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Elder Scrolls

For other uses, see Ice Wraith.
"These Ice Wraiths are lucid, serpentine creatures of magic, as if conjured from the frozen tundra and glaciers of Skyrim itself."
Herbane[src]

Ice Wraiths are swift, elemental creatures of ice and snow in The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim. They move quickly and use powerful frost attacks.

Combat behavior[]

  • Ice wraiths fight with high-damage, frost-based melee attacks, and because of this, are quite tough. More importantly, they are very agile; they may not be incredibly fast when closing in at the Dragonborn, but they move through the air with slithering motions that makes them generally difficult to hit at range, and once they enter melee they are incredibly evasive. They slither in and out of reach with fearsome unpredictability, striking fast and then withdrawing out of reach again. This makes them almost as difficult to hit in melee as in range. At close range, however, the constant stream of fire from the novice spell Flames works particularly well against them, as one's aim can be readily adjusted to compensate for the wraiths' swift movements.
  • As they are frost-based creatures, they will usually only appear in cold and snowy places. They can thus be very difficult to see (depending on the light) due to their transparency and frosty glow. This can make them even more difficult to hit. They are generally most difficult to make out when viewed against a snowy background on a bright day, but are usually easier to spot at night, when they will glow more than the snow around them.
  • Due to their nature, they are immune to frost damage, but weak against fire-based attacks.
  • Ice wraiths sometimes hide in the snow, and will ambush if given the opportunity, however they can be seen using Aura Whisper or Detect Life

Locations[]

Quests[]

Gallery[]

Trivia[]

  • It is possible to contract the Witbane disease from ice Wraiths.[1]
  • The Wispmother claims that ice wraiths are in fact not creatures at all, stating that they are actually elemental manifestations rising out of Nirn itself.
    • This is also corroborated by the fact that in Hag's End, two appear to be summoned by a Hagraven. They may also have been teleported, as the hagraven teleports twice to different chambers with the same exact animation as the summoning animation.
  • In a conversation with Marise Aravel, as well as in the Pocket Guide to the Empire, First Edition: Skyrim, it is discovered that Nords usually hunt ice wraiths for initiation rituals to claim to full status as citizens of Skyrim.
  • Even though ice Wraiths float above the ground, they still can sustain fall damage when knocked to the ground from a height. This can be seen at Hag's End if they fall off the ledge at the end of the level, or if blown off a mountain side by Unrelenting Force.
  • Magic Anomalies share the same sounds, attack damage, and combat behavior as ice Wraiths.
  • Ice Wraiths cast a weaker version of the Wall of Frost spell below their bodies when approaching enemies and in combat, though not when fleeing.

Bugs[]

This section contains bugs related to Ice Wraith (Skyrim). Before adding a bug to this list, consider the following:

  1. Please reload an old save to confirm if the bug is still happening.
  2. If the bug is still occurring, please post the bug report with the appropriate system template  360  /  XB1  ,  PS3  /  PS4  ,  PC  /  MAC  ,  NX  /  PS5  ,  XS  , depending on which platform(s) the bug has been encountered on.
  3. Be descriptive when listing the bug and fixes, but avoid having conversations in the description and/or using first-person anecdotes: such discussions belong on the appropriate forum board.
Click to see the list of bugs encountered
  •  360   PS3   Upon killing an Ice Wraith, instead of disintegrating into a pile of ice, the Ice Wraith may fall to the ground intact. If this happens, it may not be able to be moved or looted. When it can be looted, the cursor must be on its head. (If it can be looted, it can be moved, but not lifted again, only by the head.)
  •  PC   360   PS3   Upon death, the remains of the ice wraith do not always lie on the ground, rather floating in midair, sometimes many feet above the Dragonborn's head making them difficult/impossible to loot.
  •  PC   PS3   A lifeless ice wraith may spawn under the Dragonborn's feet. It takes place at Kagrenzel if the frost trolls are shouted down the hill with Unrelenting Force. A message will appear saying "was equipped" and "was unequipped." It is difficult to un-equip the ice wraith, after doing so, it will disappear, but its smoke will remain present. Something similar has also been observed to occur on PC: The head of an ice wraith will appear underneath the Dragonborn's feet along, with its signature frosty steam effect. It is most visible when the Dragonborn is walking on steep slopes or jumping, and it seems to have a habit of growing and shrinking repeatedly. If the Dragonborn is on a horse when this happens, they will be thrown high into the air and cease to be affected by gravity. It is possible to fly at high speeds across Skyrim with this glitch, as dismounting will remove the flying effect, but not the particle effect. A possible fix is to enter the following console command: player.addspell 000CAF8A and then player.removespell 000CAF8A.
  • If a creature ends up standing on top of one, the ice wraith may toss it quite a distance, often killing it.

See also[]

Appearances[]

References[]


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