Genshin Impact: How to Break the Ice in Dragonspine

Image: miHoYo via HGG / Devin Dornbrock

Human Made

Penned by Devin Dornbrock

Devin has always been a fan of good writing and compelling visuals. She learned from an early age that video games are the best and most satisfying... Read more

Reviewed by Jeffrey Hsu

There are all sorts of regions and climates in Genshin Impact, often featuring puzzles that require you to utilize the unique surrounding environment. While some puzzles are definitely more fun than others, some are downright frustrating. Which is why we’re focusing on one of the most frustating ones – let’s go over how to break ice in Dragonspine.

Popular Destinations..

Genshin Impact Waystone | Navigation Page

Genshin Impact 5.2 Update – Banners, Events, News

Different Types of Ice in Dragonspine

In Dragonspine, there are two types of ice, both of which are common in the region. Knowing which type of ice you’re dealing with is important when exploring, as you’ll need to melt or break it to progress. Fortunately, melting or breaking the ice often leads to valuable rewards, so don’t just ignore them.

Normal Ice

The first type is “normal” ice. You’ll often find it on the ground and encasing the occasional ancient boar in Dragonspine.

The rewards for clearing out this type of ice in Dragonspine is usually pretty minimal. Typically it’ll be some type of animal like a Crystalfly, maybe a couple low-level artifacts, and rarely a treasure chest.

As for breaking it, well fire melts ice. That’s a pretty universal truth in all sorts of games and Genshin Impact is no exception. All you need to do is apply Pyro to it. Simply switch to any Pyro character, like Amber, and use a Pyro-infused attack on the ice.

Notably, this type of ice will respawn with the daily reset. However, any notable treasures encased within do not.

Rimed Ice

Ancient Rime, otherwise known as Rimed Ice, is the second type that can be found in Dragonspine. This is the type of ice you’ll most commonly find as part of puzzles in the region (and probably why you’re reading this guide).

When playing the game you’ll be able to immediately tell the difference between normal ice and rimed ice. While normal ice is usually on the smaller side and has the telltale glint of an interactable object, rimed ice is pretty much always large and characterized by dark stripes.

For the most part, rimed ice can be ignored and returned to later if you don’t have the time to investigate it. Though there are certain situations where breaking it should be a priority. For instance, if you want to unlock the Statue of Seven in Dragonspine, you’ll need to know how to break the rimed ice.

Additionally, some pieces of rimed ice will contain crucial puzzle components to progress further in the region, while others commonly hide lucrative treasure chests. If you’re a completionist, you’ll definitely want to break every rimed ice pile in Dragonspine. Thankfully, rimed ice does not respawn.

How to Break the Rimed Ice in Dragonspine

In order to break this type of ice in Dragonspine, you’ll need to take advantage of Scarlet Quartz. You’ll quickly notice the existence of the various red crystal rocks unique to Dragonspine.

After you break them open like any standard ore outcrop, you can pick up their “essence” to automatically infuse your active character with a special enhanced Pyro attack for 25 seconds. While your character is empowered, their next attack will be able to destroy the “unbreakable” rimed ice. This is the only way.

This special Pyro infusion only lasts for a single attack and works for every character, regardless of their elemental type. Luckily, if you miss or the infusion runs out, the Scarlet Quartz rocks respawn within a few seconds to let you try again.

There is always at least one Scarlet Quartz node close enough to every rimed ice pile, but some will require clever maneuvering to reach (or even find). Reaching the rimed ice pile before your Scarlet Quartz infusion runs out can also be difficult sometimes. We strongly recommend having a bow character pick up the infusion, so you can effectively snipe the rimed ice from afar and save yourself a few precious seconds of infusion time.

Unfortunately, you can not infuse yourself with Scarlet Quartz and fast travel to any location, as the infusion will immediately disappear. But good on you for thinking outside of the box.

Join the High Ground!

And that’s how to break the ice in Dragonspine! Do you still have any questions or want us to clarify something? Let us know in the comments! We have plenty of other guides for everyone from newbies to veterans so be sure to check those out. 

If you’re interested in more Dragonspine-related guides we’ve got one on how to get Chilled Meat. We’ve also got some more general ones like this one where we ranked the Seven Elements in Genshin Impact. Let us know which guides you’d like to see next!

Until next time, ad astra abyssosque and happy gaming!