Difference between revisions of "Troll"

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(Trying to pare down things that aren't terribly specific to trolls)
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Trolls are an extremely easy race in the early game. While they have the worst aptitudes in almost every skill, and their hunger rate is three times faster than average, trolls are highly effective as all-out [[Unarmed Combat]] attackers. They have the highest STR in the game, +6 bonus damage (from the Claws 3 mutation), a passive +4 [[to hit]] bonus, and they occasionally inflict the [[bleeding]] condition for 9% of a living monster's health per turn. With or without [[Blade Hands]], a troll specialized in Unarmed Combat is one of the deadliest melee fighters possible, competitive with an [[ogre]] with a fully enchanted [[giant spiked club]]. Trolls can also throw [[large rock]]s. These are easily the best [[Throwing]] weapons in the game, and even with zero Throwing skill, they are very effective at softening up enemies before engaging in hand to hand combat.  
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Despite terrible aptitudes in many skills, Trolls are a very easy species. They have extremely high health and regenerate quickly, and they excel in [[Unarmed Combat]]. Specifically, Trolls enjoy +6 damage in unarmed melee combat (from the Claws 3 mutation), a passive +4 [[to hit]] bonus, and their attacks occasionally inflict the [[bleeding]] condition upon warm- or cold-blooded enemies. (For a short period of time, enemies bleeding from a Troll attack will lose 9% of their health per turn.) Thanks to their large size, Trolls can also throw [[large rock]]s. With innate [[penetration]] and very high damage, even at low (or no) skill in [[Throwing]], large rocks are easily the most damaging thrown weapons in the game. Trolls' hunger rate is astonishingly fast, but their Gourmand intrinsic allows them to eat everything, at any time. Assuming you stick to eating corpses whenever possible, you should have more than enough permafood to survive the later corpseless branches.
  
Their hunger rate is astonishingly fast, but their Gourmand intrinsic allows them to eat [[chunk]]s like a carnivore without losing access to vegetarian permafood. It's not unusual to spend the majority of your game at Full or better with no actual fear of starvation. [[Poison]] resistance makes this even easier by expanding the range of edible corpses. Assuming you stick to eating corpses whenever possible, you should have more than enough permafood to survive the later corpseless branches.
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While they have a huge health pool—which also translates into higher than usual gains in HP through raising fighting skill—Trolls tend to have a harder time than most species when it comes to getting good AC and EV. Trolls can only wear caps/wizard hats and cloaks in their peripheral armor slots, and can only wear robes, animal skins, troll leather armor, and the various dragon armors on their torso. Do note that if you are relying on unarmed combat with your Troll, it is a good idea to stick to armors with encumbrance rating of -11 or lighter.  
  
The biggest challenge most trolls face is achieving a solid defense. Their large size prevents them from wearing any gloves or boots, and the only body armour they can wear initially are robes and animal hides, so getting decent [[AC]] can be tricky. [[Ev]]asion is hard to come by, too; they have a lousy [[Dodging]] aptitude (-2), and their large size and low [[dexterity]] both reduce their EV significantly.  
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Trolls' large size gives a small direct malus to [[Ev]]asion, which is also hindered by their low [[dexterity]] and, to a lesser extent, their poor dodging aptitude. Nonetheless, training [[dodging]] on Trolls is typically a very good idea—it will just take a larger experience investment to reach good levels of EV. Putting one's stat up points into dexterity every three levels is highly recommended.  
  
Instead of negating enemy attacks through AC and EV, trolls rely on their large health pool and regenerative properties. This is the case in spite of their slightly below-average [[Fighting]] skill aptitutde: their excellent HP modifier magnifies your gains from this skill. Assuming you get into melee range, few single opponents can kill a troll before getting torn to pieces. The real threat lies in overconfidence; taking on multiple opponents at once (a band of [[list of orcs|orcs]] or halberd-wielding [[list of gnolls|gnolls]], for example) or charging ranged attackers is an easy way to lose an otherwise promising troll. Until you've established some sort of solid defense, cautious play and intelligent use of [[potion]]s, [[scroll]]s, and thrown weapons is vital.
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Trolls are too large to use bucklers, but Trolls are still extremely lethal in unarmed combat, even when wielding a [[Shield]], and the added damage mitigation is much appreciated.
 
 
Eventually, however, trolls can couple their vitality with excellent defense. Their high strength and large size make it easy to operate even in heavy dragon armours. Although these do slow your unarmed attacks somewhat, the added durability is well worth it. [[Shields]] are also an excellent way to add durability. A troll's low Shields skill aptitude is counteracted by the lower-than-normal skill level needed to negate the [[Shields#Shield_Penalties|shield penalty]].
 
  
 
{{species_aptitudes|Troll}}
 
{{species_aptitudes|Troll}}

Revision as of 02:34, 7 February 2014

Version 0.13: This article may not be up to date for the latest stable release of Crawl.

This page is about the player species. For the monster, see Troll (monster). If you were looking for monstrous trolls in general, see List of trolls.

Trolls are like Ogres, but even nastier. They have thick, knobbly skins of any colour from putrid green to mucky brown, which are covered in patches of thick fur, and their mouths are full of ichor-dripping fangs.

