This article solves the problem of locating and recruiting smiths with high skill levels in Mount & Blade II: Bannerlord. It provides practical methods for identifying, attracting, and retaining talented smiths to bolster your warband’s capabilities and economy. We’ll cover everything from understanding the smithing skill itself, to actively searching for the best candidates, and even strategies for training your own.
Before embarking on your quest for master smiths, it’s crucial to understand what constitutes a highly skilled smith in Bannerlord 2. The smithing skill directly influences the quality of weapons and armor they can craft, as well as the speed at which they work.
Higher skill translates to better equipment and faster production, giving you a significant advantage in battle and trade.
Smithing isn’t just about crafting weapons and armor. It’s also essential for refining raw materials (ore into ingots) and smelting down looted weapons and armor into usable components.
A skilled smith can turn battlefield scraps into valuable resources, fueling your war efforts.
You won’t find master smiths simply wandering the roads. You need to actively search for them. Here are a few effective strategies:
Tavern Exploration and Dialogue
Taverns are your best bet for finding companions with potential. Visit taverns in different towns and cities, and engage in conversation with the wanderers you encounter.
Focus on Dialogue Options: Look for dialogue options that inquire about their skills or background. A character might reveal their experience in smithing, even if it isn’t immediately apparent.
Check Encyclopedia (Press N): The in-game encyclopedia provides a searchable database of all characters in the game. You can search for “smith” or related terms to identify characters with relevant backgrounds. This will give you some potential targets to then hunt down in the game world.
Prioritize Cultural Background: Some cultures are more likely to produce skilled smiths. For example, those with a culture that values warfare and metalworking might have characters with a higher starting smithing skill. (This is speculative and anecdotal).
Clan Roles: The Importance of Governor Skills
While not directly a smith, the governor you assign to a town or castle can significantly impact smithing within that settlement. Look for governors with high stewardship and trade skills.
Stewardship Bonus: Stewardship increases prosperity, which in turn improves the economic conditions for smiths operating in the town.
Trade Bonus: Trade skills improve the buying and selling prices of smithing-related materials, making it more profitable for smiths.
Finding a pre-existing master smith is great, but training your own is a worthwhile long-term investment. This takes time and resources, but the rewards can be substantial.
The Best Companion Candidates: Focus on Learning Rate
Identify companions with high intelligence and a good learning rate. These characters will level up their smithing skill faster than others.
Learning Rate: Check the character’s skills screen for their learning rate in various skills. Prioritize those with high learning rates in smithing, or skills closely related to smithing like engineering.
Early Specialization: Focus their training solely on smithing from the beginning. Don’t spread their skill points too thin.
Immersive Experience: Hands-On Training is Key
The most effective way to train smithing is through active practice. Have your chosen companion constantly refine, smelt, and craft.
Prioritize Refining and Smelting: These activities provide a steady stream of experience, particularly at lower levels.
Crafting Orders: Focus on crafting orders that match your companion’s current skill level. Don’t try to craft high-tier items too early, as the failure rate will be high.
Focus Trees: Pay close attention to the smithing focus trees as your companion levels up. Choose perks that boost experience gain, reduce stamina consumption, and improve crafting quality.
How to manage Stamina Effectively
Smithing consumes stamina. Here’s how to manage it:
Rest in Towns: Ensure your companion has sufficient time to rest in towns to replenish their stamina.
Perk Selection: Choose perks that reduce stamina consumption during smithing activities.
Batch Orders: Queue up a batch of refining or smelting orders before leaving your companion to work. This minimizes downtime.
Smithing Stamina Management and Exploits
One of the most annoying limitations to smithing is stamina management. It takes forever to refill stamina, and you can only smith so much each day. However, there are some workarounds.
Trading Stance: Ensure your party is in a trading stance, granting a passive XP bonus to all party members who craft. This applies to smithing as well.
Companions: Assign a companion to smith for you. You can leave them in a town and have them craft all day while you go do other things.
- Ensure that you provide them with all the necessary resources. Keep them supplied by doing your own smithing or purchasing resources in bulk to deliver to your “smithing town.”
Family Members: If your character is married and has children, children can also smith for you once they come of age. This effectively gives you more “stamina” to work with each day, and can greatly increase your resource production and income.
Smithing is not just about crafting equipment for your troops. It’s also a potentially lucrative source of income. Leverage trade skills to maximize your profits.
High Trade Skill: Ensure you or a companion with high trade skills handles the buying and selling of smithing-related materials.
Trade Hubs: Identify towns with high demand for weapons and armor, and focus your sales efforts there.
Bulk Orders: Take advantage of bulk orders from lords or merchants to sell large quantities of crafted items at a premium.
I initially struggled with smithing in Bannerlord 2. I tried to focus on it myself, but found it to be too time-consuming and stamina-intensive. I then shifted my focus to training companions. This proved to be much more effective.
My go-to strategy is to find a companion with a high learning rate, give them plenty of resources, and leave them in a town to smith all day. I then focus on other activities, such as leading my troops in battle or managing my settlements. This allows me to passively generate income and resources while still progressing in other areas of the game.
| Resource | Ingots Produced |
|---|---|
| Iron Ore | 1 Iron Ingot |
| Steel Ore | 1 Steel Ingot |
| Charcoal | N/A |
| Wrought Iron | 1 Iron Ingot |
| Iron | 1 Iron Ingot |
| Steel | 1 Steel Ingot |
Note: This table is a simplified overview. Actual yields can vary based on smithing skill and perks.
Finding skilled smiths or training your own is crucial for success in Mount & Blade II: Bannerlord. By actively searching for candidates, focusing on training, managing stamina effectively, and leveraging trade skills, you can build a thriving smithing operation that fuels your war efforts and generates substantial income. Remember that patience and persistence are key. Smithing is a long-term investment that pays off handsomely in the end.