Bannerlord Difficulty & Starting Options (v1.5.7)
Short answer: Bannerlord difficulty is set in two places. (1) The difficulty options and presets (Freebooter, Warrior, Bannerlord) under Campaign Options (Esc), and (2) the new Advanced Starting Options (ASO) you pick when you begin a sandbox campaign, added in v1.5.7 on November 11, 2026. For a first run, take Freebooter or Warrior (TaleWorlds describes them as Easy and Normal) and leave ASO on Default. Below is what I could confirm and what I could not.
Version covered: v1.5.7 (released November 11, 2026; Steam announcement "Patch Notes - WS v1.3.7 / BL v1.5.7"). It is titled "Patch Notes", not "Beta", and the text says it is live on PC. It follows v1.4.8, the previous stable build, and sits at the top of the official Steam news feed.
How I sourced this. The ASO entries come from the full text of the official announcement above, read through the Steam Web API. For Campaign Options, I matched the names that appear in official patch notes against a list in a 2022 guide (Gamepressure "How to change difficulty level?"). I did not launch the game and check the screens. Per-preset values were not in the official material I read, so I do not state any.
Two places that set difficulty
- Campaign Options (changeable while playing): press Esc. You can tune individual difficulty options or apply a preset. The guide says you can change them at any time.
- Advanced Starting Options (chosen when a new campaign starts): new in v1.5.7, for sandbox. Three groups: world state, your position, modifiers. These change the situation you start in more than a difficulty number.
Campaign Options: presets and options
Three presets. The e1.5.10 patch notes added Freebooter, Warrior and Bannerlord, each carrying default values for the difficulty options. TaleWorlds' dev blog from the same period points newer players to Freebooter or Warrior (Easy and Normal respectively) and experienced players to the harder Bannerlord preset. After choosing a preset you can still change single options such as "Player Received Damage".
The guide lists eight difficulty options (it says each has three levels, very easy / easy / realistic, and two are on/off switches):
| Option | What it changes | What I could confirm |
|---|---|---|
| Player Received Damage | Damage your character takes | Named in official notes; values updated in e1.5.10 |
| Friendly Troops Received Damage | Damage your soldiers take | Since e1.6.0 it only affects your own party; allies outside it get no reduction |
| Recruitment Difficulty | Extra troops available from notables | Guide only |
| Map Movement Speed | Campaign map speed | Guide only |
| Persuasion Success | Extra chances needed to persuade | Added in e1.5.10 (official) |
| Combat AI Difficulty | How smart battle AI is (combos, tactics) | Guide only |
| Clan Member Death Possibility in Battles | Chance clan members die in battle | "Clan member death chance in missions" added in e1.5.10 (official) |
| Hero Deaths in Combat | Chance you and other heroes die in battle | Guide only |
"Guide only" items come from a 2022 page, so I could not confirm that names and levels are unchanged in v1.5.7. Also, e1.5.10 removed an option called "Friendly parties received damage"; if an old guide mentions it and you cannot find it, that is not a bug.
Ironman mode. Added in e1.6.0, it limits a campaign to one save file. The dev blog presents it as a way to raise difficulty further. With no way to roll back, it is a poor fit for a first run.
Stealth difficulty. The beta v1.3.0 announcement of September 2025 describes a new difficulty option for stealth and disguise: normal, veteran or challenging, which changes enemy sight and hearing. I did not check in game whether v1.5.7 still has it in the same form.
Advanced Starting Options (new in v1.5.7)
Per the official announcement, ASO has three groups, Campaign Scenarios, Player Starts and Modifiers, and any combination works. Everything is randomized by a seed; share the seed plus your ASO choices to recreate the same sandbox, or the seed alone for partial parity. Fast Mode, formerly a separate module, now lives inside ASO.
