Mount & Blade 2: Bannerlord - How to Lay Siege to Castles (2024)

Regular battles in Mount & Blade 2: Bannerlord happen across all sorts of terrain depending on the region the two armies meet. Even in battles that happen at settlements, both armies are fighting on a level playing field.

That isn't always the case when it comes to one army sieging another's castle or city. These battles weigh heavily in favor of the defender as the elevated ground and siege weapons are highly effective against large groups of enemies slowly marching forward. While laying siege to a castle is usually a difficult task, there are many things a player can do to help tip the scales in their favor.

Preparing To Lay Siege

Laying Siege can take many days, so before heading to the castle, be sure to get a huge supply of food to keep up the morale of your army. You'll also want the largest army you can muster, as you'll want a deterrent against other armies from the rival kingdom along with enough soldiers to actually take the castle. When selecting the castle or city you want to siege, hover over it with your marker and look toward the bottom of the Information section to see how many defenders there are. Ideally, you'll want a few hundred more than whatever number that is just to stand a chance.

Upon approaching the castle or city with your army, select, "Besiege The Town" to set up your camp and begin. The enemy castle will already have a few catapults, ballistas, and fortified walls set up depending on the upgrades chosen by the mayor of the castle, and your goal will be to destroy them all before sending your troops forward. Players can build:

• Battering Ram
• Siege Tower
• Trebuchet
• Onager
• Ballista

You'll have four spots to build ranged siege weapons, one for a battering ram, and two for siege towers. First, you'll need to wait for the camp to be set up but this should only take about half a day. Ideally, you'll want to make a battering ram and both siege towers first, as these can't be targeted by the enemy's defenses during this time. Should another army from the rival kingdom approach to stop you, having these siege weapons built gives you the option to begin the attack at any time.

The next goal should be destroying any defenses the enemy has. Ballistas are the weakest siege weapon that can be built but are built the fastest, with trebuchets being the strongest but with the longest build time. Any ranged siege weapons will quickly be destroyed by what the enemy has, but the reserve option can save your siege weapons.

Queue up four trebuchets and pause time whenever one is built, selecting them and placing them in reserve. By placing them in reserve, they won't be targeted and can be brought back out quickly when more are built and in reserve. Wait for at least three or four to be in your reserve before stopping time again to bring all of them out of reserve at the same time. This setup will give you stronger weapons than your opponent, and your trebuchets will quickly destroy any defenses the enemy has.

Keep rebuilding any destroyed siege weapons to keep four active at a time. After destroying the enemy's ranged weapons, your trebuchets will target the walls of the castle. Once destroyed, they will make your siege towers useless but give your army massive gaps in the wall to run through once the battle begins. After all the defenses have been destroyed, begin the attack to leave your enemy's defenses and level the playing field to make most of the fight a straightforward ground battle as your best troops rush through the gaps in the walls.

How To Level Up Engineering In Mount & Blade 2: Bannerlord

Players will get Engineering XP by building and using Siege weapons. Siege weapons earn Engineering XP whenever they get kills during the actual battle and whenever they destroy enemy defenses while laying siege to a castle. Not only is destroying all the enemy's defenses good for giving you the upper hand, but it will also field the player the most XP. Defenders will continuously build new defenses, letting players easily farm Engineering XP when you have four trebuchets dominating a siege.

Adding Focus Points to your Engineering skill tree acts as a multiplier for earned XP in this tree. Perks in the Engineering tree affect how fast you build siege weapons and how effective they are. While it can take a while to farm Engineering points, it is well worthwhile as later in the game you'll be sieging castles and cities often to get more fiefs.

Mount and Blade 2: Bannerlord

Systems

Platform(s)

PC , PS4 , PS5 , Xbox One , Xbox Series X , Xbox Series S

Released

October 25, 2022

Developer(s)

TaleWorlds Entertainment

Publisher(s)

TaleWorlds Entertainment