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The Swamp is likely the third biome you’ll explore as you work your way through Valheim, and it’s significantly more deadly than the forests and meadows you’ve spent time in before. There’s a lot to find and a lot to avoid in the Swamp, and if you’re not prepared, you can find yourself struggling to stay alive and get the resources you need back to safety. We’re here to lay out everything you need to know about the Swamp, from what to expect from its enemies, to the things you’ll need to pilfer in order to continue your advancement through Valheim.

We’ve got lots more Valheim coverage, so check out our armor guide, our guide for beating The Elder boss, and our guides for finding Iron and making Iron armor, and for finding Silver and making Wolf armor.

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How To Find Swamps

You’ll spend a lot of time in the Meadows and Black Forest biomes in Valheim’s early game, but the Swamp biome is a little tougher to track down. You’ll find this area along the coasts of various islands, usually attached to Black Forest. On your map, it’ll appear a mottled brown and black, indicating the flooded land; from a distance, you’ll know the Swamp biome by its bare, gnarled trees and the glowing green Guck resource stuck to many of them.

Swamp Resources

There are a few key later-game items to find in swamps that make them worth exploring, though they can be extremely dangerous to navigate if you’re unprepared. The enemies there drop a number of useful items you’ll need for late-game consumables, including mead and foods such as Sausage. Venturing into the Swamp is also where you get Iron, the next material you need to upgrade your armor, weapons, and equipment.

Here’s what you can find in the Swamp biome:

• Iron – Found in Sunken Crypts
• Entrails – Dropped by Draugrs; used to make Sausage
• Bloodbags – Dropped by Leeches; used in Frost Resistance Mead
• Ooze – Dropped by Blobs; used for making poison arrows and Ooze Bombs
• Guck – Found in green pods attached to trees
• Ancient Wood – Found by chopping down Ancient Trees
• Iron Chains – Found in Sunken Crypts and dropped by Wraiths; used for Forge upgrades and in Wolf Armor
• Surtling Cores – Dropped by Surtlings; used to make Kilns, Smelters, and Portals
• Thistles – Found growing throughout Swamps; used to make mead and Sausage
• Withered Bones – Used to summon Bonemass

Swamp Enemies

The swamps are home to some dangerous creatures, most notably because a bunch of them can inflict you with poison, which can do devastating damage over time. Here’s what you’ll face in the Swamp biome.

Skeletons

Like in the other biomes, skeletons have either swords and shields or bows. They’re not especially strong in the Swamp, but their arrows can be a pain when you’re battling other enemies.

Draugrs

These zombie-like fighters are tougher than skeletons and can do a lot more damage. Parrying them can make them easier to take down, but beware of the ones with bows especially, because they can do a lot of damage and be tough to avoid.

Blobs

These green masses of goo can be unpredictable as they jump toward you. They’re also more willing to go underwater than most enemies. Blobs don’t hit very hard but if you get close to them, they’ll release a poisonous cloud, so try to keep your distance from them and take them out with your bow. Higher-level red blobs will split into two smaller green ones when killed.

Leeches

Watch out for these big black monsters in the waterways of the swamp. They’re not especially dangerous because they can’t leave the water, but if they get you while you’re too close, you’ll be poisoned. Leeches can also wreak havoc on your boats and sink rafts pretty easily, so stay clear of them. Since they can’t get out of the water, though, you can nail them with arrows pretty easily and collect the very useful Bloodbags they drop.

Wraiths

Wraiths are ghostly flying enemies, and they can be a real pain. They move very quickly as they cross land, making it tough to get away from them. If you can put some distance on them or spot them before they spot you, they’re fairly easy to drop with a bow and have no ranged attacks, however. If not, try to quickly melee them before they can do too much damage, as they hit hard when they’re up close.

How To Find Iron In Swamps

The most important resource in the swamps is Scrap Iron, which you can use to make the next tier of gear after Bronze. You can’t just mine Iron out of the ground, however–you have to go to specific places in the swamps to find it and cut it from certain nodes. To get to those nodes, you need a particular item: the Swamp Key.

