Troll

0:25 The Troll is a giant blue-skinned creature of the Black Forest in Valheim, a seven-meter brute with 600 health that is usually the first truly dangerous enemy a new Viking meets. About a third of trolls carry a tree trunk as a club; the rest punch, slam the ground with both fists and hurl boulders. Every melee blow also carries chop and pickaxe damage strong enough for oak and birch, so a troll fells trees, cracks copper deposits and flattens buildings. Killing five yields the hide for the Troll armor, the first set in the game with a set bonus. The Black Forest's bestiary is on Meadows and Black Forest Creatures; the troll's aged northern relative has its own page, Gammeltroll.

Quick facts

Troll attacks

7:09 Trolls come in two variants. The log troll has two moves, an overhead slam that reaches nine meters and a sideways sweep of ten, each usable every six seconds; Samo notes that it usually alternates them, which makes its rhythm easy to read. One-star trolls hit half as hard again and two-star trolls twice as hard (Troll, Valheim Wiki).

13:37 The unarmed troll punches every four seconds within four meters, brings both fists down in a ground slam every twenty seconds (roughly one slam for every five punches), and throws a boulder at targets eight to twenty meters away every ten seconds. Standing close stops the throws, and the boulders can be sidestepped. Every attack except the boulder carries 100 chop and 40 pickaxe damage at tool tier two.

1:15 That makes the troll a tool as well as a threat. A troll lured onto a copper vein mines it, and one led past oak and birch knocks them down for Fine Wood before the player owns a Bronze Axe; the wiki notes that trolls can even open copper and tin before Eikthyr is dead. Trolls kited into the Swamp fight the undead there, since they belong to a different faction, and leave Entrails and Bloodbags behind.

Where trolls spawn

Trolls are rare. At most one wanders any part of the Black Forest at a time, and one-star (pale green) or two-star (ruddy red) trolls appear only more than 2,000 meters from the world center. Others stand at fixed points inside and outside Troll Caves. The Love Potion sold by The Bog Witch (110 coins for five, lasting five minutes) raises the troll spawn chance from 5% to 25%, allows two at once, alerts them and, beyond 2,000 meters, gives every one a star (Love Potion, Valheim Wiki).

Once a troll has died in the world and The Elder is dead, "The ground is shaking" joins the raid pool: for 80 seconds two trolls come to avenge their kin at a base in the Meadows, Black Forest, Swamp or Plains. It never leaves the pool (Events, Valheim Wiki; Raids and Events).

How to kill a Troll

8:22 With Meadows gear the bow is the answer, since trolls are weak to pierce and their head is a weak point that takes double pierce damage. RidleyFox pulls the troll out of the forest into the open Meadows, away from greydwarfs, jogs ahead of it, sprints when it roars to wind up an attack, and turns to shoot, aiming for the head. He advises carrying a spare or upgraded Crude Bow, since a fifty-durability bow can break mid-fight.

1:30 A sneak attack is the fastest kill. With a Knife skill of 27 and Sneak of 12, wak4863 creeps up on an unaware troll with a copper knife and cuts it down before it can swing; a troll that has lost track of the player wanders back to its spot, offering another chance. Samo pairs the Abyssal Razor's backstab with the Bronze Atgeir, whose secondary attack staggers the troll.

3:38 Terrain works too. Pyrac digs a pit about twelve pickaxe swings deep, floors it over, lures the troll onto the floor and removes the piece beneath it; the trapped troll can be shot or clubbed at leisure, though a log troll can still hit a player who comes too close. A ditch at least six meters deep also stops a troll, which then turns on any structure it can reach. Later a shield changes the fight: the wiki recommends the Bone tower shield for blocking most troll attacks and a bronze or better shield for parrying, which takes practice (Parrying and Blocking).

