My first true foray into open world RPGs was one of the most beloved games of all time, The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim. I spent hours exploring, looting, and running away from dragons plummeting out of the sky towards me. What a time.
So, when The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion Remastered came out, I knew I had to jump in. With a hearty mix of nostalgia and novelty, this game has truly felt like I’ve come home, with a few exciting differences that made me wish I played the original years ago.
Despite this, there are so many tips, tricks, and quality of life elements that I wish I’d known about before jumping in. If you’re new to Oblivion , here are my top 15 tips to become the Hero of Kvatch and menace the hardworking people of Cyrodiil.
#1: Save (Scum)
You’re sneaking around Castle Skingrad or the Imperial Palace when, suddenly, a guard rushes up to you. “Stop, criminal scum! You’ve violated the law.”
Your choices are few: pay the court a fine, serve your time in jail, or resist arrest. None are ideal: you’ll still get all your stolen stuff confiscated, whether you pay or go to jail. But, if you resist arrest, then you’ll be up against half the city’s guard.
Occurrences like these is why it’s critical to save, and save often. There’s a decent chance you’ll kill an innocent bystander, or worse, someone integral to a lucrative side quest.
If you’re a sneaky thief—or just want to get into that tempting jewellery box—then saving before attempting to lockpick is also vital. It’s a tough minigame until you get the hang of it, and saving will stop you running out of lockpicks before you get into that juicy stash.
Sure, it’s a bit scummy. But with a game as unpredictable (and, honestly, glitchy) as Oblivion, it’s almost required.
#2: Be Strategic With Your Set Up
Do you want to be spamming spells? Hardy with hand-to-hand combat? Or super skilled at sneaking about?
New players are given very little to work with when they first boot up the game. While the game does tell you that Argonians are good at picking locks, or that Imperials are competent with heavy armour, it’s far too easy to set up for skills that you don’t vibe with.
I knew from the start that I prefer a stealth build, with an emphasis on ranged attacks and restoration magic. Stay out of trouble, don’t die. Simple. So, I became a “nimble and quick” Wood Elf (great for scouting and thieving). They’re also known as the best archers in all of Tamriel, so what could go wrong?
I got +10 in Marksman and Sneak, which is great, but also in Alchemy, which I barely interacted with throughout the game. I also had no idea which class to go for, which meant that I had a few Major Skills that I barely touched, like Illusion and Alteration. I could have really done with more of a boost to Personality or Strength, but you can’t have it all!
Basically, be strategic with your races, skills, and birthsigns if you want to have an easier time crawling through caves and taking out Dremora.
#3: Jack Of All Trades
If you’re roleplaying a buff Redguard or Orc, you may not want to join the Mage Guild. But if you’re a new player wanting to get the most out of your game, then joining as many Factions as possible will give you that breadth of experience.
We’ve got:
– The aforementioned Mage’s Guild, which helps you rise through the ranks of the magic users of Cyrodiil
– The Thieves Guild, which encourages theft—but not murder!
– The Dark Brotherhood, which encourages murder—and theft!
– The Blades, led by the indomitable Grandmaster Jauffre, fighting to save the realm and protect the Emperor
– The Fighters Guild, for practicing combat and adventuring for the good of the realm.
You’ve also got other, lesser guilds, that are either temporary or come with DLC or other sidequest conditions, from the Knights of the Nine to the fantastically loopy Court of Madness.
There are plenty of perks of joining these factions. Some factions provide sleeping quarters, containers for all your junk, and followers. I personally loved getting given a bespoke Staff from the Mage’s Guild, which allowed me to Silence anyone I liked. The Thieves Guild means you can sell your stolen goods, so unless you’re roleplaying as a goody-two-shoes, I guarantee you’ll need a Fence. If you become a Knight of the Nine, you get a fun outfit so you can cosplay as someone who doesn’t steal and murder around Cyrodiil. Imagine!
I also found it really useful during a very stressful 9 days where I became a member of the pale undead. Because guild members can come and go at any time of day, you can escape from the sun to avoid damage. Sleeping guild-mates are also always available to quench your thirst until you can find the Cure for Vampirism potion—which, of course, takes you all over the realm, day or night. I thought jobs were meant to give you reasonable accommodations for your disability?
