You need tower shield to fight swarms of weak enemies. Use all stamina to kill as much as possible, press block and slowly move back till you regain stamina. Repeat if necessary.

Do not waste resources on bows. Basic bow is good enough to hunt deers. You only need good bow in mountains. It is unclear at first, but bow makes all fights much harder. Learn how to sneak and parry instead.

With copper dagger you may farm trolls. Use special attack from behind and you'll stunlock troll. Quickly attack after parry(not block) and you'll also stunlock him. Crafting troll armour will save your bronze.