The Mount & Blade 2: Bannerlord expansion War Sails has introduced sea warfare and more. I’ve put together this list of tips and tricks to help you with many common questions, while also teaching you tricks to take advantage of. Find out all sorts of helpful info like how to get ships, increasing your ship speed, where to get ship upgrades, and more!
Tip 1 – How to Get Your First Ship in War Sails
If you want to experience the sea that the War Sails expansion is themed around, you’ll need to get a ship first. There are a few ways to get them, but to get your first one, you’ll have to follow one of two methods.
The first way is to complete the War Sails campaign and get a free ship as a reward. This isn’t a bad idea if you’re trying to rescue family members, want some story, and a tutorial on how sailing works. But, if you don’t want to go that path or are playing on sandbox, you can buy a ship from any port town. These have an anchor to the left of their name. Inside one, you’ll find ships available at the port/shipyard.
Tip 2 – How to Get Mariner Troops
The War Sails expansion added the new Mariner troop type specifically for sea combat. If you’re unsure of where to get Mariner troops, here’s what to know. While every town has a chance of having them, most will only have one or two if you’re lucky.
The main area to find Mariner troops shouldn’t be too surprising since it’s inside Nordic territory. Instead of having one or two, almost every Nordic town and village is stocked exclusively with Mariners. Aside from recruiting them directly, many troops can also be upgraded into the role. Look for the symbol of a sword above two squiggly lines that represent waves.
Tip 3 – Combat Tips For Winning Sea Battles
Sea battles often revolve around boarding an enemy ship, which then creates mini chokepoints to fight through. This is because the main way to traverse ships is via the rope bridges connecting them. However, this also makes for a good time to use ranged weapons while enemies are distracted. I wish I could say that using your archers while sailing around enemy ships worked well, but it’s mostly mediocre. Due to this, I’d prioritize picking infantry or a mix on the deployment screen.
If you want to deal damage before boarding a ship, your strategy comes down to ballistas and ramming. Although ballista ammo is limited, you can defeat many enemies by manually targeting them while reversing. Similar to using siege weapons, this is also another way to quickly level up your Engineering. Aside from that, you can coordinate with friendly ships to board an enemy simultaneously.
Tip 4 – Disembark Anywhere on the Overworld
At first, you’ll need to set sail from a town port, which is represented by an anchor next to its name. However, once you’re at sea, you can disembark anywhere in Calradia. This means you can land along the shore of a village or a castle that you’re interested in checking out. You can take advantage of this tip for raiding fiefs, recruiting units, and more.
The even cooler trick here is that while it takes a few seconds to disembark, it’s instantaneous to set sail from there. And if you want to increase your disembark speed, there’s a perk for this. It’s the Shipmaster level 175 perk, Unflinching.
Tip 5 – Zig-Zag to Catch the Wind at Sea
Traveling faster during a battle relies on using your oars to row and sail to catch the wind. Unfortunately, some battles will start with the wind working against you. This means if your sail is open, the wind will slow you down. Otherwise, you can try to catch the wind by traveling toward the enemy at an angle.
This isn’t always possible, but there are moments where it works well. Instead of sailing directly toward them, you’ll come alongside them and can skirmish from afar. This works well for utilizing archers, but makes it harder to use a ballista if you have one.
Tip 6 – Traveling Fast at Sea on the Overworld
Did you know that you can catch the wind on the overworld map? This tip wasn’t mentioned in the campaign when I first ran through it, so I imagine it still doesn’t teach you this. All you need to do is look for the arrows that appear when clicking somewhere to move.
After clicking somewhere, you’ll see a circle appear with three arrows pointing where the wind is currently facing. Going in the same direction can give you a speed increase anywhere from one to almost five, in my experience. You’ll see the biggest boosts if you’re traveling through or near a storm. Aside from catching the wind, other factors impact your speed, like having too many ships, too many troops, or not enough troops.
Tip 7 – Capture Ships to Make Money Fast
Chasing Sea Raiders, Corsairs, and enemy lords at sea is one of the best ways to make quick money. Aside from getting loot, you’ll have a chance to capture enemy ships that you can sell. For a higher capture chance, you can also get the Boatswain level 100 perk, Gilded Purse. This increases the odds of capturing ships by 25%.
I also like to repair the ships I sell first, since that’s a good way to level up your Boatswain skill. Even after repairing them, you’ll still profit from selling each one. But if you’re only looking for money, you can, of course, skip repairing them.
Tip 8 – Where to Find Ship Upgrades in War Sails
Ship upgrades vary by class and hull, but you’ll still need to find a town with a port that has the upgrades you want. While certain upgrades like shields and arrow bins are common, sails can feel rare. A big part of this is likely due to barely any ports on the Nordic side of Calradia having them.
If you’re unsure of how to upgrade your ship or get a new one, you can go to a town’s port and then manage your fleet there. And if you’re looking for Cotton Sails or Linen Sails, you can find them at these towns:
- Diathma
- Lageta
- Ortysia
- Quyaz (Linen Sails only)
- Zeonica
- Rhotae
- Sanala
- Poros
- Vostrum
- Qasira
- Askar
- Danustica
- Razih
Tip 9 – Trick to Increasing Sea Capacity
If you like to trade to earn money, this is one of the better ways to do it. The War Sails expansion added a separate capacity for when you’re at sea. While you can use light ships that have a high amount of cargo space, there is a trick to get even more.
Once you’re a vassal, you can create an army where each lord’s ships in your army will expand your capacity. While this requires Influence to summon lords and keep cohesion up, there is a way around this. If you have clan members running parties, you can summon them to your army for free and increase cohesion for free too. At one point, running a small army with four other lords got me to 336,000 capacity. The only negative you may run into is potentially losing speed depending on each lord’s fleet.
Tip 10 – NPC Lords Can Set Sail From Anywhere
One way the AI has an advantage over the player is that they can set sail from anywhere in Calradia. This means they don’t need to go to a town port and set sail the same way we do. Which can be a little annoying, but it’s likely the case for balancing purposes. With that said, this is good to keep in mind since you’ll find opportunities to hunt enemy lords.
If you ever notice an enemy lord or army patiently waiting along the coast, they’re typically preparing to sail. While we can set sail immediately by returning to our fleet along the coast, they can’t. This makes for a good time to catch them offguard before they can retreat to a nearby port. And if you ever want to get figureheads for your fleet, you’ll need to hunt down a lot of lords.
- War Sails Campaign Walkthrough
- How to Sneak in Mount & Blade 2: Bannerlord
- How to Increase Fleet Size
Jeff is a journalist with over 10 years of experience writing, streaming, and making content about video games. With an associate degree in journalism, he’s a sucker for RPGs, survival games, roguelikes, and more.