Originally posted by GunsForBucks:

Bow out the leeches and use your hoe to make some paths while you explore. Things will respawn but it typically isn't bad if you clear out any spawners.

You don't really need to bow the leeches. It's the safest strategy, of course, but there's better options IMO. Two of those are either repeatedly throwing a spear at them (it's pretty easy to get the spear back on each throw) or get close enough to smack em with the underhand mace attack.

Probably my largest complaint with Valheim is how broken Clubs are against nearly everything in the entire game. In fact, the Bow, Club and Atgeir are basically the only three weapons you ever need. Other weapons are cool and all, like Daggers, Swords and Spears (although there is no high-level spear equal to Blackmetal which kind of makes leveling Spears a waste), but the Bronze/Iron Mace is damn near mandatory for Swamp/Bonemass, for example.

Late-game, I think you have a bit more flexibility in regards to weapon choice. Pretty much anything works in the Mountains or Plains (except for the ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ stone golem) but at that point I feel like I've invested too much time into my current weapons that it would be a waste to stop using them due to the damage hit from being low level at Swords, for instance.