Which Weapons Are Best On Companions (RBM)? Bannerlord Companion Weapons Testing Guide

The most important aspect of having a good campaign in Mount and Blade 2 Bannerlord is effective combat. And if you're planning on using the RBM mod, everything you know about combat from the base game is WRONG! In this video, we'll look at 5+ hours of testing to see which weapon loadouts and tactics work best.

0:00 - Intro
0:20 - 1H Mace (long)
0:42 - 1H Mace (short)
1:05 - 1H Sword
1:21 - Short Polearm
1:38 - Short Polearm (hold position)
2:03 - Long Polearm
2:27 - Long Polearm (hold position)
3:02 - 1H Weapon On Foot Recap
3:39 - 2H Axes
4:02 - 2H Falx
4:20 - 2H Mace (long)
4:36 - 2H Mace (short)
5:00 - 2H Weapon On Foot Recap
5:14 - Javelins
6:01 - Javelins + 1H Polearm & Shield
6:25 - Bow & Arrow (long & medium range)
6:56 - Crossbow & Blot (long & medium range)
7:20 - Ranged Weapons On Foot Recap
7:29 - Mounted Unarmed (no weapons lol)
8:03 - Mounted 2H Axe
8:14 - Mounted 2H Mace
8:25 - Mounted Polearm (short)
8:41 - Mounted Polearm (long)
8:56 - Mounted Polearm + 1H Mace as backup
9:30 - Mount Polearm vs Cavalry
10:00 - Mounted 2H Mace vs Cavalry
10:51 - Mounted Polearm (Hold Position) vs Cavalry + Dismount Shield Wall
11:20 - Mounted Weapons Recap

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[whentheuh]

crossbow in general even without rbm is pretty awful too, i suppose one tw employee really did not enjoy sieging vs rhodoks lol

[tylerhovind]

Yeah the crossbows are one of my biggest gripes with RBM. Your bolts fly about 10 feet then drop like a rock. Early Medieval crossbows had a point blank range (meaning no correction for elevation) of about 70 yards.

[TheShyoto]

Mildly surprised you didn't mention the bill weapons. RBM seems to massively favour any form of Pierce, effectively ignoring armour, and bills are basically just 2H axes that do Pierce instead of Cut. (I just started my first RBM/Banner King campaign this week thanks to your Merc Campaign setup vid and quickly realised that swords are only useful if you're stabbing, and polearm overhand stab at the face is king.)

[reachwbar]

Oh excellent, this guide is awesome and sorely needed, RBM can sometimes feel so arbitrary when companion troops are involved. I did some testing in 1.02 RBM and it was so frustrating to see companion cav get so close to being effective and then swap out their weapons in the worst situations when the obvious choice was right there. Good to know short polearms are still effective on horseback and in melee, even though I would much prefer them to use couch lances to their full effect.

[mikedittsche]

Thanks so much for this methodic analysis. I would never have thought that unarmed cav would do this good against T5 units.
And I guess I'll hit the smithy to cook up some nice long maces for my troops.

[troymorgan]

Hey man, thanks so much for your Bannerlord content. I started watching your videos a year ago, before I owned the game. I finally bought it a month ago and I’m using a lot of the stuff you do in your videos. I’m having so much fun. You’ve saved me a lot time and frustration.

[ellocosjchushhxha]

The thumbnail is genius marketing! It is much appreciated and hasn't gone unnoticed brother!

[СергейКлочков-фу]

Seems that in a few cases the single loss was the naked main character going down, so it should not count.

[troydodson]

I haven't actually been modding my Bannerlord plays. So I about glazed over this one. I absolutely adore the way the formations meet each other. Particularly the shieldwall and spears. Guides do more than give stats my guy. I clearly don't pay enough attention to the modding scene in Bannerlord like I did Warband. Armor works. WHAT?
You can bet I'll be watching that playthrough to the end, and break out my role-play mindset after I get your Harold modlist in. Thanks!

[whitefox]

Great timing. Just started my first RBM campaign.

[lukefricker]

YEESSS! I’ve been trying to figure out the best weapons to level up, highest DPS and keep my companions alive and been waiting for you to make a video like this for so long! I’ve tested so many of your weapons from previous videos and tweaked some a bit to suit companions more. I haven’t even watched the video yet but because it’s you MR STRAT, I know it’s gonna be awesome and super helpful. Please keep these essential videos coming and cheers for all the great ones you’ve made so far!😎✌️

[majormajorasic]

3:10 There is also the RBM tactic of force moving your short-weapon units into the enemy lines so they "charge" attack like in vanilla, their move command forcing them into shoulder to shoulder fighting so short 1Handed weapons excel, this however brings into question how viable it is to constantly micro your short-handed units to get their full use out in battle.

[vladimirf]

It's truly amazing how huge the difference between the vanilla combat and RBM is! I really like the latest changes in vanilla formations, but nothing beats RBM for me :) Fighting in a formation is super fun and such videos about tactics, weaponry and armor, the importance of different stats for AI in battles are hugely valuable for me! Thanks a lot! :)

[Harrier_DuBois]

Great video as usual. As spears performed so well, I might start a Roman themed campaign with my companions serving as 'Triarii', a staunch backline of heavy spear elites, kept in reserve.

[Bliatzkowicz]

Thanks for video! I started playing with mods recently and your videos are helpful. Certainly, RBM changes quite a lot and your videos helped me fix my mistakes and overall improve in tactics.

[msj]

Thanks, Strat! Nice to have some data to help build companions. I appreciate your hard work!

[frankgardiner]

babe wake up, new strat gaming bannerlord vid

[platt_mallar]

This correlates well with my anecdotal experience using RBM.

[ethanbrown]

Such an amazingly useful guide. Strat coming and saving the community with quality content 🎉🎉

[itsorcacraft]

I recently finished my first campaign and am now trying out RBM so this is very helpful