Overview
A guide that aims to push newer players in the direction of success without spoiling too much of the game or overwhelming them with fancy words and phrases like “Meta-build”, “Boss fight”, or “economic stability of a band of killers who take on contracts to murder people”
Introduction
Well look what the direwolf dragged in. Yeah, that last fight sucked didn’t it? Lose all of your brothers again? That contract said it was easy but you ran into some really tough badguys? Yeah i know how ya feel. So let me help you out.
Just call me Dakky. I’ve been playing this gem of a game for about 4 years now on and off and have over 500 hours at the time of writing this. Now, I am NOT the best Battle Brother player (WAIT HOLD ON DON’T leave!), but i have a very solid understanding of the mechanics and strategy of the game and want to help push you in the direction of victory. This guide is NOT me telling you the most meta builds out there and what formations to use. This is for the player who wants to learn the game but is just running up against a brick wall.
If you’re still here, great! let’s get started!
Choosing Your Start
With the DLC we have multiple different starts, however we are gonna focus on three of them. I think these are the best three starts for a newer player to get into the game and learn mechanics. The starts are:
Rebuilding a company, A new company / Southern Mercenaries, and Trader caravan.
Rebuilding a company
This is the tutorial start if you’ve never played this is a great introduction to the game, but it still leaves a lot out, however it does teach you the basics of the game: big cities have good hires/ gear, and contracts give you money.
A new company / Southern Mercenaries
This start throws you right into the game, without the tutorial and Hogart contracts. Why did i put two starts together? Because they start you with the same kind of bros, tier of equipment, and gold. Solid choice, and really just a preference of how you wanna play.
Trader Caravan
This start gives you two caravan hands, they’re not great fighters, but they’ll hold you through till the midgame. This start lets you make more money from trading, and money is REALLY good. The downside is you don’t get as much renown so you have to do more contracts to get to noble contracts, it’s okay though you buy and sell for better prices!
Early Game Bros
So you’ve got your start and a few bros to fight with, but you are NOT ready for a battle. What you think 2-3 guys can take on brigands? Not unless you’re lucky. You’ve got a good chunk of change in the early game, here is my general advice:
Get 6-7 bros in total, hiring in this game however is tricky so let me tell you who you’re looking for most days.
If a bro doesn’t come with armor, and you cannot put some armor on him, don’t hire him.
Only use the Try-out function if you’re rolling in 10k plus gold and are looking for a specific type of bro.
Early game hiring
This list is not ALL of the good bros you can find. RNG is a huge factor in hiring, and these are simply my opinions. I’ll give a brief explanation for each hire in alphabetical order. These are not ALL the backgrounds, but these are the hires that will be useful to you as a new player, if you see something not on here it’s either a garbage background like a cripple, or a god hire like a Hedge Knight.
A is a good hire. You should grab these guys.
B is a decent hire. They can be a good hire with some luck.
C is a “meh” hire. You need a body to fill a hole.
Apprentice: While not exactly an amazing bro, their exp boost and some middling to average stats make these guys a okay background. C
Brawler: Cheap up front, but a upkeep that is a bit pricey. These guys however, know how to fight. Their stats are pretty decent early game, and with some good stars they can EASILY carry you into the endgame. A+
Butcher: With somewhat decent stats and a low price, butchers are a solid choice. No ranged stars, but they have decent health and attack stats, and if they roll high a solid early game defense. B
Caravan hand: These guys are a staple bro of my companies. Decent upkeep, decent stats, and sometimes they come fully equipped. A
Cultist: Do you hear his voice? Join us brother Average stats, with a higher resolve. They’re a bit weird, but they mean well. B
Daytaler: Not really an amazing hire, but cheap, can be tough, and plentiful. B
Deserter: Okay, deserters are a love hate relationship for me. If you NEED a brother, go ahead and grab them, but they have really low resolve, which means they’re gonna run away. They can have good melee stats. C+
Eunuch: He doesn’t have a sword to wield, give him one and he can be somewhat useful. C
Farmhand: Ever hear the phrase “country strong”? Well with him eating his Wheaties and baling hay this young man can wear some heavy armor and kinda knows how to stab someone. But he’s a farmer, so he can get spooked if he takes some hits or his brothers start dieing. A
Fisherman: Not as good as a farmer, but he’s not bad either. A
