Download Hints

Get quick and convenient access to just the hints you need for The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion, without staying on our website. Just download a free trial version of our UHS Reader software and a copy of these hints. You will get the same gradual hints you see here -- unlike ordinary cheats or a walkthrough that can spoil your game.

You can also buy the full version of the UHS Reader for Windows or macOS. For just $14.95, you get full access to hints for hundreds of games and 1 year of free updates. You can also search, decode, or print an entire game's worth of hints at once.

Ask the Author

If you have questions about a puzzle that aren't answered anywhere in these hints, you may contact the author.

The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion Hints

Fun With Guards

  • 1 of 13: This trick uses the fact that people who have very high dispositions toward you will usually fight for you when they see that you're being attacked, even if the attackers are city guards.
  • 2 of 13: Before you get the guards all riled up, go around and get people's dispositions toward you as high as you can using the speechcraft mini-game and/or bribes. (See the Misc. Tips for a helpful tip on that.)
  • 3 of 13: It's most useful to do this in the local Fighters Guild and Mages Guild buildings after you've joined those guilds. There are several unkillable quest-related people in most of those buildings, and the dispositions of your guildmates don't have to be as high as most peoples' in order to help you fight the guards (60 is usually enough).
  • 4 of 13: When you're ready, go outside and pickpocket or punch a guard, then resist arrest when he gets onto you about it.
  • 5 of 13: Run to the nearest guild building and go inside, then wait for the guards to come in after you. Hopefully, your guildmates will charge to your aid! If not, you may need to exit and reenter the building.
  • 6 of 13: NOTE: If it's between 12 am and 6 am, the doors to all Fighters Guild buildings will be locked to anyone who isn't a member, including the town guards.
  • 7 of 13: You'll want to be ready to heal yourself and/or your guildmates as the battle progresses. Some of them will be unkillable quest-related characters, but several of them can be killed.
  • 8 of 13: It's best to do all this in a building with several tough quest-related people in it, like the Chorrol Fighters Guild or Leyawiin's Blackwood Company Hall. Still, have a spell handy that heals others. Even unkillable characters are useless to you during their periods of unconsciousness.
  • 9 of 13: You can attack the guards yourself to help out, but it's best not to for two reasons -- you can far too easily hit a guildmate by accident, and 1000 gold will be added to your bounty if you deliver a killing blow to a guard.
  • 10 of 13: However, it would help a lot if you attacked each guard a couple of times with a weapon (like the Akavari Sunderblade) that has a strong Disintegrate Weapon effect on it. If you can break the guards' swords, they'll be forced to rely on their bows and/or fists, making them a lot less dangerous to you and your allies. (And you can always break their bows, too.)
  • 11 of 13: After the guards' weapons are broken, just stand in Block mode to ward off blows or be healing allies until the fight is over, after which you can loot the dead guards of all their gear. It's legal looting, so you can sell the gear to any honest merchant who buys that sort of thing. There's at least one in every city.
  • 12 of 13: After the nearby city guards have all been killed, you can go hunting for more to lure into your trap, or you can talk to one and either pay the fine or go to jail to get rid of your bounty. Even if you clear a city of guards temporarily, you can usually find one somewhere in the castle. (If the guards get to where they attack you on sight, use the yielding technique mentioned in the above misc. notes.)
  • 13 of 13: For maximum pandemonium and profit, go to the Imperial City's Arcane University after you get full access to it and tick off one of the Imperial battlemages there. Then run through one of the two gates that leads to the university's other half and let all the generic apprentices and scholars fight the battlemages for you. Also, go to the Arboretum and get some Imperial Legion guards (or even Palace Guards from the Palace District) to chase you all the way to the university. For even more fun, get an unkillable quest guard (like Hieronymus Lex) to chase you to the university and start tearing up the place.