#4: Hoarder SOS
You crouch and take a deep breath, drawing your bow. Rats and ghouls litter the tunnels around you, their lives ended in a heartbeat. Release your arrow—the goblin in front of you falls to the ground, dead. Finally: you’ve made it into the depths of the cave, where a solitary chest sits, tantalising you.
Lockpicks snap: one, two, three. It’s open. It’s a mace with Frost Damage and Health Drain. You need it for your collection! But you take it, and suddenly, you’re over encumbered. Cue frustration and a mad shuffle through your bag to see what you can chuck.
It’s not even that heavy. The problem is, you’ve got nowhere to store all the (useless) items that you’ve picked up in Anvil, Chorrol and Leyawiin and their surrounding caves.
My advice? Get a home as soon as you can. Sure, you can stash items in certain nooks around the land. But for consistency—and to feel like you belong in Cyrodiil, of course—it’s worth buying that home in Skingrad or unlocking Battlehorn Castle.
Particularly if you’re like me, and you like hoarding every interesting trinket you find. Who knows when it’ll be useful?
#5: Roid Up
Speaking of hoarding: there’s nothing worse than going into an Oblivion Gate, seeing a fancy enchanted weapon, and being unable to carry it out. Why do all these Dremora have such heavy loot?
Carry weight and inventory management are well-known, frustrating mechanics in Elder Scrolls games, but there are a few key things you need to do to make it a little bit easier on yourself.
The first depends on your money and/or your Alchemy skill. Grabbing every Potion of Feather you can find is a godsend for when you don’t want to drop that precious Vampire Dust or 280 arrows, letting you fast travel to a town to sell your goods ASAP.
You can also nab a Fortify Strength or a Feather enchantment. Both offer similar benefits—whilst Fortify Strength directly increases your maximum carrying capacity, Feather reduces the weight of items you are currently carrying. However, the requirements do differ. Feather needs a high Alteration skill, whilst Fortify Strength needs the Restore skill.
Alternatively, you could make sure to increase your Strength attribute whenever you level up. This directly influences carrying capacity, but is admittedly irritating to have to spend the points when you don’t need a high Strength stat for your magic wielder or your sneaky marksman.
None of these options offer a quick fix, so be prepared to stumble around Cyrodiil frustrated and out of breath for at least the first few hours.
…or you can just mod the game. RIP console gamers.
#6: Hooray For Capitalism
This may be the only time I will utter that phrase.
Look: hoarding is one thing. But realistically, you’re going to need to make money so you can buy all the potions, spells, and training sessions you want.
The secret is: sell often to merchants. The more you sell, the higher your Mercantile skill, and the higher your Mercantile skill, the more money you can sell things for. It’s a circle, so let’s strive to make it perfect.
It’s also worth levelling your Persuasion skill at the same time. We all know that John from the local Tesco Express will give you a free Freddo if you butter him up enough (Disclaimer: not true). Oblivion merchants will be more generous with haggling if they like you, so get schmoozing away. Eventually, you’ll have a high enough Mercantile skill to sell any type of item to any merchant, so it’s really worth investing early.
#7: Sleep Really Does Make You Stronger
Gym rats *shaking hands emoji* Oblivion players
The only way to level up in Oblivion is to find a bed and sleep. No protein powder for this battlemage: you need to get your full 1 hour in to reap the benefits of your training sessions.
That’s harder than you think: you can’t sleep in an otherwise owned bed, and there needs to be no enemies nearby. You can’t get your beauty sleep if you’re interrupted by a mountain lion with a grudge! So, find an inn and get beefed up.
However, for some players, not sleeping is more advantageous. Oblivion has an aggressive level scaling system, so if you’re focussing on improving your Speechcraft or Mercantile Skills, then you may find yourself outmatched by roiled up enemies quite quickly. Delay that levelling up process and you can hone your Skills without incident.
And don’t worry: your points roll over. You aren’t missing out.
Rise and grind!
#8: Pop Up Panic
It’s time to elaborate on one of the most stressful experiences I had in my time playing Oblivion Remastered. Buckle up.
I was happily running around completing sidequests around Cyrodiil. There was a particularly difficult cave that I’d visited a few days prior, but I thought nothing of it, and I was happy to get my Light Armor and Blade skills up taking out some higher difficulty enemies. A few days later, it was time to sleep to level up. I (resentfully) paid 40 gold for the privilege of a bed at the Cheydinhal Bridge Inn and then (happily) tumbled into the comfy room to rest up and lock in those gains.
