If you have ever opened the character screen in Bannerlord and stared at two perks that both look decent, chances are you picked one and never thought about it again. That is fair. The game does very little to explain what the perks actually do. Every perk has two lines, and each line only works for a hero in a certain role. A perk that looks great on paper can do absolutely nothing for the hero who takes it.

War Sails made this a little bit messier. It added three new skills (Mariner, Boatswain and Shipmaster), two new party roles, and a lot of perks that only work at sea, while many older guides still show perk names and numbers that have changed since they were written.

This guide covers the best perks for every skill and every role, checked against the game files of v1.4.8 with the War Sails DLC. It explains how perk roles work, which picks matter for your own character, your governors and your companions, and which perks are broken.

How perk roles work

Every perk in Bannerlord has two lines (a few capstones only have one). Each line is tied to a role, and it only does something when the hero who owns the perk actually holds that role. The skill tree does not care whether the line is useful for you. It’ll happily let your main character take a perk whose only good line needs a governor.

These are the roles you will see on the perk lines:

• Personal lines are always on for the hero who has the perk (extra hit points, weapon handling, damage with a weapon type, etc.).
• Party leader lines work for the whole party, as long as this hero leads it. They keep working while that party is part of an army.
• Captain lines work for the troops in the formation this hero commands in battle. At sea, the formation is the crew of his ship.
• Army commander lines only work while this hero leads an army.
• Clan leader lines only work for the head of the clan, and usually cover the whole clan (for example an extra clan party or more companion slots).
• Governor lines work for the town or castle this hero governs, and its bound villages. Only while the governor is physically inside that settlement.
• Quartermaster, Scout, Surgeon and Engineer lines only work for the hero assigned to that party role.
• First Mate and Navigator lines belong to the two naval party roles, added in patch 1.4.5 for War Sails. The First Mate uses Boatswain perks and the Navigator uses Shipmaster perks.

A few Tactics perks also have a party member line, which works for any hero travelling in the party.

The fallback rule

If a party role is empty, the party leader fills it. The same happens when the companion who holds the role is not in the party (for example because he is off governing a town, leading his own party or sitting in a dungeon somewhere after a lost battle), and in both cases the game simply uses your own perks and skill for that role instead.

This works both ways. If you leave the surgeon slot empty, your own surgeon lines count. But once a companion is your surgeon, your own surgeon lines do nothing at all. That is why many picks in the picker say “this tier does nothing for you” for quartermaster, scout, surgeon or engineer lines.

Mind that the fallback only covers the party roles. There is no fallback for governor lines. The player can never be a governor, so governor lines on your main character are always wasted.

The captain rule

Captain lines never affect the captain himself. A TaleWorlds developer confirmed this, and the game code skips the captain when it applies the bonus. The lines do reach everyone else in the formation, including companions fighting in it.

That being said, captain lines are not useless on your main character. If you lead a formation (which you usually do), your troops get the bonus. You just never feel it yourself.

One more thing to keep in mind: since patch 1.4.5, personal and captain perks only apply in the campaign, not in custom battles. So if you test a perk in a custom battle and nothing happens, that is the reason.

Example: Authority vs Heroic Leader

Leadership 75 is probably the best example of how the roles change your pick. Both perks look useful.

• Authority gives +20% security from the garrison (governor line) and +5 party size (party leader line).
• Heroic Leader gives +1 daily loyalty (governor line) and a +10% morale penalty to enemies when troops in your formation kill someone (captain line).

For your main character, the governor lines of both perks do nothing, because you cannot govern. What is left is +5 party size against a small morale effect that you will hardly ever notice in a real battle, so Authority wins easily. Not close.

For a companion you plan to make a governor, it flips. +1 loyalty per day in his town is one of the best loyalty sources in the game, so Heroic Leader is the pick. Some guides claim Heroic Leader gives loyalty to every settlement your clan owns. It does not. The code only adds it to the town where that hero is governor and currently sitting, and players who checked the loyalty tooltip found the same.

A companion who leads his own party is back to Authority, for the extra troops. Same tier, three different answers.

The picker below handles this for you.

Pick a role and a skill in the picker to see our verdict for every tier (Must, Good, Situational or Skip). Lines shown in grey do nothing for the role you picked.

Best perks for your main character

Your main character is special in one way: you are the party leader and the clan leader for the whole game, which means that party leader and clan leader lines always work for you while governor lines never do. So most of the best perks for you are not the flashy combat ones. They are the boring ones that add party size, cut wages or train your troops.

Below are the tiers where the choice really matters, grouped by tree. The picker covers the rest.

