The economy of Mount and Blade 2: Bannerlord is very complex and full of opportunities for money-hungry players.
Since there are so many mechanics in this game, players will have too many choices when they want to start making money.
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However, there are some that could be considered the best and fastest ways to make money in Bannerlord in the early, mid, and late game.
You wouldn’t want to use the same money-making tactics that you used when you were level 1 when you become a Calradian king, would you?
Table of contents
- Best Ways to Make Money in the Early Game in Bannerlord
- How to Make Money in the Mid Game
- Late Game Money Making Techniques in Bannerlord
Best Ways to Make Money in the Early Game in Bannerlord
When it comes to Bannerlord, money income sources will be different in the different stages of the game you might be in.
If you have just started the game, you probably won’t be able to profit from tens of caravans, workshops, and estates.
The best way to understand if you are in the early game is to look at your Clan tier. Clan tier 0 is what we would describe as Bannerlord’s early game.
So, there are three easy and straightforward ways to make money at the start of the game:
- Smithing
- Tournaments
- Quests
Smithing for Money
Smithing is one of the most overpowered skills in Bannerlord at the moment. You would do well to level up Smithing as fast as you can!
Even though you might be constrained by the Stamina stat, with a few levels in Smithing, you will be able to make incredibly expensive weapons.
Always look for Orders that want Two-Handed Swords, Axes, or Polearms since these have the largest payout out of all the orders.
By traveling to each town on the map and completing these high-quality Orders, you can start making something ranging from 5k to 20k denarii per weapon.
However, you won’t get that in the early game. You will make 1k per weapon, which is still very impressive when your skill is low.
The only problem is that you will spend a lot of time just resting in random fiefs, which can get quite boring at times.
Because this can get lackluster, you can also combine this technique with one of the other two to get the most out of this experience.
Tournament Champion
Another fun and efficient start for good fighters is to go from town to town, participating in and winning tournaments.
This can be fun even if you don’t recruit any troops, though you will have to pay a few bandits here and there if you think you can’t destroy them as well.
By winning tournaments and betting on every round, you can win around 1k money from the bets and a piece of equipment that would be around 1k to 2k denarii as well.
Depending on the region, you can gain some armor and weapons that can even be worth 10k (we personally picked up amazing armor in Khuzait lands).
You can then either equip these amazing pieces or start selling them for a quick buck if your armor and weapons are better.
This can be a great way to gain equipment for your character and money along the way. You will also discover various prices in the market and could start trading after a few days.
To easily do this, find a town, go to the arena and if there isn’t a tournament in that town, ask the arena master where one might be. They will always give you at least one destination for you to continue your tournament marathon.
High-Quality Quests
There are some quests here and there that can get you a decent amount of money, and you can just check for them as you walk around Calradia.
The “Train Troops” quest, for example, is really good for making money as it’s easy to complete (you just have to fight and level them up), and you don’t have to come back to the village or town you get them from.
The “Deliver Herd or Products” mission is great for the early game as it just requires the player to go from point A to point B, which should take a maximum of 3 to 4 minutes.
“Raid Enemy Territory” is an incredible money-maker, but it’s usually a quest for the mid-game rather than the early game. However, remember it since it will reward you with around 20k denarii per village raided.
The other two quests with great rewards are “Caravan Ambush” and “Poachers”, but they require a decent amount of troops before trying out.
The problem when it comes to quests is that some can be really annoying and can take a long time for mediocre rewards.
It would be recommended to never take quests such as: “Kidnapped Daughter”, “Family Feud”, “Needs Garrison Troops”, and “Rival Gang Moving In”
How to Make Money in the Mid Game
Here things get a bit easier. You are either Clan tier 1 or 2 and can work as a mercenary or join a kingdom as a vassal.
Mercenary Lifestyle
By just working as a mercenary, you can make up to 20k a day in the late game. It is one of the most profitable money-making paths.
Not only will you get paid by the faction that employed you, but you will also get a lot of equipment to sell from the many armies you will defeat.
