In the Mountains is a new quest that players will likely find early on in their time with Dragonspine, as the NPC that gives the quest is located in the Adventurer’s Camp right outside the new region. Genshin Impact players may want to put this off in favor of exploring, but part of the mountain will be blocked off until it is complete.

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To start the quest, talk to Iris in the Adventurer’s Camp right outside Dragonspine, and she will tell the player about some strange ice. The next step is to Investigate the Strange Ice in the mountains, an objective that has already been giving some players headaches. Thankfully, the rewards for completing this quest are well worth the effort.

Investigate the Strange Ice

The first thing players will need to do is follow the quest marker to find the Strange Ice. There’s a teleport waypoint right next to it, so be sure to activate that now as well. Players will notice quickly that attacking the ice doesn’t break it, and it can’t even be melted with fire, so they’ll have to think outside the box for a solution. In the surrounding areas, there are four Scarlet Quartzes, red mining points that look similar to Cor Lapis. In order to break the ice, players will need to collect the Scarlet Quartz one at a time and return to the strange ice. When empowered with one of these items, players can deal damage to the ice. Breaking it will unlock the Frostbearing Tree, another great way for players to get rewards.

Thaw All the Shards Out

Paimon will ask the player to head up the mountain to chase after the object that flew away, but players will soon find themselves blocked off by a cold wind. Heading back down the mountain, Iris will inform the Traveler that there are two more chunks of Strange Ice on the mountain, and players will then need to seek them all out and thaw them in the same way they did the first. This starts the next quest objective, “Thaw all the Shards Out.”

Strange Ice in Starglow Cavern

This is easily the hardest part of the quest, so players will want to be sure they are well equipped. Head to the location shown on the map as Starglow Cavern and get to the very bottom of it. Another crystal can be found here, but it is blocked by a barrier. In order to clear the barrier, players must complete the nearby challenge. This fight is very difficult, as players will often find themselves frozen. In order to make it easier, consider bringing a Pyro character like Klee, Amber or Diluc along and returning the three Pyro Seelies in the area to their pedestals before starting the fight.

The first Seelie can be seen in plain sight, but the other two are more well-hidden. Head around the back of the ice to find the other two. One is down a long corridor and the other is behind a pile of breakable rocks. After beating the challenge, collect four more Scarlet Quartz and break the ice just like before. Keeping in mind that players can only carry one Scarlet Quartz at a time. The first two are in front of the ice in plain sight and the last two are in the same locations as the Pyro Seelies.

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Strange Ice in Wyrmrest Valley

The final piece of strange ice is located in Wyrmrest Valley, again at the very bottom. This one is a bit easier but does require more critical thinking than the others. There are five Cryo statues in the area, and a Pyro Seelie will show players the order that they must be activated. Watch the Seelie closely and then follow behind with a Cryo character like Qiqi or Kaeya. Activating all of these will spawn a chest and initiate a fight with some Ruin Guards. Beat them to drop down into the cavern below with the strange ice.

Again players will need to collect Scarlet Quartz. The first one is right near where the player dropped down, and the second can be found across the way on the other side. The third piece is sitting in front of the deactivated Ruin Guard to the right of the strange ice, and the fourth Scarlet Quartz is once again linked to Pyro Seelies. Head over to the barrier on the other side of the cavern to spawn two more Pyro Seelies and then escort them back to get the final piece of Scarlet Quartz.

Thaw All the Shards Out Again

After all that work, the wind has been cleared and players can get to the top of the mountain. Unfortunately, they’ll be tasked with thawing all the shards out again, but this time it will be much quicker. There are three crystals on top of this mountain, but each one only needs to be hit once in order to break. Players will need to collect a Scarlet Quartz, do some acrobatics to get to the crystal, break it, and then scale the mountain again. Do this three times until a cutscene plays. Freezing can be a real challenge here, but luckily Scarlet Quartz fends of the Sheer Cold.

Return to Iris

Finally, players can now warp back to the Adventurer’s Camp and speak to Iris. For completing the quest, she’ll reward players with 3 Hero’s Wit, 60 Primogems, 3 Mystic Enhancement Ore, and 30,000 Mora. Players now have access to the entirety of the mountaintop and can explore it without any pesky wind blocking them off. With that out of the way, it may be best to focus on the limited time event, earning Glimmering Essence to refine Festering Desire and get unique event rewards. This will also unlock a new domain called Peak of Vindagnyr that rewards players with powerful artifacts.

Genshin Impact is available now on Mobile, PC, and PS4, and later on Switch.

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