All 6 New Mercenary Units Tested - Some Are Trash lol

[@RoachChaddjr]

"You're the worst mercenaries I've ever heard of!" "But you have heard of us"

[@Strat-Guides]

Lol true!

[@cheungkwokhei]

Wait a minute, i know the refrence

[@hellou2786]

@@cheungkwokhei Thats Jack Sparrow reference

[@arrynroyce72]

Such a shame about the Sword Sisters. In Warband you could roll with an army of just them and do pretty well.

[@Spinosaur101]

For real, in Warband they at least had a chance to spawn on the field with a decent helmet, so they couldn't be instantly one shot.

[@copperbeard7196]

No way. They were bad especially when you take in considiration of their pay with regard to other proffesional mercenaries.

[@Spinosaur101]

@@copperbeard7196 There were definitely better mercenaries in Warband, but rolling with just Sword sisters was still somewhat doable, given their versatility. In Bannerlord though, they're not worth running at all, period.

[@herroberbesserwisser7331]

@@copperbeard7196 they had the best body armor in the game. Plate armor.

[@michasokoowski6651]

Depends, if you had a reduction to dmg on units they were really good, but without it, lack of helmet was really punishing for them.

[@CordedBait]

The main advantage to the sword sisters is that they don’t require a horse to upgrade to horse archers making an extremely cheap early game mounted archers

[@TheAnonymousKnightOfJustice]

Mounted crossbow woman is very good with horse archers cuz close range fast crossbow destroy cavalry charge with better pierce.

[@alex2005z]

Mercenary troops have higher wages, so they are actualy more expensive

[@Frazec_Atsjenkov]

Well, what do you expect from a unit called Sword Sister that used a crossbow as their main weapon... They do look pretty though.

[@Strat-Guides]

Lol that's a good point, I didn't think of it that way!

[@kopazwashere]

@@Strat-Guides even more insult to injury - both gallant and veteran sisters have higher crossbow skill than onehanded/twohanded. You might as well name them crossbow sisters at that point.

[@oleksandr4371]

Remember sword sister from warband? they can win 1vs1 against butter king

[@gabrielh3900]

@@oleksandr4371 pepperidge farm remembers 😂👴🏻

[@jamoecw]

@@oleksandr4371 in the original game (pre-Warband) they were a notch below top tier despite being top tier. every faction had 1 top tier unit and the sword sisters no matter how you upgraded them would be just shy of that high end unit making them a good all round upgrade line, but less than one that mixed different cultures. of course they lacked bows which hurt them as crossbows were not a replacement for bows. that being said bows were also not a replacement for crossbows and no one had both.

[@pendantblade6361]

Remember when Linebreakers wore no armor way back in the day, and were called something else? Sword Sisters carry the proud tradition of going into battle without helmets. Sword Sisters should be heavy infantry, in the best armor, with greatswords, imo. High price, high quality.

[@arkos4366]

In the og Warband they were, unsure why they didn't do that for bannerlord

[@evan6711]

The old name for linebreakers was Berserkers

[@ModulusOrbis]

@@arkos4366 cuz u must know that they are like netflix

[@areyoufcknkiddinme]

sword sisters not wearing a helmet is a tradition from Warband they were pretty shitty and expensive unit too, but it adds flavour

[@Strat-Guides]

Yeah I think they did the same thing with the Falxman - madmen with no armor and a ton of combat skills!

[@bombidil3]

I did like that they made Sword Sisters useful in Warband by making them very cheap. There should be some design decision to make them worth taking because right now there's no point. It's easy to get crossbowmen from both Empire and Vlandian commoner recruits, plus regular mercs, and the Sword Sisters is just a flat downgrade, which is a shame.

[@Strat-Guides]

Yeah that's a good point - if they were cheaper than regular units it would make a lot more sense. The Kmart special units lol

[@anarki777]

@@Strat-Guides People are discovering why a gender pay gap exists inside of a fictional universe.

[@LCInfantry]

@@anarki777 XD

[@uncleheal2445]

I want to take a moment and thank you, for your introduction, that takes less than a 5 seconds. It's feels like you value your viewers time and think, that they can read video title for themselves, unlike 90% of other youtube videos of this format.