Flagellant: When you whip yourself every day for sins, you don’t get scared too easily. With somewhat below average health, keep them in the backline. B-
Gravedigger: He sees dead people all the time, he aint afraid very often, and is used to physical labor. B
Graverobber: He steals dead people’s things all the time, he aint afraid very often and is used to physical labor. B
Houndmaster: A middling starting stats makes him okay, but if you wanna throw doggos at bad guys he makes them BETTER doggos. B
Indebted: You don’t really… hire these guys… but they can hold a shield and weapon? Decent buy if you want to have… reserves…. C+
Juggler: He can hit people in the head a little more often, but his stats are somewhat low. B
Lumberjack: Expensive, but a good stat line. Much like a farmer, plus you can always hum “I’m a lumberjack” as you give him axe mastery later and watch him chop people like he chopped trees. A+
Manhunter: Good statline, comparable to middle game bros. A
Mason: He knows what the numbers mean, so he gets a 5% exp boost and he’s got okay stats. B+
Messenger: He has highish fatigue and hp, if you roll well he’s solid. B
Militia: A workhorse of a class. They can start with above average stats, decent gear, and can carry you into the endgame. A+
Miller: Okay stats, nothing special. B
Miner: High health and decent melee makes miners solid, but a bad fatigue roll and the possibility for some bad traits can neuter a great hire. C
Monk: So, look, monks don’t make GREAT fighters, however they do have a high resolve from their faith in their gods. Give em a banner and a sergeant sash and you’ll have a cheap bannerman with any luck! C
Poacher: possible good ranged stats is a gamble, but if you have some good cash and want more bows, you can roll the dice. C
Squire: Okay, now listen. This is more of an endgame brother but i’ve found them for cheap sometimes. If you see one under 700 gold, try and buy him. But he will be expensive at a start of 20 gold per day. Be careful. A-
Thief: These guys move quick, and can have REALLY good defense stats right out the gate. B+
Witchhunter: Another expensive character, but a solid choice if you find one cheap and get lucky on the stars. B+
Buying Stuff and Things
UNDER CONSTRUCTION
Alright, those shmucks you hired look pretty good. What? You thought they were GOOD? AHAHAHAHAHA okay, we’ll get there buddy. We’ll get there. Let’s look at stuff and things and get those crowns out of your coin-purse.
Weapons
Don’t buy weapons this early in the game.
“B-b-but dakky-senpai, how will my bros k-kill the bad bad men for money?” I hear you asking.
Well don’t ever call me that again or i’ll break your knees.
Look, you can buy some weapons, but your main source of weaponry will come from the corpses of your enemies. So i’m gonna tell you the best early game things to get and why.
Militia spears: King of the battlefield, a stick with a bit of sharp metal at the end of it. Spears have two abilities, a stab that gives you 20% higher chance to hit (flat bonus) and spearwall, which will attack enemies who attempt to move adjacent to you. A solid choice for bros with less than 60 attack skill.
Daggers: Not pocket knives, but if you get a pocket knife use it until you get a Dagger. Daggers are used for a very important part of any battle: stealing armor. The first ability is a stab, it doesn’t do much damage. The second attack is called “puncture” this ability has a -15% chance to hit… But it doesn’t do damage to armor, and hits the person inside only. Great for stealing armor. Stick them in your bags. We’ll get there.
Pitchforks, warforks: A early game backline weapon that allows you to stab at enemies from 2 tiles away. Good for stabbing at a safe distance
Shield: Round shields are what will keep your brothers alive. A base +15 defense to both melee and ranged attacks.
Shortsword: A +10% attack bonus gives you a better damage weapon for slightly less free hit chance.
Don’t go crazy on weapons. Try not to spend more than about 500 gold if you NEED weapons and shields.
Armor
Armor is extra HP and damage reduction. Armor is life. What to buy? Well, a good rule of thumb is to be smart with your money, check prices of the gear, and try to get it for cheaper. Now that will mean it’ll probably be damaged, but that’s fine, we can fix it up.
Padded vest: (Blazing Desert DLC) 60 armor for 5 fatigue, you can only get this in the city states down south. Buy for under 200 gold.
Gambeson: 65 armor for 6 fatigue, It’s not bad. Buy these for under 200 gold.
Litnohorax: (Blazing Desert DLC) 75 armor for 7 fatigue, is good deal. South only, buy em for under 250.
Padded Leather 80 armor for 8 fatigue. Another good choice, buy these for under 300 gold.
Southern Mail Shirt: (Blazing Desert DLC) 110 Armor for 11 Fatigue. Look at that perfect balance. Southern cities only… duh. Get em around 400 for a good deal.
Basic Mail shirt: 115 armor for 12 fatigue. This is one of the most widespread armors in the game and are good for early game, buy them for under 400 gold, the cheaper the better.
