Vanilla armor in Oblivion Remastered looks… let’s say it could be better. Rusty Legion gear, odd elven armor proportions and textures from 2006: modders have tackled those problems. I’ve collected armor mods worth trying if you want to freshen up Cyrodiil’s equipment.
From simple retextures to complete redesigns with new meshes, there’s something for every playstyle. For more Oblivion Remastered content, visit the main page with all the guides and mods. Let’s get started!
Auto Hide Gear
Remember how your character in the original Oblivion glowed like a Christmas tree? Auto Hide Gear fixes that and gives you full control over equipment visibility. It’s one of my favorite mods: I constantly use it to hide my helmet, especially when wearing ordinary armor mixed with unique pieces from other sets.
- Hide any piece of equipment through an in-game menu
- Automatically hide weapons when sheathed
- Configure shield, quiver, helmet, armor and jewelry visibility
- Remove the original game’s constant character glow
- Save settings between game sessions
✅ How it changes gameplay: This is purely cosmetic and doesn’t affect stats or combat. It only works on your character: NPCs keep showing off their gear. The author describes it as a complete rework of their old Hide Sheathed Weapons mod, so everything now works properly.
RAO (NBO Compatible)
Remade Armor for Oblivion is one of those mods that divides opinion. It replaces all female armor with more “glamorous” and revealing versions.
- Replaces every female armor set in the game
- Requires NBO to work
- Currently in beta, with potential clipping issues
- Incompatible with other armor replacers
✅ How it changes gameplay: If you like the beauty-and-lethality aesthetic, this is your option. Be ready to choose, though: the mod conflicts with other armor modifications. Installation is simple: extract the archive into the game’s root folder.
Warning: This is a beta, so expect clipping bugs on some models.
HD Reworked Ebony Armor
Vanilla ebony armor looks like a plastic imitation. HD Reworked fixes that with textures more in keeping with the lore.
- A glossy ebony surface
- Polished gold with accurate color and reflections
- Detailed straps, buckles and chainmail
- Reworks every piece for male and female characters
- Keeps the original texture resolution without affecting performance
✅ How it changes gameplay: Compatible with mods that reshape armor or remove pauldrons. The author has made similar reworks for iron and leather armor, so you can build a full set of improved textures. Ebony finally looks like a precious material rather than black plastic from a toy shop.
Elven Armor Reworked
Vanilla elven armor looks ridiculous: strange angles and a bulky silhouette. Elven Armor Reworked rethinks the design with an emphasis on clear shapes.
- Three armor variants: Variant A, Variant B and Scout
- Mix and match different variants
- The waist armor is attached to the greaves
- Green collar by default
- Compatible with all races and sexes
✅ How it changes gameplay: The author removed the original’s awkward angles and created a more elegant silhouette. Manual installation is recommended for the best results, especially if you plan to mix variants.
Legion Armor of the 2nd Era
The Imperial Legion is one of Tamriel’s strongest military organizations, but its Oblivion armor looks like rusty junk. Legion Armor of the 2nd Era addresses that mismatch.
- Removes rust and wear
- More red on cloth and leather elements
- A brown and black leather belt with gold trim
- Brighter chainmail with visible links
- Steel trim and gold emblems on gauntlets and pauldrons
- 4K textures
✅ How it changes gameplay: Inspired by the Legion’s armor in Elder Scrolls Online, but adapted to Oblivion’s classic appearance. The recognizable design remains; it simply looks freshly polished instead of scavenged from a dump. Legionaries finally look like a professional army.
Immersive Imperial Legion
Immersive Imperial Legion changes the Legion’s equipment for greater realism and variety. It works with existing saves and is safe to install and remove.
- Fewer soldiers carry bows
- Steel weapons instead of silver for city guards
- More varied weapons, including maces and shortswords
- Guards carry torches at night
- Ebony weapons for captains
- Unique sets for Legion archers and foresters
- Different hunting outfits to suit the climate
✅ How it changes gameplay: Best used with Immersive Guards, which follows a similar philosophy. Not every guard carries a bow now: only those protecting important gates or the prison courtyard. Palace guards no longer carry bows, since firing down narrow palace corridors isn’t terribly sensible. Captains receive ebony weapons as a sign of rank, and Captain Montrose finally looks like a captain. It’s carefully detailed throughout.
