The Wheel of Skills

The shape of it

Every skill runs 0 to 100. Level 0 means untouched. A character holds 300 points total, one point per level, so holding all eighteen skills at Novice costs 18 points, while one master costs a third of everything you have.

Pool

300across all skills

Per skill

100hard ceiling

Above 90

1skill only, the Seat

Above 75

3skills only

That last pair is the point of the design. Only three of your skills can rise above 75, and only one above 90, so nobody can be the best at everything. An ebony vein yields only to a Master Miner, so choose the trade you want to be known for.

The eighteen

Every skill on the Wheel, with what each of its five tiers does today. A tier starts at the level shown: Novice at 1, Apprentice at 25, Adept at 50, Expert at 75 and Master at 90. Eight skills open at a station; the other ten are taken up by doing the work. Your skills (K) show the Wheel’s own description of each tier, and where it promises more than the tables below, the tables are what the game does now.

Combat · 6

Maces, war axes, warhammers and battleaxes, one hand or two: the weapons that break armour and bone by weight, as Oblivion counted them. From Adept, tiers raise your damage, and your One-Handed and Two-Handed skill in the game menu rises with every tier. Against another player, a Master’s power attack staggers them even when they block with a weapon. Taken up by doing it: the work banks until there is a level’s worth, then the skill is offered.

Bows and crossbows. From Adept, tiers raise your damage, and your Archery skill in the game menu rises with every tier. Taken up by doing it: the work banks until there is a level’s worth, then the skill is offered.

Swords, daggers and greatswords, one hand or two. A blade is a blade: the skill that cuts and thrusts, as it was before Skyrim split the hands. From Adept, tiers raise your damage, and your One-Handed and Two-Handed skill in the game menu rises with every tier. Against another player, a Master’s power attack staggers them even when they block with a weapon. Taken up by doing it: the work banks until there is a level’s worth, then the skill is offered.

Blocking with shields and weapons, and wearing armor well. From Apprentice, each tier makes your worn armor count for more, light or heavy alike, and lets less of a blocked blow through. Blocking costs stamina, against creatures and NPCs as well as players (since 13 October): a shield costs half what a weapon does. When your stamina runs out your guard breaks, and for two seconds blocked blows land in full. Your Defense, a blessing and your race’s resistance together never take more than three quarters off a hit. Your Block, Light Armor and Heavy Armor skill in the game menu rises with every tier. Taken up by doing it: blocks, and blows you take while wearing armor, bank until there is a level’s worth, then the skill is offered.

Destruction, Conjuration and Illusion, and Alteration for a mage who chooses it as a school. Magic begins here: study at a Study Magic shelf, such as the Synod’s bookcases in Bruma, and at 25 choose one of four schools of magic and that school’s first spell, no tome needed. Each school has its own meter, and a tome must fit both your tier here and your rank in its school; a Destruction, Conjuration or Illusion tome can be read only once you have a school. Every spell you learn stays in your spellbook, and three are prepared at a time, whatever their school; you change them at a college or beside a Scholars’ Ledger. The Arcane Arts page of your skills (K) shows each of the four schools as your primary or secondary school, resting (one you changed away from, which keeps its level) or closed, with its level, and for your primary and secondary schools today’s casting against the daily limit, since only those two grow by casting. Taken up at your first sitting at a Study Magic shelf, or by doing it (the work banks until there is a level’s worth, then the skill is offered). Schools of Magic has the whole of it.

Fists, claws, quarterstaves and battle staves. Every punch that lands drains your opponent’s stamina (a power attack twice as much), and a tired fighter’s blows in close combat land much weaker, so a boxer who stays close can wear anyone down. Fists do little against armour, while a staff ignores a quarter of it. An unarmed power attack that lands knocks the weapon out of another player’s hands, at any tier. Taken up by doing it: the work banks until there is a level’s worth, then the skill is offered.