Whatever the gear, the troll's body is the player's ally. Trolls outpace a jogging Viking but not a sprinting one, turn slowly and cannot jump, swim or squeeze through gaps under two meters, so dodging around trees and boulders or crossing deep water shakes one off; maces, which trolls resist, do only half damage.

Troll drops and the Troll armor set

2:08 Each zero-star troll drops five Troll Hide, and the four-piece Troll set needs 25 of them, so five kills clothe a Viking. All pieces are made at a level 2 Workbench, have 500 durability and carry no movement penalty; wearing all four grants the Sneaky effect, +15 to the Sneak skill (Troll Set, Valheim Wiki; Armor and Capes).

Troll Hide also goes into the Barber Station, the Ancient Bark Spear and the Horn of Celebration. The trophy crafts Mossy fishing bait, which catches the Trollfish of the Black Forest, and the Ashlands staff Trollstav, which summons fiery skeletal trolls (Troll Hide, Bait and Trollstav, Valheim Wiki; Fishing). The coins are spent with Haldor.

Troll Caves

1:41 Troll Caves are small instanced caves behind a wide rock mouth, often flanked by bone piles. Each holds no troll or one, which never respawns, and a troll can neither enter nor leave its cave, so an empty one is a safe refuge and a full one a place to reset a chase or train Sneak around a corner. Inside lie amber, amber pearls, rubies, coins, bone fragments, up to two stone chests and yellow mushrooms, the only loot that grows back (Troll Cave, Valheim Wiki).

Trolls in Valheim 1.0

2:01 The 1.0 release of Sep 9, 2026 added a Bear Cave that looks exactly like a Troll Cave from outside; only the name shown on entering reveals the sleeping bear within (Valheim 1.0 Release).

9:58 It also revealed where trolls end up. The Gammeltrolls of the Deep North are the same species grown old: as trolls age they travel north to live out their last days, grow enormous and throw whole trees, and when killed they petrify into the stone that yields Bloodgold (Deep North Creatures).

Troll history

In the alpha, Black Forest trolls were brown and mossy and blue trolls lived in the Mountain; the current trophy still carries the internal name TrophyFrostTroll (Troll, Valheim Wiki). In April 2021, two months into early access, Iron Gate gave the troll a new model with more hair, nails and more defined muscles (Development news 23/04/21, Steam).

Frequently asked questions

Can you tame a Troll? No. Trolls cannot be tamed or ridden. The closest thing is the Trollstav staff, which summons skeletal trolls that attack everything nearby, their summoner included.

Where do trolls spawn in Valheim? Only in the Black Forest, one at a time, and in Troll Caves. They are drawn to noise, so mining copper often brings one out of the trees.

How many trolls do you need for Troll armor? Five. Each zero-star troll drops five Troll Hide, and the hood, tunic, trousers and cape need 25 in total.

What is a Troll weak to? Pierce damage, with double damage to the head, so bows, spears and atgeirs work best. It resists blunt, so maces do half damage.

Can a troll follow you into a Troll Cave? No. A troll is too big to fit through the cave mouth, although a log troll can still swing at a player standing just inside.

Sources

• Troll, Troll Set, Troll Hide and Troll Cave, Valheim Wiki (weirdgloop)
• Aggressive creature strategies, Events and Love Potion, Valheim Wiki
• Bait, Trollstav and Trophies, Valheim Wiki
• Troll, Valheim Wiki (Fandom)
• Development news 23/04/21, Iron Gate Studio on Steam
• Valheim 1.0 Has Arrived!, Iron Gate Studio on Steam
• Press, Iron Gate Studio (Hearth & Home press images)
• 20+ Need to Know Valheim Tips for the Black Forest, Samo (video)
• Valheim Troll Slaying 101, RidleyFox (video)
• Trolls CAN'T Counter this Strategy, wak4863 (video)
• Valheim - Troll Trap Guide, Pyrac (video)
• So... Valheim 1.0 Is the Most AMBITIOUS Update EVER, SnazzyGames (video)