Bannerlord Skill Tiers Ranking in 2022 | Mount & Blade 2 

Level 150 Roguery is actually really good. It makes it so if your balance of power is higher than any bandit party, they'll always join you. Unlimited men power.

Most of your D (and C) tier skills have a "hurdle" that they have to get over before they are useful or even really able to get XP. Scouting requires you to see the tracks before you get XP, so at level 1 you almost never get any XP (because you dont see tracks/hideouts) while when you are above 150 you can gain 1 level per day just by following your factions main army. Same kind of thing for engineering, as at low levels it takes forever to build even the siege camp, at high levels you can build trebs very quickly and spam out levels. Smithing is tough at the beginning since you know almost no parts, and you have shit stamina. Tactics and medicine both kind of force you to "lose" battles in order to gain their XP, but both end up being incredibly useful. I really hope that in the future that Taleworlds implement some sort of new system to either bridge these hurdles or give you legitimate ways to earn XP in the desired skills

There's one huge reason for taking Scouting on your main character, and it's Keen Sight. When paired up with Mounted Patrols from Riding skill tree, it allows you to bring enemy lord escape chance down to 0%, and I don't need to tell you how valuable that can be. And yes, it's for party leader, not for assigned scout. You can get the skill with only 3CNG and 5FP, and you will probably have more than enough, since the perk is way more valuable when death is disabled, and players will probably pick up higher ages in this mode. After that, you can still hire and level up a dedicated scout companion if you want to use Uncanny Insight on your armies.

Smithing should allow you to improve/change existing weapon and armour stats, within reason obviously but for example improving cut damage etc perhaps another needs to drop as one increases. Likewise altering weight/protection on armoured pieces.

Well done on the disclaimer, put so well. This is great for discussion so people can talk about it and help people learn the game. Every comment here can help others know just a bit more so they can help know what they can do, Well done Sparty

Very thorough video as always, thank you Sparty! Hopefully we still see you in Bannerlord once WH3 comes out.

i agree with the list specially because, as you pointed out the skills in tier D and C are not there because they are bad, but because its so hard or tedious to level or lacking gameplay mechanichs to make them shine altough, i believe and hope those are things to come in the future! And i 100% think there should be more companions roles in the party and overall companions need a few more things added to them like for example when you use one as governor or caravan leader he wont take space in your clan so you can recruit others. Really enjoyed the vid stay safe brother!

How can you not mention Trade 125, wich makes every workshop give you 1 renown per day. This farms your clan to level 6 so easily.

I haven't played the game in a while, but unless it's been changed, it is ridiculously easy to level up Roguery by doing jailbreaks for lords. It's ideal to do it early on before you swear fealty to a kingdom or make your own. Just go to the borders of two factions that are at war and see if they have anyone in a castle's dungeon. High Roguery works well in tandem with Leadership because you will eventually be able to recruit prisoners with no morale loss and you'll be able to promote bandit units into prestige units. Laugh at your enemy as you turn Forest Bandits into Battanian Fians and Mountain Bandits into Vlandian Banner Knights.

Love all your videos bro ! I started playing Bannerlord maybe a month ago on console and it’s been a lot to take in lol. I’m obsessed with the game and trying to soak up all the info I can. I like some other creators who have videos on the game but yours are most helpful, thank you good sir!

Really useful info. Thanks!

I have characters that specialized in most things, but my most op character (in realistic) is a Battanian that focuses on tactics, blacksmithing, and scouting. Being able take on army size much bigger with auto resolve, this allows you to just recruit anything that comes your way without being limited to faction troops based on their strength. Crossbow has a perk deep in if you love ranged high tier army. Half price for ranged troop with half price from steward makes them free, stack more reduction and your units pays you to stay in your party. Scouting is extremely important, the final ultimate perk at 275 only works on the MC instead of companions, allowing your party to move 10% faster which is borderline broken. Smithing isn't only just for abusing money, I use smithing for every companion to abuse exp gain. You get a shit ton of exp to character level, allowing you and your companions to get attribute and focus points really quickly.