[@Strat-Guides]

No problem! Sometimes I don't even do an intro and just start lol but it's probably a good idea to know what's covered in the video first :)

[@evulclown]

100% agree great channel, other youtubers are basically padding for content to hit the minute count for adverts... It's annoying, I end up watching some youtubers on 2x play speed to get past their slow talking :|

[@Dmitrisnikioff]

I kinda am sad how shit Sword Sisters are, considering how fun it was to use them in 1

[@Resegy]

Lack of helmets yet in warband and fast and weak horses let them die like flies. They were only viable among khergit lancers

[@MusMasi]

lol they got headshot a lot even the lowest tier could kill them easy, but they are even worse in bannerlord than warband

[@galedex5661]

I loved making sword sisters armies in first game. They were super fast, had shield and were ranged unit with crossbow.

[@KKmanmi]

I use the "My Little Warband" mod to edit them and give them kettle hats, makes them considerably more viable when an overhead bonk by a looter can't one tap them

[@MusMasi]

@@Resegy khergit lancers where no joke with their lances or those swinging pole arms sure not as hard hitting as most of the other top tier heavy horse but not pushovers.

[@kanrakucheese]

Sword sisters should be given open face helmets with exposed hair. Some of the kettle helmet variations allow it.

[@The_Custos]

Decent body armour would help.

[@jwoellhof]

@@The_Custos i hear that magic bikini mail has the same amount of protection as full plate

[@loonie5468]

Really wish those macemen were better at least (along with the Sword Sisters), but yep - am super happy with Elite Crossbowmen, since one finally gets a really viable alternative to Vlandian Sharpshooters, and the horse archers are also nice, in case you're in the far west of the map and can't get easy access to that kind of troops and don't want to bother for Bucelarii.

[@Strat-Guides]

That would be an interesting test - mercenary horse archers vs Bucelarii

[@Taemoco]

@@Strat-Guides where test?

[@AN-nt3uv]

A big like for that series, regardless of the test outcome, really good test and advice video.

[@Strat-Guides]

Thank you!

[@michasokoowski6651]

The main problem with sword sisters in warband was lack of helmet, while wearing even a plate armour... otherwise they were fine, but any blow to the head was likely lethal.

[@Aarlaeoss]

I see they kept the sacred tradition of sword sisters never wearing helmets. Unfortunately they lack the sword sister plate armor. I seem to remember that the sword sisters didn't have crossbows though, only the camp follower units that upgraded into sword sisters

[@Manpigeon]

The Mercenary Units all perform really well in RBM with both the AI and Weapon/Armor tweaks. The Pikeman are very strong as spearman and function similarly to the Menevelons.

[@AthrinShadowdance]

Kind of surprised about the Sisters. I'm using them in tangent with the Vlandian Banner Knights, and, even before getting the Vlandians, they just shredded the smaller armies. Might be due to the test hero having no skills, VS my hero having a decent combat set up. I would say as long as they have a main unit to compliment, they are better off as support.

[@majorplothole2620]

Gosh... that is frustrating. Not just for the sword sisters, but the fact that the hired swordsman HAVE to go cav route to be any good later on.... is disappointing.

[@Regnart_Seht]

I remember I chose to use the Hired Crossbow Mercenaries because I liked their outfits. Practical chain outfit with a fashionable scarf. Very stylish. I never noticed them performing particularly well. I guess I was just spoiled. I don't remember them ever failing as ranged units, though.

[@Paulunatr]

I avoid using mercenary/caravan units for reasons so this was data I was never going to get on my own. The lack of helmets for Sword Sisters certainly makes them easy pickings for me, but I never thought it would affect them against AI that much. I've toyed with the idea of an all-female Bannerlord playthrough for a while and wow, looks like it'd be brutal.

[@Strat-Guides]

That's certainly a good challenge lol good luck if you do try it!

[@jamoecw]

they have mods that add an all female line up, some make them weak, others strong. i use Valkyrie since it puts them roughly on par, though that is due to a lack of cavalry. they have Battanian level noble archers and their grunts are basically Sturgians without the cav. the lack of cav hurts them but they only have troops that work well so it balances out.

[@jellydamgood]

Wonder if they will be decent if you get all the troop hp perks. So medicine and all the three melee weapon perks that gives health.

[@Paulunatr]

@@jellydamgood all troops are OP with enough party leader/captain perks, so not really the point. You can literally run an entire campaign with looters only and wreck face

[@jellydamgood]

@@Paulunatr I'm more curious if the extra hp will make them viable for long term campaigning lol. Instead of needing to replenish forces after every two big battles. After all, with the gear they are wearing, all that extra health probably means tanking maybe two more hits each. It's not exactly easy to replenish these sword sisters, since their recruitment is rng and from taverns. At least looters are everywhere in the empire areas, and can be easily recruited with the roguery perk. So even if they die en masse while sieging or facing tons of cav, its no biggie.