How To Get The Swamp Key And What It’s For

Scattered throughout the Swamp biomes are black dungeon entrances called Sunken Crypts. Like Burial Chambers in the Black Forest and Meadow biomes, these are underground areas where you’ll find chests, resources, and enemies. Sunken Crypts are the only places you can get Scrap Iron, but you can’t just walk into them like you can Burial Chambers, because Sunken Crypts are locked with iron gates. Opening those gates requires a Swamp Key.

To get the Swamp Key, you need to defeat The Elder, the boss of the Black Forest biome. It’s an especially hard boss to take down, but like everything in Valheim, summoning and defeating the Elder is an involved process. Check out our complete guide to beating the Elder for more details.

Once you’ve killed it, the boss will drop several Swamp Keys. you only need one, however, and you’ll be able to use it repeatedly to open any Sunken Crypts you come across.

How To Get Iron From Sunken Crypts

The Swamp Key will get you into the Sunken Crypts, but that’s only half the battle. You’ll still need to mine Scrap Iron. You’ll find it in the Muddy Scrap Pile nodes scattered throughout Sunken Crypts–these are usually big black piles of sludge that block doorways. Because they’ll be in your way a lot, they’re impossible to miss.

You’ll need a Bronze Pickaxe to mine Muddy Scrap Piles. Make sure you make the upgraded tool before you bother delving into Sunken Crypts, because you won’t get far without one. It’s also a good idea to take other players with you on your Sunken Crypt jaunts to help with any enemies you might encounter and to lug Iron out of the dungeon. Note also that you can’t teleport with Scrap Iron in your inventory, so if you’re at a distance from your base, you’ll likely want to bring a boat to take it back to where you can smelt it into Iron. Both Karves and Longships have storage bins in their decks, so you can dump some Scrap Iron on your boat and head back for another run, provided your pickaxe isn’t broken.

How To Find And Summon Bonemass

The boss of the Swamp biome is Bonemass, a giant blob that holds the Wishbone, a key item you need to continue venturing up Valheim’s tech tree. In order to kill Bonemass, you have to find it. Like the Elder, you’ll need to locate a rune stone that will mark Bonemass’s location on your map. You can find those rune stones hidden in Sunken Crypts, and if you’re already hunting for Scrap Iron, it’s likely you’ll identify Bonemass’s location along the way.

Once Bonemass’s location is marked on your map, you can summon the boss and take it down. The location marked on your map is a big skull-faced pit; if you sacrifice 10 Withering Bones there, you’ll draw the boss out for battle. You can find Withering Bones inside Sunken Crypts as well, either in Muddy Scrap Piles or in chests.

How To Beat Bonemass

Bonemass is a tough boss because it’s highly mobile, constantly pursuing nearby players. It also hits hard and can inflict poison in a number of ways, most notably with a giant area-of-effect attack where it belches poisonous goo all over the battlefield. What’s more, Bonemass triggers rain during the fight, which gives your character the wet effect and thus reduces your ability to regain Health and Stamina.

Ahead of the fight, it’s a good idea to craft Poison Resistance Mead, which shields you from Bonemass’s poison effects for 10 minutes. You’ll need a Cauldron, where you can craft Poison Resistance Mead Base from 10 Honey, 5 Thistles, 1 Neck tail and 10 Coal, and a Fermenter, which will turn the base into mead after a long wait.

Bonemass has three attacks: a wide swipe of its arms, which can do massive damage and has hits a wide area in front of the boss; a puke move that covers the area around the boss in poison; and a move in which the boss throws a glob off its own body, which will spawn random swamp enemies to attack you. With Poison Resistance Mead, you can withstand Bonemass’s poisonous puke, but the swipe attack and blob throw are both still very dangerous. Keep an eye out for extra enemies that might spawn from the throw or are wandering the swamps, because they can mess up your fight against the boss in a hurry if you don’t see them coming.

Blunt weapons have the greatest effect against Bonemass, so if you’ve got the resources for it, an Iron Mace is a good bet. Using melee weapons will put you in close proximity to Bonemass, though, and the boss does massive damage with its swipe attacks; you should absolutely block those with a shield, but even if you do, you’ll probably get punished for it. If you’re going to melee Bonemass, try to hit it from behind while another player distracts it, or catch it during certain animations, like when it winds up to throw its blobs or as it gets ready to spew poison, if you’re already immune. Your dodge roll can get you out of trouble when you’re in close, so keep that in mind.