Amelion’s Paladin Armor
This mod adds a visor to Brusef Amelion’s helmet, redesigns his sword and replaces the armor textures to create a paladin set. Each component has a separate set of files.
- A helmet visor with an optional less sinister version
- A redesigned sword with a fantastical appearance
- New armor textures
- Install components independently
- Compatible with Amelion retextures
- Supports all body types except beast races
✅ How it changes gameplay: It uses vanilla assets, so compatibility with other mods is good. The author has accidentally made something resembling medieval clone troopers. 😊
Known bugs: Gauntlets and the sword’s gem disappear in first person near walls, fixable with Brusef Amelion Equipment Fix. Blood and enchantment effects on the sword don’t work properly.
Legion Restored
A simple but effective response to the question: why do guards wear rusty armor? Legion Restored polishes Legion gear until it shines.
- Removes rust from Legion armor
- A darker metal finish
- Simple installation
✅ How it changes gameplay: It does one thing well: removes rust and darkens the armor. The Empire’s defenders finally look respectable. No complicated settings: extract it into the game folder and you’re done. For more detail, see Legion Armor of the 2nd Era above, but Legion Restored is an excellent quick fix.
Medium Traveling Armor
The author was tired of every plate armor set looking like a refrigerator on skinny legs, a demon costume or something you’d wear to the shops. They decided to make a middle ground.
- New meshes for the steel cuirass, leather gauntlets and greaves
- New cuirass textures
- Male and female versions
- A modular system of nine files
- Optional leather greaves retexture
- Three files replacing Brusef Amelion’s armor
- Compatible with Amelion Armor Reforged
✅ How it changes gameplay: The author spent a week learning Blender and also studied Unreal Engine to make this mod. The armor looks practical for travel, without unnecessary embellishment. Assemble it piece by piece from nine files or install everything.
Cyrodiil Legionary — Fixed for Update 1.2
When update 1.2 broke many mesh mods, the author decided to recreate Crunchy Thunder’s classic mod. The result is a fully working version with additions.
- Fixed gladius in steel and fine steel variants
- Includes an Akatosh longsword
- Optional Legion helmets without plumes
- Legion cavalry helmets
- Improved 1024×1024 textures
- Replaces vanilla Legion armor with Centurion armor
- Replaces palace armor with Praetorian A armor
✅ How it changes gameplay: Requires the original mod’s SlotID_Unhide_P files, or arms and legs will become invisible. It does not include Blades equipment, Praetorian B, and never will: the author doesn’t use it and made this out of respect for the original, rather than to compete. Compatible with NBO, but not RAO.
Wrathplate Armor Overhaul (Theenco Armors)
A complete Wrathplate armor overhaul. This adds actual content and gameplay changes rather than just a retexture.
- Three bandit ringleaders with unique equipment in Talwinque, Fort Wooden Hand and Gro-Bak Camp.
- Sold at The Warlock’s Luck in Bravil
- A separate merchant chest that avoids conflicts
- Enchanted equipment
- A new longsword and claymore
- Hood and mask as separate items
- Custom inventory icons
- Cuirass versions with and without a skirt
✅ How it changes gameplay: Stats are substantially changed, and everything counts as heavy armor. The author openly admits the skirt isn’t perfect and is better suited to screenshots; a physics rework may come later. The mod adds content to the world instead of merely changing textures, so you can hunt down the ringleaders or buy the gear in a shop.
Mod Installation Recommendations
Most mods here are installed manually: just extract the archive into the folder.
OblivionRemastered\Content\Paks~mods
Some need additional dependencies such as NBO or files from the original mods.
If you don’t know where to start, see the complete Oblivion Remastered mod installation guide for step-by-step instructions, from basic installation to resolving conflicts.
Important points:
- Check mod compatibility before installing
- Back up your saves
- Read the mod descriptions: they often contain important details
- Some mods conflict with each other, such as RAO and other armor mods
Armor Mods That Work After Oblivion’s Patches
Oblivion Remastered’s modding community is steadily growing, and the expanding list of mods is good to see. I don’t have the energy to play the original anymore; I’ve worn myself out on it since its distant 2006 release.
If you know any other good Oblivion Remastered armor mods I’ve missed, write to me. I’ll test them and may add them here. I’m always interested in new work, especially mods that do something unusual or fix problems that annoy everyone but nobody tackles. Happy modding. 😊
If you want to improve the whole game, my Oblivion Remastered mod setup covers all the important areas.