Professions · 6

Only a Blacksmith may use the forge, the anvil, the workbench, the grindstone and the smelter; someone who is not a smith cannot improve gear at all. Your Blacksmith level sets your craft tier, seven of them from Basic to Mythic, and every metal family above the basics is a technique you learn before you can forge it: from its Schematics book (used up as you learn it; you need the Scholar skill to follow it, Apprentice Scholar for a Rare book and Adept for a Legendary or Mythic one, and the book’s craft tier), or as an apprentice, by forging ten pieces beside a Blacksmith of 75 or more who knows it, though the most closely held, such as mithril, glass and ebony, come only from their books. Steel, brass and goblin work need no technique. Every Orc smith knows Orcish and every Dark Elf smith Bonemold and Chitin once they reach that craft tier; anyone else learns Orcish only from an Orc Blacksmith. A faction’s own Blacksmith forges that faction’s armour and weapons at any craft tier.

How far a piece can be improved depends on the piece as well as on you: one level for each craft tier you hold above its own, at most two, and never past craft tier 5. An iron sword reaches Superior in an Advanced smith’s hands, an Elven one Fine at best, and Rare, Legendary and Mythic pieces cannot be improved at all. Faction gear is the exception: it improves one level for each of your craft tiers, as far as the table allows, up to Legendary. Breaking metal gear down at the smelter gives back the share shown, and your Smithing skill in the game menu rises with every tier. The Blacksmithing page of your skills (K) shows your craft tier, the techniques you know and where to learn the rest. Taken up at a forge, an anvil or a smelter. More in Crafting and Trades.

Only an Alchemist may use the alchemy lab. Standing at it, you mix potions and poisons: tiers decide how strong they come out, and the lab shows you which potions the ingredients you carry can make. Crouch and use the lab to open the Brewing list instead, with every drink your tier allows, brewed from what grows and is gathered: wheat, honeycomb, grapes, jazbay, juniper, snowberries, comberries, saltrice, fire salts and moon sugar. The list marks any drink you lack the ingredients for. Skooma is forbidden in the Empire. Alchemist grows by brewing, potions and drinks alike; picking plants trains Harvesting instead, and eating ingredients teaches nothing. Taken up at an alchemy lab.

Only a Woodcutter may use chopping blocks. There is no timing to it: each blow shows a few marks on the log, one with the clearest sign of the grain, and choosing it lands the blow. Each tier makes a round longer, but shows the sign more clearly with fewer false marks, allows more slips, and gives more firewood and charcoal from a clean split; smelters burn both. A split block rests for 5 minutes, for you alone, so nobody has to race anyone for it. Taken up at a chopping block. Where to find them: Gathering and Labour.

Only a Miner may work ore veins, sea salt deposits and geodes. There is no timing to it: a round is six blows, each showing a few spots on the stone, one with the clearest sign, and choosing it lands the blow. Higher tiers see the sign more clearly with fewer false spots and more slips allowed, and decide what you can mine and how much it gives. A worked seam rests for 30 minutes (meteoric iron and adamantium for an hour). The everyday seams, iron, copper, corundum and salt, rest for you alone, so nobody races for them; precious ores, gems and geodes rest for everyone, and only one miner works one at a time. Sea salt deposits glow for Miners while they have salt to give. Taken up at an ore vein. Where the mines are: Gathering and Labour.

Only a Tailor may use the loom, where clothing and cloth armour are made and broken down, and bags (backpacks, satchels and pouches) are made. In Bruma a loom stands in the Icewind Traders. Your tier decides what the loom will make for you: a piece’s tier follows what it is worth, Common up to 15 gold, Fine up to 50, Noble up to 150, Scaled up to 400 and Masterwork above that, and a piece above your tier is refused, its materials coming back when you close the menu. A faction’s own Tailor makes that faction’s gear at any tier. Tiers also decide how much of a garment’s materials come back when you break it down. Taken up at a loom.

Opening what others locked. Only two kinds of lock can be picked: jail cell doors, and the locked chests of a dungeon or expedition your party has claimed. Anyone with a lockpick may try a cell door, and Novice and Apprentice chests; Adept, Expert and Master chests need Lockpicking at that tier. The harder the lock, the more pins it has: 2 for a Novice lock, then 3, 4, 6 and 8 for a Master’s. There is no timing: each try shows a few places along the pick’s travel, one where the pin gives most clearly, and choosing it sets the pin. A wrong choice may snap the pick, half the time for someone without the skill; each tier shows the right place more clearly and snaps fewer picks. Every lock you pick works you toward Lockpicking. The same quiet hand picks pockets: crouch beside another player, press X and choose Pickpocket. The odds run from 30% at Novice to 70% at Master (20% without the skill), better from behind and worse against a drawn weapon, and a lift takes either some of their coin or one item, never a key or anything worn. Taken up by doing it: the work banks until there is a level’s worth, then the skill is offered. More in Dungeons and Expeditions.

