Skills
Here's the list of skills, their ranks, and some suggestions on how to improve the skill. In the left column I've also included the names and locations of each of the trainers in that skill. Most are in guildhalls of one sort or another or chapels. Under "Improving the Skill" I've also included any pertinent information on what you'll need to do before the Master Trainer will train you. Most are pretty simple.
For the magic skills, the only rank benefit is that you get to cast more powerful spells with more powerful effects. It appears that casting Novice-level spells helps you a lot while you're a Novice, but it helps you much less as an Apprentice. I'm not saying that it is, but it certainly appears that way. You can use Novice-level spells to practice, but once you have completed the seven Recommendation quests for the Mages Guild, you'll have access to the Spellmaker at the Arcane University, where you can make your own practice spells.
Every skill can be enhanced and boosted through magical items, potions and spells. While this will make you more effective in using the skill, you will not get the skill perk if the enhancement boosts you over that dividing line. So, while magically enhancing your Armorer or Security skill will keep you from breaking as many hammers or lockicks, you would not suddenly gain the ability to repair enchanted items or keep pins locked. Face it, if you want the perks, you have to permanently raise the skill.
On an interesting side note, the enhanced skill DOES count when the Advanced Trainers decide whether to train you or send you on to the Master Trainer. So if you'd like to bypass the Advanced Trainer and go directly to the Master, enhance the skill and ask to be trained. On the downside of this, if your skill is enhanced, but not beyond the point where you'd be referred to the Master Trainer, the Advanced Trainer will charge you more for training than they would charge for the unenhanced skill. The higher your skill, the more you'll pay for training.
| Skill and Trainers | Rank | Benefit | Improving the Skill |
|---|---|---|---|
Acrobatics Beginning: |
Apprentice | can make normal attacks when jumping or falling | Jump everywhere you go. No one is going to attack you while you're in a town, so you don't really need to worry about fatigue loss in case of combat. And no one's going to say anything to you about how goofy you look, so you don't have to worry about your pride. And who knows? Maybe the Cyrodiilic equivalent of P.T. Barnum will offer you a job. The Master Acrobatics Trainer (Torbern) has no quest. He'll train you if you can find him. He's at a camp that is more-or-less east of Lord Rugdumph's Estate near Cheydinhal. |
| Journeyman | gains Dodge ability (block and jump to avoid damage) | ||
| Expert | Fatigue loss from jumping reduced by 50% | ||
| Master | Water jump (like a dolphin) | ||
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Beginning: |
Novice | see the first effect of ingredients | munch on ingredients that you find and make potions at every opportunity (you did pick up the Novice Mortar & Pestle in the Tutorial dungeon, didn't you?) - you can sell them later if you don't want to use them, which will help with your Mercantile skill The Master Alchemy Trainer (Sinderion) wants bottles of the Tamika and Surilie Brothers Wine, Vintage 399. The closest ones would be in the wine cellar at Castle Skingrad (you have to go through it on a Thieves Guild quest). |
| Apprentice | see the first two effects of ingredients | ||
| Journeyman | see the first three effects of ingredients | ||
| Expert | see all effects of ingredients | ||
| Master | make potions from one ingredient | ||
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Beginning: |
low-level "Shield" or "Ease Burden" effects make good practice spells; use the appropriate "Open" effect rather than lockpicks The Master Alteration Trainer (Tooth-in-the-Sea) is at the bottom of the Niben near his camp from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m., but you'll need to talk to him before 1 p.m. to have the "Training" topic available. He'll want you to hang out with him on the bottom of the river for 3 hours (Argonians are exempted from this) before he'll train you - any method of staying down there is OK. If you're to the point where you need his services, your Alteration skill is high enough that you can just sit there and cast "Water Breathing" until the river dries up. |
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Armorer Beginning: |
Novice | repair non-magical items | buy a boatload of hammers and repair everything as frequently as possible, since hammers weigh 1 pound each, be careful with encumberance The Master Armorer Trainer (Gin-Wulm) will ask you questions that you can't answer if you don't have a copy of "The Armorer's Challenge" in your inventory. Buy a copy at First Edition Books in the Market District. |
| Apprentice | repair hammers last longer | ||
| Journeyman | repair magical items | ||
| Expert | repair to more than 100% quality | ||
| Master | hammers stop breaking (only one hammer needed) | ||
Athletics Beginning: |
Apprentice | regain fatigue 25% faster when running | just run everywhere and swim whenever possible The Master Athletics Trainer (Rusia Bradus) won't train you until you've discovered at least 30 locations on the overland map (check your achievements in your journal). Locations that are active when marked don't count; you have to find them. |
| Journeyman | regain fatigue 50% faster when running | ||
