Skyrim:Karstaag

Karstaag (RefID: xx019666) (lore page)
Location	Castle Karstaag Courtyard
Species	Ghost Giant	Soul	Grand
Level	90	Type	Monsters
RefID	xx019666	BaseID	xx019665
Attacks
Hand Swipe 60 pts Melee, Unarmed Frost Damage, 10 pts for 1 second Slow, 50 pts for 3 seconds Club Attack 60 pts Melee, Giant Club Frost Damage, 10 pts for 1 second Slow, 50 pts for 3 seconds Giant Stomp 90 pts Melee, Unarmed Stagger, 100 pts in 7 feet Club Pound 90 pts Melee, Giant Club Stagger, 100 pts in 21 feet Frost Damage, 40 pts in 21 feet for 1 second Slow, 50 pts for 3 seconds
Abilities
Resist Shock, 75 pts Resist Frost, 100 pts Weakness to Fire, 25 pts Resist Damage, 150 pts Resist Poison, 100 pts Resist Disease, 100 pts Fortified Combat Healing, 0.15 pts Fortified Healing, 0.15 pts Immune to Paralysis Immune to Strong Unrelenting Force Immune to Wabbajack Transmogrify Immune to Mora's Grasp Effect
Other Information
Health	4000	Magicka	0
Stamina	1000
Perks	Extra Damage 2, Karstaag's Summons
Faction(s)	Creature Faction; NPCs Immune to Mehrunes Razor; DLC2RieklingFaction; GiantFaction; Ice Wraith Faction
Drops
Ectoplasm (10 × 100%) Grand Soul Gem (5 × 100%)

Karstaag

Karstaag was a frost giant who lived on Solstheim, and has been dead for over 200 years. The spirit of this ancient creature can be raised as part of the unmarked quest Summoning Karstaag. After defeating Karstaag, you gain the ability to summon him, but only three times, and only outdoors. He is one of the toughest enemies in the game, having nearly double the health of the Ebony Warrior.

In combat, Karstaag can summon three ice wraiths at a time to distract you. He is much more powerful than a regular giant, being able to attack with his club, causing you to lose several hundred health points. When summoned, he appears with a Blizzard around himself, which will ragdoll you if you stand too close. The blizzard will dissipate after a short time, and he will have a Frost Cloak surrounding him for the rest of the battle. If you leave the courtyard during the battle, Karstaag will have the blizzard surrounding him again when you reenter, but it will become a frost cloak very soon after reentering.

Karstaag has impressive resistances, with 100% resistance to disease, frost, and poison, as well as a 75% resistance to shock. He cannot be ragdolled, and is immune to all forms of paralysis, as well as to Mehrunes' Razor, Mora's Grasp, Whirlwind Cloak, and the instant kill effect of Wabbajack. However, he does have a 25% weakness to fire.

He also benefits from a fortified combat healing rate of 0.15% and a fortified healing rate of 0.15%. These two healing rates combined let him regenerate 0.3% of his maximum health every second, or 12 health points per second.

Related Quests

• Summoning Karstaag: Summon and defeat Karstaag.

Notes

• Karstaag is a member of the unique "Ghost Giant" race that gives him his ghostly appearance. It has an ID of DLC2GhostFrostGiantRace.
• Being undead, he is vulnerable to offensive Restoration spells such as Stendarr's Aura^DG.
• With Survival Mode on, Karstaag's Blizzard can reduce your health more quickly due to the Cold effect, which cannot be protected against by Resist Frost effects or your Warmth rating. Hot food is the only way to remove the Cold effect and allow you to heal yourself.
• Activating Karstaag's throne after his defeat causes your character to sit using a unique animation.
• Werewolves and werebears can stagger and ragdoll Karstaag, as their attacks ignore his corresponding resistances. This makes the Beast Form a useful fallback for weaker characters, if Dawnguard is installed.
• An exploit to defeat Karstaag involves climbing a stack of ice chunks at the far end of the room from his throne, to the left of the door. Once you are up there, Karstaag will ignore you and retreat to his throne, allowing you to whittle down his health with ranged attacks. The ice wraiths he summons will also ignore you and dissipate in due time.

See Also

• Karstaag also appears in Morrowind's Bloodmoon expansion.