Honestly, the skill I cannot live without in Bannerlord are these: Smithing, Steward (party size and efficiency), Leadership (moral), Bow (long distance kills), Riding (mobility of army, I use mostly empire cavalry cataphracts and bucelaris), Polearm (melee cavalry buffs), Tactics (battle advantage) and than one handed and Trading at least at 125 (for workshop maintenance and melee efficiency). Other stuff can be countered with companions and even smithing can be done by companion but I like the buffs it gives for character development. :)

Great review, I've learned a few things.

There is no slogging through early levels in smiting - skill gain directly corelates to money gain. If you are doing it efficiently (using companions to help, doing it in a town with abundant hardwood and picking right skills) it is the fastest skill line to level by far. If you are lucky to get good parts early, you can go from 0 to hero instantly.... and become filthy rich in same time... and use your products to bribe enemy lords in war. It is still S tie even after 1.7 nerf.

great video bro loved it!

Great video man

Thank you for making this guide!

About Smithing don't forget that smithing can give you 1 extra point in endurance and 1 extra point in either vigor or control. combined with the athletics tree that also gives you both those options you can get 4 atribute points which equates to(if memory serves) 16 levels atribute wise. Even if it can be tedious at times i love starting with as much endurance as i can(capping at 8) and then just level those 2 up so i don't need levels to get endurance to 10

I like crossbows for seiges. The ability to prep a shot under cover, then move out and fire can be key. Seige defense with ammunition barrels, in particular, offsets the quiver amount differential with longbows.

Hey great video so far!

Thanks for the video and the detailed explanation of the perks, though I personally think that trade is a perk worthy of A or even S class, remember that you use trade all the time when selling post battle loot, and, if done wisely, can boost your income from the very beginning. Very useful especially at early game.

I like the expanded companions. Plus cool if you have to choose and can give more credence to leadership. Add in other lords being able to recruit them or turn them, that would be dope

Selling prisoner’s in 1.7 allows you to increase rougery really fast! Once you’re in the mid game and your taking a lot of prisoners out you ransom them in the tavern you level it up pretty quick

I wish there was more synergy between the skills, for example tactics and roguery should allow you to attempt an ambush. Experience, knowledge and know-how can make numerical advantage nearly meaningless.

Interesting takes on the skill trees. I mostly agree, though I'd put Riding S-tier due to the party speed perks (sweeping wind, nomadic traditions, herding). Moving quick on the campaign map is easily as important as moving quick on foot in battles.

Smithing is incredible to level early as well as incredibily easy to. Starting out with trade and smithing focused you can make a hardwood route to buy large quantities of hard wood. After you have about 1500-2000 wood you can then use it to refine into charcoal which can then be sold to southern kingdom/more southern cities with higher buy prices on coal and wood. This boosts your trade and smithing level to insane levels in early game (can easily hit 200+ trade and 150+ smithing within an hour good)

re: Polearms being weak in sieges-- I find this is easily solvable by smithing a swing style polearm with short range that you only equip before siege or hideout battles. You can make the equivalent of a strong 2-hander and still keep your perk benefits.

At this point, waiting for the full release feels like being a young man who has to wait for the wedding night. Just give it up already, damn it! I also have to say, now that we have a fancy new year and all, that I very much am looking forward to it on this channel. I also have to say that your content is always top notch when it comes to single player and history/lore, but on multiplayer content it always seems that your heart is not in it. Its always best to focus on what makes you passionate since that also conveys to the viewer. Just my two cents :)

Your timing is perfect, just about to start a new campaign!

Horse archery I find to be the best way to level both skills fast and I mean really fast. Straight out of the beginning of the game I could increase both my archery from 30 all the way to 100 and riding from 10 to 70 in just an hour. I think it all has to do with the speed and momentum you hit your targets that increases it so fast. It's physics based.

thanks.. love this new version of M&B but unlike the old ones, there is SO much to do.

