72 articlesThe Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion just received a fresh new coat of paint, and it features all of same mechanics and secrets that were present in the original version of the game. Among these is one of the best swords in the game, at least when it comes to how early you can get it and how long you can benefit from its strength. In this guide, we will go over how you can get one of the best one handed swords in the game.
Oblivion Remastered – The Best Sword in the Game
Long story short, one of the “best” weapons in the game is the Daedric weapon known as Umbra. Longtime fans of the game should be familiar with this already, but if you are completely new to Oblivion, let us talk go through why this is the case and how to get it.
Umbra is a powerful sword in terms of raw damage, and the reason why it is so desirable early on is because it is not leveled despite being a unique weapon tied to a quest. What this means is that it has static stats.
Normally, quest rewards in Oblivion scale depending on the level you acquired it at. So, something like a Chillrend would be so much weaker when acquired at level 5 compared to the version you could have gotten by claiming it at over 20.
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Top 10 Heavy Armor Sets in Oblivion RemasteredSep 6, 2025Umbra does not follow these rules. No matter what level you obtain it at, it will have a base damage of 28 with a quick attack speed, making it particularly strong even until you reach higher levels.
Weapons enchanted by the player are typically the only ones that outshine it in the DPS department. Even then, Umbra will have its uses long after it has been outclassed by custom blades.
On top of that, it has a weight of zero until you complete the quest it is tied to, but more on that later. Just know that this thing is forced to stay in your inventory forever once you get it, but it will not weigh you down at all.
How to Get Umbra – The Best Sword in the Game
Normally, getting Umbra would require you to go through the Clavicus Vile quest, which requires your character to be level 20. However, you can actually obtain the sword at any time. You just need to know where to find the wielder.
First, head to a dungeon called Vindasel. This is found just to the southwest of the Imperial City. Fast travel to the Imperial City Waterfront District and swim through the lake to reach it. Refer to the map image below for the exact location so that you can pin it ingame as well.
If you are coming into this as a level one fresh off the Imperial Sewers at the start of the game, you do not need to worry much at the start. The only enemies you will face until the end are going to be mud crabs and rats.
Just be careful of the traps here. Near the entrance is a very obvious spike trap in the middle of a room. Avoid stepping on it as it will very quickly descend when triggered.
Another room, just past the previous one, will have a poison trap that you can simply walk around. It is not hidden at all, as it just emits a noxious gas in the middle of the room. If you are Argonian, you can actually just walk through this without any issue due to your innate poison resistance.
Eventually, you will reach a balcony overlooking a lit brazier and an ominous figure just standing there. This is Umbra, who wields the sword of the same name. Save your game just in case you mess up in the next steps.
What you want to do from here is to aggro herby hitting her with any ranged attack. It does not need to do any substantial damage, so you shoot your starter flare spell at her just to grab her attention.
As soon as she starts running towards you, sprint back to the entrance, where the spike trap is. Simply wait for her to arrive and you can start kiting her around the trap in the middle.
Repeatedly lure her into the trap by running over it and jumping to safety immediately after. If done correctly, the trap should descend with Umbra in it. This deals damage to her every time, although there are no obvious indicators.
Just keep repeating this process until the spike trap rises with a lifeless Umbra over it. Once that is done, you can simply loot her body and claim one of the best weapons in the game for yourself.
As a bonus, she also has special ebony armor, but this is leveled. If claimed at a low level, it will have base stats similar to Orcish armor rather than actual ebony gear. It is still pretty strong at this stage, so you may as well take it if you want an early game boost.
It is worth noting that this is not the only way to cheese Umbra. You can lure her into the poison trap of the dungeon as well, as long as you are immune to its effects. For example, an Argonian will be able to run circles in that zone to slowly kill her.
Alternatively, you can lure her out of the dungeon and have her chase you all the way to the Imperial City Talos District. This will require you to jog a long way from the dungeon while occasionally sprinting to avoid getting hit by her slashes.
Upon entering the Talos District with Umbra on your tail, the imperial guards will start swarming her. This method can get certain NPCs killed, so just be mindful of that potential side effect.
Eventually, they should be able to take her down. Plenty of guards will die in the process as Umbra is a level 50 NPC, so this will also give you an opportunity to loot valuable gear from the bodies for an early cash injection.
Finally, if you plan on keeping the weapon, never finish the Daedric quest tied to it. This is because you would have to trade the weapon in for a helmet that is considered to be one of the worst of its kind in the game. For more information, check out our tier list of Daedric artifacts in the game.
Once you have Umbra, do note that it will not have the base damage mentioned above right from the start. Its actual damage rating will still depend entirely on your character’s current stats, so a newly created one with low Blade skills will still tickle with this weapon.
One other thing to note about this weapon is that it comes with a soul trap enchantment. On hit, it will apply the soul trap spell for two whole minutes, making it perfect for those who just want to fill their soul gems.
You can simply tap enemies with this weapon to spend one charge and then swap over to another means of slaying your foes to take advantage of it. With that in mind, it is great even if you are not after its damage!
Once you have leveled up high enough, the weapon will eventually be outshined by stuff that you customize yourself. Even then, you will likely still be using it for the soul trap effect if your enchanted weapons do not already have that spell imbued into them.
And that does it for this guide. You should now have all of the knowledge needed in order to acquire arguably one of the best weapons in the game, as well as everything it is capable of right from level one.
If you are interested in a more stealthy build that will have you taking enemies out from afar, check out our guide on how to build a stealth archer character for master mode in The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion Remastered. This is an iconic way to play this old game, so definitely try it out at some point!
