To become a vampire in The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion Remastered, you contract the disease Porphyric Hemophilia, usually from a vampire’s melee attack, then leave it uncured for three in-game days and sleep. There are also two guaranteed routes that skip the dice roll, one through the Dark Brotherhood and one through the Mehrunes’ Razor content that ships with the remaster. This guide covers all three routes, the three-night transformation, the four stages of vampirism and their powers, how feeding works, and what the remaster and its patches changed, verified against official patch notes.
The three ways to catch Porphyric Hemophilia
Get bitten. Every melee hit from a vampire carries a chance to infect you. The long-standing community documentation on UESP lists Memorial Cave (east of the Imperial City), Bloodcrust Cavern, Redwater Slough, Lipsand Tarn, Fort Carmala and Crowhaven among the dungeons with several vampires. When the disease lands you get an on-screen message naming it, and it shows up in your active effects as a 5-point Drain Fatigue.
Resist Disease does not protect you here: per UESP, Porphyric Hemophilia has ignored disease resistance since an original-game patch, and the remaster inherits that rule.
Take the Dark Brotherhood’s gift. Once you have joined the Dark Brotherhood and finished the contracts handed out by Vicente Valtieri, he offers to turn you himself in the quest Darkness Eternal. This is the only route with no randomness.
Eat the Beating Heart. The Mehrunes’ Razor download, included in the remaster along with the other original add-ons per the Steam store page, ends with a Beating Heart taken from a character named Msirae Faythung. Eating it infects you with Porphyric Hemophilia.
What happens over the next three days
For 72 in-game hours the infection behaves like any other disease: a Cure Disease potion, spell, ingredient or a chapel altar removes it, and you never turn. If that is what you want, our guide to curing diseases has every option. Once the three days pass, Cure Disease no longer works, and the change is locked in the next time you sleep.
The transformation itself takes three sleeps, not one. Per UESP, the first sleep after the 72-hour mark brings a nightmare and your first vampire abilities; a second sleep at least a day later adds more; a third sleep at least a day after that makes you a full vampire, at which point sunlight becomes dangerous. You can delay the whole thing indefinitely by never sleeping, though you cannot reverse it once the three days are up.
You can only go through this once. After the vampirism cure, Porphyric Hemophilia can still be caught, but it behaves as a plain fatigue drain and never turns you again.
The four stages and what they give you
Every vampire has 100% Resist Disease and 100% Resist Paralysis regardless of stage. Everything else scales with how long it has been since you last fed, per UESP’s documentation of the game data:
- Stage 1 (25%), first day since feeding: +5 to Strength, Willpower and Speed, and +5 to Acrobatics, Athletics, Destruction, Hand to Hand, Illusion, Mysticism and Sneak. 20% Weakness to Fire, no sun damage. Power: Hunter’s Sight (Night Eye plus Detect Life, reusable).
- Stage 2 (50%), second day: bonuses rise to +10, 30% Weakness to Fire, 1 point of sun damage per second outdoors in daylight. Power: Vampire’s Seduction (a once-a-day Charm on touch).
- Stage 3 (75%), third day: +15, 40% Weakness to Fire, 4 sun damage per second. Power: Reign of Terror (Silence and Demoralize on touch).
- Stage 4 (100%), fourth day onward: +20, 50% Weakness to Fire, 8 sun damage per second. Power: Embrace of Shadows (Night Eye and three minutes of Invisibility).
Advancement is triggered by sleeping or waiting after 24 hours without feeding, so a vampire who simply never rests stays at the stage they are on. At stage 4 many NPCs refuse to talk to you until you raise their disposition, which is what Vampire’s Seduction is for.
Sunlight, and how to feed
Sun damage applies from stage 2 upward, outdoors, between roughly 6 a.m. and 8 p.m. game time, and it peaks at midday. You cannot fast travel or wait while taking sun damage.
Feeding is done on a sleeping humanoid. Approach anyone asleep in a bed and press the interact button (E on keyboard, A on Xbox, X on PlayStation). Out of sneak you get a choice between feeding and talking; in sneak (Left Ctrl, B, Circle) the choice is between feeding and pickpocketing. The victim is not harmed and does not become a vampire. If someone witnesses the feeding it counts as an assault, which UESP puts at a 40 gold bounty, and the victim wakes up. Guild halls and inns are the easiest places because you are not trespassing. One feeding drops you back to stage 1 immediately, and as long as you do not sleep or wait afterwards you stay there. Update 1.2 fixed broken vampire sleeping animations, so resting as a vampire now looks the way it should.
What the remaster changed
Three differences stand out, all documented on UESP’s remaster changes page rather than in official notes. First, vampires no longer age twenty years: your face keeps its structure, with pale skin, dark circles and, for Argonian, Khajiit, Orc, Redguard and Imperial characters, changed eyes. Second, there is no visual difference between stages. Third, you can now contract Porphyric Hemophilia while already a vampire. The rest of our Oblivion coverage is on the Elder Scrolls hub.
Frequently Asked Questions
How long does it take to become a vampire in Oblivion Remastered? Three in-game days after infection, then three separate sleeps spaced at least a day apart. You are a full vampire after the third sleep.
Can I still be cured after the three days? Not with Cure Disease. Once the incubation ends, the only way out is the Vampire Cure quest, which starts by asking healers or Raminus Polus at the Arcane University about a cure.
Do I take sun damage as soon as I turn? No. Stage 1 has no sun damage. It begins at stage 2, which you reach by sleeping or waiting after 24 hours without feeding.
Does feeding hurt or turn the person I feed on? No. Feeding leaves them unharmed and mortal. The only risk is a witness, which counts as an assault.
Can I become a vampire twice? Per UESP, no. Once cured, the game flags you as immune, and only console commands on PC change that.