The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion Combat Guide
Written by: TommyGuner
V 1.0 - 3/7/06
Copyright Tom "TommyGuner" Danes
-NB-
This is my first attempt of a guide so please don't flame me, email
me for any extra information and I will give you the credit
[email protected]
- -
I'd like to thank everyone who has contributed to this guide.
-----Contents-----
I: Introduction
II: Equipment
III: Combat Methods
Pure Melee
Ranged
Tips
IV: General Tips
V: Combat Trainers
VI: Weapon Facts
I-INTRODUCTION-I
Combat is the basic feature of survival and is the thing that you
will use the most (unless you're a pure mage – since Magicka is not
under category of Physical Combat). This guide helps you boost your
knowledge of Combat in Tamriel and soon have the apex of advantage
against your foes! I am playing with OOO.3 which means if you also
have you must take me tips seriously but if you haven't got it you
make take the advice less seriously.
If you play without OOO.3 you can turn the difficulty all the way
across, but a person with a warhammer can kill you in three hits (yes
I DID count the number – in the Arena) even when you are blocking.
II<><><><><Equipment!><><><><>II
Let's say you're raiding through a dungeon, nothing can end your
trekking faster than looking in your inventory and finding that you
have forgotten an incredibly important item e.g. Potions, secondary
weapon.
IMPORTANT: Before you walk through the door leading to the dungeon,
take a quick-check on your pack to see if everything is here. DON'T
ASSUME, don't wait until that item is needed and finding you don't
have it. If you check and you have actually forgotten something, you
can fast-travel to a nearby city to properly equip since you have not
entered the dungeon (in which case you can't fast travel).
Here is a list of what steps you should take for a journey to a
dungeon or any other place and survive.
- Bringing the proper weapon is the most important thing of dungeon
survival; bring the weapon corresponding to your type of Combat.
If you actually forgotten to bring your PW, (We shall use this
abbreviation for Primary Weapon), which is pretty retarded, you would
be pretty damned lucky if you found a weapon before you come in
contact with Combat.
IMPORTANT: Encumbrance is vital this could cost how much fatigue is
drained from you while fighting, and how much loot from the dungeon
you will be able to carry.
- Daggers are light and are VERY fast weapons and also lets you carry
a shield, but their reach is short (I measured that it's about as
long as a punch).
- Bow is for people that think properly before they act, they are
fairly light. They can be deadly if you shoot from the shadows (we
will discuss about ranged combat in a future chapter). If you are a
ranger, you should bring about 75 arrows, be sure to pick them back
up if you don't have lots of money to re-buy them.
- ALWAYS check that your armour, weapons and shield are in pristine
condition, a few dungeons with monsters can't bring any notable
change to your equipment condition, however, most of the dungeons can
pull a clean polished steel cuirass to a broken one.
Bring a few (about 10) repair hammers with you so you can repair on-
the-spot, you can hotkey it for quick repair. An expert Armourer can
repair over the 100% condition to give the item extra efficiency (the
maximum condition you can have is 125%) for example, I have the Umbra
which now currently gives 32 Damage, after pimping it up, it can now
attack 36, so this is useful. NB: "a Master at Armoury never breaks a
hammer; one hammer lasts for a lifetime".
- Bring some effective poison (drain health, damage health etc.), if
you're an archer and you plan to use stealth shots you should put
some poison on those arrows to give it the extra stealth punch.
- Bring magicka restoring potions, even if you aren't the mage type
you will need this to restore magicka you will use for restoration
spells.
III--------Combat Methods--------III
Different opponents have different ways to defend themselves; you
need to learn ways to neutralize them fast and as effectively as
possible. Combat methods are vital in survival and you must think on
your feat or plan it quickly before hand. There are two strategies
that are broken into two groups: Marksman and Melee
Pure Melee
… Is the guy that runs in the frontline and fights under the enemies
noses. Your aim is to do more damage than to receive it.
