Oblivion:Armor
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Armor comes in two classes: Light and Heavy. This page lists all the non-enchanted varieties of both kinds of armor. The category Oblivion-Armor provides lists of all of the individual pieces of armor available in the game.
Armor Rating
The Armor Rating displayed in the table represents the percentage of damage the piece of armor absorbs. A player's combined rating may not exceed 85%. The listed armor rating is modified by the player's Skill in the armor type (Light Armor or Heavy Armor) and the armor's condition by the following multiplier:
( 0.35 + 0.0065 * Skill ) * ArmorHealth%
Note that Skill is modified by Luck before it is used in this formula, and is constrained between 0 and 100 as usual.
Armor protects the wearer from damage due to weapons, but not from magical damage (at least for non-enchanted armor). For each blow that armor absorbs, it becomes damaged. Armor can be repaired using the Armorer skill.
A shield only contributes to your armor rating if you have both it and a one-handed weapon equipped. If you have a two-handed weapon equipped, or if you have no weapon equipped (i.e., any combat would be Hand to Hand), the shield is assumed to be unavailable because you would not be able to use it in combat. This can be a problem for spellcasters who wear armor but never use weapons, and therefore would tend to never bother equipping any weapon. It may be worth carrying around a dagger and having it equipped just to maximize your armor rating. However, any enchantments associated with an equipped shield will be effective no matter what type of weapon you do (or do not) have equipped.
When your skill stats reach 100 for both light and heavy armor, both types will be weightless (only while wearing them), and light armor will be at 150 % effectiveness. This makes Elven & Ebony, and Glass & Daedric essentially the same. However, heavy armor will still last longer without needing repairs.
Leveled List Info
Most items are randomly spawned from lists based on the player's level. The following table describes the minimum level at which an armor type begins to show up for the player; lower level armor will also randomly appear. Enchanted versions of each armor type will begin to appear 2 levels later; see Generic Magic Apparel for more information. See Leveled Lists for details on how these lists are used to determine the probabilities of individual items appearing.
| Level | Light Armor | Heavy Armor |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Fur | Iron |
| 3 | Leather | Steel |
| 6 | Chainmail | Dwarven |
| 10 | Mithril | Orcish |
| 15 | Elven | Ebony |
| 20 | Glass | Daedric |
This table applies to the vast majority of the armor you will encounter, both on enemies and in loot. One general exception is vendors in stores: they will not offer Chainmail/Dwarven armor until level 10 and Mithril/Orcish until level 15. Vendors will never offer the higher quality equipment.
There are very few places where randomly generated armor will appear at lower levels than listed in this table. Some of these exceptions are:
- Dwarven shields and Light Iron shields (Chainmail-quality shields) can be found starting at level 1 on tribal Goblin Berserkers. Leather shields and Steel shields are also possible starting at level 1 on either tribal Goblin Berserkers or on tribal Goblin Skirmishers.
- Chainmail armor can be found starting at level 4 in middle-level and upper-level houses.
- Elven shields can be found starting at level 10, in particular on marauders and other NPCs who wear heavy armor. Elven shields were substituted for Orcish shields on several leveled lists (which also means that orcish shields can be more difficult to find than other orcish gear).
Non-Random Items
Some armor is also available as non-random loot. These armor pieces will always be found in a specified location (or on a specified NPC), and will always be of the same quality type, no matter what your character's level is. Most non-random armor is low-level armor, generally fur/iron or maybe leather/steel armor.
For exceptions, see:
Light Armor |
Heavy Armor |
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Fur Armor (Image)
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Iron Armor (Image)
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Leather Armor (Image)
*Leather bracers are wrist armor that can be worn in place of gauntlets; they are not considered to be part of the full set of leather armor. They can be purchased at Archer's Paradox in Bravil; they are worn by Baurus, Jalbert, Kurz gro-Baroth, Shaleez, one of the Clarabella pirates, and some Imperial Legion Foresters. |
Steel Armor (Image)
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Chainmail Armor (Image)
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Dwarven Armor (Image)
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Mithril Armor (Image)
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Orcish Armor (Image)
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Elven Armor (Image)
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Ebony Armor (Image)
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Glass Armor (Image)
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Daedric Armor (Image)
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Light Armor Images
 Fur Armor |
 Leather Armor with Gauntlets |
 Leather Armor with Bracers |
 Chainmail Armor |
 Mithril Armor |
 Elven Armor |
 Glass Armor |
Heavy Armor Images
 Iron Armor |
 Steel Armor |
 Dwarven Armor |
 Orcish Armor |
 Ebony Armor |
 Daedric Armor |
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