So, your deeds of daring do have netted you an arsenal of awesome enchanted weapons in Oblivion Remastered, but as you continue your adventure through Cyrodiil, defeating more Daedra and skeletons than you can count, the charge of those magical artifacts dissipates into nothing.
When a magical item has used all of its charge, it’s either useless in the case of staffs or only as good as the base, non-enchanted weapon underneath in the case of melee weapons.
So how do you recharge enchanted items in Oblivion Remastered? The answer is Soul Gems, but these rare and tricky-to-use items can be difficult to understand in and of themselves, so here’s everything you need to know.
How to recharge enchanted items in Oblivion Remastered
Magical enchanted weapons and items in Oblivion can be recharged by consuming Soul Gems.
These magical items come in different sizes, from Petty to Grand, with larger gems refilling a larger amount of charge on more powerful items.
Before a Soul Gem can be used to recharge an item though, it must be “filled” with the soul of a creature.
How to fill Soul Gems in Oblivion Remastered
To charge a Soul Gem in Oblivion, you need to defeat an enemy afflicted with an active cast of “Soul Trap” and have an empty Soul Gem in your inventory which is large enough to contain its soul.
Stronger enemies will require larger Soul Gems, but generally, the process goes like this:
- Weaken a monster until its health is low
- Cast the Soul Trap spell, or switch to a weapon enchanted with Soul Trap
- Finish off the monster and their soul will be sucked into an empty Soul Gem in your inventory
- You can then consume the Soul Gem to recharge an item
The souls of people can only be captured inside Black Soul Gems. These are extremely rare, owing to the fact that necromancy and associated black magic is heavily frowned upon in Cyrodiil.
However, if you complete Azura’s Daedric Artifact quest (shown on the map above), you get Azura’s Star which is a reusable Soul Gem which can be filled and used over and over again. Azura’s Star is the best way to keep your enchanted items topped up, so it’s a must-get item in pretty much any playthrough.
Where to buy Soul Trap in Oblivion Remastered
You can buy the Soul Trap spells from the Mage Guild halls in every major city throughout Cyrodiil.
However, it’s an Apprentice level spell in the Mysticism Skill, meaning you will need at least 25 Mysticism to be able to cast it. You can pay for Mysticism training at both the Chorrol and Bravil Mages Guild halls, or train up by spamming a novice level Detect Life spell over-and-over.
Alternatively, you can also enchant a weapon to become imbued with Soul Trap using a Sigil Stone from an Oblivion Gate or the Enchanting Altar at the Arcane University.
One notable weapon which comes with Soul Trap is Umbra, one of the best swords in the game.
The issue with using a Soul Trap weapon as your main sword though is that weaker souls can be sucked into larger Soul Gems if they’re the only one available. I can still remember the day a petty rat soul got sucked into my only Grand Soul Gem.
You can avoid this by getting Azura’s Star early, thus eliminating the need to play carefully with Soul Gems, or by only switching to a Soul Trap weapon when you’re sure you’re fighting a worthy foe.