bones and troll skin

[Mollymawk]

I've had the game some time but never really got far.

I find trolls and skeletons for upgrades hard to find, they do not seem to respawn.
I was thinking of playing with a friend but with us both needing upgrades, bones and troll skin will be in short supply,

Any tips on locating or respawning trolls and skeletons?

[TSims]

Usually near troll caves and inside troll caves. There are probably more troll caves than you realize. Skeletons respawn inside burial chambers spawners and beat burial chambers. They also appear everywhere later in the game. You will have far too much troll skin and bones

[Exodite-Dragon]

I promise you bone fragments and troll hide will not present a problem. Trolls do respawn, and there is even a troll raid event that activates once you defeat the black forest with at least one troll death somewhere in your map seed.

Skeletons are plentiful in and around burial chambers in the black forest, and frequently spawn as patrolling groups of 4 in the swamp. A skeleton raid will also be activated once you defeat the swamp boss. Skeletons, as you may already know, also have a chance spawn at night in the meadows near the standing stone cairns scattered around the biome.

You're very likely to be drowning in bone fragments and troll hide before too long.

[Mollymawk]

Can you coax trolls out of the cave? I need to archer them otherwise i get biffed.

[knighttemplar1960]

Trolls do not exit their cave. Once the troll that lives in the cave is defeated it does not respawn. Trolls that spawn outside can respawn again 3 days after they are defeated. When you find one, mark it on your map for a later return. Out side troll spawn points tend to be near copper deposits and troll caves.

Trolls are weak to piercing damage and their head is a weak spot on top of that. You can melee a non-starred troll and live if you have a level 3 bronze buckler, level 2 deer hide armor, and fresh black forest level food. Since trolls are weak to piercing damage a spear is a good choice for melee weapon against a troll.

Outside crypt entrances in the black forest there are usually 3 skeletons. Like any other fixed spawn location, 3 days after the skeletons are defeated they can respawn. Occasionally abandoned towers in the black forest are inhabited by skeletons instead of greydwarves. There are usually 2-3 at ground level and there can be 2-3 on the upper levels. Once you deal with the ones on the ground its fairly easy to use fire arrows on the ones on the upper level since they can't climb down. Then all you have to do is climb the interior stairs and pick up the bones. There is occasionally a chest with some goodies at the top of skeleton towers.

Loose bones can be found at the entrance of troll caves and dolmen found in the meadows (3 upright stones with a stone cap) free for the taking. At night time a single skeleton can spawn near a dolmen.

[Exodite-Dragon]

Originally posted by Mollymawk:

Can you coax trolls out of the cave? I need to archer them otherwise i get biffed.

If you are armed with a flint spear, level 3 wood shield, level 2 deer leather armor, and have eaten at least cooked boar, neck, and deer meat, you can parry a troll's weaker melee attacks.

Log-brandishing and bare-handed trolls both have a powerful overhead slam: you'll want to dodge-roll this assuming the above gear and food. The cleaving swipe, however, you can parry, if the troll is zero-star. You may be momentarily staggered by this swipe depending on your current block skill, but you should recover from your stagger faster than the troll will and be able to get in several fast jabs with your spear before the next attack happens.

The key thing when fighting trolls at this point in the game in a confined space like one of their caves is to not panic, and to move as little as possible. You do not want to deplete stamina unnecessarily, since you'll be heavy on health foods. If you need to miss a few counterattack windows to give your stamina time to regenerate, it's better to play it safe. Combat in this game is much more methodical than it seems at first.

Even one piece of troll leather armor replacing a deer leather piece should bring your defense rating up enough that you won't be staggered (however briefly) in subsequent encounters when parrying their swipe.

[Scooby Doo]

Bones are so so easy to get. Do the dungeons where you get the cores, they have nothing but Skeletons in them. You get to the Swamp and you will be attacked by them always. In the BF look for the stone structures those and the dungeons are usually protected by skeletons. Also in those BF dungeon there is bone laying around everything with the cores needed to process your copper.
Given you do not upgrade much skeletons are not a huge issue.

Now trolls on the other hand sadly I have seen only one this play through but I have a creature mod loaded that seems to be interfering. Otherwise their skin makes armor that is of the same strength as the copper though lighter. Stealth in this game is not really useable so would not worry about that.

[Soma]

When you find a skeleton spawner in a tomb do not kill it. Build a fire in the doorway. Last year they changed the AI to not let mobs run through fire. Even though this messed with tons of speed runners, for bone harvesting it was a big help.

After you build the fire in the doorway of the room with the spawner go back and get as many arrows as you can and just shoot skeles above the fire. Be careful not to destroy the spawner until you are ready. Hundreds of bones early game.

[Mollymawk]

thanks all for the helpful info

[Iluszachane]

Lol, I happen to have WAY TOO MUCH trollhide and bone fragments (I am currently in Plains, but still). Those items are probably the two biggest pains in the ass I have as an "autistically collect and store every item I pick up" type player.

