The province of Skyrim in The Elder Scrolls V is something special. Not only does it have several biomes and cities that perfectly complement these different areas, but it also comes with its very own variety of beasts and other creatures that can be encountered in the wild.
Players tend to be very familiar with Draugr and wolves, and even the powerful dragons that spawn every once in a while, but some creatures are less likely to appear all the time. While they might not be hard to find, they only make themselves known in set locations or set times. Here are the rarest creatures in Skyrim.
10 Giant
These beings became extremely famous early after the release of the game, due to having the rare ability of killing the player with one shot that would send them flying into orbit. As such, giants became feared creatures, even if they don't seek out the player on purpose.
Giants are fairly common, even among uncommon creatures, but what makes them rarer than most beasts is the fact that they only appear by giant camps where they herd their mammoths.
9 Troll
Trolls are iconic to the landscape of Skyrim, mainly due to their association with Nordic mythology. Two kinds can be spotted in Skyrim: a brown regular troll and a white frost troll, often found at high altitudes or snow biomes. Early on, these creatures are pretty vicious when fought at close range.
Trolls can be difficult to hunt down due to spawning in very specific locations, such as caves or indentations where they can drag in their prey. One famous encounter is on the path to High Hrothgar.
8 Spriggan
Perhaps one of the most aesthetically pleasing beasts, Spriggans are spirits of nature and appear either as fiery Elementals or green versions of themselves. They're not particularly tough to fight, but can sometimes surprise the player who's wandering around a specific area they inhabit.
Spriggans are considered fairly rare due to the fact that they tend to inhabit grottos and other natural spaces that are separate from the rest of the world.
7 Werewolf
Players familiar with the Companions and their dark secret might consider werewolves to be a pretty ordinary sight, but the truth is that these creatures don't spawn very often at all in the wild. In fact, there are only a few places — mainly dungeons — where they can be found and trapped.
Werewolves are generally not very tough enemies to deal with, even at close range. Moreover, these beasts are weak to silver weapons and are easy to dispense of with a silver sword.
6 Hagraven
Creepily humanoid-looking, Hagravens are some of the toughest and most frightening enemies that Skyrim has to offer. These beings have the appearance of witches, but are definitely more beast than human.
Hagravens only spawn in specific settings. Some locations are considered Hagraven nests by default, and meeting them randomly in the wild is therefore pretty unlikely.
5 Chaurus Hunter
Chaurus themselves are pretty fearsome creatures. They do a ton of damage and their tough exterior means they take very little damage in return. For the longest time, the Chaurus Reaper was considered the toughest of its kind, until the Dawnguard DLC introduced the Chaurus Hunter.
These creatures have wings in addition to all the other Chaurus perks and can similarly spit poison onto the player and move deceptively fast despite their size. What makes them rare is their appearance in Falmer riddled caves only.
4 Dwarven Centurion
Dwarven creations are a big annoyance to deal with, but nothing beats their strongest form, the Dwarven Centurion. This massive humanoid-looking robot is slow-moving, but deals absolutely crazy amounts of damage if the player tries to take them on at close range.
Centurions are rare, even in Dwemer ruins, which is why they're considered quite uncommon. Only a few set places have a Centurion, which will come to life when the player moves too close to them.
3 Dragon Priest
One might think there are quite a few Dragon Priests in Skyrim, but these beings don't actually respawn after dying no matter how high the player reaches in levels. Once dead, they're truly dead and the player should take advantage of the situation and loot their bodies for rare gear.
If Miraak and the priests included in DLCs are taken into account, Skyrim only has a total of 13 dragon priests, making them quite rare. Moreover, they're among the hardest enemies to defeat.
2 Wispmother
Although wisps and the Wispmother herself are not necessarily as cunning as Dragon Priests, running into them is more of a happy coincidence than an actual possibility. The Wispmother is a female lich with powerful magical skills, often surrounded by glowing wisps that precede her appearance.
As of now, only 11 known locations in the game have been confirmed to feature the Wispmother as an enemy, making them rarer than the Dragon Priest themselves.
1 Dremora
Dremora are creatures from the Oblivion plane, and in Skyrim only appear when either summoned or encountered during a Daedric quest. Out of the 15 Daedric quests available, only one or two actually feature Dremora as enemies the Dragonborn must defeat.
Moreover, they're so rare that only a handful of locations will actually feature them. The most famous areas are inside Azura's star, the shrine of Mehrunes Dagon, as well as Shalidor's Maze. That being said, they're not very tough at all to defeat.