Nehrim At Fate’s Edge – Survival Guide and Tips

Understanding how Nehrim: At Fate’s Edge works can be a bit tricky at first. You might find yourself experimenting quite a bit to grasp its mechanics, especially if you’re not already familiar with Oblivion. This guide aims to demystify the basics of the game, making it easier for you to dive in without feeling overwhelmed.

Introduction

I want to start with a little disclaimer: I’m not exactly an expert on Nehrim. My experience with the game is fairly limited, and most of what I know comes from playing Oblivion. There aren’t many guides out there for Nehrim, so I’m writing this to fill the gap. I’ll probably make a few mistakes by relying too much on my knowledge of Oblivion. Speaking of which, Oblivion is kind of ridiculous in a charming way, but Nehrim is a whole different ball game. Trying to approach Nehrim like it’s just another Oblivion mod can lead to a pretty frustrating experience.

From what I’ve seen in the achievement stats, a lot of folks who own Nehrim never actually get around to playing it, and even fewer manage to finish it. It’s a shame because Nehrim is a really great game. I think a big part of the issue is technical difficulties. Nehrim tends to crash more often than Oblivion, which is probably due to how finicky Oblivion can be. The stats might be skewed from back when Nehrim was newer and less stable. Thankfully, Nehrim has a pretty aggressive auto-save feature that helps mitigate the annoyance of crashes. Sure, auto-saving itself can sometimes trigger crashes, but I’d rather deal with frequent minor crashes than risk losing a lot of progress to a rare major one.

Attributes and Leveling

Let’s break down the basics of character abilities in Nehrim. Attributes serve as the primary measure of your character’s capability. When you hover over them, the descriptions usually give you a good idea of what they do. Two attributes, in particular, provide long-term benefits: Endurance and Intelligence. For every 10 points of Endurance, you gain +1 to max health each time you level up. Similarly, for every 10 points of Intelligence beyond 40, you get +1 to max magicka. This means investing in these attributes early on pays off more than waiting.

Attributes are linked to skills, which level up independently of your character’s overall level through use or training. Interestingly, your attributes affect the potency of your skills, though it’s more accurate to say that your skills affect your attributes’ power. Each time you level up, you can boost three attributes. Often, you’ll have the chance to increase some attributes by more than one point, ranging from +1 to +5. The amount depends on how many skill increases you’ve gained during that level through practice, excluding trained levels. While I’m not sure about all the thresholds, gaining one skill increase typically grants a +2, while 10 or more skill increases yield a +5.

As you might have gathered, character level isn’t a precise indicator of strength because skills level independently, and attributes can grow at different rates. Your max health and magicka can vary greatly depending on how much emphasis you place on boosting them. Unlike Oblivion, Nehrim doesn’t care much about how powerful your character is relative to their level. Enemies of varying strengths populate the map, with a message indicating their level range as you explore new areas. This range reflects what the game’s creator expects a typical player character to be able to handle in that area. It also influences the strength of enemies guarding caves and ruins, while wilderness creatures tend to be weaker. If your character ends up on the weaker side, you’ll need to level up beyond the suggested range to survive.

Skills Perks and Training

Skills serve as another important gauge of your character’s power. Typically, the level of a skill is the primary factor in determining its effectiveness. For instance, weapon skills boost weapon damage, while magic skills reduce casting costs.

Every 25 levels, you gain a skill perk, which modifies the skill’s behavior. While I assume that Nehrim’s perks are similar to Oblivion’s, some can significantly enhance a skill’s usefulness, like the expert level perk for archery, which can knock opponents back with each arrow. Others, however, may seem less useful, such as the apprentice perk for mercantile, which lets you sell damaged equipment without a cost reduction. Oddly, Nehrim doesn’t provide descriptions of perks when you acquire them, unlike Oblivion. So, if you’re unfamiliar with them, you’ll need to consult an Oblivion guide for details. I’ll mention key perks as they become relevant.

Nehrim introduces learning points, earned on level-up and by consuming certain items, which can be spent at trainers to rapidly level skills. However, this comes at a gold cost that scales with character level, not skill level. Moreover, leveling skills purely through use is challenging in Nehrim, except for a few exceptions. This creates a dilemma: it’s too costly to save all your learning points for later, yet low-level characters benefit from increasing skills primarily through use to maximize attribute increases at level-ups. For example, if you’re focusing on swordplay and use learning points to max out your sword skill early, you’ll miss out on further strength-based skill increases and only gain +1 strength per level. Keep in mind that light armor is the only skill associated with speed in the game.