[WeelieTired]

Originally posted by Soma:

When you find a skeleton spawner in a tomb do not kill it. Build a fire in the doorway. Last year they changed the AI to not let mobs run through fire. Even though this messed with tons of speed runners, for bone harvesting it was a big help.

After you build the fire in the doorway of the room with the spawner go back and get as many arrows as you can and just shoot skeles above the fire. Be careful not to destroy the spawner until you are ready. Hundreds of bones early game.

THIS for skels.
When you find those Dolmen in the Meadows do not take the bones. Mark the spot and return at night to fight the skeleton(s) that spawn. With clubs that are good starter xp towards your maces later. and a shield of either kind to start leveling your blocking up.
Return the next night, etc and check. If you dont take the bones they should respawn in, maybe 3 game days? So with patience you can multiply the mats given, with less exploration running.

In BF crypts do not break the spawner bone piles and you can return to farm bones. You can use a corpse run or heal potions, shield, or whatever needed to run in, loot surtling cores or whatever and run out without fighting?
Then return to farm bones as he said above. A dungeon on the edge of the BF would be easier, of course. Think it thru before you even go in. Initial dive down, run amuck just looking at how good the place is? Needs at least one good hallway you can kind block off for farming shield or bow, etc, xp and gather bones too.
Do Not use an aetgir or stagbreaker AOE attack close to the spawner because you can break the piles and ruin the place. Down the hall a ways is fine.

Trolls, at night look for those blue glowing firefly areas (they are wild mob spawns) and mark them on your map. Any BF mobs spawn there. Some % of which are trolls. Keep your crafting tables & fires away from those spots and farm whatever spawns there. The harder dwarfs drop good mats too, but of course when its a troll you can get the hides you need for all those craft recipes.

[knighttemplar1960]

Originally posted by WeelieTired:

Originally posted by Soma:

When you find a skeleton spawner in a tomb do not kill it. Build a fire in the doorway. Last year they changed the AI to not let mobs run through fire. Even though this messed with tons of speed runners, for bone harvesting it was a big help.

After you build the fire in the doorway of the room with the spawner go back and get as many arrows as you can and just shoot skeles above the fire. Be careful not to destroy the spawner until you are ready. Hundreds of bones early game.

THIS for skels.
When you find those Dolmen in the Meadows do not take the bones. Mark the spot and return at night to fight the skeleton(s) that spawn. With clubs that are good starter xp towards your maces later. and a shield of either kind to start leveling your blocking up.
Return the next night, etc and check. If you dont take the bones they should respawn in, maybe 3 game days? So with patience you can multiply the mats given, with less exploration running.

In BF crypts do not break the spawner bone piles and you can return to farm bones. You can use a corpse run or heal potions, shield, or whatever needed to run in, loot surtling cores or whatever and run out without fighting?
Then return to farm bones as he said above. A dungeon on the edge of the BF would be easier, of course. Think it thru before you even go in. Initial dive down, run amuck just looking at how good the place is? Needs at least one good hallway you can kind block off for farming shield or bow, etc, xp and gather bones too.
Do Not use an aetgir or stagbreaker AOE attack close to the spawner because you can break the piles and ruin the place. Down the hall a ways is fine.

Trolls, at night look for those blue glowing firefly areas (they are wild mob spawns) and mark them on your map. Any BF mobs spawn there. Some % of which are trolls. Keep your crafting tables & fires away from those spots and farm whatever spawns there. The harder dwarfs drop good mats too, but of course when its a troll you can get the hides you need for all those craft recipes.

A skele can spawn near a dolmen even if you take the bones. Like any other fixed spawn point the skele can respawn 3 days after you kill it but they only spawn at night. If you are sneaking when it spawns, don't aggro it, and sneak away it will still be there until you kill it. Once spawned they don't despawn the way some night time creatures do. They are there until you kill them but the 3 day timer doesn't reset until the skele is killed.

[lumina]

For trolls, I usually get as much of the armor as I can as I go for the Black Forest boss. After you beat that boss, trolls will raid your base. After 2-3 of those, you and your friend will have full sets of troll armor with upgrades.

[MasteR]

Originally posted by lumina:

For trolls, I usually get as much of the armor as I can as I go for the Black Forest boss. After you beat that boss, trolls will raid your base. After 2-3 of those, you and your friend will have full sets of troll armor with upgrades.

As lumina said, after Elder boss Troll Raid is activated. If you wont continue killing other bosses, chances to get Trolls Raids are as high as they can be.

+You can scout Black Forest at night, chance to encounter Trolls higher + you may get star and two stars trolls, harder to kill but more profitable.

Best strategies:
1. Bow (fine or hunting)
2. Spear and iron shield(with parry *2.5), you should learn to dodge(MRB+jump) and parry(MRB) those big boys, its not to complicated as soon as you get used to their moveset.

When you hunt trolls, you can use them as mining/woodcutting machines.