The swamps are hard and my least favorite part of the game. It's the only biome where mobs would camp my tombstone after I died. I died numerous times trying to reach my grave in the middle of a watery area. Even the plains have been a walk in the park compared to the swamps. To top it off, my seed had no crypts. I spent over 50 hours searching the little bit of swamps I had, and countless hours of black forests and I found 2 crypts in 50+ hours. I had to jump seeds for iron, I was sick of it. I am at over 160 hours now on my original seed, and only found 4 more crypts, so 6 crypts found on this seed in over 160 hours of playtime. My "iron" seed had 6 crypts a 10 minute walk from spawn.. lol Regardless, the swamps are nasty. Even at max gear, I try and avoid them lol Then iron comes back later on in the game.. Yay! ugh lol Go in slow, like very slow. Eat your best food and poison resist mead. Go in during the day, run out before dark. Bring a hoe to level paths across to avoid leaches, and again.... Go slow. Sneak is your friend. The abominations CAN be avoided as they surface before they see you (in most cases). The mobs are relentless here and tough but the swamps are the heart of the game. You cannot avoid this biome unfortunately. The game actually gets easier after the swamps. Oh, and if you see a 2 star Draugr.. Run!! lol