72 articlesIf you wish to become a proper tank in The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion Remastered, you’d best know what the top 10 Heavy Armor sets are.
There are over a dozen Heavy Armor sets you can find throughout your journey in Cyrodiil. Not all of them are created equal, however! Some are simply better than their peers, so they’re ideal to use. That said, you’ll find that armor progression is fairly linear in this game.
Eager to know what the best armor sets are? Read on and we’ll tell you!
Top 10 Heavy Armor Sets | The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion Remastered
A Note on Equipment Leveling
First of all, we want to remind you that some of the equipment you get in this game is leveled. That means that the equipment’s stats will depend on your level when you obtain it. Heavy Armor is no exception to this rule!
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Top 10 Light Armor Sets in Oblivion RemasteredMay 27, 2025This is mostly important to keep in mind when going for unique armor from quests. If you want to get the best Armor Rating (AR) possible for an armor set, wait to obtain it until you’re at its max possible scaling level. In most cases, this is Level 25, but some armors do scale up to Level 30.
In this guide, we’ll list the maximum base stats possible and put the level in between parentheses so that you know what level to aim for when obtaining armor. If there are no parentheses or notes about level, then the armor doesn’t scale and you can just pick it up whenever you want.
On top of that, your Heavy Armor skill will also affect the stats of your armor. Higher skill levels will give you more than the base defense, while lower levels will give you less than the base. Additionally, repairing equipment to 125% Condition will also give it a stat boost!
Now, without further ado, let’s rank these Heavy Armor sets from worst to best.
#10 Dwarven Armor
- Helmet: 5 Armor Rating, 8 Weight.
- Cuirass: 12.5 Armor Rating, 40 Weight.
- Gauntlets: 5 Armor Rating, 8 Weight.
- Greaves: 7.5 Armor Rating, 24 Weight.
- Boots: 5 Armor Rating, 12 Weight.
- Shield: 15 Armor Rating, 16 Weight.
- How to Obtain: Found randomly as loot starting from Level 6. Can be bought from shops after you reach Level 10.
#9 Imperial Dragon Armor (Heavy Variant)
- Helmet: 5 Armor Rating, 8 Weight. Resist Shock 20%.
- Cuirass: 12.5 Armor Rating, 40 Weight. Resist Magic 11%.
- Gauntlets: 5 Armor Rating, 8 Weight. Resist Poison 11%.
- Greaves: 7.5 Armor Rating, 24 Weight. Resist Fire 20%.
- Boots: 5 Armor Rating, 12 Weight. Resist Frost 20%.
- How to Obtain: Complete the main story while your Heavy Armor skill is higher than or equal to your Light Armor skill. Using Fortify Skill and Drain Skill effects before you’re told to collect the armor can be used to change which set you get.
#8 Orcish Armor
- Helmet: 5.50 Armor Rating, 9 Weight.
- Cuirass: 13.75 Armor Rating, 45 Weight.
- Gauntlets: 5.50 Armor Rating, 9 Weight.
- Greaves: 8.25 Armor Rating, 27 Weight.
- Boots: 5.50 Armor Rating, 13.5 Weight.
- Shield: 16.50 Armor Rating, 18 Weight.
- How to Obtain: Can be found as loot once you reach Level 10. Alternatively, you can buy it from shops once you reach Level 15.
#7 Blackwood Armor
- Helmet: 5.5 Armor Rating, 10 Weight.
- Cuirass: 13 Armor Rating, 44 Weight.
- Gauntlets: 5.5 Armor Rating, 10 Weight.
- Greaves: 8 Armor Rating, 26 Weight.
- Boots: 5.5 Armor Rating, 14 Weight.
- Shield: 15.5 Armor Rating, 20 Weight.
- How to Obtain: You can get it by looting most Blackwood Company members. Just in case, you can get it without killing anyone from a dead Blackwood Company member in the Forsaken Mine during the “Trolls of Forsaken Mine” quest.
Worth noting that you can wear this armor set without consequence. Members of the Fighter Guild won’t become aggressive toward you.
#6 Ebony Armor
- Helmet: 6.0 Armor Rating, 10.50 Weight.
- Cuirass: 15 Armor Rating, 52.50 Weight.
- Gauntlets: 6 Armor Rating, 10.50 Weight.
- Greaves: 9 Armor Rating, 31.50 Weight.
- Boots: 6 Armor Rating, 15.75 Weight.
- Shield: 18 Armor Rating, 21 Weight.
- How to Obtain: Found randomly as loot from enemies wearing the armor once you reach Level 15.
#5 Umbra’s Ebony Armor
- Helmet (Level 15+): 6.0 Armor Rating, 10.50 Weight.
- Cuirass (Level 15+): 15 Armor Rating, 52.50 Weight.
- Gauntlets (Level 15+): 6 Armor Rating, 10.50 Weight.