Considering this, I’ll suggest specific skills to focus on training early on based on your intended playstyle later in this guide.

Fatigue and Spell Effectiveness

Understanding health and magicka in games is pretty easy. You’ll notice two more bars at the bottom left of your screen. One is for experience, straightforward stuff. The other is for fatigue. Fatigue decreases when you do things like swing a melee weapon or jump, but it gradually recovers over time. When running, fatigue replenishes slowly, but certain perks can reduce or eliminate this penalty. If your fatigue isn’t at max, your weapon damage and spell effectiveness suffer. The weight of your weapon affects how much fatigue is drained when you attack, so spamming the attack button isn’t wise unless you’re okay with minimal damage or battling spiders. Heavier weapons might seem stronger, but they can drain your fatigue faster, meaning lighter weapons could be more effective in the long run. And if you want to cast spells outside of combat, it’s best to wait for your fatigue to recover fully for maximum effectiveness.

Boosting your fatigue with special effects doesn’t add to your maximum fatigue. This means you can go over 100% of your max fatigue, which amps up your weapon damage and spell potency. I didn’t test this much in Oblivion, but I suspect there’s a limit to prevent ridiculously high melee weapon damage. Nehrim probably has a similar cap, but there’s no such restriction on spell power. You can significantly enhance your magic with enchanted items or potions, even without going all-out. However, increasing attributes that boost max fatigue can weaken the impact of fatigue-boosting effects, creating a bit of a balancing act.

Wearing armor can also reduce your spell effectiveness, though this penalty lessens as your skill in that armor type improves.

Movement and Blocking

In Nehrim, character speed can vary greatly and depends on several factors. First off, your run speed is influenced by your speed attribute, athletics skill, armor worn, whether your weapons are drawn, if you’re sneaking, and whether you have a feather effect active.

Investing in athletics early on is a smart move since it won’t negatively impact your agility and can significantly boost your running speed. Since fast travel is limited, any increase in speed can save you valuable time. Keep in mind that heavy armor slows you down more than light armor, so if you need to make a quick getaway, consider removing it. The expert perk of heavy armor can lessen the encumbrance effect and reduce the movement speed penalty, while the master perk of heavy armor and expert perk of light armor eliminate these penalties altogether. It’s also advised to sheathe your weapons when not in combat to avoid movement speed penalties.

As for the feather effect, it didn’t seem to noticeably affect movement speed in my experiments. However, there might be a hidden condition that strengthens with the consumption of certain items like ice claws or draughts of endurance.

Now, let’s talk involuntary movement. Nehrim has replaced Oblivion’s stagger mechanic with an enhanced knockback mechanic. When hit without blocking, you’ll be knocked back to some degree. This knockback is influenced by the damage dealt, your armor type, and your agility attribute. Higher agility and heavier armor reduce the knockback effect. Blocking is highly effective in Nehrim as it not only reduces damage taken but also staggers the enemy, giving you an opportunity to counterattack or escape. However, spiders in Nehrim don’t adhere to these rules. They won’t respect your blocks and will immediately retaliate after bouncing off your shield. Since spiders have a short range and never block themselves, the best strategy against them is to keep them at bay with your own attacks to prevent them from hitting you.

Money

In Nehrim, making money can be done through looting, crafting, and interest, but none of these methods are perfect. Looting is crucial for acquiring items for personal use, but grabbing high-value items to sell can also boost your funds. However, there’s a catch with runes, small gems used to enchant equipment—they have a good price-to-weight ratio, tempting you to collect and sell them. Yet, they end up being dead weight as few merchants trade in them. To sell runes before reaching a Mercantile skill of 50, you’ll need to apply them to other loot.

Crafting, particularly alchemy, plays a significant role. Alchemy serves three main purposes: crafting potions of strengthen fatigue, generating income, and boosting attributes like intelligence. Potions of restore fatigue and health are easy to mass-produce, though the slow regeneration of custom restore health potions makes them less effective in emergencies. Restore magicka potions are valuable in combat. Ingredients for these potions can be bought from merchants or harvested from farms without penalty. Initially, custom potions have low monetary value, but as your skill increases, they become highly profitable.

The biggest challenge for the alchemy plan is finding a mortar and pestle. You usually only find them in dedicated alchemy shops in major cities. However, there’s a roadside stand near Trinn Abby where you can buy one.

If you’re into crafting, you might find it profitable. Crafted items often sell for more than the raw materials, but I haven’t delved too much into crafting yet, so I’m not entirely sure.

Now, onto interest. In Nehrim, there’s a bank where interest accrues every 4 days. Since you can accomplish quite a bit in 4 in-game days, it takes a while for the interest to start adding up significantly.

