Developing your character in Mount and Blade II: Bannerlord is an important and necessary part of playing your way through the medieval simulation. As the politics and warmongering of the various city-states boils over, you will need to be able to lead a powerful army to be able to secure your own legacy and power. To that end, your skills and perks will be the pathway to that power.
Skills and perks in Mount and Blade II: Bannerlord are reflective of various elements of your character’s life, experience and general aptitude in and out of combat. Previous games and off-shoots in the franchise have made use of various rudimentary skill-based systems over the years, but Mount and Blade II: Bannerlord adds many new layers. The basics appear to be very much the same though.
Open your character sheet and look at the skills section. The game lists all of the skills related to using various types of weapons like one-handed weapons, two-handed, polearms, and such. There are also skills for command and tactics when leading an army that will impact your skill in battle. As you play the game, these skills will improve with success and experience. Over that same time, you will gain basic XP that can be used to level up, further increasing the cap which skills can reach.
Perks in Mount and Blade II: Bannerlord work on a similar basis, but have different effects. At certain character levels, the player will be prompted into the new skill tree that has different branches for each of the different groups of skills in the game. Perks have effects like increases with damage in certain weapon classes, or a higher chance to score a critical hit in combat. There are are also perks for improving the effectiveness of your commands in battle, as well as the number of troops you command and the like.
In most cases, perks in the game are unlocked at certain levels, with the higher levels of skill focus requiring quite a bit of time invested to unlock.
Once you have chosen your desired perk(s) click Done to confirm your selection, and enjoy the newfound sense of power you wield on the battlefield and off.