One Handed, Two Handed and Polearm

The first tier of each melee tree is an easy call. Wrapped Handles (One Handed 25) gives you +20% handling and +30 One Handed skill to the infantry you captain. Strong Grip (Two Handed 25) does the same with +10% handling and +30 Two Handed skill. Basher and Wood Chopper only make sense if you build around shield bashes or breaking shields in sieges.

The more interesting picks sit deeper in the trees and have little to do with fighting:

• Prestige (One Handed 250) gives +15 party limit, one of the bigger party size bonuses in the game. Chink in the Armor (+10% armor penetration) is the alternative if you already have enough troops.
• Unwavering Defense (One Handed 225) gives +10 hit points to every infantry soldier in your party. Deadly Purpose only wins if you personally captain your infantry and want +10% melee damage for them.
• Hardy Frontline (Polearm 200) gives +5 hit points to all troops in your party and -20% infantry recruitment cost. Drills next to it gives 0.1 daily experience, which is about as close to nothing as a perk gets (you won’t notice it).

For Two Handed, Vandal (225) is the one to aim for, because +25% armor penetration on your attacks makes a real difference against armored lords and elite troops, and players report that it covers all your attacks rather than only the ones you make with a two-handed weapon. Baptised in Blood (75) is also a must for the +5% experience to melee troops after every battle.

In Polearm, the choice at 125 depends on how you fight. If you couch a lance from horseback, Lancer (+20% speed damage for you, +30% for polearm troops you captain) is the pick. If you fight on foot with a spear or captain spear infantry against cavalry factions like the Khuzaits or Vlandia, Steed Killer (+70% damage to mounts) is better.

Bow, Crossbow and Throwing

The Bow tree has a strong start. Dead Aim (25), Bodkin (50) and Rapid Fire (75) are all must-picks: +30% headshot damage, +10% armor penetration and +25% reload speed, each with a smaller bonus for the troops you captain. Dead Aim’s headshot bonus also counts on horseback.

Bow 100 is where you need to decide what kind of archer you are. Merry Men gives +5 party size, which counts every day whether you fight on foot, mounted or at sea, while Mounted Archery cuts the mounted accuracy penalty by 30%. If most of your kills come from the saddle, take Mounted Archery. Otherwise the party size wins.

The same split comes back at 225. Horse Master lets you use every bow on horseback (and gives +30 Bow skill to horse archers you captain), while Deep Quivers suits a foot archer.

For crossbows, Wind Winder (50) is the fix for the slow reload. It gives +25%. Picked Shots (250) is a must for anyone running a big ranged army, as it halves the wages of tier 4+ ranged troops and gives ranged troops +5 hit points. Players have asked whether Mighty Pull at 275 is bugged, but it works in the current code.

Throwing is mostly about your formation. Running Throw (100) gives +30 Throwing skill to the troops you captain, and Weak Spot (250) adds +30% armor penetration for you and +10% for your formation. At 225, Perfect Technique (+25% throw speed) is our pick if throwing is really how you fight. Long Reach (+20% morale and renown from won battles) is better if you only dipped into the tree.

Riding and Athletics

Riding 25 Nimble Steed is a must for any mounted character, since the whole cavalry formation you captain gets +30 Riding skill. Riding 225 Mounted Patrols is another must, but for a different reason: it halves the escape chance of prisoners in your party, on land and at sea. If you capture lords, this perk and Keen Sight (Scouting 225) are what keep them in your party.

Athletics is probably the best “everyone should level it” tree for a main character:

• Well Built (25): +5 hit points for you and every foot troop in your party.
• Imposing Stature (75): +5 party size and better persuasion. Stamina next to it only helps if you smith a lot.
• Durable (175) and Strong or Steady (200): real attribute points (more on these below).
• Ignore Pain (250): +10% armor on foot for you and +5 armor per piece for foot troops you captain.

The trap in Athletics is Strong Legs (225). You get less fall damage and more kick damage, plus a food line that only works for a governor during a siege. Strong Arms (+20 Throwing skill for troops you captain) is the better pick even if you never throw anything yourself.

Leadership and Steward

Leadership is where most of your party size comes from, and party size is probably the single most useful thing a perk can give you. The picks here are fairly obvious:

• Authority (75): +5 party size (see the example above).
• Famous Commander (100): +50% renown from battles and +200 experience for every new recruit.
• Leader of the Masses (125): +5 party size for each town you control. This one grows with your realm, and players call it their biggest party size source.
• Uplifting Spirit (175): +10 party size. Inspiring Leader (cheaper army calls) only wins if you call armies all the time as a vassal or king.
• Talent Magnet (250): +10 party size and +1 clan party. One of the strongest late perks you can get.