Campaign Scenarios: the starting world
| Name | Description (from the announcement) |
|---|---|
| Default | Calradia as you know it |
| United Empire | The civil war is over and your chosen imperial faction has reunited the Calradian Empire |
| Invasion | A faction of your choice expanded aggressively and rules most of Calradia |
| Last Stand | A faction of your choice is on the brink of destruction with a single town left |
| 2 Faction War | Every faction except the two you choose is eliminated; Calradia is split in two and at war |
| Randomized Calradia | Randomizes the starting state to the degree you choose |
| Nord Invasion (War Sails) | The Nords have arrived and expanded south |
Player Starts: your position
| Name | Description (from the announcement) |
|---|---|
| Default | The usual sandbox start |
| King | Ruler of a faction of your choice |
| Vassal | Vassal of a faction of your choice |
| Mercenary | A small clan under mercenary contract to a faction of your choice |
| Trader | A trader with a workshop and a caravan in a random town |
| Outlaw | An outlaw wanted by all the factions in Calradia |
| Beggar | Nothing but the ragged clothes on your back |
| Fleet Admiral (War Sails) | Vassal of a faction of your choice with a force at sea |
| Merchant Venturer (War Sails) | A merchant at sea with trade ships, a convoy and a workshop in a random town |
Some starts must be unlocked. King, Vassal and Mercenary each need you to reach that rank; Trader needs you to create your first caravan. Loading a save that already meets the condition also unlocks it. A later fix entry in the same announcement says the unlock conditions for Trader and Merchant Venturer were removed; I found no equivalent removal for King, Vassal or Mercenary.
Modifiers: world tweaks (stackable)
- Bandit Surge: bigger bandit parties everywhere, occasionally huge ones
- Civil Unrest: higher rebellion chances everywhere
- Recruit Shortage: notables generate far fewer recruits
- Swift Travel: faster travel on land and sea
- Personal Vessel (War Sails): start with a small trading ship
Picking a start that will not stall you early (my judgment)
The announcement does not rank options by difficulty. What follows is my reading of what each description says about gear, enemies and troop supply, not something I measured in game.
- First run: Freebooter or Warrior preset (TaleWorlds' own Easy / Normal), ASO on Default for scenario and start, no modifiers. Learn the loop on the original Calradia.
- Combos to skip at first: Beggar is stated to start with nothing but rags, so there is no capital. For Outlaw the announcement says only that you are wanted by every faction; it says nothing about starting gold or gear (I see it as a poor first-run pick because everyone is hostile). Bandit Surge makes road bandits larger, which hurts when your party is small. Recruit Shortage cuts new recruits sharply, so it should bite in the first weeks of building a party.
- Likely easier side: Swift Travel raises travel speed globally on land and sea (the announcement says "globally", so I cannot tell whether only you are faster, or whether it makes anything safer). With War Sails, Personal Vessel starts you with a ship.
- Ironman later: one save slot means no rollback for an early mistake. Stacked with a hard preset or ASO modifiers, it turns a bad start into a dead run.
- If it is too hard: the guide says Campaign Options can be adjusted mid-run. I could not confirm whether ASO choices can be changed after the start, so decide ASO carefully before you begin.
War Sails: early and mid storyline got easier
The same announcement says the early and mid War Sails storyline was reviewed to reduce difficulty in some missions: enemy weapons in the alley fight and the ship escape deal less damage, and Gunnar's invulnerability lasts longer (War Sails owners only). Smaller pirate parties also spawn, so first naval encounters are easier to win.
What I could not verify
- The exact value each preset gives to each of the eight options.
- Whether Campaign Options names and levels are unchanged in v1.5.7; I did not check in game.
- How much harder or easier each ASO choice actually makes the early game; the announcement gives descriptions, not numbers.
- Whether the King, Vassal and Mercenary unlock conditions still apply in v1.5.7.
- Whether the stealth difficulty option still exists in the same form in v1.5.7.
Sources
- Steam announcement "Patch Notes - WS v1.3.7 / BL v1.5.7" (all ASO entries and the War Sails mission changes; official. Read in full via the Steam Web API; existence confirmed by the page's og:title)
- Official Steam news (via API): "Patch Notes e1.5.10", "Development Update #8", "Patch Notes e1.6.0" (presets, option additions and removals, Ironman; official. Read through the API; I could not confirm the individual announcement page URLs, so no links)
- Official Steam news (via API): "Beta Patch Notes v1.3.0", September 15, 2025 (stealth difficulty; official)
- Gamepressure "How to change difficulty level?" (the eight Campaign Options; a third-party guide updated November 2022, not official)
- official Steam news feed (confirms v1.5.7 is the latest announcement; official)
