10 Tips for Dealing with the Swamp Biome in Valheim

DISCLAIMER: I’m just some dude who’s been playing Valheim since it first dropped who thinks he has some ideas to share. This is definitely not a comprehensive guide. Just a few tips. Enjoy!

1. Create Dry Paths with the Hoe
   1. Leveling the ground is free and will keep you out of the water and away from those leeches.
   2. Leveling the ground will create a visual path to help you navigate, reduce the chances of getting lost, and assist you when you need to flee
   3. This one discovery alone has significantly increased my ability to deal with the Swamps
2. Bring a Spear
   1. Sometimes you may be forced to deal with leeches and don’t want to spend arrows or take damage. The spear solves this problem nicely. Stand close enough to the edge of the water to attract the leeches and use the spear’s secondary attack and throw the spear at the leech. If you’re close enough, you should automatically pick up the spear after the throw. Free infinite leech kills.
   2. NOTE: Any weapon that has a reliable and free “down attack” will work. I just happen to prefer the spear.
3. Chop those Trees
   1. Even if you don’t need ancient bark, chopping the ancient trees will drop huge logs that can obfuscate the movement of mobs in the water.
   2. The fallen logs also serve as elevated bits of ground that you can move around and parkour on
4. Build Bonfire “Lighthouses” to help navigate
   1. The Swamps generate nearly everything you need to build bonfires, except the fine wood.
   2. Bonfires have a long draw distance, create light, and can be placed along the paths created by your hoe to make those return visits a little simpler. Because let’s face it: you’re going to have to traverse the same swamp many times.
   3. This technique really only comes into play if the Swamp biome is large.
5. Also bring a blunt weapon
   1. Skeletons and Blobs are both weak to blunt weapons. A good mace makes the blobs much easier to deal with.
6. Bring poison resistance potions (meads)
   1. If you don’t have these the Swamps are going to be substantially more difficult. You will inevitably get hit by a leech or a blob at the worst time and you’ll take major damage.
7. Bring multiple pickaxes
   1. This one seems obvious, but I overlooked it a few times at first. One axe will not be enough to finish most crypts.
8. Don’t forget the Swamp Key!
   1. This is the worst. Check your inventory every time.
   2. NOTE: I actually wish they’d change this. Dislike needing to carry the key around every time.
9. Wear a headlamp
   1. I think the game expects you to have found the merchant before tackling the Swamps. Don’t rely on torches in the Swamps. If you don’t have the headlamp, perhaps focus on finding the merchant before trying to tackle the Swamps.
10. Those green sacks on the trees can be mined with an axe

In my opinion, the Swamps represent a steep increase in difficulty compared to the Black Forest. These are some of the ideas I’ve landed on when dealing with the Swamps. Hope these help!

Have any tips? Please share them in a comment too!

Thanks for reading.