Disclaimer: This is my first guide on steam. Don't expect anything fancy. On with the show!

This is a guide about building a character who can fight well in any situation, and win against large armies on their own. As such, I'm going to be making a few assumptions of the reader. Nothing too large, but if you're reading this guide before playing, some things might not make sense.

You have a basic grasp of how to fight 1v1.
You know the controls of the game, including some of the more esoteric ones.
You're playing Vanilla Warband.
You can identify targets.

Some of this may carry over to your mod of choice, but I've no experience with the mods, having spent my time mastering Vanilla Campaign.

Going as a solo character leaves you unable to rely on allies for perks such as healing or sieging. As such, your attribute choices become immensly important. Intellect especially goes from a good stat to a must have.

An ideal starting character is a Female/Thief/Urchin/Smith/Revenge. Females get bonus renown, which is largely useless going solo, but by endgame, you'll be able to field armies that humiliate kings if you so choose. Thief and Urchin get you up to a hefty 9 starting agility, and Smith and Revenge get you up to 8 starting strength. Ideally, you'd want 12 agility at the start, and to not increase it for a long time, so that you can use a Charger.

Strength is your most valuable stat going solo. It lets you use heavier gear, gives you health, and increases your damage. 10 Ironflesh and Power Strike might as well be must haves, though the rest of strength's benefits are largely useless. Yes, I'm including Power Draw in the useless list, and I'll explain why when explaining weapons. Power Throw is alright, but it's going to take a long time before it's worth the points, so you can ignore it.

Agility is... iffy. Weapon Master is valuable but not a stat seller. Riding might as well cap at 4, as you will not find a horse better than a Heavy Charger. Shield is immensly useful, but again not a stat seller, Horse Archery makes archer builds sing, but is otherwise worthless. Since bows and soloing don't go well together, and using throwing weapons on horseback is a crapshoot to begin with, agility is largely worth skipping until later.

Intellect only loses to strength because alot of Int's benefits are multipliers to strength, instead of good in their own right. First Aid and Wound Treatment are absolutly absurd benefits as a solo character on horseback. Inventory management is rather good, as are the movement speed bonuses and... well, just about everything.

Charisma. When not soloing, Charisma might as well be "That leadership stat.". Leadership is the best skill in the entire game, bar none, but it alone doesn't justify Cha as a stat. You won't be putting points here.

Personally, I get Agility to 12, Str to 12, Int to 9, Str to 15, Int to 15, Str to 30, Int to 30, Agi to 30, Str to 35, then start on Charisma. This lets you get Int skills early without sacrificing too much durability.

Your damage type determines what you're good against and what you're bad against. Picking the right damage type for your region on the map is the difference between life and death. Trying to use a piercing weapon against Nords, a Blunt weapon against Khergits, or a Cutting weapon against Swadians will only end in pain unless you're severely overlevelled.

Damage types are Cutting (c), Piercing (p) and Blunt (b).

Cutting (c) is the DPS type. Cutting weapons have the highest base damage of all types, but are hit hardest by armor. Power Strike does more to them due to the heightened base damage. c weapons also universally have sweeping attacks, and many have a back up p attack. They're versatile for Chamberblock parries. A good damage type most of the time, but runs into issues against Swadians. Axes are especially good against shields, but lack in speed and reach. If you intend to quarry Nords, Vaegirs, Khergit, or Sarranid troops, a cutting weapon will serve you well. Against Swadians and Rhodoks, look elsewhere. Also look elsewhere if you expect to be fighting alot of Huscarls, or just run. Seriously, do not fight Huscarls.

Piercing (p) is the burst type. Piercing-specific weapons can do obscene burst damage, but are slow to follow up. p specific weapons such as spears can also stop horses dead in their tracks, but their ability to do damage up close is terrible unless you're able to spin into your target properly, a difficult skill and nigh impossible when facing groups. Immensly powerful on horseback, and against horses, but against infantry, you'll have issues. p damage ignores a small percentage of armor, which is why many swords have thrust attacks. At best, p damage is a backup, though it sees more use against Swadians, Vaegirs, and Khergits, who field horses, and in the case of the first two, heavy cavalry, who are lance bait. Generally, you'll be ignoring p weapons though, with the exception of the Morningstar.

