use milk bottle for it

Set fires down in front of it & the troll gets confused, shoot at it if you don't want to square up with it. I usually fight them hand to hand with either sword or spear of some sort.

"Set fires down in front of it & the troll gets confused, ..."
It isn't possible to build in the caves as far as I know.

"... the sneak attack must be an alternate attack ..."
I'm still a bit confused about the 'alternative' attack thing.

use milk bottle for it

Originally posted by Emelio Lizardo:

Seems it will be a long while until I have the skills to play with them that way.

What is all that coin and jewelry good for? I can't find the buyer.

I'd say you'll need to be at the swamp level in order to confidently melee them. So just mark the location, do some swamp stuff, and come back later to finish off those trolls. Be careful about starred versions, you may want to postpone those even further perhaps.

Originally posted by Emelio Lizardo:

What, we're supposed to do, fight toe to toe with these things?

Aye, I believe the intent is to force people to learn to dodge-roll.

That being said, it's fairly easy to go into sneak while outside, walk left/forward until you can see the troll (all troll caves are the same layout), shoot the troll in the back with a fire arrow, and run back outside.

Wait 20 seconds for the troll to drop aggro and move away from the front of the cave, then lather, rinse, repeat.

Originally posted by dirktoot:

Originally posted by Emelio Lizardo:

Seems it will be a long while until I have the skills to play with them that way.

What is all that coin and jewelry good for? I can't find the buyer.

I'd say you'll need to be at the swamp level in order to confidently melee them. So just mark the location, do some swamp stuff, and come back later to finish off those trolls. Be careful about starred versions, you may want to postpone those even further perhaps.

A sneak attack with a copper knife is usually enough to stagger a no-star troll, and you only need a couple more swings to kill it.

Originally posted by Eradan:

Originally posted by dirktoot:

I'd say you'll need to be at the swamp level in order to confidently melee them. So just mark the location, do some swamp stuff, and come back later to finish off those trolls. Be careful about starred versions, you may want to postpone those even further perhaps.

A sneak attack with a copper knife is usually enough to stagger a no-star troll, and you only need a couple more swings to kill it.

I personally wasn't aware during my playthrough and postponed killing trolls melee to a stage that was far from necessary in hindsight. Thanks for your input!

Originally posted by Eradan:

...
A sneak attack with a copper knife is usually enough to stagger a no-star troll, and you only need a couple more swings to kill it.

key words being 'usually enough'.

You can also use excess treasure as decor
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2923016112

With early game equipment and skills the key is to be patient. Since troll caves have an overhanging entrance you can build a small pallisade in front and keep a fire underneath to give your character a resting bonus as you patiently go in and out of the cave to either hit it with range or melee attack (perhaps even with the sneak bonus) and get out before it can retaliate. As you progress, you will find troll cave entrances to be ideal for building temporary shelters as you journey through the Black Forest.

Originally posted by Emelio Lizardo:

key words being 'usually enough'.

I haven't made a strict study of it with references and a reproductible process, so I can't say it's a 100% occurrence whatever the circumstances. I can only say that I have never failed to stagger a no-star troll with a sneak attack using a copper knife.

I should have said earlier that the sneak attack must be an alternate attack, not the basic swing.

You can kite them around. If you level up your shield skill you can just parry them which staggers them and it's GG a few hits they are dead.. or if you are good at dodging just kite them around and use arrows. The caves are pretty useless usually just have like a chest with some jewelry, gems gold etc.

Seems it will be a long while until I have the skills to play with them that way.

What is all that coin and jewelry good for? I can't find the buyer.

Originally posted by Emelio Lizardo:

Seems it will be a long while until I have the skills to play with them that way.

What is all that coin and jewelry good for? I can't find the buyer.

There are 10 locations on the map for a merchant to spawn. When you come across the first one on your seed then that becomes your spawn for him on your seed and the other ones just disappear.

The merchant is always in a black forest, rarely on the starting island. He will sell you a few ingredients you need for good items to make in the game along with a belt that increases carry capacity and other things. That is who you spend the gold on.

When you get close enough a bag icon will appear on your map.

The atgeir's secondary attack will stagger the troll, allowing you to land two free hits as a followup. Rinse and repeat until he's dead. You will have to manage your stamina carefully though, but honestly that's a skill you NEED to learn anyway.