Support · 6

Anyone can skin a common animal, but only a Skinner may use the tanning rack. There is no timing to it: each cut shows a few points along the hide, one on the seam, and choosing it makes the cut. Each tier shows the seam more clearly, opens rarer hides and raises the chance of a second pelt. Only a Master Skinner can take a dragon’s bones and scales, though no dragons are about for now. Leather and hide broken down at the tanning rack give back from a quarter at Novice to three quarters at Master. Skinner grows by skinning and tanning, never by killing. Taken up at a tanning rack.

Anyone can read the books of the world, and every reading you finish counts toward Scholar. Books stay where they lie: reading one means putting a shuffled line back in order with a few candle stubs to spare; a wrong order burns a stub, and the words already in place stay put. Finish and you may keep a copy (at most six a day) or find a scroll between the pages (at most six a day). Spell tomes are a rare chance on every reading, better at a higher tier, with no daily limit, but each one you find makes the next rarer that day, and the 100th reading in a row without one always brings one.

A tome’s rank follows your Scholar tier and your rank in a college of mages (the Synod, the College of Winterhold or the College of Whispers): without a Senior rank you find Novice and Apprentice tomes only, Master tomes never come from reading, and the tomes of raising the dead, of calling the Daedra lords and of banishing or commanding Daedra come only to Senior ranks. Tomes of the schools your magic skills cover turn up three times as often, and reading never hands you a tome you already know or carry. Very rarely a smithing schematic is folded into the binding, and Ebony and Stalhrim ones only for a Master Scholar. When your Scholar cannot rise just now, a book tells you before you start: at the hour’s or the day’s limit it says when you can read again, and with Scholar set to Lower or Hold it asks you to set it to Raise first. A book you have read rests for 30 minutes. Taken up by doing it: the work banks until there is a level’s worth, then the skill is offered.

Only an Enchanter may use the arcane enchanter, to lay enchantments on weapons, armour and jewellery. You learn an enchantment by disenchanting an item that carries it, which also trains Enchanter, and what you learn stays learned. Capturing a soul with Soul Trap trains Enchanter a little too, up to 10 souls an hour, the bigger souls more. Each tier raises how strong an enchantment you can make, measured against the strongest enchantment of the same kind in the game, and your Enchanting skill in the game menu rises with every tier. Fortify Alchemy and Fortify Enchanting cannot be laid on anything. Taken up at an arcane enchanter.

Restoration and Alteration. The only way to learn healing and warding spells, studied at any spell study point. Alteration is shared with Arcane Arts: a priest learns it here, and a mage who chose Alteration as a school learns it through Arcane Arts. Until 25, Priest Studies at a temple trains Priest, and tells you when your Wheel has no room for it; at 25 you choose your first Restoration spell from Healing, Lesser Ward and Insect Swarm, no tome needed, and from then Priest grows by casting Restoration and Alteration spells and by prayer. Praying at your own god’s shrine counts as Priest work and raises the odds of a blessing, from 5% at Novice to 30% at Master (2% without the skill); the higher your tier, the longer a blessing lasts, from 8 hours to 24. A Priest’s healing also lifts the chill of the grave from anyone who woke at the temple, and an Expert’s healing raises the fallen where they lie. A vampire cannot cast or learn Restoration’s healing spells. Taken up by doing it (the work banks until there is a level’s worth, then the skill is offered), or at once by reading a Novice Restoration or Alteration tome at a spell study point. More in Religion System.

Only a Cook may use cooking pots, spits and ovens, so only a Cook can bake, and every dish can be cooked in every land. A cooked meal fills you far better than raw food, and a well-fed character learns at full pace while a starving one learns at a quarter. A dish with more ingredients counts for more Cook work. Higher tiers do not change what you can cook. Taken up at a cooking pot, spit or oven.