Blunt (b) is the armor penetration type. Blunt weapons have lower damage, and lower secondary stats. That having been said, b weapons more or less ignore armor, and blunt two-handers have stuns and shield ignoring benefits. Against lighter enemies, the damage and speed loss isn't worth it, but against heavy armor and shields, b weapons are ideal. Ignore 1h b weapons and pole b weapons outright, only the Maul and Sledgehammer are worth it. If you intend to Quarry Rhodoks or Swadians, odds are you'll be using a b Maul or a b Sledgehammer alongside a secondary weapon.

As said above, picking your weapon is beyond important. You may want to keep a small stash at first, if you intend to hunt around.

Much like Damage types, you will want to pick your weapon type to fit the area.

Some things to note.

A weapon's damage value assumes you are hitting with the latter half of the blade. Striking an enemy who is too close to you will do far less damage. This is because Mount & Blade calculates damage based on speed, and the closest area will make impact first. The weapon with the longest reach is not objectively better.

Your shield is constantly blocking, even when not raised, and even when on your back. Backing into a group of archers with a Reinforced Huscarl Round Shield and some spatial awareness will enable you to fight enemies in front of you while blocking behind you at the same time. A shield on your back is less a perfect defense, and more an additional source of armor.

Speed is a damage multiplier, as well as a reduction in the amount of frames it takes for your weapon to hit your target. It's pretty slight, but it is there. It's not as valuable point for point as damage, but you will gain/lose far more points of it than damage, so keep an eye on it.

You will be staggered attempting to use a ranged weapon in melee.

Kick into Crossbow headshot is not simply a viable execution method for large targets, it's one of the best. Same with throwing weapons. This does not work for bows. Being able to pull this off swiftly will save your life time and time again.

Strikes to the head do bonus damage at all times, and strikes to the legs do reduced damage.

With those tips in mind, the weapon types.

1h weapons feature shorter reach, easy to use hitboxes, high speed, and no real downside. 1h axes are great for breaking through shields and delivering damage. 1h swords are the best ground weapon in the game for fighting groups, but 1h maces are kinda bad. Many throwing weapons can sub as a bad 1h ground weapon. Notable ones are Elite Scimitar (Best speed/reach/damage stats of 1h cutting weapons. Great on horseback.) and the T bladed One Handed Battle Axe (Shield-b-gone, and the best 1h damage)

2h weapons feature longer reach, slower speed, and harder to use hitboxes. Some come with unbalanced, slowing your post swing recovery, or the ability to crush through block, letting you kill blocking targets with ease. 2h swords are ideal as cavalry weapons, with their longer hitboxes covered by the additional height and distance of being on a horse, and the ability to flat out kill targets. 2h axes are alright, but nothing all that special given that a 2h sword will still one hit kill most targets, and 2h maces are the bane of armored targets. The Shortened Military Scythe deserves mention for its ability to reach 50c damage on a masterwork, which is equivalent to the hand of god coming down upon your opponent.

1h/2h weapons are rare, and normally to be treated like 2h weapons that can sacrifice stats to be used to block. When using them, you should always swing them twohanded, using their 1h ability with a shield to advance on archers. Only really the Morningstar deserves mention for this category, being a p weapon with guard crush, as well as a 1h capable weapon with guard crush, making it unique and valuable.

Polearms have low speed, extreme reach, terrbly oversized hitboxes, and massive damage values. There are only two situations where you will want one. On a horse, or facing a horse. Lances are burst damage, the c polearms are great at horse to horse combat, and the larger spears stop cavalry charges dead. I don't find much uses for polearms solo, as a 2h sword can typically cover your reach needs.

Bows are... iffy. Their damage and DPS is insane, but they have a wind up period before their first shot longer than other ranged weapons, and require a massive skill investment to be good. Requiring two weapon slots to use also hurts them pretty badly. You'll likely get the most use out of one if you run it with a Morningstar, but a solo player will be knee deep in enemies at most times, so openings to use it are scarce. There are no real notable bows, as they follow a blatant tier list. Higher power draw cost bows are better.

