At face value, the quest called “A Rat Problem” may seem like filler content. It is the first Fighters Guild quest in Anvil, offering little storytelling and an even lower mechanical challenge. Players are asked to investigate an infestation of rats, only to discover that the real threat is a mountain lion targeting them. On the surface, it’s a short, linear quest meant to onboard new recruits with a gentle combat scenario. But in Oblivion Remastered, this modest mission has taken on a second life as a stealthy, high-efficiency leveling exploit.
Thanks to minor AI improvements and balance tweaks in the remaster, the rats in Arvena Thelas’ basement now behave more reliably and predictably. This allows experienced players to transform the early-game encounter into a closed-loop training ground. This turns “A Rat Problem” from a basic chore into one of the most potent early-game optimization opportunities in the entirety of Oblivion Remastered.
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A Tutorial Quest Disguised as a Power-Leveling Chamber
By bringing a shield, a one-handed weapon, and a basic healing spell, players can trigger a high-XP feedback loop: take hits, block them, and heal repeatedly. The trick isn’t just about exploiting the rats, it’s about exploiting the systems Oblivion has always rewarded. Block XP, for instance, scales with successful timing. Restoration XP is granted per cast. Light and Heavy Armor both level based on absorbed damage. And because the rats deal low, sustained damage and rarely break rhythm, they create the perfect environment for cycling through all of these actions without serious risk. This setup lets players boost four or five core skills before ever leaving Anvil.
What makes this unique to the remaster is the stability of the combat loop. In the original release, pathfinding issues or erratic rat behavior often broke the sequence. Now, the remastered AI maintains smoother engagement. The players can pair that with improved framerates and reduced animation jank, and the entire encounter becomes a reliable, valuable method to level up.
It’s a Quest, But Not the One It Appears To Be
Because the quest is repeatable (until the player speaks to the quest giver again), players can stay in the basement indefinitely. That’s why the goal isn’t to get to the mountain lion in Oblivion Remastered, but instead to grind and level up. It is actually one of the few scenarios in the game that allows extended, uninterrupted engagement with low-lethality enemies.
Unlike true exploits or console command abuse, approaching it from this angle works within the intended game mechanics. No glitches are used, and no AI manipulation is required. It’s simply an unusually efficient intersection of combat AI, skill XP math, and healing loop design. That makes it viable for casual players as well, especially those who want to test Oblivion Remastered‘s armor types, shield timing, or mana efficiency without risking death or wasting potions.
In Oblivion Remastered, the rat problem’s fight loop’s consistency allows for optimization without tedium. No scripting, no exploits, and just clean repetition in a mechanically dense arena. Few other quests offer this level of control, especially so early. And none do it with such mechanical purity.
An Overlooked Micro-System in a Game Built on Them
Oblivion was always about stacking micro-decisions: how to move, what to equip, when to cast. A Rat Problem compresses all of that into a tight, controlled environment. And in the remastered version, that environment is now stable enough to be used intentionally. It’s not just the game’s first Fighters Guild quest; it’s also the first, and possibly best, skill sandbox for hybrid builds. That kind of flexibility is exactly what Oblivion Remastered was meant to amplify. And here, it delivers.
Plus, the quest cleanly isolates the game’s layered systems. Blocking, healing, armor resistance, fatigue regeneration, and magicka pacing can all be tested without external interference. Unlike wilderness fights where variables multiply, terrain, enemy types, line-of-sight, aggro chaining, a rat problem creates a fixed test chamber. Players can deliberately rotate between shield blocks, armor soaking, weapon swings, and restoration casting, all while monitoring skill XP progression in real time.