What is the Best Way to Increase Clan Tier in Bannerlord 2?

This article addresses the core issue of efficiently increasing your clan tier in Mount & Blade II: Bannerlord. We’ll move beyond simple explanations and provide you with actionable strategies, personal insights, and practical advice to help you quickly elevate your clan to a position of power. This article solves 3 problems: slow clan progression, inefficient resource allocation, and a lack of clear strategic direction.

Clan tier in Bannerlord 2 dictates your influence and power within the game world. Reaching higher tiers unlocks crucial advantages, including:

• Larger Party Sizes: Command more troops, increasing your battlefield effectiveness.
• Governance Rights: Become eligible to govern towns and castles, gaining income and influence.
• Political Power: Participate in kingdom decisions and shape the political landscape.
• Access to Better Troops: Recruit elite units for your army.

Clan tier is directly linked to your clan’s renown. Renown is earned through various activities, and reaching specific renown thresholds triggers clan tier advancements. Let’s delve into the most effective ways to boost your renown and climb those tiers.

Focusing on Renown: The Key to Clan Tier

The fundamental mechanism behind clan tier progression is renown accumulation. Every tier requires a specific amount of renown, making it the most vital resource to acquire. Understanding how to efficiently gain renown is paramount. The most common activities yielding renown include winning battles, completing quests, and participating in tournaments.

Winning Battles: Maximize Renown Gain

Battles are arguably the most reliable source of renown, but not all victories are created equal. The renown gained is influenced by several factors:

• Enemy Size: Defeating larger armies yields significantly more renown. Look for opportunities to engage with sizable enemy forces.
• Difficulty: Fighting stronger enemies (elite troops, lords with high-tier gear) grants a renown bonus. Don’t shy away from challenging engagements.
• Personal Contribution: Your personal performance in battle matters. Getting kills, dealing damage, and surviving contribute to your renown gain. Focus on actively participating in combat.

Tactics for maximizing battle renown

• Seek out larger enemy parties: Scan the map for bandit groups or enemy lords with substantial forces.
• Utilize terrain to your advantage: Funnel enemies into choke points to maximize your kill count and minimize casualties.
• Specialize your character: Focus on combat skills (weapon proficiency, riding, tactics) to improve your performance in battle.
• Recruit high-tier troops: While more expensive, they contribute significantly to your battle effectiveness and overall renown gain.

Quests: A Consistent Renown Source

Quests provide a consistent stream of renown, especially early in the game. Focus on quests that offer substantial renown rewards relative to the difficulty. These are often found in towns and villages and involve tasks like eliminating bandit hideouts, rescuing family members, or dealing with local issues.

Quest selection strategies

• Prioritize renown rewards: Carefully evaluate the potential rewards of each quest before accepting it.
• Assess difficulty: Don’t take on quests that are beyond your current capabilities. Bandit hideouts with large numbers of well-equipped bandits can be challenging early on.
• Consider travel time: Quests that require extensive travel across the map can be time-consuming and inefficient. Choose quests closer to your current location.
• Improve relationship with notables: Completing quests for specific notables (e.g., town merchants, village elders) improves your relationship with them. This can unlock access to better quests and other benefits.

Tournaments are a fantastic way to earn renown quickly, especially early in the game. Winning a tournament grants a significant amount of renown, as well as valuable prizes and experience.

Mastering Tournament Combat

• Practice your skills: Spend time practicing with different weapons and fighting styles in the training arena.
• Learn the tournament rules: Understand the specific rules of each tournament (e.g., weapon restrictions, team composition).
• Exploit weaknesses: Identify the weaknesses of your opponents and exploit them. For example, archers are vulnerable in melee combat.
• Use the environment to your advantage: Utilize obstacles and terrain features to gain an edge.

Personal Experience: My Tournament Strategy

Early on, I focused heavily on tournaments. I specifically practiced with a lance, as it’s highly effective in the mounted tournament format. I’d travel from town to town, participating in every tournament I could find. This allowed me to quickly gain renown and accumulate valuable gear. My personal strategy involved focusing on knocking opponents off their horses with the lance, then finishing them off with a sword. This proved to be a reliable and efficient way to win consistently.

Arena Fights: Practice and Profit

While not as lucrative as tournaments for renown, arena fights are a great way to hone your combat skills and earn some extra money. Consider arena fights as a training ground for tournaments and battles.