They can rip creatures apart with their claws, and regenerate very quickly from even the most terrible wounds. They learn slowly indeed - as slowly as High Elves - and need a great amount of food to survive.

Innate Abilities

Preferred Backgrounds

Level Bonuses

Starting Skills and Equipment

Trolls start with the skills and equipment listed for their background, with these exceptions:

Difficulty of Play

SimpleIntermediateAdvanced

Despite terrible aptitudes in many skills, Trolls are a very easy species. They have extremely high health and regenerate quickly, and they excel in Unarmed Combat. Specifically, Trolls enjoy +6 damage in unarmed melee combat (from the Claws 3 mutation), a passive +4 to hit bonus, and their attacks occasionally inflict the bleeding condition upon warm- or cold-blooded enemies. (For a short period of time, enemies bleeding from a Troll attack will lose 9% of their health per turn.) Thanks to their large size, Trolls can also throw large rocks. With innate penetration and very high damage, even at low (or no) skill in Throwing, large rocks are easily the most damaging thrown weapons in the game. Trolls' hunger rate is astonishingly fast, but their Gourmand intrinsic allows them to eat everything, at any time. Assuming you stick to eating corpses whenever possible, you should have more than enough permafood to survive the later corpseless branches.

While they have a huge health pool—which also translates into higher than usual gains in HP through raising fighting skill—Trolls tend to have a harder time than most species when it comes to getting good AC and EV. Trolls can only wear caps/wizard hats and cloaks in their peripheral armor slots, and can only wear robes, animal skins, troll leather armor, and the various dragon armors on their torso. Do note that if you are relying on unarmed combat with your Troll, it is a good idea to stick to armors with encumbrance rating of -11 or lighter.

Trolls' large size gives a small direct malus to Evasion, which is also hindered by their low dexterity and, to a lesser extent, their poor dodging aptitude. Nonetheless, training dodging on Trolls is typically a very good idea—it will just take a larger experience investment to reach good levels of EV. Putting one's stat up points into dexterity every three levels is highly recommended.

Trolls are too large to use bucklers, but Trolls are still extremely lethal in unarmed combat, even when wielding a Shield, and the added damage mitigation is much appreciated.

Skill aptitudes

The higher the value, the better the aptitude.

Skill Aptitude Skill Aptitude Skill Aptitude
Attack Miscellaneous Magic
Fighting -2 Armour -2 Spellcasting -5
Dodging -2
Maces & Flails -1 Shields -1 Conjurations -3
Axes -2 Stealth -5 Hexes -4
Polearms -2 Summonings -3
Staves -2 Invocations -1 Necromancy -2
Unarmed Combat 0 Evocations -3 Translocations -3
Throwing -1 Shapeshifting -1 Alchemy -3
Fire Magic -3
Short Blades -2 Ice Magic -3
Long Blades -2 Air Magic -4
Ranged Weapons -4 Experience -1 Earth Magic -1

Strategy

Trollish intelligence and magic aptitudes are some of the worst in the game. While this doesn't rule out magic entirely, trolls require intense effort to get access to higher level spells, and it's generally not an efficient use of experience. However, many L1 and L2 spells, such as Swiftness and Repel Missiles, provide a lot of return for their skill investment. Confusing Touch is particularly useful to Trolls, since they will nearly always being fighting unarmed.

Rods are also a viable option for Trolls, since their Evocations aptitude is not too terrible. However, good rods are by no means guaranteed to generate.

A vital resource that is guaranteed to present itself are gods. Trollish Invocations has an astounding aptitude of -1, and there are a number of excellent gods to complement their limited skill set:

Recommended

  • Okawaru's Heroism buffs Unarmed Combat performance tremendously, as does Finesse, and his armour gifts occasionally include early dragon armour.
  • Trog's abilities require no skill training to activate, and provide free berserking, magic resistance, even greater health regeneration, and very abusable summons.
  • Elyvilon's normal hunger restraints are less of a concern for the voracious troll, who benefits immensely from excellent panic buttons and the ability to pacify most dangerous opponents with smite targeting.
  • Jiyva's random mutations don't get in the way of your equipment slots, as most of them are already off-limits, and the various resistances it grants you can protect you from elements you'd otherwise have difficulty with. Slimify is a very effective method for disabling dangerous opponents, and his jellies will help keep you well-fed as they devour every item in sight. Just be prepared to occasionally lose a lot of your strength when Jiyva decides to shuffle you.
  • Ashenzari provides sizable boosts to your skills through cursed equipment. Although you can't improve unarmed combat this way, cursing one's jewellery grants you bonuses to your magical skills which go a long way toward getting spells online, and it's always helpful to know when a band of monsters is lurking around a corner. Without a weapon to curse, however, farming piety might take a while.
  • Kikubaaqudgha's corpse deliveries can provide you with snacks. Also, trolls aren't entirely useless with Necromancy if you should choose to dabble in that, and the ability to invoke torment (which you'll partially resist) on powerful foes goes well with the fact that you regenerate faster than them.

Finally, don't use trollish unarmed combat against hydras. It's a very bad idea. Large rocks, powerful attack wands, god abilities, or simply retreating are your best bets here.

Guides