Battle Brothers: Builds and Company Composition Guide (for v1.4 with BLAZING DESERTS and all other DLCs)

Overview

An advanced guide sharing some good builds and party composition with BLAZING DESERTS and all other DLCs (v1.4).

Introduction

This is an advanced guide sharing some good builds and company composition experience.

The goal is to build a company which can fight against any opponents with less risk and pain (including Kraken, Ijirok, Black Monolith and other the most dangerous opponents).

Before reading this guide, it’s highly recommended to read “Gameplay Mechanics” section in Battle Brothers Wiki[battlebrothers.fandom.com] and other fundamental guides from the community (which help and inspire me a lot).

In addition, this guide won’t be 100% right, also it won’t be 100% wrong. If you find something odd during reading, please mention it in comments. This will help a lot.

v1.4 BLAZING DESERTS UPDATE QUICK RESUME

Adrenaline now cost 1 AP instead of 0 AP. So previous Adrenaline + Recover Cycle is no more possible and keeping constant Indomitable / spearwall / shieldwall is not possible. So Adrenaline is not that valuable for Tanks and other build.

Now it brings at least +10 range defense. Also, as southern handgonne man are very devastating, range defense is more valuable. Now upon level-up, brother can get 4 ranged defense.

Fearsome now will benefit from resolve which make fearsome more useful. Check Handgonne Man section for more.

Indomitable now costs 5 AP thus it’s less valuable for two-handed weapon users.

Fire pots and flash pots are extremely useful against large number of enemy.

Armor attachment with +15 duration and +15 initiative, valuable for brothers with dodge, overwhelm.

Company Composition Fundamental

In this section, a common battle company composition and several situational company compositions will be discussed.

A common composition of 12 brothers fighting company is like 6 frontline and 6 backline.

All frontline brothers can bear both melee and range damage. Some or most of them are good at damaging. They consist of various two-handed melee weapon users, one-handed melee weapon users with or without shield.

All backline brothers can bear some range damage. Some of them can bear temporary melee damage. Most of them are good at damaging. Some of them use melee weapon, some of them use range weapon, some of them use both. They consist of 2 or 3 tiles melee weapon users, sergeant, archer, crossbow man, thrower.

In addition, it will be much helpful to have some brothers who can overwhelm, disarm, stun, daze, injury, fear, stagger, knock back, throw net and other powerful tricks.

Also, it will be much safer and convenient to have some or most brothers with rotation or footwork, some brothers can use indomitable.

In later sections, various builds will be discussed to achieve an all-around company.

• for common opponents:
  Battle Brothers Wiki[battlebrothers.fandom.com]

• Chosen
  rotation, footwork, indomitable help a lot;
  overwhelm, injury help;
  disarm, stun can be still useful even facing resilient;
  constant spearwall + net is another strategy.

• Witch Hut
  3 or more archers will help;
  resolve necklace, Protective Runes and Sigils help;
  undead necklace can immune charming.

• Ijirok
  stagger, daze users will help a lot to bring down his speed thus allow brothers touch and hit him.
  otherwise, he will keep jumping around and most of brothers will keep chasing without attack.

• Kraken
  12 high melee brothers with good mdef
  more details in A compressive guide to Krakens (Spoiler ahead) by Nikolai

• Black Monolith
  3-row formation with sergeant, ranger(optional) or other weak backline in middle is recommended. Thus, 10 frontline + 2 backline, or 6 frontline + 4 tough backline + 2 backline is recommended.

  heavy armor two-handed users help a lot;

  warscythe users with overwhelm and mushroom help;

  whip users help with Necrosavant.

  (PS: there is no need to keep conqueror’s armor intact, it will be given as loot even if his armor is destroyed, it’s special.)

• TO_DO Lorekeeper, Blade dancer, Tournament

Frontline

Frontline brothers will fight face to face with opponents and also tank them.
Thus they need to bear both melee and range damage.
They can also use various weapons to attack and do various powerful tricks.
In this section, both offense and defense will be mentioned, while mainly focus on the defense.
In later sections, some detailed frontline builds are discussed.

Please see Battle Brothers Wiki Melee Weapons[battlebrothers.fandom.com].

More details about offense and weapons will be mentioned in later detail builds.

Below are currently found feasible solutions to bear both melee and range damage:

• Requirements:
  shield, medium mdef(15+), high hp / fatigue
  light armor(120/95) / medium armor (200/200)
  Nimble / Battle Forged
  Bone Platings / various
  (better hp then go Nimble, better fatigue then go Battle Forged)

• Behavior:
  dodge or block well both melee and range attack, use light armor and hp pool / medium armor to absorb left damage.

• Examples:
  Shield user

• Requirements:
  high mdef(30+), high fatigue
  300/300 heavy armor
  Battle Forged
  Additional Fur Padding (Reduces damage ignoring armor by 33%)

• Behavior:
  dodge well melee attack, use heavy armor to absorb left damage;
  take range attack like a meat before touch opponent, use heavy armor to absorb all range damage, and use “Additional Fur Padding” to deal the damage ignoring armor from top rank crossbow.

• Examples:
  Two-handed melee weapon user
  One-handed melee weapon user

• Requirements:
  high initiative(≈150, bring 15+ mdef and rdef during combat), high hp (80+), medium mdef(15+)
  120/95 light armor
  Nimble, Dodge, Relentless
  Bone Platings

• Behavior:
  dodge well both melee and range attack, use light armor and hp pool to absorb left damage.

