In this episode of the Bannerlord Perks guide we will look at the Throwing skill perks. By the end of this video, you will have a complete understanding of what each one does and which to pick based on your specific needs. I put timestamps in the description for your convenience and without further ado, let’s get started!
Level 25 – Quick Draw: This perk increases drawing speed by 20% for throwing weapons, which we can see from the testing is, well, basically nothing. I tested reload speed after tossing as well as switching between weapons, but all were identical nearly to the frame! Perhaps they mean you can draw pictures with your throwing weapons faster? [crappy drawing with javelin moving around]
If a 20% increase made 0 different, then it’s safe to assume the captain perk giving 10% increase for troops is equally nothing.
Level 25 – Shield Breaker: Dealing 40% more damage to shields with throwing weapons can be quite useful. In testing, it takes 4 hits without the perk to bust the shield, but only 3 hits with the perk.
The captain perk dealing 8% more damage to shields for our troops seems weak at first, but keep in mind if we have an infantry formation with 150 troops that each have javelins, it can add up to a massive difference.
Since quick draw seems to have no effect whatsoever, the pick is shield breaker on both accounts.
Level 50 – Flexible Fighter: We can use our throwing weapons as melee is we press X, switching to melee mode. This perk increases damage done by 10% while in melee mode. We can see in testing the bonus damage increases from 2 on average to 9. Javelins use the polearm skill and throwing axes use 1H, so damage can be increased by perks from those skills as well!
The captain perk gives a +15 to all control and vigor skills. This is an interesting one for sure as it has utility with every single troop in the game!
Level 50 – Hunter: This perk gives a 40% increase in damage against horses, which is huge. We can see from the testing that without the perk, bonus damage averages to 2.5 per hit and with the perk 43.5. If we take into consideration a horse charging towards us, it’s nearly guaranteed to dismount any cavalry unit with a high damage Javelin.
The captain perk gives only an 8% increase. We can’t use the same logic as the previous perk because the AI rarely hits enemy horses, so this perk is mostly wasted.
For our main character, I prefer hunter – but if you plan on using your throwing weapons in melee mode a lot then flexible fighter can be helpful. For the captain perk, Flexible fighter is the pick and it’s not even close!
Level 75 – Mounted Skirmisher: Here we go again, another mounted accuracy perk to test! We can see traveling in a straight line, there is literally no difference until your aim is held for about 5 seconds, and even then the difference is really small. It’s also difficult to see any difference when moving our horse left and right.
The captain perk gives mounted troops with throwing weapons a 10% damage increase. This is a pretty good increase since throwing weapons already do high damage to begin with.
Level 75 – Perfect Technique: With this perk, projectile speed increases by 25% which is a big number! And fortunately for us, we can see a massive difference between with and without the perk. There are two things to note here – Projectile speed dictates how far we can throw and faster projectiles do more damage. If we aim at the same place we did without the perk, we overshoot the target by a significant amount, meaning we don’t have to arc our throws nearly as much. Damage also increased from 46.5 on average without to 71 with the perk, which is a 52.7% increase!
The captain perk gives our troops a 10% increase to throwing speed, which is great for the same reasons stated above!
I can confidently tell you the pick here for both our main and captain perk is perfect technique. The perk is really amazing because it increases our accuracy, range and damage AND we can pick it up from level 75. Thank you thank you thank you TaleWorlds!
Level 100 – Knock Off: Another dismounting perk, I love these! This one activates 50% of the time when dealing over 25% damage. The numbers are great here! We can see in our testing that it works as described.
The captain perk seems a little weak as 5% more against cavalry with throwing weapons is not much, especially when considering how few times I’ve seen a javelin take them out.
Level 100 – Running Throw: As we stated before, gaining additional projectile speed is really good since it increases range and damage. This perk gives a bonus to projectile speed from our movement speed. It’s difficult to judge movement speed of the projectile just by eye-balling it so I decided to test relative movement speed with and without the perk. I ran 5 tests each and without the perk averaged to roughly 34.5 m/s without and 36.0 with the perk, which is a reasonable increase!
The captain perk increases throwing skill of troops by 30, which is a great bonus!
The pick for our main character is tough since they are both very useful. I personally prefer running throw as I find late game javelins will 1-shot almost anything, so knock off would be wasted for late game builds. For the captain perk I also prefer running throw as increasing throwing skill will give a bonus to several stats, not just damage like the other perk.
Level 125 – Skirmisher: This perk reduces incoming ranged damage by 10%. We can see from testing that without the perk, rocks do anywhere from 10 – 13 damage and with the perk, between 7 – 9 damage.
The captain perk does the same, but only 3% which small enough to be negligible.
