Best ways to kill Trolls (Instructions)

[CBCRonin]

Vanilla

Melee:
Spear and two handed axe combo has proven very effective in every test I have done, even against Olog-Hai (army size huge).

Ranged:
Catapult and ballista will get two or three shots off before they close and enter your line, making them nearly ineffective (maybe one troll killed, accuracy is horrible.... castle tower ballista is even worse). Arrows will help in knocking off a few of their hitpoints, but in vanilla bowman range means only a few volleys and then you have to redirect fire to avoid friendly fire incidents.

Crossbow are pretty effective, with one Olag-Hai dying before reaching the line. Javelins are the ranged weapon of choice, for troll or Oliphant, but simply placing skirmishers behind the line ( a common player tactic) won't work to counter trolls.

Rohan is probably the most effective with their mounted javelin skirmishers and succeed with fewer losses than any other faction (at least from the custom battles I have played).

[Tokus*Maximus]

Trolls are a frakkin' nightmare - I've soiled my armour several events this week trying to pin the lumbering lumps down with spears and throwing everything at them. Then a bunch turn up in a Mordor army with ARMOUR too - and wielding huge pointed seige mattocks.

Thanks - good thread on Troll baiting. I will invest in balistas and ranged artillery now.

Cheers - Tokoid

[Haldir]

I use the tactic of placing units on the wing but further back, pepper the trolls with missiles and once the trolls hit the frontline, surround them with infantry and cavalry and just try to bring them down. The infantry effectively becomes a large schiltrom formation and it's tough for the orcs/goblins to get through it and do any real damage. You just have to deal with the trolls quickly, or your battle is over.

[Kinniken]

Arrows will help in knocking off a few of their hitpoints, but in vanilla bowman range means only a few volleys and then you have to redirect fire to avoid friendly fire incidents

Is that really a problem? If you are tying down the trolls with some cheap militia, and putting them in loose formation to limit losses as you should, then a bit of casualties due to friendly fire is more than acceptable... You are killing trolls, they are killing militias

[Razor]

I use the tactic of placing units on the wing but further back, pepper the trolls with missiles and once the trolls hit the frontline, surround them with infantry and cavalry and just try to bring them down. The infantry effectively becomes a large schiltrom formation and it's tough for the orcs/goblins to get through it and do any real damage. You just have to deal with the trolls quickly, or your battle is over.

Indeed. I always let all my archer units (playing High Elves) take down the Trolls and Olog-Hai first as soon as possible. I haven't found a good way to counter them in close combat. My Eldar Swordsmen and Spearmen both get beaten up quite easily. The Spearmen don't have shield wall or anything special. Though Troll units are a bit easier to counter in melee Olog-Hai are NOT.
Archers usually do the trick for me.

Yesterday I had a huge battle with the High Elves against Mordor and Mordor fielded 2 Troll units and 2 Olog-Hai (= 24 Trools + 24 Olog-Hai = NOT funny). To make things even worse the battle took place on a fairly steep slope with me fighting up hill so I couldn't get the best out of my archer units... Trolls and Olog-Hai are my biggest fear in my High Elves Campaign. (which is cool and exciting though)

[Fulgrim88]

Alright i've done some testing and some screens as well;

vs Trolls:
1Unit of Dragonslayers, Shieldwall active, charge used (both is important, they lost without it)


2Units of Crossbowmen (as you need one meatshield)


2 Units of Silvan Elven Elite Archers (same reason)


I also tested:
- Rohan Horse-Javelin-Throwers (worked good, but got out of ammo too fast and lost)
- Elven Infantry of all Sorts with&without charge (all of them lost)
- Ithilien Rangers (did quite a good job, should be able to do it with proper meatshields)
- Citadel Guard & Vault wardens (both died, but worked good in campaign games, i still need to figure out why. Probably Weapon Upgrades)
- Lossarnach & Rohan Heavy Axemen with charge (both died, hurting the trolls badly, but not killing them. Will probably work combined with other troops, where they can survive long enough)

So overall: The very thing you need is AP (Armour Piercing weapons, combined with heavy armour & shields if possible to survive long enough to actually kill and not only bleed them. High dmg Missiles also work, as they dont ignore armor but defense rating (which is a pretty big bunch for trolls). Low dmg missiles kill too much of your own troops whilst not really damaging the trolls)
So the Units of choice would be either
- Heavy Infantry with high dmg, armour & ap if given
- Elite Archers combined with cheap meatshields (milita) to take friendly fire

Anything with Spears & Anti Cavalry Bonus is useless and may only benefit from good stats or upgrades in general (Vault Wardens, Fountain Guard)

[Rhetor]

Too bad that Silvan Elves do not have any unit with AP.

[Fulgrim88]

Too bad that Silvan Elves do not have any unit with AP.