Nice tier list! Approved

I usually start with high leadership, steward, charm and trade. I want to level those from the start of the game and all the way through. Weapons , horse, Athleticism skills you can easily level up during the gameplay with your party or just go to tournaments and arena fights. For companions I like to take strong scouts, medics. I have not played game for a long time, so maybe now things are a bit different, but I would still try something like that.

i always did think smiths should be able to make armor or maybe you can also be a fletcher and make really cool and custom bows and crossbows with engravings and such etc etc

Personally I think xbow/bow and 1h/2h are interchangeable. Since xbow troops are so powerful, the xbow tree gives a lot of improvements to them making them even stronger. I usually choose between bow or xbow based on what kind of ranged troops I plan to use for the playthrough.

Prison breaks are insane for leveling charm and roguery quickly, as well as getting a ton of relation with the lords you break out. I get around 30-40 relation per rescue.

Good work mate

한글자막 감사합니다 초반에 자막이 안떠서 무슨말인지 몰랐는데 좀 지나니깐 자막이 설정됬네요! :)

Trade is easily s tier. Early game you can make the most money ingame, just getting outperformed lategame by smithing. But the best thing is the renown gain. No faster way then trading 175 (i think). Basicly for every profitable Workshop you get +1 renown per day. I forgot to mention that the Workshop production boost trade allows you to fill all your party slots with unlimited wages. For mor information just check doomtastic gaming yt guides in trading (and more)

I'm enjoying using throwing for my current run. I've decided to fully commit to an front-line infantry run. I think throwing makes sense if you do that since you can also hold a shield, and they're devastating at short range.

Smithing is insanely hard, you will spend a few hours grinding but the reward is being able to turn 1k worth of scrap to a 20k weapon. Fills the coffers pretty nicely

I was shocked to see Smithing so low, but I ultimately agree. Appreciate the guide.

Smithing is way more valuable on main character than companions for two reasons: 1) You can get way more value out of END stat than your companions. 2) You can get way more value out of two extra attribute points that come with smithing perk tree. All that on top of, you know, being THE money making skill in the game.

You might want to try a crossbow play. Just start with Vlandia or the empire (they get crossbow with surviving a siege origin) and start blasting. The first few perks are quite nice (20% cheaper archers and 2exp for all range units)

Every gameplay I start, i start with trad until 125. Then every Caravan u operate wich make profit gives u 1 Renown. So that means u get to clan level 6 very fast.

Roguery now has the Fourberie mod to explore, sounds so interesting!

"One handed is the king of melee combat" Two handed with cleaving and block breaking: am I a joke to you?

You’ve earned my sub.

About throwing weapons. In the initial mount and blade I used it as a backup weapon. My standard setup was: Lance, Sword, Shield, Throwing Weapon. The throwing weapon was just the only ranged weapon that could do with a single slot. Are the loadouts in Bannerlord different?

Would you say that this tier list still holds up or would you change any around with full release?

Really appreciate this! Question about making a companion get into Smithing. What exactly needs to happen with that? Does the companion need to be in my party, and I need to be in the town with a smithery, for him to take advantage of it? Do I need to own the smithery? Do I need to be smithing for him to smith? etc.

Nothing beats crossbow leveling as it also helps athletics or riding skill (By the way, the crossbow is not funky at all, it's super accurate and stupid deadly even on horseback, light crossbow for early game horseback, and later when you get the perk to reload any crossbow on horseback just use the best available) And roguery has "Partners in crime" at 150 where bandit parties always offer to join you, literally infinite units around mid-late game as looter parties are huge (talking 30-150 size parties) I'm sorry but I just disagree with your entire tier list. Though you do mention all the ways to learn the skills correctly and most of the useful perks. Though the only part I agree with is the difficulty of leveling up the skills being tedious for most perks.