• Examples:
  Fencing sword user

• high mdef, high rdef
  it’s not easy to achieve due to attribute limit.
  LONE WOLF, GIFTED and new ANTICIPATION perk (which will bring at least +10 range defense) may be helpful.

• high mdef, high hp, Nimble
  This is very vulnerable to range attack.
  Light armor will be striped very quickly by range attack and bare naked brother will be further weaken by poison, bleeding, range attack.
  If this method is used, holding a shield before touch opponents is recommended.

– Shield User

These are the most undemanding front builds.
Thus they are the core of early company.
Some of these builds can shine even in mid-late game.

matk 70+(for early game) 85+(for mid-late game)
mdef 15+
fat 120+(for nimble), 130+(for battle forged)
hp 80+(for nimble), 70(for battle forged)
resolve 45

mdef
fat
matk
hp
resolve

cheap or failed two-handed recruits
Battle Brothers Wiki Character Backgrounds[battlebrothers.fandom.com]

• Basic
  Recover (fatigue)
  Nimble / Battle Forged

• Recommended
  Weapon Mastery (fatigue and additional benefits, optional for dedicated tank)
  Indomitable (survive, avoid stun, recommended for dedicated tank, optional for others)
  Colossus (≈15 hp, especially early game)
  Rotation (survive,offense,assist)
  Shield Expert (mdef, rdef, less shield damage intake,15% knock back chance)
  Under Dog (mdef)
  Brawny (≈15 fatigue, in case Battle Forged)
  Pathfinder (ap, fatigue)
  Berserk (ap, synergize well with recover)
  Killing Frenzy(damage)
  Gifted (3 matk, 3 medef, 4 hp/fat/res)
  Fortified Mind(≈10 res)

• Optional
  Student
  Fast Adaption ( early crap recruit or against shieldwall Ancient Dead)
  Backstabber (matk)
  Taunt
  Fearsome(fear, with hammer)
  Dodge (≈15 for Nimble, ≈10 for Battle Forged)
  Relentless(for Dodge and Overwhelm)
  Overwhelm (better with light armor)
  Lone Wolf(can be used for dedicated distracting tank build)

• Attractive but not recommended

This can be achieved very quickly and fix every brother into a early-game decent frontline.
Fast Adaption for a little more hit chance, also helps against shieldwall.
[link]

[link]

[link]

Hammer ensure 10 hp damage which synergize well with fearsome(require at least 1 hp damage) and poison (require at least 6 hp damage). Also as hammer doesn’t benefit a lot from duelist (due to low base damage), to use this 10 hp feature, footman with shield is a good choice.
This build is very good to against orc warrior who is fragile in moral and heavy armored.
[link]

This bastard is recruited in early game and he has very good matk and mdef, but only medium fatigue. He ends up a “failed 2 handed weapon user” and become a shield user. Even though he won’t do that much damage comparing other members in this “full of Greatsword company”(it’s an old save before any DLC) he still finds his place: use Rotation to make others hit enemy and rescue others; use Destroy Armor to break cans for others.

Flail can ignore shield defense bonus with first skill and also can do 100% chance headshot with second skill.
For early-mid game poor head gear and shield user raider this build is a decent killing machine, one-shot instant kill is very often.
The weak point is currently lack of powerful one-handed flail, thus in mid-late game the damage is a bit low.
[link]

This build can easily hit 70 mdef or even 80 mdef with Lone Wolf perk (30 base, 15 from Dodge, 25 from Heater shield).
Thus without shieldwall Riposte will still work well.
However, once brother gets hit, it may hurt badly(5% hit chance still happens).
One way to fix it is to use Rotation instead of Lone Wolf and use the brother with the company, once brother gets heavy hit, swap him.
Second way is to use Iron Will Potion + Bone Platings and hope the brothers can sustain long enough.
Third way is named armors, can go with Battle Forged or Nimble or Both.
[link]

Choose some brothers with very high melee defense (around 40) do this job.
Use sword (+10% hit chance, RIPOSTE) or spear( +20% hit chance, SPEARWALL).

Spearwall + backline polearm / ranger is one classic powerful strategy against most opponents including chosen. And to form a decent spearwall line, usually only 4 brothers are needed.

RIPOSTE with very high mdef can be powerful (40 base mdef + 25 from Heater shield). LONE WOLF can also be useful.

[link]
[/previewimg]

Below brother is met in early game, who has good melee defense(35) but not enough good fatigue (122), melee attatck (72). As that’s early game, I pick COLOSSUS directly to make him live longer and at the end he make it through into late game!
P.S.: ADRENALINE is NO MORE useful for tanks as it costs 1 AP (so it breaks previous powerful Adrenaline + Recover Cycle).
[example2]Dedicated Tank.png]

Below brother is met in mid-game, who has very good melee defense (39) but not enough good fatigue (116) and melee attack (74). So at the end he holds a sword and shield and equips medium armor as a dedicated tank.
[example]Dedicated Tank.png]

Puncture can’t do critical hit;
Puncture can’t benefit from double grip, thus bringing a goblin shield or heavier shield is good idea.
In addition, due to puncture has -15% hit chance and 45 fatigue/per 3 hits (per turn), higher matk and fatigue are always better.
This one is not essential but fun.
[link]

for Battle Forged:
200+ duration head;
210+ duration body;
Additional Fur Padding(against top rank crossbow and dagger puncture) / Bone Platings / Horn Plate / Light Padding Replacement / Lindwurm Scale Cloak;
Weapon of choice.

for Nimble:
120 duration head;
95 duration body;
Bone Platings;
Weapon of choice.
Bandage.