----The Softies----
- If you're fighting an opponent that is not strong (e.g. Goblins,
Skeletons, Bandits) you can stand close to them so they're easier to
reach and when they attack you they hardly make a dent in your health
or armor. Most of these opponents have high agility to balance their
combat so they will run around a bit, use third person view to keep
them in your eyesight.
- Blocking is essential in any kind of combat, never be afraid to
block an attack, the opponents (above) aren't strong enough to
degrade your shield
----The Big 'Uns----
- These opponents are the ones you should be careful of. These are
where monsters such as Ogres or Trolls come under. It is quite easy
to learn how to fight these ones, the rule is: Dodge/Block and
Counter. When the opponent is about to strike (you can tell by
watching him raising his fists or weapon) you quickly dodge/block the
attack, it is really not that hard because they are very slow and
then you quickly squeeze in a few quick slashes with your blade or
other weapon.
- The shields do really help stop really powerful blows, blocking
sometimes makes enemies recoil giving you free hits. Kill the
opponent before he kills you.
----Mages/Casters----
They're the type of opponents that have low protection; however they
are incredibly manoeuvrable and can summon pretty decent monsters or
cast powerful spells.
- Never ever let these people get out of your vision, a lightning
bolt in the back is not the best feeling in the world, again, third
person view helps and if you're in a cave, use night-eye and/or life
detection.
- Due to their lack of armor, forget about using power strikes just
use the normal ones; you don't want to waste fatigue do you? If you
strike with a power attack and miss, the enemy will take the chance
to run away somewhere else. You could also force them into any corner
and keep attacking him and so he can't run away.
- However, lots of spellcasters have touch spells as well and some of
them are much nastier than their ranged ones so you should bring any
reflect spell or silence potions with you.
- Hint: If a summoner dies, his summoned creature will die with him.
Marksman
One of my favourite fighting skills as it is stealthy
(sniping); this is a skill where you keep away from your opponent and
send him a barrage of arrows. Marksmen are usually athletic and
acrobatic; they also wear light armour to maximize their agility.
Just because they have weak armor doesn't mean they can't pack any
punch.
----The Softies----
Like the ones you fight if you're a melee warrior; the first attack
you should use with the bow is a stealth shot and maybe accompanied
with poison, this is probably all you will need to finish a weak
opponent, if not, fire a few shots afterwards then take your
secondary weapon out (preferably a light weight blade), this will
prevent you from wasting arrows on weak enemies.
----The Big 'Uns----
ALWAYS open with a poisoned stealth shot (if the terrain lets you).
Don't let them get close to you, back off if the enemy does and send
him a piece of sharp metal in his chest. Don't be afraid to run away,
or use any Chameleon or Invisibility enchantments, this gives you the
chance to heal yourself and poison another arrow. Trying to switch to
your secondary weapon and melee them is suicide, you're light
armoured which means you WILL die if you try to face big guys off
with melee. Hotkey health potions and watch your foes attacks!
----Mages/Casters----
Due to their incredibly low armour, one stealth shot should be all
you need to finish one guy if you nail your arrow right through a
caster's head. However, if you didn't kill him on the first shot,
prepare for a long battle. If you're in open terrain (a field for
example), try strafing to dodge the mage's spells and counter with
arrows. If a caster summons a creature, you can use it as an
advantage as a meat shield. Line up in front of the summoned so when
the caster fires a spell at you, it will hit the summoned creature,
then you can return an arrow back at him.
In dungeons the "summoned meat shield" technique also works, if not
better. When fighting a mage in a cave or dungeon, look around you
and see if you can find any obstacles you can hide behind from the
spells. The space is pretty tight in caves so try finding a
stalactite to hide behind and once every so often, jump out and send
the mage an arrow, when hiding behind something, use this time to
poison an arrow or drink a potion.
Tips
Other skills help melee and ranging significantly. Some skills when
levelled up help.
---->Skill Levels<----
-When you obtain Journeyman in melee weapons (Blade, hand to hand,
blunt) you get the disarm function. To use it, press the left or
right strafe button and then hold the attack button, the will make
your fighter perform a sideways attack with your weapon or hands and
there is a 60% chance that you will disarm your opponent, unless he
is already unarmed.