Gathering from the world’s resource nodes: plants, mushrooms, nests, wisp stalks and coin purses. Anyone can pick a plant and take its ingredient; from Adept, Harvesting adds a second one, more often with each tier. Coin purses and wisp stalks are another matter: without this skill they give something only one time in four, and a purse only half the gold, while tiers raise both the chance and the amount. Picking plants trains Harvesting, not Alchemist. Taken up by doing it: the work banks until there is a level’s worth, then the skill is offered. Where to gather: Gathering and Labour.

Skills you learn by doing

A trade opens at its station: touch a forge and you are a smith, for one point. The other ten skills have no station to walk to, so they open through the work itself. Use one before you hold it and your effort is saved. Once it adds up to a level, the skill is offered to you:

Taking it up in your skills (K) costs one point, and the effort you saved is credited to it, up to a little more than one level at once, so it pays to accept soon. Nothing is spent until you accept, so a stray arrow never costs you a point. Arcane Arts can also be taken up at your first sitting at a Study Magic shelf, and Priest by reading a Novice Restoration or Alteration tome at a spell study point. If all 300 of your points are in use, the point comes from a skill you have set to Lower (see below).

How points are earned

Only real work counts, and the server checks every piece of it: a craft at a real bench, a vein you actually worked, a fight you actually fought. Bigger work counts for more, such as a costlier craft, a costlier spell or a richer ore.

Each skill can take in only so much work an hour, so steady play beats a frantic rush; since 3 October that is two thirds of what it was before, and the same goes for the day’s limit. Doing the same thing to the same target again and again counts for less: the ninth time within an hour is worth half, and logging out does not reset that. A starving character learns at a quarter pace. The Leveling Guide has the numbers.

What speeds a skill

Some work moves its skill further than the rest. These multiply what the hour has already let through, so the hourly and daily limits stay the same; the same work simply takes you further.

Every race learns one skill 15% further: Altmer and Dunmer Arcane Arts, Argonians Harvesting, Bosmer Archery, Bretons Priest, Imperials Defense, Khajiit Martial Arts, Nords, Redguards and Maormer Blade, and Orcs Blacksmith. It multiplies like the rest of the table, so an Orc’s iron-tier forging counts 2.5 times and then 15% more, and like the others it never lifts the hourly or daily limits. However the bonuses stack, a piece of work never counts for more than five times. Study and classes before you choose your school of magic, and smithing skill books, count the same for every race.

Tempering never counts as making something new. Some work counts for nothing at all: remaking an item you broke down in the last hour, and anything done in werewolf or Vampire Lord form. The killing blow counts like any other, so a bow that drops an enemy in two shots earns both.

How long mastery takes

The hours are for a skill at its ordinary rate; the work above that counts for more gets there sooner. The daily limit near the top is deliberate. Even played perfectly, 90 to 100 takes about 75 real days at the ordinary rate, and no grinding can buy that down.

How points are lost

Nothing fades while you are away. A skill only falls when another rises past your 300 points and has to take them from somewhere, and you choose where from under the two moons, Masser and Secunda. Set each skill you hold in your skills (K) to one of three:

Skills set to Lower give way first, the highest first, and only then your lowest Raise skill above 25. A skill set to Lower falls as far as it has to: all the way to 0 for the sixteen skills you take up again just by doing them, which then leave your Wheel with every point freed (go back to the work, or its station, to take one up again), and to 1 for Arcane Arts and Priest, which open through a tome or a school of magic and so are never lost. While a skill is set to Lower or Hold its work earns nothing, so set it back to Raise before you train it. Until 12 October a held skill still rose, so look over your skills (K): any skill on Hold that you still want to grow, set to Raise.

If no skill can give way, the rising skill simply stops and you are told to set one to Lower. Taking up a new skill with every point in use works the same way, except that only a Lower skill pays for it: the point comes from your highest Lower skill, and with nothing set to Lower you must set one first.

Make your name on the Wheel

In most games you can become everything. Here you become someone. Every character has 300 points to spread across eighteen skills, from the mine and the forge to Blade, Blunt, Martial Arts, Arcane Arts and the Priest’s prayers. Dabble in all of them, or pour yourself into one. Every character starts on the same footing, with every skill at the beginning.

Find a vein, a forge or a fight, and start turning the Wheel. See how to get in.