Companions in Bannerlord are the backbone of your warband. Read on to learn the different types, how to recruit the right ones and more!
Companions Matter In Bannerlord
Why You Can’t Conquer Calradia Alone
It doesn’t take long in Bannerlord to realize that your rise from sword-for-hire to sovereign of a sprawling kingdom won’t happen alone. While you may start as a lone wanderer, your ambitions quickly outgrow what a single warlord can handle. Enter companions: Bannerlord’s flexible, essential system for delegation, specialization, and long-term growth. In Bannerlord, Companions aren’t generic recruits or disposable followers. They’re unique, named characters with their own stats, skills and backgrounds. Unlike traditional party members in other RPGs, companions can operate independently as governors, warband leaders, or key officers within your growing clan.
At first glance, companions may seem like little more than named party members with better stats. But in truth, they’re the structural spine of your entire operation. They fight beside you, heal your wounded, manage your resources, lead their own warbands, govern your towns, and even act as emissaries or bandit lords if that’s the path you take. Their value is less about raw combat power (though that certainly helps) and more about what they allow you to stop doing yourself. Need someone to manage your food stocks while you focus on flanking enemy cavalry? You’ll want a quartermaster. Got a castle but no time to babysit loyalty levels? Appoint a governor. Looking to expand your influence without personally marching every troop across Calradia? Companions can lead their own armies once they’re assigned as clan leaders.
They essentially bridge the gap between your early-game scrappy raider phase and the mid-to-late-game realm management phase. Without them, every logistical task and strategic move falls on your shoulders—making the game more stressful than it is satisfying. With them, you can start to see the shape of a real clan, then a dynasty.
There’s also an appealing roleplay texture to them. Each comes with a randomly generated name and moniker—"The Healer," "The Accursed," "Of the Hills"—hinting at their skills, specialties, and origins. These little touches give you just enough narrative breathing room to imagine who they are, what they’ve been through, and how they fit into your campaign. Some players even build their entire warband concept around a theme: a noble house of tacticians, a rogue’s gallery of desert raiders, or a fan-fictional mercenary guild.
In a world where your clan name is your banner and your companions are your most trusted agents, who you travel with becomes as important as where you’re going. They’re more than just bodies in armor—they’re the pillars that hold up your rise to power.
Understanding Companion Types
Common Companion Party Roles
While Mount & Blade II: Bannerlord doesn’t officially classify its companions into distinct categories, the community has long adopted a gameplay-driven approach to sorting them. These "types" are shaped by the companion’s dominant skill sets and the functions they tend to serve in a typical campaign.
You won’t find an in-game tooltip saying "this is a combat specialist" or "this one’s a governor," but over time, players have come to recognize patterns in naming, stat distribution, and practical use. These labels might vary—some guides will talk about "healers" or "leaders," others prefer "surgeons" or "commanders"—but the core idea is the same: companions are most effective when assigned to roles that align with their strengths. These roles aren’t rigid, but they offer a useful lens through which to understand how your companions can best support your growing empire.
Bannerlord allows you to assign roles in your party—such as Quartermaster, Surgeon, Scout, and Engineer—and these companions ensure your army stays fed, healed, and mobile. Each role ties directly to a key skill.
Quartermaster
The Quartermaster governs your party’s food, morale, and cohesion. A companion with high Steward skill increases your party size cap, boosts morale with food variety, and slows cohesion decay in armies.
Best for:
⚫︎ Long campaigns with big armies
⚫︎ Keeping morale high during sieges or deep enemy incursions
⚫︎ Supporting growth when leading multiple warbands
Best Titles:
⚫︎ The Spicevendor – High Steward and Trade, ideal for food variety bonuses
⚫︎ Willowbark – Often comes with strong Steward and Medicine
⚫︎ The Wainwright – Steward + Engineering; flexible for garrison or party
Surgeon
Your Surgeon is the only thing standing between wounded heroes and permanent death. A high Medicine skill drastically reduces the chance of companion death, increases healing rate, and helps preserve veteran troops.