That night was a fever dream. I tossed and turned, experiencing unsettling visions. When I woke up, a dreaded pop up told me that I was a vampire.
This led me to a painful 9 day excursion where I travelled all over the realm searching for a cure. At first, it was fine. People thought I looked ill, but otherwise were perfectly happy to talk to me and help me on my quest. I was stronger and could no longer be paralysed. I could travel wherever I liked, whenever I liked, and it really seemed like I could gather the resources I needed for a cure easily enough.
Soon, however, it became difficult to get around at all. People would refuse to talk to me. I was incredibly weak to fire.
But the worst part was the sun damage. I didn’t want to feed on the innocent (I wanted to keep my infamy down as much as possible—ignore all my Dark Brotherhood and Thieves Guild ambitions, they don’t count!), so travelling during the day soon became impossible.
What’s the point of this story? Basically, pay attention when pop ups flash up in the corner of the screen. They can be so subtle that you miss them, but realising I had contracted Porphyric Hemophilia three days earlier and taking a Cure Disease potion would have saved me all this agro.
#9: Attribute Atrophy
Speaking of those sneaky pop ups: did you know that your Attributes could be damaged semi-permanently?
I didn’t until about halfway through my playthrough. Whenever I fought a Dremora and saw a pop up that said something like “Your Willpower has been damaged”, I just assumed that only meant for a short period, like how your Fatigue recovers itself over time. Nope—it’s permanent until you sort it out.
I then made it a habit to stop off at the chapels in the cities to pray to the Nine. They restore your Attributes, no questions asked (except if you’re incredibly infamous; then all the questions asked). How can anyone not believe in the gods in these games when they give you tangible benefits like these?
Alternatively, there are various spells and potions, like Restore Strength or Restore Willpower, that can help with specific Attributes. Potions are one use, of course, but maybe that’s easier than going around all the churches to collect the full set of spells.
#10: Channel Your Inner Astarian
Even if you’re playing as a brazen fighter or a magic user, it’s almost a necessity to get good at Lockpicking.
There are plenty of side quests that involve sneaking around and getting into places you aren’t welcome. Getting into the living quarters in any castle, for example, is often lucrative, and means that you can sometimes talk to key characters outside of their official court times. Breaking into houses and finding a Very Hard to lockpick chest means a chance to pick up some powerful loot or family heirloom to sell to those all-important Fences.
Even if you don’t care about stealing from the crazy and colourful characters around Cyrodiil, Lockpicking’s pretty much a necessity while exploring caves. Surely your curiosity won’t be satiated if you find a chest you can’t open? Or a door you can’t peek behind?
Lockpicking is a tricky beast. There are 5 tumblers per lock, and you need to tap the lockpick up into each tumbler and set each one at the top of its movement. They all move at different speeds when tapped, so keep an eye out.
Top tip: focus on the tumblers that move slowly upwards. These are the ones you want to set. You can also listen out for a lower-pitched click followed by a higher-pitched click, which indicate the slower tumblers.
Honestly, you just need to sit down and grind out getting good at Lockpicking. I spent a good half an hour once just playing about with it, save scumming and getting used to the motions and the sounds. Trust me, it’s worth it—now, I don’t even need the Skeleton Key that opens any lock (given as part of the Thieves Guild questline). I am a Lockpicking genius.
#11: Hone With Hammers
It is well known, both in Oblivion and IRL, that in order to improve your skills, you need to do them.
What does this mean? Well, screw fast travel and horse riding: if you want to improve your Acrobatics skill, then leaping around like a lunatic across the fields and mountains will get you there faster. Want to level up in Alteration? Spamming the Buoyancy spell, even when you aren’t underwater, is an efficient way to do so. For Hand To Hand, putting away your sword every once in a while and pummelling the undead into dust is a useful means to an end.
And whatever character you’re playing, you’ll need to repair your armour and weapons sooner or later—sometimes deep in a dungeon. This is where Repair Hammers come in.
These Repair Hammers improve your Armorer skill. The higher your Armorer skill, the less Repair Hammers you’ll need per item. So use them.
At first I was saving up for actual professional armorers to repair my equipment for me. Screw that. You’ll level up and save money by using Repair Hammers, so have at it.