[@garethmartin6522]

I'm not surprised, the lack of a helmet is a huge deal. And it won't be change,d they have been like this in every iteration of M&B.

[@msj1117]

Great info as always, Strat! Be fun to see Ross' army square off against Rachel's. The leaders would meet in the middle and flirtatiously argue but never really resolve anything, lol.

[@Strat-Guides]

Hahaha that would be amazing!

[@GetAssista]

Sacrificing survivability for looks. Typical sword sister...

[@Cosmonaut1337]

At least they're dying with style

[@duckdictator6531]

I’d really like to try a mercenary campaign. With 300 stewardship and the “Mercenary Connects” perk and another one from the steward tree you can get them to 0 upkeep in theory. (Unless that’s not how the modifiers stack)

[@duckdictator6531]

Because the stewardship capstone would reduce wages by 50%, mercenary connections reduces mercs by 25%, and then the steward perk I can’t remember is another 25%

[@duckdictator6531]

And between the crossbows, mace men, caravan guards etc I think you could get a decent and super fun / thematic army.

[@jamoecw]

go check out some of Strat's older videos, there was once a way to get the mercs to pay you! they have tweaked it so that doesn't happen anymore if you stack all the modifiers together, but i think you can get them to being free of upkeep.

[@sunnyd9321]

Great, now Bannerlord has to deal with game journalists blaming the patriarchy for the sword sisters being bad.

[@Citizen13]

I actually just got back into the game and you dropped this just in time because I was super curious about them!

[@chrismoore950]

Here to pay tribute to King Strat and to show the algorithm god's he is worthy of their blessings

[@Strat-Guides]

Thanks for the support!

[@RoulicisThe]

The sword sister I found some application in their "gallant" iteration. They're the only mounted crossbows in the game which do give them some good application as a skirmisher unit. Crossbows are better against armored targets than bows and they end up doing much better damage than cavalry archers in a skirmish. Don't make a full stack of them like in Warband though, their lack of helmet makes them a lot more skishy than they seem (which is a shame since outside of this they have pretty good armor)

[@williampanagopoulos656]

Imperial caravan guards are crossbowmen mounted with a spear so a crossbow wiepding outrider

[@frostpst477]

Always appreciate your ability to quickly explain what I need to know, while at the same time effectively keeping my attention with all the data. I look forward to what you end up making long term with this channel!

[@kdefensemartialarts8097]

Aww, poor sword sisters, it's not their fault, it's the game maker's.

[@dyn9726]

Calling women mercenaries trash, BASED STRAT TOP G

[@ROALD.]

I just hear Bill Burr

[@SirAtesh]

Rhagaea wants to know your location

[@Cosmonaut1337]

I love this community xD

[@Strat-Guides]

Lol am I going to be cancelled now?! ;)

[@MatthewJoseph67]

@@Strat-Guides you gonna be arrested for no reason :D , and Greta will text you

[@mikedittsche]

Nice test. It would be a cool challenge to get 50 of each of those mercenaries and try to use them in a way that plays to their strengths. Protecting the sword sisters behind pikemen, using the macemen as shield units against incoming arrows, or charge them into the back of engaged units. They all, except the elite Outrider, seem to be bad allround units, but seem to have a narrow niche in which they perform well.

[@HugoLaine624]

"Ross Geller"... Strat you are killing me xDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDD

[@Strat-Guides]

Haha it did kind of look like him right?? I did random face generation a couple times and he popped up, only needed 10 minutes of work to get him looking a bit closer :)

[@seabizkitsngravy]

Interesting test. In my experience the sword sisters are a great compliment to a strong cavalry. Appreciate the content!

[@whiterabbit4945]

hello there i see the sword sisters in every army lol and they look do be doing well in areas hard to believe they are that bad lmao welp mercenarys are too expensive anyway unless you wanna help people in your army with resupplying quickly one thing about the Gallant sword sisters tho is they dont use up a warhorse, not even a normal one to upgrade to mounted might be an oversight by the devs that will be changed ? finding war horses to buy is my real enemy

[@bombidil3]

With the right perks, fielding a mercenary army can be quite cost effective.