A more effective strategy, however, might be to hit Bonemass with a ton of Frost Arrows. While the boss is pretty resistant to the piercing damage, which is what arrows inflict, the Frost effect is separate from piercing, and Bonemass will take the full brunt of the elemental damage. Using arrows allows you to stay well back from the boss and avoid poison and physical damage, which can make the fight a whole lot easier. That said, Frost Arrows are tough to come by, because you’ll need to venture into the Mountain biome to mine Obsidian and to gather Frost Glands from Drakes. Check out our Wolf Armor guide for some tips about how to survive the mountains before you’re able to make Silver armor to withstand the cold.

Beat Bonemass and you’ll get a trophy you can sacrifice at the altar where you first started in Valheim to get Bonemass’s Forsaken Power, which gives you increased resistance against physical damage for five minutes when activated. You’ll also get the Wishbone, which is essential for locating Silver and other hidden treasures buried beneath the ground.

Now Playing: Valheim – How To Find Scrap Iron And Make Iron Gear

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Zack Snyder’s Justice League‘s four-hour runtime is intimidating, but Snyder has split the film into six parts, breaking the story up a bit. The director announced the first two chapter titles for the film last weekend, but has now revealed the other four ahead of the film’s March 18 debut on HBO Max.

The six chapters are as follows:

• Don’t Count On It, Batman
• The Age of Heroes
• Beloved Mother, Beloved Son
• “Change Machine”
• All the King’s Horses
• Something Darker

This can look a little confusing at first thanks to the complex history of Zack Snyder’s Justice League. Snyder was in the process of directing Justice League when he had to step away due to a family tragedy. Warner Bros. handed the film off to Joss Whedon, who finished and released the film to negative reviews from critics and moviegoers alike.

Fans of Snyder’s previous DC superhero films, Man of Steel and Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, began to call for Warner Bros. to release a version that they believed already existed that reflected Snyder’s vision, using the hashtag #releasethesnydercut. Eventually Warner Bros. would greenlight the film as an HBO Max exclusive four-part miniseries with a $20 million budget for reshoots.

The Justice League miniseries’ budget would eventually balloon to a reported $70 million, and it returned to becoming a single film. The official Snyder Cut Twitter account addressed fan confusion about a four-part show that became a film with six parts, clarifying that it is “Six parts. One Film.”

Zack Snyder’s Justice League will release on HBO Max on March 18.

We’re not sure if we’re ready for a revival of Showtime’s Dexter series, but it’s coming whether we like it or not. As the show begins to ramp up production, it’s also adding new cast members. Actor Katy Sullivan, a former Paralympian and Paralympic analyst, has joined the cast according to The Hollywood Reporter.

Sullivan will play the part of Esther, a dispatcher at the Iron Lake Police Station. As an actor, Sullivan has also appeared in shows like NCIS: New Orleans, My Name is Earl, and Last Man Standing. As an athlete, Sullivan is a four-time U.S. champion in the 100-meter dash, who set a U.S. record in the event at the 2012 Paralympic Games in London, where she came in sixth in the world. Afterward, she worked as an analyst for NBC during the 2016 Brazil Paralympic Games.

The Dexter revival is set 10 years after the much-maligned ending of the original series. Dexter Morgan, once again played by Michael C. Hall, now lives under a different name in upstate New York. Cast members include Clancy Brown as the antagonist, as well as Jamie Chung, Oscar Wahlberg, Michal Cyril Creighton, Julia Jones, Alano Miller, Johnny Sequoyah, Jack Alcott, and more. Original showrunner Clyde Phillips returns to run the revival and produce alongside Hall. The show is currently set to run for 10 episodes as a closed-ended revival.

Hall addressed the ending of the original series in an interview with the The Daily Beast, saying that “people found the way the show left things pretty unsatisfying, and that there’s always been a hope that a story would emerge that would be worth telling. I include myself in the group of people that wondered, ‘What the hell happened to that guy?’ The revival acts as a sequel to the series that acknowledges the original ending.

