Best classes in Oblivion Remastered

Tough decision after tough decision; at the end of the Oblivion Remastered tutorial, you'll have one more major choice before you: what class to pick. There are heaps to choose from, and, to make things even more complicated, you can also craft your own custom class. To avoid later regrets, it's wise to figure out the best class for your playstyle before moving on.

Now that you've already had to pick the best Oblivion birthsigns and the best Oblivion races, it's even more important to pick a class that matches your choices so far. The menus give you a broad idea of what each class is about by splitting them into three categories (combat, magic, and stealth) and pairing each one with some neat artwork, but it's not exactly obvious what each class does.

Best Oblivion classes

There are a total of 21 classes in Oblivion Remastered, split into three categories: combat, magic, and stealth. However, there's a fair amount of crossover between classes and only slight differences between classes of the same type.

The most important things to think about when picking a class are the major skills. Generally speaking, picking a class is basically just giving you a headstart in levelling up certain skills, so it's best to focus on those that are key to your playstyle and harder to level up. Whatever you pick (especially if you're making your own class), I'd avoid acrobatics and athletics as major skills since you'll level these up simply by moving.

Here's what I recommend based on your playstyle:

Spellsword (Magic)

• Aggressive sword & board warrior, with destruction magic to boot
• Adept in various other schools of magic

The Spellsword really is the jack of all trades. Usually, a jack of all trades is a master of none, as the saying goes, but in Oblivion, this is generally the way to go. It's the perfect balance of melee combat and ranged wizardry, which isn't just the most fun way to play (in my completely correct, objective opinion) but also one of the strongest.

Bladed weapons and destruction magic form the basis of your approach to combat, though Spellswords are also good with alteration and illusion magic. You'll also have proficiencies in blocking, heavy armour, and restoration, making them a remarkably tanky class without sacrificing offensive potential. There's not really a "wasted" skill in this class, which can't be said for most others.

The Spellsword also comes with two great favoured attributes: willpower and, most importantly, endurance. Willpower gives you a head start with magic by increasing your max magicka and regeneration rate. On the other hand, endurance increases your max health. Crucially, the higher your endurance, the more health you gain per level up. This means that getting this attribute is the best way to maximise your health in the late game.

Sorcerer (Magic)

• Skilled in almost all types of magic
• Uses heavy armour for added survivability

Like the standard Mage, the Sorcerer is adept in almost all types of magic, from destruction and conjuration, to mysticism and restoration. While the Sorcerer sounds very similar to the Mage at first glance, there's a crucial difference that helps it come out on top: it has endurance.

Just like the Spellsword, the Sorcerer comes with endurance as a favoured attribute, maximising your health efficiency with each level up. Besides this, the Sorcerer also trades the Mage's illusion magic for heavy armour proficiency, which tends to be much more practical in combat. You can play the Sorcerer as a pure caster thanks to their mastery of nearly all magic, or throw in some melee weapons for more of a battlemage approach.

Speaking of, the Battlemage is a fun alternative, though you don't necessarily need both blade and blunt weapon mastery. Likewise, The Elder Scrolls Online players (myself included) would have hoped for more from the Nightblade, a stealthy magic assassin, but it commits the cardinal sin of specialising in acrobatics and athletics.

Assassin (Stealth)

• Bow and blade master
• Sneaky and great for picking locks

With the Nightblade failing to satisfy my itch for a sneaky sword spellslinger, the Assassin is the next best option. As you've no doubt guessed from the name, the Assassin works in the shadows, taking full advantage of their skills with bladed weapons and bows. It's the closest you'll get to Skyrim's iconic stealth archer.

The proficiencies in security and sneak are great for budding thieves looking to get their mitts on everyone's treasures. While acrobatics isn't quite at the top of the list, it does at least synergise well with the Assassin's approach.

The only oddity when it comes to the Assassin is its favoured attributes: speed and intelligence. Speed simply boosts your movement speed, which, while handy, isn't exactly stellar. Likewise, intelligence focuses more on magic by increasing your maximum magicka despite not having any magic-based major skills. Ideally, this class would swap speed for strength to improve melee effectiveness.

Crusader (Combat)

• Uses both melee and magic, like a traditional RPG cleric or paladin class
• Tanky, making use of heavy armour and restoration magic

Unfortunately, most of the classes in the combat category are pretty terrible. Almost all of them have proficiency in blade, blunt, and hand-to-hand combat, which you're never going to actually need. You can only use one at a time, so you're better off picking your favourite and sticking to it. The result is that the rest of these skills go to waste. If you're going down the melee combat route, like a warrior, barbarian, or cleric-type character, you should probably make a custom class instead.

With that being said, the Crusader is a blast. Favouring strength and willpower, and boasting proficiency with melee weapons, destruction, restoration, and heavy armour, you'll be playing a tanky half-caster, half-warrior.

Custom

• Create your perfect cocktail of skills and attributes, no matter your playstyle
• Saves "wasted" skills

Creating your own custom class is the single best option if you're willing to put in the effort. You're able to pick the perfect skills for your playstyle, and avoid any wasted perks hogging a spot like most of the curated ones.

You can create any type of character using a custom class, whether it's a full mage, warrior, archer, and so on, or a combination of playstyles.

How to make a custom class in Oblivion

At the end of the tutorial in the Imperial City sewers, you'll be prompted to pick a class. Here, you can also select "custom class" at the bottom of the menu to create your own. This opens a slightly different menu where you can put all the pieces together from scratch:

• Pick a specialisation: combat, magic, or stealth.
  • Skills that match your specialisation receive an additional bonus, so it's wise to pick whichever options align with your skill choices.
• Choose two attributes.
  • These give an initial +5 bonus to the stat, helping you level it up faster and improving your effectiveness with it, especially early on.
  • Generally, warrior builds will want strength, stealthy builds, agility, and magic builds, intelligence and/or willpower.
  • Endurance is always a good option, no matter your playstyle, as it buffs your health and how much it increases with each level up. Attributes like speed, personality, and luck, generally aren't as universally useful.
• Pick seven skills.
  • You can pick skills outside of your chosen specialisation.
  • Any skills you pick here receive an initial +20 bonus and level up much faster.
  • Each skill has a description of what it impacts, so have a think about what type of build you're going for and pick accordingly. For example, destruction is a priority for mages, while blade and blunt are the main damage types for melee characters.
• Head to the overview screen to name your custom class.
• Select your custom class from the bottom of the list in whichever specialisation category you chose.

All classes in Oblivion Remastered

Below you'll find all the pre-made classes you can pick, their attributes, and their skills, so you can pick the one that suits you:

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