Once again, new to the game and I know there is no guns in the game but I was wondering what weapons are there besides bows and swords? Thanks

-Cheers
Daniels

There are daggers, shortswords, longswords, claymores, maces, warhammers, war axes, battleaxes, staffs, bows/arrows, and of course, a wide variety of magical offense.

Thank you friend. What should I use that's most effective if I'm a melee combat type of character?

Honestly, all of them can be effective, it just depends on the type of the weapon and your personal preference. If you want to use a shield along with your weapon, then you want to rule out the claymores, warhammers, and battleaxes, because those are two-handed. Or you'd want to use those if you just want full-on offensive. On the other hand, if you'd rather be able to act really quickly, you might prefer a shortsword or a dagger, but the tradeoff is less damage. I, personally, would recommend a longsword and a shield.

But Oblivion is designed so you can be whatever character you want and still make it work, so don't be too worried about making a wrong choice.

Also take note that the damage you do with a weapon is heavily influenced by your skill with it. So if you have a high blade skill, but low blunt skill, swords are going to look more powerful then hammers and axes. But that is just because your skills are that way, not because hammers and axes are weaker. If your blunt skill was higher, you would be seeing it the other way around.

I believe I picked "the warrior" does that effect my melee at all? And is the only ways to get your skill up with a certain thing is just to use it?

If you're talking about the Warrior class (and my memory serves) then that is a Combat specialization with both edged and blunt weapons as major skills. That means your skill will increase faster (ie with fewer attacks) but it doesn't directly affect the damage output.

There are a few items that give temporary boosts while you're wearing them and staged events at locations that will give permanent skill increases (ie watching the sparring Blades at Cloudtower or the sparring boxers outside the Arena) but basically you raise a skill by using it. For melee weapons the increase is based on each successful hit on an enemy, not the amount of damage you do. So, to level up quickly keep an old iron dagger or axe and use them to ship away at critters and bad guys.

Okay, is there any combat techniques besides just running to the enemy a clicking the trigger/mouse as fast as you can so you hit him like 10 times before he dies? Or is there a certain combat move or tip I can use?

Why don't you try and see by yourself? As a warrior I suppose you have a blade and a shield. So you can use any moves you want... When an opponent rushes toward you, protect yourself with the shield, turn around and when he uncovers himself, hit him. As said above, look at the blades and fighters of the Guild when they train themselves. You can do the same and not just go and hit on the shields. And you'll have different moves in diferent way of playing, like casting spells, using your bow etc.. Just start and see and get trained.. :biggrin:

I don't feel as though combat in Oblivion is mechanical at all. You can use a great combination of dodging, backing off when an enemy attacks, jumping, using the environment to your advantage (for example funneling enemies into a small corridor), and of course skillful and well timed blocking.

Here are some ideas:

http://www.uesp.net/wiki/Oblivion:Swordplay

Weapons
Below Weapon Skill Level 25 you can do a power attack for x 2.5 damage by clicking and holding down the attack button. You can do it while moving but it can really eat up your fatique bar so try and use it sparingly.

Starting at Weapon skill level 25 you get the Standing Power Attack. Stay still and click and hold the attack button and you'll do a slow but powerful attack for x 3.0 damage.

Skill level 50 you get a x 2.5 damage and a 5% chance to disarm when you power attack while moving left or right.

Skill level 75 you get a power attack that does x 2.5 damage and has a 5% chance to knock down the target while you're going backwards. This can be tough to pull off, especially with a weapon with a shorter reach.

Skill level 100 you get the ability to do a Power Forward attack with 2.5 damage and a 5% chance to Paralyze the target.

Armor
The maximum AC you can get in the game is 85 which means all melee and archery attack damage is reduced by 85%. With the higher level sets of Heavy Armor you can reach 85% even with relatively low skill. You can also get to 85 with Light Armor but only when you get to 100 skill which gives to a 50% bonus to the AC. Once you've raised Armorer skil to 75 you can increase the AC an armor piece gives to 125% of normal.

When you get to skill level 75 in Light Armor and 100 in Heavy Armor the armor becomes weightless so long as you're wearing it (but returns to it's original weight if you put it in you inventory). With Heavy Armor your run speed is significantly slowed down. Keeping a set of running clothes in your inventory for when you're travelling about can be a good idea especially once you're able to enchant them with Speed boosts.

The more damage your armor takes the less effective it becomes. Practice your Armorer skill and repair after every fight.

