Recommended Weapons Configuration For Companions

[estevesbk]

So, my companions have:

1. 1H Piercing Weapon
2. Shield
3. 1H Blunt Weapon
4. [ Free Slot ]

On the [ Free Slot ] I have tried to give a throwing weapon to them, but didn't work so well, actually they've become worse in combat.

Also they seem to fight better with shield than with 2H, specially on sieges.

I could invest more skills on archery/throwing and horse archery but I would prefer to save skill points to something else.

So if I would preserve this configuration, which weapon would you recommend then using on 4? A lance would do ok, would they know when to switch, when to use and when not to use?

Maybe I could give them one of the Rhodok Shields that cannot be used on horseback, but it would only be useful on sieges.


Well, any hints would be appreciated...

Thanks!

 

[Ivan Khan]

First let me say a great deal depends on what mod you play.

For native I found that the best set-up is to mount them and give them a shield, a long one handed weapon, and either crossbow or bow.

Bow works much better in late game.

I would use crossbow for companions that start at a high level or are specialized as healers, scouts or whatever.

Thrown weapons just do not work. I give Kelthi and Rolf crossbows or bows too.

In native I found lances are not an advantage. You also want to avoid shorter weapons as your companions will take more damage.


Late game my fighters have long arming sword, shield, best bow and arrows they can use.

For healers etc they have light crossbow instead of bows.




If you have storage room you can switch out for prisoner taking, sieges and such.

 

[fragonard]

If you have storage room you can switch out for prisoner taking, sieges and such.

Very good idea. You can always use the chest in Rivacheg for this.

 

[Ivan Khan]

If you have storage room you can switch out for prisoner taking, sieges and such.

Very good idea. You can always use the chest in Rivacheg for this.

I am playing Silverstag now and have my companions carrying different weapons sets. Blunt, siege crossbows, etc. It is a real pain changing them out though. It would be nice to have a way to pick out outfits before battle starts. I know there was a mod that allowed this but cannot remember what it was. Hope it shows up in Bannerlord.

 

[estevesbk]

If you have storage room you can switch out for prisoner taking, sieges and such.

Very good idea. You can always use the chest in Rivacheg for this.

I am playing Silverstag now and have my companions carrying different weapons sets. Blunt, siege crossbows, etc. It is a real pain changing them out though. It would be nice to have a way to pick out outfits before battle starts. I know there was a mod that allowed this but cannot remember what it was. Hope it shows up in Bannerlord.

Yes the problem is to change. Even when you have your Kingdom sometimes you need to capture some prisoners to boost the income, and that should be a real pain changing the crossbow/bolts for blunt weapons for all the 8.

Actually they fight fine without anything on the last slot, but it's kinda waste. I usually get every companion to AGI 12/ Weapon Master 4 and after some level, they just have too many points in 1H so I can't assign anymore.

 

[Filou]

So, my companions have:

1. 1H Piercing Weapon
2. Shield
3. 1H Blunt Weapon
4. [ Free Slot ]

I would get rid of one of the 1h and give a crossbow that can't be used on horseback so they only use it in sieges and if they get dismounted in the field. When your companions are fully developed you have a sharpshooter+knight all in one.

2 reasons why I would not have pierce and blunt weapon
-Blunt and Pierce damage are pretty similar in terms of ignoring armor so in terms of damage it's going to be similar.
-In both cases these weapons tend to be short, so either of these are at a disadvantage compared to a weapon with 100~110 when the companion is mounted. No point in ignoring armor if you can't hit your target


If you really want to stick with both option you could go for a 2nd shield. Some say that it reduces damage taken to the back for companions... never fully checked it out myself.

Lances... you need a mod that has a lancing fix, otherwise the AI sticks to their lance as long as they are mounted and they become useless when their horse gets immobilized.

 

[estevesbk]

So, my companions have:

1. 1H Piercing Weapon
2. Shield
3. 1H Blunt Weapon
4. [ Free Slot ]

I would get rid of one of the 1h and give a crossbow that can't be used on horseback so they only use it in sieges and if they get dismounted in the field. When your companions are fully developed you have a sharpshooter+knight all in one.

