Weapons ( Oblivion ) A weapon is a piece of equipment that can be used to deal damage to any person or creature . Weapons are made from a variety of materials , such as common Steel , to less common Glass . Damage and speed of a weapon is determined by its strength , the material it is made of , the weight , and the skill of the character wielding it . The main exception is a staff , which is not used as a melee weapon , but rather one that propels magic al attacks towards a target . The staff can be used regardless of level or skills . Weapons and armor in Cyrodiil come in an array of materials . These nearly always go in a consistent order of quality : if a dagger of one material is better than a dagger of another , then armor of the first material will also be superior to the second . One point that is frequently confused is Dremora and Daedric equipment . While identical in appearance and weight , Dremora equipment is vastly inferior in quality , equivalent to steel . Otherwise , weight is correlated with quality . Due to " Oblivion ' s " leveling system , rarity for higher end items is nearly nonexistent . At level 20 + , Bandits and Marauders frequently roam with full sets of Glass or Daedric equipment . Keep in mind , it is possible to deal physical damage without a weapon , through the Hand - to - Hand skill . Normal vs . Enchanted Weapons . " Normal weapons " are basic weapons that are not enchanted , meaning they do not have any additional effects , such as magical damage . Normal weapons cannot be used to attack certain ethereal creatures , such as ghosts and wraiths . The exceptions to this rule are Silver and Daedric weapons , which do not have to be enchanted to inflict damage on ethereal enemies . Weapons enchanted with a Soul Gem will cast the enchanted spell ( s ) on " strike " . This means that whenever a successful strike is made on a target , the effect will also activate and hit the target . These magical weapons have a certain number of charges , indicating how many times the effect can be activated . When the weapon ' s charges are exhausted , it will only do its base damage with no additional effects . Weapons can be recharged using filled Soul Gems , or a Varla Stone , which will recharge all of the enchanted weapons in the player ' s inventory . Soul Gems restore a specified number of charges , which is dependent upon their soul level : Petty , Lesser , Common , Greater , and Grand . In addition , certain NPCs will recharge enchanted weapons for a fee . This is a common service among members of the Mages Guild , but otherwise rare . Weapon health . Weapon health is an indicator of a weapon ' s condition . If a weapon ' s health is reduced , it will do less damage . When its health reaches zero , the weapon breaks and becomes unusable ( broken items are marked with a split orange circle in the inventory ) . Damaged weapons can be repaired using repair hammers , or they can be taken to an NPC who performs repair services . Any merchant selling weapons or armor will perform repairs for a fee ; to access this service , activate the person and then click the icon of a hammer . Select the item in need of repairs from a list of all the items in the player ' s inventory which are not at maximum health . Fighters Guild porters also provide repair services to members , and charge less than vendors for their services . The Hero will have to be at least a Journeyman rank in the Armorer skill if they want to repair magical items themselves . Note that repairing enchanted weapons does not recharge them . Reach . A weapon ' s reach determines how close the character must be to the opponent for the weapon to connect . Weapons such as daggers have a minimal reach , while claymores have a far greater reach ( more than double that of a dagger ) . Bows have the greatest reach , since they fire a projectile far beyond the normal attack range of a melee weapon . The distance an arrow flies from a bow depends on how much the bow is drawn ; firing arrows rapidly will result in very short arcs , while slowly drawing a shot can fire it beyond visual range . Attack speed . Different weapons have different attack speeds , which affects how much damage can be dealt over a certain amount of time . The Speed attribute influences how fast a weapon can be swung / fired . Smaller weapons have greater attack speeds , though they also have shorter reaches and generally do less damage with each hit . Daggers have the fastest attack speed ; warhammers have the slowest .