Originally posted by AEWFreak:

I can't upgrade my stations until I get iron. Can't get iron until I get the swamp key. Can't get the swamp key until I beat the Elder.

One small problem: with all of my bronze armor, weapons, and my finewood bow maxed out, I can't survive the trip through the mountains to even get to the Elder, much less beat him up. Wolves eat 45-50hp alone. Now, I'm stuck in a loop of running naked through the swamp to the mountains just so I can recover the stuff off of my dead body, only to die before I can get to it.

Anyone have any tips? I feel like I'm losing my grip on this game, and the penalties for dying are just too harsh.

you can mine iron without swamp key. it's dug inside swamps. yes. it's hard to stuble upon it...but sometimes (especially in the hills or on the borders of biomes) you can see the parts of scrap iron. when you do - dig it and smelt it.

on the other hand killing Elder(also it's in the black forest. not mountains) is probably easier then getting iron (after some practice you don't need much health or armor. cuz you can kite Elder around the spawn and hide behind the stones to avoide attacks(you'll have to run away or kill tentacles though)

If the Elder location is a bad spot then just find another Elder location. They should be roughly equidistant from the center and spaced out around. Just go to the opposite side of the map and find a locator stone.

You should not be going through mountains to get to the Elder. No need for that. Your brick wall is self inflicted.

I like to dig in under the elder platform and build a little base there. Have a portal a bad and some repair stations in it.

as a random thought: since you've walked to the mountains and already encountered wolves that mean you have a chance to tame few for yourself. dig a hole in a ground large enought to fit a wolf or two...and lure them there (die if you have to).
throw some meat into the pit and sit around without provoking volves. you can even breed them afterwards....
(they are very handy in protecting you, your base or even killing bosses)

May be difficult/time consuming to do so, but there are more boss alters for each boss. Something like 3+ per boss in different locations. Using the runestone thing points you to the closest one, so go in a different direction and eventually you should find another alter if you can't figure out how to get around to the one you've already found

Originally posted by AEWFreak:

I can't upgrade my stations until I get iron. Can't get iron until I get the swamp key. Can't get the swamp key until I beat the Elder.

One small problem: with all of my bronze armor, weapons, and my finewood bow maxed out, I can't survive the trip through the mountains to even get to the Elder, much less beat him up. Wolves eat 45-50hp alone. Now, I'm stuck in a loop of running naked through the swamp to the mountains just so I can recover the stuff off of my dead body, only to die before I can get to it.

Anyone have any tips? I feel like I'm losing my grip on this game, and the penalties for dying are just too harsh.

This is case of you going, somewhere that you had NO business being, at your stage of the game, EVEN if it was just to travel through to get to the other side.

The way this game is designed, there is a progression to follow, when it comes to biomes, and if you wander into a new biome, before you are fully geared and ready, Valheim will kill you dead and hold all your gear hostage.... As you have found out.

The way this works is, that you start in the meadows and STAY in the meadows, which contains all the resources and materials you need to get geared up and craft items to prepare you to fight Eikthyr, and THEN move on to the next biome which is Black forest, which contains all the resources and items, and foods, to help you upgrade your gear and tools and weapons, and prepare to kill the Elder, THEN move on to the swamps, etc.

Each biome contains everything you need to prepare for the next biome, and each new biome get's substantially harder and harder.

Yes it's a big open world and you are free to go wherever you want, but when you wander through a biome, 'out of order' or skip past the progression, even just traveling through, you are setting yourself up for a quick and brutal death, and makes it almost impossible to recover, without getting help or using console commands.

If you have to travel, (such as your case) to get to a boss altar, try to find a route which stays within biomes you have already conquered, and avoid going in, or near, new biomes, because your characters' life depends on it.

Originally posted by loppantorkel:

Can you post a screenshot of your map?

This

There simply is no way to reach the biome where the Elder resides without having to go through a biome that absolutely wrecks me (swamp, mountain).

It sounds very unlikely that you HAVE TO cross mountains and/or swamp just to reach The Elder.. couldn't you also get there building a raft or ship? You are in the bronze age so you have access to the ship.

Originally posted by AEWFreak:

There simply is no way to reach the biome where the Elder resides without having to go through a biome that absolutely wrecks me (swamp, mountain).

Map screenshot or map seed please

elder is in forest, go around the mountains and swamp

meadows -> eikthyr
forest -> elder
swamp (and farm some obsidian and frost glands in mountains for better arrows) -> bonemass
mountains -> moder
plains -> Yagluth

fine bow and fire arrows are good for killing elder
walk to avoid his attacks and traps
bash skellies/grays with mace and keep firing arrows at elder
bring along about 2-3 stacks of fire arrows, shouldnt need an extra bow but bring one if you want

when you start/join put in the map seed to see the boss spawn locations
https://valheim-map.world/

Can you post a screenshot of your map?

I would suggest to drop the Bronze armour and switch to Troll skin instead. While bronze offers a somewhat better protection, it also slows you down, making it harder to avoid the attacks of the Elder. And unlike bronze, getting Troll skin is a lot easier. :D

Also, use fire arrows to fight the Elder and its spawns. They're forest creatures, so they're vunerable to fire.

Thorin :)

it would be bloody slow but you could try build a and elevated platform jump on it and keep build elevated platforms to avoid ground mobs.. or build like a an enclosed pathway so no moobs can get at you. as i said it would be slow. otherwise might need to get a hand or just activate god mode get your ♥♥♥♥ and regroup, figure out what your gonna do in the future

My advice is to reduce your trips to get there. Build a secondary base closer to the boss etc so that you can stockpile resources and otherwise need to run there a lot less. Saves a lot of trouble.