diff --git a/dask_groupby/core.py b/dask_groupby/core.py
index b20c16faf..a2cd17b0c 100644
--- a/dask_groupby/core.py
+++ b/dask_groupby/core.py
@@ -389,6 +389,8 @@ def chunk_argreduce(
     if not np.isnan(results["groups"]).all():
         # will not work for empty groups...
         # glorious
+        # TODO: npg bug
+        results["intermediates"][1] = results["intermediates"][1].astype(int)
         newidx = np.broadcast_to(idx, array.shape)[
             np.unravel_index(results["intermediates"][1], array.shape)
         ]
@@ -992,6 +994,7 @@ def groupby_reduce(
     isbin: bool = False,
     axis=None,
     fill_value=None,
+    skipna: Optional[bool] = None,
     min_count: Optional[int] = None,
     split_out: int = 1,
     method: str = "mapreduce",
@@ -1020,6 +1023,16 @@ def groupby_reduce(
         Negative integers are normalized using array.ndim
     fill_value: Any
         Value when a label in `expected_groups` is not present
+    skipna : bool, default: None
+        If True, skip missing values (as marked by NaN). By default, only
+        skips missing values for float dtypes; other dtypes either do not
+        have a sentinel missing value (int) or ``skipna=True`` has not been
+        implemented (object, datetime64 or timedelta64).
+    min_count : int, default: None
+        The required number of valid values to perform the operation. If
+        fewer than min_count non-NA values are present the result will be
+        NA. Only used if skipna is set to True or defaults to True for the
+        array's dtype.
     split_out: int, optional
         Number of chunks along group axis in output (last axis)
     method: {"mapreduce", "blockwise", "cohorts"}, optional
@@ -1062,10 +1075,24 @@ def groupby_reduce(
             f"Received array of shape {array.shape} and by of shape {by.shape}"
         )
 
-    if min_count is not None and min_count > 1 and func not in ["nansum", "nanprod"]:
-        raise ValueError(
-            "min_count can be > 1 only for nansum, nanprod. This is an Xarray limitation."
-        )
+    # Handle skipna here because I need to know dtype to make a good default choice.
+    # We cannnot handle this easily for xarray Datasets in xarray_reduce
+    if skipna and func in ["all", "any", "count"]:
+        raise ValueError(f"skipna cannot be truthy for {func} reductions.")
+
+    if skipna or (skipna is None and array.dtype.kind in "cfO"):
+        if "nan" not in func and func not in ["all", "any", "count"]:
+            func = f"nan{func}"
+
+    if min_count is not None and min_count > 1:
+        if func not in ["nansum", "nanprod"]:
+            raise ValueError(
+                "min_count can be > 1 only for nansum, nanprod."
+                " or for sum, prod with skipna=True."
+                " This is an Xarray limitation."
+            )
+        elif "nan" not in func and skipna:
+            func = f"nan{func}"
 
     if axis is None:
         axis = tuple(array.ndim + np.arange(-by.ndim, 0))
diff --git a/dask_groupby/xarray.py b/dask_groupby/xarray.py
index 39911b6d7..4a634112c 100644
--- a/dask_groupby/xarray.py
+++ b/dask_groupby/xarray.py
@@ -60,7 +60,7 @@ def xarray_reduce(
     method: str = "mapreduce",
     backend: str = "numpy",
     keep_attrs: bool = True,
-    skipna: bool = True,
+    skipna: Optional[bool] = None,
     min_count: Optional[int] = None,
     **finalize_kwargs,
 ):
@@ -113,10 +113,15 @@ def xarray_reduce(
     keep_attrs: bool, optional
         Preserve attrs?
     skipna: bool, optional
-        Use NaN-skipping aggregations like nanmean?
-    min_count: int, optional
-        NaN out when number of non-NaN values in aggregation is < min_count
-        Only applies to nansum, nanprod.
+        If True, skip missing values (as marked by NaN). By default, only
+        skips missing values for float dtypes; other dtypes either do not
+        have a sentinel missing value (int) or ``skipna=True`` has not been
+        implemented (object, datetime64 or timedelta64).
+    min_count : int, default: None
+        The required number of valid values to perform the operation. If
+        fewer than min_count non-NA values are present the result will be
+        NA. Only used if skipna is set to True or defaults to True for the
+        array's dtype.
     finalize_kwargs: dict, optional
         kwargs passed to the finalize function, like ddof for var, std.
 
@@ -130,9 +135,6 @@ def xarray_reduce(
     FIXME: Add docs.
     """
 
-    if (skipna or min_count is not None) and func not in ["all", "any", "count"]:
-        func = f"nan{func}"
-
     for b in by:
         if isinstance(b, xr.DataArray) and b.name is None:
             raise ValueError("Cannot group by unnamed DataArrays.")
@@ -285,6 +287,7 @@ def wrapper(*args, **kwargs):
             "fill_value": fill_value,
             "method": method,
             "min_count": min_count,
+            "skipna": skipna,
             "backend": backend,
             # The following mess exists becuase for multiple `by`s I factorize eagerly
             # here before passing it on; this means I have to handle the