Thieves' Forest is the sixth level in the game Castle Crashers. This is one of the longer levels in the game and can present a problem to players who are unprepared, most likely against the Troll Mother. It's usually the first real challenge to the player in Insane Mode.
Walking slightly forward will start the first wave.
Wave 1: 1 thief, initially disguised as a bush
Wave 2: 4 thieves
Wave 3: 7 thieves
Wave 4: 6 thieves
Wave 5: 4 trolls
The trolls spawn individually when walking past 4 different points. You can use this to your advantage to fight one at a time but considering the low difficulty of trolls it's better to just kill all 4 of them at once.
The player must break through a wall to continue to the next part of the level. This can be done quickly by using a boomerang.
After getting to a wooden bridge with an imp and four coin bags, The imp does not have to be killed to progress the level.
Wave 6: 3 thieves
After the wave, a group of 3 thieves will try to run past the player, followed by a group of 2. They can be killed, but if they're left alive, they turn into gold coins when they exit the screen. They do not need to be killed to progress, and the player can simply run past them.
On the right side of the camp, the player will come to the outside of the Abandoned Mill where the Troll Mother will come out and start to spit out smaller Trolls. At first, the Troll Mother will stay still when attacked, so it is advised to focus on the Troll Mother, but avoid touching the ground while doing this, as a large amount of small trolls can kill the player incredibly fast due to how their AI works. When the Troll Mother has about 1/3 of its health, it will stop standing still when attacked, and will instead run whenever it's hit, making this the hardest part of the fight. Continue dodging the smaller trolls and hit the troll mom whenever possible to finish the fight. When the Troll Mother is defeated, head into the Abandoned Mill on the right. It's also worth noting that on Insane Mode, juggling the regular trolls instead of focusing on the Troll Mother is one of the fastest ways to level up a character. Giraffey or Hawkster can be helpful with this process.
Seahorse - This Animal Orb can be found on the river on wave 4. It's very hard to miss.
Troll - Return to wave 5 after obtaining bombs. After fighting the Trolls in the area, the player will see a wall along the back with a small hole in it and what appears to be another Troll hiding. Throw three bombs or use the Conehead's, Royal Guard's, or Gray Knight's Magic Projectile and Air Projectile three times to destroy this wall and free the Troll Animal Orb from its imprisonment. Note: Bombing the crack in the wall will not work. The player must bomb directly in front of the Troll Animal Orb.
Glitches[]
Out of Bounds Glitch[]
There is a glitch that can be performed near the end of the level in which the player can go out of bounds. At the last cliff, the player must hold LT (Shield) against the cliff at the bottom of the screen. If done correctly, the player will clip through the cliff, but then land back in bounds. If 2 or more players clip the wall, they will stay in bounds.
Flying Thief Glitch[]
This is also the level where the Flying Thief Glitch can be performed: After seeing the fleeing Thieves keep on following the aforementioned Thieves until they are stuck up against a wall in which all the player needs to do is hurl the Thieves upwards over the wall. Keep following the Thieves where eventually, the player will see the Thieves float in mid-air.
Slowed Down Glitch[]
On rare occasion, a glitch may occur in the river (with the bridge over it) where touching the water would leave the water's slow effect on the player for the rest of the level, this glitch will prevent the player from being able to complete the level because they cannot get off the cliff.
Headless Thief Glitch[]
Castle Crashers - Headless Thief Glitch-0
A glitch may occur around the river (without the bridge over it), where if a Thief's head is cut off when he is next to the ledge, he will climb the ledge while headless and walk around for a few seconds before dying. Also, while the headless Thief is climbing the ledge, his head becomes Hatty Hattington's head for a few frames. This is most easily done in the Remastered/Steam version of the game, because in the Xbox 360 version, the screen was locked after passing the river and the ledge was not accessible. However, it can be done in the Xbox 360 version with two players by zooming out the screen far enough so that the Thieves would spawn and the ledge would be accessible. Hatty Hattington's head also appears in the Xbox 360 version with this glitch, but not in the earlier versions when Hatty was not a character.
Stance Retaining from Ledge Glitch[]
Another ledge glitch can occur, where if the player is shot with an arrow while climbing a ledge, their running animation will just be the stance animation. The player's state is corrected after they jump or uppercut into the air.
Battle Skip Glitch[]
When the player arrives at the ruins where trolls appear, the player can sometimes keep moving forward instead of fighting the trolls, and eventually, the player will not be able to move further. However, they are also unable to move back to the ruins and finish the fight, which leaves the player stuck, and forces them to restart the level.
Infinite XP Gain Glitch[]
Before beginning, it is recommended to bring any weapon without any special effect, and bringing Hawkster is compulsory as other animal orbs won't get the job done.
To perform this, head to the river, encounter the Thieves, and kill all except one of them. After all clear, lure the lone Thief down the ledge and get to the very bottom corner. After that, jump and perform a light attack and stomp him once he falls to the ground. Keep running until he wakes up and running backwards above the ledge, and Hawkster will get to the Thief and continuously peck him, granting XP points slowly until the player reaches level 99. The Thief won't die from being pecked perpetually. While Hawkster is pecking, do not move anywhere and stand still. For a walkthrough of this glitch, click here. (Although he made the walkthrough in PS5, this glitch works perfectly fine on PC version.)
The music that plays during the Troll Mother fight is The Show by Waterflame.
This is the only level of the game to have multiple songs, all made by Waterflame.
This is the level where animals unknowingly start having bowel problems. There are 3 animals here that defecate after getting scared by the Giant Troll: An owl, a Pooping Deer, and a brown bear.