[@Strat-Guides]

One thing I noticed about Bannerlord is any unit can perform well if given the right opportunity, but the point I try to make with videos like these is: Would you rather have one unit over another if they cost the same? Or in this case, if they cost more? So a T5 archer will outperform any of these sword sisters and will cost less to hire and less wages. It would be a different story if these mercs performed better, then it's a matter of how much are we willing to pay for a better unit. But as of right now, I can't really see a use case for some of these units :(

[@SithLurker]

There seems to be a bug with crafted 1H Maces in the game. After you reload they get lower swing speed and higher damage than what you initially crafted. This might affect the regular maces in the game too and may be a reason for the merc maceman's poor performance.

[@Strat-Guides]

Interesting, I wasn't aware of this bug! Thanks for the heads up, I'll look into it.

[@ethienosinsky5186]

Sword Sisters really need helmets, I've seen sword sisters get one shot so often by arrows, spear or sword to the face, it's absurd

[@Strat-Guides]

And those mounted ones are SO bad lol they had beginner's crossbows so it's no wonder.

[@markfranz7313]

A bit strange thing i noticed in comparing Veteran sword sisters and elite crossbow parts. It's looks like they were allowed to shot only when archers was next to them. And elite crossbow part shows that they begin to hitting targets when they opponents still far away.

[@ervinsapinis2379]

Good to see you back in action...

[@Strat-Guides]

Thanks!! I've got some videos planned that I think everyone will love (probably have them ready by next month).

[@ChrisWilliams-lf8ex]

I've always found that the various merc units, including the trash ones you've listed, do better as long as they are mixed in with standard units.

[@andrewriker9029]

I would have liked to see each of these tested in sieges, maybe that is where macemen and sisters excel.

[@Strat-Guides]

That's a good idea! I'll try to test that out if I have time this week.

[@philjohnson1744]

I enjoy that there is more variation in mercs. The old ones were bad too. Adds flavor.

[@Strat-Guides]

I agree, I much prefer the newer system. They just need to tweak a couple things and they will be viable. I was really impressed with the hired crossbows, they completely wrecked the enemy!

[@Cloud43001]

Well, even before during mount and blade 1 sword sister were kind of a meme. Because they had no helmet they often got a missile to the forehead and were gone.

[@mrbaker7614]

Testing the Caravan Units you can buy in taverns might have also worked

[@austincoleman8074]

Anyone else crack up the whole video after noticing his character was not only named after Ross Geller from Friends, but Strat also took the time to make him look just like David Schwimmer (the actor)?

[@Strat-Guides]

Lol when I was making a character for this video, I hit the random face thing a few times and it popped out a guy that was kinda close to him, so I touched him up and sent him out :D I had an ex that religiously watched friends so I've seen my fair share of the show!

[@NiskaMagnusson]

I wouldn't say this is a very balanced way of getting statistics because commanders have a large effect on their units abilities, plus the variety of units but I think certain units like the sword sisters would have still got destroyed. They seem to just be there as a love letter to previous titles. Still look cool tho! It's clear that when certain units like the pikemen were buffed the other merc units were not. Edit: I suppose you can argue that this is still useful because you're never going to go up against a fair enemy force of identical units, but to be fair i also wouldn't use a stack of one unit myself.

[@anthonybluhm4724]

Nah, the sword sisters are just fine being inferior. They are ladies on the battlefield. That is all.

[@heitorpedrodegodoi5646]

Xena wants to know your location

[@4444dmiller]

I got so horned up when I saw that the taverns of Calradia now played host to mercenary macemen. My Flesson specials could now be carried out with more ruthless domination than ever, and with higher tiered units that I could viably use as the core of my infantry to boot. Lo and behold, only one or two of them actually used their mace when 9 of them attacked a hideout with me. And they suck. What a disappointment.

[@Strat-Guides]

Imagine getting the same performance from tier 3 units compared to tier 5 that cost even more than regular units haha

[@lucho9911]

" WHAT THE HELL IS EVEN THAT" xD A Sword Sister that has no helmet because taleworlds helmet takes away hair. I dont know if thats the real reason im just trolling. But dang im surprised by the macemans, i was sure they would be good against heavy armored unit. Good thing i never used them. They definitely need equipement upgrade as well, maybe the mace they got sucks. And i feel a good buff for the sword sisters (aside from the obvious helmet) would be if bolt quivers could hold more bolts in general. Or introduce volley fire, you can kinda do it already but its hard to pull it off, too much micro involved (imo). That would make crossbow units be more viable in lower numbers vs having to mass them to achieve the same efficiency that one can have with bowman.

