Troll (playable)


 * ''For the subrace of trolls, see jungle troll. For the polearm, see Darkspear (item).

The trolls of the Darkspear tribe is the faction of playable trolls (jungle trolls). They are members of the Horde.

Background


As tribal rivalries erupted throughout the former Gurubashi Empire, the Darkspear tribe found themselves driven from their homeland in Stranglethorn Vale. Having settled on the Darkspear islands, which are believed today to have been a part of the Broken Isles, the tribe soon found themselves entangled in a conflict with a group of murlocs. Eventually they also found new enemies in humans when a Kul Tiras-fleet landed on the island in search for some orcs who had stolen some ships. The trolls' fate seemed sealed until the orcish Warchief Thrall and his band of newly freed orcs, which were the orcs the humans were looking for, took shelter on the island after a heavy storm. The orcs managed to defeat the humans, but their victory was short-lived. Controlled by a Sea Witch, the Underworld Minions captured the Darkspears' leader Sen'jin along with Thrall and several orcs, trolls and humans. They were all brought to a complex prison made by caves below the island. Thrall managed to free himself and his companions, but was ultimately unable to save the trolls' leader. Although Sen'jin was sacrificed to the Sea Witch, he was able to reveal a vision he had in which Thrall would lead the Darkspear trolls from the island.

After returning to the island's surface, Thrall and his followers managed to fend off further attacks by the Sea Witch and her murloc minions, and set sail for Kalimdor once again. Under the new leadership of Vol'jin, the Darkspear swore allegiance to Thrall's Horde and followed him to Kalimdor. Now considered enemies by all other troll organizations except the Revantusk, Shatterspear, and the Zandalari, the Darkspear are held in contempt to this day. Yet, the Darkspear have not forgotten being driven from their ancestral homes, and this animosity is eagerly returned - especially towards the other jungle trolls. Having reached and founded the orc's new homeland, Durotar, the trolls carved out another home for themselves — this time among the Echo Isles on the eastern shores of the new orc kingdom.

However, with another approach by Kul Tiras and its navy, the Darkspear were forced to retreat inland under the onslaught of the misguided commander Daelin Proudmoore. The trolls, fighting alongside their Horde brethren led by the beastmaster Rexxar, defeated the enemy and reclaimed their new home. Shortly thereafter, a witch doctor by the name of Zalazane began using dark magic to take the minds of his fellow Darkspear. As his army of mindless followers grew, Vol'jin ordered the free trolls to evacuate, and Zalazane took control of the Echo Isles. The Darkspear have since settled on the nearby shore, naming their new village after their old leader, Sen'jin. From Sen'jin Village they, along with their allies, send forces to battle Zalazane and his enslaved army.

The Darkspears’ efforts, however, failed to drive Zalazane from the Echo Isles. Following the victory against the Lich King in the frozen continent of Northrend, Vol’jin renewed his bid to defeat Zalazane and launched a brilliant assault on the isles. With the help of the tribe’s ancestral loa, the courageous Darkspears killed the maddened witch doctor and seized their embattled home. Of late, political changes within the Horde have sparked fears among the Darkspear tribe regarding its future. Vol’jin’s close ally Thrall recently named Garrosh Hellscream temporary Horde warchief. Thus far, the brash young orc has put the Darkspear leader and his tribe on edge, causing many trolls to leave the Horde capital, Orgrimmar. Although spirits are high among the Darkspears after Zalazane’s fall, tension lingers concerning what place the trolls will have in Garrosh’s Horde.

Appearance
Darkspear trolls have skin colors that range from pale, ghostly blue to bruised purple to sickly green. Their skin color is usually just one of those three colors, although sometimes there are trolls with mixed skin pigments but this is not so popular. Male trolls are hunched over and have long, protruding tusks that grow from under their lower lip. Male trolls also have rather large noses and very messy, matted hair. Female trolls, on the other hand, stand up straight and erect, have rather small or squashed-in noses, and usually have hair in a wild updo or strewn across their breasts in thick braids.

Racial traits

 * Berserking - instant - 3 minutes cooldown : Activate to increase attack and casting speed by 20% for 10 seconds.


 * Regeneration (racial) - passive : Increase health regeneration bonus by 10%. Also allows 10% of normal health regenerate during combat.


 * Beast Slaying - passive : 5% damage bonus to Beasts.


 * Throwing Specialization - passive : Increase Throwing Weapon crit chance by 1%.


 * Bow Specialization - passive : Increase Bow crit chance by 1%.


 * Da Voodoo Shuffle - passive : Reduces the duration of all movement impairing effects by 15%. Trolls be flippin' out mon!

Reasons for racial traits
When fighting, trolls are often driven by instinct to a state of Berserking, causing them to attack and cast spells more quickly. This state is even stronger if the troll is injured, making a cornered and wounded troll very dangerous.

Though usually exaggerated in tales, trolls' powers of Regeneration are still very strong. Provided a wound doesn't kill them outright, they can usually recover from it with little to no medical attention.

Trolls are excellent hunters and have developed skills in Beast Slaying over thousands of years. This has made bows and throwing weapons the iconic arms of the troll race, and has led to troll headhunters being one of the main forms of ranged support for the Horde.

Trolls' natural agility allows them to escape impediments to their mobility a bit more quickly than other races. The movements to do so resemble dancing and the trolls have termed them 'Da Voodoo Shuffle'.

Classes
Troll characters can play as priests, rogues, warriors, mages, hunters, shamans or death knights, and, upon the release of World of Warcraft: Cataclysm, druids and warlocks.

Trivia

 * Early on in World of Warcraft Alpha Jungle trolls used a different model. This model can still be found ingame in use by Zanzil the Outcast.
 * Female trolls don't blink(excluding Death Knights in which case their glowing eyes flicker). This is almost certainly a bug as male trolls blink.
 * The troll player model appears to have been based off the Shadow Hunter from Warcraft III. Like the playable trolls in WoW, the Shadow hunter was also very skinny and crouched but was even taller then the Tauren Chieftain when standing up straight.
 * Despite having a major role in the Warcraft III Horde, trolls were made playable late in the development of WoW. This is probably why they have had mostly a minor role in the game and why their capital shrunk and was lost to Zalazane.
 * Some items like Wanderer's Hat and Studded Hat glitch up and look out of place when used by a male troll.
 * Ironically Two-Toed Sandals don't show up on trolls.
 * When approached or attacked by members of the Alliance, both orc and troll NPCs say: "[Orcish]: Grunts! Attack!"; causing additional guards for that town or city to summon in the aid of that NPC. Troll and orc NPCs are the only two races that share a common language when making such calls-to-arms, reflecting their close loyalty and friendship.
 * The Darkspear troll dance comes from a Brazilian martial art, Capoeira.
 * Troll warriors, when created, are equipped with a thrown axe, making them the only warrior race to have a ranged skill when created.
 * One of the random jokes that players of the troll race can say is "New troll here", which is an allusion to Warcraft II: Tides of Darkness. Whenever a troll axethrower or troll berserker was created, they would say "New troll here!" to announce that the unit is ready.

Cataclysm
In the upcoming expansion World of Warcraft: Cataclysm, Trolls will have their own unique starting area within Darkspear Isle, rather than sharing Valley of Trials with the orcs.

Videos
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