What do Swamp Keys Do in Valheim?

Each of the main biomes in Valheim contains unique areas, full of new mobs and places to explore. After working your way through the Meadows and grinding your way through the Black Forest, you’ll soon discover the Swamps. To ensure you are progressing through the game properly, you’ll need a particular item to explore this area thoroughly. We’re talking about none other than the Swamp Key. So, if you’re wondering what Swamp keys do in Valheim, here’s your answer.

We briefly touched upon this while talking about collecting iron, but let’s go a little more in-depth: scattered around your randomly generated world are Swamp biomes, full of rain, gross plants, mucky grounds, and perhaps most interestingly, abandoned crypts lit by eerie green torches. These crypts are dungeons exclusive to the Swamp biomes, and they contain various unique enemies and items to battle and collect. Crypts come in a few different varieties, such as “burial” or “sunken,” but the common denominator between all of them is that their front doors are locked tight. To open them, you’ll have to persuade their custodian to… part with his key.

What do Swamp Keys Do in Valheim?

Valheim’s second major boss is the head honcho of the Greydwarves, a giant plant-y monster man known simply as “The Elder.” Much like the game’s first boss, Eikthyr, the Elder can only be located by acquiring a magic runestone that spawns somewhere in the Dark Forest. Interacting with the runestone reveals The Elder’s location, and when you arrive there, you can conduct a ritual using both the runestone and Ancient Seeds looted from Greydwarf Brutes and Shamans.

Conduct the ritual to summon forth The Elder, and then try really, really hard not to die. He’s made of wood, so fire helps in that pursuit. When you defeat The Elder, you’ll be rewarded with a swamp key, which can be used to open the doors to the Swamp’s crypts. Swamp keys are skeleton keys, and they aren’t consumed upon use, so as long as you have one in your inventory, you can come and go from any crypt as you please.