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The Elder Scrolls IV Oblivion Remastered

Best Thief Build

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★ Best Birthsigns Tier List | Best Race
★ Best Weapons | Best Armor
★ Weapon IDs | Armor IDs
★ How to Cure Vampirism
★ Leveling System Explained

The Elder Scrolls IV Oblivion - Thief Class
This is a guide on the best Thief build in The Elder Scrolls IV Oblivion Remastered. Find out the best build for the Thief class, the best identity and birthsign for the Thief, and how to play as a Thief!

List of Contents

Best Thief Build

Jump to a section!
Skill Priority Best Weapon Types Best Identity Best Birthsign

Skill Priority for Thief

Blade Skill
Blade 		Light Armor Skill
Light Armor 		Marksman Skill
Marksman
Security Skill
Security 		Sneak Skill
Sneak 		Speechcraft Skill
Speechcraft

The most important skills to prioritize are Marksman, Blade, and Light Armor since these will directly affect your effectiveness in combat. Blade is especially important since Thieves don't get a natural bonus to that skill.

Besides that, you should also focus on increasing Security, Sneak, and Speechcraft. These are important utility skills to have upgraded, so try to level them up when you can.

Best Weapon Types for Thief

Primary Bow
Alternative Blade
Dagger, Shortsword

Bows are by far the best weapons for Thieves because they already have an innate bonus to the Marksman skill. Combined with their expertise in Agility and Sneaking, they can easily pick off enemies before they even know they're there.

Alternatively, Thieves can also use Daggers and Shortswords if they need to engage in melee combat. Typically, this class doesn't invest in the Strength stat, so they need to use lighter weapons to avoid getting over-encumbered.

List of All Weapons

Best Identity for Thief

Best Race Best Origin
Wood Elf Wood Elf Any

By far the best race to play for a Thief is the Wood Elf. This is because they have bonuses to Acrobatics, Light Armor, Marksman, and Sneak, which are all skills that a Thief already specializes in.

As for the origin, there's no best one since both of them have their own upsides. Reaper's March plays into the Thief's expertise in Speechcraft, but the extra Endurance that Grahtwood gets can also be extremely useful in the long run.

Best Race to Play

Best Birthsign for Thief

Best Birthsign Description
The Thief The Thief Those born under the sign of The Thief benefit from increased Agility, Speed and Luck.
・ Fortify Agility: Increases Agility by 10 points.
・ Fortify Luck: Increases Luck by 10 points.
・ Fortify Speed: Increases Speed by 10 points.

Unsurprisingly, a Thief's best birthsign is the Thief. Besides sharing the same name, the synergy between the two is very strong since the birthsign gives boosts to the favoured attributes that the class has.

If you don't want to use the Thief, then you can also use either the Shadow or Steed. This is because a Thief can greatly benefit from the Shadow's free invisibility or the Steed's extra movement speed.

Best Birthsigns Tier List

Thief Class Info

Attributes and Specialization

Specialization Favored Attributes
Stealth Speed
Agility

All Classes Explained

Thief Major Skills

Skill Unlocks
Acrobatics Image Acrobatics Base: You have no particular perk.
Lv. 25: You can now Dodge.
Lv. 50: Jumping consumes less Fatigue.
Lv. 75: You can jump over the surface of water.
Lv. 100: You take much less damage when falling long distances. Jumping consumes a lot less Fatigue.
Light Armor Image Light Armor Base: Light Armor you wear degrades much faster.
Lv. 25: Light Armor you wear degrades at a normal rate.
Lv. 50: Light Armor you wear degrades much more slowly.
Lv. 75: Light Armor you wear no longer encumbers you at all.
Lv. 100: While wearing exclusively Light Armor, your protection is greatly increased.
Marksman Image Marksman Base: You consume Fatigue while drawing a bow.
Lv. 25: You no longer consume Fatigue while drawing a bow.
Lv. 50: You can focus your vision while aiming.
Lv. 75: Your arrows have a slight chance to paralyze the target on hit.
Lv. 100: Your arrows have a great chance to paralyze the target on hit.
Mercantile Image Mercantile Base: The value of items you sell is reduced if the item is in poor condition.
Lv. 25: The value of items you sell is no longer reduced if the item is in poor condition. Merchants may also offer better items.
Lv. 50: You can buy and sell any item to any vendor. Merchants may also offer even better items.
Lv. 75: All merchants have more gold available. You can invest in a shop to permanently increase that merchant's available gold.
Lv. 100: You always buy and sell items at the best price possible. Merchants offer the best items they have.
Security Image Security Base: Up to four tumblers will fall when you fail and break a lockpick.
Lv. 25: Up to three tumblers will fall when you fail and break a lockpick.
Lv. 50: Up to two tumblers will fall when you fail and break a lockpick.
Lv. 75: Only one tumbler will fall when you fail and break a lockpick.
Lv. 100: No tumblers fall when you fail and break a lockpick.
Sneak Image Sneak Base: Hitting enemies while undetected deals extra damage, particularly with Daggers.
Lv. 25: Your Sneak Attacks are a lot deadlier.
Lv. 50: You make less noise when moving while sneaking.
Lv. 75: You are harder to detect in bright environments.
Lv. 100: Your Sneak Attacks ignore the opponent's armor.
Speechcraft Image Speechcraft Base: You have no particular perk.
Lv. 25: Disposition decreases more slowly over time when trying to persuade a character.
Lv. 50: You can rotate once for free when trying to persuade a character.
Lv. 75: Bribes cost much less.
Lv. 100: Disposition no longer decreases over time when trying to persuade a character. Disposition is also less impacted by the most disliked action.

Major skills receive a starting bonus of an initial +20 levels and they increase more rapidly.

List of All Skills

Oblivion Remastered Related Guides

Oblivion Classes

List of All Classes

All Classes

Combat Classes
Warrior Class IconWarrior Barbarian Class IconBarbarian Crusader Class IconCrusader
Knight Class IconKnight Archer Class IconArcher Scout Class IconScout
Rogue Class IconRogue - -
Magic Classes
Battlemage Class IconMage Sorcerer Class IconSorcerer Battlemage Class IconBattlemage
Healer Class IconHealer Spellsword Class IconSpellsword Witchhunter Class IconWitchhunter
Nightblade Class IconNightblade - -
Stealth Classes
Thief Class IconThief Agent Class IconAgent Acrobat Class IconAcrobat
Assassin Class IconAssassin Monk Class IconMonk Pilgrim Class IconPilgrim
Bard Class IconBard - -

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Oblivion Remastered Walkthrough Team
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