Swamp Biome Walkthrough - Valheim
Much like with the Black Forest, the Swamp will introduce a lot of new items and crafting stations which permanently change how you play the game. The primary thing we're after in the swamps is Scrap Iron, this item can be smelted to make Iron which is one of the most valuable metals in the entire game.
Iron unlocks many crafting station upgrades and one new crafting station, a Stonecutter bench. This bench will allow you to craft using Stone in the area surrounding it which means that we can now build a castle if we desire. As you can probably imagine Stone is much more powerful than Wood which is the main benefit to using it (aside from how cool it looks).
You can find tons of Scrap Iron inside of the Sunken Crypts which is what your Swamp Key opens. In total you need a couple hundred Iron to make the weapons, armor and crafting stations that you need from this tier. Any left over Iron is typically used on Reinforced Iron Chests which are larger chests you can make with Fine Wood and Iron.
Keep an eye out for Chain, Ancient Wood and Withered Bones from inside the Sunken Crypts, you'll need all of these items for something. Additionally, you can get Chains from Wraiths which spawn at night outside of the crypts and Ancient Wood from the trees throughout the Swamp. You'll also want to defeat some Abominations for Roots so that we can make the Root Harnesk; this gives a 50% resist to Pierce which makes it a great chest until you reach Ashlands.
The last two things you'll want to keep an eye out for in the Swamp are Turnip Seeds which spawn randomly throughout the biome and Guck. Abominations drop Guck but the most reliable way to get it is by building platforms into the trees and chopping the green pustule sacks you see for Guck.
Swamp Tips & Tricks
- Make sure to brew some Poison Mead before coming to the Swamp, this will save your life against Blobs, Oozers and Leeches. Poison Meads must be on you before you're poisoned to work.
- The green sacks you see on trees can be popped with an Axe for Guck. This is a rare resource used for crafting some items.
- You can use your Hoe to Level Ground as you cross water in the Swamp. Normally the water is shallow enough that this will prevent leeches from attacking you when you cross in that area.
- Build a Campfire at the entrance of a Sunken Crypt to get dry and to get the Rested Buff (sit down next to the fire).
- If you're struggling with Abominations try climbing ontop of a fallen tree or ontop of a Sunken Crypt. They will have a very hard time hitting you ontop of these objects giving you an opportunity to hit them without much risk. Luring them onto a Surtling flame geyser will work too.
- When you destroy the iron piles in the crypt occasionally Scrap Iron will glitch through to the surface. This happens more than you'd think, you just probably never run through the waterways in the Swamp to find the iron.
Surtling Core & Coal Farm
Occasionally in the Swamp you will find a fire geyser with some Surtlings that spawn around it. Dig around the geyser using a Pickaxe until you're ankle deep in water, any deeper is unneccessary and makes you vulnerable to Leeches. What this will do is any time the Surtlings spawn, they will spawn in water which damages them and instantly kills them. If you see a Surtling still alive when you pass this location it means you need to dig out another spot or lower the ground a bit more.
Surtlings will give you an endless farm of Coal and Surtling Cores, both of which you'll be using a lot of throughout the entire game. This method is the best way to collect both of these materials.
Making The Swamp "Safe"
The Swamp is the first real dangerous biome that you will be visiting in Valheim and it can be a bit much for rookies. My advice is to spend time exploring your Swamp during the day first, mark all the Sunken Crypt locations and spend time destroying any Evil Bone Piles or Body Piles. This will prevent extra Skeletons or Draugr from spawning.
If this is a Swamp you plan on farming a lot of Sunken Crypts in, my second piece of advice is to bring a Hoe and level the ground over some water. This will give you a clear path across land which makes Leeches not an issue, it also prevents those water-dips or jumping over the water which costs you Stamina.
My favorite tip though is something I talk about in my How To Make Biomes Safe Guide. Throughout the Swamp you'll find many large trees which are permanent structures. There is no way to destroy or damage these trees. You can build stairs or platforms up them and then put Workbenches above ground level. Build an enclosure around the Workbench so that it doesn't get wet or destroyed easily too. This will prevent enemies from spawning in that surrounding area...
Do this enough times and you can make a whole portion of the swamp completely safe. I do this in Swamps that have 15+ Sunken Crypts, since you'll be spending a lot of time there harvesting Iron anyway, it helps to spend the extra bit of time to mob-proof your biome. I also do it around the Bonemass boss area to prevent additional spawns.