Coming to America released 33 years ago–in 1988. A lot has changed in that time, and that’s partly what Coming 2 America is about. But that also means that the original R rating didn’t make as much sense for the sequel, according to director Craig Brewer.

“If an R-rated movie would work, then we would do an R-rated movie,” Brewer said in an interview with the Wall Street Journal. “I think we still have a really hilarious movie, and we do push the boundaries on a PG-13 movie here and there. If you look at the first movie, other than the gratuitous nudity of the bathers and some swearing, it is actually rather wholesome; it’s got a fairytale feel to it.”

Brewer continued, “My job on set was to be the guardian of what from the original movie can be celebrated, and then what’s going overboard, because we did want this movie to be its own thing.”

“We didn’t want to ignore the fact that Prince Akeem in the first movie left the wife that he was betrothed to through his king hopping and barking like a dog,” Brewer said. “I can guarantee you that would not make it through the third draft of a script that would come through the Hollywood system today. There was always this line to judge with how far we’d go with the comedy.”

“We found as we started testing it with fans of the original, we were testing it when there were Black Lives Matter protests happening in the streets, the conscience of the country was beginning to shift, and so we asked, ‘How can we still be relevant to this movie, to be funny but at the same time be sensitive to racial and gender issues?’”

Coming 2 America releases on Amazon Prime Video on Friday, March 5, and stars Eddie Murphy and Arsenio Hall, and follows Murphy’s character Prince Akeem as he returns to America to find and connect with his long-lost son. Also featured are Wesley Snipes, Leslie Jones, James Earl Jones, and Tracy Morgan.

Netflix product chief Greg Peters, who also became the streaming service’s chief operating officer in 2020, says the company is poised to help lead the charge for further eroding theatrical windows preceding streaming debuts for content. Speaking with Deadline, Peters predicted, “It’s what consumers want. It’s hard to buck that trend for too long and I think that’s eventually where things go.”

In December when competitor Warner Bros. announced it intended to put its entire theatrical line-up onto streaming services such as HBO Max, production companies, directors, and actors were predictably not pleased. It was also not exactly a shock to learn that Warner was reportedly trying to offset that surprising move by offering bonuses to stars impacted by the move to streaming-only releases–one report had Denzel Washington receiving $20 million plus a backend fee, for example. In an interview, veteran director Christopher Nolan summed his feelings up bluntly, calling the move a “real bait and switch” and “very, very, very messy” and that there is “such controversy” because Warner Bros. “didn’t tell anyone… [filmmakers are] being used as a loss-leader for the streaming service.”

Noticeably absent from the complaints, Peters says, were the audiences. “We have created the most compelling collection of entertainment available at the click of a button that’s ever existed. That’s incredible for consumers and for our members. For us, as user experience designers and builders, it creates a challenge because across that wide range of choice, our job is to distill that down into something that makes it easy and fun and exciting to pick what you want to watch next.”

Or to put it another way, the coronavirus forced a reassessment in the film industry when the reality quickly became–and still is–that audiences cannot safely get to the theater. As more and more streaming services emerge, and more exclusive content populates each ecosystem, it’s clear the only direction we can go for watching movies, and for the time being it isn’t to how things were before COVID-19.

The benefits of a VPN when using Netflix, Amazon Prime, or any other streaming service are well-known, but the positives a VPN can bring to gaming aren’t as obvious. While a VPN is never going to be able to improve your K/D ratio or help you reach Diamond, there are still some benefits to turning on a VPN before you jump into your favorite game. These benefits can be a bit opaque, so we’ve broken down exactly what you can gain from using a VPN as well as some of the disadvantages.

What is a VPN?

First, let’s take a step back and break down exactly what a VPN is. VPNs, or virtual private networks, offer a secure private connection for you to send and receive data safely. This means you can browse and use the internet without being tracked, whether by websites, applications, or people trying to access your network remotely. Of course, VPNs are largely focused on security, but they’re not typically used by people looking to increase their safety measures. VPNs are most commonly used for entertainment purposes.

VPNs allow people to mask their IP address and trick websites and applications into thinking they’re browsing from a different country. Each region has its own library of content on the vast majority of streaming services, and with a VPN, you aren’t limited by your own country’s selection. For example, if a movie isn’t available on Netflix in the US, a VPN will disguise your real location so that you’re able to watch it, even if you’re not in the country where it’s streaming.