Tank and kill.

– Two-handed Battle Forged Frontline

Wearing the most heavy armor and wielding the most powerful two-handed weapon, they are the king of the battle fields.

matk 85+
mdef 30+
fat 130+
hp 70
resolve 45-55

matk
mdef
fat
hp
resolve
rdef(≈10)

Whildman, farmhand, Lumberjack, Messenger, hedge knight, barbarian, brawler, squire,caravan hands, gravedigger, beast slayer, militia, etc.
Battle Brothers Wiki Character Backgrounds[battlebrothers.fandom.com]

• Basic
  Student (level up quickly, as this build only works with high level)
  Recover (fatigue)
  Weapon Mastery (fatigue and additional benefits, optional for Mace if second skill is not used so often)
  Under Dog (mdef)
  Battle Forged (survive)
  Berserk (ap, synergize well with recover)

• Recommended
  Pathfinder (ap, fatigue)
  Rotation (survive,offense,assist)
  Killing Frenzy(damage)
  Reach Advantage (mdef, optional for Mace)
  Brawny (≈15 fatigue)
  Colossus (≈15 hp)
  Gifted (3 matk, 3 medef, 4 hp/fat/res)
  Fortified Mind(≈10 res)

• Optional
  Adrenaline (survive, offense, see above Adrenaline + Recover cycle part)
  Backstabber (matk)
  Crippling Strikes (injury)
  Executioner(damage)
  Indomitable (survive, avoid stun; it coats 5AP now, so it is much more optional now)

• Attractive but not recommended

Greatsword user is the most versatile among all.
[link]

This one has super good matk and fatigue (strong + iron lung!). Although his mdef is quite low, I end up still making him a 2 hander and try to fix him with 2 blue potion (which can get a free veteran level without actually adding level).
NOTE: better to replace INDOMITABLE with something else as it coats 5AP now.

This is a failed one. At that time I though Indomitable is mandatory for Kraken and picked it for every melee (and later I found it was not true…sigh…). This one should go with Brawny to make him work.
NOTE: better to replace INDOMITABLE with something else as it coats 5AP now.

Choosing one brother who have 90+ matk to be a 2H hammer user is good idea.
[link]

This one is also not well picked. His matk is not that good to wield a 2H hammer. Probably better to use a greatsword. However I do really want a two-handed hammer at that time and there is no better choice.
NOTE: better to replace INDOMITABLE with something else as it coats 5AP now.

2H Mace won’t benefit much from Reach Advantage, so choose someone having higher mdef.
And also he won’t use AOE, so low fatigue brother can still do the job well.
NOTE: better to replace INDOMITABLE with something else as it coats 5AP now.
[link]

This has low fatigue 127 (at level 11 before gear), thus I make him become a mace user who won’t use a lot fatigue.
NOTE: better to replace INDOMITABLE with something else as it coats 5AP now.

With new Bardiche, now 2H Axe has 2-tile AOE and can finally fight in line! Very Powerful!
[link]

Rusty Warblade (Barbarians) is one of the most powerful normal weapon.
And the named cleaver from Icy cave is even more.
As two-handed cleaver can hit 2 times per turn, it is very stable to have 2 stacks of Reach Advantage making this build more suitable for relative low mdef brother.
[link]

This one is powerful but fragile. Without heavy armor and rdef he usually gets a lot of arrow and bolt at the first turn which strip his Bone Platings and all armor very quickly. He ends up carry a Kite shield before touching opponents.
NOTE: better to replace INDOMITABLE with something else as it coats 5AP now.

This is to full use the cleaver mastery.
[link]

300 duration head;
300 duration body;
Additional Fur Padding(against top rank crossbow and dagger puncture) / Bone Platings / Horn Plate / Light Padding Replacement / Lindwurm Scale Cloak;
Greatsword;
Two-handed Hammer;
Two-Handed Flanged Mace;
Bardiche / Greataxe;
Rusty Warblade (Barbarians) / named cleaver from Icy cave, Whip;

Tank and kill.

These builds are also extremely demanding to recruit, gear and perk, thus they are only possible to use in mid-late game.
The recruit is very precious, thus keeping them alive is the principle.
A usual level up route is like:
level 1-6: backline pikeman with medium armor;
after battle forged: frontline with footman with shield and medium armor;
after all defensive perks or even level 11: two-handed.

– One-handed Battle Forged Frontline

As the recruit requirement is almost the same as Two-handed Battle Forged Frontline, these two builds are a little conflict on recruit.

