Workshops in Mount & Blade II: Bannerlord promise the dream: invest a pile of denars, employ some fictional artisans and collect effortless income while you gallop around Calradia creating international incidents.
The reality is less relaxing.
A profitable workshop depends on cheap raw materials, demand for its finished goods, town prosperity, competing businesses and whether the surrounding villages are currently being introduced to fire by an enemy army. There is no workshop that performs brilliantly in every campaign because the economy changes as the game progresses.
This guide explains which workshops are generally strongest, where to build them and how to judge a town before handing over your money.
The Best Bannerlord Workshops at a Glance
These are strong starting combinations rather than guaranteed daily payouts. Always inspect the local market and existing workshops before buying.
| Workshop | Required material | Finished product | Promising locations |
|---|---|---|---|
| Silversmith | Silver ore | Jewellery | Sanala, Ortysia, Epicrotea |
| Wine Press | Grapes | Wine | Jaculan, Vostrum, Quyaz |
| Olive Press | Olives | Oil | Jaculan, Charas, Quyaz |
| Pottery Shop | Clay | Pottery | Pen Cannoc, Danustica, Husn Fulq |
| Brewery | Grain | Beer | Towns with plentiful, cheap grain |
| Linen Weavery | Flax | Linen | Baltakhand and other flax-supplied towns |
| Velvet Weavery | Raw silk | Velvet | Eastern Imperial and Khuzait trade centres |
| Wool Weavery | Wool | Clothing | Towns receiving large quantities of wool |
| Tannery | Hides | Leather | Livestock-rich towns |
| Smithy | Iron ore and hardwood | Weapons and tools | Iron-producing regions with strong demand |
| Wood Workshop | Hardwood | Bows, arrows and shields | Towns supplied by hardwood villages |
The strongest general choices tend to be silversmiths, wine presses, olive presses and pottery shops. Breweries can work, but the old advice to place one beside any grain village is far too simplistic.
How Workshops Actually Make Money
Every workshop participates in the simulated economy. It acquires raw materials, turns them into finished goods and attempts to sell those goods at a profit.
Income is influenced by several connected factors:
- The availability and price of raw materials
- The market price of the finished product
- The prosperity of the town
- Competition from workshops producing the same goods
- Caravan and villager traffic
- Raided villages and interrupted trade routes
- Sieges, rebellions and changes of ownership
- The amount of money retained by the workshop
This means a town having the correct village resource is only the beginning. A pottery shop may have cheap clay available, but it can still struggle if pottery is already flooding the regional market.
Likewise, a workshop without a directly connected resource village can perform surprisingly well when caravans keep the town supplied. Calradia’s economy enjoys making confident guide writers look silly.
What Makes a Good Workshop Town?
The best workshop towns combine reliable supplies with enough wealth and trade activity to consume the finished product.
High prosperity
Prosperous towns support stronger demand and attract more merchants. Their residents can afford expensive goods such as jewellery, wine and velvet, which is useful when your business model depends upon selling luxury fabric during a continental war.
Check the settlement information before investing. Rising prosperity is encouraging. A declining town with food shortages and burnt villages is considerably less charming.
Access to cheap raw materials
Look at the villages bound to the town and inspect what they produce. Nearby castle villages can also feed goods into the market, so do not limit your research to villages formally listed beneath the town.
The market itself provides the clearest evidence. If the required material is consistently cheap and abundant, a workshop can acquire it without destroying its margins.
Limited local competition
Walk around the town or use the settlement interface to identify its existing workshops. Two businesses consuming the same raw material push input prices upwards, while their combined output can drive the finished product’s price down.
Buying a third brewery because grain is cheap may simply create a competitive beer swamp.
Political stability
Interior towns are normally safer investments than border settlements. Raids reduce village production, sieges interrupt trade and rebellions can halt workshop production while expenses continue.
A town surrounded by enemies might offer wonderful theoretical margins. It may also belong to somebody else by Thursday.
Best Workshop Types in Bannerlord
Silversmith
Silversmiths turn silver ore into jewellery. They can produce excellent returns because jewellery is a high-value product demanded by prosperous settlements.
Their weakness is the limited supply of silver. If ore becomes expensive or another silversmith competes for the same stock, profits can fall sharply.
Good conditions for a silversmith include:
- Regular deliveries of silver ore
- A prosperous town with strong demand for luxury goods
- Few competing silversmiths
- Safe trade routes connecting nearby markets
Sanala is a particularly attractive candidate because it commonly becomes one of the wealthiest towns in Calradia. Ortysia and Epicrotea may also support profitable silversmiths, depending on market conditions.
Verdict: Potentially one of the best workshops, but check silver prices before buying.
Wine Press
Wine presses convert grapes into wine. They are among the more dependable workshop choices when built close to grape-producing villages.
Wine usually commands a respectable price, while grapes can become extremely cheap in the right region. This creates the sort of margin that makes a workshop owner briefly feel like an economic genius.