Mail Hauberk: 150 armor for 18 fatigue. This is the most expensive armor you should buy. They’re Heavy, but at this point your bros can start to use two handed weapons and not get killed left and right by early game enemies. If you can nab one on the market for under 1200, great. One under 1300 is a good price from the armorer.
Helmets
Most helmets are pretty good, your best bang for your buck will be as follows
Aketon Cap: 40 armor for 1 fatigue. It stops you from instantly dying. Buy these if you can’t find…
Full Aketon Cap: 50 armor for 2 fatigue isn’t bad. Get these for under 150
What? you think you wanna buy a bunch of helmets? Naw, we’re gonna murder people for that. However, let’s move on to trade goods and supplies.
Supplies
Some fries my guy! Alright, so, you have bros, you have weapons and armor, now you need food.
Ground grains, Rice, roots and berries, and bread: Those are the foods you will buy. Cheap, and plentiful. You want about 3 days of food minimum in your inventory, BUT remember food goes bad!
Tools: should be bought for 250 gold or less. Keep about 50 on you for the early game.
Ammo: You won’t need much early on, unless you get lucky and use a lot of archers!
Trading
Money can be claimed from corpses and blood money, but you can supplement your income with trading!
How do you trade and what do you trade? Well it’s easy, honestly! You should always be trading when you have the extra money, even two units of trade goods can net you a 200 gold profit in five easy steps!
Step one: Find a town with trade goods.
Step two: If the town has trade goods for sale within 40 gold of the base price, buy it. If not, repeat step one.
Step Three: Get waylayed by bandits or other enemies, murder them
Step Four: Head to a walled noble city, check to see if you’re able to sell the unit of trade goods for profit.
Step Five: Profit
Town tooltips
There are a few key town tooltips that can be active, the three most important are Rebuilding Effort, Ambushed Trade Routes, and Well Supplied.
Rebuilding effort: Wood sells for more here, so if you have quality lumber and you see this tooltip, check the prices! You may be able to sell it for a premium!
Ambushed Trade Routes: The people here have fallen on hard times and will buy everything for more money. What? Feel bad? You’re a farkin mercenary, son! Sell them your loot! Look, they’ve hiked up their prices too! Don’t buy from here!
Well Supplied: There’s more stuff, stuff is cheaper, you can buy food, tools, and trade goods for cheaper. But stuff sells for less.
Price gaugeing
One tactic many players use is having a 100 gold item in their inventory. This gives you the exact percentage that the city or town is buying at. A fully repaired roundshield, or a Nachzerher tooth. Mouse over these items in your inventory before selling and you can get a general idea of how much profit you may be making or losing!
Alright, you’ve got some gear, some food and tools, maybe some trade goods. Nice. Now… let’s go commit a murder FOR MONEY! YAAAAAAY!
Their Money, and Your Life
So, let me introduce you to the local lord. Look at the top left there hovering over the town… no your other left, there ya go. You see those scrolls with the skulls floating there? Yeah i don’t know kid, just imagine poking one….
So, Battle Brothers makes encounters and contracts based on the number of bros in your party, and their average level, however it doesn’t take into account backgrounds or gear! So what is a 3 skull contract may be easy for you, because you have 12 Level 6 high end hires with amazing gear.
Difficulty is shown with skulls.
1 skull is a “easy” contract. You should be able to take this on without losses
2 skulls is a “average” contract. expect a even(ish) fight
3 skulls is a “dangerous” contract. These fights are going to be hard.
There are multiple kinds of contracts, i’ll rate these A, B, and C for what are the best to worst contracts to take for newer players.
Postal service: You are given a box, take the box to the town where you’re told and you get paid. A+ Easy, simple, safe.
Get my stuff: You’re told some brigands took the local important person’s stuff. Follow the footprints and murder them, then return the stuff. A+. Usually you’ll fight 7 brigand thugs in the early game for most of these. Don’t betray your employer!
Get rid of them!: You’ll be paid to go to a location and kill a bunch of enemies. B+ These are good contracts if you’re confident in your bros and equipment. Just be careful.
Escort quest: You get told to guard a caravan of stuff and move slowly across the map. C- Don’t take these unless you’re close to the settlement, have plenty of tools, or want to possibly get some legendary spawns with your massive wealth. We’ll get to legendary stuff don’t worry.
Monster Hunt: “Go kill some monsters! We can’t do it!” B. Monsters are incredibly dangerous if your armor is weak. Multiple attacks with jagged claws make your bros die. However, learning how to kill Direwolves and Nachzehers and getting their drops is useful in crafting if you have the beasts and exploration DLC.
The Graveyard: Ghouls and ghosts and graverobbers oh my! B. It may just be brigands, but it may be something… unnatural.