Steward is trickier, because most of its lines are quartermaster and governor lines. Only a few work for you as party leader: Frugal (25, -15% recruitment cost), Sweatshops (75, +20% production in your workshops) and Paid in Promise (100, -25% companion wages and recruitment fees). The rest only reach you while no companion is your quartermaster. If you do fill that role yourself, follow the quartermaster picks (Paid in Promise and Giving Hands, which together turn discarded loot into troop experience).

Trade, Charm and Roguery

These trees matter more once you have a kingdom. In Charm, Natural Leader (200) is the must: +20% experience for all your companions as clan leader, plus easier persuasion against other cultures. Good Natured (175) gives you your influence back when a proposal you supported fails, and Warlord (50) adds +30% influence from battles.

In Trade, Great Investor (125) gives +1 renown a day per profitable caravan, and Insurance Plans (175) returns 5000 denars when a caravan is destroyed. The tree ends in Everything Has a Price (300), which lets you trade settlements in barter. Players widely call it one of the strongest perks in the game, if you are willing to push Trade that far (which takes a long campaign, a lot of caravans and workshops, and quite a bit of patience).

Roguery has two picks worth planning around. Ransom Broker (200) cuts the escape chance of hero prisoners by 30% and stacks with the other prisoner perks.

Partners in Crime (150) lets surrendering bandits join you on land. Mind that it does not make bandits surrender, it only lets you recruit the ones that already do (and at sea, you need Mariner’s Arr! for that instead).

Tactics, Scouting, Medicine and Engineering

Most Tactics lines only work “when troops are sent to confront the enemy”, which means autoresolved fights. The one real must is Horde Leader (75) for +10 party size. Small Unit Tactics next to it adds a single troop to your hideout crew. It is one of the best-known traps in the game.

Scouting is split. The scout lines only count for you while nobody else is your scout, but the party leader lines always work, so Mounted Scouts (150, +5 party size) and Keen Sight (225) are the picks that matter. Keen Sight halves the chance of prisoner lords escaping your party, but only on land. Its prisoner line is switched off while you sail.

Medicine has two personal must-picks early on (Preventive Medicine at 25 for +5 hit points, and Doctor’s Oath at 75 for another +5), and then Minister of Health at 275, which is the one most players level the tree for. That capstone gives your troops +1 hit point for every Medicine point above 250, and it only counts from the party leader. A surgeon companion with this perk does nothing for your troops, so if you want it, you need to level Medicine yourself.

Engineering is mostly engineer lines, which a companion can hold for you. Scaffolds (25, +30% shield hit points) and Metallurgy (225, +5 armor on every armor piece of troops you captain) are the two worth knowing.

Smithing

Almost every Smithing perk is personal. Take Efficient Charcoal Maker at 25 (3 charcoal from 2 hardwood), then Curious Smelter (50) and Curious Smith (75) while you level, since they double how fast you learn new weapon parts. Players often reset them later.

The perks that stay useful are the attribute and focus perks at 150 and 225, and Artisan Smith (175), which halves the selling penalty on weapons you smith. If you smith mainly to level the skill, Practical Smith (half stamina per weapon) is the alternative.

Perks that give attribute points

Seven perks give a permanent point: six give +1 attribute and one gives +1 focus to One Handed and Two Handed. They sit in Athletics (175 and 200) and Smithing (150 and 225), and since you can only pick one perk per tier, you can get at most four extra points this way.

For reference, you get 1 attribute point every 4 levels and 1 focus point every level (the game code and players agree, even though older guides say every 3 levels). Attribute points are rare, so these perks are worth quite a lot. An extra point in Endurance, for example, raises the learning limit of Riding, Athletics and Smithing all at once.

Athletics is the easy route for most characters, since it levels by itself while you run around in battle. Durable (175) is the clear pick, and at 200 you choose Strong (Vigor) for a melee build or Steady (Control) for bows, crossbows and throwing. Smithing takes more effort, but it is the only way to reach the other two points.

A common plan is to take Enduring Smith at 225 while you level and switch to Fencer Smith later. Mind that resetting a perk at the arena master removes its point again. You keep the skill levels you already reached, but you do not get a free attribute out of it. Also note that Athletics 225 no longer gives a Throwing focus point, which some older builds still expect.

Best perks for governors

A governor is a companion or clan member you station in one of your towns or castles, and he uses the governor lines of his own perks for that one settlement and its bound villages (and nowhere else, no matter how many fiefs your clan owns).

Two conditions have to be true at the same time: he must hold the perk, and he must actually be inside the town. If he leaves to lead a party or joins your army, his governor lines stop working. And as mentioned above, the player can never be a governor, so none of this ever comes from your own character.

It does not matter whether the governor line sits in the first or the second slot of a perk. This is why a governor can use perks from combat trees too (One Handed, Bow, Riding, etc.), which many governor lists skip.