If you also went the Smithing path before, you can also smelt down the cheap equipment you get through these battles, and if you are lazy, you can just sell the raw resources.
Raw resources, such as iron and steel, sell much better than pitchforks and broken hammers. This is why it could help to smelt the weapons of all the low-tier troops that you defeat.
You can also profit from the many prisoners that you will get. Make sure to get high-tier troops and always capture the troops on horses, as they offer the highest amount of denarii when sold.
Merchant Lifestyle
You can also start gathering up for a workshop and caravan. The caravans in Bannerlord are one of the most profitable ways of getting money.
However, they are prone to be attacked by bandits, raiders, and enemy kingdoms. This is why they can be risky at the start, before getting the trait that gets you a part of the money back when a caravan is destroyed.
You can also do the trading yourself. One of the most profitable businesses would be buying Aserai or Khuzait horses and selling them in Vlandia.
This can easily get you around 1k to 2k denarii per horse, which is one of the most profitable options you will ever find in Bannerlord.
Workshops can also be a decent investment. The only problem is that they are really expensive and will provide a low source of income.
The most consistent workshops that will always get you a profit are:
- Breweries
- Tanneries
These two workshop types will always produce a steady amount of income for you and have an almost non-existent chance of bankruptcy.
The other ones depend on the competition in the surrounding towns. If there are already a couple of silversmiths around, there is a high chance your income will be insignificant.
Also, there is another important factor that influences the amount of money a workshop makes: the prosperity of the town. This will impact the income severely. However, a high-prosperity town will ask for a lot of money for you to set up a shop.
Vassal Lifestyle
Once you reach Clan tier 2, you can finally properly join a faction. Of course, it can still be very profitable to be an independent mercenary or trader, but this will offer you the chance to get fiefs.
Towns and castles are a good way to make money in Bannerlord. However, they can also be very problematic.
If there are cultural differences, you will get Loyalty debuffs. This will result in problems with prosperity, which will affect your income the most.
You will also have to pay for the garrisoned troops, which is a cost that will be very bothersome if you are close to enemy lands and need many strong soldiers.
On the upside, you will constantly fight enemies and will have the necessary income to keep up those many troops of yours.
Late Game Money Making Techniques in Bannerlord
This is the point where most of us start to get a bit bored with the game and would probably consider starting a new playthrough.
By this time, your income should be more than enough. However, there are some fun things you can do to make money.
Workshop Tycoon
You can make the most profitable workshops in all of Bannerlord. To do this, you first need to decide which workshop you want to make great. We will use the Velvet Weavery for this example.
Go to every town in Calradia and buy every Velvet Weavery. Instantly change the production to a Brewery or Tannery. If you changed it to something else, there would be a chance for the workshop to fail, and the town could change the production back to Velvet.
Once you get them all, build a Velvet Weavery in your chosen town, preferably one with high prosperity, and watch as the workshop starts making you something from 500 to 900 denarii a day (from the normal 100 to 200).
There are three main workshops that can be monopolized without much fight from the AI and get huge profits: the Velvet and Wool Weavery, and the Silversmith.
Besieged Settlement Savior
Another fun thing to do would be to buy all the resources in the goods categories and to have a decent amount of all of them and sell them to besieged settlements.
These places will be in dire need of food and basic resources, and they will pay a decent price for these.
Just look around the map for the settlements with the besieged sign and head there to start profiting from their suffering.
Master Blacksmith
If you followed the path of the blacksmith, you can now find two-handed weapon Orders that will get you over 100k denarii per weapon forged.
This is not just a hustle as it was in the past. It is incredibly profitable and just unfair at this point. Many thought that Smithing’s money-making capabilities would be nerfed until the official release, but it is here, and Smithing is still overpowered.
Just travel around as before in the early game, get your Smithing to around 300, and you will find these incredibly profitable Orders all over the place.
That’s everything you need to know about how to make money in Mount and Blade 2: Bannerlord!
Have any input or suggestions for this guide? Let us know in the comment section below.
