In this episode of the Bannerlord Perks guide we will look at the Bow 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 – Bow Control: This perk was a little tricky to figure out how to test, but I decided to superimpose two videos on top of each other so we can see exactly what difference our aiming reticle has both with and without the perk. We can see a much tighter aim with the perk.
The captain perk gives +5% damage to bow troops, which by itself isn’t very good but can be decent if you stack enough damage modifiers from other perks with it.
Level 25 – Dead Aim: Bias alert – I love this perk. That being said, it does make a significant difference to our damage output. We averaged 116 damage without the perk and 143 with the perk, picking up nearly 24% more damage! This may not be necessary in the late game, but it really helps a lot early and mid game allowing us to 1-shot most troops.
For the captain perk, we can pick up +20 for bow equipped troops in the same formation. I’m a huge fan of skill increase as it increases both accuracy and damage at the same time.
Picking for our main character, I find it hard to justify taking a perk to help aim better while moving since the vast majority of shots are done while still. Dead aim is my pick 100% of the time.
Picking for a captain, Dead aim as well since skill increase gives more than just a damage bonus.
Level 50 – Bodkin: Armor reduction perks should act in a similar way to damage increase perks. This assumption breaks down, though, at lower tier armor. There was virtually no difference against looters and only a 4% difference when shooting at our horse with the highest armor in the game at 125.
The same can be said for the captain perk, only giving a tiny 5% reduction. Not good.
Level 50 – Ranger’s Swiftness: Sometimes I wake up from a nightmare where I was dreaming about testing yet another movement speed perk in Bannerlord. This is the stuff horror movies are made of! We moved while reloading for over 20s and there is literally zero difference between having or not having the perk.
The captain perk at least gives a flat movement speed bonus, but 3% is not enough to notice a difference.
For our main character, Bodkin is the pick as the armor reduction, even though small, will help us out late game.
For the captain perk, it will depend upon what modifiers you are stacking. If you stack a captain with damage boosts, go Bodkin. Movement speed perks, go for Ranger’s Swiftness.
Level 75 – Quick Adjustments: For the testing of this perk, I apologize if anyone get’s motion sick from this! It helps to stare at the center of our aim. We can see a huge difference with and without the perk. This is particularly useful for aiming at fast moving enemies up close – like a cavalry charge.
The captain perk boosts the accuracy of our archers, which is quite a nice bonus! I prefer accuracy over damage.
Level 75 – Rapid Fire: This is one of those perks that we don’t even need to test to know it’s good. You can immediately tell the difference with and without it. Good job TaleWorlds, more of this! We tested by taking 5 shots and with the perk we nearly shot all 5 in the same time it took us to shoot 4 without the perk.
The captain perk giving 5% faster bow reload speed is interesting. The faster an archer releases his arrows, the more damage per second they will do.
For our main character, rapid fire is just too good to pass up. The reload speed is a huge bonus!
For the captain perk, this is a tough one! If you have ranged units with low ammo count such as the empire archer line, then accuracy will be more important. For all others, consider taking rapid fire for the reload speed.
Level 100 – Merry Men: While +5 is a pretty small bonus, I still think party size is a top-tier bonus. It’s never a bad thing to have more troops on your side.
For the governor perk, you can never go wrong with having more militia.
Level 100 – Mounted Archery: For those who aspire to be like the great khan, I present mounted archery. We tested 3 shots while moving quickly and while it’s tough to see, there is a big difference. If we look at both with and without together, we can see a much tighter reticle. A quick note – This perk has more effect the faster you are moving, so sitting still have no effect and max effect at top speed.
The governor perk seems a little underwhelming at +20% security from garrisoned archers, but it can help some for newly conquered settlements that need to be stabilized.
Personally, I pick merry men for my main character 100% of the time regardless of my build. However, the mounted archery perk is legitimately good so if you do a lot of mounted combat this is still a strong pick. I just prefer party size to everything else.
For the governor pick, I prefer Merry Men for the militia increase.
Level 125 – Strong Bows: I’m so happy to not see a 2% damage perk! 8% is a very big increase to damage output. In our testing, we shot 10 times with and without the perk and the results were about as expected, picking up on average 6% more damage overall.
For the captain perk we see another 5% damage increase, but for tier 3 troops and above. Not great but it’s not bad either.
Level 125 – Trainer: This perk gives passive XP bonuses to both our companions and our bow equipped troops. The nice thing here is that both perks are tagged as Party Leader, meaning we have both active at all times. For companions, it adds 6XP per day to the lowest bow skill and for archers it adds 3XP. Adding XP to a skill that our companion will not be using is only useful for raising their main level, but every little bit helps I guess.
The pick here is easy, Strong Bow 100% of the time.
Level 150 – Discipline: I love to see +50% bonuses, but unfortunately this one is just a tease. In our testing, we were able to hold our aim for 7s without the perk and 10s with. I can’t ever remember a situation where having 10s to aim at something would have been useful. Another thing to point out, this perk is really helpful with low tier bows, but at level 150 we should have graduated to higher tier by then.
The governor perk is a different story. +1 loyalty is a massive bonus, even for settlements not having issues with rebellion. Higher loyalty will also give a construction speed increase.
Level 150 – Hunter Clan: The hardest part of being an archer is usually dealing with cavalry. This perk can help with that some. We see from our testing an increase of over 26% to horses with the perk. A final note here, this perk is great for mounted archery builds as taking on other cavalry with ranged weapons is safer than dueling with a lance or glaive.
The governor perk is quite good too at 15% wage reduction for garrisoned troops.
For our main, the pick is hunter clan 100% of the time.
For a governor, I think discipline is the pick unless you are specifically building a wage reduction companion that stacks several other wage reduction perks. +1 loyalty is just too good.