What a governor needs

In general, a town needs five things from its governor, roughly in this order:

• Loyalty, so the town does not rebel and actually pays you taxes. A freshly conquered town of another culture is where this matters most.
• Security, which keeps crime down and the town stable.
• Prosperity, which drives your tax income over time.
• Food, so the town does not starve, especially during a siege.
• Build speed, so walls, granaries and markets go up sooner.

Players often split their governors into two types: a “stabilizer” with loyalty and security perks for new or unhappy towns, and a “builder” with prosperity and production perks for a town that is already calm. That is a fairly solid way to think about it, and you can move the hero once the job is done.

Loyalty perks (take all of them)

Loyalty perks are the ones governors want most. There are five that give a flat daily bonus:

• Athletics 175 Durable: +1 loyalty per day (and the governor also gets +1 Endurance).
• Bow 150 Discipline: +1 loyalty per day.
• Leadership 75 Heroic Leader: +1 loyalty per day.
• Medicine 200 Physician of People: +1 loyalty per day.
• Riding 50 Well Strapped: +0.5 loyalty per day.

A governor with all five gives his town +4.5 loyalty per day. That is a lot, and in practice it is usually enough to keep even a freshly conquered town of another culture from sliding towards rebellion while you are away fighting somewhere else. Durable, Discipline, Heroic Leader and Physician of People are the four that our picker marks as Must for a governor. For a coastal town, Raven Eye (Shipmaster 125) adds +1 loyalty for each fishing boat returning to port.

Security and defence

Security lines are spread across many trees. The strongest are the percentage bonuses to garrison security: Stand United (One Handed 175, +30% security from garrison troops), Authority (Leadership 75, +20%) and Renowned Marksmen (Crossbow 100, +30% from ranged garrison troops). Flat +1 daily security comes from Skewer (Polearm 150), Focus (Throwing 150), Know-How (Roguery 75) and Gens d’armes (Tactics 250).

For a frontier town that gets besieged a lot, the defensive lines become worth more:

• Corps-a-corps (One Handed 150): +30 garrison limit.
• Citizen Militia (Leadership 150): 20% of militia spawn as veterans.
• On The March (Tactics 150): +20% fortification bonus.
• Battlements (Engineering 175): +100 food reserve limit.
• Extra daily militia from Merry Men (Bow 100), Long Shots (Crossbow 200) and Slinging Competitions (Throwing 175).

Prosperity, income and build speed

Engineering and Medicine carry a “builder” governor. Foreman (Engineering 125) adds +100 prosperity each time a project finishes, and Pristine Streets (Medicine 150) adds +1 prosperity every day. Trickle Down (Trade 275) gives +2 daily prosperity while a project is being built, which in a growing town is nearly always.

For build speed, Carpenters (Engineering 75) gives +12% on all projects in a town, and Stonecutters (Engineering 150) adds +30% for fortifications, aqueducts and barracks. Forced Labor (Steward 200) gives +1% construction speed for every 3 prisoners in the town’s dungeon, up to +30%. Your kingdom’s lords drop their prisoners there too, so it fills up without your help.

For income, take Logistician (Steward 125, +10% tax) and Content Trades (Trade 150, +10% tariffs). Scouting 75 is a nice example of how the numbers can fool you: Desert Born gives +2.5% town tax, and Forest Kin +10% village tax. Town tax is usually far larger than village tax, so the smaller number wins in almost every town.

Prisoners

If you store captured lords in a town dungeon, the governor matters for that too. Mounted Patrols (Riding 225) cuts the escape chance of prisoners in the governed settlement by 50%, Dungeon Architect (Engineering 50) by 25%, and Sweet Talker (Roguery 25) by 20%. Some players consider loyalty and prisoner escape the only governor perks that really matter.

Naval governor perks for coastal towns

War Sails added governor lines to Mariner, Boatswain and Shipmaster that most guides do not cover at all. Nearly all of them only matter in a coastal town or a busy port. These are the ones worth taking:

• Naval Fighting Training (Mariner 100): +10% militia veterancy in coastal settlements.
• Accuracy Training (Boatswain 150): +2 militia in coastal towns and villages.
• Blessings Of The Sea (Boatswain 200): +25% fish production in the town’s villages, which means more food. Port Authority next to it only helps where villages produce walrus ivory or whale oil.
• Shipwright’s Hand (Boatswain 225): +1 garrison recruit for each merchant convoy entering port. Salvage gives +40 denars per convoy instead, if the town needs money more than troops.
• Night Raider (Shipmaster 75): +5 fish per day from each coastal village.
• Raven Eye (Shipmaster 125): +1 loyalty per returning fishing boat. The Helmsman’s Shield next to it gives the same in prosperity, which is the better pick if the town is already loyal.
• Fair Winds (Shipmaster 150): +10% hearth growth in coastal villages.

