Whether you’re playing Elder Scrolls or Fallout, you can always expect there to be some sort of lockpicking mechanic you’ll need to learn. To that end, here’s a full lockpick guide to get you started in Oblivion Remastered.
How to Lockpick in Oblivion Remastered
The lockpicking system in Oblivion Remastered is pretty straightforward and easy to pick up. When you find a chest or door that’s locked, interact with it. If you have a lockpick in your inventory, you can attempt to pick the lock.
In the lockpicking menu, you’ll see a cross-section of the lock itself, with five tumblers. Depending on the difficulty of the lock, you may need to set multiple tumblers.
Use the left stick to navigate to a tumbler, then tilt it upwards. After that, press the A button to set the tumbler. When you push it up, press the A button right as the tumbler hits the top. You’ll know it’s time to set it when the tumbler turns dark for just a split-second. Once it’s set, it’ll stay in place and you can move on to the next tumbler if there’s any.
Keep in mind, though, that if you fail with your subsequent tumblers, this will break the pick and may also cause previously set tumblers to fall.
As you can imagine, this gets increasingly harder with more difficult locks. The harder locks will have multiple tumblers for you to contend with, and some have different rhythms. For instance, one tumbler may fall faster than the rest, making it difficult to set it properly.
Tips for Easier Lockpicking
While the lockpick system in Oblivion Remastered sounds simple on paper, it can get frustrating with harder locks. Here are some tips to keep in mind:
- Save your game before attempting a tricky lock.
- Tilt all the tumblers up to get a feel for their timings. Do this multiple times before actually setting them, and you should be able to get the timing down.
- Increase your Security skill.
That last one may sound obvious, but honestly, practice makes perfect. Even if you fail to pick a lock, you’ll still get Security experience. As your Security skill goes up, lockpicking gets much easier as well.
How Auto-Attempts Work
As you’re lockpicking in Oblivion Remastered, you may also have noticed the auto-attempt function at the bottom of the screen. You can use an auto-attempt by pressing the X button, and the game will try to pick the lock for you.
In my experience, I’ve found that this usually works on easier locks, but struggles with harder ones. It also seems to be completely RNG-dependent, as the success rate seemed pretty consistent even when my Security skill increased.
Generally speaking I’d advise against using auto-attempts. You run the risk of burning through your lockpick stash quickly, and you’ll get a hang of the mini-game just by playing and practicing, so don’t sweat it.
How to Get Lockpicks in Oblivion Remastered
Finally, some good news! Sort of. If you find that you’re burning through lockpicks very quickly, rest assured that you can get them quite easily in Oblivion Remastered. Here’s how you can get them:
- By looting corpses.
- By looting chests.
- By purchasing them from fences.
Just by playing through the game naturally and looting corpses and chests, you should get a healthy supply of lockpicks. If you’re still having trouble, you can buy them from fences. This requires you to join the Thieves Guild, which you can do through a variety of ways as listed below:
- Speaking with the City-Swimmer in Bravil.
- Examining the Gray Fox poster in the Imperial City and asking around about it.
- Commit enough crimes to get sent to prison, then speak with Myvryna Arano after you get out.
All Lockpick and Security Difficulties
There are a total of five Security difficulty checks in Oblivion Remastered. The higher your Security skill, the more tumblers will remain in place even if you fail on the next one. Here are the thresholds:
| Security Level | Effect |
|---|---|
| Novice | No tumblers remain in place. |
| Apprentice | One tumbler remains in place. |
| Journeyman | Two tumblers remain in place. |
| Expert | Three tumblers remain in place. |
| Master | All tumblers remain in place. |
As for the lock difficulties themselves, there are only three:
- Easy
- Medium
- Hard
And that’s everything you need to know about the lockpicking game in Oblivion Remastered. Of course, if you’re still having difficulty, you could always just console command your way to victory. You do have to be on PC, though.