Jaculan and Vostrum are sensible towns to investigate. Quyaz can also benefit from access to western luxury trade, although its suitability will vary between campaigns.
Verdict: A strong balance of availability, demand and profit.
Olive Press
Olive presses produce oil from olives. They are most effective across Vlandia and the western or southern portions of the map where olive production is concentrated.
Oil is valuable enough to generate good margins, but those margins disappear when olive prices rise. Look for towns with sustained olive deliveries rather than relying entirely on the icons shown beside nearby villages.
Jaculan and Charas are natural candidates. Quyaz may also support an olive press when its market receives cheap supplies through trade.
Verdict: One of the safer regional investments when olives are plentiful.
Pottery Shop
Pottery shops turn clay into pottery. Clay-producing villages can provide a large and inexpensive supply, making pottery workshops straightforward to understand.
Pen Cannoc is a familiar candidate due to nearby clay production, while Danustica and Husn Fulq are also worth inspecting. Competition matters greatly, so check whether the town already has a pottery shop before adding another kiln to the skyline.
Verdict: Dependable when clay is cheap and regional pottery supply remains modest.
Brewery
Breweries convert grain into beer. They are regularly recommended to new players because grain is abundant throughout Calradia.
That abundance is also the problem.
When numerous towns operate breweries, the market becomes saturated with beer. Grain may be dirt cheap, but the finished product can be nearly as cheap. A brewery therefore needs more than access to grain. It needs enough demand and limited regional competition.
Before buying one, compare the price of grain with the local price of beer and inspect nearby towns for rival breweries.
Verdict: Easy to supply, but no longer an automatic route to riches.
Velvet Weavery
Velvet weaveries turn raw silk into velvet. The finished product is valuable, but raw silk has a restricted geographical supply and can become expensive.
These workshops are best placed in prosperous eastern towns receiving regular silk deliveries. They also benefit from warehouses because the player can store raw silk acquired elsewhere and feed it directly into production.
A velvet weavery can be excellent in a stable, wealthy region. On a turbulent frontier, it may spend long periods doing very little while still finding ways to cost you money.
Verdict: High potential, high maintenance and slightly dramatic.
Linen and Wool Weaveries
Linen weaveries consume flax, while wool weaveries require wool. Both can provide useful middle-tier income when their raw materials are available cheaply.
Baltakhand is worth examining for a linen weavery because of regional flax production. Wool businesses are more situational, as livestock and wool supplies can shift considerably during a campaign.
These workshops rarely attract the excitement of a booming silversmith, but stable income is allowed to be boring. Your army will still spend it.
Verdict: Sensible regional choices when the appropriate material is plentiful.
Smithy
Smithies consume metal and hardwood to produce weapons and tools. Their performance can be highly inconsistent.
Cheap iron ore helps, but the local and regional markets must also absorb the output. A settlement already filled with weapons may offer disappointing returns regardless of how enthusiastically the surrounding kingdoms are fighting.
Marunath and other towns receiving iron ore and hardwood are worth investigating. Smithies can also be useful for players willing to supply their warehouses manually.
Verdict: Interesting and thematic, but usually less predictable than luxury or agricultural workshops.
Tannery
Tanneries turn hides into leather. They perform best in livestock-rich areas where hides reach the town cheaply and regularly.
The trouble is that leather prices can become depressed, particularly when multiple tanneries operate nearby. Livestock availability alone does not guarantee a worthwhile return.
Verdict: Viable in the right market, but inspect local leather prices carefully.
Best Workshop Locations by Region
Workshop locations are not fixed recommendations because prosperity, ownership and trade patterns change during every campaign. These towns are best treated as places to inspect first.
| Region | Towns to investigate | Suitable workshops |
|---|---|---|
| Vlandia | Jaculan, Charas, Pravend | Wine Press, Olive Press |
| Battania | Pen Cannoc, Marunath, Seonon | Pottery Shop, Smithy, Wood Workshop |
| Sturgia | Revyl, Varcheg, Omor | Tannery, Smithy, Wool Weavery |
| Northern Empire | Epicrotea, Diathma, Argoron | Silversmith, Brewery, Velvet Weavery |
| Southern Empire | Vostrum, Lycaron, Danustica | Wine Press, Pottery Shop, Velvet Weavery |
| Western Empire | Ortysia, Jalmarys, Zeonica | Silversmith, Wine Press, Olive Press |
| Aserai | Sanala, Quyaz, Husn Fulq | Silversmith, Olive Press, Pottery Shop |
| Khuzait | Baltakhand, Chaikand, Makeb | Linen Weavery, Wool Weavery, Velvet Weavery |
Sanala deserves special attention because it often develops exceptional prosperity and remains relatively protected from the worst early-game fighting. It is not magically profitable, but wealthy customers and heavy caravan traffic give several workshop types a chance to succeed.
How to Choose a Workshop Before Buying
Do not purchase a workshop solely because a guide names the town. Spend a few minutes investigating the local economy.
Check the raw material price
Open the town market and locate the material your proposed workshop needs. A large, cheap supply suggests that villagers and caravans are delivering it regularly.
