Oblivion Remastered: How to become a Vampire

Want to know how to become a Vampire in The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion Remastered? There are some very strong advantages to becoming a Vampire in Oblivion, particularly early on in your playthrough. Prime among them is a dramatic increase in several important skills and attributes, making many encounters much easier than they would otherwise. Plus, you're a Vampire. And that's just cool.

Vampirism in Oblivion takes hold of you via the Porphyric Hemophilia disease, which - if left untreated for 3 days - will turn you into a full Vampire. But even after that point, you'll have to pay attention to your Vampirism Level, which fluctuates based on how long it's been since you last drank a humanoid's blood. The higher your Vampirism Level, the more powerful your abilities and bonuses - but also the weaker you are to sunlight and fire damage.

If all this sounds up your alley, then you've come to the right place. In this guide, we'll walk you through every method of becoming a Vampire in The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion Remastered, from random Vampire encounters to the two specific questlines which can culminate in you contracting the all-important Vampirism disease.

In this guide:

• How to become a Vampire in Oblivion
• Option 1: Random encounters with Vampires
• Option 2: "Darkness Eternal" quest
• Option 3: "Unearthing Mehrunes Razor" quest
• Advantages of Vampirism
• Disadvantages of Vampirism

Note: If you're already a Vampire and you're looking to rid yourself of this affliction, have a read of our sister guide on how to cure Vampirism in Oblivion. Be aware though that once it's cured, you can never again be a Vampire! So make sure it's what you want!

How to become a Vampire in Oblivion

To become a Vampire in Oblivion, you need to contract the Porphyric Hemophilia disease, and let it take hold for 72 hours without attempting to cure it. After this time has passed, if you sleep anywhere then when you wake up you will be a Vampire.

You'll start to feel the effects of Vampirism immediately - both the advantages and the disadvantages. The longer you spend without feeding, the more "vampiric" you get, which gives you stronger bonuses but also increases the disadvantages in other ways.

There are only three ways to contract the Porphyric Hemophilia disease and become a Vampire in Oblivion:

• Randomly contract Porphyric Hemophilia during fights with Vampires.
• Complete the Dark Brotherhood contract quest, "Darkness Eternal".
• Eat the Beating Heart during the quest, "Unearthing Mehrunes Razor".

After you've contracted Porphyric Hemophilia, make sure you do not eat an ingredient, drink a potion, or cast a spell with the Cure Disease effect, because this will remove the disease. All you need to do is wait 72 hours and then sleep, and you'll become a fledgling Vampire.

Option 1: Random encounters with Vampires

Whenever you fight a Vampire in Oblivion, each time the Vampire hits you with a melee attack, there is a chance of you contracting Porphyric Hemophilia. This chance is not affected by Resist Disease, and it happens whether the Vampire attacks you with a weapon or with their hands. After the fight, you can check the Active Effects screen to see if you've contracted Porphyric Hemophilia or not.

Tip: If your aim is to become a Vampire, it's a good idea to quicksave before a Vampire fight so that you can reload if you happened to end the fight before contracting the Vampirism disease.

Here's the full list of all caves, forts, and dungeons where you can find hostile Vampires to fight:

Option 2: "Darkness Eternal" quest

A more reliable method of becoming a Vampire is to join the Dark Brotherhood, and complete all the other contract quests that Vicente Valtieri (also a Vampire) gives you:

• A Knife In The Dark
• A Watery Grave
• Accidents Happen
• Scheduled For Execution
• The Assassinated Man

After all these quests are completed, you'll gain another quest called "Darkness Eternal". You can then speak to Valtieri again and ask him about the "Dark Gift". He'll agree to visit you when you next sleep, and bite you to pass on the Porphyric Hemophilia disease. After the conversation, sleep in any bed and afterwards your quest status will update with the following journal entry:

"Upon awakening, I discovered two bleeding pinpricks on my neck. It would appear Vicente Valtieri did indeed visit me last night, and passed along his Dark Gift! If what Valtieri told me is true, my vampirism will begin to manifest itself in three days, after I sleep once more."

Ta da! You are now a Vampire. Or you will be, in 72 hours' time. Of course, this does involve completing quite a few Dark Brotherhood quests first, so it's not the fastest way to become a Vampire, but it's one of the only reliable methods of doing so.

Option 3: "Unearthing Mehrunes Razor" quest

The only other way to become a Vampire in Oblivion is to make your way through the Daedric quest, "Unearthing Mehrunes Razor", and at the appropriate point, eat the Beating Heart of Mehrunes Dagon's champion, Msirae Faythung.

"Unearthing Mehrunes Razor" was once a DLC quest in the original Oblivion, but in the remake it's a part of the base game which becomes available after completing the game's tutorial. The quest marker leads you in the direction of a fort called Sundercliff Watch on the far eastern edge of the map, near Lake Canulus.

Sundercliff Watch incidentally is the largest and arguably most challenging dungeon in Oblivion, so make sure you're prepared. Inside the fort you'll find a door with a journal nearby that gives you the password needed to enter the main dungeon. Beyond that, in this vast underground area, you must seek out and defeat two powerful hostile NPCs: the Drothmeri Commander in Sundercliff Commune, and the Forgemaster in Sundercliff Forge. Both NPCs carry an Enchanted Bezoar which you must collect and place on the two pedestals in Sundercliff Village. This allows you access to the hidden Ayleid Ruin, Varsa Baalim.