- Greaves (Level 15+): 9 Armor Rating, 31.50 Weight.
- Boots (Level 15+): 6 Armor Rating, 15.75 Weight.
- Shield (Level 15+): 18 Armor Rating, 21 Weight.
- How to Obtain: Looted from Umbra in Vindasel. You’ll have to kill her for the armor, either naturally or through the “Clavicus Vile” quest.
Effectively, Umbra’s Ebony Armor is identical to the standard Ebony Armor. It has the same stats and looks. However, we rank it a smidge higher due to how reliable it is to get.
Besides, the armor deserves this spot in our list of the top Heavy Armor sets because Umbra also holds one of the best longswords in The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion Remastered. So, this is a 2-for-1 type of deal!
#4 Daedric Armor
- Helmet: 7.50 Armor Rating, 12 Weight.
- Cuirass: 18.75 Armor Rating, 60 Weight.
- Gauntlets: 7.50 Armor Rating, 12.0 Weight.
- Greaves: 11.25 Armor Rating, 36 Weight.
- Boots: 7.50 Armor Rating, 18 Weight.
- Shield: 22.50 Armor Rating, 24 Weight.
- How to Obtain: Can be obtained as loot from Valkynaz-rank Daedra within the Oblivion Gates. Alternatively, it’s commonly worn by high-level Dremora and vampires. Also starts dropping as randomly loot from enemies once you reach Level 20.
#3 Armor of Order (Heavy Variant)
- Helmet (Level 20+): 7.5 Armor Rating, 12 Weight.
- Cuirass (Level 20+): 18.75 Armor Rating, 60 Weight.
- Gauntlets (Level 20+): 7.5 Armor Rating, 12 Weight.
- Greaves (Level 20+): 11.25 Armor Rating, 36 Weight.
- Boots (Level 20+): 7.5 Armor Rating, 18 Weight.
- Shield (Level 20+): 22.5 Armor Rating, 24 Weight.
- How to Obtain: Can be claimed as a reward for completing the “Saving Time Itself” quest. Unlike other quest rewards, you can repeatedly claim this armor set to get multiple copies if you wish. This quest is exclusive to the Deluxe Edition, however.
#2 Armor of the Crusader (Heavy Variant)
- Helmet (Level 21+): 7.5 Armor Rating, 12 Weight. Fortify Restoration by 6 pts, Fortify Personality by 25 pts.
- Cuirass (Level 21+): 18.75 Armor Rating, 60 Weight. Fortify Health by 27 pts, Fortify Restoration by 6 pts, Resist Normal Weapons by 15%.
- Gauntlets (Level 21+): 7.5 Armor Rating, 12 Weight. Fortify Restoration by 9 pts, Resist Disease by 50%.
- They also allow you to cast a lesser Merciful Touch that applies the Restore Health effect on touch for 50 pts and costs 25 Magicka.
- Greaves (Level 21+): 11 Armor Rating, 36 Weight. Fortify Restration by 6 pts, Fortify Destruction by 9 pts.
- Boots (Level 21+): 7.5 Armor Rating, 18 Weight. Fortify Restoration by 6 pts.
- Shield (Level 21+): 22.5 Armor Rating, 24 Weight. Reflect Spell 18%.
- How to Obtain: Obtained piece by piece during the “Knights of the Nine” questline. To get it, make sure that your Heavy Armor skill is higher than your Light Armor skill when you start the second quest in the questline, “The Shrine of the Crusader.” Otherwise, you’ll receive the Light Armor variant.
#1 Perfect Madness Armor
- Helmet: 8 Armor Rating, 12.4 Weight. Fortify Willpower by 12 pts.
- Cuirass: 19.75 Armor Rating, 61.9 Weight. Fortify Strength by 12 pts.
- Gauntlets: 8 Armor Rating, 12.4 Weight. Fortify Blade and Fortify Blunt by 10 pts each.
- Greaves: 11.75 Armor Rating, 37.1 Weight. Fortify Endurance by 12 pts.
- Boots: 8 Armor Rating, 18.6 Weight. Fortify Athletics by 12 pts.
- Shield: 23.75 Armor Rating, 24 Weight. Reflect Damage 10%.
- How to Obtain: obtain it through the “The Antipodean Hammer” quest at Level 23 or higher. The full set will require 16 Madness Ore.
- The Enchantments are only added if you bring fitting Madness Matrices, you get a non-magical variant otherwise. However, magical and regular variants both have the same stats, it’s just the Enchantments that differ.
So, there you have it, that’s the end of our list of the top 10 Heavy Armor sets in The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion Remastered. Overall, armor set progression is very linear in this game. On top of that, most armor doesn’t have any unique effects… though that can be to your advantage if you make good use of the game’s Enchanting system!
Is all that heavy equipment a tad too much for you? Check out our list of the top 10 Light Armor sets, then. Those armor sets are a better fit for lightweight character builds, such as those focused on stealth.
