Mount & Blade: Warband: Complete Guide

A sandbox campaign guide for Calradia: building a character, making money early, choosing and training troops, fighting in the saddle, joining a faction, and eventually founding your own kingdom - plus the mods and DLC worth your time in 2026.

Researched September 2026 — current as of TaleWorlds' last official Steam updates (Viking Conquest 2.072, July 2026; Native Warband has been stable for years). Live games change; check the linked sources if something differs.

Quick Start

1. Your first goal is money, not glory. Tournaments, bandit hunting and trading fund everything else.
2. Start with a small, fast party. Recruit from villages, hunt Looters, and upgrade troops through combat experience.
3. Put early skill points into party skills that pay off forever: Leadership (bigger party, lower wages), Trainer, Inventory Management, Pathfinding and the medical skills if no companion has them.
4. Recruit companions in taverns. They carry the party skills (Surgery, Tracking, Engineer) you don't want to level on your main character.
5. Pick one faction's troop tree and stick to it. Mixed armies are harder to manage and upgrade.
6. Learn to block. Right-click blocks; by default the game auto-picks block direction, but the manual option in settings is stronger once you learn it.
7. Don't declare your own kingdom early. Serve a faction as a vassal first to earn fiefs, relations and renown.
8. Save often. Unless you pick "realistic" saving, you can save anytime from the camp menu.
9. Raise the battle size slider in the in-game Options if your PC can handle it - larger battles make the game.

Character Basics

Attributes and skills

Skills are capped by their governing attribute (a skill's maximum level is about one third of that attribute). Each point of Intelligence also grants an extra skill point.

Recommended early build

• Level up STR and AGI in roughly equal measure, plus some CHA for Leadership.
• Skills to grab: Power Strike, Ironflesh, Riding, Leadership, Weapon Master, and either Power Draw (bows) or Power Throw (javelins/throwing axes).
• Horse Archery is only worth it if you'll use a bow on horseback.

Weapon proficiencies

Proficiencies (One Handed, Two Handed, Polearms, Archery, Crossbows, Throwing) improve with use and with Weapon Master. Specialize in one melee and one ranged option.

Combat

• Directional attacks: your attack direction follows mouse movement just before you click (left, right, overhead, thrust).
• Blocking: right-click. Manual blocking (in settings) lets you match the incoming direction; shields block from the front regardless of direction.
• Speed bonus: damage from horseback scales with relative speed - a charging lance or sword swing at full gallop hits far harder.
• Couched lance: with a couchable lance at speed, you can lower it for a devastating charge.
• Ranged: pick up arrows, javelins and other projectiles off the battlefield when you run low (Warband feature).
• Throwing weapons as melee: most can be switched to melee mode, e.g., using a javelin as a short spear.

Commanding troops

• Troops are divided into groups (infantry, archers, cavalry by default). Select groups with number keys and issue orders with the F-keys; the on-screen order menu shows what each key does.
• Useful setups: hold infantry on a hill, put archers in front or behind and let them fire at will, and hold cavalry back for a charge once the enemy engages.
• Morale matters: soldiers break and run when morale drops. Killing enemy commanders and winning early engagements collapses enemy morale.

Factions and Troops

Recommended first armies:

• Swadian or Sarranid for a cavalry-heavy army that wins open-field battles.
• Nord for sieges and infantry-heavy fighting.
• Rhodok for defensive crossbow armies that crush cavalry.

Making Money Early

1. Tournaments: enter at towns when they're announced and bet on yourself. Winning several rounds pays well.
2. Bandit hunting: Looters are easy early; Sea Raiders, Steppe Bandits and Mountain Bandits give better loot and prisoners later.
3. Ransoming prisoners: sell prisoners to ransom brokers found in town taverns.
4. Trading: buy low in one town and sell high in another - the Trade skill helps.
5. Enterprises: once you have cash, buy an enterprise (e.g., a dyeworks or weavery) in a town for steady weekly income. Profit depends on local resources and prices.
6. Quests: village elders and guild masters offer quests that grant money and relations.

Companions

Companions level up and can be assigned party skills. Some notable examples:

Watch for conflicts: some companions dislike each other or your behavior (raiding villages, losing battles) and will complain or leave. Check their dialogue when they speak up.

From Mercenary to King

1. Mercenary contract: once you have a solid party, a faction's king may offer a mercenary contract. It pays weekly and lets you fight their wars without vassal obligations.
2. Vassalage: with enough renown, a king may offer you a fief. Accepting makes you a vassal with land and responsibilities.
3. Right to Rule: before founding your own kingdom, raise your Right to Rule (through missions for your king, supporting a claimant, and some quests) so lords take you seriously.
4. Claimants: each faction has a pretender (e.g., Lady Isolla of Suno for Swadia, Prince Valdym the Bastard for the Vaegirs, Lethwin Far-Seeker for the Nords). Supporting one lets you take a kingdom with legitimacy.
5. Founding your kingdom: capture a castle or town and rebel. Recruit lords and grant fiefs to companions to turn them into vassals.
6. Marriage: court a lady of the realm with poetry and gifts, or ask her father for her hand. Marriage improves relations and gives you a partner who can help with political tasks.

A First-Campaign Roadmap

Food and wages are your two constant drains: carry several food types (variety raises morale) and dismiss low-tier troops you don't plan to upgrade.

Sieges

• Build ladders or siege towers first (Engineer skill speeds this).
• Bring lots of infantry; cavalry is weak on walls.
• In defense, use archers on the walls and infantry at the ladder tops.
• Siege battles are where Nord and Rhodok troops shine.

Common Mistakes to Avoid

1. Upgrading troops without a plan. Too many branches (archers and cavalry) make management messy.
2. Ignoring morale. Low food variety and long losses cause desertion.
3. Raiding villages early. It tanks relations and angers the faction.
4. Fighting large armies with a weak party. Retreat when outnumbered.
5. Declaring your kingdom with low Right to Rule. Lords won't join you, and every faction may declare war.
6. Neglecting fiefs. Build mills, schools, and other improvements to increase income and relations.
7. Forgetting to save before battles. Losses cost troops, gear and prisoners.

Advanced Tips

• Horse archery with a Khergit build lets you win many fights without melee.
• Couched lance kills instantly win many duels - practice on bandits.
• Keep a balanced party: 20-30% archers, the rest infantry and cavalry as your faction allows.
• Use terrain: hills give archers range and infantry a strong defensive position.
• Recruit prisoners: high-tier prisoners can join your party if you have Prisoner Management and Leadership.
• Battle size: the default battle size is conservative; max out the in-game slider for more epic fights, and note that many players edit the game's config file (or use mods) to go beyond the slider limit - at the cost of performance.

Mods and DLC

Install mods by placing them in the game's Modules folder and selecting the module from the launcher.

FAQ

Is Warband still worth playing with Bannerlord out? Yes. Warband has a massive mod library and a different feel. Many players still prefer it for its mods and lighter hardware requirements.

How do I get my own castle? Serve a faction as a vassal, or capture one yourself and start your own kingdom.

How do I increase party size? Raise Leadership and Charisma and gain renown.

Can I play multiplayer? Yes, Warband still has active community servers, with Napoleonic Wars and some mods adding their own.

What's the best faction? Swadia and the Sarranids for cavalry, Nords for infantry, Rhodoks for crossbows. The Khergits are strong if you like horse archers.

Why do lords hate me? Raiding, failing quests, or backing the wrong claimant can hurt relations. Complete quests for them and help them in battles.

Sources

• Mount & Blade: Warband on Steam
• Steam news: Viking Conquest 2.072
• Wikipedia - Mount & Blade: Warband