I know how to kill giants and mammoths as a low level character. (Don't get hit.) I finally figured out how to beat multiple draugr death overlords in early game. (Don't get hit and avoid shouts) I can kill a troll by pelting it with lots of arrows, but I just can't seem to be able to kill one in a straight up melee battle. I can't do the hit and run thing because trolls have very high regenration rate. I guess anything is possible with infinite potions, but is it possible to beat it in early level without using up 30 health potions?

Do you guys remember how you did it going up to High Hrothgar?

this is how I deal with trolls under level 15

OT: You might if you use fire enchanted weapons/ spells

Depends on what difficulty level you play on.

The trolls always swing twice then recover, so back off when they attack, then hit them with a few Power Attacks, chug Restore Stamina Pots, and hit them again with a few Power Attacks. I have been able to kill the one on the path to High Hrothgar at level five.
The higher you set the game difficulty does make them harder to kill, but Power Attacks and Shield Bashes can interupt thier attacks. My characters are very proficient with making Venison Stew for Stamina Regeneration.

Well, earlier today i somehow managed to kill TWO snow saber cats at lvl 12 with no health potions.( i was out ).

Thank you. This was exactly the kind of tip I was looking for. I'll try this. I did notice their two swipe power attacks, and I try to block with shield, but I always seem not be able to block them. I'll try dodging backwards now.

I'm playing on Expert now and haven't played on master, yet.

Lol. I had difficulty just fighting a reg. Saber Cat at LV10 with my Dark Elf. Them things are mean when you're not wearing Heavy Armor I'll tell you what..

I hate Trolls as well, doesn't seem like I can kill one til 20+

You can beat trolls at master difficulty with a level 1 dragonborn by simply shield bashing them while high on vegetable soup. A little tedious and will take a while but its one of the assured ways to kill trolls- and just about anything rather safely. the trick is to never get hit as they will more than likely kill you in two strikes at lower levels.

Thank you. I'll definitely try this. I didn't try this yet because shield bash seemed to do very very little damage before you get the deadly bash perk.

its quiet possible to chain attacks between enemy stagger times if youve got good reflexes.

shield bash- > normal attack ->animation cancel into power attack (the power attack itself will stagger enemies if timed right)-> shield bash- > repeat.

Yes, it helps if you're an Orc. Circle-strafe around it to avoid the swipe attacks and shield bash, then power attack.

1. Have a weapon that can deal fire damage. This is absolutely vital. The best (at your level) is a one-handed weapon enchanted with a Fiery Soultrap enchantment (1 sec soultrap, 10 fire damage).

2. Jump backwards when the troll starts swinging. It is faster than walking backwards.

3. You can bait attacks by just standing close. Instead of letting them do running swings, stand close enough so they do standing swings.

4. Don't block normally. You will just take damage for nothing as you can't recover in time to retaliate. Unless you shield bash and have unlimited stamina via vegetable soup. Dodge is a better option.

5. Bigger Frost trolls have slightly longer reach.

Beating Frost Trolls on master with a level 1 is possible. It just takes a butt load of reloads given that they can OHKO you. It took me about 20+ reloads to win my first encounter. Nowadays, with better equipment, they are no longer dangerous even still at level 1.

Alternatively, if your intention is just to beat them, instead of setting up some silly rules to artificially make it hard, to brag like I did, a level 3 slow time is good enough to destroy them with minimum effort.

Yea, i still have horrible nightmares about my first frost troll on my way up the 7000 steps...

Those things are actually harder for my level 1 master difficulty playthough because you can't dodge their pounce.

Thanks for all the inputs everyone. I just tried going 1 on 1 with a regular troll under several different conditions.

I my character is level 20 now with 260 health points, so I tried to mimic a lower level character by not wearing any armor.

I noticed that if I just concentrated on dodging, I could evade the troll's hits indefinitely by strafing and going backwards time to time.

I tried fighting him with a 24 damage + 10 fire damage sword and after some practice I was able to kill it quite easily. I didn't use any power hits. Just slash and dodge. I'm beginning to think that perhaps it's better not to use power attacks against trolls because you are vulnerable for a short while after you do your power attack.

I then tried a 20 damage sword with no enchantments. It was a lot slower and a lot harder to kill the troll, but with practice and luck I was able to kill it eventually. I found that shield bashing + sword was working against me because I was not damaging troll fast enough and just gave the troll chance to regenerate. Dodging + quick slash (non-power hit) seems to be working best for me.

I tried 16 damage sword after that. After many many tries, I was not able to kill the troll. My damage output was not high enough to counter the troll's fast regeneration. But I think it is probably possible by someone with better reflex and timing.

[edit] After more practice, I was able to kill the troll with the 16 damage sword. I had to be quite aggressive about keep hitting the troll and keep the damage rate higher than his recovery rate while at the same time not getting hit by him.

Also, basic flame spell is great for fighting trolls. You can keep some distance and be very safe and keep pelting him with short bursts of flames. 100 magicka is not enough to kill the troll by itself, but it can take it down to about half of his life.

I did not have much success with shield bashing or torch bashing. I found that the time used to bash and stagger the troll just give the troll more time to regenerate.

Fire enchanted weapons burn its target for a 1 or 2 seconds. The burn damage isn't very high, but the key is that it prevents the troll from regenerating while it is under the burning status.

Bashing with the sheild is effective against Trolls at lower levels. I think I used a few arrows at that first High Hrothgar troll and hit him with a scroll of Firestorm as he was running towards me. Then i used the Shield bash, power attack combo method.

Shield bash is your friend. It works with almost every opponent, including magic users since it will cause spellcasting to be interrupted.

Having a lot of potion hepls and so does every bit of armor

I hopped on a rock, let Lydia tank for me, and shot it with arrows.

I ran past it.

You'll have to exploit terrain, have a paralyze weapon, stagger lock (destruction/shield) it or be an orc to kill it that early.

I encountered a snow troll on the way to dawnstar with my
vicious, hammerswinging orc. I was like lvl 12-13, playing
on Expert, and killed him with 3-4 Power attacks. Thanks
to that special orc skill (forgot the name) you deal double
damage and receive half damage yourself. Kinda OP imo,
but i really love to play Orcs with giant hammers that smash
everything like a berseker

A simple but effective method for quickly defeating Trolls at any level/difficulty:

Bash with a Torch

- Melee weapon at the ready
- Torch equipped
- Just as with a shield, you can both block and bash with a torch
- Let the Troll wind up for its two-swipe attack
- Bash to interrupt the attack
- With the Troll now ablaze and taking additional damage, whack away
- Step back, rinse, repeat
- Result: Dead Troll from melee without the use of magic or potions

Enjoy

Good strategy but bashing requires stamina which, especially at low levels, can be exhausted pretty quickly in a melee combat.

I've done it two ways.

1. Playing an Orc, used Berserker Rush, was usig a Greatsword. 2x damage dealt and 1/2x damage taken is insane. Was like level 6.

2. Playing a Nord, used Block perk Quick Reflexes. When trolls do their power attack, back away while blocking. If they do the power attack where they swing 3 times, Quick Reflexes glitches a little during the second swing and will allow you to move, and attack, at full speed while they are moving super slow. Can do the same thing to dual-wielding Forsworn. Don't remember the exact level, but even blocking one attack took a large chunk of health.