Compare to two-handed, pros and cons are:
pros:
better single target damage ignoring armor (with duelist perk, synergize well with mace/axe/cleaver);
more hits;
off-hand free is suitable to equip fire pot or flash pot;

cons:
less defensive(lack of Reach Advantage, thus require better mdef recruit);
lack of AOE damage;

Some attractive builds are discussed below.

matk 85+
mdef 40+
fat 130+
hp 70
resolve 45-55
rdef (≈10)

matk
mdef
fat
hp
resolve

Whildman, farmhand, Lumberjack, Messenger, hedge knight, barbarian, brawler, squire,caravan hands, gravedigger, beast slayer, militia, etc.
Battle Brothers Wiki Character Backgrounds[battlebrothers.fandom.com]

• Basic
  Recover (fatigue)
  Weapon Mastery (fatigue and additional benefits)
  Under Dog (mdef)
  Battle Forged (survive)
  Berserk (ap, synergize well with recover)
  Duelist (damage ignoring armor, synergize well with mace/axe/cleaver)

• Recommended
  Pathfinder (ap, fatigue)
  Rotation (survive,offense,assist)
  Killing Frenzy(damage)
  Brawny (≈15 fatigue)
  Colossus (≈15 hp)
  Gifted (3 matk, 3 medef, 4 hp/fat/res)
  Fortified Mind(≈10 res)
  Anticipation (10+ rdef)

• Optional
  Student
  Adrenaline (survive, offense, see above Adrenaline + Recover cycle part)
  Backstabber (matk)
  Crippling Strikes (injury)
  Executioner(damage)
  Fearsome(fear, with hammer)
  Indomitable (survive, avoid stun; it costs 5AP now)

• Attractive but not recommended

Bleeding needs 6 hp damage to trigger thus Duelist perk is more valuable for cleaver user.
Another advantage is orc cleaver (especially with named one). This super powerful weapon does the same armor damage as a two-handed cleaver and more damage ignoring armor. It can even inflict bleeding on the first hit on 300 armor. Very competitive.
NOTE: Bring some fire pots and flash pots with your off-hand free brothers!
[link]

This brawler is very powerful but fragile to range damage. With legendary orc cleaver, every hit is like a truck (65-112 hitpoints, 0-56 can ignore armor, 78-135 damage to armor, 10 bleeding per turn for 2 turn) and he can surely hit 2 times per turn. The king of single target. I regret that I didn’t make him with Battle Forged.

This is to fully use Duelist Perk.
[link]

This is to fully use Cleaver Mastery Perk.
4 AP cleaver / whip hit, switch if needed, 5 AP disarm, synergize well;
3 tiles whip also helps with geist and necroservants.
[link]

one-handed axe (50% additional damage to HP on a hit to the head);
Duelist(+25% damage ignoring armor);
Head Hunter(head hit chance);
brute(15% additional head damage, -5 melee);
juggler(+5% chance to hit the head) / killer on the run (+10% chance to hit the head).
With above, a head chopper build can be attractive.
[link]

winged mace with duelist provides the highest damage ignoring armor among all one-handed weapons. it can injury opponent with max hp <262, but as remaining armor exists,
injuring opponent with 200 remaing armor and 150 max hp is more feasible (yes, it sounds like Chosen).
[link]

This is another regret. I should make him with Battle Forged so that he can be an Orc and Chosen killer instead of sitting on the bench.

300 duration head;
300 duration body;
Additional Fur Padding(against top rank crossbow and dagger puncture) / Bone Platings / Horn Plate / Light Padding Replacement / Lindwurm Scale Cloak;
Weapon of choice.

Tank and kill.

– One-handed Nimble Dodge Frontline

Comparing to Battle Forge ones, these builds are generally less defensive due to light armor and extremely vulnerable with fix hp damage like bleed / Miasma, but tougher facing armor ignoring damage like crossbow bolt, dagger puncture(thus use them to chase ranger and anyone with dagger).

matk 85+
ini 150+
mdef 25+
hp 70+
fat 100
resolve 40

matk
mdef
ini/hp
fat
rdef (10+)

assassin, thief, gambler, barbarian, Beastslayer, etc.
Battle Brothers Wiki Character Backgrounds[battlebrothers.fandom.com]

• Basic
  Student
  Recover (fatigue)
  Dodge (benefit from high initiative, 15-20 additional mdef and rdef)
  Relentless (keep high current initiative, synergize with dodge,fencing sword lunge,overwhelm)
  Weapon Mastery (fatigue and additional benefits)
  Nimble (survive)
  Berserk (ap, synergize well with recover)
  duelist (more damage ignore armor, inflict estimated 15-25 more hp damage duration the first lunge hit, contribute well to kill low armor opponent in one lunge or lunge + slash)

• Recommended
  Pathfinder (ap, fatigue)
  Footwork (escape from heavy armor opponent or trouble)
  Killing frenzy (more damage, synergize with berserk)
  Colossus (≈15 hp)
  Gifted (3 matk, 3 medef, 4 hp/fat/res)
  Fortified Mind(≈10 res)

• Optional
  Lonewolf (≈13 matk, 8 mdef,3 rdef, but will disappear when staying with other brothers)

• Attractive but not recommended

Fencing sword is the most suitable weapon for high initiative frontline due to lunge which can get additional damage with high initiative. With goblin trinket, this build can be a goblin slayer jumping and killing among little greenskins.
[link]

This one use Colossus instead of footwork to fix his hp. The only problem with him is the melee skill is a bit low making Lunge only have 60+% hit chance on goblins who have 10-25 mdef.