Level 125 – Well Prepared: This perk increases the number of throwing weapons in each set. We can see from testing that carrying 4 sets will go from having 20 in total to 24 with the perk. The secondary perk is tagged as Party Leader, which will give all of our ranged troops a 25% chance to have an extra shot. So with 100 archers, we can expect to have an extra 25 shots in total on average, which is better than nothing I suppose.
This pick may be subjective, but I’m finding it difficult to find a reason for picking skirmisher over well prepared. Throwing weapons usually come in a pack of 3 – 5 each, so adding +1 to each pack is a massive increase, making my pick Well Prepared.
For the captain pick, skirmisher is the only option.
Level 150 – Focus: Being able to zoom in for throwing weapons seems odd since the range is so short. It’s probably more useful for scouting out positions and seeing the battlefield more clearly than for aiming. We can see a slight increase in zoom with the perk.
The governor perk adds +1 to settlement security, which is great for stabilizing a recent conquest.
Level 150 – Last Hit: This perk is a bit of an odd one, dealing 50% more damage to enemies who are less than 50% health. For most throwing weapons, this will be negligible as damage is rarely an issue for mid to late game equipment. However, if you’re using throwing axes or low tier javelins, I did notice quite a big difference and one that would help a lot – particularly against armored targets who have taken a lot of damage already. Without the perk, most hits were around 60 – 70 damage. With the perk, this damage shoots up to well over 100 on average. Again, low tier troops this would be irrelevant but against higher tier troops with HP perks and high armor, this can really make a difference.
The secondary perk is tagged party leader and increases the morale of troops in our party by 5. It’s not a massive bonus, but it will always be on and can help a lot with lower tier troops.
I don’t find zoom to be useful enough to justify a pick here, so we go with last hit for the main character pick. Focus is the only option for the governor pick.
Level 175 – Head Hunter: Another 50% headshot damage increase perk! I do like these, although for throwing I find them less useful given the raw damage from Javelins. In our testing, we see the throwing axe being just shy of a 1-shot with each hit. With the perk, there is more than enough to 1-shot every time though.
The secondary reduces the recruiting cost of all troops except tier 1. This perk can save quite a lot since it works for all troop types and it tagged as party leader!
Level 175 – Throwing Competition: This perk is currently bugged as it not only gives a 20% discount for infantry upgrades, but actually gives a discount to all troop upgrades! This can have a massive impact as recruiting a troop from tier 1 and upgrading them to tier 5 will cost a total of 190 denars. If we have an army of 500 troops, this equates to 95k denars and saving 20% of this would be 19k.
The governor perk gives 0.5 militia per day, which seems weak for a higher tier perk.
This is a tough pick – if you need the extra damage, then head hunter is great because it will also save you a few denars. If damage isn’t an issue, then I think you will get more utility out of throwing competition. That is also the only pick for governor.
Level 200 – Saddlebags: This perk gives us +2 ammunition per pack for throwing weapons if we start the battle with a mount. We can see from the testing that without the perk, we start with 4 packs for a total of 20 and with the perk 28 Javelin.
The secondary perk is tagged as party leader and adds +1XP to infantry only. I tested all units and it doesn’t work for cavalry or archers.
Level 200 – Splinters: Throwing axes are an odd weapon group as the damage and stack size is low, making me wonder why anyone would use them over a Javelin? This perk gives triple damage to shields, taking the hits from 7 without the perk to 3 with.
The captain perk gives 50% increase in damage to shields with throwing weapons, which seems like a mistake and should be from throwing axes. This is a great pickup while it lasts!
The picks here are easy – For our main character sadlebags, just make sure you start on horse as you can always dismount immediately and continue on foot. Splinters is amazing for a captain perk and I highly recommend aiming for this one on companions!
Level 225 – Long Reach: Being able to pick up weapons from the floor is an interesting perk as it allows us to replenish our javelins without having to dismount. Keep in mind, any javelins we find on the floor will replenish our javelin stack even though the javelin type may not match. So a tier 2 troop’s javelins will indeed restock our tier 6 custom crafted javelin ammunition!
The secondary perk is tagged party leader and gives a 20% bonus to morale and renown gain after battles. This is a nice perk to have, although this late in the perk tree it’s probably not as useful.
Level 225 – Resourceful: This perk gives a straight +2 ammunition to our throwing weapon stacks. We can see from testing with 4 stacks without the perk we start with 18 total and with the perk, 26.
The secondary perk gives a 10% bonus to XP for all throwing weapon troops. This is also tagged as party leader, making it useful for us. Throwing weapon troops are generally infantry or skirmisher cavalry, so this can be incredibly helpful when leveling up those unit types.
This is a difficult pick since they effectively do the same when it comes to increased ammunition except one is guaranteed and the other requires us to scavenge from the fallen. I lean towards resourceful since I would rather have the +2 to start with and the infantry XP is really good to have, but there is a real argument to be made for picking long reach as well. In a very long fight, we could easily sustain our throwing weapons by scavenging between reinforcement waves and keeping us in the fight.
