How do you build your bannerman? And how often do you deploy him?

[turtle225]

I'm fairly comfortable with most of my builds except for the bannerman. The banner itself is pretty mediocre when compared to other polearms or a range unit and so I find myself benching the banner in everything except zombies, beasts, and "unknown" forts to use more useful units.

Do you guys think the passive resolve buff is worth fielding him in other battles anyway? How often do you field him, and what is your build like?

[B@d Cop]

I field him everytime, better morale means better stats.

[Whatever100500]

http://tumult.cc/bb-calc.html?1-9&1-8&1-6&2-4&4-8&2-7&6-1&7-3&6-3&5-5&3-6

Stats - Matk, Resolve, Fat.
Overall - a weakened version of polearm build. Most of the time uses Billhook, only drawing the Banner when morale becomes particularly important (or quickhand each second turn if enemy can't threaten him).
Defense-wise nimble + med armor. Not as tanky as naked nimble or max armor battleforged, but good enough defense considering that it takes almost no stat or perk investment.

[Kernest]

The only major differences between a bannerman and any other backliner are that on level-ups I always take more Resolve, and pick the Rally the Troops perk.

Field him occasionally and whenever the situation calls for it.

[Tephros83]

Originally posted by turtle225:

I'm fairly comfortable with most of my builds except for the bannerman. The banner itself is pretty mediocre when compared to other polearms or a range unit and so I find myself benching the banner in everything except zombies, beasts, and "unknown" forts to use more useful units.

Do you guys think the passive resolve buff is worth fielding him in other battles anyway? How often do you field him, and what is your build like?

Yeah. 1 or 2. They are especially useful against alps and hexxen in their own right. They get max resolve and I favor fatigue even more than usual. Melee attack matters but not as much as a regular back-liner. Their main purpose is really to have everybody else confident if things are going well, and steady or wavering if a lot of resolve issues are going on. The banner also increases resistance to sleep and charm for everybody in range.

A fight where I expect to get surrounded or the enemy attacks resolve in any way generally means they get fielded. Always with alps, geists, and hexxen. Usually if there is an orc warlord, undead priest. Not usually against goblins, brigands, or big beasts without hexxen.

[Rufert]

Most of my campaigns have not survived the loss of a bannerman.

He has lots to do, he keeps people from breaking, and the passive buff pushes them up to +10% to all attack/def skills quite often.

With the DLC he's even more fun. I build him fat, with bags and belts, he has nets, and plenty of bandages should someone need it. Polearm build and brotate, that way I can rotate in if someone is in trouble, and either take the hits for him. He can also double brotate people and shuffle the front line as need be. The thing to remember is that with the buff the banner gives, rally is much more likely to work on your other men.

As for stats:
Resolve
Fatigue
Mattak
Ranged Def

A high melee doesn't just help him hit ♥♥♥♥, but it also makes it easier for him to untangle dudes that are stuck in webs.

As for perks and some of these depends on the brother in question:

Must have: Fortified mind, and rally. Note: You do NOT have to wait for the ambition to pick them, it is repeatable and will still be available if you have someone with rally already but no sash. And will instantly complete when taken.

Collossus if he needs it. I try to get him around 80 health just to be safe.

Adrenaline can be useful to make sure he goes first and can rally instantly. Depends on stats and brothers in question.

Recover if you find you need to spam rally a lot.

Pathfinder. Helps him be where he needs to be when he needs to be there, can walk further and still rally and get to those sleeping inbreds during alp fights. Also bear in mind that the chance of success on rally depends a lot on proximity to the target brother.

Steel Brow. Ranged defense is NOT mitigation, you will eventually get hit, and if that is in the head you don't want to take full damage.

Bags and belts helps him carry more stuff like bandages to save men when you need it. Pathfinder helps him get to men bleeding out.

Brotate. Very important, he needs to be able to remove bleeding people from the front line if he needs to, and then rotate himself back out to bandage them.