New QATAL DAGGER make dagger mastery more useful now.
Below is a southern assassin like build.
Bring some fire pots and flash pots with your off-hand free brothers!
[link]

120 duration 5 fat head;
95 duration 10 fat body;
Bone Platings / Hyena Fur Mantle;
Fencing sword;
goblin trinket in case;
named items will help a lot;
dagger/bandage/goblin shield;

Kill.

flank enemy aiming for low armor opponent,
kill them in one or two hit and jump to next;
when getting stuck by heavy armor opponent or in trouble or just mission completed,
use lunge or footwork to escape;
when fighting high armor opponents, aiming targets with armor striped by other bros.

Backline

Backline brothers will usually fight 2 tiles or further away from opponents. Thus they need to bear mostly only range damage, but it will be helpful to have some of them with the capacity to bear temporary melee damage.

They can also use various melee or range weapons to attack and do various powerful tricks.
In this section, both offense and defense will be mentioned.
In later sections, some detailed backline builds are discussed.

Please see Battle Brothers Wiki Weapons[battlebrothers.fandom.com].

There are fewer choices for backline, they are:

Melee:

• Two-tile Spear – Spetum
  no strong point is discovered currently, not recommended; spearwall has normal 1 tile.
• Two-tile Axe – Longaxe
  highest hp damage, shield damage
• Two-tile Hammer – PoleHammer
  highest armor damage
• Two-tile Polearm – Billhook
  high hp and armor damage
• Two-tile Polearm – Battle standard
  for seregant
• Two-tile Polearm – Jagged pike
  allow brother without mastery can attack only with 5 AP; additional bleeding
• Two-tile Polearm – Warscythe
• Two-tile Polearm – Swordlance
  AOE

Range:

• Bow
  Longest fire range, 2-3 hits per turn, the most essential range weapon.
• Crossbow
  High armor penetration, hit chance bonus, knock back.
• Throwing weapons
  High armor penetration(Javelin), high armor damage(Axe), 2-3 hits per turn, hit chance bonus, but close fire range.
• Handgonne
  New powerful AOE weapon, can hit up to 6 targets!

Please see above Frontline section first.

Basically for backline defense, it’s a much lower version of frontline defense.
As most of backline only need to bear some range damage, medium or even low rdef + Nimble is already good enough. The bottom line is to take several hits and still can retreat and survive without injury.

Besides, in order to have some of them with capacity to bear temporary melee damage, medium mdef is sufficient. This can be achieved by either 20+ mdef or 10+ mdef + Dodge.

– Sergeant

Specialized build for group resolve buff and pull panic brothers back to fight.

res 90+
fat 120 (more is always better)
hp 80
matk 85+ (not must-have, but do help with break net/free ally/hit alp shadow)
mdef 10
rdef 10

res
matk
fat
hp
mdef/rdef

most average resolve backgrounds with Fearless and 3 stars talent on resolve is good enough.
Battle Brothers Wiki Character Backgrounds[battlebrothers.fandom.com]

• Basic
  Student
  Recover (fatigue)
  Pathfinder (ap, fatigue, mobility)
  Fortified Mind (resolve)
  Rally the troops
  Nimble / Battle Forged

• Recommended
  Colossus (≈15 hp)
  Brawny (in case Battle Forged)
  Rotation
  Footwork (escape from trouble; combine with rotation to help ally escape)
  Anticipation (10+ rdef)
  Indomitable (survive)
  Gifted (3 matk, 3 medef, 4 hp/fat/res)

• Optional
  Underdog
  Berserk

• Attractive but not recommended

The Nimble one can have a little more fatigue, less risk of injury from crossbow, but more vulnerable in melee especially with bleeding and miasma.
[link]

This one has good matk thus helps a lot with struggling net and other annoying dirty tricks.
Although he has almost no defense attributes, he can still survive well with Indomitable and Nimble (he does take range hits a lot, but Nimble makes them affordable. And Indomitable makes him can afford several melee hit). He is also a very good rescuer due to Rotation and Footwork.

The Battle Forged one needs more fatigue thus Strong and Iron Lung are pretty valuable.
It’s tougher when facing melee but more fragile to top rank crossbow. Thus Additional Fur Padding or Unhold Fur Cloak are very useful.
[link]

As new ANTICIPATION brings at least +10 range defense, now it’s more worthy to take (especially to fight against southern handgonne).
[example2]Sergeant.png]

120 duration 5 fat head / 200+ duration head;
95 duration 10 fat body / 210+ duration body;
Bone Platings / Hyena Fur Mantle (in case of Dodge) / Additional Fur Padding(against top rank crossbow and dagger puncture) / Unhold Fur Cloak / Light Padding Replacement;
Battle Stand;
sergeant trinket;

alive, rally, assist;

– Polearm Backline

These are the main backline builds. Most of these builds only require high matk to ensure damage high damage output. Thus these builds can use “failed Two-handed Battle Forged Frontline recruits”.

Both Nimble and Battle Forged can be used. Nimble builds are better to against armor penetration damage but weaker in melee. Battle Forged ones are on contrast side. While both can work.

While Nimble is better to cooperate with high initiative + Overwhelm + Relentless + Dodge.

