Trolls unblockable?

[Judge Cudge]

Are trolls unblockable? If not is there any way to melee fight them normally and not need to gimmick them with ranged or magic?

[Turning Wheel]

Trolls deal a lot of damage and there is a limit to how much damage you can block while defending. However you can block more damage with better armor and better blocking skill.

Usually I avoid fighting trolls completely at low levels unless they are already weakened from prior fighting and I can take advantage of sneak attacks and critical strikes. Just leave them alone until you are strong enough to fight them normally.

[Already Panicking Catgirl]

Trolls are indeed blockable. Early game, unless you power leveled rapidly or got lucky with gear drops, you're more than likely not going to be able to block a troll's attack completely. It requires having an AC of around 18 or so to be able to block a troll's attack and negate all damage. So, warriors have the highest likelihood of being able to block their damage by at least level 2 or 3 depending on their luck with their stat levelups and finding at least 1 or 2 higher AC items than starting. But, due to their higher starting level for their shield ability, they shouldn't be taking much damage at all from a Troll even at level 1.

Being able to farm levels in the Gnomish Mines will power level you to at least 14 or 15, on top of coming out of there with a ton of higher level equipment thanks to the shop on that level.

Trolls also have an extremely small detection radius, and even with a 0 in sneak, you can run up, hit them with a critical strike/sneak attack, and then back away before he can react, stealth, then rinse and repeat.

Additionally, to further explain the blocking ability, it relies on your shield skill mostly. The higher the skill level, the more bonus AC you receive for blocking, including blocking with things other than a shield (I.e., Torch, Lantern, etc.). So, classes that don't start off with a high skill in shielding, or any at all like the Conjurer and Wizard, even if you pick up a good shield early like a Steel Shield, you won't even have a high enough AC to negate the damage from a Rat completely.

Also, eventually, as you gain levels and better gear, your normal AC will eventually outclass several of the monsters in the game to the point you can just stand still and never receive damage. I've sat there as a casting class and had a high enough AC to negate the Troll's attacks without blocking by the time I hit the 3rd dungeon level. Takes a bit to get used to, but once you know the game's mechanics and with a little luck, you'll get there too.

[Judge Cudge]

Ah makes sense, so you just flat cant do it early game as a non-specialized class and have to either get lucky or grind out the associated skills a bit to pull it off.

My problem was that I've always been a caster and ranger so far and thought I'd dip my toes into melee finally, then the first time I fought something after getting 'the rhythm of the knight' it was a troll and I became the rhythm of the dead.