Taking care of your army in is an important part of the gameplay, and keeping the morale of your troops high will significantly boost their performance in battles. While this is mostly a passive process, having the right skill and approach can make the effects even more beneficial.
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These are the best Leadership perks to choose in Mount & Blade 2: Bannerlord.
The steward skill is the main way of increasing your party's size and keeping their morale high by providing a variety of food. With the right perk choices, you can create large, powerful, and content armies that will lead your kingdom to victory.
Since you are given a choice between two perks at each level, this list will be organized by level, detailing which of the two options is better.
1 Frugal
Frugal | -5% wages in your party -15% recruitment costs |
Warrior's Diet | -10% food consumption in your party No morale penalty from having single type of food |
Frugal is the first perk you can unlock early in your playthrough, but its benefits keep getting more impactful as you progress through the game. One of your main expenses in the game is paying your troops' wages, and the wage reduction that this perk offers gets even more noticeable as you grow your party's size.
Warrior's Diet is a decent perk that helps reduce costs by reducing food consumption, but this pales in comparison to the cost reductions provided by Frugal. The secondary benefit of Warrior's Diet can come in handy in dire situations or certain challenge runs, but it's not effective enough to justify choosing this perk.
2 Drill Sergeant
Drill Sergeant | +2 daily experience to troops in your party -5% garrison wages in the governed settlement |
Seven Veterans | +4 daily experience for tier 4+ troops in your party +1 militia recruitment in the governed settlement |
Both these perks can help you with leveling up your troops faster, but even though Seven Veterans gives more experience to high tier troops, the lower but more consistent bonus experience provided by Drill Sergeant will be overall more effective.
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The secondary effect of both these perks is for your governors, and between the two, Drill Sergeant still pulls ahead as garrison wages can get out of hand in large settlements. The cost reduction offered by this perk is a crucial bonus for any governor you appoint to your fiefs.
3 Sweatshops
Stiff Upper Lip | -10% food consumption in your party while it is part of an army -20% garrison wages in the governed castle |
Sweatshops | +20% production rate to owned workshops +20% siege engine build rate in your party |
Stiff Upper Lip is another perk that reduces your food consumption. It can be stacked with the Warrior's Diet perk if you choose to go that path. But the main benefit of this perk is for your governors, as it provides a considerable wage reduction in your castles.
For your character, Sweatshops is a fantastic choice as it increases your profits from your workshops and speeds up your siege engines' construction. Both bonuses are extremely valuable and useful in all playthroughs.
4 Paid In Promise
Efficient Campaigner | +1 extra food for each food taken during village raids for your party -25% troop wages in your party while it is part of an army |
Paid In Promise | -25% companion wages and recruitment fees Discarded armors are donated to troops for increased experience |
Efficient Campaigner's first benefit can provide you with a little extra food if you raid many villages, but its most appealing benefit is the huge wage reduction offered by the perk. If you are struggling with money, this is the best choice.
But once you have enough economic stability, Paid in Promise becomes the superior perk due to its secondary benefit. By utilizing this perk and the next perk in this skill tree, you can donate weapons and armor that you loot from defeated enemies to increase the experience of your troop and make their leveling-up process much quicker and easier.
5 Giving Hands
Giving Hands | Discarded weapons are donated to troops for increased experience +10% tariff income in the governed settlement |
Logistician | +4 party morale when the number of mounts is greater than the number of foot troops in your party +10% tax income |
Giving Hands, in combination with the previous perk, gives you a new and very effective way of leveling up your troops outside of combat. The only downside to these two perks is that selling looted weapons and armor is one of your main sources of income in the mid-game, so you have to manage your income carefully if you want to take full advantage of these benefits.
Logistician is a decent perk as well, but with high steward and leadership skills, your morale will always be high enough, so perks that directly increase your morale lose their value as you gain more levels of these skills.
6 Aid Corps
Aid Corps | Wounded troops in your party are no longer paid wages 20% hearth growth in villages bound to the governed settlement |
Relocation | +25% influence gain from donating troops +20% effect of boosting projects in the governed settlement |
Both perks at this level offer decent benefits based on your needs. If you find yourself low on influence, Relocation is a great way of gaining influence quickly. You can easily recruit troops and donate them back to a settlement in your kingdom to gain influence.
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But, if influence is not a priority, especially if you are in war, Aid Corps is a great perk for reducing your expenses. Both perks also provide decent governor perks, but the hearth growth increase by Aid Corps is more impactful in the long run.
7 Gourmet
Gourmet | Double the morale bonus of having diverse food in your party -10% garrison food consumption during sieges in governed settlement |
Sound Reserves | -10% troop upgrade cost -10% food consumption during sieges in your party |
Once you reach level 175 in Steward skill, you no longer have to worry about your party's morale thanks to the Gourmet perk. If you keep up a diverse food supply in your inventory, you can get up to 16 morale thanks to this perk, easily keeping you above 75, which is what you need to activate certain powerful perks from other skills.
Sound reserve is a decent perk that can reduce your expenses in certain stages of the game where you need to replenish your party with low-level troops. However, it is not a constant cost reduction, making it less valuable over time.
8 Forced Labor
Contractors | -25% wages and upgrade costs of the mercenary troops in your party +10% town project effects in the governed setlement |
Forced Labor | Prisoners in your party provide carry capacity as if they are standard troops +1% construction speed per every 3 prisoners |
While the Contractors perk can be a great addition if you use a lot of mercenary troops in your party, these troops are usually more expensive and less effective than regular troops of the same tier.
Forced Labor is a decent perk that can help you immensely after large battles where you take a lot of prisoners and loot, allowing you to get to your destination unencumbered. The perk's governor bonus is also more useful if you can fill the settlement's dungeon with prisoners.
9 Arenicos' Horses
Arenicos' Horses | +10% carrying capacity for troops in your party -20% trade penalty for trading mounts |
Arenicos' Mules | +20% carrying capacity for pack animals in your party -20% trade penalty for trading pack animals |
The perks at this level both increase your party's carry capacity in various ways. Arenicos' Horses is the better option as it directly affects the carrying capacity of your troops, allowing you to get the perks benefit without needing to worry about pack animals.
The perk is also a great addition to trading playstyles. High-tier mounts are among the most profitable items for trading, and the 20 percent reduction in trade penalty is a decent boost to your profits.
10 Master Of Warcraft
Master of Planning | -40% food consumption while your party is in a siege camp +20% effectiveness to continuous projects in the governed settlements |
Master of Warcraft | -25% troop wages while your party is in a siege camp -5% food consumption of town population in governed settlement |
The final perks of the steward skill can both be extremely powerful in certain situations. If you choose every perk that reduces your party's food consumption in multiple skill trees, Master of Planning can bring that number to zero or even negative amounts, which means that your troops will produce extra food under the right circ*mstances.
The same effect can be true for Master of Warcraft. Considering how cheap food is and how expensive your troops' wages can get in the late game, if you get the right combination of perks, you never need to worry about having expensive troops in your party again.
