Highlights
- Skilled engineers are vital for winning siege battles in Bannerlord, with perks like Scaffolds and Dungeon Architect offering key advantages.
- Prioritize building battering rams and siege towers for speedy victories.
- Choose perks like Carpenters for increased hit points to siege engines, and consider a mix of infantry and archers for successful offensive siege battles.
Siege battles are a major part of late-game wars in . In addition to large armies and good party compositions, another deciding factor in winning offensive and defensive siege battles is having a skilled engineer.
Related
These are the best Tactics perks to use in Mount & Blade 2: Bannerlord.
Engineering is one of the hardest skills to level up, and it makes sense to relegate the role to a companion who already has some training in it. Either way, these perks might be unfamiliar to players who haven't invested in this skill before, and discussing their strengths can help you make better choices in this skill tree.
10 Scaffolds
Scaffolds | +10 build speed to non-ranged siege engines +30% shield hitpoints |
Torsion Engines | +10% build speed to ranged siege engines +3 damage to equipped crossbows |
The first perk in the engineering tree increases the speed at which you build your siege engines, with Scaffolds increasing the speed at which you build battering rams and siege towers, and Torsion Engines doing the same for your ranged siege engines.
While ranged siege engines such as trebuchets are potent tools in long siege battles, the extra speed doesn't benefit you that much if you have the time to build those engines safely. But if you are in a rush to complete the siege, battering rams and siege towers are crucial to winning sieges quickly. Comparing the secondary benefits of the two perks, the bonus shield health provided by Scaffolds is generally more useful than the extra crossbow damage provided by Torsion Engines.
9 Dungeon Architect
Dungeon Architect | -25% chance of ranged siege engines getting hit while under bombardment -25% escape chance to prisoners in dungeons of governed settlements |
Siegeworks | +10% hit points to ranged siege engines +1 prebuilt catapult to the settlement when a siege starts in the governed settlement |
The core strategy for destroying enemy defenses in a siege battle is to build your siege engines one by one, put them in reserve, and then deploy them all at once to overpower the enemy. While doing this task, each of your siege engines will take a couple of hits before you can retrieve them. Reducing the chance of them being hit is a very powerful bonus, making Dungeon Architect a great choice at this level.
Related
A shepherd is only as good as its flock, so to speak.
Siegeworks is a fantastic perk for defensive siege battles, and it works wondrously for your governors, allowing them to defend your settlements more consistently, or at least hold on long enough for you to gather an army and defeat the sieging army.
8 Carpenters
Carpenters | +33 hit points to rams and siege towers +12% build speed for projects in the governed town |
Military Planner | +50% ammunition to ranged troops while besieging +25% build speed for projects in the governed castle |
In rushed siege battles where you start the war as soon as your rams and siege towers are built, the main drawback is that they can be destroyed before reaching the walls. The Carpenters perk can prevent this by adding a massive bonus to these engines' hit points.
Military Planner is a decent perk if you rely heavily on high-tier archers in your army, allowing them to pick off enemy defenders with the extra ammunition at their disposal. So if you have a lot of Battanian Fian Champions in your party, Military Planner can outperform the Carpenters perk at this level.
While having a party of only high-tier battanian archers is an easy and powerful strategy for regular battles, they fall short in offensive siege battles without melee support. So try to train some powerful infantry in your party before sieging enemy towns.
7 Wall Breaker
Dreadful Besieger | +10% accuracy to your siege engines during siege bombardments in the governed settlement +5% crossbow damage by troops in your formation |
Wall Breaker | +25% damage dealt to walls during siege bombardment +30% damage dealt to shields by troops in your formation |
Dreadful Besieger, in addition to a few other engineering perks, can be picked together if you want to invest in the crossbow skill and crossbow troops. But outside of this niche case, they are weaker perks compared to their counterparts.
Wall Breaker, for example, is a fantastic perk that will make destroying enemy walls easier in siege battles, as well as allow your troops to deal more damage to enemy shields on the battlefield. Two extraordinary offensive benefits that will be useful in various situations.
6 Foreman
Foreman | +10% mangonel and trebuchet accuracy during siege bombardments +100 prosperity when a project is finished in the governed settlement |
Salvager | +20% accuracy to ballista during siege bombardment +0.1 siege engine build speed for each militia |
Between various siege engines, mangonels and trebuchets are most effective at destroying enemy siege engines and walls during the siege bombardment, and ballistas are great at targeting enemy troops during the siege battle itself.
