Guybrush

When I was a weakling, I'd use trees and stuff to help kill my enemies. Basically, I'd try and keep a tree between me and the enemy so that he/she/it couldn't hurt me and evey now and then, I'd shoot an arrow in his/her/its ass. Took some time, but usually worked in the end.

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Something Completely Different

Unknown Soldier

I'll give that a try but I don't hold that much hope, at the moment I try and stand above him on the rocks and just out of reach, in the end he usually comes up to drive me down or I get impatient and go down to whack him and then I usually end up dead.

Guybrush

You could do something else and come back when you're stronger. Or, if you really need to kill that troll and can't find a tactic that works, you can perhaps also reduce the game difficulty for that one fight.

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Something Completely Different

James

You could always stock up on your stamina potions, lure the troll into chasing you and sprint all the way back down to the small town at the foot of the mountain. The locals will kill the troll and you can go back up. It'll be time consuming but it saves you the effort...

Mykonos

I don't really like using the environment to beat enemies unless it's an actual trap that you're meant to use. It just feels like grinding to me. I wouldn't dare say cheating as I was the one using Skyforge Steel at level 3.

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'Not that Becktionary, the Rhyming Becktionary!'- Bender Bending Rodriguez

James

I don't like it either but it's always a last resort and Unknown Soldier is at a small level so I think it can be forgiven.

Engine

I'm not saying it's all that funny (although I like the floppy disk drive) but you realize it's just a parody of the 80s Dungeons and Dragons cartoon right?

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Like an arrow,
I was only passing through.

Freebase Dali

Troll fat is just one of the many alchemy ingredients in the game. You're not really missing anything by not having any unless you're really hardcore into Alchemy (which you'll probably waste anyway trying different combos of ingredients). Even then, you're still not at any kind of disadvantage, as everything you can make is pretty much everything you commonly find in vials anyway.

Using the environment is a valid strategy to be used when it's appropriate and/or necessary. While I agree that it's probably not as kosher if we're using major game bugs to succeed (however necessary for lower-level players once in a while), the general concept of using your environment to your advantage isn't taking anything away from general playing or intent. If anything, it's adding to the dynamic of battle. Like Tore's method of using a tree as a barrier, that doesn't take away from the game's intent.
Sure, you could just stand in front of your enemy and hope to out-slash/out-magic him, but if that was the only option, Skyrim would be the stalest game ever.
The fact that there are options is what makes the game interesting and fluid. For example, the fact that I can let an enemy chase me to the edge of a cliff and suddenly double around him and gently "Fus" him off the edge isn't "grinding". It's freedom. It's what makes the openness of the battle system worth experiencing over and over in many different ways.

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Guybrush

I agree with Freebase. If it was real life and a bear attacked me and all I had to defend myself was a sword, then I might try for a similar tactic. Keep something between me and it and poke it with the sword when I get the chance!

As long as it's not depending on exploits, it's just another strategy in the arsenal of different playstyles available to you.

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Mykonos

Well, in real life an intelligent creature would just go over or around the thing in between you, or scarper off. I don't really care about realism that much, but it just elminates the chance for a serious fight.

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'Not that Becktionary, the Rhyming Becktionary!'- Bender Bending Rodriguez