Troll D&D 2024 (5.5e) WoW Species Optimisation Guide

Attack with frenzied aggression with the regenerative Troll species from D&D: World of Warcraft.

Is a Troll the right species for me?

Troll traits

Creature Type	Humanoid
Size	Medium
Speed	30ft
Traits	Bloodied frenzy, darkvision, troll healing, troll lineage
Resistances	None
Proficiencies	None
Darkvision	Yes
Innate spellcasting	None
Book found in	D&D: World of Warcraft

Bloodied frenzy – 4/5

Classes that make a lot of attack rolls (especially warriors and monks) can get a lot out of this. Basically, you get better the more damage you take. Of course you don’t want to be low on health and I wouldn’t encourage you to aim to stay at a bloodied level of hit points, but hopefully it can help you out of tight situations.

I’d also say that this works better on more resilient classes that can survive longer while bloodied (like shamans).

Darkvision – 3/5

Always a useful option for seeing in dark places.

Troll healing – 4/5

Maximum possible healing plus your constitution modifier is going to average at more than double what other species get when they make short rests so you can more easily stay topped up at full health. I suppose this is more impactful on high constitution and large hit dice builds like shamans, warriors and the like. It’s also best for groups with long adventuring days who will likely see their hit dice get consumed a fair bit.

Troll lineage

You can choose one of 3 options here and I’m going to evaluate them separately.

Amani troll – 4/5

Without feats, this is a bit rubbish and won’t happen that much, but you can build for this.

You want 2 things; a steady supply of heroic inspiration and extra ways to use hit dice. To gain more heroic inspiration, there are a few feats that can help you here; musician, Lords’ Alliance agent, Purple Dragon rook, tireless reveler and cult of the dragon initiate. Musician is the best option and could even be an ally with this.

Heroic inspiration will let you keep regaining hit dice, but I’d say to really get the most out of this trait, you want additional ways to use your hit dice beyond just short rests (especially as trolls use less hit dice because the healing is so substantial during short rests).

The durable feat will allow some bonus action healing in combat. Spellfire adept and evocation adept will let you use hit dice to increase some spell damage. The bloodlust feat will also let you use hit dice to heal when hitting a bloodied creature. A few spells can also expend hit dice like arcane vigor, wither and bloom and Simbul’s synostodweomer.

I’d say this is quite good, but only with a lot of effort!

Darkspear troll – 1/5

There are too many caveats for too little benefit here! You have to be dashing and are limited to certain types of difficult terrain and then you aren’t limited to half speed. I guess this is better on classes like rogues and monks who can dash as a bonus action, but even then, this isn’t going to come up a lot. I just don’t think this is very good.

Zendalari troll – 2/5

Every d20 test has a 5% chance of granting you a heroic inspiration. I guess on classes that make plenty of d20 tests, that’s alright. I’m thinking of high ability check, high attack classes Ike rogues, monks, warriors etc. it’s quite unreliable though and not common enough in my opinion. If you don’t want to invest in the Amani troll lineage, then this is your next best option though.

How good is the Troll?

Trolls have a funny bunch of traits as there’s some good stuff here, but it’s a bit circumstantial. How much you become bloodied or take short rests or get heroic inspiration can depend on the feats others have, the campaign you’re playing or how brutal your encounters are. That makes it really hard to assess.

I think on the balance of things, most of these traits will be quite useful on high attack, high hit dice builds that expect to take a beating. The troll lineages complicate things further by having 2 options that aren’t great and one that is great, but with a decent bit of building around. If you go for the Amani troll lineage though, and build into the capabilities, then the troll is quite a good species, if a bit unorthodox.

Score: 4/5

---

Choosing a class for your Troll

Below I’ve scored how well each class works with a Troll and given some advice and explanation for how well the traits work with each class. I’ve used the renamed class reskins in D&D: World of Warcraft, but these change little mechanically from the typical classes in the Player’s Handbook so you can use the same guidance below with the original versions of these classes if you happen to not be playing in a Warcraft setting:

Demon hunter – 4/5

Good hit dice is great for the extra healing and demon hunters tend to make plenty of attacks so advantage when bloodied is a good option. The Amani troll lineage will work well if finding extra ways to use your hit dice too.

Death knight – 4/5

The same goes for death knights, decent number of attacks, high hit dice and usually a high constitution work well with bloodied frenzy, troll healing and the Amani lineage.

Druid – 2/5

Druids make very few attacks so bloodied frenzy isn’t a big deal (even if it does work with spells). Average hit dice means the short rest healing is alright as is the Amani lineage but it’s not enough to recommend.

Evoker – 1/5

Usually, evokers have few attacks (unless you plan on spamming scorching ray) which makes bloodied frenzy not that useful (and evokers won’t survive being bloodied for long). Low hit dice makes most other features quite poor.

Hunter – 4/5

Plenty of attacks and reasonably high hit dice will take advantage of a troll’s features quite well.

Mage – 1/5

Very few attacks, even with spells and the lowest hit dice in the game make a poor use of the troll’s traits.

Monk – 4/5

Monks have loads of attacks meaning they can benefit a lot from bloodied frenzy. They’re also quite evasive so can survive a bit better at lower HP. Their hit dice are decent so get some benefit from troll healing and the Amani lineage.

Paladin – 4/5

Decent number of attacks and high hit dice work quite well with the traits here. Paladins can also survive a bit longer when bloodied due to their resilience.

Priest – 2/5

Priests make very few attacks so benefit little from bloodied frenzy. Their hit dice are decent at least, but it’s not enough to recommend them for this species.

Rogue – 4/5

Rogues are regular attackers, but lack the extra attack feature so bloodied frenzy in theory, helps them less. However, rogues benefit a lot from having advantage on attacks as it enables sneak attack and makes a sneak attack more likely to land. On top of that, dual wielding can increase your attacks by 1 or 2 with the nick mastery and dual wielder feat.

Their hit dice are OK, but not on the higher end of things so has a decent effect on them.

Shaman – 5/5

A high attack class with the best hit dice in the game is excellent for a troll. With rage resistances, lots of HP and more reasons than most to invest in constitution, barbarians can also survive longer when bloodied allowing them to utilise that advantage more.

Warlock – 3/5

Bladelocks and eldritch blast builds get quite a lot of attacks. Warlocks won’t always use the attack action, but they’ll use it enough to benefit from bloodied frenzy. Their hit dice are decent enough to benefit from the buffs there too.

Warrior – 5/5

Some of the highest numbers of attacks in the game and fairly high hit dice means everything about a troll works quite well for a warrior.

About Trolls

Trolls are generally taller than Humans, with a slim, muscular frame and large tusks. Their skin tends to come in shades of greens, purples and blues though some variants can be brown, gold, gray or black.

Many troll tribes have aligned themselves with the horde and they tend to be ferocious fighters with the ability to recover easily from injuries.

More from D&D: World of warcraft