This makes the Salvager perk suboptimal as you typically don't want to use ballistas during siege bombardments. Foreman, however, adds a decent bonus to mangonels and trebuchets when they are at their best.
5 Siege Engineer
Siege Engineer | +30% hit points to defensive siege engines in the governed settlement Fire versions of siege engines can be constructed |
Stonecutters | +30% build speed for fortifications, aqueducts, and barracks projects in the governed settlement Fire versions of siege engines can be constructed |
The sixth perks of engineering skill both provide the same major benefit of allowing you to build fire versions of ranged siege engines, making them more powerful than the regular siege engines.
Related
Romantic interest aside, the right spouse can make a world of difference for your clan.
When it comes to choosing between Siege Engineer and Stonecutters, the deciding factor is the governor perk. If you do have a governor with high engineering skill, Stonecutters will be the better option in underdeveloped towns, and Siege Engineer will be the better option if your city is completely upgraded.
Companions skilled in engineering are one of the best candidates for becoming governors as their engineering skills, regardless of their perks, directly increase the build speed in your settlements.
4 Camp Building
Battlements | +1 prebuilt ballista when you set up a siege camp +100 maximum granary capacity in the governed settlement |
Camp Building | -50% cohesion loss of armies when besieging -20% casualty chance from siege bombardments |
In the late game, long siege setups are a great way to corner large enemy armies and slowly starve them. To outlast the enemy in these situations, Camp Building is a great perk to allow you to hold the siege without losing the cohesion of your army.
Battlements is a decent perk if you don't do long siege bombardments and rush into the battle with rams and siege towers. The extra ballista can be the difference between a quick victory and a quick defeat in these situations.
3 Apprenticeship
Apprenticeship | +5 experience to troops when a siege engine is built +1% prosperity gain for each unique project in the governed settlement |
Engineering Guilds | +1 recruitment slot when recruiting from artisan notables +25% wall hit points in the governed settlement |
Considering how late we get these perks, they are both relatively disappointing. Apprenticeship gives a slight experience boost to your troops if you participate in a lot of siege battles, and Engineering Guilds will provide you with extra available recruits in towns.
Neither perk offers a game-changing bonus, and you can pick whichever you prefer. But considering how late you can unlock this perk, recruitment slots are generally obsolete, giving the experience boost of Apprenticeship a slight edge overall.
Improved Tools | +20% siege camp preparation speed +5% melee damage by troops in your formation |
Metallurgy | +30% chance to remove negative modifiers on looted items +5 armor to all equipped armor pieces of troops in your formation |
Many skills such as trade, roguery, and smithing can help you make money in Bannerlord. If you focus heavily on intelligence skills, you might miss out on those gold-making methods, but the Metallurgy perk in the engineering tree can make up for it with its powerful effect.
This perk reduces the chance of looted equipment being damaged and losing its value, allowing you to gain very powerful items to use or sell whenever you defeat powerful enemies. High-tier weapons and armor can be worth upwards of hundreds of thousands of denars, making the heavy investment in engineering skill pay off once you reach the Metallurgy perk.
Combining this perk with a high roguery skill can result in unbelievably high income from battle loot. If you manage to level up both skills in your game, you can equip yourself and your companions with the best weapons and armor, and make millions of denars by winning large battles.
1 Architectural Commissions
Architectural Commissions | +25% reload speed to mangonels and trebuchets in siege bombardments +20 gold per day for continuous projects in the governed settlement |
Clockwork | +25% reload speed to ballistas during siege bombardments +20% effect from boosting projects in the governed settlement |
The final perk choice in the engineering tree comes down to your preference between the quicker and more accurate ballistas, or slower and more powerful mangonels and trebuchets. As discussed before, mangonels and trebuchets are much stronger in siege bombardments, making Architectural Commissions a better choice.
But if you do choose every perk that improves your ballistas, Clockwork is a decent perk to cap it off. The perk allows you to deploy ballistas quickly, and they can hold their own really well in faster siege battles. This strategy lets you conquer settlement after settlement without the downtime needed to use the heavier siege engines.
