Atronachs are relatively common among conjurers and standard mage enemies in the game. However, there are some aspects of their existence and mechanics that can go unnoticed to anyone new to the Elder Scrolls series, unless they want to pour through every single book to look for even a shred of information about them.
10 Origins In Oblivion
It could be obvious from they way atronachs are summoned, appearing through a rift in the air in a way identical to Dremora and Daedra, but atronachs originally come from the realm of Oblivion.
Unlike their more monstrous counterparts, atronachs aren’t as intelligent or powerful as other beings from Oblivion, making them an easy target for fledgling mages to take control over.
9 Waterwalking
The ability to walk on water in Skyrim is fairly limited. Only Ahzidal’s Boots of Waterwalking in the Dragonborn DLC, the Vampire Lord form, and some unique potions have this enchantment, with players being unable to recreate this power themselves.
Unsurprisingly, the two atronachs which move by floating in midair, the Flame and Storm Atronachs, can also walk on water. This makes them a good option for players to cast when engaging with enemies that are across bodies of water. As the Frost Atronach is the only one that walks on its legs, it doesn’t have this same power as the other two and is, unfortunately, landlocked.
8 Immunity & Weakness
Many enemies in Skyrim have resistance or weakness to various elemental attacks, with the most obvious being Vampires’ vulnerability to fire and resistance to frost spells. The Flame and Frost Atronachs also have this, but on a more extreme level than the bloodsucking servants of Molag Bal.
Flame Atronachs are completely immune to Fire spells, Frost Atronachs are immune to Frost spells, and Storm Atronachs are immune to Lightning spells. While the Storm Atronach has no inherent weakness, the Flame and Frost ones are extremely weak to their opposing element, with even a Novice level spell being able to take them down quickly.
7 Cloaks
Atronachs can be a nuisance enemy for melee players to defeat, as they explode and cause elemental damage when they die. However, that is not the only thing atronachs have in their arsenal against melee fighters. The Frost Atronach casts a permanent Frost Cloak spell when it is summoned, making it the best option against any melee focused enemy in the game as it can cut down their stamina very quickly.
The Storm Atronach can also cast a Lightning Cloak, though it is not always activated like the Frost Atronach. Mages that are weak to Lightning spells usually won’t get close enough to be impacted by the Magicka draining effects.
6 Pelagius’ Thralls
During the Daedric Prince quest, “The Mind of Madness,” in which players can obtain the Wabbajack staff from Sheogorath, there are several atronachs summoned while trying to rid Pelagius of his nightmares. One of them spawns a unique form during the stadium fight.
These atronachs, appropriately called Pelagius’ Thralls, are much harder to kill than the standard forms available in the game. They have thousands of points of health, though they have less Magicka than even the lowest level forms players can summon.
5 Taking Cover
Skyrim’s AI might not always do what it probably should, but sometimes it can surprise players when NPC characters do something intelligent. One of these intelligent moves is the fact that the Flame and Storm Atronachs will take cover while firing off their spells if it is available to them, preventing them from taking unnecessary damage from ranged attackers.
While this seems good on paper, it also means that, usually, they will end up firing their spells at the cover rather than at the enemy they should be focusing on.
4 Dragon Priests
The Dragon Priests found scattered around Skyrim can be some of the harder enemies the Last Dragonborn will face, particularly the ones possessing the unique Dragon Priest masks. It can be tempting for players to summon atronachs or raise undead to help tip the playing field in their favor, but this can backfire horribly if they aren’t careful.
If players summon an atronach, the Dragon Priest will cast the Command Daedra spell, taking control of their companion and making them fight against the player instead. If players have the Command Daedra spell themselves, they can reclaim the atronach, though this ends up resulting is a perpetual back and forth between the Dragonborn and the Dragon Priest.
3 Design Changes From The Elder Scrolls IV
The Flame and Frost Atronachs are fairly easily recognizable to long time players of the Elder Scrolls series. Their designs have stayed relatively similar across all titles, with some minor changes here and there. The Storm Atronach, on the other hand, looks vastly different in Skyrim than it did in the previous title, Oblivion.
In The Elder Scrolls IV, Storm Atronachs looked a lot more like Frost Atronachs, though they were made of stone rather than ice. They retain this stone look in Skyrim, though they aren’t as connected to the main body and float around the atronach as it moves.
2 The Atronach Forge
Beneath the College of Winterhold, hiding in the depths of The Midden, is the Atronach Forge. By finding various recipe pages across Skyrim, or by simply asking Google, players can create various powerful weapons and armor, summoned straight from Oblivion much sooner in the game than they would otherwise be able to find it.
As well as items, players can also summon unbound Dremora from the forge, including atronachs. These aren’t any more powerful than atronachs that the player character can summon and also can’t be turned using Command Daedra, making them one of the more useless recipes available in the Atronach Forge.
1 Faceless Frost
The three atronachs found in Skyrim are all relatively humanoid looking, similar to most other Dremora from Oblivion. However, the Flame and Storm Atronachs have something that the Frost Atronach doesn’t: A face.
As it is designed to look like a golem, the fact that the Frost Atronach doesn’t have a face isn’t too far-fetched. Nevertheless, it looks odd when compared to the other two, which have distinct facial features despite being somewhat hidden behind their elemental magic. It hasn’t always been this way, as the Frost Atronach from Morrowind has distinct, though basic, facial features.
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