You’ve spent hours sneaking through the shadows of the Imperial City. Your lockpicks are breaking. Your palms are sweaty. Finally, you corner Jakben, Earl of Imbel, only to realize the "legendary" thief you were hunting is just a posh vampire with a really cool pair of shoes.
The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion Remastered, which shadow-dropped back in April 2025, brought back all the charm of the original—bugs and all. One of the most iconic items in the game, the Boots of Springheel Jak, remains a centerpiece of the Thieves Guild questline. But honestly, most players don't want to just "use" them for a single quest. We want to keep them.
Why wouldn't you? A permanent +50 boost to Acrobatics turns the hero of Kvatch into a medieval superhero. You can literally hop over garden walls and escape guards by jumping onto rooftops they can't reach. It’s basically the closest thing to a "creative mode" flight button without actually cheating.
Why the Boots of Springheel Jak Matter So Much
If you’re playing the remaster on PS5 or Xbox Series X, you’ve likely noticed that the movement feels a bit more fluid than it did in 2006, but the physics are still hilariously floaty. The Boots of Springheel Jak amplify this to an absurd degree.
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In the quest "The Ultimate Heist," the Gray Fox tells you that you need these boots to survive a massive fall at the end of the mission. Technically, that's a lie. If your Acrobatics skill is high enough—or if you're really good at landing on tiny ledges in the chute—you can survive without them.
The remaster, co-developed by Virtuos and Bethesda, didn't fix the core logic of how these boots work. They are still coded as a "quest item" until the very moment they are meant to be destroyed. This means that if you follow the script, you lose the best footwear in the game. But why follow the script?
How to Keep the Boots (The Remaster Edition)
Keeping the boots is the oldest trick in the book, and somehow, the 2025 remaster didn't patch it out. It’s almost like the devs knew we’d be mad if they did.
Basically, there are two main ways to keep them after the quest is "over."
- The Sanguine Shrine Method: This is the most reliable way. Before you finish the "Ultimate Heist" quest, head over to the Shrine of Sanguine. Start his Daedric quest. When the guards arrest you for the prank, your inventory gets stripped. Because the Boots of Springheel Jak are a quest item, they stay with you, but the game "forgets" they were supposed to be equipped and destroyed. When you get your stuff back, you often find the boots are no longer tied to the script.
- The Acrobatics Hack: If you have an Acrobatics skill of 100 (Master level), you don't even need the boots to survive the fall in the Old Way. You can just... jump. If you aren't wearing the boots when you hit the ground, the script that triggers their "breaking" never happens. You can then finish the quest and keep the boots in your inventory forever.
The remaster added some beautiful ray-tracing and updated textures, but the "broken" nature of these boots is part of the game’s soul. You’ve probably seen the Reddit threads—people are still reporting the "Jakben not appearing" bug, too. If that happens, you usually have to wait 24 hours in the crypt or, if you're on PC, use the console to move him to you.
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Jakben Imbel: The Man, The Myth, The Pun
Let’s talk about the owner. Jakben, Earl of Imbel.
Read that name again. Jakben Imbel. Jack-be-nimble.
Bethesda's writing in 2006 was full of these little nods, and they hit just as well in the 2025 updated version. When you break into his house in the Talos Plaza District, you find out he’s actually a vampire. He’s been alive for centuries, pretending to be his own descendants.
Kinda creepy, right?
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But it makes sense. A regular human wouldn't need boots that let them jump 20 feet in the air. A vampire, however, thrives on that kind of mobility. In the remaster, the lighting in his basement is much more atmospheric, making the fight against him and his "servant" feel a bit more like a horror movie and less like a clunky RPG encounter.
What Most People Get Wrong About the Fall
There’s a huge misconception that the boots are a "shield" that protects you from damage. They aren't. They just give you a massive Fortify Acrobatics buff.
In the remaster's physics engine, fall damage is still calculated based on your total health and your Acrobatics level. If you have 50 HP and you fall from the top of the White-Gold Tower, no pair of shoes is going to save you.
Players often forget to actually equip them before the final jump. If you’re at the end of the Ultimate Heist and you’re staring down that dark chute, make sure they are on your feet. If you’re trying to keep them, though, try the "ledge-hopping" trick. In the remaster, the collision on the walls of the chute is a bit more refined, so you can actually catch yourself on small protruding bricks to break your fall.
Actionable Tips for Your Thieves Guild Run
If you’re aiming to be the most mobile thief in Cyrodiil, here is exactly what you should do:
- Don't rush the quest: Get your Acrobatics to at least 50 naturally before you even start looking for Jakben. It makes the boots much more effective.
- Save before the basement: The "Jakben missing" bug is still very real in the remaster. Save outside his house, then again before you enter the crypt.
- The "Double Boot" Glitch: Some players have reported finding two pairs of boots if they kill Jakben before the quest tells them to, though this can sometimes break the Thieves Guild progression. Proceed with caution.
- Check your weight: The boots have a weight of 2. While they are quest items, they don't count toward your encumbrance. Once you use a glitch to keep them, they will start weighing you down.
The Boots of Springheel Jak are more than just a quest reward; they’re a symbol of everything that makes Oblivion great. It’s a game that lets you be a little bit broken. Whether you’re jumping over the walls of Leyawiin or just trying to get a better view of the sunset over the Gold Coast, these boots are the ultimate accessory for any 2026 playthrough.
Before you head back to the Gray Fox to turn in your hard-earned loot, decide if you really want to be "honest" or if you'd rather be a high-jumping legend. Most of us choose the legend. Every time.
To ensure you don't lose them permanently, make a hard save before entering the final corridor of the Old Way. If the boots break upon landing, reload and try the Sanguine Shrine trick or the manual ledge-catch method to bypass the script. Once the quest "The Ultimate Heist" is marked as complete in your journal, the boots should remain in your inventory as a standard enchanted item, allowing you to leap across the Imperial City at your leisure.