Originally posted by Faceplant8:

That said, I think it would be tough to get staggered by wolves in fully upgraded wolf armor. I tested that in another thread with iron armor, and the wolf doesn't do enough damage (to HP I think) to stagger unless you're very low on (maximum) health. L3 troll armor is a different story, though.

Since xp earned blocking is atrocious I make it a habit of blocking/parrying a mob before killing it. If I miss the timing and the wolf hits a twice in a row that is when the stagger happens. Also as you pointed out the total health makes a BIG difference, which depending how far your buffs have decayed will influence it.