| Expert | regain fatigue 75% faster when running | ||
| Master | regain fatigue at normal walking rate | ||
Blade Blunt Hand-to-Hand |
Novice | basic Power Attack | no real way around these, you're going to have to fight stuff or train if you go down to the Arena and watch the two fighters sparring for three or four minutes (real-time), you'll get 5 points to your Hand-to-hand there are two Blades doing the same thing at Cloud Ruler Temple after you bring Martin, watching them for a couple of minutes (real-time) raises your Blade skill by 2 points The Master Blade Trainer (Alix Lencolia) won't train unless your Fame or Infamy (either or both works) is higher than 20. The Master Blunt Trainer (Irene Metrick) won't train you unless you've killed more than 50 people (check achievements in your journal - creatures don't count) The Master Hand-to-Hand Trainer (Helvius Cecia) wants you to fight him (fists only). You have to knock off 40% of his health within 30 seconds. Stop when he tells you to or it will be an assault. |
| Aprentice | damage bonus + Mastery Standing Power Attack | ||
| Journeyman | Left and Right Power attacks + chance to disarm opponent | ||
| Expert | Mastery Backwards Power Attack + chance of a knockdown | ||
| Master | Mastery Forward Power Attack + chance to paralyze (stun) opponent | ||
Block Beginning: |
Novice | fatigued by blocking and must use a shield or weapon to block (no bare-handed blocks) | like the offensive combat skills, you'll have to block in combat to improve this skill; rats, wolves and whatnot in the wilderness are pretty easy practice opponents there are two Blades sparring at Cloud Ruler Temple after you bring Martin; watching them for a couple of minutes (real-time) raises your Block skill by 2 points The Master Block Trainer (Andragil) will want to beat on you with her warhammer for about 45 seconds, but you can't hit back. Blocking will work, but keeping her away from you so that she can't hit you in the first place will work, too. |
| Apprentice | no fatigue while blocking (can do bare-hand block?) | ||
| Journeyman | Shield is not damaged by blocking, bare-hand block can knock opponent back | ||
| Expert | Shield block may do knockback counter-attack | ||
| Master | Shield block may disarm on a successful knockback counter-attack | ||
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Beginning: |
summon stuff; Bound Boots, Daggers, etc. are easy and cheap. I've received several skill increases using Bound Helmet while just walking around the Bravil Mages Guild looking for a book. Bound weapons may work a little easier because sheathing them dispels the enchantment so you can cast it again (cast, sheathe, cast, sheathe, ad nauseam) The Master Conjuration Trainer (Olyn Seran) will ask you to summon a Faded Wraith before he will train you. If you don't have or cannot cast the spell, a scroll will work. But those scrolls only show up in leveled loot, and relatively high-leveled loot from relatively high-level magic-slinging bad guys at that. I've pulled a couple out of loot behind Oblivion Gates, but was leveled well into the teens before it showed up there. Best advice is to either buy the spell or start raiding Necromancer and Conjurer lairs and hope for the best. |
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Beginning: |
once you have access to the Spellmaker, you can make low-level effects to fry yourself, but otherwise you're going to have to find something to fry You'll need to get either of the Advanced Trainers' dispositions up to 80 or better before they'll give you the name and location of the Master Trainer. The Master Destruction Trainer (Bralsa Andaren) has a case of the mads at Kynareth, so she's out blasting Kynareth's woodland critters. She wants you to bring her 20 Bear Pelts before she'll train you. Since Bears only show up at certain levels, this may be a problem unless you go to a merchant and buy them. |
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Heavy Armor
Light Armor |
Novice | armor degrades at 150% of normal | no pain, no gain; something has to beat on you and succeed in doing damage. Go find a not-so-friendly Rat or Mud Crab and let them gnaw on you for a while. note that the +50% protection for Light Armor Master applies only if ALL of your armor is light (including your shield); it won't work if any of it is Heavy (wearing no armor counts as Light Armor, by the way) The Master Heavy Armor Trainer (Pranal) wants you to purchase a Silver Pitcher and glass set. The glasses (not mugs, tankards, etc.) and pitcher can be found or bought all over. The Master Light Armor Trainer (J'Bari) wants an Elven Cuirass before he'll train you. Azani Blackheart (Fighters Guild quest) is about the only guaranteed find. The rest show up as leveled loot once you level into the mid-teens. |
| Apprentice | armor degrades normally | ||
| Journeyman | armor degrades 50% slower | ||
| Expert | heavy: encumberance is 50% less light: armor has no encumberance |
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| Master | heavy: armor has no encumberance |
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Beginning: |
use low-level "Light" or "Night-Eye" effects on yourself or "Charm" effects on NPCs The Master Illusion Trainer (Martina Floria) is only accessible to those who have completed the seven recommendation quests for the Mages Guild. She will want 10 Welkynd Stones before she'll train you. They're in just about any Ayleid ruin, but Vilverin (across from where you came out of the sewers at the beginning of the game) has about 20 of them scattered around its three levels and is closer than almost anything else. |
