72 articlesSpellsword is one of the most versatile builds and playstyles in The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion Remastered.
As a spellsword, you’ll be able to wield a blade for melee combat while always having spells to fall back on. Spells themselves are extremely versatile, too, giving you a myriad of options in combat. You’ll be able to paralyze foes, obliterate them with powerful magic, heal yourself, and more! All while always having your trusty blade to fall back on, should you need it.
If this insane versatility sounds appealing, read on for our recommended Spellsword build!
Complete Spellsword Guide | The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion Remastered
Everything starts with the character creation in this game, as you might imagine. As we’ve explained in our character creation guide, that’s where you get to define a lot of what your class will be! With that in mind, these are our recommendations for a Spellsword build:
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Top 10 Heavy Armor Sets in Oblivion RemasteredSep 6, 2025- Race – You have a few options here. Dark Elf, Breton, Orc, and High Elf can all work extremely well as spellwords. You’ll have to weigh their pros and cons based on your preferences.
- Specialization – Magic.
- Favored Attributes – Endurance and Willpower. You’ll want to focus on Strength, Intelligence, Willpower, and Endurance when leveling.
- Major Skills – Blade, Destruction, Restoration, Light Armor, Block, Athletics, Illusion.
- Birthsign – This one is somewhat up to choice, like the race.
- The Lady is the best for utility, as it boosts Willpower and Endurance.
- The Lord is an excellent choice if you wish to be more resilient.
- Alternatively, you can pick The Mage if you want to focus more on spellcasting or The Warrior if you want to focus more on melee combat.
The Major Skills you’ve picked will also be the ones you want to focus on using as you play. The key components here are obviously Blade which defines your swordsmanship, as well as the magic schools of Destruction, Restoration, and Illusion.
Destruction will give you access to offensive spells, Restoration will give you access to defensive and healing spells, and Illusion will give you access to utility spells. Since Skills in this game improve as you use them, we recommend trying to use your spells as often as possible early on so you get access to better ones faster.
What Equipment to Use
One key thing to note with this build, as you might’ve noticed, is that you should favor Light Armor over Heavy Armor. As a spellsword, you’ll have enough abilities to cancel out or avoid damage, so there’s no real need for Heavy Armor. Light Armor will also make sneaking around much easier, which is more useful than some extra damage reduction.
As for other gear, your main focus will be to get the Umbra or Goldbrand as your endgame blades. The Umbra is obtained from its owner in Vindasel, while the Goldbrand is a reward from Boelthiah’s questline.
Aside from those key weapons, you’ll just want to make good use of Enchanted equipment. This applies to both your weapons and your armor! If you need help with the Enchanting system in this game, check out our Enchanting guide, as well. It will tell you everything you need to get started!
Of note, some important Enchantments to use are as follows:
- Shield – Gives you extra Armor Rating, which makes up for the focus on Light Armor.
- Fortify Health/Magicka/Fatigue – Increases the respective stat. Magicka is most useful if you focus on spellcasting, but Health and Fatigue are always important.
- Fortify Strength – Boosts your Strength, which increases your melee damage and your Encumbrance.
- Fortify Skill – Can be used to give you a bonus to any Skill of your choice. It can help you get access to better spells before you get them naturally through leveling, for example.
With that said, that’s all you need to know to start your own Spellsword character in The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion Remastered. Now go out there and start swinging your sword and casting spells like noone’s business!
