How lockpicking works in Oblivion Remastered

There are plenty of updated mechanics and features in the Elder Scrolls 4 Oblivion Remastered, but the lockpicking system isn’t one of them. The remaster uses the same style of lockpicking from the original game, but veterans might notice it’s a little bit tougher to pick locks this time around.

To see exactly how lockpicking works and how to improve your success rate in Oblivion Remastered, check out the guide below.

How to lockpick in Elder Scrolls 4 Oblivion Remastered

Let’s get the basics of the lockpicking system out of the way before we go too deep into the weeds.

First, there are several different types of locks in Oblivion Remastered. They range from “Very Easy” to “Very Hard,” and the type of lock you’re trying to pick determines how difficult it will be to succeed. Regardless of the lock you’re picking, you’ll need at least one “Lockpick” item in your inventory to enter the lockpicking screen. Lockpicks are located all around Cyrodiil, and they’re also sold by a majority of the merchants in the game. To find more, simply explore various caves, buildings, and entrances to new locations or visit a merchant’s shop and look at their inventory.

With a lockpick in your inventory, you can now approach a lock and attempt to pick it. The lockpicking screen shows a lock with five different slots and tumblers. Your job is to lock each one of the tumblers into place within its slot. The number of tumbles you have to lock into place is determined by the type of lock you’re trying to pick.

For example, a “Very Easy” lock only has one tumbler to secure, while a “Very Hard” lock requires you to secure all five tumblers into place. If you have a lock with more than one tumbler to secure, you can’t mess up on any of the tumblers. If you mess up on a single tumbler, all of them reset, even the ones you’ve already secured. This means you can go through heaps of lockpicks as you try and secure each tumbler.

With the basics out of the way, let me explain how to lockpick successfully in Oblivion Remastered:

• To start lockpicking, use your lockpick, which can be controlled by joystick or mouse, and move it right underneath the first tumbler on the lock.
• Once the lockpick’s head is underneath a tumbler, move your mouse or joystick up to move the tumbler up.
• As soon as the tumbler reaches the top of the lock (which is indicated by its metal springs no longer showing above the gold tube of the tumbler), you need to press the button to “Set Tumbler” (space on keyboard).
• If you did it correctly, the tumbler will remain in place at the top of the lock. If you didn’t do it correctly, the tumbler comes back down to its starting point, and your lockpick breaks. You need to secure every available tumbler before the lock opens. If you fail one time, the entire lock resets, you need to start over from the beginning, and use a new lockpick.
• Timing is everything with lockpicking. You need to time the tumbler perfectly when it reaches the top of the lock. However, you’ll find it difficult to time the tumblers, as they move at different speeds.
• To help you with this, you can move each tumbler up a few times before trying to secure it. By doing this, you’ll notice a pattern of the tumbler’s speeds. The best time to try and secure the tumbler is when it comes down slowly, which gives you more time to secure it.
• Most tumblers have two or three speeds they go up and down at, and the tumblers always alternate between these speeds in a pattern. Once you know the pattern, get ready to secure the tumbler on the turn when it’s going to go up and down the slowest.
• Make sure you know the tumbler’s speed pattern before you try and secure it, otherwise, you’ll waste a ton of lockpicks.

It’ll take quite a few tries to get the timing of the tumblers down when lockpicking. My advice is to find a “Very Hard” or “Hard” lock and quicksave before trying to lockpick it. This way, you’re able to continually practice your lockpicking without having to worry about wasting lockpicks, as you can reload the quicksave every time you run out.

Generally, the “Very Easy” and “Easy” locks won’t require a ton of time or lockpicks. However, as you start to find more challenging locks, you’ll want to make sure you save before each one to ensure you don’t go through all of the lockpicks in your inventory.

As long as you understand the timing of the tumblers, how to read the speed patterns of them, and when to secure them, you’ll be able to lockpick just about any lock in Oblivion Remastered.