Trolls are large, strong beings composed of the surrounding ground type, and as such, appear in different forms; rock, earth/soil, ice, swamp and forest.
History
Among the first creatures to ever wander Albion, it is revealed in the Creatures of Albion Book II that trolls are born of the land that they inhabit, which influences their appearance and their disposition. As the dragons were masters of the air and the mysterious krakens held ultimate dominion over Albion's seas, trolls were the dominant life-form on the lands of Albion.
As it was with other mystical beasts like dragons and griffins, this changed with the advent of Albion's ultimate inhabitants – humans. Trolls were, like dragons, hunted down by Old Kingdom huntsmen originally to keep the Kingdom safe, but eventually for sheer sport. Even by the time of the original Fable, trolls are relatively rare and uncommon, and some varieties of troll, like the platinum troll, are already extinct.
Fable
The first troll is encountered during the Trader Escort quest, in Darkwood; while approaching the exit to Barrow Fields, an earth troll digs itself out of the ground. Unless you are using The Grey House & Ancient Cullis Gate method of power-levelling, in which case the first troll appears at the Ancient Cullis Gate or Greatwood Lake.
Trolls are relatively easy to defeat in Fable since they are slow, with attacks that are fairly easy to avoid. Be aware that trolls have a large amount of health.
Combat
Earth trolls are relatively straightforward to defeat. You can either hit them with as many attacks and flourishes as possible, or knock back their projectiles. The latter is tricky - use Slow Time to make it easier - but extremely effective, downing a troll in just two hits (earth troll) or four hits (rock troll) depending on where they are struck.
Rock trolls are tougher. Magical attacks are generally ineffective, and their rock attacks are much faster, and can be issued in threes. Their close quarters attack is much weaker, however, so close range attacks are effective.
Ice trolls are unique to Fable: The Lost Chapters. They are a rare, but aggravating enemy, with fast, wide-ranged attacks that cause a lot of damage.
Weaknesses
- Generally, trolls are weak against their own thrown projectiles (but only single projectiles, not the three boulder attack by rock trolls) which can be hit back at them causing 450/1250 damage depending on the spot it hits (if it hits them in the face it is 1250, if it hits anywhere else it is 450). However, this does not work with ice trolls. This can be done at minimum physique with a stick.
- Trolls are also weak against arrows shot into their eyes/face.
Stats
| Name | Health | Experience | Renown | Resistances | Weaknesses |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Earth Troll | 2000 | 120 | 90 | Melee, Unarmed, Lightning spell, Fire spell, Drain Life, Projectiles (fired at body) | Piercing Augmentation, Lightning Augmentation, Projectiles (fired at head) |
| Rock Troll | 5000 | 160 | 113 | Melee, Unarmed, Lightning spell, Fire spell, Drain Life, Projectiles (fired at body) | Piercing Augmentation, Projectiles (fired at head) |
| Ice Troll | 5000 | 160 | 113 | Melee, Unarmed, Lightning spell, Drain Life, Projectiles (fired at body) | Piercing Augmentation, Flame Augmentation, Fire spells, Projectiles (fired at head) |
Fable II
In Fable II, trolls are encountered less frequently:
- You will meet the first troll at the end of the quest The Bargain, where you bribe Lucien's former butler to telling you where Lucien's Diary is. You need to kill the forest troll because he is blocking the spot where the diary is buried.
- The second troll is at the last round of the Crucible, during the quests The Crucible, and The Crucible Champion. It is a rock troll, which is much harder than a forest troll, because it has more spots, and is a little smarter.
- The third troll you meet in the main quest is a swamp troll near the end of Wraithmarsh, during the Quest Stranded. Swamp trolls are the hardest kind of troll to beat (more spots, turns more, bigger) and this one is especially hard, because there are some hollow men attacking both you and the troll in the middle of the fight. This troll is different than the others, because you actually have the option to ignore him and still finish the quest (the only troll in the game where you have that option). An interesting trick you can do, is if you go onto the bridge, and stand near where the support rope connects to the bridge on the side nearest the troll, the troll cannot hit you easily (the fence blocks thrown rocks if you're not too close to it). Also, while on the bridge, hollow men will not re-spawn. Taking advantage of this makes the troll that much easier to kill, should you want to.
- You also have to fight a rock troll in the quest Something Rotten, where you have to find out why The Lucky Heather smells so bad. The source of the smell is the troll, this one is the same as the Crucible rock troll, but you can stand higher, avoiding most of his attacks, and you probably have more skills at this point.
- In the DLC Knothole Island, the third quest, Knothole Island's Drowning, you are in the Storm Shrine, and in the final room you meet another swamp troll; there is no option to avoid it, because there is a door that stays closed until the troll is dead. This troll is the only troll you can really train on, because every time you get in the cave, you can just run to the room with the troll straight away (bounty hunter is very rare, crucible needs 7 rounds to be completed, and the other trolls don't return after the first time).
- Finally, a rare five-star Bounty Hunter job or equivalent Community Service quest may pit you against a troll.
Combat
Defeat trolls by shooting their exposed nerve tendrils with magic or a ranged weapon. This can only be done when the nerves glow red, and can be difficult to accomplish, as the troll will frequently turn to face you, defending the nerves on its back. It is possible to use the area-effect version of Inferno to damage the nerves whether or not they are visible, but requires you to be very close to the troll, risking damage. Using any kind of steel to master pistol is advised because they can fire and reload faster and so you can sometimes take out 2 nerve tendrils. Also, the Blades spell works as well. If there are no hobbes in the area and the nerve clusters are exposed as the blades will go after the tendrils and, with three of them, they can deal excellent damage. It is also possible to take out a troll with a single hit using the level 5 Shock spell whenever all tendrils are exposed. Do note that trolls are immune to Vortex, cannot be pushed by Force Push, and are not stunned by Shock.