Regarding the other options, there’s something called hunting skills. By investing in an expensive book and using some learning points, you can boost the loot obtained from animals, including alchemical ingredients and pelts. This loot weighs nothing, making it easy to carry.

As for what to do with your gold, purchasing equipment doesn’t seem worth it, except maybe for the ridiculously priced relics in the capital city, which are more of a status symbol than a practical purchase. Gold is better spent on training and spells, and you should be generous with your spending in these areas.

Magic

If you’re looking to play as a mage in Nehrim, you’re in for a treat. Magic in this game is incredibly potent and adaptable, offering a wide range of spells to complement any playstyle. Compared to Oblivion, the spells in Nehrim are notably more powerful, with exceptions like the infamous weakness to __ combos and the instant kill spell. This makes mages a force to be reckoned with in the game world.

Access to spells in Nehrim is primarily gated by two factors. Firstly, your character’s level determines when you unlock new tiers of spells, with the final tier becoming available at level 42. Secondly, your proficiency in specific magic skills also influences which spells you can cast. While Nehrim tends to prioritize level-based spell progression, skill perks play a role too, so keep that in mind as you advance.

It’s essential to note that casting spells is often prohibited in many regions of Nehrim, carrying a hefty bounty of 500 gold per violation. This means you’ll need to be cautious about where you unleash your magical prowess to avoid attracting unwanted attention from authorities.

Looting

Nehrim presents a formidable challenge if you stick solely to the main quests and side missions. Each region is teeming with dungeons, each containing valuable and intriguing equipment. Exploring these dungeons not only yields valuable experience points but also rewards you with powerful items. Every ruin, crypt, cave, and mine is practically guaranteed to hold at least one significant piece of equipment.

Now, if you’re new to Nehrim and haven’t played Oblivion, you might be frustrated to find out that you can’t use hammers to repair magical equipment. However, there’s a perk in the craft skill tree that enables you to repair magical gear. Therefore, it’s advisable for all new characters to invest their learning points into reaching a craft level of 50 as soon as possible. Although craft is an endurance skill and it might seem tempting to level it through usage to get better endurance increases, craft levels very slowly. Unlike in Oblivion, there’s no way to damage your gear outside of combat. So, it’s not worth waiting until your endurance is 100 or your craft reaches 50 naturally to equip enchanted gear.

For your convenience, the game provides a secure chest where you can store your belongings. This chest can be accessed from various locations. However, similar to Oblivion, there’s a limit to the number of items that can be stored in a container. Exceeding this limit can lead to bugginess where not all items are visible. While there are some workarounds available, it’s best to be aware of this issue and avoid using the chest to store every item you come across. Instead, prioritize storing important or heavy items such as unused armor or crafting materials.

Regarding crafting, while you can create your own gear with the right materials and skill level, the quality of craftable equipment is uncertain. However, the enchantments on salvaged armor and weapons tend to be superior to those obtained by using rune stones on mundane gear.

Grindable Skills

Every skill in Oblivion can be improved through repetition. In Nehrim, efforts are made to reduce the grindiness, but traces of it remain. Let’s delve into skills that can be leveled effortlessly, requiring minimal action once set up. These methods stray from the intended gameplay, offering substantial advantages when exploited. Additionally, I’ll touch on grinding techniques for endurance skills, as boosting endurance early allows you to concentrate on other attributes later on.

Magic Skills

Each spell has a school, and when cast on a valid target will increase your level for that school. It is apparent that any self targeting spell can be used to grind out levels in its magic skill. What you may not know is that if you hold down the cast key, you will continuously cast that spell so long as you don’t run out of magicka. That means if you know a spell that is cheep enough where you can cast it repeatedly, you can grind that skill by finding something to weigh down the cast key. (This is easier if you reassign the cast key to spacebar.) This might not be an option early in the game, as casting costs tend to start high, then get reduced as you gain more skill/luck. There is armor that increases your magicka regeneration, but that would be very difficult to obtain at a low level. If you have enough magicka regeneration, you can also weigh down the block key, (default right alt.) For some reason, hold down cast and block at the same time greatly increases how quickly you cast spells. Lastly, the restoration school levels extremely slowly may just be worth training, even at the low levels.

Athletics

• To level up Athletics effortlessly, you can utilize the auto-move feature to continuously swim against a wall. Alternatively, you can repeatedly run into a wall, although this method levels up more slowly. Personally, I don’t find grinding Athletics worthwhile and prefer using learning points and natural leveling. Sneak is also an agility skill and can be leveled much faster.