Crossbows are interesting, and powerful if you know how to use them. Crossbow damage does not scale with stats, but is higher than listed due to the high speeds of the projectile. Ideal usage of a crossbow is a combination of a sniper rifle, and a shotgun. Firing on enemies from long range is immensly effective if you have good aim, and being able to land a headshot with a crossbow after a kick is a very effective way to take down a heavy armored target in a single strike. Crossbows also fire very quickly, but take ages to reload. If you intend to quarry heavy targets such as Huscarls, equipping one is a great way to avoid a drawn out fight. Light crossbows are great if you intend to hit and run, as they can be reloaded on horseback, but their damage isn't enough for swadian knights to always die. Heavy crossbows are normally worse than light crossbows, but against enemies with strong head armor they are worth their slot.

Throwing weapons are suprisingly effective if used correctly. Unlike other ranged weapons, they also occupy only a single slot, meaning you can slot them into shield sandwich builds. Throwing Daggers are great for following up kicks, or killing lighter enemies, while jarids are great against heavier targets. Avoid throwing axes; their low ammo and the lack of piercing damage make them inferior headshot tools to jarids, and their hitbox is much larger vertically, leading to shield magnetism.

Shields are shields. They shield you. Pretty standard knowledge. Steel shields are the best frontal shield, while Huscarl Round Shields are the best back shields. Most of the others are either stepping stones, or worthless.

Personally, I use Elite Scimitar, Steel Shield, Huscarl Round Shield, and Throwing Daggers. Given I quarry Nords, who have no shortage of ranged attacks, going shield sandwich is important.

Hunting bandits isn't enough. Sea raiders will get you past the first few levels easy enough, but eventually, you'll want to graduate to picking off a specific faction for the much higher EXP values of large armies and nobles. Below is advice on picking your quarry, and fighting them well.

Swadians are a mixture of ultra heavy armor, short reach, crossbows, and lances. They have access to piercing weapons on their strongest troops, but mostly rely on 1h swords. High armor means slow speed outside of their cavalry, who will either be using a lance, or a 1h weapon.

Their usual terrain is forest, which works against them and to your advantage, eating more than a few crossbow shots and stopping their cavarly dead in its tracks. Staying mobile, and using the trees to your advantage is one of the best counters you have against their forces.

Swadian recruits are especially worthless by recruit standards, falling below even nordic recruits. Short reach, terrible gear, and lower base stats. Leave these alive whenever possible, if you're well armored, they cannot hurt you. Some may come with a bit more range on their weapon, but their weapon skill is terrible anyway.

Swadian Milita are also worthless. Slightly stronger, still virtually unarmed and unarmored.

Swadian skirmishers are suprisingly threatening. Crossbows as a whole have a nasty habit of punching through armor. You can identify these by their white, striped attire, that they will always wear. Put them down.

Swadian Footmen are decently armored, but still virtually unarmed. They might hurt you a bit, but a b weapon will tear them apart. c and p still work against them well due to their weak helmets.

Swadian Crossbowmen are a legitimate threat. Standard crossbows will punch through your armor if you charge them head on. Shield up and approach them in a ( pattern, with a right to left slash loaded as you get close, to block oncoming fire, or use a polearm to sweep these guys. Trample works wonders as well.

Swadian Infantry are slow, but hurt. It should be a simple matter to keep them back, and to outmaneuver them. Don't let them swarm you, and don't let them hit you.

Swadian Men at Arms are Heavy Cavarly. They like using 1h weapons and terrible shields. Dispite their heavy armor, you'lre likely to be using c damage against them because horseback polearms outrange and out damage them, leaving them helpless.

Swadian Sharpshooters are immensly powerful. Heavy crossbows can get over 60 base damage, which is higher than your armor will be for a very long time, and p damage is scary. They can be identified by their chainmail armor. If you see one in the enemy's ranks, rush it and kill it, as it only takes one lucky headshot to lose you the battle.

Swadian Sergeants are often as heavy as a tank build player character, or only slightly less. They use heavy gear, and have a fondness for spiked maces, which will ignore some of your armor. Their slow speed and poor reach gives 2h users a severe advantage against them, but be careful not to let them swarm you, as they're not going down any time soon.

Swadian Knights are divided into categories. Men at arms with more armor, and Lancers. Lancers need to die, while knights with 1h weapons can go largely ignored, if you're armored enough, their weapons will be lucky to hit two points of damage. Your best bet is either to lance them right back, or engage in some horse to horse combat. Like the man at arms, their shields aren't particularly good.