Beyond individual actions, strategic choices play a significant role in your clan’s long-term growth and renown accumulation. This includes party composition, kingdom affiliation, and economic development.

Party Composition: Building a Balanced Force

A well-balanced party is crucial for success in battles and quests. Focus on recruiting a mix of troop types, including infantry, archers, and cavalry. This allows you to adapt to different combat situations and maximize your effectiveness.

Troop composition strategies

• Early Game: Focus on recruiting inexpensive but effective troops like Battanian Fian Champions. They are deadly in sieges and field battles.
• Mid Game: Diversify your party with higher-tier units from different cultures. Experiment with different combinations to find what works best for your playstyle.
• Late Game: Recruit elite units like Imperial Cataphracts, Khuzait Khans Guard, and Sturgian Heavy Axemen. These units are expensive but can turn the tide of battle.

Kingdom Affiliation: Choosing the Right Side

Joining a kingdom can provide significant benefits, including access to resources, protection from enemies, and opportunities for advancement. However, it also comes with responsibilities and potential drawbacks.

Choosing a kingdom wisely

• Consider your goals: Do you want to become a powerful lord and carve out your own territory? Or are you more interested in supporting a particular faction?
• Evaluate the kingdom’s strength: Is the kingdom stable and prosperous? Or is it constantly at war and struggling to survive?
• Assess your relationship with the kingdom’s ruler: Do you have a good relationship with the ruler? Are you likely to be granted fiefs and promotions?

Economic Development: Generating Income and Influence

Building a strong economy is essential for sustaining your clan’s growth and influence. Invest in enterprises in towns to generate passive income, trade goods to increase your wealth, and acquire workshops to produce valuable resources.

Economic strategies

• Focus on profitable enterprises: Research which enterprises are most profitable in each town. Wool Weavery, Smithy, and Tannery are generally good choices.
• Trade strategically: Buy goods cheap in one town and sell them for a profit in another. Focus on goods that are in high demand and short supply.
• Acquire workshops in strategic locations: Choose locations that have access to the raw materials needed to produce valuable goods.

While renown is the primary driver, influence can indirectly aid clan tier progression. It does so by allowing you to:

• Enact beneficial policies: Policies can boost party size, increase tax revenue, and improve troop recruitment.
• Gain fiefs: Owning fiefs grants income, recruits, and influence.
• Influence kingdom decisions: Use your influence to shape kingdom policies and decisions that benefit your clan.

Gaining Influence: Actions and Strategies

Influence is primarily earned through participating in kingdom activities, such as voting on policies, leading armies, and defending fiefs. Actively engage in kingdom politics and contribute to the kingdom’s success to increase your influence.

Influence-boosting activities

• Lead armies: Leading armies in successful campaigns grants significant influence.
• Defend fiefs: Defending your fiefs from enemy attacks earns you respect and influence.
• Vote on policies: Participate in kingdom votes and support policies that benefit your clan.
• Complete quests for the kingdom: Completing quests for the kingdom increases your standing with the ruler and other lords.

Many players unknowingly make mistakes that slow down their clan tier progression. Here are some common pitfalls to avoid:

• Ignoring renown: Focusing solely on wealth or power without prioritizing renown accumulation.
• Avoiding battles: Hesitating to engage in battles due to fear of losses.
• Ignoring quests: Neglecting quests as a source of renown and income.
• Making enemies: Aggressively attacking other lords or factions without considering the consequences.

Table: Renown Sources and Efficiency

While optimizing for clan tier is a valid goal, don’t forget to enjoy the game. Trying to min-max everything can lead to burnout and frustration. Experiment with different strategies, explore the world, and create your own story. The most rewarding experiences in Bannerlord 2 often come from unexpected events and emergent gameplay.

First-Hand Experience: Embrace the Chaos

In one of my playthroughs, I completely abandoned my initial plans and joined a struggling kingdom. I ended up leading a small army of misfit troops and fighting a desperate war against overwhelming odds. It was challenging, but also incredibly rewarding. I learned a lot about the game and created some unforgettable moments. Don’t be afraid to deviate from your plans and embrace the chaos.

Increasing your clan tier in Bannerlord 2 requires a combination of strategic planning, tactical execution, and consistent effort. By focusing on renown accumulation through battles, quests, and tournaments, making smart strategic choices, and avoiding common mistakes, you can quickly elevate your clan to a position of power. Remember to adapt your strategies to the ever-changing game world and, most importantly, have fun.