The shipyard and ship trade lines (Merchant Prince, Streamlined Operations, Merchant Fleet) are only worth it in a port where you buy, sell or build a lot of ships.

Stale governor perks in older guides

Many governor lists online are copies of tables from 2021 and 2022. They still list perks that no longer exist in the game (Promoter, Villager Connections, Foreseeable Future, Urban Developer) and perks whose governor line was removed, such as Natural Leader. Its second line is now a clan leader bonus to companion experience, and nothing in it works for a governor anymore. If a governor list recommends one of these, it is out of date.

Best perks for companion roles

Companions pick their own perks when they level up, and those picks are often not the ones you would make. You can choose for them in the character screen, and the arena master can also reset their perks while they travel in your party. What a companion needs depends entirely on the job you give him, because only the lines for that job do anything.

Since patch 1.4.5, one clan member can hold two party roles at once, which makes it a lot easier to cover quartermaster, surgeon, engineer, scout, First Mate and Navigator with a small group of companions instead of hiring a new specialist for every single slot.

Party leader companion

A companion who leads his own party uses the same party leader lines as you do, so most of your party size picks carry over: Authority (Leadership 75), Horde Leader (Tactics 75), Imposing Stature (Athletics 75), Mounted Scouts (Scouting 150) and Prestige (One Handed 250). Hardy Frontline (Polearm 200) and Well Built (Athletics 25) make his troops tougher.

The big difference to your own character is that his battles are almost always simulated. That makes the Tactics tree worth a lot more on him than on you, because most Tactics lines only work “when troops are sent to confront the enemy”. Elite Reserves (Tactics 200), which makes tier 3+ troops take 20% less damage in those fights, is a must for a companion party leader. Trusted Commander (Leadership 200, +20% troop experience in simulated fights) is also a better pick for him than for you.

Clan leader lines (Leader of the Masses’ party size, Natural Leader, Talent Magnet’s clan party) don’t work for a companion. Captain lines only matter if he joins your army and captains a formation in your battles.

Quartermaster

The quartermaster uses Steward and some Trade lines. The four musts are:

• Frugal (Steward 25): -5% wages for the whole party, every day.
• Paid in Promise (Steward 100): discarded armor is donated to troops for experience.
• Giving Hands (Steward 125): the same for discarded weapons.
• Caravan Master (Trade 50): +30% carrying capacity for the party.

Together, Paid in Promise and Giving Hands turn every pile of battle loot into training for your troops, and players call them “non-choices” because the perks next to them simply cannot compete with free experience after every fight. After that, Aid Corps (150, no wages for wounded troops) and Sound Reserves (175, -10% upgrade costs) are good steady savings.

Surgeon

Doctor’s Oath (Medicine 75) is the must for a surgeon. More enemy casualties survive as prisoners, and Medicine levels much faster with it. After that, most surgeon tiers are about healing speed: Walk It Off (50) for healing while moving, Good Lodging (100) for healing while resting in settlements, and Helping Hands (250), whose recovery bonus grows with party size.

Veterinarian (125) is worth it in a cavalry army, since the surgeon can recover half of the mounts from fallen cavalry. Physician of People (200) gives tier 1 and 2 troops a 30% chance to survive lethal wounds.

Mind that Minister of Health (275) is useless on a surgeon. It only counts from the party leader, so that one has to be yours. Also remember that Preventive Medicine (25) is personal, so every companion who fights should take it for himself, surgeon or not.

Engineer

Engineer lines only matter during sieges. Torsion Engines (Engineering 25) speeds up ranged siege engines, which are the ones that take longest to build and the only ones defenders can build. Wall Breaker (100) adds +25% wall damage in bombardment, and Camp Building (175) cuts bombardment casualties in your camp by 20%.

A companion engineer can also be a captain in battle. Metallurgy (225) has a captain line that gives +5 armor to every armor piece of the troops in his formation, and it stacks with Ignore Pain (Athletics 250) and Dauntless Steed (Riding 250). So an engineer who captains your infantry or cavalry is a very good use of one companion.

Scout

The scout lines are mostly small travel speed and sight bonuses, such as Day Traveler (Scouting 25), Pathfinder (50) and Forced March (100). Small, but always on.

The catch with a companion scout is that the best Scouting perks are party leader lines. Mounted Scouts (150) gives the party leader +5 party size, but the scout only gets a sight bonus from it, and Keen Sight (225) halves the escape chance of prisoner lords only when the party leader has it.

A companion scout with Keen Sight gives your party a smaller forest sight penalty and nothing else. If you capture lords, that is a good reason to level Scouting on your own character as well.

A good way to split the roles

If you are not sure who should do what, this split works well for most campaigns.