Best for:
⚫︎ Preventing permanent companion deaths
⚫︎ Keeping your elite troops alive after big battles
⚫︎ Supporting constant fighting with minimal downtime
Best Titles:
⚫︎ The Surgeon – Obvious pick; dedicated healer
⚫︎ Willowbark – Often the highest Medicine of any companion
⚫︎ The Healer – Balanced between Medicine, Steward, and Charm
⚫︎ Bitterdraught – Good secondary option with solid Medicine/Trade
Scout
The Scout governs your party’s ability to detect enemies, ambushes, and terrain advantages. A high Scouting skill increases party speed, expands your vision radius, and lets you exploit terrain in auto-resolved battles.
Best for:
⚫︎ Raiding campaigns or avoiding larger armies
⚫︎ Keeping tabs on enemy patrols
⚫︎ Triggering ambushes during field battles
Best Titles:
⚫︎ Of The Wastes – Typically has high Scouting
⚫︎ The Grey Falcon – Often balanced between Scouting and Tactics
⚫︎ The Ragged / The Fish – Lower-tier, but reliable scouts
Engineer
Engineering governs siege speed, equipment durability, and construction on both offense and defense. Whether you’re storming castles or defending your own, a high Engineering skill determines how quickly you can break or build walls.
Best for:
⚫︎ Sieging enemy towns quickly
⚫︎ Reducing construction time for siege engines
⚫︎ Improving fortifications on your own settlements
Best Titles:
⚫︎ The Engineer – Obvious and effective
⚫︎ The Scholar – Often a hybrid of Medicine and Engineering
⚫︎ The Wainwright – Cross-trained for both Engineering and Steward
⚫︎ The Knowing – High intellect companions with useful governor potential
⚫︎ The Accursed – Sometimes come with good Engineering and Tactics
Common Companion Titles
While we’ve grouped companions above by how they function in a campaign, many players search for them by title—the nickname each companion carries. These titles are procedurally generated but usually point to their starting skill focus. Below is a quick-reference list of commonly seen companion titles and what they generally specialize in:
⚫︎ The Accursed – Roguery, Two-Handed
⚫︎ The Black – Roguery, Two-Handed, Bow
⚫︎ The Boar – Tactics, Polearm
⚫︎ The Bull – Tactics, Two-Handed, Polearm
⚫︎ The Butcher – Roguery, One-Handed
⚫︎ The Engineer – Engineering, Crossbow
⚫︎ The Golden – Tactics
⚫︎ The Healer – Medicine
⚫︎ The Ragged – Bow, Scouting
⚫︎ The Red – Two-Handed
⚫︎ The Scholar – Medicine, Steward
⚫︎ The Shieldmaiden – One-Handed, Athletics
⚫︎ The Smith – Smithing, Two-Handed
⚫︎ The Spicevendor – Trade, Crossbow
⚫︎ The Swordsman – Two-Handed, Polearm
⚫︎ The Swift – Roguery, Trade, Steward
⚫︎ The Wanderer – Polearm, One-Handed
⚫︎ Of the Hills – Scouting, Crossbow
⚫︎ Of the Wastes – Scouting, Bow
Note: Companion availability and skill levels can vary between playthroughs. Always check individual stats before recruitment.
Beyond the Core Roles
Clan Managers and Governors
Not every companion in Bannerlord fits neatly into the predefined party roles of Quartermaster, Surgeon, Scout, or Engineer. While those four are essential for keeping your army fed, healed, mobile, and siege-ready, many companions serve broader purposes—often becoming the backbone of your combat strategy, economic expansion, or settlement management. Think of party roles as your logistical skeleton. The muscle and personality of your faction comes from everything else your companions do.
When your ambitions grow beyond roaming warbands, you’ll need companions to help hold what you conquer. Assigning a companion as governor of a town or castle lets their skills directly impact the settlement’s prosperity, loyalty, construction speed, and defenses.
The most useful skills in this role include:
⚫︎ Steward: Boosts food production, population stability, and general prosperity.
⚫︎ Charm and Leadership: Help with loyalty and influence gain.
⚫︎ Engineering: Speeds up construction and fortification projects.
⚫︎ Tactics and Roguery: Useful for less conventional holdings—or more aggressive internal policies.
Governors don’t travel with you, so it’s a great role for companions who may not be suited for front-line combat. Instead, you're looking for utility and synergy, a well-rounded Steward that can increase tax income.
Miscellaneous and Utility Roles
Finally, there’s the outer ring of the companion system—roles that don’t neatly fit into your party or garrison, but still matter deeply to the health of your kingdom. These are your caravan leaders, raiders, and warband captains, each one contributing passive income, distraction forces, or logistical support.