-When obtaining expert in melee weapons (as above) you get the
knockdown technique, you will need to time it carefully as you will
have to move BACKWARDS to use this technique. Try positioning
yourself on a wall so you're still in place when moving backwards.
And if done successfully, there will be 90% chance you will knock
your opponent down. When your opponent is on the ground quickly get a
few hits on him/her since damage is dealt more when an opponent is on
the ground. I recommend using a claymore with the backward power
attack, since they are long and powerful, so you will have a better
chance. But don't get yourself cornered going backwards in a multi-
fight. Thanks to Havok's real time game physics, it WILL effect where
you hit, so if you get a knockdown blows to the legs of your foe tend
to knock them higher into the hair then they would if you hit them by
the chest, enemies take the same falling damage as you would so try
using the knockdown near an edge of a cliff and watch the rag-doll
physics- hilarious!
-Master perk of melee weapons is the paralyze skill. This is the
Forward Power attack and can be easily used on an opponent. When you
manage to paralyze a foe, it is as good as dead. Like the knockdown,
when the opponent is on the floor, keep hitting it, just slashing,
and no power-attacks. However if you miss with the forward power
attack, you are vulnerable for a few seconds, giving time for an
opponent to hit you.
It depends how hard or easy to use these melee perks on opponents,
i.e. Monsters with large body mass (e.g. Ogre, Troll) can easily be
hit by them because they have more Area.
- Getting Journeyman level on Acrobatics earns you the Dodge Ability.
Personally this is highly used by my melee fighter – never
underestimate this move, always useful for any paladin or knight. To
dodge, you hold Block then whilst holding it you jump whilst also
pressing the direction you want to dodge (forwards, backwards, side).
If you time your ability right, you can dodge all sorts of spells and
arrows and including melee attacks
---Melee Dodging---
This is simply using the Dodge move against foes that use melee.
You need to recognize what types of melee attacks an opponent will
use on you. You can tell when they will use a power attack on your
because they will raise their fists/blade/hammer/axe etc. – this is a
signal for you to dodge it, either sideways or backwards (don't be a
idiot and roll forwards). However, if you are low on fatigue, don't
dodge, it takes a bit of fatigue, also, it takes a bit more if you
have wielded/unsheathed your weapon.
1) If you rolled sideways you might want to unleash a power
attack from the side of your opponent, but I recommend doing
some quick attacks.
2) If you dodged backwards you can then run and cut your opponent
up, if you a Master at Blade then why don't you try to use the
forward attack?
--------------
- Getting Expert at Block gives you the Shield Bash skill – for those
who use sword-and-shield. If you managed to block an attack fully
with a shield, you automatically counter by bashing it into your
enemy, this causes him/her to stagger giving you enough time to give
them a few quick attacks
- A Master of Sneak can ignore an opponent's armour if they hit them
undetected.
You know might want to combine skill perks to deliver ultimate
damage.
--->Ranged<---
Below are useful tips on how to neutralize enemies effectively with
your trusty bow.
- When arrows hit any kind of surface, the impact picks up debris or
sparks at the point where the arrows landed use this to judge your
shots. – Thanks to a very good friend for this!
- In caverns you will come across wide open areas of the cave,
commonly filled with nasty creatures. If you don't have night eye,
just look in a direction where you think an enemy would be hanging
around and wait for him/her to move – they will stick out like a sore
thumb. You should also do this even if you have night-eye. Third
Person View helps a lot in these situations
- Most people forget this, YOU CAN BLOCK WITH YOU BOW, never be
afraid or forget to use it – sure it lowers the bows condition but it
could save you life. Always use this; I can't stop telling you how
many times to use it!!
- POISON THOSE ARROWS!! OMG
IV-----General Tips-----IV
- This might be the difference between life or death, if you in the
middle of nowhere, your health is low and you feel as there will be a
battle ahead, check your environment and see if there are any
mushrooms, plants or even non-aggressive animals, you can get them
and there might be a chance they will heal. REMEMBER THIS!!
