When I was early in the game I avoided mammoths like the plague because they were so big and powerful, though have grand souls. Until you find their Achilles heal. Two of which: they will not cross large bodies of water and will retreat from chasing you after a certain distance. If there are no large bodies of water around, just get as far away as you can and still hit with a ranged weapon, like a bow or destruction like ice spike or firebolt, then fire away. When it charges turn and run (be sure to lower your weapon!) and use the alt key (PC) to sprint. After a certain distance the mammoth will turn and start walking away - rinse and repeat. Yes, it's an adrenaline rush when an angry mammoth is close enough to make the ground shake, but that's what the game is about. Right? By doing this you can whittle away at its health until finishing it off. You can also climb something where it can't reach you.

Mammoths and giants are easy to kill from level one as long as you find an inaccessible boulder.

They're easy to kill by exploiting the AI? Duh-doy!

They take forever though.

I took the dual-casting perk early in the game and, at first, thought it was useless. Now, I'm glad I did. Four or five hits with a dual-casted ice spear and it's down and out! Also, useful for fire dragons. (I save the last shot for my soul capture enchanted glass bow for that grand soul!)

Poison of slow is effective on giants. Slows them down to a crawl!

Thanks y'all for that info! I know that they have grand souls, but I was always afraid to get near them!

actually, at least for me, they ahve greater souls. Giants have grand. D:

Why would you want to kill them anyway?
Niamh has cut a swathe of destruction through Skyrim, even including the Solitude's lighthouse keeper, but she's never expressed even the slightest inclination to off a mammoth or a giant.

I've heard that some people play as other characters, with different motives/morals. Crazy I know.

Ooh burn!

Strangely though I am aware of that fact, hence my phrasing:

Question.
Example of subjective experience.
Implies elaboration on the part of others.

Feel free to contribute something useful though.

For that rich bounty of 100 gold?
Griselda would sell her own grandmother for a drake so 100 of them plus lovely mammoth cheese is a winner!

Bleuurghhh!

Griselda is a bit of a gourmet. Your unsophisticated palate might not appreciate a ripe mammoth cheese (ideal as a dip for giant's toes) but she does
Shes travelled the length and breadth of Skyrim with Eola sampling all the culinary delights of the province. She'd love to have you for dinner sometime

I killed two of them at level 2 with my last character. He was a Breton two-handed warrior, with Light Armour, Two Handed and Alchemy.
I engaged them outside Whiterun, and after about 5-10 minutes of running like hell and getitng in a hit now and then, I finally defeted the giants.
Seconds later, a thief assaulted me, wanting my jewels. I asked him to sod off, and he killed me with two hits.
I play at Expert by the way, and never use potions.

I don't kill mammaths either, and for the longest time I did not kill giants, but one of them killed me once for no good reason on my travels from Windhelm to Rifton. A dragon came down to kill the giant and I helped him defeat the dragon and I was careful not to hit the giant with friendly fire but apparantly I got to close to him because when I went in to absorb the soul, he came up from behind and killed me with one swing of his club. I reloaded and killed the dragon again, avoided the club strike and started a very long battle of attrition kiting the giant with my bow. While we were at it, an innocent farmer wandered by on the road and the giant pounded him into the dirt and then attacked a caravan of peacful Khajiit merchants.

That incident changed my view of giants and I now slay them with impunity if they cross my path. I still leave mammoths alone though. Cannot see myself slaughtering them for their souls. The only time I killed a mammoth was when the jarl issued bounty on a particular giant and his mammoths were guarding him. It was easier to just get rid of the mammoths first and then deal with the giant.

Did you break your game? Giants have Greater, Mammoths have Grand souls. I always feel a bit guilty about killing mammoths, they are never aggressive even if you wipe your nose on their butt.

Every monster is easy to kill when your 81 [insert pip-boy with thumbs up]

For some lame reason, I'm loath to kill them too. Maybe I went to the LaBrea Tarpits too many times as a kid. But then again, when the Enchanting and Smithing skills are high and you don't want to spend the money for pre-filled Grand Soul gems... I mean, come on, they're like $1200 a pop. For a full set of armor + weapon that's 6 grand.

I don't like killing giants either unless they start it. They're these big dimwits who just want to be left alone; kinda like a lot of gamers.

mammoth is easy but you need to run fast if you cant find a good spot to shoot.
Giants on the other hand...

2 reasons why you should shoot arrows and not hold a sword