I've been enjoying the smithing mini game. Cool to squeeze out better aspects of the weapon to suit the buyers needs. Plus you get relationship bonuses at some point. I do wish there was more to it though, seems like they put a lot of effort into setting up the system, but didn't fully flesh it out.

I usually at least put a few points into smithing early game as it can help fund my army, really helpful when working towards buying a caravan/workshop

I think smithing should be higher, any perk tree that gives you 2 free attribute points and is that easy to level should be higher on the list.. combine smithing and athletics and I believe u will have 4 free attribute points, which is top tier. Great vid though 👍

I really enjoy smithing, beutiful weapons, micro managing each part, then you get to use it. Then there's smelting and refining process, all very fulfilling.

Biggest benefit of smithing is getting the bonus attributes. 1 control or vigor and 1 endurance. Together with the same bonus options from athletics, it might enable different builds that need more Attribute points, while they might have focus points to spare. Any clue how effective a shield frontline with the +5armor from athletic and +5 from engeneering is with the armor changes?

A two handed axe is devastating in seiges since there is cleave damage (you strike trough multiple enemies). I get consistant 80+ kills in seiges with 400 defenders.

I haven’t played in ages and really keen to get back into it. Are your old guides still relevant or has a lot changed?

Exited to watch

Although I have some disagreements here and there, I totally respect ur opinion on the different skills. Nice video :>

Bit late too the party but smithing is excellent for 'my little warband' mod. Giving your troops custom weapons like a short but ultra fast 2h weapon is extremely satisfying.

Whats the Deal with the Banners in your footage? Did i miss out on that? Or is this a Mod?

I used to level up Steward on my main, but I've found that it really limited my build options, ever since then I always get it on companion until I can find a spouse, then get the spouse to be my quartermaster. A bonus from this is also that it allows you to have more children, since you are always together with your spouse.

I'm doing a 2H/bow on foot Battanian play thru right now and it is a BLAST.

Question (I am very new to the game /10-12days ago I got it and playing the 1.8): How do you get Athletics to 374 if you have 4 stat and 5 focus that is capping at 246 ? I hope the answer is console commands/mod/game version.

You got the whole thing upside down bro. I just started a new campaign yesterday, 1.8 patch, for the first time I wanted to rush smithing without any cheese, just sold my starter gear for wood and grinded through it in 6 hours real time. After 6 hours, I was level 14 with 1.2million gold and had a tier 6 weapon with amazing stats. Bought myself the most expensive items from city vendors and headed into arenas, winning every tournament by a landslide and killing enemies 1v10 in battles. Realistic difficulty btw, first time I go with the hardest difficulty in a campaign btw. Blacksmithing was annoying to level, especially clicking your mouse like a madman to smelt/refine was really a hurdle. But in terms of outcome and giving you power in the game, I never had such a strong start. I have so much gold and so much gear that I snowballed into oblivion and right now, the second day of my playthrough, I have half of the map under control. Money is no issue whatsoever and I can pump out everything with gold its insane. 120k gold from a single smithing order, making 5m in 1 hour if not more as long as I want.

I think your points for Smithing are valid, but I'll personally diagree with them for one simple reason: For me, smithing is a super fun puzzle game. Especially with the crafting contracts for NPC's, I find it to be a very relaxing, interesting and fun way to earn monry in Bannerlord. Even though the days of tier 6 two handers selling for 200k+ denars are over, it is still very easy to earn good money by popping into the smithy every once in a while. Not to mention you get a much better return on investment from the weapons you loot from battles!

Hi i have trouble with units at the beginning of the battle. I always start with 50 soldiers while they start with over 150 on the battle, how do i increase this ?

That's great inspiration, my next character will be as d tier as possible.

if you don't assign anyone a role does it mean that the perks will apply and do you "learn" equally fast as if it was assigned?