Fixer upper: You get paid to go, kill some people, and fix a destroyed building. A+. The fight is usually easy, and isn’t a bad contract to take for some easy cash.
Relations and Renown
So, why should you take contracts? Two reasons.
One is Relations: If you do multiple contracts for a town they will begin to like you, offering better prices and better paying contracts. Which means more money overall!
The other is Renown: Renown is how well known you are, more Renown means better contracts which means more money! And money is GOOD!
Every battle raises your Renown, contracts however raise it much quicker and gives you relations. So take those contracts!
Dangerous Foes and how to slay them
UNDER CONSTRUCTION
Woah there, where are you running off too? You think you’re ready to go kill your target? Well let’s slow down and talk about that for just a minute.
There is a wide variety of enemies in Battle Brothers for you to face off against, we’re gonna cut them into a few “factions” and tackle the strategies you can use to effectively beat them.
Enemy factions
- Human Outlaws
- Northern Army
- Southern Army
- Beasts
- Undead
- Monsters
These are not the official names, but it’s what we’re gonna call them in this guide. Let’s begin with the most numerous of the enemies: Human Outlaws These are both your brigands, barbarians, and nomads. The strategies for fighting the three of these are similar but with some big differences. Let’s start with the brigands.
Brigands: these come four archetypes early game. Thugs, Raiders, Poachers, and Marksmen.
A general game plan is to see what enemies have the most dangerous weapons, wait for them to move into your melee range, kill the chaff, then dagger down the last few enemies for their armor.
Thugs The easiest of every enemy in the game. They have a low attack skill, low moral, and bad gear. They’re used to attacking merchants and lone travelers. They don’t have high amounts of armor, and no defense skill unless they wield a shield. Use whatever you can, focus down any of them with two handed weapons and you’ll be fine.
Raiders Your biggest melee danger in the early game, they have decent weapons, armor, and actually know how to fight. They have a wide range of tier two weapons, including throwing weapons. These guys are dangerous and if there are only one or two, focus them down after you’ve cleared off the thugs.
Poachers do you like rocks? Poachers like rocks, and they’ll throw rocks at you. Kill their guards, run up, and murder the hell out of them.
Marksmen Archers that know how to shoot. If you’re not careful these guys will snipe your weakened bro in the head and kill them from max range. Why? Because davkul apparently loves these guys.
Barbarians: Savages from the frozen north. They scream and gnash their teeth, charging your lines and hacking wildly.
Barbarians are much like brigands except they bring reckless aggression and more raw skill to the field, with worse weapons and armor.Most barbarians in the early game do not have armor that is worth stealing, and as such are easy to kill when you hit them. Long weapons such as pikes and bows are incredibly useful, as they simply charge into your lines, giving you the ability to attack a barbarian with up to four brothers at once in the middle of your formation.
Thralls Naked men wearing furs and wielding bone weapons. They are more beast than man. They will charge your line, attack non-stop while using adrenaline and swapping places with their allies. Their biggest weakness is a lack of defense. Throw spears, axes, shoot arrows, and swing for the fences. They will die, but can you survive the onslaught long enough that they tire out? Of course you can
Reavers Solid armor, brutal weapons, adrenaline, and weapon mastery. These are dangerous foes. Two handed weapons are your friends here. The weaponry they use can cause status effects, break shields and armor quickly, and quite frankly kill you very very good. Ranged weapons are once again your friend.
Nomads are more skilled Brigands they know how to fight and do so quite well, using pocket sand and backstabbing tactics to kill your bros quickly.
Nomads are lightly armored, but carry shields that protect them from ranged attacks. When they close the distance their throw sand ability hurts your melee attack and initiative, making it harder to kill them. The best way to deal with nomads is too outmaneuver them. Many of them carry pole-arms, and are able to surround and kill brothers easily. Choke-points or height advantages will carry the day for you.
Cutthroats POCKET SAND! With pathfinder, backstabber, and rotation nomad cutthroats are a dangerous enemy, they are better than brigand thugs in any way but your tactics stay the same. Whittle them down at range and deliver death at the end of a sword. Aggression is rewarded against them.
Outlaws These nomads have better armor and weapons than their weaker counterparts. Compared to brigand Raiders they are better armed, but less well armored. Many of them carry two handed pole-arms or two handed swords. They fight in groups and will take advantage of any opening. If you must fight them be cautious, as they will throw pocket sand.
Slinger Slingers like rocks. These are less dangerous to your bros, as slings are hard to hit with, however if a brother is struck it can daze them, making them an easy target. Send a bro around the flanks to engage them in melee, they don’t carry very dangerous weapons. Fight these enemies at night to make it even easier.