Wood Iron Poles & Wood Iron Rods
When you unlock Iron you'll also unlock a new building piece called Wood Iron Poles/Rods. These building pieces are significantly more durable than any other building piece and you can use them to prop up a structure far beyond what is normally possible. For best use with Reinforced Iron make sure you ground it into a rock or the actual ground.
You'll want to make it touch the ground/rock in as many places as possible across as wide an area as possible. What I mean by this is, if you're building a 20x20 building that you plan to go high with you'll want to have iron poles/rods going up North, East, South and West at minimum. If you want to go really high you'll have to add more inbetween the four cardinal directions.
Iron poles and rods can be under the Wood/Stone or inside of the Wood/Stone, either way will make the building piece more stable. One word of warning though, placing the iron inside of the building pieces is a bit tricky, if it's not covering the majority of the piece it won't work as well.
For more information about all of this check out my How To Make A Foundation Building Guide.
The Longship
Once you make some Iron Nails and you'll unlock the best boat recipe in the game, the Longship. This boat has a large storage capacity and a lot of durability, making it your go-to choice for all seafaring adventures.
For more information as well as tips and tricks for exploring the Ocean biome you should check out my Ocean Walkthrough page.
The Bog Witch
The Bog Witch is another NPC you can find in the world and she will sell a wide range of different items. To see a full list of her wares check out this wiki page, her items are typically updated with each boss defeat too so you'll want to check back often. Some of my favorite items from her include the following:
Candle wick: The Candlewick can be used to make the Resin Candle lightsource/decoration. It looks nice and has great ambiance but is kind of annoying that it expires, thankfully you can fix that with the Eternal Torches mod, just like every other torch/fire in the game.
Scythe Handle: Used to make the Scythe which is arguably just as important as the Cultivator when it comes to farming.
Ivy Seeds: A complete vanity item, but it looks nice when you use them on stone walls.
Serving Tray: You need this item to place Feasts, but it can also be used to place any Mead or Food. You only need one of them.
Corked Vial: I'm unsure how I feel about this item, it is expensive to buy and make and it's mostly just a meme. The best uses I have found are the Blob bomb: Elite Poison and Blob bomb: Frost. Elite Poison makes an Oozer and the Frost bomb makes a Frost Ooze which is a glass cannon. It also drops a Crystal when defeated which is a nice bonus.
Tonic of Ratatosk: One of my favorite meads in the game, it requires the Cured Squirrel Hamstring.
Mead of Troll Endurance: Requires the Powdered Dragon Eggshells from Bog Witch, it will increase your carry capacity by 250 for 5min. There are times where you need a brief increase in carry capacity and this item works well for those situations.
Brew of Animal Whispers: Purchase Pungent Pebbles at the Bog Witch to make this. It will increase the taming rate of nearby creatures, this is especially helpful when doing Wolves in the Mountain or Lox in the Plains. Since both of these biomes are much more hostile, depending on the pen you have built you may be in a rush to tame them.
Mushrooms galore รก la Mistlands: I don't normally use the Feasts until this one in Mistlands. You will need to purchase Herbs of the Hidden Hills to create this item, it gives a solid amount of HP/Stam along with a small amount of Eitr.
Ashlands Gourmet Bowl: This is the Ashlands Feast and it's similar to the Mistlands one where it gives HP/Stam and a small amount of Eitr. You will need to purchase Fiery Spice Powder to create this item. Using both the Mistlands and Ashlands Feast will give you enough Eitr to use Staff of Protection and some other spells without sacrificing too much HP/Stam.
Swamp Boss - Bonemass
Bonemass is the boss we'll be facing in the Swamp and he is a pretty tough one all things considered. This is normally the first boss in the game where I have to spend a bit of time preparing the boss arena. Use the Hoe to level the ground anywhere there is water--you may have to raise the ground in some locations. You'll also want to build Workbenches in the large trees surrounding the area. Check out my How To Make Biomes Safer and How To Make Bosses Easier Guides for more information about how to hide Workbenches.
If you don't mind cheesing this boss, raising the ground as high as you can in one area and using it as a perch works really well (Video Example). Bring two bows with 200~ Frost Arrows because it will be a long fight. You should also bring a Poison Mead, this is basically a requirement for this boss since the amount of poison damage he puts out is very high.
Aside from this strategy, another one that people like is using the Iron Mace since Bonemass is weak to blunt damage. This will require melee though which I find more difficult overall to do against this boss. If you want the most legitimate, effective and easy strategy then my advice is to tame wolves. You can bring an army of wolves into the Swamp and use them to easily destroy Bonemass (Video Example).