• Scout: keep it on yourself if you capture lords. Keen Sight and Mounted Scouts only pay out on the party leader, and together with Mounted Patrols (Riding 225) your prisoner lords stay put on land.
• Quartermaster: give it to a companion with high Steward. The party size bonus from the Steward skill counts from the quartermaster, at +1 party size for every 4 skill points.
• Surgeon and engineer: both run on Intelligence, so one clever companion can hold both roles since patch 1.4.5.
• First Mate and Navigator: only worth filling if you sail a lot. Otherwise leave them empty and the lines fall back to you.

Mind that anything you leave empty falls back to you, so a small party with a strong main character can also get by with fewer companions in roles.

War Sails: Mariner, Boatswain and Shipmaster

War Sails added three skills, and each of them works quite differently. Mariner is mostly a combat tree. Boatswain is about your fleet (ship count, repairs, ammunition, etc.) and belongs to the First Mate role, while Shipmaster is about moving on the campaign map at sea and belongs to the Navigator role.

The general advice from players is to get Mariner to 150, take Boatswain to around 100 if it is cheap for you, and only push Shipmaster if you really want to. It levels very slowly.

Mariner: which tiers matter

Most Mariner tiers are nice at sea. Nothing more. Pirate’s Prowess (25, +25% melee handling), Axe of the North Wind or Sunny Disposition (75, +20% damage with axes or swords) and Warrior’s Might (250, +20% melee damage) are all good picks if you fight a lot of sea battles, and useless if you do not.

Mariner 150 is the tier that makes the tree worth leveling. Shattering Blow gives +50% armor penetration for your melee weapons, and the same for the melee troops you captain, while Shattering Volley does the same for ranged weapons. Unlike almost everything else in the tree, these work in land battles too, because the armor calculation that War Sails adds to the game has no sea check at all and runs in every campaign battle. That makes Shattering Blow one of the strongest captain perks in the game. It just happens to hide in a naval tree.

A fair warning, though: one careful player test on an older version (about 1.3.12) saw no change from Shattering Volley on land. That test used a crossbow at 288 skill against looters, where Crossbow 25 Piercer already ignores armor below 20, so there was probably nothing left for Volley to remove. Other players report that the armor penetration perks do work on land. The 1.4.8 code agrees with them.

At 225, Mighty Blows improves your two-handed cleave (the swing loses less damage on the first target) in land and sea battles alike. Since War Sails all two-handed weapons cleave anyway, so the perk makes the cleave stronger rather than adding it. Crew of Spears next to it is sea only.

Land vs sea

This is probably the most asked War Sails question, and both camps on Reddit were partly right. Most Mariner combat perks only work in naval battles. A handful work everywhere:

As a rule of thumb, crew lines and anything that mentions ships only work at sea. The personal bonuses at 25, 75 and 250 are sea only too. Their text does not say so.

Ship limit perks are party leader lines

If you want more ships, these are the perks that give them:

• Boatswain 200: Blessings Of The Sea or Port Authority, +1 ship to your command limit (both perks give it, so pick by the governor line).
• Boatswain 250: Merchant Fleet, +1 ship in battle.
• Shipmaster 225: Master and commander or Stormrider, +1 ship to your command limit. Master and commander also gives every troop +1 experience per hour at sea.

All of these are party leader lines. That is the trap.

A First Mate or Navigator with these perks does not give you an extra ship, so you need them on your own character (or on a companion who leads his own fleet). The picker marks these tiers as Must for your main character for that reason. Leading an army at sea is the other way to bring more ships into battle.

Shipmaster 200 Fleet Commander fits in the same group. It cuts the fleet size penalty on the campaign map by 30% and the skeleton crew requirement by 20%, which makes a large fleet easier to run.

First Mate and Navigator

Patch 1.4.5 added two new party roles, the First Mate (Boatswain) and the Navigator (Shipmaster). Before that, players complained that companions with sea skills had nothing to do outside of captaining a ship. Now most Boatswain lines are First Mate lines and most Shipmaster lines are Navigator lines.

The same fallback rule applies as for the other party roles. No First Mate or Navigator in your party means your own perks count.

For a First Mate, the useful picks are Merchant Prince (25, -30% ship repair cost), Well Stocked (50, +30% crew ammo), Shipwright’s Insight (125, +30% ballista damage to hulls and +25% crew ammo) and Smooth Operator (150, -30% food use at sea). For a Navigator, Master Angler (25) is the must: about 6 free fish a day at sea, which covers the food of roughly 150 men while sailing. Raven Eye (125, +20% spotting range) and Favorable Tide (150, +5% sea speed on every heading) follow.