For Battle Forged:
matk 85+
hp 80
mdef 15
fat 110(for nimble) / 125(for battle forged with 200/210 armor)
resolve 40
rdef (10+)

For Nimble:
matk 85+
ini 150+
hp 80
fat 110
resolve 40
rdef (10+)

For Battle Forged:
matk
hp/mdef/fat/rdef
resolve
rdef (10+)

For Nimble:
matk
ini
hp/mdef
fat
resolve
rdef (10+)

any one with good matk can do the job.
Battle Brothers Wiki Character Backgrounds[battlebrothers.fandom.com]

• Basic
  Student
  Recover (fatigue)
  Weapon Mastery (fatigue and additional benefits)
  Nimble / Battle Forged (survive)
  Berserk (ap, synergize well with recover)

• Recommended
  Brawny (≈10-15 fatigue, in case of Battle Forged)
  Pathfinder (ap, fatigue)
  Dodge (benefit from high initiative, 15-20 additional mdef and rdef)
  Relentless (keep high current initiative, synergize with dodge,overwhelm)
  Overwhelm (Warscythe AOE can spread overwhelm debuff very well, like 0-6 stacks)
  Rotation
  Backstabber(matk)
  Killing frenzy (more damage, synergize with berserk)

• Optional
  Colossus (≈15 hp)
  Gifted (3 matk, 3 medef, 4 hp/fat/res)
  Underdog
  Anticipation(rdef)
  Indomitable (NOTE: it costs 5 AP now, so it’s much more optional)

• Attractive but not recommended

Very common one.
[link]

Very common one.
[link]

This is the finest nimble backline so far. It can provide average AOE damage(can do better with mushroom), spread Overwhelm to multiple opponents who will attack frontline, have 25+ mdef and 15+rdef.
The only disadvantage is hp maybe be a little low (70+ is still easy to achieve) due to tight perk and attribute.

Below is the most devastating backline brother I ever have. High melee skill + 10% damage from DRUNKARD + high initiative + Overwhelm make him a killing machine with debuff spreading!
[example]AOE – Overwhelm.png]

can do 4 AP whip hit + 5AP polearm hit / disarm, whip 3-tile range helps a lot with geist, disarm works well with orc warlord with man splitter, necroservant and others except
[link]

This one is very handy especially to against Geist and Necroservant with whip.

This is an super versatile build, can do above all tricks, but really tight in perks.
Lack of Pathfinder and Rotation makes it less handy.
[link]

Longaxe, Polehammer and Polemace are not polearm thus can’t benefit from -1 AP cost from polearm mastery.
Longaxe provides a little more hp damage but does much less armor damage comparing to billhook.
Polehammer provides more armor damage with 2nd skill but much less hp damage.
Polemace brings the ability to stun.
While the AOE damage of Warscythe / new Swordlance is much higher than single target weapons.
Thus, In general, for dedicated backline fighter polearm mastery is more valuable.
for some situational fight like Kraken, Two-handed Hammer Battle Forged Frontline brother can act as a temporary PoleHammer user.

This one was designed to be a dedicated polehammer user.
But later I found polehammer is too weak in common situation comparing to Warscythe AOE.
Thus he got 2 weapon mastery and kept a polehammer in bag.

120 duration 5 fat head / 200+ head;
95 duration 10 fat body / 210+ body;
Bone Platings / Hyena Fur Mantle (in case dodge);
Billhook, Warscythe, Whip;
dagger, bandage, mushrooms.

Kill, rescue others, assist.

with Pathfinder + Polearm Mastery, these brothers can step 2 tiles then hit;
with Rotation + Indomitable, they can rescue others;

– Archer

The most important and powerful ranger among all three types with longest fire range, 2-3 hits per turn, high damage, medium armor damage, medium damage ignoring armor.

ratk 85+
ini 150+ (not essential if go without Overwhelm, but archer with Overwhelm will help a lot)
hp 80
rdef 15
fat 100

ratk
ini
hp/rdef
fat

Hunter>>>Others
Battle Brothers Wiki Character Backgrounds[battlebrothers.fandom.com]

• Basic
  Student (archers shine on high level)
  Nimble (survive)
  Bow mastery (fatigue, range +1)
  Recover (fatigue)
  Berserk (ap, synergize with recover)
  Bullseye

• Recommended
  Pathfinder(ap, fatigue, go to high terrain quickly)
  Footwork (escape trouble)
  relentless(for overwhelm)
  Overwhelm (can be spread to multiple opponents, like 0-6)
  Killing frenzy (damage)
  Gifted ( 4 more ratk value a lot, and also other attributes)

• Optional
  Dodge(around 15 rdef/mdef)
  Colossus (hp)
  Crippling Strikes
  Executioner
  Anticipation(10+ rdef)

• Attractive but not recommended

This is the balanced one.
It looks like a little less defensive without Colossus and Dodge. But Footwork helps a lot with melee attack and Nimble makes range attack is not that deadly. Brothers will get more range hits if they are not targeting enemy ranger (if so then enemy rangers get Overwhem debuff and no worry), but the hp dropping is predictable. Once half head duration or all body duration is gone, it’s time to retreat.
[link]

This poacher has very bad luck with rdef and has only 2 rdef at level 11.
He gets a lot of range hits, armor is often gone, but usually he can finish battle safely without injury.
Once his armor has been all stripped, he will retreat until enemy rangers get controlled.
Thus he never gets a sudden death.

