We tell everything about the army: how to hire the best fighters, what to do with captives and enemy lords, what cohesion affects, how to manage a squad in battle, or how to transfer full control to the AI
Mount & Blade 2: Bannerlord is a massive RPG game that challenges you to demonstrate your best army management skills to conquer new territories. But, no matter how lucky and smart you would be, success will largely depend on the composition of your troops. Therefore, it is so important to find the best units and warriors for your army. In this guide, we will look at the types of units for different factions and pay attention to special units.
Right click on the icon of a unit in your squad to see the upgrade tree for a particular warrior. Or open the encyclopedia (key N) and find the required soldier. Remember that different factions and cultures will have their own unique units, including their special types.
Note . English names may be used in the article. The fact is that at the time of its writing, there was no official Russian localization, and the existing amateur localization contained many jambs and flaws.
What are the best units in Mount & Blade 2: Bannerlord
Empire
All three factions, somewhat reminiscent of the Roman Empire, have different leaders (Lucon, Garios and Rageia), but almost identical troops. It is the Empire that has the best units in the Heavy Infantry category. It’s about the Legionnaire. Also you can find excellent ranged soldiers (Palatine Guard and crossbow sergeants). The special units include the heavily armored elite cataphracts.
Battania
The Battans can be compared to the Celtic tribes. The Falxmen unit can be taken to the front line. However, a unique squad that significantly surpasses the rest is the Battanian Fian Champion. These units use a longbow and are considered to be one of the best ranged infantry. In fact, Battania is the only faction that has special ranged units.
Vlandia
Far to the west are the Vlandians – a kind of medieval French with a large number of cavalry and strong crossbowmen. The Banner Knight Heavy Cavalry can be found near Vlandia.
Sturgia
The Sturgians are akin to the Germans and Vikings. They have excellent anti-personnel units including the Sturgian Shock Troops and the dual-wielding Ulfhednar. Special units – heavy cavalry of Druzhinnik Champion.
Aceray
Popular Aserai units are Mamelukes (ranged cavalry) and Master Archers. Like several previous factions, the aserai have the heavy cavalry of Vanguard Faris at their disposal.
Hazaites
Powerful nomadic tribes prefer to strike with lightning strikes using heavy lancers, heavy horse archers, or formidable darkhans. Khan’s guard, riding on horseback, first attacks opponents from a distance with a bow, and then, using edged weapons, fights in close combat.
Other factions
Lesser factions such as mercenaries have their own unit trees. Later in the game, you will receive a task that involves hiring them. In the meantime, captured robbers can also be converted into regular troops. But for this you need the Discipline perk from the Leadership branch. As far as I know, it is among the bandits that you can find sword-sisters – today the only female units.
How to recruit units
Remember: the types of units offered depend on who exactly owned the city or village from the very beginning of the campaign. Below you can see a map of the world relevant for the early stages of the game:
Game world map
In any case, in order to recruit more powerful units, you need to hover the mouse cursor over the NPC of the settlement to see their “power”. They will be described by the word powerful or influential. The key point is that NPCs with a powerful signature usually have much stronger units to choose from. If the character does not currently have such units, then you can wait a bit and return to him later.
A situation may arise where the game simply does not allow you to hire higher-level troops. For example, for the reason that you should have a more acceptable relationship with the unit-owning NPC. You can increase them as follows:
- Complete NPC quests with units.
- Save villagers or other settlements from hostile factions.
- Increase the level of security in your city to the maximum. The fact is that this parameter passively improves relations with some nearby characters.
How to hire captives
Another option for recruiting soldiers is recruiting prisoners. From about the middle to the end of the game, the lords you are fighting against will use elite units in battle. And you can capture them! Don’t sell them in cities, but instead carry them everywhere with you. Remember that the captives must be in the same squad as the main character. Otherwise, they may escape. Continue doing your usual activities or just rewind time. You will see that some of them “break” and agree to join your army. Unlike previous games in the series, you will be able to hire one or two units, rather than all the captives at once. Thus, your task is to keep only the most powerful and desirable units captive.