They've got high dmg archers though, the second best solution

[Achilla]

To clear this up ... there is no such a thing as 'different categories of trolls'. They are just trolls and are classified as infantry. They are fast and some of them seem to have 'fast moving' attribute but it might be something to do with their animations or the model. Game doesn't classify them as cavalry, spear units get no bonus against them. Pikemen are moderately effective against them, especially when trolls throw your units in the air finely destroying your formation and switching places all the time. As Silvan Elf player after tremendous defeat I have never wasted my spearmen on trolls again - they might be cost-effective for Rohan, but for Silvans they are not. In early game best unit I could throw at them were sword guys ... archers in melee are 100% ineffective. If you have enough sentinels, with general bodyguard you can wipe out one unit of trolls from afar, provided you don't pepper other enemy units. With other not-so-good-archery-factions it's propably not a viable option. In my tests 1h AP troops were best ... they can parry troll attack with a shield and strike back hardly. 2h AP troops are not too good, they die like flies even if can inflict theoretically a bit higher damage (well, they attack slower so it's still discussable ...). Cavalry seems just about right versus them. If you get a hand on any Javelin units with AP, they are good against trolls too. Still, best against them are cavalry units with secondary AP weapon, e.g. Northmen cavalry for Dale - cheap, easy to recruit maintain, deadly when used right infantry, cavalry and trolls alike. I reckon some Rohan cavalry units have secondary AP axe weapon too. As for siege engines, I would only use ballistas and on non-fire projectiles - they are most accurate and hit often. Catapults are not too accurate, trebuchets either, catapult would be best over flaming projectiles hoping to hurt body of the enemy army on the way, if you dislike ballistas or want effective anti-wall siege weapon.

[CBCRonin]

Is that really a problem? If you are tying down the trolls with some cheap militia, and putting them in loose formation to limit losses as you should, then a bit of casualties due to friendly fire is more than acceptable... You are killing trolls, they are killing militias

I would have no problem firing into my own men playing an evil faction, but doing so as the "good" guys is unthinkable (all those baby sprites crying for their fathers ).

[Fulgrim88]

I would have no problem firing into my own men playing an evil faction, but doing so as the "good" guys is unthinkable (all those baby sprites crying for their fathers ).

The what? Ecthelion the Tyrant does not care about mere toddlers

[Daergar]

The what? Ecthelion the Tyrant does not care about mere toddlers

Nor does Misvent (close enuff) the Tyrant. Gondorian milita makes excellent troll-wranglers slash pin-cushions for the rangers. Especially after watching my citadel guard get torn apart by regular trolls, even if nearly all of them recovered from their wounds.

I've found that head on cavalry charges with bodyguards or decent cavalry gets the job done swiftly and with the least fuss and or casualties.

[RomaVictor6969]

lol no so sure about spear men just tried a unit of mountain trolls vs a fully upgraded silvian spear men unit and I didnt kill a single troll.

[P|A|ntZ]

When ogres appear in a battle, they give me the same butterflies feeling that I remember when I saw my first Trow in Myth: The Fallen Lords, caving in the heads of my berserks and bloodying the snow with them. It's great when a game throws in an element that makes you think you might lose, despite your best efforts.

[traxx91]

[...]The Spearmen don't have shield wall or anything special. [...]

Do you have the latest patch? I played a custom battle today with the high elves, and the Eldar Spermen had Shieldwall! Im sure cause I used it to hold off the orc infantry.

[Graviak]

... argh, its ok in 1.1. , and the test of teh "great tester" matched mine. Heavy Armor AP weapons. And 2-handed units work. Take the charge and send them in! Ok only playing dorfs, and only campaign. I fear them in MP. ...

... and have no clus what to do without beiing dwarf!^^


P.S.: Eldar Spearmen have shieldwall! ( thats the edit!)

[CBCRonin]

...
... and have no clus what to do without beiing dwarf!^^

Dwarves do fair the best in melee against trolls...... the worst so far, in my personal tests, have been Gondor and Dale (not using cavalry).
--------
Surprisingly, Eriador did quite well.... their bowman might be horrible, but greenway guards and two fast swinging low tier AP units gives them an edge in melee (vs.trolls) others lack.

[Razor]

Do you have the latest patch? I played a custom battle today with the high elves, and the Eldar Spermen had Shieldwall! Im sure cause I used it to hold off the orc infantry.

Well, well, you check once and all of a sudden they do have a shield wall ability!
I've learned something today

[Vifarc]

Well, well, you check once and all of a sudden they do have a shield wall ability!
I've learned something today

Silvan Heavy Spearmen too

[jản]

lol no so sure about spear men just tried a unit of mountain trolls vs a fully upgraded silvian spear men unit and I didnt kill a single troll.

okay, but try more than one unit of spearmen against one unit of trolls.
maybe 4:1 would do the job. and of course use schildrom formation!