Everything has a price perk has a really fun use case as a raider/bandit play through. I just raided Vlandia enough into giving me a castle for peace with my warband.

Smithing gives you 2 free attribute points, 1 to END and another into (either) CTR or VIG. I know its not everyones cuppa tea but if your going to put enough attribute points into END to get solid benefit from Atheletics (which also grants 1 END and 1 to CTR or VIG same as smithing) you might as well right? Its in the same tree and it gives 2 free attributes which is huge. Anyway just my 2 cents. Great video BTW.

They should make a perk for roguery the turn bandit units to an elite version of the bandit unit only unlockable by the perk. Then you would have the option to either go roguery for elite bandits or leadership for elite noble troops

hey spartacus, strat gaming has done most of those guides and pretty in depth

The final skill for scouting is a personal skill rather than a scout skill, so for the tedium of levelling it all the way to 300 yourself you get... 10% party speed.

I love your build mate. Yet i have to say smithing could be very useful early - mid game in terms of making money. As you said it takes little time to improve it but there is little use if you are just gonna use it for making weapons. I totally agree but if you go to towns you may find thamaskene orders worth 100 k - 200 k once you upgrade your skill enough. So it is even more profitable than trading.I think if you are getting bored waiting perks to make real money and feed your campaign like me, it is like an "A" tier perk. Respect ✌

For smithing, my tactic is to just hold off until mid game when you can maybe spare the money to buy more expensive weapons and smelt those. If I smelt a a few 10k weapons I've probably unlocked enough parts to reliably just turn pugios into money.

My tier list: S: Steward: Companion(s) can level this, lowering troop wages and allow you to challenge larger armies alone. You can't live without this one late game imo. Trading: Passive income+renown to solely support your army along with maxed steward, and money=power which allows you to buy fiefs) Medicine: Turn your army into a never-dying machine, great HP+ & can be equipped & maxed on a companion. Healing enemy troups will lower loot but give you massive amounts of prisoners with 100+ prisoners easily being sold for 20k+ gold latergame. Blacksmithing: Best melee weapons in the game, bonus perk points, & the best money maker aside from max loot campaigning) If you build OP weapons you honestly won't have to max out a melee weapon skill tree, and can focus on a ranged option etc. instead. A: Riding: The only way to survive on the battlefield without hiding behind your troops. If you build for charge damage you can do 40+ AOE damage to enemies. Leadership: More troops, enough really said here, though it takes too much investment thus it being lower than steward. Athletics: Bonus perk points, amazing HP+, and some great survivability for your troops even if you're riding a mount 80% of the game. Scouting: A great perk able to be put on your companion, being able to zoom around the map and spot dangerous armies is a huge boon. It does however take a while to level, so get this one on your sibling ASAP after you've gotten steward+medicine. B: Bow: Subjective, but arguably the best weapon in the game. Usable within sieges & the map. Noble longbow + at least 70 arrows = free kills at no risk to the player. Crossbow: Right below the bow due to a bit less versatility and QoL. Still great and can be used both in skirmishes and sieges. Pole-arms: ~200 slash damage on a well-built polearm with 200+ range, the best weapon for surviving on the map. During sieges you can honestly just sit behind an enemy position and 1-hit slash them slowly from behind at a safe range. 2h Axes: Great XP generator, and infantry cleaving weapons, can also use 2h maces for easy OHKOs, lacks in range for optimal safe killing distance. Sword & Shield: Great for tanking, but you want your troops to be doing that for you, however, another negative is that shields will eventually break and swords have lower range, which also take ammo from your range armaments. Overall all the melee weapon archetypes are close if you're smithing so go with what you personally like. Throwing: Can decimate shields, but the low velocity limits it in sieges, and the ammo capacity yields lower kills than an average bow. Charm: Important if you're planning to join a kingdom and make decisions, however, I find pillaging and destroying enemy troops a better and more engaging way to earn influence. C: Roguery: Bonus loot is great, if I ever have a few extra points I either put it here or tactics. I never use Bandit troops though, and unless one's doing a Bandit playthrough they're not going to beat simply trying to recruit hi-tier troops from villages. Tactics: Relying on auto-simulations except versus very weak troops is not a good idea, and will get your troops obliterated especially at higher difficulties. Engineering: I've never really needed it to take any castle/fief, troops & medicine matter far more, just ended up throwing it on a basic companion.

