Even if you're taking advantage of one of the great mods to un-level or auto-upgrade Oblivion Remastered's quest rewards, you might still want to snag yourself something with a little extra oomph right out of the gate. That's where Umbra comes in.
This pitch-black, super evil longsword is a centerpiece of Elder Scrolls lore, and ties into the level-20 Daedric quest for Clavicus Vile. But the sword, and its wielder of the same name, still spawn out in the world even if you haven't activated the quest.
You can find her at the Ayleid ruin, Vindasel, close to the Imperial City. Unlike nearly every other character and item in Oblivion, Umbra and her sword are always full-power, no level adjustment to speak of. It's a piece of loot without an expiration date, and that just feels good to find.
The fact that Umbra the person is also unleveled does complicate killing her to steal her stuff, but she can be easily dispatched with some creative gamer strategies. The crumbling pillar in the center of her chamber offers a perfect vantage point to rain down magic or arrows on her, and she'll just keep running at you, clipping into the pillar, with no ranged abilities of her own to retaliate with.
I actually stumbled into Vindasel accidentally on my playthrough, having forgotten which Ayleid ruins correspond to which key quests—I keep stopping into caves and forts on my way between cities before realizing they're part of quests I haven't started.
Even at around level 12, I was able to chip her down with Destruction magic while munching on mana-restoring Welkynd stones. I think I ate more than 20 to go the distance with Umbra on Oblivion Remastered's Expert difficulty—and that's before downloading IxiosVII's excellent difficulty adjustment mod.
As an added bonus, the sword is treated as a "quest item" by Oblivion, and thus has zero carry weight. You'll eventually want to finish the quest so you can access Hermaeus Mora's daedric quest, which requires completion of all the other daedra princes' tasks, but you can still keep the sword and snub annoying old Clavicus—it'll just be a lot heavier to lug around.
Umbra itself rocks. It looks rad as hell, and has the highest base damage of nearly any weapon in the game, with the only possible exceptions being one or two leveled weapons in Shivering Isles, while also being a fast-attacking one handed sword. Whether you're a gallant fighter or sneaky edgy nightblade, Umbra's a good fit.
Umbra also has a long-lasting soul trap enchantment, which lets you fill Soul Gems to recharge magical items—my master key combo is Umbra paired with the endgame fire katana, Goldbrand. Goldbrand dishes out monster fire damage while having only slightly less base damage than Umbra.
It's fun to swap between the two, topping off Goldbrand with soul gems filled by Umbra. But Goldbrand requires you to be at least level 20 to access Boethia's daedric quest, while Umbra is just right there for the taking the second you leave the Imperial City sewers.
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