While most people use VPNs for accessing entertainment from around the world, they can also be used for gaming as there are some key advantages that can improve your experience. These advantages are a bit niche, but they’re advantages nonetheless.

Advantages of a VPN for gaming

A VPN won’t be beneficial for every gamer. But for some, the advantages of a VPN for gaming can be quite substantial, especially if you’re interested in games from other countries or peer-to-peer multiplayer games.

Access region-locked games

Similar to how people use VPNs with Netflix, you can use your VPN to access games that haven’t been released in your country. Some platforms, such as Steam, prohibit the use of VPNs to access restricted content, but there are a number of games only available in Asian regions that can be played through the use of a VPN. For example, Phantasy Star Online 2 was only available in Japan for nearly eight years before it was released in the west. Call of Duty Online is another game that’s only available in China and playable through the use of a VPN.

Access game servers in other regions

Accessing games in other regions can be a spotty affair, but VPNs also give you the opportunity to access and join game servers in other regions. This can make it possible for US gamers to play with their friends in the UK, Japan, or any other country. Keep in mind, however, that playing in servers not allocated specifically for your region can result in a less-than-stellar connection.

Can VPNs improve your multiplayer connection?

The answer to this question is a little more complicated than a simple yes or no. VPNs don’t replace your internet provider, so you won’t see much improvement in your connection speed or quality. It can, however, relieve strain on your connection in specific settings, such as online peer-to-peer multiplayer games.

Peer-to-peer (or P2P) is when players connect to each other as opposed to a dedicated server. This results in laggy, unstable experiences if you or other players experience network issues or have poor internet connections. A reliable VPN can help smooth this out, reducing ping and improving your experience overall. One particularly noteworthy game that uses peer-to-peer is Grand Theft Auto Online, though most games these days use a mix of dedicated servers and peer-to-peer technology.

VPNs can help prevent DDoS attacks

DDoS attacks happen when someone identifies a user or server’s IP address and essentially overloads it, bringing it down and rendering it unusable. This is a big problem for any game, and while we wish a VPN could help prevent large-scale DDoS events on some of the more popular servers, a VPN can only protect the person using it. VPNs can prevent any potential attacker from getting your personal IP address.

You may wonder why someone would pick you out of a crowd and try to ruin your fun, but there are a lot of well-documented cases of this happening in Grand Theft Auto Online. Because of its peer-to-peer connection, it’s not unusual to see your bank account flooded with money, be set on fire seemingly randomly, or see any number of hijinks and shenanigans happen on a minute-by-minute basis. Players are capable of causing a whole lot of mischief in Grand Theft Auto Online, and if someone had a grudge against you for any reason (or just wanted to cause trouble for you), they could hit you with a DDoS attack and bring your session to an end.

Disadvantages of a VPN for gaming

While most people only think of the positive benefits to be gained from a VPN, they do have their downsides. For one, despite the fact that VPNs are completely legal, they can violate the terms of service of some websites and applications. For example, Steam’s user agreement is strict about the use of VPNs. It states, “You will not use IP proxying or other methods to disguise the place of your residence, whether to circumvent geographical restrictions on game content, to purchase at pricing not applicable to your geography, or for any other purpose. If you do this, Valve may terminate your access to your account.”

Because of this, you should practice caution when using a VPN. Make sure the games you play, the platforms you use, and anything else you access through your VPN are okay with you doing so. Otherwise, you could lose access to your accounts and services.

Good VPNs also cost money. You can use free VPNs, but we advise against doing so as you can never know what they’re doing with your data or browsing history. They could also be gateways for malicious software entering your network and computer.

Are VPNs worth it for gaming?

Ultimately, that depends on the type of gaming you’re doing and the level of security you like to have. For the vast majority of people, having a VPN for gaming isn’t necessary. However, if you’re playing a lot of peer-to-peer multiplayer games like Grand Theft Auto Online or just want to access region-specific games, a VPN definitely worth considering. Of course, the yearly cost of a good VPN is nothing to sneeze at, so these services are most worth it if you’re interested in their other benefits as well, such as streaming content from other countries or using it for greater web security.

