Like its predecessor, Mount & Blade 2 boasts a thriving modding community that lets me add minor improvements to the game or even change it from the ground up. Here are the 12 best Bannerlord mods that will satisfy even the most dedicated modders.
Best Bannerlord game feature mods
We'll start with some of the best mods for Mount and Blade II: Bannerlord that change only the small features of the game. They do not modify the gameplay entirely, but enabling these little modifications makes navigating the game much more convenient. These small changes can influence a lot, whether it's to save you more time or help you focus on your objectives more.
Fast Dialogue mod in Mound and Blade 2 Bannerlord
A mod that can be useful for almost any game, Fast Dialogue skips the full 3D scenes where you converse with parties before fighting them. Instead of the dialogue being initiated all the time, it loads the standard actions menu right away and gives you the option to converse with them, attack them, or leave.
This saves you a ton of time, and you can now deal with more minor fights without impatiently going through these unnecessary loading screens. It includes lords, bandits, villagers, caravans, and small faction meetings. This mod was overhauled to work with the latest updates on the game and is currently active.
Party Screen Enhancements mod in Mount and Blade 2 Bannerlord
A vital part of the Mount and Blade II: Bannerlord is learning how to manage your legions of troops to ensure all are well-equipped for battle. You gain a competitive advantage by having the right mix of unit types. As your fighters increase in number, doing this can be time-consuming. With the Party Screen Enhancements mod, you get access to several buttons.
These options let you easily upgrade the equipment of all your troops at once, among many other features that help streamline this process. It also includes a user-friendly UI for easy configuration. This adds a small change to your game, but it helps so much that, once installed, you can never go without this one anymore.
Sound the Alarm mod in Mount and Blade 2 Bannerlord
Although a notification appears by default in the Mount and Blade II: Bannerlord whenever your territory gets invaded while you're away on a campaign for a while, the text is so tiny that you can easily miss it if you're too focused on your objectives at hand. Being caught off-guard this way can be inconvenient, so Sound the Alarm is another must-have mod in Mount and Blade 2.
It activates a popup alert to notify you when your towns are being taken over so you can focus on a campaign without worrying about not knowing when your fiefs are being attacked.
Related: Best Governor Skills and Perks in Mount and Blade II: Bannerlord
Best Bannerlord customization mods in Mount and Blade 2
Mount and Blade II: Bannerlord customization mods add fun, nifty tweaks to your game, greatly enhancing your gameplay experience without changing how you play. Many are out there, but we've handpicked the best ones worth downloading.
Open Source Armory mod in Mount and Blade 2 Bannerlord
If you'd like the weapons and the gear in the Mount and Blade 2 to be more varied, the Open Source Armory mod is the best because it fully maximizes their potential. It combines your existing armor mods and adds an astounding number of shiny new custom armor pieces that are over a thousand. It also adds 58 shields, 21 weapons, and 16 banners.
These are all entirely lore-friendly as they are tailored around the game, where factual historical basis on the weapons and armor have been used for inspiration. Only a few fantasy concepts came into play to fill the gaps, but this mod is as realistic as possible.
Character Export Import mod in Mount and Blade 2 Bannerlord
The name of this mod does not do it justice, as it does a lot for character customization in the game. By adding a tool that allows you to export any character in the game, edit them to your liking, and import them back, the Character Export Import mod can be more of a cheat than a simple modification.
With the Character Export Import mod, you can customize every character's skills and perks to your heart's desire. Although you can certainly use it to mess around with the characters, it can also help you a lot by letting you practice with high-level weapons to see how they are first and see whether you want to level them up. You can use this mod with a new campaign first, or at least have your unmodded save file backed up first before trying this one out.
Raise Your Banner mod in Mount and Blade 2 Bannerlord
What's a game like Mount and Blade II: Bannerlord without the ability to raise your banner? The Raise Your Banner mod enhances customization by a whole notch, making it a fun and seemingly vital addition to the game. This mod lets you create and display custom banners for every formation, tournament theme, and everything else.