For your own character, this means the Boatswain tree has a lot of tiers that do nothing for you once a companion is your First Mate. Your picks there are Veteran’s Wisdom (100, daily experience for your companions equal to 10 times your character level), Efficient Captain (175), the two ship limit tiers and Salvage (225). Salvage turns every ship you discard into influence (1% of its remaining hull points), but only while your clan is in a kingdom.

In Shipmaster, The Helmsman’s Shield (125) is a must for you. Standing at the helm already cuts the ranged damage you take by 60%, and this perk adds another 50% reduction on top of that for as long as you are the one steering the ship. The two reductions add up past 100%, so arrows and bolts should do no damage to you at all while you steer (this comes from the game code and has not been confirmed by players yet).

Arr! vs Partners in Crime

Mariner 175 Arr! lets surrendering pirate parties join you. At sea, the game checks Arr! instead of Roguery 150 Partners in Crime, so Partners in Crime does nothing there. On land it is the other way around.

Neither perk makes bandits or pirates surrender. They only let you recruit the ones that already do.

Older threads call Arr! bugged, because before patch 1.4.5 pirates at sea never surrendered at all. That was fixed, so Arr! is worth taking now if you want to build a crew from captured pirates (Pirate Hunter next to it only boosts autoresolved fights against pirates at sea).

Perks to skip

Boatswain 275 Naval Bombardment (shipboard ballistas fire during sieges) does nothing. It is defined in the game but never used, and players plus a TaleWorlds bug report confirm it. Do not push Boatswain to 275 for it.

A few lines are dead in the code as well:

• Rallying Cry’s morale line (Mariner 125) never triggers, so take Terror of the Seas at that tier.
• Popular Captain’s recruit discount (Boatswain 175) never applies, which leaves Efficient Captain as the only real pick.
• The experience lines on Arr! and Pirate Hunter (Mariner 175) do not work.

Finally, prisoner perks behave differently at sea. Keen Sight’s prisoner line (Scouting 225) and the prisoner line of Athletics 75 Stamina are switched off while your party sails. Riding 225 Mounted Patrols still works at sea.

Perk choices by build

The builds below are common ways to play a main character. They only list the perks that define each build. Leadership party size perks (Authority, Leader of the Masses, Uplifting Spirit) fit into any of them if you have the Social points. If you want to plan an exact build with attributes and focus points, the alcaras character planner linked at the end of this guide is the best tool for it.

Cavalry lancer

You ride in front of your cavalry and couch your lance into whatever stands still. Riding and Polearm are your main trees, and your cavalry formation gets most of the captain bonuses.

• Riding 25 Nimble Steed: +30 Riding skill for the cavalry you captain.
• Polearm 75 Clean Thrust: +10% thrust damage.
• Polearm 125 Lancer: +20% speed damage for you, +30% for polearm troops you captain.
• Riding 150 Mounted Warrior: +5% mounted melee damage for you and your formation.
• Riding 250 Dauntless Steed: +5 armor per armor piece for mounted troops you captain.
• Mariner 150 Shattering Blow: +50% melee armor penetration, on land too.
• Athletics 175 Durable: +1 Endurance, which feeds Riding.

Horse archer

The horse archer lives in the Bow and Riding trees and takes the mounted option at every split.

• Bow 25 Dead Aim, Bow 50 Bodkin and Bow 75 Rapid Fire: the strong early trio.
• Bow 100 Mounted Archery: -30% accuracy penalty on horseback (over Merry Men).
• Riding 100 Sagittarius: -15% mounted accuracy penalty for you and your mounted troops.
• Riding 150 Horse Archer: +10% ranged damage while mounted.
• Bow 225 Horse Master: use any bow on horseback, +30 Bow skill for horse archers you captain.
• Athletics 200 Steady: +1 Control instead of Vigor.

Two-handed infantry

You fight on foot with a big axe or a two-handed sword, usually at the head of your infantry, with Two Handed and Athletics as your core trees and (since War Sails) two very good perks for exactly this playstyle sitting in the Mariner tree.

• Two Handed 25 Strong Grip: +10% handling, +30 Two Handed skill for infantry you captain.
• Two Handed 75 Baptised in Blood: experience for your troops from your kills and after battles.
• Two Handed 225 Vandal: +25% armor penetration.
• Athletics 50 Fury: +10% weapon handling on foot for you and your foot troops.
• Athletics 250 Ignore Pain: +10% armor on foot, +5 armor per piece for your foot troops.
• Mariner 150 Shattering Blow and Mariner 225 Mighty Blows: armor penetration and a better cleave, both on land.
• Smithing 225 Fencer Smith: +1 focus to One Handed and Two Handed.

Commander and king

This build cares less about your own sword and more about the size of your army, your influence and your prisoners. Leadership, Tactics, Charm and Medicine carry it.

