parry with bronze buckler and then knife knife knife knife kniiiiiiiiiife :)

Any bow. When they get close to you, they'll start to swing. Time that and start running away. Stop a little ways away and fire a couple arrows. Repeat until dead. If it's night and a lot of other stuff starts coming after you, just run away. I just started playing recently. It took me a little bit before I could take trolls + other mobs doing that same strat.

Also, if you can sneak attack with a bow before they see you, it does huge damage. If you can sneak attack with a knife you can pretty much kill them, or I believe you can kill them in one shot once leveled up.

bait them into an attack,run then shoot an arrow at their head

fire arrows. EZ day

Originally posted by Capt. Slappy:

fire arrows. EZ day

Yup, they are good vs everything in the black forest. Available early in the game. Dont use them to hunt deer & boar, waste of feathers

Fastest way I ever killed a troll: Abyssal razor, sneak up to the troll from behind, use the special attack (middle mouse button) - one-hitted the troll. Saw it in a video and wanted to see if it really was a thing. Yes. It is.

I prefer knives because you just can attack faster. Knife combined with a bone tower shield (which won't block ALL damage from a troll but a decent amount) has worked very well for me - better than bow and arrows (what can I say - once a tank, always a tank) ...

Trolls are weak to piercing damage so as most of the above - arrows. Flint and feathers are pretty easy to come by as is resin so crafting flint or flaming arrows will save you a few shots. Flaming arrows apply a slow DOT and the DOT from fire arrows don't stack so to maximize your damage you have to hit with a flaming arrow and then wait until it burns out to fire another.

Trolls resist blunt damage so clubs or a mace should be avoided for fighting trolls. Once you have enough bronze to make a bronze buckler you can effectively parry block a (non-starred) troll and then get in 3 quick shots with a one handed slashing weapon (the third swing in a combo attack should do double damage). That will take a troll down faster than shooting it with a bow especially when your archery skill is low and it takes a long time to draw.

you can find loads of flint arrows in chests.
flint spear may be useful if you feel your dodge / evasion skills are up to the task.
if you can get him to knock down a hardwood tree or 3 for you, you can make the next bow, or you can look for a shipwreck along the shore for free hardwood early game.

Sneak attacks are good. If you have a bronze spear, you can throw it for sneak attack. It probably deals more sneak attack damage than shooting arrows. If you manage to sneak close enough, you can stagger the troll with your throw, then approach and auto-pickup your spear, and get free stagger multiplier damage in. You can then use the spear against the troll in close combat if you can stomach it, you'll need to manage your resources carefully for that.

Crude bow and a bunch of wood arrows. Just keep shooting and backing up.

Shoot them in the belly. They take more damage there and your bow shots can stagger them if they haven't spotted you yet.

would other arrows be better or just wood?

The safest way is to dig a trench around an area. I usually do this when I make a base next to the black forest. Trolls can't cross it and you can shoot them with arrows. Watch out for flying rocks.

You could kite them with your bow through the black forest. They get caught up on terrain and downed trees which will slow them down. They have to walk around obstacles that you can jump over. You may have to switch to melee to get rid of the greys that join in the chase. This one is more tricky.

Use an atgeir's secondary attack to stun them. Spin once, jab once, repeat.

Some people parry them and then strike. Failing to get the timing right can easily mean death.

Sneak attacks help greatly. Trolls are vulnerable to pierce, which means arrows, atgeir or spears.

Originally posted by kingboo:

would other arrows be better or just wood?

Any arrow is better than wood, but I've not really seen such a massive difference to matter. Especially early on, your resources are quite limited as you need them for everything else. That said, what you decide to use is up to you.

make a finewood bow by rollcrashing birch tree logs into other trees. i found that out by a well... ACCIDENT when i brought down half a forest i didnt intend too..

then just keep shooting at them. or use them to mine copper and tin for you.