One of arguably the most important things in Mount and Blade II: Bannerlord is your party’s movement speed. Party movement speed affects more than just the obvious in the game. While of course moving faster helps you outrun or chase down your enemies, it also affects things you might not think too often about. The army that can get to locations quicker can help defend their allies, attack enemies at a moment’s notice while they’re away, or even just sell goods between cities quicker. The faster you can move between cities, the more goods you can sell in a certain amount of time. There are a number of things you can do in Bannerlord to increase party movement speed and we will go through all of them from the major things to the minor ones. By following our guide, it is definitely possible to hit a 6 or 7 movement speed on the campaign map.
One of the first things you need to understand is that you can increase your base movement speed in a number of ways. There are perks and skills that can help increase your base movement speed such as Sweeping Wind in the Riding tree and Day Traveler in the Scouting tree. Look through the skill trees and see if there are any perks that make sense for you to grab. While I wouldn’t suggest taking a perk just for the movement speed, sometimes it does make sense.
Things That Decrease Movement Speed in Bannerlord
Before we dive into the ways to buff your party’s movement speed in Bannerlord, we need to understand the most common debuffs you may experience. The easiest way to figure out why you’re moving so slow is to just hover over the movement speed number itself! The devs at TaleWorlds Entertainment have really added a ton of useful quality of life improvements to the new game and this is one of them. A thoroughly detailed breakdown of all the buffs and debuffs affecting your party’s movement is a great asset. Here are debuffs you may come across while playing and how to fix them!
Disorganized
Disorganized is probably the most common debuff you will come across. We go over it pretty thoroughly in our guide here, but to sum it up you will encounter this debuff after leaving combat. Your troops will need time to gather themselves after a battle and you will move slower for a few in-game hours. It will eventually wear away though so do not worry too much about it, just remember it exists.
Cargo Within Capacity
This one is pretty self-explanatory. Every item in your inventory takes up weight and space. If you do not have enough units and mounts to carry your inventory weight, you will be slowed down by it. A simple fix to this is to buy mules or horses so that they can carry your extra equipment and goods.
Prisoners
Prisoners are a great tool in Bannerlord for a number of reasons. Some players like to recruit them, some like to hold them in their castles, while others like to sell them. If you have prisoners you will experience a debuff to your movement speed. The simplest fix is to not have any or to minimize the time you have with prisoners in your party. Either sell them quickly or head straight to your castle. You can also go to a friendly city and donate them to the settlement. This will give you points with that faction to improve your standing!
Herd
Herd is a debuff that might seem counterintuitive at first, but makes perfect sense. Having too many animals will force your party to slow down in order to move them along and not lose any along the way. The easiest way to get rid of this debuff is to just remove animals from your inventory until it disappears or sell them in a city if you need the gold. Animals like mules and camels contribute to the herd debuff. While mules and camels are great in the early game for increasing your carrying capacity, you’re better off buying horses later on. Stacking mules infinitely isn’t possible since eventually, you’ll turn into basically a slow-moving caravan going from city to city.
Things That Increase Movement Speed Buffs in Bannerlord
There are a number of ways to increase your movement speed in Bannerlord and we will go over the most important ones as well as a few some players might not think of. Some of these you may already know, but for new players, there are a lot of good ways to buff your party’s move speed.
Morale
Your party’s morale is important in more ways than one in Bannerlord. Besides ensuring your troops don’t desert, it also helps your party’s movement speed on the campaign map. Having high morale can be achieved in a number of ways. If you are having trouble raising morale, check out our guide here.
Game Difficulty
One of the easiest ways to increase your party’s move speed is by simply lowering the difficulty. Bannerlord is a tough game if you’re not used to the style and there is no shame in lowering the difficulty so that your party isn’t constantly being caught by enemy lords and raiders. Depending on how much you lower the difficulty by, you can increase your party’s movement speed by 5-10%.
Calvary
Ask yourself this, what army moves faster? The army on horseback or the army on foot? Obviously, calvary units have an advantage here. Filling your party with units on horseback is an easy way to increase your campaign map world speed.
Footmen on Horseback
Another easy way to increase your movement speed is by buying cheap horses in cities for your foot soldiers to use while traveling. While they obviously won’t use them in combat, they will definitely use them while you go from battle to battle. If you’re having trouble affording horses, check out our guide on how to make money here.
Summary
In the end, there is a multitude of ways to increase your party’s movement speed in Bannerlord. Often the easiest way is to fix the debuffs at first rather than try to add more. If you are truly struggling I’d suggest increasing your party’s carrying capacity and increasing the number of horses available for your footmen to ride on. If you really sit down and look at the above buffs and debuffs as it pertains to your party in-game, I am certain that you will be able to squeeze out some more speed from your party!