[@johngaelnox5447]

Sword sisters need helmets! I don't get why they aren't using helmets! It's common sense!

[@Strat-Guides]

Just imagine the helmet hair though... it would be unbearable lol

[@supermegawaffle]

Ya I somewhat noticed the Sword sisters struggling when I used them, but they weren't many and were supported by much better range units but they usually were the ones to die if Amy of my range boys died. Had great success with Hired Pikes, but they were also mixed in with a shield wall so they had shielded protection infront of them. Don't have concrete evidence but I'm under the assumption that pikes will Attack from behind shielded Infantry. Haven't tried out any of the others, but have considered macemen since the pikes did well, this video definitely showed me not to use the Maces or mounted Sword Sisters, so I will never use them. Gonna put foot sisters in garrisons once I take a city. Haven't used the normal merc crossbows or outsiders but I'll prob start now since this video shows them performing well. Thanks for videos like these that help me improve my game play.:D

[@nickthompson1812]

I must’ve only started playing just after these units were added. Never realized they were new, always felt like mercenaries were pushovers in Bannerlord. I kind of liked them in Warband

[@stankgangsta4105]

Counter Point you can have a body guard of sword sister Gadaffi style

[@Strat-Guides]

Lol true!

[@willfreakman86]

I'm not sure why you didn't put the units in a context more fitting to them, I mean infantry against horse archers is not an even fight at all

[@Strat-Guides]

I'm not sure if you watched the whole video or not, but I ran the macemen vs sea raiders (infantry only), sword sisters and hired crossbows vs foot archers only and I ran the pikemen vs cavalry only. I agree with you that some of the tests weren't necessary, but I was curious to see how each of them performed. For example, the sword sisters did much worse than hired crossbow man even against horse archers. I can cut the useless ones in the future if people don't find them interesting (like pike vs horse archer lol)

[@robertwildschwein7207]

HIRED ELITE PIKE MAN IS A MEME UNIT???? Now I need to hire a ton of them!!!

[@torynnielsen5646]

Explains why in my first playthrough I constantly had to restock my gallant sword sisters

[@I_Willenbrock_I]

Crossbow on foot vs horse archers...

[@Strat-Guides]

It's certainly not a good way to use your troops, but it's interesting to see how they hold up compared to each other. For example, the sword sisters did much worse than the hired crossbows, so there is still useful info to be had.

[@fabf77]

Hello Strat, long time without watching your videos or playing bannerlord. I have a campaign just using swordsister, it's insane and difficult in all aspects, but at the same time rewarding for overcoming the difficulty. There is a misconception with mercenary troops, they should be the best equipped troops in the game, at the level of noble units. They are soldiers of fortune, not for honor or duty, they do not fight seeing death as an option, they are not bound by a sense of patriotism, a veteran is a mercenary who has participated in enough battles to amass a small fortune and guarantee himself the best equipment. that the market can offer, mainly, to guarantee its survival. Its only disadvantage in combat should be to have a higher honor drop than a military troop, from what I mentioned before.

[@Strat-Guides]

Hey bro how you been?! Hope all is well :D Oh man the sword sister only campaign! Yeah it sounds like a tough one. I know what you mean, but couldn't they at least afford a decent helmet and a better crossbow than the starter one?! lol

[@fabf77]

@@Strat-Guides Their equipment is so poorly thought out that the level 4 sister has a better crossbow than the level 5 sister. I don't understand the decision to launch such a useless troop. It is as if you were expanding a new room in your house, but you already had a spare room without use. Since they are bad, have high maintenance and are difficult to replenish troops, you must fight extremely favorable battles to avoid losses, therefore you will gain little loot with that. The biggest challenge of a party with only sisters is to keep the bank account in positive numbers hahaha.

[@hybridce99]

Quick question for you guys: is there a comman to make your pikeman brace? Or do you just keep them in place with no command? Also, is there a way to segregate them from the rest of your infantry?

