Mount and Blade 2: Bannerlord: Beginner's Guide & Best Tips

The Real Bannerlord Experience

Alright, listen. I’ve got about 800 hours in Mount and Blade 2: Bannerlord. I’ve been through the Early Access slog, the patch cycles that broke my saves, and the moment when I finally ran down an enemy lord with a couch lance and felt like a god. This game is a mess. It’s beautiful, it’s janky, and it will absolutely sink its hooks into you if you give it half a chance. But the first time you play, you will probably want to throw your keyboard through the window. That’s normal.

I remember my first real campaign. I started as a nobody, picked fights with looters, and thought I was hot stuff. Then I got caught by a party of 30 Sea Raiders. My 12 recruits—all armed with sticks and bad attitudes—got absolutely mulched. I spent the next hour watching my character lie in the dirt while twenty dudes with axes turned my brain into soup. The loading screen stared at me. I stared back. That’s Bannerlord.

This guide is for the player who just bought the game, loaded into the world of Calradia, and thought, "Okay, what the hell do I do?" I’m not going to tell you how to build a perfect empire in ten steps. I’m going to tell you how to stop dying to bandits, how to actually make money without selling your mother’s horse, and why that one skill tree is a trap. I’m writing this like I’m sitting next to you at a PC, pointing at the screen and saying, "No, don’t do that, do this instead."

Why You’re Probably Already Furious

Let’s address the elephant in the siege tower. Bannerlord is hard for the wrong reasons at first. The tutorial teaches you how to move and swing a sword, but it doesn’t teach you how to survive the first week. Here are the pain points that made me rage-quit twice before my first real playthrough stuck:

• The Economy is Cruel. You start with maybe 1,000 denars. A decent sword costs 5,000. A horse costs 10,000. Selling loot from looters gets you pocket change. You look at the trade screen and realize you can’t afford a new pair of shoes, let alone an army.
• Your Army Starves. Food runs out faster than you think. You recruit 20 guys, ride to the next town, and suddenly half of them are deserting because you forgot to buy grain. The game doesn't slap a big warning on your screen. It just starts bleeding men.
• Combat Feels Clunky. You watched videos of people doing 360 no-scope headshots with a longbow. You try it, miss every shot, get hit by a thrown rock from a looter, and your character staggers. Then you die. The timing for blocking takes hours to learn.
• Enemy Parties are Faster Than You. You think you can outrun a group of 30 bandits. You can’t. Your party speed on the world map is dictated by your troops, your horses, and your inventory. Fill it up with loot? You move like a snail. They catch you. You die again.
• No One Tells You About Party Roles. You have companions. You can assign them as surgeons, scouts, or engineers. If you don’t, your medic is a level 1 nobody who just watches your men bleed out. I played 100 hours before I realized I could auto-resolve my party roles to competent NPCs.

If you’ve been frustrated by any of this, you’re not bad at the game. You’re just playing without the cheat codes the veterans have memorized. Let’s fix that.

Your First 20 Hours: What to Actually Do

You just hit "New Game." You’re in a tavern. You have a rusty sword and a horse that might die of sadness. Here is your step-by-step plan for the first day, hour, and week. Ignore everything else.

Step 1: Don't Recruit Anyone Yet. I know it feels wrong. You want an army. But for the first 30 minutes, you are a solo scout. Ride around the area right around the town you spawned in. Find groups of 3-5 looters. Fight them alone. Practice your blocking. Learn how to swing a two-handed weapon on horseback. If you have a bow, shoot from a gallop. You will miss most shots. Keep doing it. The XP from killing 5 looters solo is massive compared to splitting it with 10 recruits. I spent my first three runs stacking a big army immediately, and I starved to death every single time. Don't be me.

Step 2: Get a Party Speed of 5.0 or Higher. Open your party screen. Look at the speed stat. If it's below 5.0, you are a target. The only way to stay fast is to have more horses than foot troops and not carry a bunch of junk. Sell everything you don't use. Your inventory is full of "Tools" and "Linen" from looters. Those are dead weight. Dump them at the first town. Buy a pack horse for 50 denars—it boosts your cargo capacity without slowing you down. If you have 10 troops, you need at least 12 horses. Keep that ratio.

Step 3: Do the Tournament Loop. Tournaments are the best early-game money. Go into a city (any town), look for the arena icon, and enter the tournament. The betting is key. Watch the first round. If you see a guy with full plate armor against a guy in rags, bet the max on the armored guy. You can make 500-1500 denars per tournament just by betting wisely. Also, winning a tournament gives you a piece of gear worth thousands. I got a Noble Long Bow worth 30k denars on day 10 from a tournament in Marunath. That bow funded my first real army.