Read more: The best VPNs for streaming region-locked TV shows and movies

Best VPN deals and offers

So what are your options? For our top VPN picks, the best deal is usually to pay in yearly chunks. ExpressVPN offers 12 months for $6.67 per month and gives you three additional months for free. That means you pay about $80 for 15 months of coverage. Another excellent option: You can get 24 months for $60 at Surfshark, one of the best VPNs for speed and features. And for those who need a VPN for a limited time, PureVPN has a 7-day trial for $1, which renews at $70 for 12 months. Any of these VPNs are great choices, and they all have a 30-day money-back guarantee. You can check out more of our top picks below as well as CNET’s 2021 VPN guide for details on specific services.

On a recent appearance on TBS’ Conan, Randall Park (Fresh off the Boat, Ant-Man and the Wasp) told host Conan O’Brien about his experiences doing a rare fight scene in WandaVision. In meticulous, self-deprecating style, Park told the host about the even more meticulous work Marvel’s fight choreographers had to do with him on turning in the performance you can see in the clip below.

“It was thrilling,” Park said. “I rarely get to do choreographed fight scenes… so the fact I got the chance to do that was so great.” But while the clip above whizzes by in a few seconds and after some heavy hits land, Park noted that the process was anything but smooth.

Park said the preparation for the scene began “weeks before we shot that fight scene” and entailed daily work training and getting the staging correct. And before even that began, the actor explained, the fight coordinator asked Park to show their team how he sees the fight scene playing out. Park didn’t give the details on what he pitched, but he cut to the chase: “I remember the coordinator, he was trying to be nice [but saying], ‘Yeah, no, that’s all wrong. That’s not how one fights… you gotta make a fist. There’s no slapping.'”

Further into the prep, Park added, the trainer pulled him aside and asked, “Why are you screaming so much? This is Marvel. There’s no screaming during a fight.”

Park appears in both the 2018 film Ant-Man and the Wasp and the soon to be concluded Season 1 of WandaVision as Agent Jimmy Woo, an FBI agent working with S.W.O.R.D. The finale will air on March 5, and then on March 12 will be followed by the premiere of Assembled, a new documentary series of specials that will go behind the scenes of Marvel Cinematic Universe television shows and movies. The first episode of the latter series will take a deep dive on WandaVision.

Paul Wight–formerly known as the Big Show in WWE–made waves in the world of wrestling last week when it was announced he would be signing with All Elite Wrestling. Cody Rhodes believes he could be doing more for the company in the future, outside of his commentary duties.

During a media call for the AEW Revolution PPV, which takes place on Sunday, March 7, Rhodes discussed Wight’s signing on with the company. “I do think there’s a match, or two, or three or four and that’s just me personally because I know he’s able to still go at a high level,” explained Rhodes. “But from a management standpoint, I’m most excited about him just being in our locker room.”

Wight will be doing commentary for the upcoming show AEW: Elevation, which debuts on March 15 on AEW’s YouTube channel. Getting Wight to sign on wasn’t difficult. “There wasn’t a long negotiation process simply because he wants to be here,” Rhodes said. “Very much so. And he wants to be here in a different capacity, as far as announcing and commentary goes with Elevation.”

However, Wight comes to AEW with more than his voice and insight. He can be very helpful backstage with his decades of experience. “We have so many young people who are now all of a sudden famous,” explained Rhodes. “Nobody knew who Britt Baker, Sammy Guevara, MJF, or Ricky Starks really were a few years ago, and now they’re emerging on cable and across WarnerMedia, and they’re the future of wrestling. They’re all very important to me, and someone like Paul–not unlike how Sting has been–someone like that is really good to keep people grounded. To keep things in perspective, Paul Wight has has more to give. And he’s going to give it, and he’s going to give it to AEW.”

Wight will kick off his new role on AEW Elevation. As for Rhodes, he’ll be appearing at the Revolution PPV in a match vs. Scorpio Sky, Pénta El Zero M (Pentagón Jr.), Lance Archer, Dark Order’s 10 or Max Caster (depending on who wins a match on the March 3 episode of Dynamite), and one more unannounced wrestler. The winner of this ladder match will get a TNT Championship bout in the future.