I gave another shot for Oblivion. I've played it before for 13 hours and that 13 hours has been a nightmare to me.
I started off by creating a custom class, focusing on swordmanship and archery. All right, my character is getting levels nicely and all.
However, I just won't make it in combat. I could do Dark Brotherhood quests very easily as they were assassin quests, didn't take a single hit doing them. I also became Arena champ without much effort by running backwards and shooting arrows at the opponents. But I just don't understand how to fight effectively hand-to-hand.

I noticed that bows are next to useless. I use them only to score initial critical hits. But the swordfighting is another story. I use a 2h akaviri warblade which is in full condition, but I will lose even to a pair of imps found in oblivion. My character hits once, and by that time enemy has hit me like two times and next time enemy hits my character gasps and takes a few steps back, unable to do anything for a long few seconds. This repeats until I die or win with only a small narrow of health remaining. Blocking does no good, enemy still knocks my character out. Using power attacks is waste, as my character is knocked back before or instantly after delivering the hit. If I hypothetically win a battle, I will usually have less than 20% health remaining. Potions are expensive and my character knows no alchemy.


Is there some damn video guide or even a level exploit I could use to get some experience with this thing!? I want to give Oblivion a second chance but it's just a game I don't seem to get in to.

Maybe your endurance is low, less endurance=less health, your health goes up each level by 1/10th of endurance. you could always sneak around someone who's sleeping, it'll let you level up and get more health. Also try scrolls. theyre pretty cheap and weigh less than potions

You need to have fairly high Agility to not get staggered. The swordplay is one of the easier combat styles in Oblivion.

If you keep getting staggered, toss your two-handed weapon away and get a sword and shield. At lower levels, it may be a good idea to keep your shield up until your enemy staggers, and then beat them while they're recoiling. If you hit them while they're blocking, you get staggered as well. Eventually, you can smash through an enemies shields with a power attack, but at lower levels you need to play defensively.

Archery and two-handed weapons are very lacking in Oblivion, for several reasons. Archery is VERY weak, but aiming is easy and fast. Two-handers are slow, and only do slightly better than one-handers. And with a two-hander, you can't use a shield, so it falls short. Using a shield and sword is your best bet until you get side-ways and backwards power attacks, and two-handed weapons become fairly good (still not as powerful as a one-handed sword).

So get a shield and longsword, and use block to your advantage. You can't block magic, but you can also destroy mages in a few hits, so focus on casters first.

Archery is weak? I'm thinking there are a few archer players around here that might disagree with you . Now where's that Buffy? The little star who hasn't died once and touches nothing other than a bow!

Pistolero ~ Unfortunately I can't help you much. I tried a sword and board character at one time and I just can't do it. I'm pretty sure it's just lack of talent on my part but I got spanked more than I care to remember. Was my last S&B character too LOL

Well, Archery isn't weak if you like making a pin-cushion out of a bandit and still have them coming at you.

Seriously, I got in a fight with a bandit, without a sneak multiplier on my first attack, and I filled him with ten arrows before he finally died.

Firstly leveling up in oblivion doesn't mean you get stronger (ok you do a little) it means your enemies get harder and harder and harder, so you need to make sure you are leveling blade 3-5 times a level to keep ahead of your enemies. Archery + alchemy make will make your game easy, it takes time though it's not gonna be amazing right off the bat.

To let us help you further give us your characters stats.

Race, birthsign, level, major skills, specialisation, basically everything and we will be able to see why you are struggling so much.

Archery is very lacking indeed, but with a good enchanted bow and poisoned arrows, it'll make quick work out of those bandits.

There is... one exploit I discovered to raise your agility 1 point in 1 minute. So 20 mins of it means 20 points up in agility. Go to the Fo'c'sle and go to the private rooms. Open a door (hard locked) and then jump up to try to jump over the wall/divider. You can't, but if you keep jumping on the divider it raises your agility alot. So keep pressing the jump button as fast as you can and you can make hundreds of jumps in just 1 minute. I guess this will work anywhere where where something's above your head.

For some reason I just imagine you ordering the Enclave to carpet bomb the area.

Bows are actually rather useful using poisons, there is this trick when doing a sneak attack, when the arrow is in the air quickly equip a dagger, you will get a x6 attack :dance: ...I think, don't really recall correctly.

But yea can you list your major skills?
Race does not matter in the long run, and honestly it does take a while to get used to Oblivion. Since I only played Fallout 3 at first and quickly got bored of Oblivion, but after having a neat dream about a Khajiit assassin I quickly fell in love with Oblivion. I love both games equally now

I would not recommend just leveling one stat because you will end up rather underpowered.

Buffy's a mystic archer and, as OuijaU said, the only weapon she'll touch is a bow. She backs it up with illusion to immobilize, command and generally keep foes away from her. Her specialty though is the long range snipe (helped by 360 feet of detect life). A strong bow with a good enchantment + strong arrow with strong enchantment + strong poison + sneak bonus on the basic bow and arrow damage can be deadly. Archery is not a simple route though and it takes plenty of practice and study of the game mechanics to optimize it. And a patient, methodical playstyle. My only point here is to echo what has been said above: In the right hands, a bow is deadly in Oblivion.

I agree that an armored sword and shield user who augments with some magic is easier and very deadly with some practice.

Probably the biggest tip if you are struggling is to get on UESP wiki and study the game mechanics. Then make sure you are leveling up smarter than your enemies do. Make sure your main killing skill goes up at least 3-4 for every level and you are getting decent bonuses to the attrubutes that help your character kill. If you stick with it long enough, the game will (believe it or not) become easy. Then many of us actually start intentionally 'gimping' or limiting our characters to keep the challenge level as desired by tossing out many of the 'build a strong character' rules.

I hope with some time, you come to really enjoy this fine game. :foodndrink:

Two handed weapons in Oblivion are mostly useful for their added reach; with most, you can dance around just outside the reach of an enemy and keep hitting them without being hit back. Having said that, dai-katanas like the Akaviri Warblade don't have the extra reach of a Claymore or other two-handed weapon, so they lose that advantage. You'd be better off with a one-hand sword and a shield, as mentioned above. Oblivion simply doesn't properly model the way a two-handed katana is really used in fighting.

The bow is most effectively used in conjunction with alchemy (poison), and from stealth. If you poison your first shot, the damage to the enemy continues as he moves toward you, and if you poison subsequent shots (hot-key a stack of the same kind of poison), you can usually bring the enemy down before he can get to you.

Most importantly, in Oblivion, leveling up is not a "good thing." You want to make sure that your fighting skills are advancing strongly, because your enemies are leveling up too. You can fall very far behind by around the teen levels, if you're not careful.