In Mount and Blade: Bannerlord, you will find yourself building up a large army to take on the many factions in the game. Each NPC lord will have an army of their own full or archers, soldiers and more. Along with the regular troops that you can enlist in your army, you can also recruit companions which are Unique generated NPC’s much like the player character.
This guide will show you how to recruit companions for yourself in Mount and Blade: Bannerlord. It will also show a brief guide on which are the best companions to recruit in Calradia.
How to Find and Recruit Companions in Bannerlord
In order to get companions for yourself the only thing you will really need is some gold. Each companion will ask for some gold in order to hire them. The amount of gold they will cost depends on their starting skills. To find a companion to hire, head to any large town on the map. Once you have reached a town, head for the local tavern. Select the option ‘Go to the tavern district‘.
At this screen you can see all of the wanderers present in the local tavern. They can be found in the slots at the top right of the screen. As you can see in the image above, Fercread Cowthief is the only wanderer available at Pen Cannoc. Now that we have found someone we wish to have in our party, we can talk to them and try to recruit them.
Recruiting a Companion
you must first initiate dialogue with the character you want to talk to. you can do this by left-clicking on their portrait. Then, select the option to Talk to them. This will teleport you directly to their position in the tavern where you can learn more about them. You can hear this character’s backstory, or choose to skip it by selecting the option “I’m … Let’s skip the pleasantries and get right to business. By selecting the latter, they will tell you how much it will cost to hire them.
As soon as you pick the above option with denars, they will join your party. Congratulations! You have found your very first companion. This is a character beyond normal troops as their skills and of course equipment can be fully customized to your liking. You can check out this guide which will show you how to equip your companions and view/change their skills.
What are the Best Companions to Recruit?
When it comes to companions in Bannerlord, each is unique. That is, each companion NPC is a randomly generated character unique to your save. The first name will always be randomized and the second name will tell you a little bit ab out their background and skills. You can easily find the best characters of each type by checking out their second name.
You can see a full list of each of the companions names here. This is from the Mount and Blade Wiki and will show you what each name means and what starting stats the character will have. I will try to break down the best characters for for some common classes below. If what you are looking for isn’t there, check out the guide linked just above. You can sort by skill level.
The Best Doctor Companion
The best companion you can hire in terms of medical skills can be from two different suffixes. This can be either the Healer or the Surgeon. Both of these characters will start with Medicine skill of 80, making them the best starting companions for healing. Keep in mind this can be trained throughout playing and developing skills.
A medical companion can be a very strong one to have right from the start of the game. As you develop their skills and perks you can keep your men alive for a lot longer, plus the passive healing perks are fantastic for long battles.
The Best Two Handed Companions
If you’re looking for a beserker then you’ve come to the right place. A good thing if you’re looking for some straight-up warriors, there are some that start with some very strong stats. The best Two-handed fighters are ones with the names Coalbiter and The Swordsman. These NPCs will start with a whopping 200 skill points in two-handed. Not to mention they also have a very good Polearm stat at 170. (Making them the second best pole-arm companions)
The Best Archer/Scout Companion
Having a strong archer on your team can make short work of them footmen. The best archer you can get from your companions will be named Of the Wastes. They will start will a Bow skill of 185. Strap on some light armor, a decent bow and watch them make short work of enemy infantry. You won’t have anyone getting close to you with a companion like this around.
This NPC also starts with the highest scouting skill of any of the recruit-able NPCs so if you find one of them, try to recruit them.
The Best Blacksmith Companion
Unsurprisingly, the best blacksmith character that you can have as a companion has the suffix the Smith. They will start with a level of 60 in smithing. As many may know, blacksmithing is a little bit broken in Bannerlord. You can make a lot of denars by just pumping out weapon after weapon at the smithy. Having a blacksmith character can fast-track that.
Whether you want a character to smith you fine weapons to use in battle, or make you a good wad of denars, the smith will serve all of your custom weapon needs.