The biggest mistake I made when I first started playing Bannerlord was treating recruits like veteran soldiers. Every time I recruited a fresh batch of troops, I'd immediately drag them into a major battle. Unsurprisingly, most of them ended up dead before they ever reached their second tier. After a few campaigns, I realized that leveling troops quickly isn't really about finding the biggest battles. It's about helping them survive long enough to gain experience consistently.
If you're tired of constantly replacing dead recruits and want to build elite armies much faster, these are the methods that have worked best for me.
Start With Looters
I know looters aren't exactly exciting. Players stop paying attention to them after the early game, but I still use them whenever I need to train fresh troops.
The reason is simple.
Looters are weak enough that your recruits can actually survive the fight while still earning experience.
Throwing twenty recruits against a group of looters might not feel impressive, but after a few battles, you'll already start seeing upgrades appear. More importantly, you'll still have those troops alive afterwards.
Whenever I recruit a large number of new soldiers, I usually spend some time hunting looters before doing anything else. It's boring, but it's one of the safest and most reliable ways to level troops quickly.
Avoid Major Kingdom Battles Too Early
This is probably the biggest trap in Bannerlord. You see an army gathering, the battle looks important, and naturally, you want to join. The problem is that large battles are terrible places for inexperienced troops.
Your recruits aren't competing against other recruits. They're fighting veteran infantry, elite archers, heavy cavalry, and all the other dangerous units that kingdoms have been building for months.
Even if your side wins, your new troops often die before earning enough experience to matter.
Personally, I prefer getting a few upgrades first and then joining larger conflicts.
Once your soldiers reach higher tiers, they'll survive much longer and level much faster.
Fight Smaller Parties Whenever Possible
Some of the strongest armies I've ever built didn't come from huge wars; they came from dozens of smaller fights. Bandits, raiders, enemy scouts, caravans during wartime, and smaller lord parties can all provide valuable experience without exposing your troops to overwhelming danger.
The experience from these battles adds up surprisingly quickly, and more importantly, your soldiers actually get a chance to participate instead of being instantly deleted by elite units in a massive battlefield.
A steady stream of smaller victories is often far more effective than gambling everything on one giant battle.
Use Leadership Perks
For a long time, I completely ignored Leadership.
I focused on combat skills because they felt more important, and I assumed the bonuses from Leadership wouldn't make a huge difference.
I was so wrong...
Once I started investing points into Leadership, leveling troops became noticeably easier.
Many of the perks directly increase troop experience gains or improve the overall growth of your army.
The bonuses might not look dramatic on paper, but over the course of an entire campaign, they save a huge amount of time.
If building strong armies is one of your priorities, Leadership is absolutely worth investing in.
Keep A Core Of Veteran Troops
One thing I've learned over multiple campaigns is that a strong army trains itself.
When you have experienced soldiers mixed in with newer recruits, battles become much easier to manage.
The veterans do most of the heavy lifting while the newer troops gain experience safely behind them.
This creates a cycle where your army keeps improving without constantly suffering heavy losses.
Instead of replacing your entire force after every difficult battle, try to maintain a reliable core of higher-tier units and gradually add recruits around them.
In my experience, this approach leads to much faster overall army progression.
Upgrade Troops Whenever You Can
This sounds obvious, but it's surprising how often players forget about it during long campaigns.
After several battles, it's easy to accumulate dozens of available upgrades without noticing.
I always make a habit of checking my troop screen regularly because the sooner a troop receives an upgrade, the sooner it becomes stronger, survives longer, and starts earning experience toward its next tier.
Leaving upgrade points unused is basically slowing down your army's development for no reason.
Don't Be Afraid To Retreat And Rebuild
Sometimes the smartest decision is simply walking away.
If I know a battle is likely to wipe out half of my recruits, I'd rather avoid it and find easier fights elsewhere.
Bannerlord rewards patience more than people realize.
Trying to rush troop progression by throwing inexperienced soldiers into impossible situations usually has the opposite effect.
You end up spending more time recruiting replacements than actually leveling troops.
Keeping your soldiers alive is often more important than winning every battle.
Final Thoughts
If I had to give just one piece of advice, it would be this: stop focusing on the size of the battle and start focusing on troop survival.
The fastest way to level troops isn't necessarily fighting the strongest enemies.
It's putting your soldiers in situations where they can win, gain experience, and live to fight again.
Looters, bandits, smaller enemy parties, and careful army management might not sound exciting, but they consistently produce better results than throwing fresh recruits into massive kingdom wars.
Once your army reaches the higher tiers, you'll notice a huge difference.
Battles become easier, casualties become rarer, and building elite forces stops feeling like a grind.
That's when Bannerlord really starts to shine.