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Marksman Beginning: |
Novice | fatigued while holding drawn bow | shoot stuff; I haven't noticed that practice dummies, buckets or targets help any The Master Marksman Trainer (Alawen) won't train you unless you have an Elven Bow in your inventory. They start showing up as leveled loot about level 9 and in shops about level 13. No pre-placed ones that I am aware of. But if you're leveled into the low- or mid-teens, the odds are very good that just about any Bandit or Skeleton archer will have one. |
| Apprentice | no fatigue while holding drawn bow | ||
| Journeyman | Zoom ability (Block when drawing) | ||
| Expert | chance of knockdown on target | ||
| Master | chance of paralyzing target | ||
Mercantile Beginning: |
Novice | reduced prices for worn items | set the "Haggle" slider for every merchant; you only have to do it once for each merchant, but the harder you bargain, the more skill you'll gain when you successfully buy and sell The Master Mercantile Trainer (Palonirya) won't train you unless you have 10,000 gold. You don't have to give it to her; you just have to have it. |
| Apprentice | no price reduction for worn items | ||
| Journeyman | buy and sell any item to any vendor | ||
| Expert | invest in a shop to increase available gold by up to 500 | ||
| Master | shops always have 500 more gold | ||
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Beginning: |
"Detect Life" is a good practice effect You'll need to have completed the seven recommendation quests for the Mages Guild before you can get to Boderi Farano. The Master Mysticism Trainer (Dagail) won't train you unless you have closed at least three Oblivion Gates. For the whole Main Quest, there are only three Oblivion Gates that absolutely MUST be closed (Kvatch, the small one at Bruma and the Great Gate at Bruma), so if you've completed the Main Quest, you should have your three gates. |
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Beginning: |
any low-level "Restore" or "Fortify" effect will do All of the restoration trainers can be found in chapels. In order to get the Master Restoration Trainer to train you, you'll need to get her out of the chapel in Kvatch. In order to do that, you have to close the Oblivion Gate at Kvatch and clear out the Daedra in the area between the town gate and the chapel. Once that's done, she basically tells you that you need to finish clearing the Daedra out of the rest of the city (which means completing the "Battle for Castle Kvatch" quest). After all of that is done, you'll find her in the Kvatch refugee camp. |
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Security Beginning: |
Novice | up to four pins will drop when you break a pick (translation: if you break a pick, you'll have to start over again on anything except a Very Hard lock, where one pin will stay locked) | you've got to pick locks: chests, doors, whatever; carry an ample supply of picks. You'll get a bump toward skill advancement for every pin that you lock in place and for every lockpick that you break. Note that if you are actually picking the lock when your skill increases, the higher skill will be used for your next attempt to lock a pin. If you are using Auto-Attempt, however, your skill level remains fixed until you exit the mini-game and start again. The Master Security Trainer (J'baana) is in the Imperial Prison and wants you to deliver a message to S'krivva in Bravil. He'll train you when you come back with her reply. |
| Apprentice | up to three pins will drop when you break a pick | ||
| Journeyman | up to two pins will drop when you break a pick | ||
| Expert | no more than one pin will drop when you break a pick | ||
| Master | no pins will drop when you break a pick | ||
Sneak Beginning: |
Novice | 4x damage for one-handed melee weapons and 2x damage for bows on a successful backstab attack | sneak everywhere; follow guards around, follow NPCs around; break into houses at night and wander around the bedroom while the occupant is sleeping; sneak around the guildhalls; sneak around your target while you're on those dungeon rescue missions The Master Sneak Trainer (Marana Rian) won't train you unless you can steal a coin from her pocket. |
| Apprentice | 6x damage for one-handed melee wepaons and 3x damage for bows on a successful backstab attack | ||
| Journeyman | the weight of your boots doesn't affect the chance of detection | ||
| Expert | movement doesn't affect the chance of detection | ||
| Master | armor is ignored on a successful backstab attack | ||
Speechcraft Beginning: |
Novice | can offer bribes (woo-hoo) | it takes a boatload of gold, but bribe everyone; or play the Persuasion minigame at every opportunity (you can always bribe later to repair the damage if you're not very good at it) The Master Speechcraft Trainer (Tandilwe) wants you to talk to all of the beggars in Cyrodiil before she will train you. Beggars that you have already spoken with do not need to be repeated. There are five beggars in the Imperial City (none in the Arboretum, Arena or Palace districts; one in each of the other districts) and two in each of the other seven cities (none in Kvatch). |
| Apprentice | get a free rotation of the wedge during the mini-game | ||
| Journeyman | falling disposition during minigame is 50% slower | ||
| Expert | disposition loss from "hate it" drops from 150% to 100% | ||
| Master | bribes cost half as much | ||