2 reasons why I would not have pierce and blunt weapon
-Blunt and Pierce damage are pretty similar in terms of ignoring armor so in terms of damage it's going to be similar.
-In both cases these weapons tend to be short, so either of these are at a disadvantage compared to a weapon with 100~110 when the companion is mounted. No point in ignoring armor if you can't hit your target


If you really want to stick with both option you could go for a 2nd shield. Some say that it reduces damage taken to the back for companions... never fully checked it out myself.

Lances... you need a mod that has a lancing fix, otherwise the AI sticks to their lance as long as they are mounted and they become useless when their horse gets immobilized.

+8 Sharpshooters and Knights on Sieges? That seems nice!

Blunt Weapons seem to be superior to others sometimes because they knock the opponent to the ground.

The problem is that it's a bit hard to find a good blunt weapon. In my last game I didn't even find a single Military Hammer (31b), but I've found plenty of Heavy Sabres (33c) and Elite Scimitars (32c). Most of my companions had to stick to the Heavy Flanged Maces (26b).

So when facing alone with them a group of Sea Raiders, when it was an easy combat (few sea raiders and/or when I could attract the most of them to me), I would order them to use Blunt, when not to use Weapons At Will.

 

[Ivan Khan]

Just remember with blunt weapons in sieges, if you do not end it on the first battle your enemy will heal up and you will have to kill them all over again.

Little off topic, but in testing companion equipment I gave them all Great Long Axes once. They were awesome in open field meld, but missile troops killed them, and the axes were too long to use in assaulting during a siege. Just another thing that makes you want extra slots. I remember seeing a couple of extra slot on the Bannerlord picks, hope that is what they are for

 

[Skuadak]

They work fine with morning stars + shield and siege crossbows for example. My fav is masterwork warbow + 2 guivers of k. arrrows and heavy long axe/ great long berdish. They are unstopable with this set, once I beat 137 sea riders just with 8 companions and me, geared the same as them. But such setup have tons of cons - it's expensive, takes ages to train them*, most of companions can't even take any party skills since you spend all points for power draw and strike etc.

*althought they gain lvls pretty fast once they hit lvl 4 power draw. You just need many lvls.

I saved few pictures from that time

here almost fully trained Marnind:

隐藏

and here Vaegir Elite Marksmen, from another game:

隐藏

Althought it's damn awesome I don't really recomend this way to anyone since it takes ages

 

[Ivan Khan]

Althought it's damn awesome I don't really recomend this way to anyone since it takes ages

That was awesome!

 

[estevesbk]

That was really a great setup! 

But unfortunately I have need for party skills so it would be a problem.

I believe Filou's suggestion will work pretty well. It was just brilliant!

He was able to think from a point of view that I had not considered, sacrificing the piercing slot. If since the beginning of the game I keep my eye for Military/Heavy Military Hammers I think they can be almost as effective as with piercing weapons. I need "only" to find 8 anyway.

About the wounded on sieges, I believe the crossbow hits will make up for it.

They will fit brilliant on my ladders strategy that is to shoot the archers behind my infantry/cavalry, retreat, do it again, retreat, until they run out of archers then bring my sharpshooters and storm their troops with their bolts. That would be +8 doing that... 

 

[estevesbk]

Well, it's already day 160 of my new game and I have to say that Filou's suggestion worked in a very brilliant way!

1. There is really not a big difference between 1H Blunt and 1H Piercing/Cutting damage. They are doing fine against Sea Raiders with Blunt Weapons only.

2. Since day 1 I was already looking on every town I passed for Military/Heavy Military Hammers even before completing totally my own gear. Now all of my companions have Military Hammers and only 1 doesn't have the Heavy type.