Once you reach the Cava Marspanga door, go through it and make your way to the final area: The Nefarivigum. Head to the room at the bottom of the stairs and you'll find Drothan (whose notes you read earlier) in front of a casket containing Mehrunes Dagon's champion, Msirae Faythung. Deal with Drothan, and you can then interact with the champion and take the Beating Heart from his inventory.

You can now eat the Beating Heart, which will immediately infect you with both Porphyric Hemophilia and Cannibal's Prion. Make sure you wait 72 hours for the Vampirism to take hold before you attempt to cure yourself of the Cannibal's Prion disease. Alternatively, if you have an Alchemy Level of 100, then you can create a Potion of Porphyric Hemophilia from the Beating Heart. Consuming this Potion will only give you Porphyric Hemophilia, not Cannibal's Prion.

Congratulations! You are now a Vampire! Also, behind the gate next to the champion is Mehrunes Razor, one of the most powerful weapons in the game. With the Beating Heart consumed you'll have enough strength to raise the gate. Just prepare for a fight, as Faythung will attack you the moment you interact with the gate. Another good thing about eating his Heart is that it will also weaken Faythung, gradually depleting his health to make the fight easier.

Advantages of Vampirism

There are plenty of benefits to being a Vampire in Oblivion Remastered. Some of them affect you no matter what your Vampirism level, but others will require you to be at a higher Vampirism level to obtain them. You control your Vampirism level by feeding on humanoid enemies or NPCs: once you feed, you return to 25% Vampirism level, but that number increases the longer you go without feeding:

• 0 hours since feeding: 25% Vampirism Level
• 24 hours since feeding: 50% Vampirism Level
• 48 hours since feeding: 75% Vampirism Level
• 72 hours since feeding: 100% Vampirism Level

Here's the full list of all the benefits of Vampirism in Oblivion:

• +100% Disease Resistance
• +100% Paralysis Resistance
• +5/10/15/20 Bonus to Strength, Willpower, and Speed Attributes
• +5/10/15/20 Bonus to Acrobatics, Athletics, Destruction, Hand To Hand, Illusion, Mysticism, and Sneak Skills
• Hunter's Sight ability (at 25% Vampirism Level)
• Vampire's Seduction ability (at 50% Vampirism Level)
• Reign Of Terror ability (at 75% Vampirism Level)
• Embrace Of Shadows ability (at 100% Vampirism Level)
• Ability to complete Vampiric-specific quests such as "Vampire Cure"

Hunter's Sight ability

Hunter's Sight is the most basic Vampire ability available to you. It costs 5 Magicka and can be used repeatedly, unlike the other Vampire abilities. Hunter's Sight gives you Night Eye for 30 seconds to see in the dark; and you can also Detect Life at a range of 100 feet for 30 seconds to help you track down potential prey.

Vampire's Seduction ability

Vampire's Seduction is accessible at a Vampirism Level of 50% or greater. It costs no Magicka but can only be used once per day. This is an ability that requires a touch on a target to activate; doing so will Charm the target for 20 seconds, increasing their Disposition towards you by 50 points for that time.

Reign Of Terror ability

Reign Of Terror is useable at 75% Vampirism Level or higher. Once a day, you can cast it by touch on a target to Demoralise them for 60 seconds, decreasing the combat confidence of any enemy up to Level 6 and increasing their chance of running from combat. The ability also casts Silence in a 20 foot area around you for 60 seconds, preventing spellcasters from using spells.

Embrace Of Shadows ability

The final Vampire ability is Embrace Of Shadows, which you can only use at 100% Vampirism Level. Once a day, you can cast it to give yourself Night Eye (see in the dark) for 90 seconds, and Invisibility for 180 seconds.

Disadvantages of Vampirism

Of course, being a Vampire isn't all sunshine - in fact, that's the main downside. The higher your Vampirism Level, the more sunlight will damage you:

• 25% Vampirism Level: No Sunlight Damage
• 50% Vampirism Level: Sunlight deals 1 HP damage per second
• 75% Vampirism Level: Sunlight deals 4 HP damage per second
• 100% Vampirism Level: Sunlight deals 8 HP damage per second

By the time you reach full Vampirism, sunlight will leach away your health very quickly, so you'll need to plan your movements much more carefully than before. You also cannot Fast Travel while in sunlight, and you'll need to be careful whenever you Fast Travel anyway in case you end up in an area bathed in sunlight.

The other main downside to Vampirism is that you become considerably more vulnerable to fire damage:

• 25% Vampirism Level: 20% weaker to Fire Damage
• 50% Vampirism Level: 30% weaker to Fire Damage
• 75% Vampirism Level: 40% weaker to Fire Damage
• 100% Vampirism Level: 50% weaker to Fire Damage

In addition to these two major downsides, your appearance will change to become more "vampire-like" over time, and at higher Vampirism Levels this will start to affect the disposition of many NPCs. Many people will refuse to speak to you once you're at 100% Vampirism Level, and if you get into trouble with guards while at 100% Vampirism Level, they may choose to ignore your yielding, forcing you to fight or flee.

There you have it! That's every single method of becoming a Vampire in The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion Remastered, laid out in intricate detail. We've also got a guide on how to cure vampirism if you're more interested in a less eldritch way of playing Oblivion. For more info on this epic reimagined version of a classic RPG, our guides on the best class, best race, and the best birthsign in Oblivion will prove especially helpful. It can't hurt to learn how to close an Oblivion Gate either!