Increasing your Roguery skill in Mount & Blade II: Bannerlord can unlock lucrative opportunities, from smuggling and looting to governing towns with a unique edge. However, it can be a slow grind if you don’t know the optimal strategies. This article provides actionable methods to rapidly boost your Roguery skill and highlights often-overlooked nuances for maximizing your progress.
The key to fast Roguery leveling lies in consistently engaging in activities that reward experience in that skill. Here’s a breakdown of the most effective methods:
- Raiding Caravans and Villages: This is the bread and butter of Roguery experience. Targeting weaker caravans and villages early on will provide a steady stream of experience without risking significant losses. Be mindful of the consequences – raiding impacts relations with factions and villages.
- Looting: After battles, ensure you loot everything! The more valuable the loot, the more Roguery experience you gain. Focus on looting high-value items like weapons and armor.
- Smuggling: Buying low in one town and selling high in another, especially contraband goods, is a reliable method. Look for towns with high demand for specific goods (often revealed through scouting) and low supply.
- Prisoner Management: Recruiting prisoners (especially bandits) into your party grants a Roguery experience boost. Keep a good supply of food and high morale to minimize desertion.
- Executing Lords (Controversial): While ethically questionable and severely impacting relations, executing lords grants a significant Roguery experience spike. Only consider this if you’re prepared to face the consequences of widespread animosity.
- Completing Quests: Keep an eye out for quests offered by notables in towns and villages that reward Roguery experience. These quests often involve tasks like dealing with bandits or smuggling goods. Check the available quests regularly as they refresh frequently.
Understanding Roguery Skill Experience Gains
It’s crucial to understand how Roguery experience is calculated to optimize your actions.
- Value of Loot: The higher the monetary value of the items you loot, the more experience you receive. Focus on looting high-tier equipment.
- Difficulty of the Target: Raiding caravans or villages defended by stronger troops yields more experience. However, the risk of defeat also increases.
- Prisoner Tier: Recruiting higher-tier bandit prisoners provides more experience than recruiting lower-tier ones.
- Quest Rewards: The amount of Roguery experience granted by quests varies depending on the difficulty and complexity of the task.
Turn Your Clan into a Criminal Empire: Personal Experience
Many players focus solely on raiding, but I’ve found that a balanced approach is far more effective. My preferred strategy involves a combination of smuggling, prisoner recruitment, and strategic raiding.
One key element that is often missed is how important a high scouting skill is. A well-leveled scout in your party can spot caravans with minimal guard that is carrying valuable goods, and he can also estimate the troop count of a village you plan to raid. This is because with a higher scouting skill, you can determine the size and strength of these targets before engagement. Without a high scouting skill, you’re essentially going in blind, making it difficult to choose your targets and leaving you with a high chance of a wasted raid or getting captured.
Also, try to use the attribute points on Cunning. Cunning is the most important attribute for the roguery skill.
Another thing I discovered through trial and error is the importance of choosing the right perks. A lot of Roguery perks seem good on paper, but in practice, they’re underwhelming. Focus on perks that directly boost loot value, prisoner recruitment chances, or smuggling success. Don’t underestimate the power of perks that improve your party’s speed or reduce bandit spawn rates – they can significantly increase your efficiency.
How Roguery Skill Affects Your Kingdom
A high Roguery skill isn’t just about personal gain; it can significantly impact your kingdom’s success.
- Governor Bonuses: A character with high Roguery can govern towns effectively, suppressing crime, increasing tax revenue (through less legal means), and recruiting unique units.
- Diplomacy: Certain diplomacy options become available with high Roguery, such as bribing enemy lords or inciting rebellions.
- Party Leader Bonuses: As a party leader, high Roguery increases your party’s looting efficiency, smuggling success, and prisoner management capabilities.
Unconventional Roguery Leveling Tactics
Beyond the standard methods, consider these less common, yet effective, strategies:
- Targeting Noble Parties: Ambushing smaller parties of nobles (especially those traveling alone) can yield valuable loot and prisoners, resulting in significant Roguery experience. This is risky due to their typically well-equipped escorts.
- Inciting Village Rebellions: Triggering a rebellion in a village and then looting it after the rebels take over is a way to gain Roguery experience without directly impacting your relations with the original owner.
- “Accidental” Attacks: Occasionally, when travelling near large battles between factions, you can “accidentally” engage a retreating, weakened army and quickly loot their equipment after the battle. Be prepared for possible relation penalties.
Optimize Character Build for Roguery
Here is a recommended character build that can help maximize the roguery leveling:
| Attribute | Focus |
|---|---|
| Cunning | Primary Attribute for Roguery skill |
| Endurance | Secondary for survivability and looting |
| Social | For leadership and trade |
Roguery isn’t simply about committing crimes; it’s about understanding the underworld and exploiting opportunities.
- Reputation Matters: While being a notorious rogue can be beneficial, excessively negative reputation can attract unwanted attention from bounty hunters and enemy lords. Strive for a balance.
- Strategic Alliances: Forming alliances with bandit clans can provide safe havens and access to unique resources, but be prepared to reciprocate favors.
- Information is Power: Invest in scouting and spy networks to gather information about caravan routes, village vulnerabilities, and noble movements.
- First-hand experience: From my experience, information gathering is usually overlooked but it is very important because you want to avoid raiding powerful or well-guarded locations.
Mastering the Roguery skill in Bannerlord 2 requires a multifaceted approach. By focusing on high-yield activities like raiding caravans and villages, effective prisoner management, and strategic looting, you can rapidly increase your skill. However, don’t overlook the importance of scouting, strategic alliances, and unconventional tactics. A balanced approach, combined with smart character development, will allow you to unlock the full potential of Roguery and build a criminal empire that thrives in the world of Calradia.
Here are some frequently asked questions about increasing your Roguery skill quickly in Bannerlord 2:
Q: What is the fastest way to level Roguery in Bannerlord 2?
A: Raiding caravans and villages, especially those belonging to weaker factions, is the fastest way to gain Roguery experience early on. Prioritize high-value loot and recruiting bandit prisoners.
Q: How does looting affect Roguery skill?
A: The higher the monetary value of the items you loot after battles or raids, the more Roguery experience you gain. Focus on looting high-tier weapons, armor, and valuable goods.
Q: Is smuggling a good way to level Roguery?
A: Yes, smuggling is a reliable way to level Roguery, especially if you focus on contraband goods. Look for towns with high demand and low supply to maximize your profits and experience.
Q: What skills help with leveling Roguery?
A: Scouting is crucial for identifying profitable targets, while leadership helps with managing a larger party for looting and prisoner recruitment. Cunning is the primary attribute, directly affecting the learning rate of Roguery.
Q: How do I recruit prisoners for Roguery experience?
A: After battles, select the “Recruit Prisoners” option. The higher the tier of the bandit prisoner, the more Roguery experience you’ll receive. Keep your party’s morale high to prevent desertion.