In The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion, you can close up to 60 Oblivion Gates in a normal playthrough : 50 random/world gates plus 10 fixed, main-quest- related gates. Some players can push the counter to 61 using a specific Bruma Gate glitch, but that’s an exploit, not the intended design.

Quick Scoop: How Many Oblivion Gates in Oblivion?

The Intended Numbers

  • Total possible closable gates (normal play): up to 60.
  • Random gates: up to 50 that can appear at various wilderness locations.
  • Scripted/main quest gates: about 10 tied to key story events (Kvatch, Bruma, city-specific gates, Great Gate, etc.).
  • Maximum gate spots on the map: around 100 locations , but only up to 60 can actually activate in a given game.

Think of it this way: the world has many potential “gate spawn points,” but the game caps how many truly open in one run.

Why You May See Different Numbers (43, 50, 60, 61)

Players often report wildly different totals in forum discussions and Reddit threads. Common reasons:

  1. Main-quest progress controls spawns
    • After certain quests (like “Find the Heir” and “Dagon’s Shrine”), the game raises the cap and chance for random gates to spawn, then lowers it again after “Paradise.”
 * If you rush the main quest, you’ll naturally see **fewer** gates.
  1. Random gate cap vs. fixed gates
    • Random gates can never exceed 40 open at once in some documented mechanics, and overall random gates max at 50 closed over the whole game.
 * Main-quest gates are separate from those random caps, which is how the total closed count reaches 60.
  1. Glitches and bugs
    • There’s a known bug where all existing gates close and no more open, even breaking parts of the main quest in some cases.
 * Other times, players simply miss a few hidden gate locations and assume the game “ran out” at, say, 43 or 44 gates.

The 61-Gate Glitch

Speedrunners and glitch-hunters have found ways to get 61 gates closed by abusing the Bruma Gate and load-warping tricks.

  • By manipulating how the game registers the Bruma gate closure, they can count it twice , effectively adding one more to the gate-closed statistic.
  • Some players on forums mention reaching a counter of 61 after checking all 100 spots and exploiting odd behavior or repeated loading of certain locations.

For normal play, you can treat 60 as the real ceiling; 61 is “for glitch runners only.”

How Many Oblivion Gates Should You Close?

From player discussions and community opinions:

  • You only need a few for the main quest (roughly three mandatory ones), so you can ignore most if you find them repetitive.
  • Many players recommend closing 20–30 :
    • Enough to farm good Sigil Stones and see all ~7 dungeon layouts.
* Avoids the feeling of grinding through similar Deadlands maps again and again.

Some completionists aim for the full 60 , and a hardcore minority go for glitch runs to hit 61 —but that’s more about bragging rights than rewards.

Mini FAQ

  • Q: Is “how many Oblivion Gates in Oblivion” a fixed number?
    A: The world has ~100 potential gate spots, but the maximum you can actually close in one save is 60 , unless you use glitches to hit 61.
  • Q: Do I have to close them all?
    A: No. The main quest requires only a small subset of them, and all remaining gates close once the story ends.

Information gathered from public forums or data available on the internet and portrayed here.