This farmer has better attributes but no talent in initiative. But with the help of Relentless, he can still Overwhelm well.

Below is another common archer build with Dodge.
[example]Archer.png]

More offensive range build.
[link]

More defensive build.
[link]

120 duration 5 fat head;
95 duration 10 fat bodyy;
Bone Platings / Hyena Fur Mantle;
Wooden Stick;
bandage for others;

spread debuff to dangerous and high priority target like enemy ranger, warlord;
do damage and kill priority targets;

– Crossbow man

Due to closer fire range and base hit chance bonus, crossbow is easier to hit with low ratk. This make it a early-game transit weapon for archer.

Despite this, Crossbow mastery brings additional damage ignoring armor making it energize well with injury.

Comparing to bow, crossbow is low in total damage, armor stripping and range.
While, in line-to-line battle, crossbow man can pick up a handgonne and do good AOE damage.

ratk 85+
hp 80
rdef 15
fat 100

ratk
hp/rdef
fat

Hunter>>>Others
Battle Brothers Wiki Character Backgrounds[battlebrothers.fandom.com]

• Basic
  Student (archers shine on high level)
  Nimble (survive)
  Crossbow mastery (fatigue, +20% damage ignore armor to injury much more easily)
  Recover (fatigue)
  Berserk (ap, synergize with recover)
  Bullseye

• Recommended
  Crippling strikes (injury higher max hp and more easily)
  Executioner (+20%damage after injury)
  Pathfinder(ap, fatigue, go to high terrain quickly)
  Footwork (escape trouble)
  Killing frenzy (damage)
  Gifted ( 4 more ratk value a lot, and also other attributes)

• Optional
  Colossus (hp)
  Anticipation(10+ rdef)
  Bags and Belts
  Quick Hands

• Attractive but not recommended

Due to additional damage ignoring armor from crossbow mastery, crossbow synergize well with injury.
[link]

If by chance one brother gets both good matk and mdef and there aren’t enough axe users in the company or it’s just Undead Crisis, then a crossbow man with Longaxe can help with breaking shield and Ancient Dead. But usually it’s not that worthy.

On the other hand, a crossbow man with net can be a good idea. Usually he won’t fire that many bolt thus he can carry up to 4 nets and distract strong opponent well.
[link]

120 duration 5 fat head;
95 duration 10 fat body;
Bone Platings;
Heavy Crossbow +15% hit chance -12 fat,
Spiked Impaler knock back target, +10% hit chance -10 fat,
Handgonne in case of line-to-line battle;
Wooden Stick;
Net;
bandage for others;

injury, knock back and kill;

– Handgonne man

Handgonne can hit up to 6 targets making it very suitable to spread debuff and fear and its AOE damage is also eye-catching. Thus It is extremely powerful in line-to-line battle but will be less convenient with a irregular formation (as it will hit brothers).

ratk 85+
hp 80
rdef 15
fat 100
ini 150+ (only if use Dodge + Relentless + Overwhelm)
resolve 60+ (only if use Fearsome)

ratk
ini
hp/rdef
fat

Hunter>>>Others
Battle Brothers Wiki Character Backgrounds[battlebrothers.fandom.com]

• Basic
  Student (Handgonne man shines on high level)
  Nimble (survive)
  Crossbow & Firearms mastery (fatigue, fire every turn instead of every other turn)

• Recommended
  Dodge(around 15 rdef/mdef)
  relentless(for overwhelm)
  Overwhelm (can be spread to multiple opponents)
  Fearsome
  Anticipation(10+ rdef)
  Killing frenzy (damage)

• Optional
  Rally The Troops (backup sergeant)
  Colossus (hp)
  Recover (fatigue)
  Footwork (escape trouble)
  Pathfinder(ap, fatigue, go to high terrain quickly)
  Berserk (ap)
  Bullseye ( if want to use crossbow)
  Gifted ( 4 more ratk value a lot, and also other attributes)

• Attractive but not recommended

[link]

Below is the first try handgonne man. Below are some findings:

• Recover is not really useful as he can only fire once per turn ( even with BERSERK) thus only use 19 fatigue per turn (but if he will use other skills like FOOTWORK or RALLY THE TROOPS, RECOVER can be useful).
• BERSERK is less valuable as even with it he can’t fire more so additional AP can be only used to move (however he doesn’t to need move that often in line-to-line battle).
• OVERWHELM spreading is often well done. In most case he can hit at least 3 and often 5.
• FEARSOME is useful during fighting living enemy.
• He is good in line-to-line battle (especially against huge amount of human army), but bad in elite fight (Lindwurm,Alp,Schrat, Ifrit), in case brothers in bad formation (will hit brothers), enemies who will break formation (Orc Warrior, Unhold, Serpent, Nachzehrer).
• He need better range defense than archer and crossbow man as he has to stand in the second row other he can’t hit enemy (can’t do damage in case of withdrawing to safe place).

[example]Handgonne man.png]

As crossbow and firearms are the same mastery. The simplest way to use handgonne is just letting crossbow man pick handgonne in the line-to-line battle. Even though without the benefit of fearsome and overwhelm, the AOE damage of handgonne is already worthy.