- Enemies also sometimes stagger when they try to hit you when you
are blocking, use this time to deliver a few quick strikes.
- Every opponent have different weights, some are faster than others,
so you should act accordingly with the correct weapons.
- Enchanting armor and weapons can become very useful, if you have a
mod that adds a free usable enchanting maker use it. If not, complete
the first 7 Recommendation Quests for the Mages Guild and you will be
able to use the enchanter at the Arcane University
- Don't bother trying to hit a moving opponent with your bow and
arrows, you'll only miss and waste your arrows- wait for them to
stop, or get them with a melee weapon.
- As clearly said in-game, I recommend all people who melee, select
Agility when they level up, you will stagger and get knocked-down
less if you have a higher agility level.
V-----Combat Trainers-----V
So you decide that you should want to train your skills faster than
normal? This sections shows you where the trainers for COMBAT (also
armor and agility skills) so you will be ready to face the game's
difficulties. This part of the guide took forever to do, but
contributors helped a lot! In master trainer levels you may have to
raise a person's disposition in order for them to tell you were the
master trainer is.
Acrobatic Training
-------------------
Low levels:
Quill Weave – Lives in Anvil, an Argonian roaming street at day,
you've probably seen her if you've done the first Fighter's Guild
Quest
Ida Vlinorman – Lives in the Elven Gardens in the Imperial City, if
you hear conversations some people talking about her climbing tall
buildings and jumping off them, if you ask her personally she does.
Medium Levels:
Tsrava – Lives with J'Bari in Leyawiin
Ganredhel – Lives in Cheydinhal, at her own home
Master Level:
The medium trainers will tell you to speak to Master Acrobat Torben,
he lives at Aerin's Camp between the Jerall and Valus Mountains,
basically under Dive Rock, and he's probably gotten used to falling
down the mountains, that's why he is good at acrobatics. No
difficulties here, talk to him and he'll train you.
Armourer Training
------------------
Low levels:
Tadros Helas – Bravil Fighters Guild smither.
Eitar – Lives in Leyawiin, The Dividing Line, or at his house.
Medium Levels:
Rohssan – Imperial Market District, A Fighting Chance.
Rasheda – Owns Fire and Steel in Chorrol.
Master Level:
After you hit 70 they will tell you to go speak to Gin-Wulm. The
Argonian is the smith at The Best Defence but he doesn't stay there
almost at all (only for nights). You'll find him walking about the
Market District in mornings and possibly the Elven Districts
afterwards. Go to the First Edition book store and buy *The Armourers
Challenge*. Talk to him and ask him to train you, he will ask you a
question: "What does Hazadir mean to you?" if you followed what I
said and bought the book you will answer the question correctly – "He
won the Armourer's Challenge". He will train you when you answer it
right.
Athletics Training
------------------
Low levels:
Uuras - lives in Skingrad
Mahei – lives in Leyawiin
Medium levels:
Hauls-Ropes-Faster – stays in The Fo'c'sle in Anvil waterfront in
mornings and walks around at night.
Honditar – Lives southwest of Chorrol (basically Hackdirt village).
Master Level:
When you reach 70 Athletics, both guys will send you to Rusia Bradus
in Anvil, she lives with Silgor Bradus next to the Abandoned house in
Anvil. Rusia will only train you if you have discovered over 30
places (I discovered around 40 or more places before I went to her
for training so I don't know if its FOUND or DISCOVERED).
Blade Training
--------------
Low levels:
Naspia Cosma – A steward at Cheydinhal Castle
Right-wind (LOL!)- Stays at Bruma Fighter's Guild
Medium Levels:
Sherina – Leyawiin Fighters Guild
Rhano – Anvil Fighters Guild
Master Level:
At a Blade skill of 70 you will be directed to Alix Lencolia, he is a
traveller and he is staying at the Faregyl Inn which is south of the
Imperial City. Alix will only train you when your Fame or Infamy is
around 20-30, do quests and you could also close Oblivion Gates for
fame.