Backstabber is good since he uses the polearm, the bonus helps mitigate bad melee skill somewhat, but it DOES NOT help him get dudes out of webs or nets better.

Brawny to wear that lovely armour.

Battleforged to make use of it.

Polearm spec is optional, it will allow you to move one more tile and attack, or move in, attack then move back out again. Sadly the banner only has one ability, if it had repel it would be much more versatile and worth it. So it's up to you.

Footwork if you find yourself in deep ♥♥♥♥ often. I rarely pick this though.


For recruits you want someone with about or above 50 starting resolve, and at least a 2 star talent in it. Ideally also a talents in fatigue or ranged def or melee attack.

Good this is usually found in: Adventurous nobles, Witch Hunters, Squires, Militia men, Monks, Cultists and Gamblers, Flaggralants and Wildmen. You can get lucky with other backgrounds but it'll depend largely on traits. Bear in mind they all have their drawbacks, adventrous noble and wildmen all have ass often negative ranged def. Monks, Flaggralants(especially) and Gamblers often have low health and fatigue. Gambler is fairly well rounded they seem to have some starting ranged def usually. Generally if you have the money a noble is usually your best bet, but you may have to pick up a few to find one that's any good. Having a high level monk in your party though is very benificial, as far as I can tell they have the most events which are almost all good, as well as being able to diffuse many other bad events through an extra option they give you.

But in general, there's no right way to do it, you can dream all day about the perfect build and bannerman, but if the right recruit and stuff doesn't come along, or you're so obessed with the best endgame build that you get killed early, well. Make do with what you have. Hope for some gems, if you don't get them, make the rocks you got into solid units, then go looking for gems once you've established yourself.

[nightworg]

Something like this.

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1588368738

[flameDjinn]

The only guy in my campaign, who have Taunt, Rotation and nets. I think it not so neccessary to build sarge in dmg. So i lvlup resolve, fat and mdef. He has some shields, so he always ready to rotate some man, switch to shield and use taunt at same turn.

Unfortunately, after nerf Bags and Belts and Brawny, he needs 18 more fat :( May be light padding replacement helps.
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1475048781

[turtle225]

Thanks for the tips. I like quick hands a lot here and it's something I hadn't considered before. With the polearm reduction to 5 AP and quick hands you can technically have the banner out 100% of the time and always attack with a billhook instead and that's pretty cool.

Plenty of other good tips as well, thank you.

Now my main question is do you think it worth deploying the banner against Goblins and Humans? I have 4 archers and 2 crossbow hybrids on my roster and I would have to bench one of them to fit the banner in. It is hard to know whether or not the banner is responsible for bumping a bro to "confident" or if he would have gotten there anyway.

[BrowneHawk]

Always have the banner man. Screw stats. FOR THE COMPANY!

[Lampros]

Originally posted by Whatever100500:

http://tumult.cc/bb-calc.html?1-9&1-8&1-6&2-4&4-8&2-7&6-1&7-3&6-3&5-5&3-6

Stats - Matk, Resolve, Fat.
Overall - a weakened version of polearm build. Most of the time uses Billhook, only drawing the Banner when morale becomes particularly important (or quickhand each second turn if enemy can't threaten him).
Defense-wise nimble + med armor. Not as tanky as naked nimble or max armor battleforged, but good enough defense considering that it takes almost no stat or perk investment.

Hmm, but why would you want all those offensive Perks on a guy you is carrying a banner?

Also, do people actually use polearm builds? I thought polearms are mostly a secondary weapon you use when you can't use the main weapon.

[jfoytek]

Originally posted by turtle225:

I'm fairly comfortable with most of my builds except for the bannerman. The banner itself is pretty mediocre when compared to other polearms or a range unit and so I find myself benching the banner in everything except zombies, beasts, and "unknown" forts to use more useful units.