3. Heavy/Siege Crossbows were pretty easy to find on their "normal" variant.

4. The Strength required for Siege Crossbows (10) is the same for the Winged Great Helmet.

5. The biggest advantage is that it is not needed to spend skill on any Power Draw, Horse Archery, etc. leaving them to party skills.

I have been testing the siege crossbows on the field to train my companions (I go directly from "free man" to king, no vassal so it will take some time yet to lay a siege). Unmount + Hold Position. They do great against bandits that you do not wish to capture or that you already have captured your party limit. Even forest bandits (bow x crossbow) with proper armor their bows do very little damage so it's ideal to train and level up them. Mountain Bandits are also an easy prey as you can tell them to hold position on the top of the hill.

So basically, I indeed have a Knight + Sharpshooter!

The final configuration:

Slot 1: 1H Blunt Weapon (Military/Heavy Military Hammer)
Slot 2: Shield (Heavy Kite Shield seems a good all-around for both "knight" and "sharpshooter" modes)
Slot 3: Heavy/Siege Crossbow
Slot 4: Large Bag of Bolts/Steel Bolts.


This configuration has not only made them very efficient but also the game more fun for being able to explore that 2 sides of the companions, and all that you need to do is asking them to umount.

Thanks so much for recommending it!

 

[Filou]

Glad you like it
It's been my default companion setup for a long time. But to give proper credit, I actually started using it after it was mentioned around here by somebody else.

I really like their usefulness in sieges with this setup, especially in defense when you have them assigned to a specific command group.

I like to do a lot of Bandit Lair missions with my companions to train their crossbow proficiency.
Depending on the lair either have them follow you around or have them hold position and they shoot away at anything in sight. Meanwhile while you mostly protect them if anybody gets too close and shoot the odd target they have trouble with.

In my current playtrough I kept them on foot for longer than usual. By the time thy reached level 15 they had ~200 crossbow proficiency, so better than a sharpie. Although their 1h is lagging a bit.

 

[estevesbk]

I was unable to think about it at first because I thought there would be a great difference between Blunt and Cutting/Piercing Weapons, specially on Sea Raiders that use Byrnies/Mail Shirts. Actually it's something that Mr. Ramun on Tihr says. But other than speed and reach, the difference on damage itself seems minimal.

I liked the idea of Bandit Lairs. The "great test" would be to do that on the Taiga Bandit one. These motherf*****s have a great bow/throwing skill. I have not yet had the courage to test them on the open against them. Forest Bandits ok because even using bow x crossbow their damage is too little.

I have laid my first siege now. They seem to do ok, much better anyway than just standing still as a target while I shoot the archers. They seem to miss a little more than the Sharpshooters even at skill 150+ but maybe it was only the position I've put them.

Edit: I would like to add that this Blunt-Only Companion Setup is also very useful for capturing enemy prisoners on battles. If there is a total of 8 companions and you deploy 40 troops counting them and Knights e.g. there's a chance that 20% of all the enemies are knocked down. You find a Ransom Broker and I got a feeling that in this game I will soon not need to go against Sea Raiders just to get some extra cash that my Towns/Enterprises cannot provide.

 

[estevesbk]

Sorry for double posting, but this is what I meant:



I had:

- 8 Companions (20%)
- 32 Swadian Knights (80%)

I did not interfere on the battle... Ok, I've knocked the Jarl down to force their troops out of formation but then I've just ran back and watched!

Enemies:

- 25 Wounded (29,06%)
- 61 Killed (70,93%)

It's a little rare for Swadian Knights to knock anyone out so they were good for testing (as opposed to Sarranid Mamlukes which would knock out many).

This confirms that the companions armed with blunt weapons and a good armor (55/55/50 + Heavy Charger) perform well and do their part on knocking the enemies out on the battles. This seems to bring a lot of cash!

 

[blainedeyoung]

Sounds like people are on pretty much the same page.

I always give my companions sledgehammers, siege crossbows, and two packs of steel bolts. 

Taking prisoners is *the* way to make money in this game. 

You don't want to give them options because too frequently they'll choose the wrong option.