[@Strat-Guides]

They brace on their own. Be aware, they won't brace unless enemy cavalry are a certain distance away from them, so at the start of battle they will just stand there. As the cav get closer they will assume the brace position. They can brace in any formation, although I've found line to be the best and 2 ranks deep is the perfect depth because 3 ranks the rear soldier will no brace and 1 rank is too thin. You need to use filters to separate them. It's a real pain :(

[@hybridce99]

@@Strat-Guides Oof, that kind kills the appeal of specialized infantry like pikeman then, yeah? Maybe there will be a mod to separate out specific infantry type during pre battle formations if there isn't one already, I like the look of a 2 deep pike line since Vlandia insists I meet their knights in person rather than via teams chat.

[@jamoecw]

@@hybridce99 the first game had that stuff modded in well before native did it later on (this was for skirmishers). the filters were supposed to be a way of dynamically making different groups so that you didn't have to mod stuff in, but this really isn't working that well (just look at bows mixed with crossbows). it is just another reason why people say that Bannerlord is behind the curve even from the original game in development terms. it also is a good example of why you want your game to be as moddable as possible and why you want a good community when building your game.

[@nathanaeldemons8011]

you can assign them to another group in your army/inventory screen, from infantry to something you don't use. like heavy infantry

[@LCInfantry]

Sword sister probably not great as a solo unit but maybe not bad when supported by group of infantry too?

[@giacomomeluzzi280]

Man they did the sword sisters dirty... they were my favourite unit in Warband

[@moridmarin7891]

The problem with most of the mercenaries is that, with exception to the hired crossbow, they almost all have signifigantly worse equipment then even the weakest tier 5 faction troops. high skills can only do so much if they die in two hits.

[@blazezz1101]

Taleworlds give the Elite Mercenary Maceman a 2H sword that they will never use. Outside of the Elite Hired Crossbow which is on par with Vlandian Sharpshooter, I don't bother recruiting the rest.

[@cdru515]

Damn, that's prettty weird. Why not a two-handed maul?

[@Azai-]

I'm disappointed how weak macemans are. They look so cool. I wanted to use them as my main infantry unit in new campaign but now I need to abandon the idea:( Imma do full axeman invasion campaign now😜

[@edgar7456]

I actually had a large amount of those in my current army and thought they were decent. I'm just gonna drop them in a castle now lol

[@Strat-Guides]

I was thinking the same - I was most excited to see their performance but now I know I haven't been missing much by ignoring them lol

[@jamoecw]

@@Strat-Guides try them against top tier units with heavy armor. blunt damage used to ignore all armor, now it ignores 85% of it. they are probably trash against low tier units because they don't do much damage per hit since maces are balanced against armor, but against high armor they probably out perform equivalent units without blunt damage. this is also what most mods dealing with arenas get wrong. they think since you keep your armor that it gives you an edge, but the arena stuff is all blunt so most of the armor is ignored, and when the mods were made it ignored all the armor. some mods that messed with damage stuff didn't have special arena damage to ensure that there was still a damage type that ignored armor, so those mods made armor in the arenas advantageous which is where i think those mods shine. in the first game it was 1 mod at a time so the mod itself had to fix it for how they did stuff, but now people just stack mods without understanding the nuances of the changes and mod makers don't worry about some aspects since another mod can just fix them. the places to coordinate mod info has also scattered to the winds, so you can't just hop onto the forums and ask about the mod and get some answers (hence why you can't spend that focus point in the Banner King playthrough and no one has been able to tell you why, i actually tried looking ti up myself and found they had no forums for such issues to be talked about, just a Discord channel).

[@christiankirkenes5922]

This anecdotally plays out in my games too. I only have a few sword sisters but they always showed up in my casualty lists

[@Strat-Guides]

LOL well I'm glad my testing has some validity in an actual campaign

[@kathleendelcourt8136]

In Warband Sword Sisters were a bit gimmicky but they were decent in open field battles (they got decimated in sieges however). In Bannerlord they're just pure gimmick, it really feels like they're only here to tick the the fan service box "Look, look we brought them back, it's cool isn't?". No it's not, because they're barely usable. I know they didn't have a helmet in Warband so it is "lore friendly" not to give them one in Bannerlord, but if it goes against the most basic gameplay logic it's just a stupid decision. Hopefully there will be mods to at least make them somewhat worth putting in an army.

[@sethleoric2598]

I think they should have kept the Sword sisters' mounted loadaout as the final tier like in warband, make them a bit beefier too.

[@robertwildschwein7207]

Swordsisters: WEAR A FKNG HELMET!!!!! I actually like the mounted sword sister mainly because it doesn't take a horse to upgrade her, but also because it is cool to have a mixed Male-Female army.

