Troll Caves

1:39 Troll Caves are small cave dungeons of the Black Forest in Valheim: a wide mouth in a rock outcrop that leads into a single instanced cavern, where one Troll may live among stone chests, scattered gems and coins, and glowing Yellow Mushrooms. They are not needed for progression, but they are a quick source of gold and troll hide and one of the safest refuges in the forest, because a troll cannot pass through the entrance. Samo uses them to shake off a chasing troll and to train the Sneak skill.

Quick facts

How to find a Troll Cave

Troll Caves generate only in the Black Forest. The mouth is a broad, dark gap in a large rock formation, usually with two or three piles of bones in front, which hold up to three Bone Fragments (Troll Cave, Valheim Wiki). About one cave in three also has a troll standing guard outside, according to the wiki's location data (Point of interest, Valheim Wiki). Since 1.0 an identical-looking mouth may belong to a Bear Cave instead (see below).

Inside a Troll Cave

0:31 Entering loads a separate cave room, like every Valheim dungeon, but a troll cave has none of the corridors and doors of the Burial Chambers or Sunken Crypts. It is one tall, open cavern of stalagmites and ledges; Jiroc the Viking, who lights his with campfires, likes it for its high ceilings and space. Only a campfire, a cooking station, a sitting log and a ward can be placed inside, and a campfire does not fill it with smoke. Because nothing but a player can come in, an emptied cave is completely safe, and some players keep chests there as a secure outpost.

Troll Cave loot

7:01 The wiki's location tables list what a cave can contain (Point of interest, Valheim Wiki): a troll three times in four; up to two stone chests, each 75 percent likely but only in caves whose troll spawned, which works out at no chest in about 30 percent of caves, one in 28 percent and two in 42 percent (Loot chest, Valheim Wiki); up to nine small treasures on the floor, each present half the time and holding 1-3 amber pearls, 1-2 rubies, 1-5 amber or 5-20 coins; and up to twelve Yellow Mushrooms. Avalon's group, having killed their troll, found the usual chest haul of wood, leather scraps and coins.

Each chest rolls three to five of these, never the same item twice. The treasure and chests never refill; the Yellow Mushrooms, used for stamina meads, regrow four hours after picking (Yellow Mushroom, Valheim Wiki; Mead and Potions). Coins, amber and rubies are the gold that buys goods from Haldor and Hildir, and Iron Gate's notes for Hildir's Request, which brought a new trader, spoke to players who had hoarded gold from troll caves and Fuling villages (Patch 0.217.14, Iron Gate).

The troll inside and how to kill it

The cave troll is an ordinary Black Forest troll: 600 health (1,200 and 1,800 for one and two stars), weak to pierce damage, especially to the head, resistant to blunt and immune to spirit. Its punch, ground slam and thrown boulder deal 50 to 70 blunt damage along with chop and pickaxe damage, and one troll in three swings a log instead. Each kill drops 20 to 29 coins, five Troll Hide and, half the time, the Troll Trophy (Troll, Valheim Wiki; Meadows and Black Forest Creatures). A troll placed in a cave never respawns, and forest trolls never move in (Troll Cave, Valheim Wiki).

0:58 Kysen advises a new player not to take on a cave troll at first. His safe method, backing away and shooting a troll with a bow in open ground, needs room to run, and a troll in a cave hits very hard up close. The wiki's strategy is a doorway dance: a troll in its cave will not follow a player outside, so a player can loose arrows or strike, step out through the entrance before the blow lands, and come back in once it has turned away (Aggressive creature strategies, Valheim Wiki; Bows, Crossbows and Arrows).

0:44 A stealthier answer is the sneak attack. Samo opens with a crouched backstab from the Abyssal Razor knife and finishes with the Bronze Atgeir, whose secondary attack staggers the troll; once Sneak and Knives reach 10 to 20, he says, two razor hits are enough. Arrows aimed at the head do extra damage. Between fights, sneak-walking into a wall around the corner from a cave troll is Samo's quick way to train Sneak (Skills; Combat).

Troll hide and troll armor

2:05 The five hides per troll make troll leather armor, the Black Forest's light set; Samo points out that an upgraded piece matches bronze armor's rating, and the full set's bonus adds 15 to Sneak. That makes a cave troll one of the first targets for a new forest explorer (Armor and Capes).

Bear Caves in Valheim 1.0

2:57 The Valheim 1.0 Release of Sep 9, 2026 added the Bear Cave, a Black Forest cave that looks like a troll cave from outside. SnazzyGames advises reading the name shown on entering, while Abyss noticed a beehive and trees by the mouths of those he found. Inside sleeps a bear, the Black Forest predator of the Call to Arms Update, among a crop of Yellow Mushrooms. Bear Meat now cooks into the new Pulled Bear dish, and the same patch lowered the bear's health and its spawn chance in the forest (Valheim 1.0 Has Arrived!, Iron Gate; Food and Cooking). Ordinary troll caves are otherwise unchanged, except that their chests can now hold Bronze Battle and Protection Idols for the Forge of Potential (Game8).

History

Troll caves were added during the closed beta; Iron Gate's development news of Nov 27, 2020 introduced them with the line "Trolls also need somewhere to sleep." (Development News And New Content, Iron Gate). They have been part of every world since early access began in February 2021 (Development History).

Frequently asked questions

Is there always a troll in a Troll Cave? No. About three caves in four have one, and a cave without a troll also has no stone chests, only floor treasure and mushrooms.

Do trolls respawn in Troll Caves? No. The cave's troll is a one-time spawn, and trolls roaming the forest never move into an empty cave.

Can a troll follow you into a cave? No. Trolls cannot pass through a cave entrance in either direction, which makes an empty cave a safe refuge, though Samo warns that a log-swinging troll can still reach someone standing in the mouth.

Can you build in a Troll Cave? Only a campfire, a cooking station, a sitting log and a ward; workbenches cannot be placed in dungeons.

Sources

• Troll Cave, Troll and Yellow Mushroom, Valheim Wiki (weirdgloop)
• Loot chest, Point of interest and Aggressive creature strategies, Valheim Wiki
• Development News And New Content, Iron Gate Studio, Nov 27, 2020
• Patch 0.217.14 - Hildir's Request, Iron Gate Studio, Aug 22, 2023
• Valheim 1.0 Has Arrived!, Iron Gate Studio, Sep 9, 2026
• List of All Idols, Game8
• 20+ Need to Know Valheim Tips for the Black Forest, Samo (video)
• HOW TO get to the VOID outside the TROLL CAVES!, Jiroc the Viking (video)
• Valheim - How To Find + Kill a Troll! EASY!, Kysen (video)
• VALHEIM: HOW TO CLEAR THE TROLL CAVE, Avalon (video)
• Everything you need to know about Valheim 1.0, Abyss (video)
• So... Valheim 1.0 Is the Most AMBITIOUS Update EVER, SnazzyGames (video)