Sneak

• Grinding Sneak follows a similar principle to Athletics. You need to be in stealth mode and undetected near another creature, preferably a non-hostile NPC. This is best achieved in safe indoor locations like taverns that never close. In such conditions, you can simply auto-run or auto-walk into a wall.

Armor

• Grinding Armor is often combined with Restoration. You’ll need a weak healing spell and a weak enemy that doesn’t damage you faster than you can heal. Let the enemy attack you while you out-heal the damage. However, there are challenges. Knockback mechanics can interrupt the process, and the game’s lack of autosave during combat means you risk losing progress if the game crashes or you die. That covers the painless grinding methods. Now, let’s discuss some endurance skills and their more challenging grinding techniques.

Block

• Spiders are key for leveling Block. Since they are not staggered by blocking, they make good practice partners. It’s important to note that when you block an attack, you only gain experience in the Block skill, not in armor skills.

Acrobatics

• Understanding how Acrobatics levels can be perplexing. It seems you gain some experience for jumping but significantly more for taking falling damage. If avoiding falling damage is your goal, find an area with a low ceiling to perform jumps faster by hitting your head against it.

Getting Started

Nehrim starts you off in a tutorial area where you level up twice. If you’re aiming for perfect leveling, this might trip you up because you’d need to grind out 19 or 20 levels of acrobatics, which can be tough. Also, you probably won’t get a +5 to intelligence, so keep that in mind.

Once you’re outside, making money becomes a top priority. Alchemy is a great way to start, as it can boost your intelligence without needing to buy mysticism or illusion spells. Stick to roads to reach major settlements and farms without encountering too many enemies. Wearing heavy armor early on can help with endurance, and switching to clothing for faster travel when not in combat is a good idea. If you encounter enemies like wolves, you can always switch back to armor during the fight.

Since intelligence governs many skills, don’t worry about over-leveling alchemy; focus on earning money instead. Invest in spells and training, especially in crafting skills. Reaching level 50 in crafting is important, and the expert level perk is valuable for repairing armor and weapons up to 125%, boosting their effectiveness. Prioritize hunting skills for extra loot, which will pay off in the long run. If you reach the capital, consider upgrading your alchemical equipment with the money you’ve earned.

When you feel prepared, take a break from money-making to complete quests or explore dungeons. Aim to increase endurance to 100 early on for a significant boost in movement speed, either by switching to light armor or by training it up without penalty. Prioritize increasing intelligence early for more magicka, which adds to the fun of the game.

Common play patterns involve training specific skills and learning spells. Restoration magic is crucial for healing and strengthening spells in all scenarios, so prioritize it accordingly.

Characters Overview

The Brawler

• Training Priorities – When you’re playing as a brawler, focus on honing your skills in athletics and heavy armor.
• Key Spells/Effects – Make sure to master spells like light, paralyze, and absorb health to excel in combat.
• Optional Spells/Effects – Consider adding spells like reflect spell, reflect damage, shield, summon, and freeze environment to your arsenal for added versatility.
• 3rd Attribute – Strength should be your primary attribute to enhance your melee prowess.

The brawler is a straightforward character, relying on melee weapons for dealing damage. Despite their simplicity, they face challenges, particularly with increasing strength, which only grows by 2 per level through combat. Heavy armor is preferred, though light armor is viable, alongside proficiency in mysticism and illusion.

Dark dungeons pose a challenge, so carrying a light source is crucial. While torches are an option, using spells of light is recommended for flexibility, as using a two-handed weapon or shield alongside a torch is impractical. Paralyze spells offer significant advantages, immobilizing enemies behind shields and enabling uninterrupted attacks. Combining paralyze with absorb health spells during prolonged melee engagements can greatly benefit brawlers.

Brawlers may struggle against ranged enemies, especially early on when heavy armor and drawn weapons impede movement. Paralyze spells become invaluable in closing the distance and engaging such foes effectively.

The Wizard

• Training Priorities – Focus your training on mastering destruction magic.
• Key Spells/Effects – Prioritize spells that deal damage and restore magicka to sustain your magical onslaught.
• Optional Spells/Effects – Consider incorporating spells like absorb spell and summon for added versatility in combat.
• 3rd Attribute – Emphasize willpower to bolster your magical abilities and resilience.

The wizard specializes in vanquishing foes through the destructive power of magic. However, they face the constant challenge of managing their magicka reserves, often relying on potions in the early stages. While illusion and mysticism can enhance intelligence, magicka during combat is primarily allocated to offensive spells, relegating other magical schools to secondary roles.

