Help with scriptable object usage.

I'm a new developer so my question might be obvious but I am looking for more detailed answers than my research gave me.

My question: when should i be using SO's and when should I use prefab? I would like to know on a general level but also complex if you can explain it well what the difference is. The context for my game is below.

For context im making a 2d top down turn based rpg with a retro zelda-like overworld. There's going to be dozens of weapon and equipment bases that need to store data, and there could be hundreds of different enemies that need to store data. Not to mention abilities and status effects etc.