Depends on where you are in the game itself in terms of armor, weapons, consumables, etc. The Swamps are unforgiving, but you're looking for crypts to unlock when you're in the Swamps (these crypts are full of Blobs, Draugr, skeletons also and in more compact spaces; be prepared for this special hell). All I can really tell you is to adopt a more stealthy approach when in the Swamps. Do not go out of your way to fight every single enemy you come across, save your strength, health and items for the crypts.

I bring a cart and stonecutter, and just build a 2x2 stone panel highway across the whole thing, eating skeleton towers for extra materials. Those blocks snap to each other pretty easily just above ground level, with the occasional 1x1 support needed to cross deeper pools.

No

Also once you have the iron for a pick you can break sequence a bit and go hunting silver in the mountains. Silver weapons annihilate the swamp beasties.

Bring a hoe, use it to flatten terrain to help avoid leeches and makes paths for easier navigation.
Don't go in at night and enter slow, picking off as many baddies as you can with your bow.
Use trees for cover from archers.
Keep an eye in the waters for scuba skeleton archers.
Fall back when you need to.
Blobs aren't that bad...they can only hurt you when withing a meter or two.
Blunt weapons are good for most swamp baddies.
Keep poison resist potions up.
The locked things you're looking for will have a green torch burning out front.
Not all swamps will have these locked things so don't spend a lot of effort to build an outpost until you find some.
If you can, scout first from the sea or higher ground of the biome next door where your visibility is not impeded by the swamps gloom.

Everyone has been there, you will need minimum troll armor set fully upgraded. I suggest bringing arrows for killing blobs, must have poison resistance med. Farm your irons and lvl your iron armor first (you don't really need the weapon first but that's just my opinion since all you need to do is mine alot inside sunken crypts). And if you still don't know that you can eat 3 food. eat a fruit, cooked meat and if you are going to enter a battle use honey.
Goodluck ^^
-Solo player that needs a mature fun friend xD

Originally posted by Nwah:

Finally found myself a swamp biome. I have a key so I know I'm looking for something locked, but traversing the swamps are rough.

Between fighting the Draugr, blobs, skeletons and leeches and doing it all soaked to the bone, I've burned through a lot of consumables.

Any tips from some viking vets?

To be clear, I'm not complaining that the game is too difficult. I love the challenge.

When traversing water - look for cattails. Cattails only grow in shallow water. Shallow water means no leeches, and no stamina damage/slowdown.

It is practical to destroy spawns between your ship and the crypt, or Bonemasses altar and your portal and around the altar as well. You won't like meeting the spawnee when your situation is already at the brink of total failure, especially if it is a 2 star Elite Draugr.

take the toxin mead the first trip or two. Use it to learn to fight blobs. The timing on their attack lets you melee kill them without getting bombed but it takes practice. Heal mead won't be a bad plan either first trip or two.

use the hoe to make paths that leeches cannot get onto and ignore leeches for now. Later when you can oneshot them with bow you can farm them.

Skeletons are weak, low priority target.

Find a crypt, mark it .. you will likely need multiple visits. Mark untouched, in progress, and empty with different symbols so you don't get frustrated finding more iron.

wraith chains are 'required' (shield, brazier, forge upgrade), try to find at least 20 of them. Unfortunately this is a pain.

your first run, find turnip seeds if you can. Turnip stew is a staple you will use for a long time.

many swamps have no crypts. Move on if you do not find one relatively quickly.

Try to mine first irons to build a longboat , its more efficient transport that the "hoe n cart " because almost all swamps have sea shores
For food until u get turnips and sausages : carrot soup , cooked meat and cooked neck tail , BUT if u re lucky to kill sea serpents : carrot soup , cooked serpet meat and serpent stew
Best weapon to manage all swamp mobs are the bronze/iron mace ,use anti poison me/ads and healing/stamina/tasty me/ads , try to make full iron armor and weapon tier before bonemass fight , become an easy fight if u do that