Highlights
- Enchantments in Oblivion can increase skills and attributes beyond their level cap and improve attack damage and utility spells.
- Powerful enchantments require high levels of recharge and grand souls, which can be difficult to obtain.
- Creatures like Minotaur Lords, Uderfrykte Matron, Goblin Warlords, Slaughterfish Brood Mother, Liches, Gloom Wraiths, and Xivilai are challenging enemies that provide grand souls for enchanting.
Enchantments are one way to increase skills or attributes beyond their level cap, bolster attack damage, or maintain utility spells such as elemental resistances. While sigil stones are a viable option for enchanting, they are limited in number and come with random effects (unless the player save-scums their way to success). Powerful enchantments require high levels of recharge, and sometimes, only a grand soul will do.
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Unlike its successor, Skyrim, there is no reusable black soul container in Oblivion. Black soul gems are obtainable but require grand souls and some esoteric necromantic rituals to obtain. However, Azura’s Star can still be used to capture an unlimited number of grand souls from various creatures across the game. While they provide the best results for enchanting, they can be tricky to track down, especially since many of them appear only after a certain level, and some creatures are better for providing a steady supply of grand souls than others.
1 Minotaur Lords
Boss Monsters, Hard To Kill
- Usually appear as bosses around lesser Minotaurs
- Three can be encountered after beating all the Arena quests
For melee characters of any stripe, minotaurs can provide quite the challenge to take down. The boss variant, the Minotaur Lord, doubly so. If possible, players should bring ranged magic or a bow to snipe them from a distance before trapping their souls. Minotaur Lords can randomly appear in dungeons all across Cyrodiil as bosses, but there is one place where they are guaranteed to appear.
If the player can defeat every opponent in the Arena and become the Grand Champion, they will be able to enter optional fights, one of which is a brawl with three Minotaur Lords at once. This challenge can be repeated once every in-game week, which (if the player character is strong enough to survive) can provide a decent supply of enchanting souls. It is indeed a sad fate for the once-noble Minotaur people, but those enchantments won’t charge themselves!
2 Uderfrykte Matron
Unique, Part Of “The Horror Of Dive Rock” Quest
- Can be tracked down by reading the journal at the Dive Rock campsite
- Uderfrykte is a regular troll, albeit invisible
Creatures in Oblivion with grand souls are hard to find, but the Uderfrykte Matron might be the hardest to see, being mostly invisible without a detect life spell. The Uderfrykte Matron should appear transparent with a coating of frost but can also spawn without it, rendering her completely see-through.
The Uderfrykte Matron can be encountered south of Dive Rock in the Jerall Mountains, to the north. Like all trolls, she has hardy resistance to frost, regenerates health, and is weak against fire. It is advisable to bring an enchanted fire weapon or a few fiery destruction spells.
3 Goblin Warlord
Level 18+, Boss Monster
- Appear as bosses or regular enemies after levels 18 and 20, respectively
- Use melee or ranged weapons
Although goblins populate many of the caves and abandoned mines across the land in a typical, even somewhat clichéd fantasy RPG fashion, the warlord variant is a rarer sight until late or midway through the game. They can be taken down the same way as their tribe members and come as ranged or melee opponents, each with the ability to paralyze, making them tricky to take down unless fought one-on-one.
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Goblin Warlords will only appear as bosses once the player character has reached level 18, then as regular enemies after level 20. Before this, players who clear out minions and make their way to the throne room (or totem room) will reveal only a lesser goblin shaman with a less potent soul.
4 Slaughterfish Brood Mother
Appear After Level 16+, Part Of The “Go Fish” Quest
- Begin appearing after level 16 but carry grand souls after 18
- Weak to shock spells or shock damage
The Brood Mother should be tackled with at least a water-breathing potion, scrolls, spells, or enchantments ready to go. They can rip 50 damage from the player with each attack, so they should be killed quickly. One way to take them down fast is with shock magic, to which they have a particular weakness.
After reaching level 18, a good way to find them all in one place is during the “Go Fish” quest, in which a group can be encountered at once. As with all leveled enemies, the higher the player’s level, the more chance they have of seeing them (and in the Brood Mother’s case, especially in deeper waters).
5 Liches
Level 18+, Hard To Kill
- Rarely seen across the dungeons of Cyrodiil
- Will fight vampires, zombies, and even other liches
Perhaps because, before becoming a Lich, they spent their whole lives trying to permanently bind their soul to their mortal bodies, they are one of the hardest grand soul enemies in the game. They do not appear much and more often than not appear as ghostly Nether Liches, which only carry greater souls. Either variant is deadly and should not be underestimated.
If players do happen upon a fully-fledged Lich in the (rotten) flesh, they should keep in mind that they will not only fight the player but vampires, zombies, and even other liches. Additionally, knocking out their staves renders them useless in a fight, as they have no other way to attack.
6 Gloom Wraith
Plentiful, Hard To Kill
- Many haunt the lowest levels of chapels
- Can be summoned by master conjurer players
These vicious ghosts can easily be found in haunted places, dungeons, and especially in chapel undercrofts across Cyrodiil. They are much more dangerous than regular wraiths, and worse (or best of all) they tend to appear in large numbers. Gloom Wraiths can also be summoned by masters of conjuration, which will allow the summoner to attack and trap its soul.
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The spell to summon the Gloom Wraith can be purchased at the Arcane University. Intrepid soul hunters should make sure to bring silver, Daedric, or magic weapons, as ordinary attacks won’t land on these spooky specters.
7 Xivilai
Plentiful, Replenishable
- Although humanoid, their souls can be trapped in regular grand soul gems
- With a mastery of the Conjuration skill, can be summoned
Unlike Daedroth, the other humanoid Daedra variant, which requires black gems, Xivilai are considered “classless” by their immortal kin, and as a result, can fill regular grand soul gems. They are formidable fighters that can be found in the Deadlands beyond Oblivion Gates. However, there is an easier way to find and trap the souls of these creatures.
As with any summoned creature, their souls can be trapped upon summoning. The summon spell can be used only with conjuration mastery, and the spell itself can be obtained from the mage Borissean in the Praxographical Center beyond the walls of the Arcane University.