[@restitutororbis675]

Ye if they outfitted the swordsisters the same way they did in warband they would be beasts but aye I guess veteran outriders are pretty good for an all merc playthrough lmao

[@matthewgonzalez2088]

Strat, I may be out of line but I must respectfully disagree about the sword sisters being complete trash. Their utility isn't in fighting to win 1v1, its that they are often the only option for non-javelin mounted archers over much of the map, save for Imperial Bucellarii. I'd love it if you ran them in mix army composition test, I could be mistaken but in my experience even a small formation of them flanking an advancing enemy shield wall or stationary infantry formation can make a difference. Thanks for the great content!

[@Strat-Guides]

No you're good, I understand these are all subjective! I think the main point I was trying to get across is that they significantly underperform the same level of other mounter ranged units. If you don't have access to these units like Sturgia or Vlandia, then it's certainly better than nothing (although I would argue mounted units are generally inferior to foot troops thanks to TW Maths lol). I appreciate the feedback and you're certainly not out of line! Discussions like these are healthy and I'll be the first to admit that I'm frequently wrong in situations like these :)

[@mr.m6976]

Would you be open to adding the armed traders/caravan guards in to this tier list? AND because im a sucker for the Calradia expanded kingdoms, doing the same (caravan guards/armed traders) comparisons with units there?

[@Strat-Guides]

So I have not used CEK yet, but I could add the caravan units to the list of topics to cover. I'm not sure if I can get to it this month but it's on the list now :)

[@anja2792]

I'm bummed about the sisters. They were my favorite in Warband. Oh well.

[@perpetualcowlick5678]

First! Also dang. Was hoping to see the mercs acting more like warband, elite and dangerous for a grand expense.

[@Strat-Guides]

A couple of them were decent, but for sure stay away from the sword sisters and macemen lol

[@zanderman4059]

People thought I was insane for saying that the new mercs were kinda mid because its "New content" but ever since they changed the mercs I have never even considered getting them over regular faction troops. Sometimes I pick up the crossbowmen if I rescue them after a battle but that's where it ends. They made mercs far more expensive to upkeep while degrading the actual mercs into useless fodder. Come on TW the female line is just embarrassing.

[@GeneralTantzu]

Sword Sisters have no helmets, that has always been the reason I never use them no matter the M&B game.

[@ulysses7157]

Literally for sword sisters if they just had better armor and a helmet with a better crossbow. They'll be decent atleast

[@Strat-Guides]

Yeah their stats are pretty good! It's so sad to see "elite" mercenary units with a basic crossbow. It makes no sense.

[@krisfskyrm]

I don’t know who’s idea was to give no helmet armour it’s pretty dumb if they are mid tier, just give them an open faced helm

[@MilkmanCR]

I find the mounted sword sisters have broken AI in battle making them crap. They always rush head first into the start of a 1k vs 1k battle

[@mauricioiigonzalezladyasta63]

I would say that each Mercenary from my own experience is highly specialized for A specific role or tactic. ●OutRiders are very good for cavalry charges, skirmishes or hit&run tactics...I rarely ever experienced casualties among them. ●PikeMen are still what they are meant for, I generally would keep them in A seperate formation with the rest of the non-shielded infantry as A back-up for the shielded infantry up in the front. ●Crossbowmen are not my particular main interest, but I can testify that they perform very good & are great for garrisons due to the heavy armor they use. ●Macemen are just...not that great, they struggle A lot & I noticed that they level up slower in battles compared with all my other forces primarily because they tend to out-perform the Macemen. I think the Macemen are simply A fancier version of A Hired Thug, no thing memorable. ●The Sword-Sisters are very situational like the PikeMen, the way I utilize them is that I never send them out to the main fight first. Generally I would have shielded infantry in the front & the non-shielded in the back, the shielded ones would form A wall to act as bait for archers or cavalry. I would have the Sword-Sisters in the back to skirmish from A safe distance [their flanks guarded by cavalry] & to soften up the opposition before sending in A cavalry charge followed by an infantry charge. Ranged forces do run out ammunition, so I just let the hostile archers waste their rounds on my shielded forces first before moving the Sword-Sisters in range to soften up the enemy formations. With this tactic, they perform on A similar level to that of the PikeMen when you know how or when to use them. I personally prefer to take the Sword-Sisters with me on the fields rather than the Crossbowmen due to their mobility & faster movement, I noticed they are easier to reposition when necessary.

