Nit sure. My cleric was the front liner CR 11 isn't that high either.
We knew roughly where to find the weapons I think rng put most of them in Strahds castle.
Inadvertently had a powerful party with a lit of synergy eg haste+rogue, order cleric and rogue.
The hut does an average of 40damage per round with a … +12? To hit. If you never went in the swamp, you missed one of the chanciest encounters in the module.