Block Training
--------------
Low Levels:
Fadu Calidius – Lives in Skingrad Fighters Guild
Huurwen – Lives in Anvil Fighters Guild
Medium Levels:
Lum gro-Baroth – An orc that lives in Chorrol Fighter's Guild
Ambrose Canne – Lives in Southwest Skingrad
Master Level:
At 70, go to centre Bravil, Andragil lives above an Argonian(forgot
his name). The Elf will want to test your skill before training you,
basically she'll try to beat you to death with a warhammer and you
have to stay alive, put your weapon away and keep your shield, do not
attack back, and also do not have any reflect damage enchantments on
you, you don't want a dead trainer in your hands do you? Try getting
obstacles between her and yourself, you have to last around 45
seconds.
Blunt Training
--------------
Low levels:
Bugak-Bol – Merchant at Leyawiin, Southern Books
Vigdis – Anvil Fighters Guild
Medium Levels:
Christophe Marane – Owns Brina Cross Inn, NE of Anvil
Azzan – Anvil Fighters Guild
Master Level:
At 70 you should head to Irene Metrick, she normally stands at the
Imperial Market District all night and she has a house in the Elven
Gardens District. Irene Metrick asks you to kill 50 people (that's
around her body count) before she trains you. People count as
civilians, bandits, marauders, conjurers, basically things that don't
look like monsters (not sure about Necromancers or Vampires). A good
place to start is the arena; the game accepts the people killed in
there.
Hand 2 Hand Training
---------------------
Low levels:
Nahsi – Bravil Fighters Guild
Rufrius Vinicius – Anvil Fighters Guild
Medium levels:
Davela Hlaren – Owner of the Imperial Bridge Inn (need location)
Ra'qanar – Castle Cheydinhal
Master Level:
The trainers will tell you to go to Helvius Cecia who stays in SE
Bruma. Helvius will ask to test you before he trains you, you must
attack him with bare-hands until his health goes past under 50% in 30
seconds, keep punching until he stops you, be careful though, if you
attack after he has said stop it will count as assault. If you have
battered him enough then welcome aboard!
Heavy Armour Training
----------------------
Low levels:
Brodras – Leyawiin Fighters Guild
Bumph gra-Gash – Bruma Fighters Guild
Medium levels:
Valus Odiil – Chorrol's Grey Mare
Varnado – Co-owner of The Best Defence in Imperial Market District
Master levels:
The two trainers will direct you to Pranal who lives northeast of
Lake Rumare in the Roxey Inn. Pranal fancies Malene who owns the
Roxey Inn and wants you to buy her a few little gifts before he
trains you. The gifts are: a silver pitcher and four silver glasses.
Any silver pitcher will do, however, nobody sells them, you have to
either steal one of find one in loot (levelled), most rich or fairly
rich people have them in their houses, start off at the Imperial City
and go in house after house.
Now you may think glasses as in the ones you wear but it's the ones
you drink out of. Fortunately, a lot of people sell silver glasses,
The Copious Coinpurse in the Market District along with Three
Brothers Trade Goods, Quality Merchandise in Anvil and basically
every other shop that basically sells miscellaneous items. After you
have the FOUR silver glasses and the pitcher talk to Pranal again and
he will tell you to give them Malene, she will take them but sadly
she doesn't really want to start a serious relationship with Pranal.
Go back to Pranal and he will train you. Phew!