Return after several in-game days if possible. A single cheap shipment is not the same as a reliable supply chain.
Check the finished product
The ideal situation combines cheap inputs with an expensive finished product. If grapes cost very little while wine remains valuable, a wine press has room to make money.
If both grapes and wine are cheap, the region may already be oversupplied.
Inspect existing workshops
Find out what the town already produces. Converting a workshop can sometimes be smarter than duplicating an established business.
Regional competition matters too. Several breweries in neighbouring towns can suppress the price of beer across a much wider area.
Consider future wars
Avoid buying in the territory of a kingdom you expect to fight. Workshops located in enemy settlements can be lost when war begins, turning your commercial adventure into a donation to the opposition.
If you plan to become a vassal, place workshops deep inside friendly territory where possible.
How to Use Workshop Warehouses
Warehouses allow you to supply raw materials directly and retain part of the workshop’s output.
This provides several useful options:
- Deposit cheap materials purchased or looted elsewhere
- Protect production from temporary market shortages
- Hold finished goods until prices improve
- Collect products and sell them in more profitable towns
- Support expensive workshops that struggle to source rare materials
Manual supply can transform an inconsistent workshop, but it also changes the nature of the investment. You are effectively operating a production and trading business rather than receiving passive income.
That can be profitable. It can also feel suspiciously like having a job.
How Much Money Can a Workshop Make?
There is no reliable universal daily figure. Income can range from nothing to several hundred denars, with exceptional workshops earning considerably more under favourable economic conditions.
A reasonable workshop should be judged over several in-game weeks, not by one unusually good or bad day. New businesses may need time to acquire inputs, sell output and build their cash reserves.
Track these signs:
- Whether production is regularly active
- The price and availability of input goods
- The workshop’s retained capital
- Average income across at least two weeks
- Changes after nearby villages are raided
- Competition appearing in the same town or region
Any table promising an exact daily return for a specific town should be treated cautiously. Your campaign’s economy did not sign that contract.
Workshop Limits and Clan Tier
The number of workshops you can own is tied to clan progression. This makes each available slot valuable, particularly during the early and middle stages of a campaign.
Prioritise quality over filling every slot immediately. One well-positioned workshop is preferable to several businesses quietly converting your savings into accounting sadness.
As your clan develops:
- Begin with one workshop in a stable town
- Monitor it before repeating the investment
- Diversify across regions and raw materials
- Avoid concentrating every business inside one vulnerable kingdom
- Replace persistently weak workshops when market conditions do not improve
Diversification protects you from local wars and sudden price collapses.
Common Workshop Mistakes
Following a fixed location list blindly
Town economies change. A combination that flourished in somebody else’s campaign may fail in yours because villages have been raided, prosperity has collapsed or rival workshops have appeared.
Looking only at bound villages
Caravans and nearby castle villages also contribute to the market. The actual price and quantity of goods inside the town matter more than a tidy map icon.
Assuming cheap inputs guarantee profit
A workshop also needs demand for its output. Mountains of cheap grain are not helpful when every town in the region is already attempting to become Calradia’s beer capital.
Building in future enemy territory
Consider your political plans before buying. Workshops are long-term assets, provided you do not declare war on their hosts five days later.
Selling too quickly
Daily profit fluctuates. Give a workshop time to establish itself and judge its performance across several weeks.
Keeping a bad workshop forever
Patience has limits. If production regularly stops, materials remain expensive and output sells poorly, convert or sell the workshop. Sunk-cost loyalty is not a perk.
Are Workshops Worth Buying?
Workshops are worth owning when you want steady background income and are willing to pay occasional attention to the economy. They can help cover wages, reduce the financial pressure of maintaining garrisons and complement earnings from caravans, trade and warfare.
They are not the fastest way to become rich. Battle loot, smithing and large-scale trading can generate money much more rapidly. Workshops are better understood as financial support rather than the centre of your economy.
For a first investment, look for a prosperous and politically secure town, inspect its market and select a workshop using a cheap local material. Silversmiths, wine presses, olive presses and pottery shops are good candidates, but the numbers in front of you should always overrule the name in a guide.
Calradia rewards economic research. Or, at minimum, it punishes impulse purchases with admirable commitment.
Takeaway
The best workshop in Bannerlord is not a single building or town. It is a business with cheap, dependable inputs and enough regional demand to sell its output at a worthwhile price.
Use named locations as a shortlist, then examine the market yourself. Prioritise prosperity, security and limited competition. Make use of warehouses when valuable materials are difficult to obtain, and evaluate profit over weeks rather than days.
If you want the simplest approach, begin by investigating:
- A Silversmith in Sanala or Ortysia
- A Wine Press in Jaculan or Vostrum
- An Olive Press in Charas or Jaculan
- A Pottery Shop in Pen Cannoc or Danustica
- A Linen Weavery in Baltakhand
None is guaranteed. That uncertainty is precisely why the workshop system remains interesting after the first bag of denars has changed hands.
