Muont and Blade Bannerlord has finally hit consoles following the game’s full release! With many new players hitting the game I thought I should take the time to share some of my best tips that I can think of. Having personally played the game for over 400 hours after purchasing it on release day, hopefully I have some wisdom that can make it easier for new players and veterans alike!
This guide will broadly give tips on many different areas of the game. It will hopefully feature some things you didn’t know and help you conquer all of Calradia, should that be your goal.
1. Participate in Tournaments as Much as Possible
One of the features which did manage to make it into the game is the inclusion of tournaments. Tournaments can be fought in any major city across the game. These games will pit you against any lord or lady currently in the castle and some random troops from the armies stationed there.
In tournaments, you will battle it out against other opponents until there is one last man (or woman) standing. The winner will recieve a prize which can be weapons, armors or even a new horse. The rarity and quality of the prize will depend on how many lords and ladies are taking part in the games.
You should always try to join as many tournaments as you can early on in the game. If you manage to win, you will not only gain a good amount of Renown but you are also able to bet on yourself and should you win, recieve a decent chunk of prize money from the bets.
Along with this you will gain some possibly great weapons or armor early on. A good set of armor can catapult your success in the early game.
You can check out this guide which will tell you how to find tournaments, join in and bet as well.
2. Take Every Bit of Loot You Can
The second tip may appeal to the Skyrim and Diablo players. Early on in the game it can be rather difficult to gather denars. You should focus on taking down easier enemies such as looters to begin with to level up your troops. Notice they will also drop loot at the end of the battle.
Make sure to take absolutely everything with you when you defeat these bandits. You will be able to sell all of those cloth armor pieces and rags for good cash. Remember everything costs denars in Bannerlord. You should take absolyutely everything you cn and sell it to the next town you come across.
If you’re really strapped for cash you can check out this guide on making a lot of denars in Bannerlord. You’ll be among the rich elite nobles in no time!
3. Diversify Your Troops
A group of heavily armed swordsmen may be able to win a duel but not without difficulty. One of the best things about Bannerlord is the large range of different troops types in the game. While some troops are better than others in all ways, most troop types generally have a counter.
Spearmen are strong against calvalry and will hold the line against charges and take down riders. Crossbowmen are great at breaking down heavily armored infantry. Try to diversify your army and have a group ready for any situation. I always try to make sure to have a good back-line of archers to wear down the enemy as they are approaching.
4. Decide on Your Characters Strengths and Stick With It!
Alongside simply leading an army, you will have a character to control too! Bannerlord is, at its heart, an RPG game where you control a single character. Figure out the character you want early and work towards upgrading those skills. Do you want a melee fighter who swings a two-handed weapon on foot, or possibly a mounted archer?
Work towards a tactic and build up those skills if you want to really feel powerful around the mid/late game. You can also have an all-rounder if you want, but it will be better to focus on 2 or 3 core combat skills so you can really get strong using them.
5. “Save Often and in Different Slots”
Although Mount and Blade: Bannerlord is technically a fully-released game now, it still happens to have its fair share of bugs. Often on the PC version the game is prone to crashes. Make sure to manually save the game often as crashes will happen when you least expect them. You have been warned.
Alongside crashes, you may find yourself losing your entire army to some goofy AI, or perhaps you were just unprepared for a situation. There is no shame in reloading a save should the worst happen. Especially seeing as death is enabled by default on characters.
If your character does die in combat you will be able to play as your heir, should you have one already… Which leads us to the next tip.
6. Find a Spouse and Get Producing Clan Members ASAP!
Another feature of Mount and Blade is the ability to find a spouse and have a family. This is something you should try to do immediately. If your character does unluckily fall in combat, you will play as either your spouse or heir. Make sure you get started right away finding a suitable person to wed! One of my favorite ways if to make use of the game’s encyclopedia.
These family members wont just be background benchwarmers for you to use either. Each of your children will be a part in your clan. This means you will be able to have even more lords under your banner to call on when needed. Family members can lead armies and hold fiefs as well. Just be warned, just because they are family members, this does not mean they will always be loyal just to you.
There is a chance family members may find marriage offers from other kingdoms or even be persuaded to leave your kingdom…
I wrote a full guide on how to get married and have children which you can check out here if you cannot figure it out.
7. Seek Out and Recruit Special Units
You may have noticed already that all cultures have different troops. Depending on were in the world you are recruiting, you will find completely different units with different strengths and weaknesses. Alongside the regular units there are also special unique hires from each culture.
These special units will have one upgrade path so there won’t be any choice on how to upgrade them. That being said, they are generally thought of as the strongest units in the game besides heroes. Each culture has a different unique NPC with its own strength.
The Kuzait has a terrifying horse archer unit and the Battanians have the best archer in the game known as the Fian. You should try to hire these whenever you see them in villages. Look out for these unique units in villages and towns that are doing quite well and haven’t been raided in a while and you will really see a difference in your army.
That’s about all the beginner tips you should need to start your army off to a great start in Bannerlord!
If you want to see a few more tips over on Green Dog Gaming, go right ahead! (It’s ad free!)
The author of this article has linked at the end to more or less the exact same article on another website.
Pretty cheap of you Jeff, you suck.
Hey Jack,
You’re absolutely right. I have linked another article which is basically the same but the difference is that the other one does not include advertisements. I’ve provided it for people who want to see the same content but don’t want to have to scroll through ads.
If I was being cheap, I’d try to get more people to read the one with ads.
Sorry you feel that way.