Originally posted by blankitosonic:

Originally posted by Mr. Me:

I just managed with upgraded troll and base copper chest.
No pots. Just iron axe and bronze shield along with some fire arrows/finewood bow.
Would call this a pretty close bare minimum if you're not into being extremely sneaky/careful or you like to door cheese a lot. (They don't like going up onto the entrance platform. Can shoot them in the face with arrows outside of fire range)

Good look with that build in a cave without rock stairs vs 6 ulvs and 2-3 cultist
Its like u want to be sneaky in a fuling village , just dont work vs a little/complete army of mobs

The entrance ledge was my safety spot. Nothing climbs. If you're far enough back on it the fire can't even hit you. If all else fails, exit the cave and wait for hp regen. Goes faster if you build a basic camp just outside.
Obviously I didn't run in blindly either. Creep in, take out 1 or 2 at a time. If you mess up, run back to entrance to cheese.
It's not optimal by any stretch, but it's very doable. In the sense that I actually did it.
From a bossless speedrun perspective (which is kinda what I'm doing), it nets you some high tier gear fairly quickly with only a moderate amount of effort/prep time.
A way to skip past the iron tier for the most part. Or at least severely limit it to only the pick and axe (assuming you feel you need the axe. Troll lumberjacks are surprisingly efficient).

Originally posted by Mr. Me:

I just managed with upgraded troll and base copper chest.
No pots. Just iron axe and bronze shield along with some fire arrows/finewood bow.
Would call this a pretty close bare minimum if you're not into being extremely sneaky/careful or you like to door cheese a lot. (They don't like going up onto the entrance platform. Can shoot them in the face with arrows outside of fire range)

Good look with that build in a cave without rock stairs vs 6 ulvs and 2-3 cultist
Its like u want to be sneaky in a fuling village , just dont work vs a little/complete army of mobs

Yes there is a ragdoll, about like a 1h axe? Maybe a little less?

Originally posted by jonnin:

Yes there is a ragdoll, about like a 1h axe? Maybe a little less?

Nice!!

I just managed with upgraded troll and base copper chest.
No pots. Just iron axe and bronze shield along with some fire arrows/finewood bow.
Would call this a pretty close bare minimum if you're not into being extremely sneaky/careful or you like to door cheese a lot. (They don't like going up onto the entrance platform. Can shoot them in the face with arrows outside of fire range)

Thanks for all the information from everyone!

Sounds like frost effect is still active in caves. Sounds like I will probably just get a full wolf set before I even bother with the caves.

Unless there is some upgrade tied to going in there I don't see a need right away.
Do they have a higher chance for onion seeds by chance?

Originally posted by GunsForBucks:

Unless there is some upgrade tied to going in there I don't see a need right away.
Do they have a higher chance for onion seeds by chance?

I've never found onion seeds in a cave (cleared about 10 of them). That doesn't mean they aren't there, though. Could have just had weird luck.

Originally posted by GunsForBucks:

Thanks for all the information from everyone!

Sounds like frost effect is still active in caves. Sounds like I will probably just get a full wolf set before I even bother with the caves.

Unless there is some upgrade tied to going in there I don't see a need right away.
Do they have a higher chance for onion seeds by chance?

A few min will get you enough red yarn to make a +1 comfort item.
a great deal of time will get you a light armor and some fist weapons, neither of which seems to be worth the trouble from a META standpoint but the fist weapons are pretty cool from a fun standpoint. There is also a bit of free fine wood, iron, coal, and other junk. You can rack up on any of this depending on RNG. But the more stuff, the more nasty fights.... its best saved for end of mountain IMHO (full wolf, good weapon, etc). Going in with less is doable, but if you get whacked by 5 or 6 fire breathing dog goons, don't say you were not warned.

Originally posted by jonnin:

Originally posted by GunsForBucks:

Thanks for all the information from everyone!

Sounds like frost effect is still active in caves. Sounds like I will probably just get a full wolf set before I even bother with the caves.

Unless there is some upgrade tied to going in there I don't see a need right away.
Do they have a higher chance for onion seeds by chance?

A few min will get you enough red yarn to make a +1 comfort item.
a great deal of time will get you a light armor and some fist weapons, neither of which seems to be worth the trouble from a META standpoint but the fist weapons are pretty cool from a fun standpoint. There is also a bit of free fine wood, iron, coal, and other junk. You can rack up on any of this depending on RNG. But the more stuff, the more nasty fights.... its best saved for end of mountain IMHO.

Actually looking forward to the fist weapons. I even thought the recent update buffed the punching a bit so it might actually be at least fun on lower level stuff. They don't happen to cause a fun ragdoll effect on kill do they?

Originally posted by blankitosonic:

...iron sledge do the job

it's my favorite way to harvest fenris hair.. i like to go after cultists and ulv with a silver sword, but it's true the hammer can do everything you need in a cave pretty much..

Ulv do 80 damage but have 40 hp , are a weak version of fenlings but have the same damage , attack faster and in groups
Cultist are a pyro fenrling so go with root armor its a suicide
I think with full iron/wolf its a good choise , no lights armors
And if you have a iron sledge use it , its the best weapon to use there ( i have blunt skill at 95 , i one shot ulvs but cultist take 3 hits to die with the sledge )
Bats are pretty a fill mob there , literally do 1 of damage but in some holes are 5 on you and are hard to hit ( not attack like mosquito ) , iron sledge do the job

Once you have seen the dogs a couple of times, you can recognize and shoot them easily in any armor from stealth/slow approach. That just leaves the cult guys, really. I waited for level 2 wolf/silver shield. Many caves are just loot boxes, a dog or 2 or a few bats and loot to pick up and done. The bigger ones are the danger.

Abomination armor has a -weakness- to fire. Cultists will char you pretty quick if you use abom armor. Even with other armors if you engage multiple cultists it can be bad due to the fire ticks of damage.

I use the wolf armor and primarily use frostner all fully upgraded against the denizens of the caves as its pretty effective against them. I'm also just using swamp level foods too.

Best armor is padded, but it (the caves) was tuned for someone coming out of the swamps in full iron armor.

upgraded iron with a silver shield + a barley mead i would say for your first trip.. and a silver weapon.. i keep forgetting to take ooze bombs but they would be awesome.. obviously at least the wolf cape for cold protection