Mount & Blade 2: Bannerlord is a medieval roleplaying game that simulates the journey from roaming adventurer to the ruler of all Calradia. With such a steep change in status, the game needed to implement a progression system that helps players get there. One of the ways it does this is through leveling certain skills.
When starting a new game in Mount & Blade 2: Bannerlord, the player will be terrible at pretty much everything, but with focus points to assign and a variety of skills to choose from, which skills are the most important to a playthrough? Here are some of the most crucial!
10 Trade – Sell For A Profit
Trade is a good skill for the early game, allowing players to travel the map with just a small band of bodyguards, buying and selling trade goods to make some decent money. Its early perks assist players greatly, signifying which goods are cheaper or more expensive, and its passive effect increases how much gold players receive for selling items, including all loot.
The one downside is that it can be quite slow to level, as it only increases when selling trade goods bought at a lower price, and not by selling any loot earned from battles. If players persist, however, they can eventually earn the powerful ability to barter fiefs with lords, unlocking a peaceful way to conquer the entire map.
9 Smithing – Craft Masterwork Weaponry
Another skill that is slow to level, Smithing can reap massive rewards if players stick with it long enough. Once enough weapon parts are unlocked through dismantling looted weapons, and a player’s Smithing skill is high enough, ‘Fine’ and ‘Masterwork’ weapons can be crafted, which can sell for huge sums of gold.
Alternatively, players can fashion their dream sword, axe, or polearm to wipe out their foes on the battlefield. The smithing skill line also allows the player to gain extra attribute points in Vigor, Control, and Endurance, which is always a bonus.
8 Steward – Manage Larger Armies
The Steward skill is an essential one and is leveled up fastest by carrying around lots of different food items to gain morale from food variety. It grants a whole bunch of logistical perks, such as reducing food consumption, lowering party wages, increasing morale, and raising the number of troops a player can field in their army.
A high Steward skill makes it much easier to run a large army, becoming especially useful in the late game. However, companions can take care of this skill for the player by being assigned as quartermasters, meaning their own Steward skill affects the party instead of the player. It therefore might be wiser to delegate this skill to a companion instead of leveling it up fully.
7 Medicine – Save Lives On The Battlefield
Just like the Steward skill, Medicine can also be delegated to a companion by assigning them as Surgeon. It increases by healing in settlements and on the move, and its passive effect speeds up the rate of healing, and also makes it more likely for troops to be wounded in battles instead of killed.
This is massive, as wounded troops can be healed and sent into battle again and again. Having a surgeon with high Medicine can limit the number of fatalities in battles, allowing the player to keep their hard-earned elite troops. The skill line also provides strong benefits like raising a character’s hit points and healing them after a battle, which is endlessly useful.
6 Charm – Sway Nobles To Your Side
Charm is often an overlooked skill, but is very important if planning on leading a kingdom. It is leveled by simply increasing relations with NPCs, by completing quests, clearing hideouts, and assisting them in battle. Players can even increase relations with enemies by defeating them in battle and allowing them to go free.
The higher Charm becomes, the more relation the player gets, and the easier it becomes to get an NPC to like them. This is crucial and can be the deciding factor in recruiting a lord to a new kingdom or attempting to win the leadership election of an existing faction.
5 Leadership – Inspire Your Troops
Equally as important as the Steward skill, Leadership is increased by recruiting and upgrading troops, leading armies, and keeping morale high. Due to the nature of how it’s leveled up, it’s usually one of the later skills to be developed.
The skill line grants a whole load of benefits, including large increases in troop morale and party size. It also makes recruiting prisoners to the party and upgrading low-tier troops much faster, which work in tandem to make a player’s army a much stronger and more resilient force, which is particularly helpful in battles where the player is heavily outnumbered.
4 Control Skills – Pick Off Enemies From A Distance
All 3 Control skills (Bow, Crossbow, and Throwing) are falling under the same category, as it’s usually best to pick one of the three to develop across the entire game. These skills are leveled by, quite predictably, scoring hits on opponents with a player’s chosen projectile.
The skill lines grant benefits like increasing the amount of ammunition available to players, speeding up reload times, and improving accuracy, as well as giving ranged troops under their command some buffs. These skills are great in sieges, allowing the player to pick off targets on the walls, but their main weakness is a lack of ammunition, which can harm them in protracted battles.
3 Athletics – Fight On Foot
An all-around handy skill, Athletics is leveled up by causing damage to opponents on foot. Its passive effect increases the character’s running speed, lightens the load of their armor, and raises their resistance to being knocked down.
The greatest advantage is in the perks, which award several combat boons, such as increasing weapon handling and damage, allocating extra hit points, and making stuns more effective. It’s also incredibly easy to level up, requiring the player to simply cause damage on foot, which is already central to sieges and hideouts.
2 Riding – Maneuver With Ease
The horseback version of Athletics, Riding is just as important and useful. It’s leveled by causing damage to opponents on horseback, and its passive effects make the character's horse faster and easier to maneuver.
Once again, the utility of this skill is in the perks, which bestow a ton of buffs for the player. It increases their party speed, allowing them to chase down smaller parties or escape bigger armies, improves the effectiveness of using weapons on horseback, improves the performance of cavalry under their command, and makes the player’s steed much more difficult to kill. Riding, with a bit of armor and combat skill, pretty much turns the player into a one-man army, able to run circles around the enemy and pick them off one by one.
1 Vigor Skills – Overpower Your Opponents
All three Vigor Skills (One-Handed, Two-Handed, and Polearm) are the most important skills to level up, especially in the early game. They are increased by striking opponents with said weapon, and have an advantage over the Control skills in that they don’t rely on ammunition, and can be used as much as needed in one battle. This makes them faster to level up, allowing players to specialize in more than one melee skill.
Their skill line grants a bunch of powerful boons to wielding these weapons and leading infantry troops, but the true value of these skills comes in the ability to effectively kill enemies. Win tournaments for gold, defeat the enemy’s elite troops and help propel friendly forces to victory – the power of high Vigor skills cannot be understated.
Mount & Blade 2: Bannerlord is available now on Windows, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox X/S.