Problems
Sometimes a troll will be laughing, or roaring, or just anything that isn't attacking, and its weak spots will be red or yellow (in the latter case you'd just have to switch targets), but even a simple shot without aiming might not be fast enough or just won't hit it. This can be especially aggravating in the last round of the Crucible if you're trying to get all 8 Perfect Rounds, since, along with the hobbes, it can take up a lot of extra precious seconds. This can be avoided by utilizing Slow Time to slow the troll down and buy time to avoid its minions, if there are any, and this will help you hit its weak points. This is a particularly good strategy in The Crucible, which should allow you to get a perfect round.
Time Control tends to worsen troll fights rather than making them easier. Slowing time against a troll might help hit one grub, but as soon as one is destroyed, the others will vanish even if the troll is too slowed down to enter its rage animation. This leads to what will feel like a longer fight, even if it is easier to avoid everything. For safe players, this is fine, until it comes to the Crucible. The Crucible timer will appear to slow down during Time Control, but in reality, the game tracks the time regardless. The Time Control page should illustrate this point. Instead, using a strong enough Chaos spell will make the troll turn back and forth for a few short moments, letting you get in free hits on the grubs. With Chaos active, the troll does not enter its rage, and the grubs do not disappear after one is destroyed. Plus, the Chaos casting might help in the Crucible to keep the hobbes occupied. A good way to distract the troll in order to charge Chaos could be casting a quick Raise Dead spell, or just trick it into attacking in front of it while quickly running behind it to charge the spell as it stands back up.
Fable III
In Fable III, it is revealed that trolls have finally been ousted from the cultivated regions of Albion by King Logan, who even commissioned a series of powerful hammers, the Trollblight hammers, for a campaign to exterminate every last troll from Albion. It was largely successful.
Fable: The Journey
Trolls return in Fable: The Journey, revealing that while they have been forced out of mainland Albion, trolls still thrive in the wild northern frontier of Albion, known as the Edgelands.
The first troll is encountered within the caverns of Bladebarrow, with more trolls found throughout the forests and caves of the Edgelands. Trolls attempt to attack Gabriel by throwing boulders and by utilizing a rock-attack similar to the one in Fable II. In addition, trolls can summon creatures, such as rockmites and stingers to aid them.
There appear to be two kind of trolls in Fable: The Journey. One type of troll has glowing blue eyes, summons rockmites, and has rocks on its back to blend into the environment. The other kind of troll, often found in forests, has glowing orange eyes, summons stingers, and has a tree on its back.
By the time Gabriel reaches Deepgorge , the corruption forces have already taken over the many trolls that lived hidden at the bottom of the gorge exposing the power the corruption was already holding at the moment.
Trivia
- In the Beta Map of Fable, The Ancient Cullis Gate region was called Troll Fields due to the regular spawn of trolls.
- If you get close enough to trolls you can see that they are not attached to the ground in any way, making the reason why they do not chase after you once you have caught their attention a mystery.
- In Fable, the stick is the only weapon that can't hurt a troll directly; however, you can still knock back their rocks.
- In Fable, there are a lot of trolls that you can fight whenever you like, but in Fable II, there are just two repeatable trolls, one in the Crucible and the other in the Storm Shrine on Knothole Island, (and Bounty Hunter trolls, but they are very rare).
- In Fable: The Lost Chapters, the description of the Archon's Battle Armour states that platinum trolls once existed but are now extinct. The armour description also states platinum is the hardest material known to man, yet the real world metal has none of the properties suggested in the game (it is as soft, and malleable as gold making it a poor armour choice for troll or man alike).
- In Fable, Fable: The Lost Chapters and Fable Anniversary trolls will laugh at the Hero if he gets hit by their attacks.
- In Fable and The Lost Chapters, rock trolls and, on occasion, earth trolls and ice trolls, are easily defeated by repeatedly using the 'Assassin Rush' spell. This works because the trolls are confused since the Hero is moving at a quick speed, moving from the front of the troll to the back of the troll. If you repeatedly use this, the troll will be unable to attack.
- If you have two trolls and you repeat the previous tactic, make sure to try and roll back to behind the other troll so that it blocks the other troll's projectiles. This also may aid in harming the troll.
- The previous tactic also works for ice trolls (Fable: The Lost Chapters) but they may start hitting the ground to spawn ice crystals which will knock you back. However, like with earth trolls, it is still a worthy tactic. Earth trolls may just simply hit the ground to knock you back. If you're not lucky, each troll may start throwing rocks near you if speed isn't with you.
- In Fable II, the use of the Raise Dead spell can simplify a troll battle, as the troll (along with its minions if competing in the Crucible) will target the ghosts rather than the Hero. The ghosts however, do not combat the troll and instead attempt to return to you, requiring constant recasting, as far away as possible, in order to maintain the benefits.
- It is possible to defeat the Crucible troll in under 30 seconds by casting a level 3 time spell, running up to the troll and recasting the spell. Immediately cast level 5 lightning and it should one shot the troll.
- Another way to defeat a troll in the allotted time is to cast a level 3 slow time and then fully charge a Chaos spell right next to the troll. The troll will then have a giant mask on its face and then just constantly spin around. All you have to do is cast a level 5 Shock and all the nerve tendrils will be destroyed.
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