Oblivion Remastered – Master Mode Starter Guide

The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion just got remastered, and it features a particularly tough “master” difficulty setting that completely pumps up every enemy in the game while also significantly nerfing your own character’s damage output. In this guide, we will try to give you some general tips to keep in mind before you dive head first into this challenging mode.

Master Mode Starter Guide

If you have never played the original version of the game before, you should know that this remaster is still functionally almost entirely the same in many aspects.

Difficulty is among these similarities, as the scaling is still roughly the same as before. Playing in the “master” setting is almost the equivalent of moving the original game’s difficulty slider all the way to the right.

In simple terms, the difficulty settings really only just boost NPCs damage against you while also cutting your own damage output by a lot. This is why even just going up one tier above “adept” feels like a huge spike in difficulty.

Because of this, playing in the master difficulty level will be borderline masochistic with how inflated everything’s health pools will feel. Just keep that in mind before you attempt this challenge, as it forces you to play in a certain way.

Master Mode Tip 1 – Stealing From and Joining Guilds

The first bit of advice is to steal the alchemy equipment within the Mages Guild halls. These fetch a decent price from the start, but if you do it before joining them, you can also give yourself a boost in another faction.

By joining the Thieves Guild first, you can sell these stolen alchemy equipment to a fence in order to progress their own quest line while also filling up your wallet with a lot of gold. If you are not interested in joining this faction, the process is much simpler.

If you join the Mages Guild immediately, you can just pick up all of the alchemy items without any consequences. After that, you can easily sell them to NPCs within the halls to earn a nice profit. Consider keeping a set for yourself, though, as you will be making potions later on.

Regardless of your choice, make sure to try and raise their disposition first and haggle whenever you can. You will need to squeeze out every bit of gold you can due to how hard your life is going to be in this difficulty setting.

Master Mode Tip 2 – Pay Close Attention to Your Build

For the average player, you do not need to over optimize anything as you can effectively level everything up with time and still have a lot of fun along the way. In this difficulty level, however, you need every advantage you can get.

If you already have a build in mind, do everything you can to maximize all of its advantages. For example, if you are playing a mage build, make sure to pick the appropriate major skills such as destruction and restoration to be able to deal as much damage as early as possible.

This is just a very general example, as we have no idea how you plan on approaching the game. For all we know, you could be attempting a sneaky archer build for this difficulty, which would mean that you need to maximize entirely different skills and attributes.

If you need an example of a more in-depth build, check out our guide on how to make a mage tank in The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion Remastered. This is just another example that you can fine tune even more depending on your playstyle.

Master Mode Tip 3 – Craft Your Own Spells, Enchantments, and Potions

It pays to be creative when playing master difficulty, and making incredibly powerful spells and potent potions will be essential if you want to survive. Even if you are not mainly a mage, these two mechanics are going to help you a lot.

Learn to make spells that fortify your attributes, or ones that can heavily debuff and damage enemies. Even a stealth archer can benefit greatly from spell making and enchanting, as you can simply make a 100% chameleon setup that makes you an invisible killing machine.

We have a guide on how to make your own spells in The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion Remastered that can help you get started without even joining the Mages Guild. However, you will want to do the latter anyway, so at least you will be all set to make spells regardless.

This is also made much easier with the first tip, as making spells will cost you a lot of gold in the long run. Enchanting is in the same boat, as it allows you to further improve your stats and damage output.

Weakness effects or just plain elemental damage in your weapons can make a huge difference in how fast you kill enemies. Make sure to get soul trap as early as possible and build up your stack of soul gems.

Master Mode Tip 4 – Make or Hire Meat Shields

No matter what your build is, conjuration is going to be your best friend if you want to play this difficulty setting. It does not matter which one you make, as any minion will be extremely useful.

If you can get the enemies to de-aggro you for even just a brief moment, you are saving yourself from taking a large chunk of damage. Level up your conjuration magic as soon as possible, and maybe even pick it as a major skill to skip a bit of early grinding.

Minions summoned through conjuration interact in different ways with the world. They do not take boosted damage like you do, which is what makes them the perfect tanks. This also means that they will not inherit your nerfed damage output.

Once you are capable of doing so, spam conjuration spells whenever you are walking around outside of combat. The sooner you can max out this skill and unlock more powerful summons, the better.

And those are just some of the starter tips that might help you out if you ever plan on playing this difficulty in Oblivion Remastered. It is going to be a needlessly perilous experience, but if you wish to attempt it, by all means, go right ahead.

If you need some more assistance, we have a guide on how to make money fast in The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion Remastered that might help you out even further. More money is always great, as it will help you out no matter what your build or playstyle is.