Which Weapons Are Best On Companions? NO MODS - Bannerlord Companion Weapons Testing Guide

Have you ever wondered which weapons are best on your best combat companions? If you're tired of seeing dead companions who don't get kills battle after battle, this guide is for you! We'll be testing many scenarios so you can find the best gear based on what role you want your companions to fill.

0:00 - Intro
0:09 - Companion vs Infantry 1H Sword
0:38 - Companion vs Infantry 1H Axe
0:55 - Companion vs Infantry 1H Mace
1:09 - Companion vs Infantry 1H Polearm
1:35 - Companion vs Infantry 1H Weapons Recap
1:51 - Companion vs Infantry 2H Pike
2:12 - Companion vs Infantry 2H Sword
2:30 - Companion vs Infantry 2H Axe
2:46 - Companion vs Infantry 2H Mace
3:06 - Companion vs Infantry 2H Glaive
3:37 - Companion vs Infantry 2H Weapons Recap
4:01 - Companion vs Infantry Javelins
5:13 - Companion vs Cavalry 1H Polearm
5:44 - Companion vs Cavalry 2H Polearm Brace
6:15 - Companion vs Cavalry 2H Pike Brace
6:49 - Companion vs Cavalry 2H Axe
7:22 - Companion vs Cavalry 2H Glaive
7:40 - Companion vs Cavalry Weapons Recap
8:06 - Companion vs Infantry, Bow & Crossbow
9:18 - Companion vs Infantry, Bow & Crossbow
10:11 - Companion Ranged Weapons Recap
10:29 - Cav Companion vs Infantry Unarmed
10:53 - Cav Companion vs Infantry Couch Lance
11:08 - Cav Companion vs Infantry 2H Axe
11:21 - Cav Companion vs Infantry 2H Glaive
11:30 - Cav Companion vs Infantry Weapons Recap
11:50 - Cav Companion vs Cavalry Couch Lance
12:19 - Cav Companion vs Cavalry Couch Lance & 1H Mace
12:32 - Cav Companion vs Cavalry 1H Polearm & Shield
12:45 - Cav Companion vs Cavalry 2H Sword
13:03 - Cav Companion vs Cavalry 2H Axe
13:15 - Cav Companion vs Cavalry 2H Mace
13:23 - Cav Companion vs Cavalry 2H Glaive
13:41 - Cav Companion vs Cavalry Weapons Recap
14:11 - Testing Limitation To Consider

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[jason]

Summary
Put on a glaive, longbow, 2 quivers of arrows.
Quiver can be replaced with javelin if you want to level them up to 250 throwing and become a shield piercer

[gregorysilas]

This video shows why khan’s guards are so OP. The glaive is highly effective in almost every scenario.

[liamaitken]

If you're ever wondering what content we want... This is it. Absolute masterpiece.

[jacoblinde]

One of the things I appreciate about RBM is that it makes spears an incredibly viable weapon for infantry, as you showed in your last video. Spears were the most prolific weapon throughout all of human history, but vanilla Bannerlord would have you think they were totally useless.

[Kolaris]

As someone that's been playing this franchise for over 15 years, it's absolutely bonkers to me that Taleworlds still hasn't addressed spears and thrusting attacks.

[uberwayz]

It's nice to see someone making game vids who actually know what they are doing. 99.9% of people who make these kinds of videos are terrible at the game. There's nothing worse than someone who is clearly terrible at something, giving you 'advice'.

[Rhombix]

This was an EXTENSIVE test with all possible scenarios considered and included in the test. Thank you for such thorough testing!

[samblack]

I am a companion enjoyer myself. If you build them like Fians and put them in your archery group under a strong captain, you're going to have a good time watching their name frequently appear in the kill feed.

If you want them to be mounted archers, 1h without a shield seems to work great as their melee option. Allows you to keep 2 stacks of arrows, swing speed of the 1h means they often hit first when trading and seem to do really well both mounted and dismounted. Get the perks that buff 1h usage without shield.

If you want to make shielded infantry units, avoid any weapons that are 1h/2h, BUT if you equip a 2h-only together with the shield/1h, they will switch between both nicely. I tend to choose a 2h sword/axe over a 2h polearm here because infantry often find themselves crowded and the pole gets chamber blocked a lot by other friendly infantry.

If you want to make a mounted knight archetype, craft them a very long couchable thrust-only lance, as well as your 1h/shield. The remaining slot can be equipped with a 2h only swingable polearm, or if you want to make them a melee specialist and don't mind the 5 focus points, a 2h axe/sword (you will get some nice perks from adding that tree, but its 5 focus points). This has the added effect of making them a VERY versatile infantry and horse knight as 2h skills are infantry based. Build the polearm tree to be a mounted lancer, skew 1h towards infantry fighting so their shield doesn't weigh them down on foot, and the 2h is pure infantry, they're a true knight and formidable with or without a horse.