How to increase the level of troops
You can improve units only after their level is increased. As you understand, the more a warrior fights, the more he kills, the faster their level will be pumped. Therefore, you can use automatic battles. Dinars are required to upgrade each unit. But there are unique cases, as with the imperial bukelaria. For their upgrade, you will also need special horses – war horses.
Who to hire in the army
As for the formation of the army, here you should pay attention to the fighters of the front line. Even cheap units can be hired. The main thing is that they distract the enemy forces. Elite cavalry units are incredibly useful. Especially if you will attack opponents manually, from the flanks. Finally, in any siege, a large number of crossbowmen (or archers) will be useful.
How to expand the army and because of what cohesion falls
Your first task when creating an army is to try to increase its size as soon as possible by increasing the clan rank and the Steward skill. A few hours will pass, and you will be able to put up a detachment of hundreds of units against the enemy. Let them not be the strongest units in the game, but nobody canceled the victory in numbers. To do this, you will probably have to become a vassal, and if you’re lucky, a new lord.
Whether you are a vassal or a lord, it will be possible to get new armies. This will require influence points. Maintaining high morale and a varied diet is the key to increasing Leadership. In turn, the vassals, whom you take under your wing, will form their own armies or units. Unfortunately, you won’t be able to control what the AI does.
Note . Taking too many generals with you will weaken cohesion. Once it reaches zero, other units will be disbanded. Try to find the right balance with the ideal number of allied armies.
How to divide an army into small groups
As for your units, by default the game has hotkeys assigned to different types of units: “1” – infantry, “2” – archers, “3” – melee cavalry, “4” – ranged cavalry, ” 5 “- arrows and so on. The “0” key allows you to select all army units at once. You can manually tweak this split, although it’s much easier to get used to what the game offers you. If you nevertheless decide to choose manual settings, then open the squad screen, right-click on each unit and select a group for it. Repeat this with all units.
How to manage a squad in battle
F1 (Move) – Select a group, then press F1 to see a list of available commands as icons. Let’s decipher them:
- F1 – move all selected units to the specified position (click LMB), without breaking their formations; a bit like what we usually do in RTS games.
- F2 – units will follow you everywhere. Very useful as it allows you to keep your cavalry with you.
- F3 – allows you to send all troops in one direction. They will attack any enemy they meet.
- F4 – Take a few steps forward.
- F5 – the same, but in the opposite direction.
- F6 – makes the selected units stop and stop any actions.
- F7 – the selected units will leave the battlefield (retreat).
F3 (Formations) – Select a group, then press F3 to select a formation (formation / deployment) for your squad. A wall shield is a great option for strong melee units, while archers are best placed in one line behind this “shield”. Wedge is a good option for melee cavalry, while Loose is a good option for horse archers and marksmen (not translated).
If the enemy army outnumbers you, it will most likely attack without any specific formation. If the balance of power is almost equal, then it will be a defensive alignment.
It is a good idea to move the melee infantry and archers behind them while the cavalry and companions are near you. Infantrymen will bind enemy troops, archers – attack them from a distance, from defended positions, and you, together with cavalry and companions, can attack from the flank. However, if you feel that the power is on your side, then you shouldn’t bother too much: just order everyone to go on the attack and soon the enemy will begin to retreat.
Note . Alternatively, if you don’t want to bother, select all units with the “0” key and press F6. Thanks to this, all units will be controlled by AI, and you can focus on the main character.
How to pump skills at the expense of the army
- Captured enemy lords can be freed to improve relations with their faction and increase their charisma.
- Or you can turn them into your captives and sell them along with the rest of the prisoners, earning dinars and pumping the level of cheating.
- If you have a lot of wounded units, assign yourself to the role of the clan surgeon (press L to open this panel) and take a break in the settlement. Continue to heal wounded troops to level up your medicine skill.
- The skill of a strategist or tactician can be increased by allowing automatic battles. At the same time, the level of your troops will quickly increase, but remember that if the enemy forces are approximately equal, then you may suffer losses.
- Finally, the skill of an engineer only increases during a siege. We will talk about them in a separate guide.