Block
Blocking works against melee and archery attacks but not against spell damage. Successfully blocking an opponents attack will stagger them so you have a split second to counter-attack. Particularly powerful attacks can break through a block and stagger you so that you can't attack or block for a few seconds.

Using a Shield to Block will reduce the damage you take by 75% and stagger your attacker back so they can't attack for a split second. Using a weapon (even a dagger against a two handed war hammer) reduces the damage by 50%. (This damage reduction kicks in before your AC is calculated so the 75%/50% reduction is increased even more by your armor). You can block with empty hands while fighting with Hand to Hand skill but it doesn't eliminate the damage just starts giving you a chance at Skill Level 50 to stagger the enemy.

Starting out with a low skill you'll take fatique damage as well as damage to the shield for every hit you take (if the shield drops to 0 condition it will unequip). At skill 25 in Block you stop taking fatique damage. At skill 50 your shield won't be damaged anymore. Skill 75 your successful shield blocks will have a 25% to do a slam counter attack that will stagger the opponent. At Skill 100 these shield counter attacks have a 5% chance of disarming your opponent.

When fighting an opponent you can either "turtle" by holding the block button (you don't have to release it to do an attack) then attacking quickly when they're staggered by your block or actively block by hitting the block button when you see they're about to attack. Turtling can make for a slow fight though as your opponent is less likely to attack you while your shield is raised. Also you automatically slow to a walk when you're holding the shield up.

Tactics
How you do melee attacks depends on your opponents. Some, like wild boars, have a slow but powerful attack and you're best off using a little footwork. Slide in quick, get a couple of quick hits off then slide back out before the opponent can land his own hit. If your opponent is quicker but less powerful, like rats, you're better off to Block them then quickly counter attack while they're staggered. Against spell caster types just get in close and hammer them. They'll occasionally do a melee attack but you're still better off on the whole to keep flailing away or spamming power attacks until they're dead.

Archers will attack with their bows until you get right up to them then they'll switch to daggers. You can then back up and use your own bow while they chase after you with the dagger.

If you want to go full Marksman you have two paths. You can Kite your target by backing away while shooting at them. This works better out doors where there aren't as many walls to back into and get caught :wink_smile: . Alternatively, if you have enough Speed you can run away a short distance then turn around a fire a couple of shots then repeat. Your other path is to get your Sneak skill up and do sneak attacks for the bonus damage. Put that together with a good poison from your Alchemy skill and you can usually one shot your enemies. Downside to the stealth route is you only do one attack instead of several so your Marksman skill will raise slower.

Some critters out there, mainly Ghosts, are immune to normal weapon damage. You'll need a Silver or Enchanted weapon to kill these (Daedric and the summoned line of Bound weapons also do the trick). At low levels keeping a silver dagger in your pack for these fights is worth the weight. If you can track it down the Bound Dagger spell can be cast with low Conjuration skill but it will eat up a lot of mana that could be going towards healing spells.

Skill Levelling
You get a skill increase for every successful block and every successful attack that does damage. The amount of damage done or blocked is irrelevant just how many times it happens. Finding a few rats and letting them nibble on you for a while before killing them when your health is low is a good way to raise block and armor skills. Save your big two handed claymore and power attacks for your really tough fights and flail away with a dagger to build up your skills.

Potions
Healing potions are always handy as are potions with Shield effects. These increase your AC by a set amount. There are also elemental shield potions that add to your AC and increase your resistance to that elemental damage. For example a Fire Shield Potion for 12% reduces the damage you take from Fire spells by 12% as well as physical attacks by 12%.

You can brew your own potions if you want. This not only saves you money it can make you money as well by turning low cost ingredients into higher priced potions. Use food to make Restore Fatigue potions til you get to Skill 25 for a couple of good recipes.

Restore Health - Aloe Vera (quite a bt around Anvil)/ Venison/Cairne Bollete Cap (mushrooms in caves)
Shield - Potatoes (mostly as loot and from vendors) / Bog Beacon Asco Cap ( alot to the Southeast across the river from Lleyawin)
Night Eye - Carrots (check the farm east ont he road from Chorrol)/ Viper's Bugloss Leaves (again a lot a round Chorrol)
Cure Disese - You don't even need to make a potion for this. Just use a Mandrake Root and it cures everything up to and including the early stages of Vampirism. A lot far north of Kvatch right at the edge of the map and a few between Bravil and Lleyawin. Easiest just to buy them from shops though as they only cost a couple of gold at Alchemy shops.