[alfascav]

Big ups for all the work that must go into running these tests, let alone the video editing.

If you wanna feel real good about yourself, multiply the time it took you to run all these tests, by the views on this video and that is the amount of time you saved society as a whole.
add up all your videos and tests, not to mention the spreadsheets, and you've easily saved people hundreds of thousands, potentially even millions of hours of testing.

[MusicFreak]

I’ve been wondering this a long time! I become deeply invested in my companions through the story that unfolds, especially my Distinguished Service companions. Only want the best for them.

[mikev]

Great video! Concerning thrust only spears: I found that troops work very well with them and shields against cavalry when in shield wall. The cavalry charge is usually stopped dead right in front of the line and get slaughtered. I did this against the massive Khuzait and Aserai cavalry-heavy armies with great effect

[somecallmejorge]

As always thank you for the excellent analysis Strat! Taleworlds doesn't deserve you lol

One telling thing about this video is just how much of a nightmare it is managing crossbowmen. Historically, crossbowmen use declined in China largely because of the Mongol invasion (a point that Vlandian players would do well to remember when facing Khuzaits). Later, they were employed in medieval Europe almost as pseudo-ballista. A "crossbowman" or arbalest in medieval Europe was actually a team of 3 people working together: one to reload, one to shield, and one to fire. They were very expensive, and didn't become predominant as a unit until much later in history precisely because of the cost-benefit analysis. From a historical perspective, it makes me wonder if Vlandian Sharpshooters could be micromanaged in 3 groups similar to a French or Spanish arbalest team: 1 group shielding, the other firing, the other reloading. I can just imagine the headaches of trying to make that successful lol

[wapata]

Some of the most powerful combinations for leveling up a companion through my experience is having mostly any 1h + 2h and then a short spear just for taking down cavs on the battlefield. This way it level all the vigor skills at the same time. Another powerful combo is bow with 2 quivers, and either a heavy twohanded axe or swingable twohanded polearm. Prioritize athletics first to get to the last perk that increases health. Also amazing videos thank you!

[MercAgentVinny]

I really enjoyed this video, I actually started a new campaign and I can’t wait to give my companions the best possible gear, thank you for all this long testing and editing for these amazing videos!

[cloudsora]

In Vanilla and RBM I've always had an overwhelming success using the glaive, glad to see it wasn't just rose tinted glasses.

[Mat-xwww]

Summarized:
Sorted from best to worst.

A. Infantry vs Infantry (Legionnary)
1h - Mace > Axe > Sword > Polearm
2h - Glaive without shield > Billhook > Northlander Axe > Thamaskene Sword > Pike > Glaive with shield (equally bad as pike, technically a 1h)
Thrown - Javelins with 250 throwing skill > Javelins with Mace > Javelins only

B. Infantry vs Cavalry (Swadia Banner Knights)
2h glaive > 2h axe > 2h polearm brace > 2h pike brace > 1h polearm

C. Ranged vs Ranged (Fians and Sharpshooters)
Bow - shoots from 150m.
Crossbow - shoots from 175m.

Bow > Thrown > Crossbow.
Bow wins, the end. Crossbow is ass, avoid at all cost.

D. Cavalry vs Infantry (how many charges taken to kill all vs no. of companions died)
Unarmed - 4 charges, 2 dead.
Couch lance - 3 charges, 2 dead.
2h axe - 4 charges, 1 dead.
2h glaive - 4 charges, 2 dead.

Mount with higher charge damage is key with couch lance or 2h glaive for fastest kills.

E. Cavalry vs Cavalry (kills vs no. of companions died)
(2h glaive = 2h sword = 2h billhook ) > 2h axe > Couch lance and 1h mace > 1h polearm and shield > couch lance only > 1h glaive with shield.

Couch lance only - 3 kills, 21 dead.
Couch lance and mace - 21 kills, 3 dead.
1h polearm and shield - 4 kills, 21 dead.
2h sword - 21 kills, 0 dead.
2h axe - 21 kills, 2 dead.
2h billhook - 21 kills, 0 dead.
1h glaive with shield - 2 kills, 21 dead.
2h glaive without shield - 21 kills, 0 dead.

[zero]

3:30 man, those guys were perfectly synchronised to send that legionaire in front of the camera straight to hell

[livindedbeat]

extremely late hopping on the BL train but i have been watching your guides and test videos a ton, the test videos are fun to watch and seeing how the AI behaves is extremely helpful

[histrian]

rhomps might be the best pole arm for companions - strictly 2h only, can equip back shield and secondary 1-hander, long range and useable mounted or dismounted.

[bobooso]

Thanks for the guides, they've have been super helpful. Your formation video alone decreased my troop losses significantly. I honestly don't know how you haven't gotten burnt out or sick from making all of these but I'm happy to watch them until you do.