Mount & Blade 2: Bannerlord is ultimately a game about building a larger and larger force to deal with bigger and bigger problems. This helps you grow more influential, progressing your clan, and eventually establishing a kingdom. A lot of these troops will be nameless, but there are some more influential, named characters in the game who are willing to join you for a price. These are called companions and our Mount & Blade 2 Companions Guide will help you find and recruit these more powerful troops.
As a reminder, this is an early access game, things are subject to change. We’ll do our best to keep the guide up to date, but can’t promise we’ll have absolutely everything updated straight away.
How to Find Companions in Mount & Blade 2
You will encounter various companions in the different cities of Mount & Blade 2: Bannerlord. You can usually find them inside taverns or in that location’s tavern district.
For a complete list of all available companions do the following from the world map:
- Hit N to open the encyclopedia.
- Navigate to Heroes.
- Scroll down and check the Wanderer occupation.
Each of these characters can be recruited into your army. In each entry you can see their skills, traits, and last known location. This should help you track them down though they consistently move throughout the world so be prepared to do some searching.
How To Hire a Companion
To hire a companion, simply approach them and ask them to join you. They’ll request that you first settle their outstanding debts which are usually in the tens of thousands of gold. So be ready to pay out some good gold.
Which Companion Should I Hire?
That’s entirely up to you! You can get an idea as to what a companion’s specialty is based on their titles. Thanks to ImAShaaaark on Reddit for sharing these details.
- Warriors: Shieldmaiden, Red, Coalbiter, Wanderer, Breakskull, Wronged
- Tacticians: Lucky, Bloodaxe
- Scouts: Frostbeard, Fish
- Healers: Healer, Willowbark
- Rogue: Black, Longknife, Accursed, Robber
Since this is an early access game, things are subject to change. The companions system is still very much a work in progress. The only available companions right now are randomly generated. In time there will be actual companions with backstories, quests, etc. We’ll do our best to keep the guide up to date, but can’t promise we’ll have everything updated right away.
Why Makes Companions Good?
While generic soldiers are all the same short of their weapons, armor, and loadout, companions are more powerful. They have skills just like your character does which goes a long way. In addition, you can use companions to help with side quests. Rather than travelling to a village to reclaim purchased lands, you can send a companion off with some of your allies and a sum of money. They’ll go off, complete the quest and come back to you. This saves you time, helps you multitask, and grow your purse — and therefore your army — even faster.
And that’s it for now! We’re still working our way through Mount & Blade 2: Bannerlord. We’ll be sure to update this guide with any new information we find as we play. If you have any tips or tricks to share with fellow players, do leave them in the comments below! If we agree they’re useful we’ll add them to the guide!