Swadians as a whole are one of the harder factions to hunt. Their weak low level troops give way to heavy armor and high damage. You have the edge in mobility easily, but getting hit is much more of a threat.

Suggested gear is a 2h polearm, a morningstar, and two Huscarl Round Shields. You can replace the morningstar with a 2h blunt if you feel confidant in your ability to dispose of their ranged forces early.

Rhodoks are defined by large shields, long reach, slow speed, nasty ranged, and a near inability to fight up close and personal. Of all the factions, they're the ones who best counter heavy cavalry, so being ready and able to fight on foot is a must. Nontheless, they're less of a threat than one would think, and fall easily if you know how to fight them.

Rhodok terrain is mountains and trees. This works to your advantage half the time, and against you the other half. Trees hard counter them, but hills counter you.

Rhodok Tribesmen are swadian recruits. Same deal, same tactic. They're a bit more annoying, due to a small chance of a large shield, but they're not a threat.

Rhodok Spearmen aren't much of a threat, their reach and horse stopping ability have to compete against their total worthlessness in melee combat. Ride around them.

Rhodok Crossbowmen do alot of damage, but lack on health and armor. Ride around the infantry, and sink your weapon into these guys asap. Remember to never approach them directly.

Rhodok Trained Spearmen are immensly effective at dismounting you, but same as their weaker cousins, cannot fight in melee. Ride around them.

Rhodok Trained Crossbowmen are virtually the same as standard crossbowmen. Their gear is slightly better, but the weapons that count aren't any more powerful. You don't need to worry which of the two you're aiming for, which is good because they tend to blend together.

Rhodok Veteran spearmen. Weak in melee, ride around, bit of a running theme.

Rhodok Veteran crossbowmen. A bit stronger than Trained crossbowmen, and thus a bit more deadly. Same as the rest of them, rush them down and slaughter them.

Rhodok Sergeants are perhaps their only melee capable unit. They actually can fight up close and personal, and as such, warrant the use of 2h b weapons to drop them quickly. That being said, they're not as good up close as other elite units, so you should be able to bea tthem to the punch reliably while shrugging off their comrades attacks.

Rhodok Sharpshooters must die. This is not a statement, it's a fact. They have decent melee ability, good armor, and siege crossbows, which will reduce your healthbar rapidly. Kill these, and kill them fast.

All in all, Rhodoks melee ability is virtually non existant. Kill their ranged first, then ffind a nice grove of trees, pull their melee into it, and use a 2h weapon, ideally one with a shorter reach. 2h b weapons are great against their upper tier troops. Remember, hugging their pole users reduces their damage to almost nothing before factoring for your armor, so getting them bunched up, and using shorter reach weapons will favor you.

I'd suggest bringing an Elite Scimitar for horseback usage, a 2h hammer for dismounted use, a steel shield, and a huscarl round shield.

Nords are defined by their high base stats, mid range armor, and insistance on spamming you with ranged projectiles. Most of their units are decently light on their feet, and their archers are better served as melee units. Nord units also have terrible helmets across the board, so ranged weapons are effective against them.

Nordic terrain is either forests, or mountains, rarely both. The former works to your advantage, the latter is neutral.

Nord Recruits are suprisingly strong for recruits. They're a bit tankier than normal recruits, with a better weapon. They are, however, still recruits, and still worthless.

Nord Footmen are easy to fight, though you'll want to circle groups of them on horseback to drain them of their throwing weapons. Their armor is non-existant, and they will die in a single blow.

Nord Huntsmen are arguably weaker than recruits. With a power draw of only 1, they can't possibly punch through heavy armor. As a joke, they're actually better with throwing weapons, which they do not use. They wear green armor. Just ignore them.

Nord trained footmen are weaker then their footmen, lacking their ranged option, and still using axes. Better defenses, but still easy kills.

Nord archers are a mild threat, though their arrows will still bounce off you armor. A headshot from them might hurt, but as long as you keep your back and back shield to them, they can't hurt you.

Nord Warriors bring back the throwing weapons, and are otherwise rather good in a fight. Their reach and speed still lack, so circling them to drain out their ammo is still an option.

Nord Veteran Archers are impressive... as melee units. Their bows are the only ones that can hurt you amongst the nord army, so try to go for them first. They won't hurt much however, so you aren't particularly threatened all the same. It's something of a running joke that Nord melee are better archers than Nord archers.