Step 4: Upgrade Your Steward. Your Steward skill controls your party size. The higher it is, the more men you can have. The fastest way to level it is to assign a companion with high Steward as your quartermaster (in the party screen). You can also level it yourself by carrying a variety of food types. Buy grain, meat, fish, and dried meat. Having 5 different food types gives a massive boost to morale AND levels your Steward. Don’t just buy 100 grain. Buy 20 of everything.

Step 5: Target the Right Bandits. Not all bandits are equal. Looters are easy and give you nothing. Sea Raiders (the guys with the round shields and axes) drop loot worth 200-500 denars per kill. They are harder, but they are the best target for early profit. Forest Bandits have bows and will turn you into a pincushion. Avoid them until you have a shield skill of 100. Mountain Bandits are fast and annoying. Stick to Sea Raiders near the coast.

Expert Tricks That Save Your Campaign

These are the things I wish someone had shouted at me through a microphone during my first 100 hours. Some of these are borderline exploits. The devs haven't patched them yet. Use them.

• The Smithy is a Bank. You can make more money smithing than anything else. It’s boring, but it works. Buy hardwood from towns (40-50 denars each). Smelt down cheap weapons from looters. Craft the most expensive two-handed sword you can with the parts you have. A basic level 30 two-hander sells for 3,000-5,000 denars. A good one sells for 15k+. Spend two in-game weeks smithing, and you will never look at a denar the same way again.
• Use the "F6" Auto-Battle Tactic. When you’re in a battle and you don't want to micro-manage your troops, hit F6. It delegates command to your AI captain. It’s not perfect, but it’s way better than just hitting "charge" (which usually gets everyone killed). F6 keeps the shield wall up and the archers in formation. It saved my ass more times than I can count.
• Don't Fight Horse Archers on Open Ground. The Khuzaits will ruin you. Their horse archers shoot, run away, and shoot again. If you charge them, they just kite you. The trick is to pin them against a river or the edge of the map. Wait for them to run out of arrows. Or, better yet, get your own horse archers. Recruit 20 Khuzait Horse Archers from their towns. They are the most overpowered unit in the game for the cost.
• You Can "Save Scum" Recruitment. Recruiting nobles (companions) is random. Save the game before you talk to a companion in a tavern. Talk to them. If they have bad stats, reload. I spent an hour reloading once to get a companion with 200 Steward and 150 Medicine. That companion single-handedly allowed me to field a 200-man army without food costs killing me.
• Hideouts are Cheese-able. When you attack a bandit hideout (the little gang tents on the map), you only take a small party of 6-8 men inside. You can just bring your best 8 units. I bring 3 Heavy Cavalry, 4 Fians (the super archers), and myself. The AI gets confused by small spaces. Stay behind your shield wall, let your archers kill everything, and use the cavalry to chase down runners. You can clear a 100-man hideout with 8 men if you play it slow.

Mistakes That Got Me Killed (Don't Repeat Them)

I have made every mistake in this game. I am a professional at failing. Here are the specific errors I hope you avoid so you don't have to learn them the hard way—which, for me, involved a lot of reloading and cursing.

Mistake #1: Thinking Light Armor is Viable. Everyone wants to be a nimble archer or a dashing cavalryman. I tried a run as a pure horse archer in leather armor. One stray javelin from a Sea Raider did 80 damage. I had 90 health. I went from full health to bleeding out in 1.2 seconds. Armor is not optional. Get the heaviest armor you can afford. Even if it slows you down a bit on the world map, it keeps you alive. The difference between 20 armor and 40 armor is massive. The difference between 40 and 60 is even bigger. A dead player does zero DPS.

Mistake #2: Fighting Battles You Can't Win. The game constantly tempts you with "Equal Strength" battles. Don't trust it. The power rating is based on total troop count, not troop quality. A party of 50 Empire Legionaries (top-tier infantry) will destroy 70 looters without losing a single man. Never fight a battle unless you have a 2-to-1 numerical advantage AND better troops. I lost a 400-man army to 150 Fians once because I thought numbers would carry me. They didn't. The Fians shot half my army before they got into melee range.