Sallet Helmet (120 duration 5 fat head) or other heavier helmet(need only 3 vision);
Southern Mail Shirt (110 duration 11 fat body);
Bone Platings / Hyena Fur Mantle (15 duration, 15 initiative);
Buckler;
bandage for others;

spread debuff and fear;
do AOE damage;

– Thrower

Low ratk requirement makes it’s early game friendly.
With barbarian throwing weapon, this build can make devastating damage within 2-3 tiles range which is almost 1.5 times of the damage from a War Bow and has additional 13%/7%/1% hit chance bonus in 2/3/4 tiles respectively.

ratk 85 (can hit well with low ratk, high ratk will benefit more crossbow)
hp 80
rdef 15+
fat 100

ratk
hp/rdef
fat

Any one has good ratk around 85. Throwing weapon hit chance bonus and close range allow relative low ratk brothers still hit well.
Battle Brothers Wiki Character Backgrounds[battlebrothers.fandom.com]

• Basic
  Student
  Nimble (survive)
  Throwing mastery (fatigue, damage)
  Recover (fatigue)
  Berserk (ap, synergize with recover)
  duelist (+25% damage ignore armor to injury much more easily)
  quick hands (save 4 ap for every 16 ap)

• Recommended
  Crippling strikes (injury higher max hp and more easily)
  Executioner (+20%damage after injury)
  Footwork (escape trouble)
  Pathfinder(ap, fatigue, go to high terrain quickly)
  bags and belts(with it max 5*4 throwing + 14 crossbow bolt, other wise 5*2+14 or 5*3, or pack some other useful things like net)

• Optional
  Killing frenzy (damage)
  Gifted (more attributes)
  Colossus (hp)
  Anticipation(10+ rdef)
  Bullseye(prefer to attack in 2-tiles thus it’s not really needed)

• Attractive but not recommended

Due to additional damage ignoring armor from duelist, throwing weapon synergize well with injury.
This 10 throwing weapons + 14 crossbow bolt build is usually enough for average battle.
First 1-2 turns as opponents are still far, usually use crossbow.
Then throw 10 axes, around turn 7, back to crossbow, at that time usually the battle is already under control.
[link]

This farmer has good ratk, mdef and rdef, thus he is quite suitable to become a close range throwing weapon user. With fancy barbarian Javelin and Axe, he can do either heavy damage ignoring armor or armor damage with additional 13%/7%/1% hit chance in 2/3/4 tiles respectively, which is almost 1.5 times of the damage from a War Bow. He can also use Spiked Impaler to knock back dangerous enemy like Chosen to help maintaining spearwall. One not essential but favorite brother.

120 duration 5 fat head;
95 duration 10 fat body;
Bone Platings;
Bundle of Heavy Javelins (Barbarian),
Bundle of Heavy Throwing Axes(Barbarian);
Heavy Crossbow +15% hit chance -12 fat,
Spiked Impaler knock back target, +10% hit chance -10 fat;
Wooden Stick;
bandage for others;

injury, knock back and kill;

Company Composition Evolution

In this section, above all details builds will be considered and a company composition evolving example will be given.

A common company composition involving route will be like:

• 3 shield user frontline + 2 polearm backline
• 5 shield user frontline + 2 polearm backline +sergeant + 1 archer
• 6 shield user frontline + 3 polearm backline +sergeant + 2 rangers
• 5 shield user frontline + 1 two-handed battle forged frontline+
  3 polearm backline +sergeant + 2 rangers
• 4 shield user frontline + 2 two-handed battle forged frontline+
  3 polearm backline +sergeant + 2 rangers
• 2 shield user frontline + 4 two-handed battle forged frontline+
  3 polearm backline +sergeant + 2 rangers

Along the way, try to make the composition more diverse, such as have different weapons, different builds, so that the company is more versatile and has less possibility to get stuck by some opponents.

One powerful late-game company composition can be:
Frontline:
1 Two-handed Hammer BF (stagger, knock back, huge armor damage, AOE)
1 Two-handed Mace BF(daze, stun)
1 Two-handed Axe BF(shield damage,high single target damage, 2-tile AOE)
1 Two-handed Sword BF (high hp damage, AOE)
1 One-handed Cleaver BF with Whip (huge single target dmage,3-tile hit,disarm)
1 Shield user (tank, distract, riposte)

Backline:
1 Sergeant (Rally)
1 Archer (Overwhelm)
1 Crossbow man / Handgonne man (Fearsome, Overwhelm)
2 Polearm Nimble Backline(Overwhelm)

Backup rosters:
other various interesting builds.

Rate, Share and Contribute

I get a lot useful information from community along the way I play.
So much inspiration and fun.

[for v1.4]I just start a new run with Blazing Deserts DLC currently 180 days and haven’t tasted all new content like tournament, lorekeeps, bladedancer. So by now I share some findings and new builds during the new run to update this guide.

[for v1.3]]Now I am on 88/89 achievements leaving glorious cultist origin achievement in the future.
While some community members mentioned there is no current well updated builds guide.
Thus I feel like wanna write something as a summary for my current journey.
And Here it is !

Wish you get something interesting from my guide and have a good trip in Battle Brothers World like me.

If this guide helps, please HIT “Rate” button on the top of the screen so that it helps more community members.

Also If you have some good ideas WANT TO SHARE, please mention it in comments.