Good Way to leveling companions.

[Geo300]

Hi guys, i'm a novice to this mod and the game and i'm at day 370 with an army size of 140 and my original lvl 1 companions are about lvl 15~ only.
I would like now to made them reach lvl 20 so i can exp their trainer skills. But i suppose for you for that amount of day playing, the levels of my companions are pretty bad ? So what are u doing to level em up ? Btw i would like to ask another question while i'm at it, when shall i start chasing unique spawns ? Thank you.
I'm still a vassal to ravenstern with 1 town, 1 castle and 1 village.

 

[AlphaOmega]

Make sure they get the most kills is basically the best way, have your whole army hold and just your companions charge out.  Also they get XP from quests, so do a lot of them and it adds up fast.  Getting Jocelyn and Fred with their 5 trainer off the bat is good as well.

Whenever you want really, if your army size of 140 is mostly elite troops you can handle most spawns if you have good tactics (skill and or actual personal tactics if you're using battlesizer).  Other then that try and lure a unique spawn to another army and then join in, the noldor are good for that.  If you're ravenstern then everyone is hostile to the Jatu/Wolfebode, so just wait until they are engaged in a lot of your allied lords and join in.  You won't be able to capture the unique lord though unless he has over 15 HP, so keep an eye on that.

 

[Geo300]

Okey thanks I just puted my whole army in garrison to try to see if companions level better that way. But i didn't catch the last part... i can't catch the unique lord if he has over 15 hp ? What does that means ? ^^

 

[MrBlitz]

It means that on the overworld map, the leader of the unique spawn must have at least 15% hp for you to capture him after the battle, much like how you and your companions have % HP when you mouse over your own party, otherwise he will simply disappear.

 

[Geo300]

Oh okey I understand, thank you. 

 

[habeo123]

Best way to level up Compansies, do quests, especially following the marshal. Give Ansen Leslie Sara at least 12 STR so they can use most 1 handed weapon and good 50 body armor. They in each fight they might get few kills here an there from the horse. Gradually you can get them to level up but that is slow and painful. Follow your marshal, the longer you do the more EXP you get for yourself as well as all companions. Notice that when you finish a quest, you and your companions get equal EXP to the game log text.

 

[azxcvbnm321]

What I usually do is have my party composed of ONLY my companions and myself and we go hunting for bandits and other units depending on the companions' level.  You can make a lot of money this way and I this is what I do until I'm ready to field an army to get my first town/castle.  You can still be hired as a mercenary, your companions count as troops and the requirement for being hired is very low.  Even after you get towns/castles, you can just place all your troops in garrison in peacetime and go hunting with your companions. 

Another great way to level them up is siege defenses.  Have your melee companions charge so that they'll be near the ladder choke point.  They'll get a lot of kills that way, and even more for ranged companions when they hold position near the ladder and shoot anyone who comes up.  Not too near, you don't want ranged companions to switch to melee.  Clearing villages of bandits is yet another good way to gain XP.  I command everyone to hold position and then charge with only my companions.  If needed the other farmers and such can charge later, but that's usually not needed at all.

 

[Nizaker]

You should try the knight order quests, especially the bounty ones. If you can take part into a fight where an invading army get slaughtered (for instance, a snake cult army with the shadow legion/immortal order) by several lords or an other invading army, you will get a lot of XP and gold. (I managed to get a Noldor lord into the Dread Legion and got 10k XP, probably less for my companions but get several levels up for low level ones)

 

[NicotiN]

Depends on what you want for them. I usually level up  my int and put a lot in training. After that i take small elite warbands and chase lords around, in the first month. I pick Sarleon for the non stop action so my heroes have battles. It's also important to gear heroes so you have have your little heroes group to flank enemies. Turn all companions into archers if they are weak or cavalry if they can fight, fierdsvain is a good place to kill heretics and do some trade

 

[Griefer]

1. Stow everyone but companions.

2. Regardless of skills, proficiencies, etc put them all on some sort of horse with a spear.

3. Hunt small vanskerry groups.

4. Tell companions to hold position.

5. Ride ahead, get them to waste all thrown stuff.

6. Use javelins or pick up thrown axes to break shields.

7. Order companions to attack.

8. Ride over the enemies but don't kill them, your companions will couch them down.

Rinse and repeat, for the time invested it's the fastest way to level them up.

Also works with renegade knights, just couch their horses and bust shields and kill any ranged enemies before you call you companions up.

Vanskerry are still the best and most prolific bang for your buck. This also works great for leveling small groups of units up to top tier. Blademasters for example. You can do it by carting huge armies around but for the time / money a group of 15 bladesmen can go master in less than an hour after you get it down to a science.  Just peel the masters out or they'll hog kills and xp.