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The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion Hints
Lockpicking Tips
1 of 12: No one seems to care if you unlock a door or container by casting a magic Open spell on it, so do that whenever you can in order to avoid having to sneak while opening locks.
2 of 12: The Tower Stone gives a Warden Key power that's great for opening locks that are rated "hard" or lower, so get it as soon as you can.
3 of 12: In order to pick a lock without magic, you'll have to have at least one lockpick in your inventory, preferably several.
4 of 12: Messing with the lockpick "mini-game" where you lock tumblers into place individually is a waste of time and lockpicks on all but the easiest one-tumbler locks.
5 of 12: On tougher locks, quicksave your game and then use the "auto attempt" option over and over. If you lose too many lockpicks, quickrestore and try again.
6 of 12: Check the Spellmaking Tips to see how to make a Fortify Skill spell for the Security skill that'll help a lot when using the above tip.
7 of 12: NOTE: A Security skill book, "Advances in Lockpicking," says that locks can be easier to pick if you use a torch to heat them up. Some players have said that opening locks manually while having a torch equipped does actually make it easier, but I never saw any strong evidence of this when I tried it.
8 of 12: That's pretty much the way to do it until you're level 10 and able to do Nocturnal's Daedric Shrine Quest.
9 of 12: That'll get you the Skeleton Key, which is the ultimate lockpick. It never breaks, and you always automatically use it when you pick a lock.
10 of 12: With it, you can hit "auto attempt" over and over on any lock, even the "very hard" ones, and eventually get them open.
11 of 12: Due to this, it's not useful to start the game with a very high Security skill or bother to pay a trainer to train it up. (Especially since your skill increases a bit every time you attempt to pick a lock, and you get a big +40 skill bonus for having the Skeleton Key.)
12 of 12: The only remaining problem is being able to sneak well enough to pick locks undetected in populated areas. See the Sneaking Tips for more about that.
