If you have ever looked at Bannerlord’s captain perks and thought, “Surely one extra hit point cannot matter that much,” welcome to the club. Bannerlord absolutely loves to bury game-changing bonuses next to perks that feel about as useful as bringing a butter knife to a cavalry charge.
Captain perks only affect the troops in the formation you command. That means the right perk can turn your infantry into an angry wall of steel, make your archers fire like a medieval machine gun, or turn your cavalry into the sort of thing that makes enemy militia reconsider their entire career choice.
This guide covers the best captain perks for every troop type, plus the strongest general-purpose picks that are almost always worth taking.
How Captain Perks Work
Captain perks activate when your character is leading a formation in battle.
- Infantry captain perks affect your infantry only
- Archer captain perks affect your ranged units only
- Cavalry captain perks affect mounted troops only
- Horse archer captain perks affect mounted ranged troops only
The strongest captain builds stack perks from several skills. A cavalry captain, for example, might use Riding, Polearm, Tactics and Leadership perks all at once.
The best perks are usually the ones that:
- Increase damage
- Improve survivability
- Raise movement speed
- Boost morale
- Improve formation efficiency
Perks that add tiny amounts of XP or a few extra arrows can help, but they are rarely as strong as straight combat bonuses.
Best Captain Perks for Infantry
Infantry already live a difficult life. They spend half the battle being peppered by arrows and the other half being run over by a horse with the enthusiasm of a freight train. Good captain perks make them far harder to kill and much nastier once they reach the enemy.
One-Handed Captain Perks
| Perk | Why It Is Good |
|---|---|
| Lead by Example | Increases troop experience gain and keeps infantry levelling faster over a campaign |
| Military Tradition | Gives infantry more morale, which helps prevent embarrassing routs |
| Shield Bearer | Extra shield durability is incredible for infantry formations under arrow fire |
Shield durability sounds boring until you watch your entire front line survive long enough to actually reach the enemy. Suddenly it feels a lot less boring.
Polearm Captain Perks
| Perk | Why It Is Good |
|---|---|
| Standard Bearer | Gives infantry extra movement speed in formation |
| Phalanx | Improves spear damage and anti-cavalry performance |
| Skewer | Gives troops extra polearm damage |
Standard Bearer is one of those perks that does not sound exciting until you realise your infantry now crosses the battlefield before your archers have grown old and retired.
Athletics Captain Perks
| Perk | Why It Is Good |
|---|---|
| Walk It Off | Gives infantry passive healing after battles |
| Form Fitting Armour | Extra armour for infantry |
| Ignore Pain | More hit points for all troops in the formation |
Ignore Pain is one of the best captain perks in the entire game. More health for every soldier means more soldiers staying alive long enough to win. Revolutionary concept, honestly.
Leadership Captain Perks for Infantry
| Perk | Why It Is Good |
|---|---|
| Stout Defender | Extra shield hit points and infantry survivability |
| Authority | Increases morale of the formation |
| Inspiring Leader | Better combat effectiveness when morale is high |
Morale in Bannerlord is weird. Your soldiers can be winning, but the moment three peasants with pitchforks die dramatically, half the line suddenly decides they have remembered an urgent appointment elsewhere.
Best Captain Perks for Archers
Archers in Bannerlord are either absolute monsters or an expensive group of people politely missing every shot. Captain perks are what usually decides which version you get.
Bow Captain Perks
| Perk | Why It Is Good |
|---|---|
| Dead Aim | Increases ranged damage |
| Quick Adjustments | Better accuracy for archers |
| Merry Men | Improves bow damage and speed for troops |
Dead Aim is absurdly strong. More ranged damage means more kills before the enemy even gets close, which is basically the dream.
Crossbow Captain Perks
| Perk | Why It Is Good |
|---|---|
| Renown Marksmen | Improves crossbow damage |
| Pavise | Better shield protection for crossbow troops |
| Hammer Bolts | Gives crossbowmen more armour penetration |
Crossbow perks are especially good if you run Vlandian sharpshooters. They already hit like a wagon full of bricks rolling downhill. Hammer Bolts just makes the wagon bigger.
Tactics Captain Perks for Archers
| Perk | Why It Is Good |
|---|---|
| Horde Leader | Better formation efficiency |
| Loose Formation | Improves survivability against enemy ranged fire |
| Call to Arms | Gives troops more morale and staying power |
Loose Formation is surprisingly useful. Watching your archers stop standing shoulder-to-shoulder like they are posing for a school photo is a genuinely beautiful moment.
Best Captain Perks for Cavalry
Cavalry captain perks are mostly about making your mounted troops hit harder, move faster and survive the first charge. Once cavalry gets bogged down in a messy melee, things can go wrong very quickly.