[@rathfoks5051]

I had a few mercenary troops called gallant glaive sisters who kicked ass and I thought were vanilla... but later found out they were RBM troops ;(

[@Strat-Guides]

Oh wow, the female version of the Khan's guard?!

[@rathfoks5051]

@@Strat-Guides Pretty much. I fought some minor faction dude who had one in his party pretty early game. My horse died and i had no cavalry, so the one glaive sister rode around shooting and ganking my troops until she ran out of arrows and finally died. After that I was like, I must have them.

[@tiagocidraes2390]

Is that KCD music I hear in the background? Are we getting a KCD playthrough?

[@Strat-Guides]

I think I used KCD, it was late when I finished editing this one lol Yeah someday I'll do a KCD Let's Play on the second channel :)

[@Jasta85]

After my recent bandit playthrough now I need to consider doing a mercenary only playthrough.

[@Strat-Guides]

With all of the right perks, you can make even some of the terrible units make sense. If I recall you can get 50% wage reduction (25 from steward and 25 from trade).

[@Jasta85]

@@Strat-Guides yes, if you take every wage reduction perk and max out steward for the 250 perk (you have to go over 250, don't remember the exact number) you can get 100% wage reduction for mercs. You also have to be in an army but you can do that by just having a companion part join you. Very gimmicky but can be fun, especially if you are just focused on being a mercenary so only have to worry about primarily your party's wages.

[@gusfring8451]

Never used mercs but I’ll definitely consider the xbows thanks to your video.

[@The_Custos]

Elite crossbow are great. Outriders are fun.

[@robertwildschwein7207]

My favourite unit is highwayman, followed by Raider and steppe bandit boss.

[@Gitsmasher]

The thumbnail ...though! Really make me lol

[@Cyb3rHusky]

It's nice that I'm not the only one who plays KCD music over Bannerlord

[@Strat-Guides]

The sound track is one of the greatest of all time IMO :)

[@georgerichards7695]

I know I'm late to this, But take the Sword Sisters and tell them to hold fire, and use them as a melee Fighters, they hold up well and are cheap....

[@MichaelYoungShin]

For a merc-only campaign, the Sellsword is useful in the very beginning, because they easily destroy looter groups with their javelins.

[@Thunder0010]

sounds like you need to play a Mercenary only unit campaign

[@Strat-Guides]

Lol that would be a legit challenge. And maybe we can allow the Battanian cavalry to neuter ourselves even more :P

[@copperbeard7196]

Sword Sisters were shit in Warband too :D

[@Strat-Guides]

Lol consistency is important I guess

[@jurgenbuntinx1]

Sword sister only challenge when?!?!?

[@ClopOne]

KCD atmosphere on the background ☺️☺️

[@Strat-Guides]

Best game soundtrack ever :)

[@McMcMc103]

Ross Geller lol. Try Joey and Chandler next time :)

[@stuartmccleary]

Also remember bandits > mercenaries > soldiers. As far as scaling. At a certain point of the game they are no longer effective. Eary game you can use bandits cause they are cheap and can get them in spades. Mercenaries are for beating bandits and village raids etc. then you start to get prisoner recruits of real soldiers and become a mercenary for an army and start to build up their troops. I was a mercenary for the aserai for first and now have like 50 malmaluke cavalry at the ready. I’m now with battania working on archers

[@RemusKingOfRome]

Where is the pike phalanx ?? ..sad. The sword Sisters are on their periods so ....

[@Strat-Guides]

Lol oh no

[@tjep2670]

Nice, sneaking in the Kingdom Come Deliverance song.

[@CoeGr]

TW give the SWORD SISTERS a focus on the SWORD not some shitty crossbows.

[@ilyasdgv7924]

Strat gaming wake up! A new patch dropped ;)

[@duetopersonalreasonsaaaaaa]

Hi, I have some questions about the testing - sorry if this was already said! 1. What difficulty level was this at? 2. Do the results change from an in-person battle compared to an auto-completed battle? (I heard they do, but not sure)

[@Strat-Guides]

These were all ran at Bannerlord difficulty so normal damage for everyone. Good question - so autoresolve would make these units perform much better! There is some amount of RNG with autoresolve, but the results more closely follow the balance of power.

[@anthonypeltier4039]

Can’t believe what they’ve done to sword sisters

[@charlesjohnson6777]

Wow great info and video so I kind of new sword sisters sucked but I'm shocked mace were so bad. Deff will apply this to the game