Nord Veterans are right below Huscarl's, and are to be treated with respect. Their lack of reach is made up for with good throwing weapons (potentially able to do p damage), their stats are decently high, and their defensve ability is pretty good. Their helmets, however, are still largely worthless, so aim for the head.

Nord Huscarls are incredibly powerful, high damage, high defense, and are the only nord unit with armor high enough to justify swapping off of the faster c weapons. Their helmets are far better, they're fast, and their armor is high. Avoid a confrontation where you lack your horse, and kite them around.

Try to ride around them and group them into a little ball, and pick at the edges. their weapon's will have severe reach issues, and the tight grouping messes with their ability to pelt you with ranged projectiles.

Equipmentwise, you'll likely want an Elite Scimitar, steel shield, huscarl round shield, and a throwing weapon. If you can kick a huscarl, a jarid to the face will dispatch them easily.

Vaegirs are lightly armored, and heavily armed. Their archers can hurt you reliably, and they bring lancers as well. Between their strength, terrain advantage, and Taiga Bandits wearing you down, I'd suggest against trying to level off of them. As such, I can't really write a guide for fighting them quite yet. I'll get around to it later, but for now, keep in mind that they are the hardest faction to solo.

As a whole, their archers are immensly effective at delivering damage, with good accuracy and fire rate alongside actually doing enough to offset armor. While they're not crossbowmen, their rapid fire rate all but ensures you will take some damage.

Their cavarly like 2h weapons and lances. Unlike Swadians, they field light cavarly lancers, which are far more scary due to higher potential damage and better horseslaying ability.

Their ground melee is virtually useless up to Guards, who are capable of stopping horses. They lose to straight melee though, but their cavalry cover them.

All in all, Vaegir troops are strong against solo players, but their weaknesses really start to show when facing numbers.

Much like the vaegirs, I don't actively hunt these yet, but unlike them, I know enough to give tactics.

Khergits are suprisingly weak, however they are beyond capable of killing lower level players. Their strength lies in the fact that they can strike you from out of reach with horse archers. Horse archers, however, still face a damage penalty. If your armor is high enough, almost their entire army is incapable of hurting you.

My main reason for avoiding them is that they have a tendancy to drag fights out well beyond the point where you've won.

Khergit troops are almost identical in how you handle them. Namely bring a polearm, two shields, and bunker down. Light cavarly will die to their horse archers, and heavy cavalry has issues catching them, so just wait for them to come to you, kill them, and repeat. Eventually, they'll all die. If the battlefield is littered with horses, then take the fight to them, as they will collide with horses and die to you shortly after. If you're a good shot, siege crossbows are great if you're willing to trade off a shield.

They do no damage, but drag fights out forever.

Sarranids are defined by a strong focus on offense over defense. They're varied, and more than capable of damaging you, but it will be rare to find units that take more than a single blow to die. They're bad for levelling a new character, but once you have good gear and skill, you can kill them by the masses.

Their terrain of choice is desert. Flat, empty, good for cavalry. It's a shame they field so much infantry.

Sarranid recruits use blunt weapons. This means there's a very small chance they might actually hurt you. It also means their attacks are slow. As recruits, they're still virtually unarmoed, but they're the strongest recruits in the game regardless.

Saranid Footmen are actually flat out weaker than their recruits, trading blunt weapons for bamboo spears, which are terrible as spears. They can stop your cavaly charge, but actually hurting you is a different matter entirely.

Sarranid Skirmishers are more than capable of hurting you with Jarids (albeit not for much) and are better at melee than Sarranid footmen, but still have no armor. ride circles around them.

Sarranid Veteran Footmen are Skirmishers with more of a melee focus, same ranged jarid spam to begin with. They have decent armor, and decent melee ability, but their lack of power strike means that they're not too much of a threat.

Sarranid Archers have suprisingly good ranged ability, already beating anything the nords can throw at you in terms of bowmen. Still unarmored.

Sarranid Infantry are decent fighters, but still unarmored. Like the Veteran footmen, watch for throwing weapons.

Sarranid Horsemen are threatening in terms of offensive might, using Elite Scimitars, as well as high speed charges. Still terribly fragile, but watch for their swords.