Do you guys think the passive resolve buff is worth fielding him in other battles anyway? How often do you field him, and what is your build like?

Is this a joke???

The Banner = a Pike and the Pike is the best Polearm best chance to hit and + to hit the head...
+ the Resolve buff that is an absolute must... How the heck are you going to play without your banner?!? thats +10 too +20 extra melee defense / offense.... Its litterally the most powerful weapon in the game and you oddly think its not?!?!?!?

[jfoytek]

Originally posted by turtle225:

Thanks for the tips. I like quick hands a lot here and it's something I hadn't considered before. With the polearm reduction to 5 AP and quick hands you can technically have the banner out 100% of the time and always attack with a billhook instead and that's pretty cool.

Plenty of other good tips as well, thank you.

Now my main question is do you think it worth deploying the banner against Goblins and Humans? I have 4 archers and 2 crossbow hybrids on my roster and I would have to bench one of them to fit the banner in. It is hard to know whether or not the banner is responsible for bumping a bro to "confident" or if he would have gotten there anyway.

Why the flock would you use a billhook??? it gives a whole 10 points more damage but you lose 10% to hit and the chance to hit the head... You give your bannerman headhunter and you watch him kill 2 people a turn constantly... I Prefer the Pike over the billhook any day!

[Whatever100500]

Originally posted by Lampros:

Originally posted by Whatever100500:

http://tumult.cc/bb-calc.html?1-9&1-8&1-6&2-4&4-8&2-7&6-1&7-3&6-3&5-5&3-6

Stats - Matk, Resolve, Fat.
Overall - a weakened version of polearm build. Most of the time uses Billhook, only drawing the Banner when morale becomes particularly important (or quickhand each second turn if enemy can't threaten him).
Defense-wise nimble + med armor. Not as tanky as naked nimble or max armor battleforged, but good enough defense considering that it takes almost no stat or perk investment.

Hmm, but why would you want all those offensive Perks on a guy you is carrying a banner?

Also, do people actually use polearm builds? I thought polearms are mostly a secondary weapon you use when you can't use the main weapon.

Because I don't want him to be dead weight. He draws banner only occasionally, when morale is important, or when enemies that he's going to attack this turn have low enough hp that even banner is guaranteed to kill. Assuming no melee or ranged threat of course, if any are present I'll try to end turn with shield.

Sure, I do use up to 7 polearm bros for Schrat fights, in fact 7-9 of them are usually majority of my roster. Assuming you do your best to setup berserk kill-chains they can do quite decent damage. You can get AOE attacks via warscythes too (pity there are no uniques though).

[chandl34]

I always field him. He has a billhook as backup. He also has a net, bandages, and rotation. 100 melee atk.

[turtle225]

Originally posted by jfoytek:

Is this a joke???

The Banner = a Pike and the Pike is the best Polearm best chance to hit and + to hit the head...
+ the Resolve buff that is an absolute must... How the heck are you going to play without your banner?!? thats +10 too +20 extra melee defense / offense.... Its litterally the most powerful weapon in the game and you oddly think its not?!?!?!?

Like I said, it is hard to determine exactly whether or not the banner is responsible for getting "Confident" morale or not. Sure I might rather have 5 Confident archers than 6 regular archers but what if they aren't confident? Then the banner is just there when he could instead be another archer. Fielding the banner doesn't automatically make everyone Confident.

Originally posted by jfoytek:

Why the flock would you use a billhook??? it gives a whole 10 points more damage but you lose 10% to hit and the chance to hit the head... You give your bannerman headhunter and you watch him kill 2 people a turn constantly... I Prefer the Pike over the billhook any day!

Billhook has the highest armor damage of the "polearm" line. 50% more than a Pike and 25% more than an Ancient Bladed Pike. That's a huge deal. It's not just +10 damage, it's +50% damage. Billhook also has extra chance to hit head, it's not just PIkes.

The only disadvantage Billhook has is that it is missing the 10% + hit chance.