Light Armour Training
-----------------------
Low levels:
Dul gro-Shug – Lives in Imperial City Elven Gardens
Olfand – Nord Winds in Bruma
Medium levels:
Luciana Galena – South Bravil, lives above of the house for sale
Ahdraj – Leyawiin, Southwest of the castle
Master Level:
At 70 they will direct you to J'bari, a Khajiit who shares a place
with Tsrava in Leyawiin. And of course there is a little task the
master wants you to do. You must bring him an Elven Cuirass before he
trains you, you'll need to be Level 15 or higher for it to appear in
loot. You could avoid having to level by doing a far off Fighters
Guild Mission, ipso ergo. Azani Blackheart, the redguard has an Elven
Cuirass whatever level you are. If you are already level 15: it
appears in most bandit ranger loots, lots of vampire loot, Black Rock
Cavern. When you obtained a cuirass, the Khajiit will train you.
Marksman Training
-----------------
Low levels:
Edla Dark-Heart – Lives in Regner's place in South Bruma
Shameer – Lives in Skingrad, west of the chapel
Medium levels:
Reman Broder – Southwest Skingrad
Pinarus Inventius – Lives in Anvil.
Master level:
At 70 both guys will tell you to go to Alawen, an adventuring Bosmer
who stays at Troll Candle Camp which is east of Anvil. The Bosmer is
almost never home in the day because she likes to hunt but around
11pm to mornings you will find her there. Alawen will only train you
if you have an Elven Bow, she will not train you if you don't. Elven
Bows normally show up in loot at level 9 or 10 and in shops at level
13, most bandits and marauders are archers so they will have them.
Sneak Training
---------------
Low levels:
City-Swimmer – Southwest of Bravil's city gate on the second floor
Glistel – lives with Malintus Ancrus in Southwest Chorrol
Medium levels:
Othrelos – Imperial City Elven Gardens
Mirabelle Monet – Owns the Fo'c's'le in Anvil Waterfront
Master level:
At 70 you will head to Marana Rian, she has a home in the Temple
District of the Imperial City. This is a simple test which requires
no dungeon trekking; steal a coin she has in her pocket, when you
succeed she will train you.
VI----------Weapon Facts----------VI
Here is a nice little section about the main weapons you would
encounter in Cyrodiil, my personal opinion on them, what levels until
they appear, their reach, damage, their stableness (how fast or slow
they degrade), value.
Blade Weapons
Daggers:-
Very fast and light, but that's really it for this weapon since you
could still use a longsword as a better sneaking weapon and also its
reach is.....devastating. They have quite low value (except Glass,
Ebony and Daedric), the only reason I would buy a dagger is because
it's quite cheap and fast and it also has reasonable damage for a
cheap weapon.
Fine Daggers (Iron-Steel):-
Basically a lighter dagger that deals a bit more damage.
Longsword:-
The all-rounder of course, this basically the best type of weapon to
have. Fast, good reach, deals good damage and worth the money. Medium
levellers should keep a Silver Longsword (favourite sword weh!)handy
in case of any encounters of ghosts, wraiths and Will'o wisps (you
will HATE these when you meet them if you don't have a Silver,
Daedric or Enchanted Longsword). The second best weapon to use when
sneaking.
Claymore:-
The large two-handed blade of the family, Claymores cost quite a few,
the large swings deal a lot of damage which almost makes up for its
speed which is only a bit slower than a longsword, but having a two-
handed weapon comes a penalty, you will not be able to carry your
shield which means a vital defence bonus is gone so keep your head
down. Now these are best when using the backwards knockdown power
attack.
Katanas:-
There are 3 Katanas and 2 Enchanted Ones. The 3 normal ones(each more
powerful than the last) is an Akaviri Katana, an Ancient Akaviri
Katana and an Akaviri Dai-Katana, the Dai and normal Katanas can both
be obtained at Cloud Ruler Temple, the main place to get an ancient
akaviri katana is Sancre Tor which is not available until later in
the Main-Quest when you are told to go in there, you can get one from
killing an Undead Blade.
The two enchanted katanas are Mishaxhi's Cleaver and Akaviri
Warblade, you can buy the Akaviri Warblade in the Imperial Market
District (forgot which store) for 4000 septims. To get the Cleaver
you must be doing Lifting the Vale quest, in the late part you will
encounter a Ghost Akaviri HQ Commander none other than Mishaxhi, kill
him and you will get his weapon.