Useful skillsets here include:
⚫︎ Trade: For caravan runners. High trade skill generates more profit and helps them avoid ambushes.
⚫︎ Roguery: Best for companions who run illicit operations, sell prisoners, or raid villages.
⚫︎ Tactics: Ideal for leading smaller warbands, ambushing enemies, and retreating effectively when outnumbered.
Companions in these roles operate at a distance from you. They’re autonomous, profit-driven, and sometimes volatile. But they can serve as a powerful way to extend your reach across the map without having to micromanage every skirmish or market shift. A well-outfitted caravan leader or tactically-savvy raider can serve as both economic engine and strategic diversion, especially during long campaigns.
There’s no single "best" companion in Bannerlord—only the ones who fit your needs, your style, and your current phase of conquest. Some will ride with you from your first looter hunt to the siege of an empire. Others will quietly run a town, manage a caravan, or lead a flanking force that wins a war without ever speaking a word.
What matters is understanding how to read their skills, spot their potential, and put them in the right role. Whether they’re sharpening blades or balancing books, every companion adds to the story you're building. Choose wisely—and don’t forget to give them decent gear. A companion in rags can still swing a sword, but a well-fed, well-armored captain? That’s how you build a dynasty.
How To Recruit Companions
Taverns and the Encyclopedia
In Bannerlord, companions don’t join your cause automatically—you have to find them, judge their skills, and make the offer yourself. While the process isn’t complicated, understanding where to look, what to look for, and why it matters can turn your ragtag band into a disciplined, high-functioning machine.
Companions are scattered across taverns in cities throughout Calradia. Every time you enter a town, visit the tavern and check the roster. If there’s a recruitable companion inside, you’ll see them listed with a distinct title like "The Healer", "The Wainwright", or "Of the Hills."
Alternatively, you can use the Encyclopedia (N key by default) to locate specific companions. Navigate to the "Heroes" tab, then filter by Wanderer. This category includes all recruitable companions currently wandering the world. Click on a name to view their stats, backstory, and—most importantly—their last known location. The entry updates periodically as they travel, so check often.
Once you find them, recruiting is as easy as initiating a conversation in the tavern and paying their asking fee—no persuasion minigame or loyalty quest required. Just gold.
Stats and Companion Limits
Choosing the right companion depends on your current goals: Early-game players benefit most from a good Surgeon (high Medicine) and Scout (Scouting boosts map speed). Mid-game players should prioritize combat captains and Stewards who can serve as future governors or party leaders. Late-game players might focus on high Engineering, Tactics, and Leadership for large-scale wars and castle sieges.
Don’t forget about level scaling. Some companions start out with high stats and little room to grow; others are blank slates with lots of potential. Consider the long-term: a strong early-game Fighter might not scale well into a governor or warband leader, while a more balanced, low-level recruit could become anything you need with enough experience.
You should also probably consider that there’s a cap on how many companions you can hire, tied to your Clan Tier. Your maximum number of companions isn’t static though. It grows as your Clan Tier increases, which happens through renown gained in battles, tournaments, and quests. Planning ahead and choosing companions based on skill gaps in your party is the surest path to a strong, adaptable clan.
Assigning Roles And Making Them Work For You
The Party Roles Menu
Hiring a companion is just the beginning. To get real value out of them, you’ll need to assign them tasks, shape their responsibilities, and equip them to survive the chaos of Calradia. Whether they’re managing your food supply, commanding a cavalry charge, or governing your far-flung settlements, your companions only shine when given the right tools and the right direction.
Within your party screen (L key), you’ll find a Roles tab where you can assign specific duties: Quartermaster, Surgeon, Scout, and Engineer. Each of these ties directly to a skill (Steward, Medicine, Scouting, Engineering), and your chosen companion must be present in your party for their bonuses to apply.
Roles are mutually exclusive—a single companion can only perform one role at a time. And while the player character can fill any of these themselves, delegating them frees you to focus on combat and leadership instead of logistics. Pick the right person for each job, and your army runs like a well-oiled catapult.
Clan Screen Management
To assign a governor, click on one of your owned settlements, then select a companion from the governor dropdown menu. The companion will travel to that location and automatically apply their skills (Steward, Charm, Leadership, Engineering, etc.) to improve loyalty, prosperity, construction speed, or militia growth.