Sarranid Master Archers pack great offensive might, and suprisingly good armor, especially for the Sarranids, but lack shields or any form of defense against ranged attacks.

Sarranid guards are weaker than other top tier infantry. Basically, they're similar to Huscarls without the overwhelming might. At only 38 or so armor, they're rather squishy for a top tier troop. Nothing special, ride around them.

Sarranid Mamlukes are quite good, balanced fighters. They, however, have short reach compared to other high end cavarly, and go down easily against enemies with a range advantage.

Equipmentwise, you'll want a 2h polearm, 1h sword, and two shields. Being able to outrange a mamluke on horseback is really the only thing you need, as Sarranids are squishy and die fast.

Alot of little tricks that make solo playthroughs viable are largely ignored in army playthroughs due to either not working, or hurting you. Those go here.

First Aid will trigger on retreat, endlessly. Though it only works when you're wounded from the current engagement, retreating doesn't hurt you at all, so if your health gets low, break away from the fighting, retreat, and re-engage immediately after for a health boost. It also fully heals your horse. As a result, fighting and fleeing repeatedly gets you better results than fighting and fighting. It also replenishes enemy ranged weapons though, so keep that in mind. If push comes to shove, ditch the battle entirely, wait a few ingame hours, and re engage, having healed up. You'll recover long before they do.

Chamberblocking by loading a strike as the enemy swings is a great method to use a 2h hammer against heavier weapons. Against thrusts it's easy to do and results in free hits with any weapon, but against overhead strikes, performing it with a hammer will result in either a guard crush, or a direct hit, making it a great option.

Swinging right to left on horseback positions your shield in front of you and gives you a bit more reach. If you use a 1h weapon on horseback, this should be your primary slash.

Having a second horse in your inventory makes you travel faster with an inventory loaded up with the spoils of war.

You need at least 2 units to declare a castle siege. Recruiting Jeremus to stack healing benefits is your best choice for this.

It is easier to win if the defenders sally out to meet your assult after you set up siege ladders. By repeatedly initiating and breaking away from a siege, you can coax them into doing so until their garrison is down to 40 or so men. It's still by no means easy to win when the defenders come out, but it is far easier than trying to solo an entire 200 men garrison.

Melee fights are amazing for training up weapon skills as a low level, and should be done repeatedly upon starting out.

There is no reason not to use a Heavy Charger. It's armor rating is high enough to survive projectile spam. Speed is less important than survival when you're the only target.

Feel free to suggest things in the comments.

Much like bows, I'm sure people will disagree with me on this, but I personally don't think one should loot villages to force fights with nobles in them. It has its upsides and its downsides, but going solo, I at least found the downs were worse than the ups.

Fighting in a village dismounts your enemies. This renders lancers a non-issue, but increases the strength of khergit horse archers by removing the damage handicap. It also cuts down on your mobility. Many villages have steep hills and small battle areas, with few approaches due to the structures, which prevents you from circling to drain off ammo at a safe distance, forcing you into a straight fight.

Some of the attacking enemies will be civilians, who are easily put down. They give very little exp, and there won't be too many of them, but they add additional fodder to the noble's army, which can make life a little easier. Fighting in Villages, at least on defense, removes the bonus EXP from wins, as well as loot and gold, which can have a major impact on your character growth rate.

Looting villages pushes your honor rate into the negative as well, which on one hand, makes everyone hate and want to kill you, which is good for exp at times, and on the other hand, makes it harder to buy productive enterprises in cities, because everyone hates you, and if you raid a village that feeds a town you've set one up in, it will cut into your profit margins.

As for productive enterprises themself, outside of setting up a velvet maker in Rivacheg, as it's the only place besides Jekala with a reliable Raw Silk producing village (Udinad), you'll typically be best served just picking whatever product pays itself off the fastest. Until you take territory, no matter how hated you are, your factories will continue to make money. -100 is perfectly acceptable as long as you hold no land and don't join a faction. Productive Enterprise will not seem worth it at first, but time goes by fast. A week is 7 days, 52 of them in a year, and rarely will it take more than 10 to pay itself off. Dropping 10k on a Rivacheg velvet maker might seem like alot, but by the 11th week, you'll be making a profit of 1k every week, repeating this with other enterprise in other towns leads to a massive surplus of money.