Level 250 – Impale: I’m just going to come right out and say it – this is my pick. We will still look at the other perk, but be aware this perk is SSS Tier. With this perk, we essentially become a mobile ballista which is able to deliver damage through any shield. The enemy will no longer be able to block anything and it’s a guaranteed casualty. Not only that, but there is immense satisfaction to be had from watching bodies rag doll after we impale them.
Sorry, I’m too enamored with the main perk to even notice a 10% increase to throwing weapons for a captain perk. That’s fine, but what about this: [shot of soldier being impaled]
Level 250 – Weak Spot: Ignoring armor is good and 30% is nothing to be taken lightly. We can see from the testing damage absorbed without the perk average to 29 per hit and with the perk all the way down to 14.
The captain perk gives our troops with throwing weapons a 10% reduction to enemy armor, which can be great against higher tier troops that have good armor.
If it wasn’t already obvious, the pick for our main character is impale. The captain perk needs a little more thought though – I think the extra damage is more useful since it helps against both low tier and higher tier troops whereas armor reduction almost exclusively helps against higher tier troops, so impale is the pick here as well.
Level 275 – Unstoppable Force: The final perk increases both projectile speed and damage with throwing weapons. As stated earlier, projectile speed helps to increase our range, accuracy and damage. We can see almost no difference in throwing rate between 275 with and without the perk as well as 330. Level 0 is a bit slower, but that is most likely due to perk selection. We can see the real difference in the second part where we test for damage. At level 0, we do just enough damage to 1-shot everyone with high end javelins. Level 275 without the perk this increases to 150 – 175. 275 with the perk it jumps again to 200 – 275 per hit and 330 with the perk form 315 – 350. While having the damage is nice, I don’t think it’s worth aiming for 275 for. Javelins are devastating without the bonus damage from the final perk so I think the focus and attribute points are best spent elsewhere. Be sure to hit 250 though!
We are nearing the end of the video, which means it’s time for the bonus!
Vlad Tepez (zhuh pesh) Vlad the Impaler – As we all know, impale is THE most fun perk in the game so it makes sense to do the bonus around this perk. And when we think about impaling people, nobody stands out more than Vlad the Impaler. We are about 500 years too early in Bannerlord, nonetheless we will be impaling people left and right, making our enemies think twice about resisting.
The perks are fairly straight forward here – With the most important ones being Perfect Technique for more accurate throws and Well Prepared, Saddlebags and resourceful for extra throwing ammunition. With these 3 perks, a single pack of 5 javelins will now spawn with 10, doubling our total! And finally, if it wasn’t obvious – Impale.
The Throwing perks are fairly straight forward so it was difficult coming up with some interesting combinations of perks, but what I would like to do instead for this one is show you some alternative tactics using this build.
The first and most obvious scenario is taking out shield walls. To demonstrate this perfectly, we can solo a sea raider hideout without taking a single scratch. We even fight the mob at the end instead of a 1 vs 1. Having a shield and 30 javelins is incredibly potent.
The second scenario is how we approach large battles. The best tactic here is to go for high value targets – enemy nobles and high tier cavalry. We likely won’t need a shield here, so we can start with 40 javelins to throw. We immediately circle through to the rear of the enemy and wreck havoc on the nobles. In this case, they are all alone and only have a bow, but in most cases they will be surrounded by infantry and on horseback, making them difficult targets. Because he can bypass their shields, we can easily pick them off while doing a drive-by. Afterwards, we take out as many high tier cavalry as we can. When we run low, we can easily scavenge javelins from fallen troops, or use our own companions as a resupply. My initial plan was to have a squad of 9 companions all with impale, but unfortunately TaleWorlds ruined their aiming and every single throw sails far above the enemy’s heads even when they are 5 ranks deep. Very disappointing to say the least!
The third scenario is for offensive sieges in which there is no time to knock the walls down. We start by immediately retreating all troops from the battle and continue circling near the back of the map. Once our troops are gone, the enemy willy sally out and try to take us down. The AI, in their brilliance, forgets to lock the door behind them when they leave so we swoop in and close both gates, locking all melee troops out. Now we can take our time and pick off the ranged defenders. In this case, bow or crossbow would be more efficient since we can reload from the arrow barrels, but even with javelins we can reduce the ranged defenders, then retreat and attack again with significantly less ranged defenders.
The final scenario, which is my personal favorite, is the offensive siege advanced parkour shennanigans. This tactic requires that we knock down at least 1 wall before we assault. Once through the breach, we can work our way up the stairs and start taking out high value targets, like enemy archers. This will save our armies from sustaining significant casualties. I like to remain on horseback here since it allows us to escape quickly if need be, but going on foot can be good as well. A quick reminder , Switching from melee to ranged mode can come in handy!
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