• Leadership 75 Authority, 125 Leader of the Masses, 175 Uplifting Spirit and 250 Talent Magnet: party size and an extra clan party.
• Tactics 75 Horde Leader: +10 party size and slower army cohesion loss.
• Tactics 150 Call To Arms: -15% influence to call parties, and they reach you 10% faster.
• Charm 200 Natural Leader: +20% experience for all companions.
• Riding 225 Mounted Patrols and Scouting 225 Keen Sight: keep the lords you capture.
• Medicine 275 Minister of Health: +1 hit point for your troops per Medicine point above 250.

Trader and smith

This build makes money first and fights second. Mind that Trade 300 is a long way to go, so it’s a plan for a long campaign.

• Trade 25 Appraiser: -15% price penalty when selling equipment (battle loot).
• Trade 125 Great Investor: +1 daily renown per profitable caravan.
• Trade 175 Insurance Plans: 5000 denars back when a caravan is destroyed.
• Trade 300 Everything Has a Price: trade settlements in barter.
• Smithing 50 Curious Smelter and 75 Curious Smith: learn weapon parts twice as fast.
• Smithing 175 Artisan Smith: -50% selling penalty on weapons you smith.
• Roguery 225 Arms Dealer: better prices for weapons you sell, which stacks with Artisan Smith.

Broken and changed perks

These are the perks that do not work as described in v1.4.8, or that changed in a way older guides have not caught up with.

Many older guides also still show perk names that were changed at some point. One Handed 25 Deflect is now Wrapped Handles, Mariner 50 Forceful is now Shield Breaker, and Two Handed 150 Arrow Deflection is now Projectile Deflection.

Others to watch for are Generous Rations (now Hardy Frontline at Polearm 200), Sniper (now Long Shots at Crossbow 200), Salvo (now Ranger’s Swiftness at Bow 250), Slave Trader (now Manhunter at Roguery 100) and Talent Management (now Talent Magnet at Leadership 250). Throwing Competitions is Slinging Competitions now. In Shipmaster 150, both perks were renamed to Favorable Tide and Fair Winds. The whole Throwing tree between 75 and 225 was also rearranged, so older Throwing picks often point at the wrong tier.

FAQ

Can you reset perks in Bannerlord?

Yes, and you do not need mods for it. Talk to the arena master in any town arena and ask about the teachers. You can reset the perks of one skill at a time, for yourself or a clan member in your party.

It costs the current skill level times 40 denars (so 1200 denars for a skill at 30), and the skill has to be at least 25. You keep your skill levels, attributes and focus points, but any attribute or focus point a perk gave you is removed again.

How often do you get attribute points?

Every 4 levels. Focus points come faster, with 1 per level. Some older guides and the early character screen said every 3 levels, which is not correct. The only other source of attribute points are the perks in Athletics and Smithing listed above.

Do governor perks help the player character?

No. The player can never be a governor, and waiting in one of your towns does not apply your governor lines either. Governor lines only work for a clan member who is assigned as governor and is inside that town. If your main character has to choose between a governor line and a party leader line, take the party leader line.

Do captain perks affect the captain himself?

No. Captain lines apply to every troop in the formation, including companions fighting in it, but never to the hero who captains it. So a bow captain perk does not make your own arrows hit harder. The personal line of the same perk does.

Do Mariner perks work on land?

Most of them don’t. The exceptions are Brute Force (Mariner 50, kick and bash damage), Shattering Blow and Shattering Volley (Mariner 150, +50% armor penetration) and the cleave part of Mighty Blows (Mariner 225). These have no sea check in the game code. Everything else in the Mariner tree only works in naval battles.

Do perks work in custom battles?

Since patch 1.4.5, personal and captain perks only apply in the campaign (sandbox) mode, not in custom battles. If you want to test whether a perk works, do it in a campaign fight.

What happens to quartermaster or surgeon perks if no companion has the role?

Your own perks take over, because the party leader fills every empty party role. The same happens if the companion who holds the role is not in your party. This covers quartermaster, scout, surgeon, engineer, First Mate and Navigator. Once a companion takes the role, your own lines for it stop doing anything.

Conclusion

Most of the value in Bannerlord’s perk trees comes from a fairly small group of perks: party size, troop hit points, the attribute perks and a few prisoner perks. Check which role each line needs before you pick, give your governors the loyalty perks, and do not let the Mariner tree fool you into thinking it only matters at sea.

The perk data in this guide was checked against the game files of v1.4.8 with War Sails. Thanks to the alcaras Bannerlord character planner, which is the best place to plan a full build, and to Sethja’s Steam perk guide, which we used to cross-check our picks. If you spot a perk that has changed or a pick you disagree with, let us know at [email protected].