It amps your Bannerlord experience by making you feel like a real commander of your army of troops. It's also the most updated and recent banner mod for the game after the OG Bear My Banner mod, which is no longer being updated.
Related: 15 Best Medieval Games
Best Bannerlord gameplay mods
Your experience using mods in Bannerlord is incomplete without mixing in a few that alter your gameplay. We listed five of the best ones which you should not miss. You should consider adding these to your collection no matter what type of player you are.
Cultured Start mod in Mount and Blade 2 Bannerlord
There are better ways to start than beginning the game at a dead spot in the most boring training area on the map. It limits you from hiring the same soldiers and makes you travel much longer and farther to get to where you want to go. The most recent version of the Cultured Start mod fixes this flaw in the game.
The mod allows you to choose one of the cities dotted around the map to start in, fully configure who you want to begin as and how you want to handle your quests. This was originally the work of Barhidous on Nexus Mods, but an updated overhaul was needed after the creator no longer updated it for the newer versions of the game.
Improved Garrisons mod in Mount and Blade 2 Bannerlord
The Improved Garrisons mod in Mound and Blade II: Bannerlord improves your process of managing castles and settlements. It also allows you to view your settlement status and manage town projects from anywhere on the map. There's a lot more to this mod, and we wonder why these features aren't available in the unmodded base game. The Improved Garrisons mod is also compatible with most mods and is the most updated gameplay mod for Bannerlord.
Related: Best Governor Skills and Perks in Mount and Blade II: Bannerlord
Xoberax's Cut Through Everyone mod for Mount and Blade 2 Bannerlord
Combat is one of the thrilling aspects of the Mount and Blade 2, and you can certainly amp it up more through Xoberax's Cut Through Everyone mod. It allows your weapons to slice through several units at a time. It's an added area of effect, so eliminating a group of enemies is a lot easier.
However, the original uploader no longer updates the mod, so another creator took over with their permission for a complete overhaul. The new creator regularly updates it, so you can carry on impaling multiple units in one single blow in authentic medieval fashion.
VanillaPlus mod for Mount and Blade 2 Bannerlord
The best mods out there are the ones that don't overhaul the vanilla experience but make a slew of more minor changes to each segment, resulting in a game that retains the same feeling but gains a considerable leg compared to the unmodded experience. The VanillaPlus mod nails this aspect by improving features such as lords' AI and war diplomacy, increasing the importance of traits, and adding new companion types, to name a few. Once you try it, there's no going back!
LootLord mod in Mount and Blade 2 Bannerlord
When you execute a lord, it only makes sense that you can loot their gear afterward. But given how insanely expensive they can sometimes be, Bannerlord doesn't let you do this by default. With the Mount and Blade 2 LootLord mod installed, all of the gear of any lord you eliminate transfers into your inventory. If you want more realism, this mod also allows you to configure if you'd like this enabled for every lord execution or for only half the time.
Dismemberment Plus mod in Mount and Blade 2 Bannerlord
Originally a creation of jedijosh920 on Nexus Mods, the Dismemberment Plus mod for Mount and Blade II: Bannerlord keeps its predecessor, the Dismemberment mod, alive. This mod lets you pawn an enemy's head, leg, or foot using your axe, sword, or glaive for some medieval realism. You can also change how often it can occur and if you want to add a slow-motion effect.
For more coverage on Mount and Blade, check out Best Companions for Caravans in Mount and Blade II: Bannerlord and How to stop Mount and Blade 2: Bannerlord from crashing here at Pro Game Guides.
Nebojša Prijić is a staff writer at Pro Game Guides. He's an old-school gaming journalist that loves real-time strategies, shooters, and RPGs. He remembers the first Diablo, PC games on a single floppy disk, and playing Mortal Kombat on the keyboard.