Riding Captain Perks
| Perk | Why It Is Good |
|---|---|
| Sweeping Wind | Increases cavalry speed |
| Mounted Patrols | Improves mounted troop movement |
| Thunderous Charge | More charge damage for cavalry |
Thunderous Charge is one of the best perks in the game for cavalry captains. If your mounted troops are already terrifying, this perk turns them into a tax audit with lances.
Polearm Captain Perks for Cavalry
| Perk | Why It Is Good |
|---|---|
| Cavalry Tactics | Better damage and efficiency for mounted units |
| Skirmisher | Useful for mounted troops that throw weapons |
| Sharpen the Tip | Increases lance damage |
Sharpen the Tip is especially nasty for elite cavalry. Cataphracts and Banner Knights already hit hard enough to launch enemy infantry into another postcode.
Leadership Captain Perks for Cavalry
| Perk | Why It Is Good |
|---|---|
| Combat Tips | Better troop performance in battle |
| Loyalty and Honour | Higher morale for cavalry |
| Presence | Improves nearby troop combat stats |
Cavalry are expensive, fragile when swarmed, and somehow always find the one tree on the battlefield. Leadership perks help reduce some of that pain.
Best Captain Perks for Horse Archers
Horse archers are chaos on horseback. When they work, they are almost unfair. When they do not, they spend ten minutes riding in circles while achieving absolutely nothing.
The right captain perks make sure they lean more toward “terrifying steppe war machine” and less toward “confused travelling circus”.
Riding Perks
| Perk | Why It Is Good |
|---|---|
| Dauntless Steed | Better survivability for mounted units |
| Nimble Steed | Faster movement and repositioning |
| Full Speed | Lets horse archers fire more effectively while moving |
Bow Captain Perks
| Perk | Why It Is Good |
|---|---|
| Mounted Archery | Improves horse archer accuracy |
| Hunter Clan | Better movement and damage for horse archers |
| Horse Master | Improves horse survivability |
Mounted Archery is one of the few perks that can make Khuzait horse archers go from mildly annoying to the sort of thing that makes you pause the game and stare into the distance for a minute.
The Best Universal Captain Perks
Some perks are useful no matter what formation you are leading.
| Perk | Skill | Why It Is Good |
|---|---|---|
| Ignore Pain | Athletics | More hit points for troops |
| Authority | Leadership | Better morale |
| Presence | Leadership | Stronger nearby troops |
| Stout Defender | Leadership | Better shields and defence |
| Standard Bearer | Polearm | Faster formation movement |
If you are not sure what to take, start with these. They are consistently useful and rarely feel wasted.
Perks That Look Good But Usually Are Not
Bannerlord has a few perks that sound incredible until you actually use them.
| Perk Type | Why It Is Weak |
|---|---|
| Tiny XP boosts | Troops level quickly enough already |
| Small post-battle healing bonuses | Nice, but far less useful than winning the battle in the first place |
| Extra ammunition perks | Helpful for very long battles, but usually not worth giving up damage or accuracy |
| Very specific situational perks | If it only works during rain, uphill, on Tuesdays and when Mercury is in retrograde, skip it |
Some perks are technically useful, but they are useful in the same way a decorative candle is useful during a house fire.
Best Captain Perk Builds by Troop Type
Infantry Captain Build
- Ignore Pain
- Stout Defender
- Shield Bearer
- Standard Bearer
- Authority
This turns your infantry into a stubborn brick wall that refuses to die.
Archer Captain Build
- Dead Aim
- Quick Adjustments
- Loose Formation
- Authority
- Merry Men
Your archers fire faster, hit harder and stop behaving like they have never seen an incoming arrow before.
Cavalry Captain Build
- Thunderous Charge
- Sharpen the Tip
- Sweeping Wind
- Presence
- Loyalty and Honour
This is for people who want their cavalry charge to look less like a skirmish and more like a natural disaster.
Horse Archer Captain Build
- Mounted Archery
- Hunter Clan
- Nimble Steed
- Full Speed
- Dauntless Steed
Basically the Khuzait dream build. Your horse archers become fast, accurate and deeply irritating to everybody else on the battlefield.
Seven Swords Takeaway
The best Bannerlord captain perks are the ones that make your troops better at staying alive and killing the enemy quickly. Health, damage, speed and morale are king. Tiny passive bonuses and niche effects usually sound much better than they actually are.
If you mainly use infantry, build around survivability and shield strength. If you love archers, stack damage and accuracy until enemy armies start evaporating halfway across the map. Cavalry captains should focus on speed and charge damage, while horse archer captains want mobility above everything else.
Bannerlord battles can already become complete chaos within about thirty seconds. The right captain perks do not stop the chaos. They just make sure it is happening to the other side.
