M&B II Bannerlord: Best Cavalry Troops¶

Cavalry troops can be separated between melee, horse archers, and throwing cavalry. Each have their use on the battlefield, with melee troops holding the advantage when it comes to cavalry charges of most troops on the battlefield, particularly archers and light infantry, while horse archers can be used to harass almost any other troop type. In terms of throwing cavalry, these can be used to counter powerful horse archers, as they tend to have heavier armour and can move quickly to take out horse archers, the most experienced of which tend to be slightly weaker in their defences. Most of the best cavalry units are recruited outside of the main troop trees, and are among the special troops for each faction.

Melee Cavalry¶

Imperial Elite Cataphract¶

These units benefit from having some of the best heavy armour for any melee horse unit. In addition, they use maces which provide devastating blunt damage to other heavily armoured troops, at the expense of reach. However they can use a lance (which cannot be couched) for better reach when necessary.

Vlandian Banner Knight¶

The Vlandian Banner Knight has slightly less armour than the Imperial Elite Cataphract, but they do have the ability to couch their lances, providing them with superior damage when charging. This allows them to kill almost any unit in the game with one hit. They also have slightly better one-handed damage than the Cataphract, making them more effective on foot during sieges.

Horse Archers¶

Khuzait Khan’s Guard¶

These units are the most powerful and versatile archers in the game. They deal the most damage with a bow while also having high skill with a polearm when melee combat becomes necessary. They use a glaive for their polearm, which can cut through multiple enemies at once and kill most units in one hit.

Khuzait Kheshig¶

These horse archers are essentially the tier 5 version of the Khuzait Khan’s Guard. As such they have much worse stats in almost every area, but they retain high proficiency as horse archers due to their proficiency with bows.

Throwing Cavalry¶

In terms of throwing cavalry, while they may not be the first pick for an army focused on cavalry use, they can be useful as shock troops which can chase down enemy horse archers and utilise their superior heavy armour to break through enemy lines. Of these troop types, the Sturgian Horse Raider provides the most ammunition, with two packs of javelins available at the start of each battle. However, the Aserai Vanguard Faris is far more versatile, with a good set of stats in both throwing and melee combat, making them useful both in the field and during sieges.

Aserai Vanguard Faris¶

Jawwal Bedouin¶

This camel rider troop is much more of a glass cannon than the Aserai Vanguard Faris. The Jawwal Bedouin has extremely weak armor, but their throwing ability is just as good as the Faris. The only reason you might choose these troops over the Faris troops is if you specifically want some camel-based throwing cavalry foe aesthetics, but their throwing ability still cannot be denied.