Mistake #3: Ignoring Your Party Morale. If your morale drops below 40, your troops start deserting. If it drops below 20, you lose half your army overnight. Morale is affected by food variety, recent victories, and whether you’re in enemy territory. Do not camp in enemy lands for more than 3 days. Your men get grumpy. Also, don't recruit troops from different cultures in the early game. A mix of Sturgian and Khuzait troops will fight each other in the camp. Stick to one culture until your leadership skill is high enough to manage the chaos.

Mistake #4: Forgetting to Level Your Tactics Skill. This is a hidden stat that matters a lot in auto-resolve battles. If you have a low Tactics skill, auto-resolve will massacre your army even if you have better troops. You level Tactics by commanding battles manually. So don’t auto-resolve everything. Actually fight a few dozen battles. The skill increases based on how many troops you command and how many enemies you kill. I neglected it for 200 hours and then wondered why my 500-man army lost to a 300-man army in auto-resolve. That’s why.

Mistake #5: Trying to Take a Castle Too Soon. You see a castle with 50 defenders. You have 200 men. Easy, right? Wrong. Sieges are brutal. The AI will shoot your siege towers to pieces. Your men will get stuck on the ladder. You will lose 150 men taking that castle. The proper time to besiege a castle is when you have 500+ men, plenty of food, and a siege engineer. I once tried a "quick siege" of a castle that had 80 defenders. I lost 300 men and didn't even breach the walls. The next time, I built trebuchets, waited for the walls to collapse, and lost 30 men. Patience wins sieges.

Stuff Everyone Asks

Q: What is the best starting faction?
A: For beginners, start with the Vlandians or the Western Empire. Both have strong cavalry and solid infantry. The Vlandian Banner Knights are the best heavy cavalry in the game. The Empire has good all-round troops. Avoid starting with the Aserai (they’re too squishy early) or the Battanians (their archers are god-tier but their infantry is wet paper). If you want a challenge, start with the Sturgians. Their infantry is good, but good luck catching anyone on a horse.

Q: How do I get a wife/husband?
A: You need renown. At around 100-150 renown, you can talk to a lord or lady in a keep. They have a conversation option about marriage. You need to win them over (gift them items, win tournaments in their name) or just duel their father if you’re feeling aggressive. Marriage gives you a companion with decent stats and can sometimes create alliances. My advice? Wait until you have a fief. Nobody wants to marry a hobo with 20 looters.

Q: What skills should I level on my character?
A: Steward and Leadership are the two most important. You can’t do anything without a big army. Next priority is Riding and a weapon skill (I prefer Two-Handed or Polearm). If you want to be a commander, invest in Tactics and Medicine. Do not waste points on Trade unless you plan to be a merchant. It’s a slow grind and smithing makes far more money.

Q: How do I stop my army from deserting?
A: Keep morale above 50. Have at least 5 different food types. Don't stay in enemy territory for long. Fight battles you win easily (victory boosts morale massively). If your morale is tanking, disband some low-tier troops. A party of 50 elite troops is easier to manage than 100 grumpy recruits.

Q: Is the smithing grind worth it?
A: Yes, but only if you can stomach the tedium. It takes about 2 real-time hours to get your smithing skill to 100. After that, you print money. If you find it boring (I do), just do the tournament loop and ransom lords. Both are less mind-numbing. For a deeper look at the economy, you might like our Mount and Blade 2: Bannerlord economy guide—it covers trade routes and passive income.

Q: How do I beat the Khuzaits?
A: High ground, shield wall, and crossbows. Find a hill. Put your infantry in a shield wall at the top. Put your archers behind them. Let the horse archers ride into your shields. They get stuck, your infantry kills them. Bring 30 crossbowmen. They have better armor penetration than bows. If you can, hire your own Khuzait Horse Archers. Fight fire with fire. This is similar to managing kiting enemies in other games—check out our Age of Empires 4 guide for some universal tactics against mobile units.

Q: What does "renown" actually do?
A: Renown increases your clan tier. Higher clan tier means you can have more parties, more troops, and you get better quests from lords. It’s the main progression system. You earn it by winning battles, completing quests, and winning tournaments. You lose it by getting captured. Renown is more important than gold in the long run.

Q: Is there a way to level up faster?
A: Use the "Easy" difficulty settings. I’m serious. The game lets you adjust damage to yourself, your allies, and the enemy. Set player damage to 1/4 for your first 50 hours. The game is hard enough without worrying about a single javelin oneshotting you. There's no shame in it. I played on normal difficulty my first time and I died to a tree branch hitbox. A tree.