To assign a party leader, go to the "Parties" tab in the Clan screen and click "Create New Party." Select a companion, give them a budget, and optionally send them off with troops. They’ll act semi-independently, patrolling, fighting, or raiding based on your kingdom’s stance and your orders.
Both of these roles remove the companion from your direct control, so be strategic. Assign combat-capable companions as party leaders, and reserve non-combatant skill-based companions for governor duties where they’re safe and productive.
How to Dismiss a Companion
It’s worth knowing that you can fire companions. Sometimes, you just outgrow them. A decent early-game Scout might become dead weight by the time you’re fielding three separate armies. If you need to make space, you can dismiss a companion via the Party Menu. Simply select the companion you wish to dismiss, talk to them, and choose "I no longer have need of your services" when it becomes available in the dialogue. They’ll vanish from your party (and Caldria).
Keep in mind that they retain their gear—whatever armor and weapons they had stay with them. You also cannot rehire them later; they disappear from the world permanently. Their role (Quartermaster, Scout, etc.) is unassigned, so don’t forget to reassign it if needed.
Dismissing companions isn’t always the wrong move. If you’ve outgrown their usefulness, they’re not filling any roles, or you simply want to minimize distractions, letting them go can free up bandwidth—both literally and mentally. But don’t purge recklessly. A rare healer, high-level scout, or charismatic governor might be irreplaceable later when you expand again. Instead of thinking in terms of headcount, think in terms of impact: who’s actively contributing to your campaign goals, and who’s just along for the ride?
The Next Chapter of Companions
Companions aren’t just stat sheets or utility bots—they’re the beating heart of your growing empire. From the humble healer who kept your troops alive in your first skirmish, to the ironclad captain leading a warband under your banner, companions give Mount & Blade II: Bannerlord its sense of continuity. They’re the characters you remember, the ones you equip with your best gear, the ones you trust to hold the line while you’re off negotiating a kingdom’s surrender.
Even as the late-game pressures push players toward leaner clan rosters, the importance of companions hasn’t vanished—it’s simply evolved. In a sandbox as open-ended as Bannerlord’s, the power of your companions lies not just in their numbers, but in how you use them. As captains, as scouts, as governors, or even as expendable assets on the outer edge of your influence, they mirror your strategic priorities and your roleplaying choices. Every dismissed party leader or cherished medic reflects the kind of ruler you’ve become.
And soon, their value might only deepen.
With the upcoming War Sails expansion charting a course into naval warfare, companions are poised to play entirely new roles. You won’t just be assigning them to guard caravans or govern castles anymore—you’ll be handing them the helm of a warship. The expansion teases customizable fleets, ship-based battles, and maritime campaigns, all of which naturally demand specialized crew. That likely means new sea-focused skills, assignments, and companion archetypes, from boarding leaders to supply captains. Managing your clan on land was already a task; managing them across wind-lashed oceans promises a new level of strategic depth.
Whether outfitting companions with Nordic spears and tattoos or dispatching them to blockade enemy ports, War Sails could elevate them from secondary figures into indispensable naval officers—each one another story at sea. It’s not just about keeping your party healed anymore. It’s about building a fleet, surviving storms, and turning a handful of named faces into legends of the northern seas.
So whether you run a tight band of elites or a sprawling web of governors, raiders, and now sailors, remember: your companions are more than just tools. They’re the spine of your story, and the soul of your campaign—and soon, they might just be the wind in your sails.
Sources:
Reddit | All Bannerlord Wanderers/Companions
Steam Discussions | Companions,Wanderers, and Wives. Oh my!
Fandom Wiki | Companions Bannerlord
Epic Games | Mount & Blade II: Bannerlord: 10 tips to help you conquer the world
Rock Paper Shotgun | Mount And Blade 2 Bannerlord companions: where to find them and why you need them
PC Gamer | How to recruit and equip the best companions in Mount and Blade 2: Bannerlord
Game Rant | Mount & Blade 2 Bannerlord: The Best Companions
The Gamer | Mount And Blade 2: Bannerlord - Clan Roles Guide
Gamepur | How to create a new party in Mount and Blade II: Bannerlord
TaleWorlds Forum | Types of Companions by their Titles
TaleWorlds | War Sails
YouTube | An Idiots Guide To COMPANIONS In Bannerlord!
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