Oh yes, Swamps are still the biggest hurdle in this game. Once you get "comfortable" with it (only figuratively, I hate that place), you will be able to get along just fine.

I actually rather built my home in a small Plains biome on my way to kill Bonemass then in the Swamps itself. It so much nicer there, and yeah, the occasional Deathsquitos are a nice source for needle arrows. I already got over 120 arrows.

Thanks for the replies!

I logged in earlier today and made another Stagbreaker. That thing is quite useful. My plan was to attack immediately upon exiting the portal. It worked. I got hit a few times, but all foes were obliterated. I got back to my tombstone and the 1-star drauger was still there. I snuck around him and got 90% of my stuff. I'll go back for the rest later.

I feel better now. Last night I was in shock. I don't know why I did what I did. I am not a brute force character, I am a bow/sneak/scout character. I must curb my predilection for using the axe.

I was in Black Forest for so long, Swamps are going to take some getting used to.

Depends where your portal is. If it's deep inside the swamps it's gonna be hard but if you have it near the border of the swamp all you have to do is grab some stamina food where you spawn, use the 1st boss power and go through the portal, find a troll in the black forest nearby and bait it into the enemies of the swamp (trolls can even kill abominations).

Or you can simply make the run for it dodging as many enemies as possible if you don't see any trolls near. With the power of the deer active you won't get winded in a while.

Those spawners in the swamp in the open by big rocks are typically three.
Two drauger spawners and one skeleton spawner.

You really don't want to charge in there especially early on before you gear up and food up from the swamp assets.

Best to keep an eye out for them and destroy them with a bow from a distance. You can actually destroy the spawner far enough away to not trigger any spawns. The last thing you want to get spawned is a two star drauger archer. Those are just nasty!

Good luck!

You can rush those spawners with stagbreaker and just stop on ground, as mobs will have a hard time to get close (exept arcers).

You can outsmart Ai by just jumping on some rock and shot them with bow. In your case, you can just get on top of base.

Eat up on good health and stamina food, use Eitkhyr and make a run for it. The only problem is deep water in the swamp, other than that, you can outrun all critters in the swamp.

Good luck! I've been there before and learned my lesson. Take out draugr spawners from afar with a bow.

Edit: Some personal tid bit: I'm at exactly 777.7 hours. :D