To navigate dark environments, wizards may utilize illusion spells for visibility, though torches remain a practical alternative. Early and consistent training in destruction magic is crucial for reducing spell costs, ensuring smoother combat encounters. Wizards must exercise caution when facing enemies with a reflect spell buff, as these pose significant threats. Engaging such foes requires a slow and careful approach.

While summoning allies may seem advantageous, it can complicate combat for wizards, making it challenging to predict enemy movements and increasing the likelihood of spell misses. Despite this, summoning spells remain optional for those who prefer additional targets to divert enemy attention. For wizards, maintaining supplies of fatigue-enhancing effects is vital, as fatigue directly impacts their magical prowess and effectiveness in combat.

The Sneak Thief

• Training Priorities – When it comes to training, there are no set priorities for the sneak thief – feel free to explore various skills and abilities.
• Key Spells/Effects – Focus on mastering spells like infravision, summon, chameleon, and invisibility to enhance your stealthy approach.
• Optional Spells/Effects – Consider incorporating spells such as detect life for additional reconnaissance capabilities.
• 3rd Attribute – Agility should be emphasized to improve your overall agility and effectiveness in combat.

The sneak thief relies on achieving critical hits by attacking enemies undetected. While pure stealth isn’t prevalent in Nerhim due to the necessity of killing enemies to level up, every character should have a plan for stealth missions in the main campaign. Stealth initially starts off weak but becomes potent once you’re skilled enough to attack without revealing your location, especially in dark conditions and with a bow. After the initial critical hit, however, you may need to engage in direct combat.

If utilizing a bow, summons can distract opponents in melee, while invisibility aids in repositioning if targeted or cornered. Chameleon effects bolster stealthiness, and infravision is essential for clear vision in darkness. While melee weapons deliver more potent critical hits, they’re considered more of a late-game luxury.

In terms of training, there are no strict priorities. Invest learning points in skills like marksman for increased damage, athletics for speed, or alchemy for powerful potions. The master perk of alchemy, which allows potion creation from a single ingredient, presents intriguing possibilities, potentially yielding potent potions from unique ingredients like sparks of fire or ice claw. Additionally, high acrobatics skill adds a fun dimension to gameplay, offering increased mobility and agility.

The Uncommitted

• Training Priorities – Prioritize training in destruction magic to master various offensive spells.
• Key Spells/Effects – Focus on spells for dealing damage, absorbing life, paralyzing foes, and enhancing visibility with light and infravision.
• Optional Spells/Effects – Explore all available spells and effects to adapt to any situation encountered.
• 3rd Attribute – Emphasize luck to provide a slight permanent boost to all skills and abilities.

The uncommitted character is versatile, adapting their fighting style based on the situation. They utilize a mix of weapons and offensive spells, primarily focusing on battlemage combat. Bows are reserved for engaging ranged enemies to avoid lengthy pursuits.

As uncommitted characters utilize a variety of offensive skills, none reach high levels initially. However, prioritizing destruction training is essential to unlock powerful spells, with reaching 50 providing versatility, though further investment is needed for advanced spells.

Luck, an unusual attribute, acts as a small permanent enhancement to all skills, including weapon damage and spell casting costs. It should never be disregarded outright, as it significantly impacts overall effectiveness. While it typically occupies the fourth attribute slot, it remains valuable for uncommitted characters seeking adaptability in their combat approach.

Security and Persuasion

In Nehrim, you’ll find two mini-games carried over from Oblivion. Let’s kick off with “Security.”

Security

The security mini-game in Nehrim, carried over from Oblivion, is about picking locks. Your skill in playing matters more than your character’s skill level. Lockpicks can be pricey, but you can craft them at the forge. Avoid spending learning points on Security, though. To pick a lock, you hit the tumblers one by one and aim to lock them in place with a left click. Timing is crucial; if you get it right, the tumbler stays up. Otherwise, it falls, potentially breaking the lockpick. Personally, I rely on the sound each tumbler makes when hit. A brief sound means a small window for success, while a drawn-out sound indicates a wider window.

Speechcraft

I haven’t opened the speechcraft window yet in Nehrim, as it doesn’t seem necessary for quests. This mini-game lets you alter an NPC’s disposition towards you, potentially unlocking new dialogue options and easing negotiations. Although I haven’t used it myself, I’ll share what I know from Oblivion, assuming it’s similar. You cycle through four types of persuasion, with the NPC liking two and disliking two. Your goal is to arrange them in an order that maximizes positive interactions and minimizes negative ones. There’s a limit to how much disposition can be raised through persuasion, but if you don’t reach it, you can keep playing indefinitely.