#12: Restoration Magic is Goated
Speaking of spamming skills: it was almost funny how quickly I got to level 100 in Restoration magic.
And it makes sense, right—you’re going to be hit often, so having a Restoration spell equipped at (almost) all times is a necessity, especially if you’re focussing mainly on attacking with physical weapons instead of magic. My favourite is Revive, which not only restores your health, but also your fatigue, preventing you from staggering mid fight when you run out of stamina.
Spamming Restoration as I was running across Cyrodiil was great too. It meant that I didn’t care much about taking fall damage, and soon, I could use the most powerful Restoration spells. Win-win.
It’s not just about restoring health and fatigue. Other Restoration spells include Absorb, which allow you to steal Attributes, fatigue or health upon touch; Fortify spells, which improve your Attributes, health or fatigue; or Convalescence spells, which allow you to heal others. The latter is particularly useful in missions where you have to keep important NPCs alive—they’re just so keen to run in front of your weapon and take damage meant for the enemy.
So basically, use Restoration magic any chance you get. Then you can sell all those heavy, heavy potions breaking your back…which you can then restore. Yay.
#13: Wheel Of Utility
If you’re someone like me who wants all the options in combat, you’re going to want to be able to change it up as efficiently as possible. My normal combat goes a little like this:
– Sneak, ideally with a Detect Life enchantment in place so you can see through walls to where enemies are hiding.
– Take out a dagger and stab them in the back for 8x damage…
– …or nock your bow for some 3x damage from a distance.
– Swap quickly to a sword and shield once they close that distance…
– …one with a Soul Trap enchantment for the lower-level enemies…
– …or a higher damage sword for those humanoid enemies that can’t be Soul Trapped.
– Equip Destruction magic for alternating damage output.
– Swap to Restoration magic when my health and/or fatigue gets too low.
– Profit!
As you can see, it would be a nightmare to constantly go into my menu and equip different weapons and spells during combat.
So, make sure you know about the shortcut wheel. You can equip anything from weapons and spells to potions and scrolls to the 8 slots, making combat and traversing the world a breeze.
#14: Listen To The Landscape
I love the sound of a babbling brook, a trickling stream, or a rushing waterfall. In Oblivion , that sound is sometimes drowned out by a mystical chiming sound that can have you splashing about in the reeds, searching for the source.
Nirnroot is a sea green plant found throughout Cyrodiil, usually along lake and riverbanks. It’s poisonous, so one can only assume that it lets out this magical sound and emits a white glow to warn harvesters to stay away—like a colourful dart frog alerting predators to leave it alone.
Don’t fall for its tricks! Pick up every single one you find. There are 306 to find (263 outdoors, 43 indoors), so if you’re a 100%-er, you’ll kick yourself for ignoring its chimes. Plus, Sinderion in Skingrad will create Elixir of Explorations with increasing degrees of strength in return for these singing plants, so get foraging.
#15: Soul Trap Every Chance You Get
At first, I actively avoided enchanted weapons.
But why? I hear you cry. Isn’t enchanted equipment the goal?
Oh yes, yes it is. But in the early game, I didn’t know how useful Soul Gems are. These allow you to trap souls and refill your enchanted weapons—a much better solution than paying someone an extortionate amount to do so.
So, get Soul Gems and use them. Using the Soul Trap spell is good, but what’s even better is getting a weapon with Soul Trap, like Umbra, to automatically imbue the enemy with it every time you attack. Then, if you have free Soul Gems, the soul will be trapped for your personal consumption. Evil, yet effective.
Top tip: get Azura’s Star. As part of the main quest, you need to give a main character a Daedric artifact. I so very nearly gave away what I believe is the most useful one in the game. When you finish the Azura Shrine quest, you’ll get given this incredible little trinket that acts as a reusable Grand Soul Gem, allowing you to rinse and repeat the Soul Trap loop for unlimited recharge.
That’s right: the fate of the realm is in the balance? IDC—I’m the Champion of Cyrodiil. Give me that artifact.
About the author:
A keen video gamer and writer, Lauren is rarely seen without a controller or keyboard in hand. Lauren lives in Berkshire with her husband (James) and cat (Ciri), and works as a Senior Copywriter for agricultural labs by day. Her current obsessions are weight training, iced chai tea lattes, and Final Fantasy VII: Rebirth in all its campy, beautifully rendered goodness.
