Ever since Iron Gate released the game Valheim back in February 2021, the game has gained popularity for its storyline, gameplay, and vast opportunities to do many new things. Gamers generally enjoy the game learning new ways to craft, and exploring new places in the game.
The biomes in the game are the main essence where every biome has its specialty. Every biome has its places to explore, items to gather, and bosses to beat. But with the biomes as a prominent feature of the game, it can be pretty challenging to locate their locations and the items they keep.
There are six developed biomes on the game: Meadows, Black Forests, Swamp, Plains, Mountains, and Ocean, while Mistlands, Deep North, and Ashlands are another three biomes that are still in development. Each biome has difficulty being located on the game, with Meadows being the easiest (where you begin the game).
While Meadows and Black Forest biomes are easier to find and explore for the Valheim players, Swamp Biome, the third biome, can be tricky and hard to find. It is a biome that will give a tough time to the players going in the biome unprepared with its many dangerous enemies, wetland terrain, and cryptic dungeons.
Here is a small guide on finding the swamp biome, swamp crypts, enemies you will encounter, what you will find, and how to prepare for it:
How To Find The Swamp?
Since each world that the game generates has different locations for every biome. For the Swamp biome, you will need to explore a bit. You will never find the Swamp on land attached to the landmass where you began your journey.
Before starting your search, you will need to make a boat. It is suggested that you make a Karve (a buildable structure in Valheim, successor to the raft) since it is more robust and will be able to take the hard blows from sea serpents that you may come across in the ocean. Aside from the fact that Karves are strong, they also have more storage space, and you will need storage space for the items you will find in the Swamp biome.
Usually, the Swamp biomes are easy to locate on the landmasses around your area but are separated by the ocean. It can be found further away from the nearby continents as well. However, when you are still in the early stages of the game, it is recommended that you do not go to the Swamps that are further away as they are attached to or near the Plain biome, which is a complex biome to survive in.
What To Prepare For The Swamp?
The Swamp is a dangerous biome, and it is necessary that you go in prepared so you have a longer chance of exploring the biome with ease.
Armor: It is suggested that you have at least a full bronze armor and weapons with a good bronze shield. Bronze can be obtained from mining and smelting the copper and tin ore you can find in the Black Forest biome. Combine the ingots at a forge.
Weapons: For weapons, you can make maces as they can be pretty effective against the Swamp enemies since most of them are vulnerable and weak to blunt attacks. Finewood Bow with Flinthead Arrows is quite helpful to weaken enemies from a distance for a safer fight.
Health: Make sure to keep a lot of food with you to keep your maximum health high. You can bring lots of cooked meat and berries, and if you have beehives, then honey is quite good.
Meads: Make sure to make poison resistance mead that will give you resistance against the poisonous enemies inside the Swamp. Healing mead is good too for instant, quick healing.
Supplies: Stack your Karve with wood for when you reach a new landmass, you are easily able to make a quick small shelter before you start exploring.
How To Get The Swamp Key?
To get to the Sunken Crypt dungeons present inside the Swamps, you need to get the Swamp key. You can get this key by killing the boss of the Black Forest biome: The Elder. The Elder is the second boss in the game and appears to be a large tree with two legs.
Location: The Elder’s location can be pinpointed by finding the runestones found in the burial chambers present in the Black Forests. The runestones will mark The Elder’s location on the map.
Summoning: To summon The Elder, you will require three Ancient Seeds. You will need to burn them at the Sacrificial Altar, where you can summon the boss.
Battle: The Elder boss has two primary attacks. One of them is a close-range stomp that spreads over a large area, and the second attack is a ranged attack where The Elder shoots vines at the player. It is advised that you pick a ranged fight with this boss and use the tools that deal damage from a distance, like Finewood Bow and Fine arrows.
Placing multiple campfires on the ground can also be an excellent strategy to take down this boss, as when it walks over the campfires, it will take fire damage.
Drops: After defeating this bot in the game, you will receive The Elder trophy and a swamp key. The swamp key allows you access to the sunken crypts in the Swamp.
Sunken Crypts
All the valuable items of the Swamp biome are found in the Sunken Crypt Dungeons. They are full of good materials and treasures. The sunken crypts can be identified by their stone structures and giant green torches on the outside. You need the swamp key to enter these structures. If you are playing alone, only one player needs to have the swamp key for all the players to enter.
The sunken crypts have many rooms that are separated from each other by muddy scrap piles. You can mine these piles with a pickaxe to gain many resources. Some rooms might have an unlocked iron gate. Some rooms might even have a chance to have chests with more treasure.
What Will You Find Inside Sunken Crypts?
There are two things you can find inside Sunken Crypts:
- Creatures
- Resources
Creatures
There are many hostile creatures found inside the Swamp as well as the Sunken Crypt Dungeons.
Blob: Blobs are green, large, and slimy monsters. They have a poisonous gas cloud and attack by leaping over large distances. Upon killing these blobs, you can obtain ooze that can be further used in crafting.
Oozer: Oozers are the more dangerous forms of the blob. It has the same attack as the blob with a broader range. When Oozers die, they spawn two blobs. Upon killing them, they have a low chance of dropping iron scraps.
Draugr: Draugr is a very dangerous creature and probably one of the most difficult in all of the Valheim realms. They are found in the Swamp biome and are very commonly found in this biome. They can have equipment like a bow, an ax, and a shield. They can also be spawned with helmets. Upon killing Draugrs, you can obtain Entrails that can be used in crafting.
Draugr Elite: Draugr Elites are a more extensive form of normal Draugrs. They have purple eyes and are a bit rare as compared to the normal Draugrs. Their missing arm can quickly identify them.
Body Piles: Body Pile is a creature spawner and is commonly found in the Sunken Crypts. They can Spawn any Draugrs (melee, ranged, or Draugr elite). Body Piles are the best way to farm the Draugr Elite trophy.
It is suggested that they should be destroyed as soon as possible, or they will continue to spawn creatures making it hard for you to explore the sunken crypts.
Resources
Muddy scrap piles: You will find large mounds of mud blocking the hallways of the sunken crypts. These are called muddy scrap piles. These contain scraps of iron and withered bones. Both items are essential. Other than that, leather scraps are also found in these muddy scrap piles.
Chests: As you move in the depth of these Sunken Crypt Dungeons, you will find chests. These chests have iron scraps and iron chains. They also have treasures like rubies, pieces of amber, and amber pearls. You will also find a good number of coins in these chests.
Yellow Mushroom: Yellow mushrooms are commonly found in Sunken Crypts. These mushrooms can be consumed raw or can be used to craft meads for stamina.
Runestones: You will come across runestones occasionally in the Sunken Crypt Dungeons. These runestones will show you the location on the map for the Swamp biome boss: Bone mass.
Apart from these, you can also obtain Ironhead arrows and Poison arrows found in the Sunken Crypt Dungeons.