In Mount and Blade: Bannerlord you will be hiring troops and building up your armies the entire game. Denars are the currency of the game and you will need them for just about everything. From equipment to troops, having a large source of money in the game is going to make progressing significantly easier. But how does one make money in Bannerlord?
This guide will show you some of the best ways that you can make some quick money in Mount and Blade: Bannerlord. Step by step I will show you the best way to make money in the game currently. There will also be some alternate ways of making money below if you aren’t inclined on using the first method. Many will think the game is too easy once you have used this (method).
Without further ado, lets get into the best way to make denars in Bannerlord!
How to Make Money in Bannerlord: Smithing Guide
In this guide we will go over the best way to make denars. In short, what you want to do is gather materials to craft cheap weapons, then sell them for a really good profit. As cheaper weapons can be smelted down into crafting ingredients, you can get a large source of iron ingots and steel from basic weapons found from bandits. This will be our main source of materials.
So to make good money fast in Bannerlord you will want to follow these steps:
- Gather as many companions as you can find in Calradia
- Travel to small hardwood-producing villages and buy as much as you can find
- Defeat bandit parties and hoard all of the weaponry
- Head to a Smithy
- Smelt down all the gathered weapons and process the hardwood into coal
- Craft the longest Two-handed sword possible
- Use your own smithing stamina and your companions to Smith as many weapons as possible
- Sell all of these weapons at any town with enough denars to pay for it them
- Rest at the town until the smithing stamina has recovered and repeat the process
Step 1: Gather as Many Companions as Possible to Use as Smiths
To begin with, we are going to want to gather as many companions as you clan level allows. Each clan level will raise the maximum amount of companions you can have as part of your clan. You want to just get as many as you want for this. Seek out companions from taverns.
The idea is that each character will have a certain amount of stamina they can use for smithing before they have to rest. By getting as many companions as you can you will be able to smith and smelt more weapons before having to rest at a town. You can check out this guide to getting companions to help you out.
Step 2: Gather as Much Cheap Hardwood as Possible
The next thing you will need to do is gather a lot of hardwood. Hardwood is used in the process of creating weaponry to sell and also processed into coal. You will need coal for every single weapon you create so believe me when I say you will need a lot of this.
You can see which towns will have a lot of hardwood for sale by checking the symbol located next to their name on the world map. Approach these villages and make trade to get as much hardwood as possible. You will need a lot of hardwood for crafting the items and for creating coal.
Step 3: Defeat Bandits and Enemies and Keep All Weapons
The next thing you want to do is track down and defeat bandits to get as many weapons as possible. It doesn’t really matter which type of bandit you take down, as long as you amass a good amount of weapons.
Try to keep every single weapon you come across. Even those really useless looking sticks and hammers can be smelted down for ingredients that will craft you something worth good money.
Step 4: Head to Your Nearest Smithy
With a bag full of wood and weapons it’s time to head to your nearest smithy. It really doesn’t matter which smithy you choose to go to, just approach any large town. The larger towns can be found by looking for the fiefs on the may with large names. When you zoom out on the main map screen they will stay visible.
Click on this town and when you party has arrived at the town select the option “Enter Smithy”.
Step 5: Smelt Weapons and Make Charcoal
Now that we have arrived at the smithy we are able to start getting to work. Now, you want to try to process your hardwood into as much coal as possible. To do this, head to the tab at the top of the screen which reads, ‘refine’. Here you can turn 2 units of Hardwood into 1 Charcoal or even change different types of metal. Every time you smelt down or craft a weapon you will need a unit of charcoal so try to get as much as possible.
Once you have gotten as much charcoal as possible, head to the tab at the top called Smelt. Here, you can break down any weapons you have gathered to get back raw materials for crafting. Smelt down all of the weapons you gathered to get back a good amount of hardwood and some other materials.
Step 6: Start Crafting Long Two-Handed Swords
Now that you have a good amount of materials to craft with, we want to start crafting a bunch of two-handed swords. There are other options of weapons to craft to make good money, (such as spears and javelins) but two-handed swords can be very profitable early on. The best part if you won’t need valuable materials to craft them as well. Change the slider for the blade ot the maximum length.
You want to try to create a two-handed sword with the highest swing damage possible. These are generally worth a good amount of money. If you unlock one of the really thick blades such as the one in the image above, mass-produce these. You will find them selling for many thousands of denars, even though the materials you use to get them are very cheap.
Despite only costing 3 Steel and 3 Wrought Iron, the weapon shown above will sell for over 10,000 denars. Not a bad return on investment.
Step 7: Use Smith Using Your Companions
The only problem with smithing in Bannerlord is your character’s smithing stamina. You will only be able to craft a few weapons at a time depending on your smithing skill and perks. Luckily, you can switch to different characters within the smithing menu and have them craft weapons and smelt as well. To do this, click the portrait at the bottom left of the screen.
You can select from any of the companions currently travelling within your party to start smithing. By utilizing this method, you can produce many weapons each time you come back to the smithy, essentially generating hundreds of thousands of denars each day.
Step 8: Sell Weapons for Profit
Now that you have a good amount of crafted weapons in your inventory, it’s time to bring in the money. You can trade at any major town to get some denars. Note that each town will have a limited supply of denars that they will give you. You can also trade your newly crafted weapons in for some fancy armor or a new horse if you’ve found you’ve exhausted the town’s supply of denars.
Travel from town to town until you have sold all of your goods. Another great thing you can do if the town has run out of money is to buy more raw crafting resources (or weapons to smelt down) and repeat the process for even more profit smithing!
Step 9: Rest and Repeat!
Eventually your character and their companions will run out of smithing stamina. you can rest in any town to get this stamina back up to full again. It will take roughly one full day of resting to get smithing stamina refilled. You can even rest in the town where you are doing your smithing/trading.
Just keep resting and smithing and eventually you will have enough denars to essentially buy all of Calradia.
Other Popular Money-Making Methods in Bannerlord
If you don’t feel like cheesing Bannerlord by smithing, there are a few other pretty common money-making methods you can use in the game. One of the most popular ways you can make money is by trading goods from town to town. In Bannerlord different towns will have different prices for goods. For example you can purchase cheap pottery in the east to sell to the west. Check out the perks in the trading skill to help you understand buying prices better.
Some other ways to make money in Bannerlord include:
- Purchasing Workshops in towns to produce and sell goods
- Having your companions set up trade caravans
- Taking missions for towns and villages and completing them (Also great for renown)
- Targeting high-value bandits like Sea raiders and Forest bandits and selling them to slave-traders
