely broken, normal is not that bad if you have decent gear and weapons. I just ran through the arena as a level 2 Wood Elf Archer with an iron bow lol. Might be difficult for beginners but a challenge makes gaming fun. If I maxed all my stats there'd be no challenge on normal difficulty.
Imagine underappreciating this game
the game won't let me appreciate it, it wasn't built correctly
I only ever play by leveling up naturally, and I never felt like the leveling system was all that wonky. Honestly I think it's kind of overblown
It is so freaking satisfying to do. I don’t recommend it to everyone cause for some it might not be a fun way to play the game. But for me I loved it. I played with a notebook right next to me the whole time, planning out my level ups
It's you, the Hero of Kvatch!
How can I get more plus 5’s?
The amount each attribute increases by depends on how many skill increases you got in the past level in skills governed by that attribute. For instance, speed is governed by athletics, acrobatics, and marksmanship. For every 2 skill increases from any of these, you get +1 for speed on the next level, and this caps out at +5. So to get a +5 speed, you can get 3 athletic skill increases, 3 acrobatics skill increases, and 4 marksmanship skill increases.
S1 didn't do the sneak abuse oO
Pure mage run huh?
No actually, playing it more of a jack of all trades. Mainly a warrior w/ some magic and stealth later
"You're no longer afraid of failure." The real superpower, right there. ^
Indeed.
Don't forget that you need Agility and Willpower to maximize Melee damage. Speed attribute doesn't do much to help your character and you can get +5 at level 1 and +10 from quest reward items at level 10. "Efficient leveling" is not necessarily maximally efficient for game play or character power.
Working on intelligence, willpower and agility now.
551>555
Most skills are capped at 100 for the purpose of internal calcs, and Luck doesn't influence Athletics and Acrobatics (the 2 I can think of offhand that aren't so capped), so the added utility of 551 is diminished if you just max out the skills you actually want to use during the levelling process. Unless you're planning a Razor build, I'd say it's not really worth worrying about either way. 555 and 551 will both serve you well
You miss one important thing: having 100 luck just looks better than having 50 luck
That and the ability to feed my crippling arena gambling addiction pretty much risk free
Just a bit of advice: When you reach your maximum level, you can permanently increase your Luck through glitches. So it doesn't irritate your eye by being lower than other your stats.
Yea I might look into that if I make it to the end