Archer Like it says on the tin. The composite bows, while more damaging than normal bows do in fact have slightly less range. Use this to your advantage and fight them at night. If you are attacked by a large group of archers within a force, be mindful of their arrows. Get into melee and kill them quickly.
UNDER CONSTRUCTION
Your First Battle
UNDER CONSTRUCTION
Level-Ups
Alright, you’ve won a fight! Good for you! Now your brother has leveled up. You see all those sweet perks? You don’t touch any of them! Except one…
STUDENT
The best perk in the entire tier 1. Why? Well Battle brothers is about momentum, if you win a fight you get gear and exp which lets you fight more and get more better gear, and it goes on and on.
Remember how i said some bros can be decent hires? This is why. The way level ups work is a integral part of the game and you need to understand this.
Your bros on average, stat for stat are weaker then every other enemy in the game. If you lose a bro, he’s dead, gone. That brigand thug though? There are infinite brigand thugs. Let that sink in.
Sucks to think about don’t it? Well don’t worry. I got you, listen up.
Student gives you more exp, more exp means you level up more and can hit level 11, which is where you get max perks and then stop getting major stat bonuses. Perks are what make you better than the enemy, your choices can win you battles because of how your brothers fight. Stats are what makes your brother fight good or bad. Faster levels, more stats and perks, more gooder bros.
What stats should I level?
This is a very broad question. It depends on the role your brother is filling and his stars (read below) If you hire a Farmer that has decent stats at level 1 but has low Resolve, see if you can get a max roll here and there and patch that stat up. No brother will ever be perfect for everything, but here are some general tips.
HP should be above 60 by level 3. You can throw Colossus on a bro to give him a big HP upgrade. I throw it on 60hp bros and BOOM. 75 HP.
Fatigue should be above 70-75 after you equip a bro. Got some sweet chainmail, helmet, sword and shield? that’ll be about 40 fatigue. Stuff gets heavy quick!
Resolve should be above 40 for every bro. Throw max rolls here if it’s under 40 or your bros will run and flee constantly.
Initiative is honestly a stat that, while useful, isn’t super important. However if you get a guy with high base initative (120+) and three stars, with decent melee stats, think about making him a nimble fencer bro. Don’t worry, we’ll get there.
Matk is a big one. once your above 60 your at the minimum to throw away the spears and swap to swords or flails. If you can get this above 100 at level 11 you have a great bro.
Ratk. Does your bro have 45 or higher base? does he have at least two stars? if the answer is yes to both, give him a ranged weapon, and level it.
Mdef most frontline bros should get levels in this whenever you roll well. backline bros can get it every so often. Above 15 and you can use two handers… if you have the armor… or like to live on the edge.
Rdef don’t touch this stat. No seriously, if you don’t have armor, give your guy a shield, if you don’t have armor or a shield, he better be a pikeman or a archer. Bows are deadly in this game, sure, but really even with 30+ ranged def it’s just a diceroll.
How stats work
Stats are broken down into two categories Primary and Secondary skills.
Primary skills are:
-Melee Skill (Matk)
-Melee Defense (Mdef)
These skills roll a base of 1-3 points per level
Secondary skills are:
-Ranged skill (Ratk)
-Hit Points (HP)
-Fatigue (Fat)
-Resolve (Res)
-Initiative (Init)
-Ranged Defense (Rdef)
These skills roll a base of 2-4 points per level
Now, your bros also have those little stars next to the skills, called Talent.
Talents give you a upgrade to the minimum and maximum rolls.
1 star will give you a minimum of +1 to that stat roll every level
2 stars will give you a guaranteed roll of max for every level
3 stars will give you the possibility of rolling your max or 1 higher every level.
What does this mean?
This means you can quickly look at a bro and see how much of a stat he will have at every level. Lets say we have Reiner, who will be a sample for how this would work
Reiner has the following stats at level 1
HP: 50
Fat: 100 **
Res: 35
Init: 110
Matk: 50 ***
Ratk:40
Mdef:5 *
Rdef:2
Now Reiner may look like an average bro at level 1. His stats are not amazing, but add on ten levels and pump everything into Fat, Matk, and Mdef
HP: 50
Fat: 140 **
Res: 35
Init: 110
Matk: 85 ***
Ratk:40
Mdef:30 *
Rdef:2
Look at those numbers! Now of course having these talents makes any bro a god tier bro, but let’s be honest here. You probably won’t have one like him. (but if you ever hire a hedge knight and he has these stars? You should screenshot it and post it in r/battle brothers.)