Level 175 – Eagle Eye: For those aspiring to be a medieval sniper, this is the perk for you. In testing, we can see a pretty big increase in the zoom. My biggest issue with this perk is that you have to relearn how high above the target to aim, making for a frustrating couple of battles while adjusting. The secondary perk increases spotting distance by exactly 10%. This can make a big difference for leveling scouting faster!
Level 175 – Skirmish Phase Master: There are few things in Bannerlord more frustrating than being taken down at distance from ranged troops. This perk helps mitigate some of that with a 10% reduction. In testing, we actually see a 12.8% reduction to damage!
The captain perk is an interesting one as I generally don’t like my archers to take direct engagements. They are usually behind a shield wall which soaks up the arrows for them.
For our main, I take skirmish phase master 100% of the time. If you have a companion that will be leading a caravan then take eagle eye as the extra vision can help them avoid being captured.
Level 200 – Bulls Eye: For a captain perk, 10% more XP for ranged troops is great since ranged tend to inflict the bulk of the casualties during a battle. The governor perk adding +2XP per day is good if you need to level up low tier troops by leaving them in a garrison.
Level 200 – Renowned Archer: Increasing the morale for our ranged troops is not all the useful as they tend to be safe behind a shield wall, not making much use of morale. Cheaper upgrade and recruitment is okay, but by the time we are level 200 money is rarely a consideration.
The picks are easy only because of who they affect – Main character pick renowned archer and bulls eye for captain and governor.
Level 225 – Deep Quivers: Picking up an extra +3 arrows per quiver is really nice! In the testing we can see having 3 stacked bodkin arrows without the perk give 96 arrows and with the perk 105!
The secondary perk is nice as it’s a Party Leader perk which we can use at all times and +1 arrow per quiver per troop is great for longer battles.
Level 225 – Horse Master: Being able to equip any bow on horseback is a nice feature. The Noble Longbow is extremely powerful and can only be used on foot without this perk. The damage output is incredible. I tested both the Noble and Noble Longbow side by side for a comparison – the biggest benefit to the Noble Longbow is the damage. In every other category, the noble bow outshines it. Faster draw speed, projectile speed and a tighter reticle for aiming.
The captain perk is amazing as +30 to bow skill for mounted archers is insane.
The only situation where I will take Horse Master for our main is if I’m having issues 1-shoting enemy troops from close range. The Noble Longbow will shred anything it touches. However, for medium to long distance shots, the accuracy and projectile speed of the noble bow can’t be beat and Deep quivers for extra arrows is my pick.
For a companion leading other mounted archers, horse master is the pick.
Level 250 – Quick Draw: I find this perk particularly useful in siege battles. 25% faster aim is quite nice when you need to get accurate shots off quickly and return to cover to avoid being shot. In testing it doesn’t seem like much, but in a real archery duel, tenths of a second can make a huge difference!
The governor perk adding 5% tax is just bad.
Level 250 – Salvo: Maybe I’m doing something wrong here, can someone let me know in the comments why none of these movement speed perks work? Both with and without the perk were the exact same.
For the governor perk, 20% security for ranged troops is marginal at best.
The pick for our main is quick draw. For a governor, Salvo is a bit more useful but not by much!
Level 275 – Deadshot: The description says this increases damage and bow speed, but it actually changes more than that. Notice the speed to reload and shoot is the same from 1 to 275 without the perk, but faster with the perk and even faster at 330. Also, the accuracy is much better at higher levels since the reticle is tighter at higher levels. The biggest difference is with damage though as we can see from the testing. At level 1, 66 damage on average. Level 275 without the perk 80 Damage. 275 with the perk 88 damage and finally 330 with the perk 103 damage! That’s nearly double from level 1 to 330.
We are nearing the end of the video, which means it’s time for the bonus!
The Rambo Build: If you’ve ever seen Rambo, you’ll know that you should never bring a knife to a gun fight. Or a sword to a bow fight in our case! With the help of a few perks, we are going to recreate Rambo in Bannerlord and make the nastiest arrow slinger that ever walked Calradia. The rules are simple – Bow and arrow only. No melee weapons taking up our arrow slots!
The perks we will need to achieve this are many, but all in categories that work well together. Starting out with the two handed perk Vandal, which reduces armor for ALL weapons we use. Next we take all bow perks that will increase our mobility and decrease movement speed and aiming penalties for moving. Since we are fighting with a bow at melee distances, we need to be agile! In the athletics category, we take anything the helps our movement speed including reducing armor weight. Roguery we pick up a few utility perks that will help us survive and finish off with a movement speed perk in medicine and an engineering perk that gives us 50% more arrows during a siege.
For our loadout, we take a Noble Bow with 3 quivers of stacked bodkin arrows. For armor, we pick the best in class that qualify as civilian armor – this will allow us the greatest mobility but still have great armor and decent survivability. Our loud out weighs less than 14 in total!
While most troops would run away at the sight of a massive army approaching, not Rambo. He runs into the enemy with his might bow, collecting as many souls as he can snag. As soon as the enemy are within melee distance, we simply move back to get enough space for another shot. Enemy has a pesky shield in the way? No problem, kick him in the nuts and send him to the ground with an arrow!
The real strength of this build comes to light during a siege. With 156 shots before we run dry, we can easily rack up 100 kills or more. Although it ruins our Chad image, we will still pick defenders off the wall from a distance until our siege towers are in place. Once they are, we are the first ones at the gate and rain down arrows upon everyone. Since we have great mobility we can easily outmaneuver everyone and continue to shoot while avoiding most damage. From this close distance, every shot is a 1-shot to down them. Eventually we get lazy and whiff a shot from close range, but I hope you can see the power of the melee bow build.
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