The world of Bannerlord is massive, and the warring factions keep it ever-changing. Starting from nothing, you have a long way to go before rising up within an existing empire or creating your own. Your immediate goal is to grow your power, make your character stronger, and have a larger army with you.
Bannerlord's world gives you different ways to rise up depending on how you wish to play. With Bannerlord finally being a completed game, more people are ready to jump in. Here are some tricks and tips to help your rise up and make your name known in the world of Bannerlord.
Updated By Joshua Leeds On January 31st, 2023: The world of Mount and Blade 2: Bannerlord can be both simple and complex, with many gameplay elements being unknown to players or just simply being skipped over. So, to help you master the game, we've added five more tips and tricks in this article.
15 Find And Use Better Loot
The equipment of both the player and your companions can be switched to any of the available items in your inventory. While there are multiple types of weapons, many are simply much stronger than others. Through more difficult battles with other factions, you'll obtain the strong gear you may miss over initially when checking the spoils of war.
While armor does have a weight system that can slow you down, heavy armor is always a worthwhile investment. By upgrading your athletics, the slower movement speed will be negated, and you'll live much longer in battle.
14 Promote Your Units
As your soldiers get killed in battle, they will earn experience that will eventually allow them to be promoted. Promoting your units will give them better gear and higher skill stats to make them much more efficient in battle.
Promoting units also can upgrade them into other unit types completely. Most factions' base unit is often the same simple recruit, but these units can be upgraded to follow a stronger infantry path or branch out to be cavalry, archers, or mounted archers.
13 Protect Your Archers
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Archers dominate in ranged battles and are an excellent option for wearing down your enemy as they approach. With enough archers, standing still and letting your enemy come to you will often give you an advantage in the battle. Archers also perform well on elevated ground, giving them more range and a more difficult slope for your enemy to traverse.
While archers dominate from a distance, they can be quickly taken out should your enemy reach them in melee combat. Having strong infantry to run in front of your archers will keep them out of melee combat. Keep polearm units or your cavalry nearby should the enemy try to use their horses to get behind your lines to your archers.
12 Grow Your Clan
Clans are the families that inhabit the world of Mount and Blade 2. In this game, the only other members of your clan have been killed, and now you must rebuild the clan from the ground up. You can level up your clan with Renown, obtained simply by winning battles.
Companions you recruit are also a part of your clan and can lead their own parties that will march under your clan's banner. Caravans and fiefs will also go under your clan, and should you not be a part of a faction, your clan will operate as another faction in the world. Leveling up your clan allows you to have more soldiers in your party, more companions, and more parties led by them.
11 Gain Fiefs
Fiefs are the easiest and largest forms of income you can have. While it may take a few tries to figure out all the ins and outs of properly managing a city or castle, they can quickly grow your influence and give you a passive income that can quickly outpace the wages of the garrison defending your fief.
Fiefs are most easily taken by becoming a well-known name in a faction and taking a castle under that faction. Ownership will be put to the vote, and as the one who led the siege, you'll often have the most support.
10 Save Your Influence
In Bannerlord, Influence is a currency that can be earned and spent. You earn influence by fighting in battles and defeating your enemy. The bigger the enemy's army size, the more influence you'll earn. You also earn more influence when attacking other factions' armies.
Influence can then be used to vote on issues within your empire. This not only helps you feel like you have a voice in votes within your empire but further helps you make the world feel alive and like you can affect it. Influence is also used to call armies under your control. This is the easiest way to lead massive armies into battle.
9 Have Lots of Horses
Movement speed on the world map is crucial to either overtake enemies or escape from certain defeats. As your army gets bigger, your movement speed will start to slow down. Having more speed-type horses in your inventory will help increase your army's total movement speed.
While it will take a lot of horses to increase the movement speed of larger armies, the benefits will always outweigh the cost. Having storage-type horses will also increase your army's total inventory size, which will greatly come in handy when receiving thousands of items from defeated armies.
8 Fight Armies of Looters
In the early stages of the game, looters will be your main source of combat. As the game progresses, you'll find much larger looter armies, and they are mostly always worthwhile enemies to fight. Due to their weak gear and stats, they are very easily killed, with only a small chance of losing soldiers in the process.
It's best to have very upgraded and top-tier units when fighting another faction, as there will be many casualties. The average soldier won't last long in a months-long campaign unless they are high-level and dominant in combat. Looter armies are perfect to safely level up your soldiers and prepare them for the next fight to come.
7 Try New Battle Strategies
Battles in Bannerlord can range from a couple of units to armies of hundreds running straight at each other. While army size is usually a strong gauge to if you can win a battle or not, strategy is what really decides a battle.
Army composition and how you use each unit can turn an outnumbered last stand into a striking victory. Using the terrain, breaking your army into battalions, and forming a vanguard are just some tactics you can try to heavily influence the outcome of a battle. Using new units and trying new strategies are the cornerstone to finding what works best and how to beat any enemy in combat.
6 Become a Vassal
Creating your own empire from nothing can be incredibly difficult, with so many other behemoths praying for your downfall. These factions already have thousands of troops and can be yours to lead by moving your way up in a faction.
By first becoming a mercenary, you're able to eventually be promoted to a vassal. As a vassal, you can vote on issues for your faction and summon other leaders to form massive armies to lead into battle. This is one of the easiest ways to jump to commanding thousands of troops without having to build the army yourself from scratch.
5 Trade Caravans
Whether you're creating your own caravan or raiding other factions', trade caravans will make you rich. You'll be able to send off companions to lead trade caravans with a few of the soldiers you select. This caravan will go from town to town and eventually become profitable, all of which comes back into your pocket.
You're also able to raid trade caravans around the world. While they are usually guarded by a few men, they are usually elite, and it will probably be a tough battle. After defeating the guards, you'll then have access to lots of money and loot to choose from, making it a very profitable fight.
4 Cavalry Units Dominate
One of the ways this game is historically accurate is the domination of cavalry units on an open field of battle. Cavalry units can charge straight through most enemy lines and can continue charging back and forth until the enemy is worn out.
Cavalry archers are also incredible at wearing an army down and moving fast enough to stay out of danger. When used the right way, a single cavalry unit can be worth 10 foot soldiers. Massive lines of cavalry can make short work of any army and can charge through to reach pesky archer lines in the back.
3 Have Strong Companions
All soldiers have a set upgrade path to follow as they get more experience in battle. Companions offer the ability to be customized in gear and skills. This gives you the ability to have a few unique soldiers in your army, either leading battalions or fighting by your side.
Companions can be given the ability to not fully die in combat, allowing you to constantly have a few strong units you can rely on after even the most devastating battles. Companions are also required to start supplying caravans or lead other parties.
2 Compete In Tournaments
Most major cities in the world have arenas that are constantly hosting tournaments for you to compete in. In a tournament, you're able to keep your usual armor and are supplied with a random weapon to fight your enemies. This can help you branch out and try other weapons outside of life-or-death combat.
You can place a bet on a tournament, and should you win, you get a return on that bet. Upon winning a tournament, you're given a strong piece of gear that can be either used or sold. Tournaments are great places to earn money and further upgrade your character's gear.
1 Declare War
As you can guess, the centerpiece of this game is war. War can get you large amounts of money, influence, and items. It's also the quickest way to level up your soldiers and companions. Whether you are a part of a faction or you've created your own, other factions will randomly declare war on you.
In wartime, you'll also have the chance to expand your empire by taking different castles or cities. This will allow you to be the owner of those cities and increase your overall income and have access to more soldiers to recruit. Large-scale battles in war also will give you thousands of items to use or sell and maybe prisoners to bargain with or sell for more gold.