Does tactics not still alter the live battle differential like in previous mount and blades? if not, its been nerfed like crazy. It used to be a top tier skill. It forced a lower max player on field for the enemy compared to the player based on your tactics versus the enemy army commanders tactics.

I'm fairly certain roguery can be gained by selling prisoners to a random broker. Though I dont know of my mods had any impact on it

Hey, so I just watched your Be'lakor video, in the last couple sentences of the description for Warhammer 3 on steam it says "The world stands on a precipice. A single push will plunge it into cataclysm. And there is one who schemes to achieve just that, an ancient figure who desires nothing less than to wield supreme power. But to succeed, he will need a champion…" Do you think this is Be'lakor they're talking about? the ancient figure?

Is there any mod in this video? Because the last time I played this game the skill cap isn't much like this

I like to level smithing to 275+ for the ability to craft epic weapons that fit my needs perfectly. For example, if you're into ploearms you can craft something long and swingy for open battle and something short and choppy for sieges. That way you can concentrate your skill points without getting gimped in close quarters. Both versions hit like a truck. You can also craft crazy fast, compact, hard hitting 2-handers for prison breaks, then chop people in half before they have time to block. I also like smithing for the cash. I don't use ploearms and 2-habders to cheese a billion gold, but I'll gladly trade a half dozen nice swords for a top tier helmet. IMHO the armor prices are batcrap crazy, so that seems fair to me. The big thing to remember for leveling smithing is Aserai throwing knives. Pugios are cheaper, but they can be hard to find, especially in bulk. You can get a thousand+ Aserai knives in one pass through the desert, and they smelt into pretty much the same ingredients as pugios. IMHO, it's also fair to trade a dozen nice polearms for a boatload of throwing knives. If I could just buy fine steel I'd do that instead, but I can't.

Rogurey could be A or S tier if you could do more crime kinda like playing a merchant have your own hideouts hitting caravans and shaking down merchants, workshops and mucleing in on other crime bosses

Lots of good mod ideas here, too.

Smithing would be great if you could bring your own weapon into a tourney

I know this sucks to hear, but your videos for whatever reason still rarely pop up on my feed since the algorithm change. I know you posted a video about that earlier and I'm sure it's super frustrating but we're here with you bud and it's frustrating to me as well. Anyway Liked, subscribed, notifications on keep up the cool vids.

So do companions still level up after they leave your party? Like when they're a lord

Crossbow and engineering synergy is pretty nice

Hey, smithing is both fun and good, just indeed better on companions. It still gives a ton of money if you unlock good components (such as a spearshaft that has both couch lance and brace). It also ups the relations with the smithing missions in every city, so you unlock more troops to recruit. Also it's just fun to create a cool weapon for yourself. I'm currently playing with a 234 length polearm while it only has 18 swing speed, its amazing.

Smithing bonus I discovered: tier 4 2h curved blades (the one that pierces shields) sell for 18-19k each, just max out the size on all pieces. I made my first $1mil before even getting an army. Got a bunch of followers leveled up along the way and we're all sporting beyond-top-tier weapons and I could afford to deck us all out in emperor-level gear. I'm not invincible, but sometimes I feel like I am. I'm sitting at 253 smithing and I'll never think about finances again. To be clear: when I swing my sword, people die. If they use their shield then it's destroyed, and then they die. I swing as fast as a 1h. It's crazy. .... that being said, I wish I'd just traded my way to victory first so I could buy a town.

I love smithing mainly money and overall weapon making because i have ablut 5 hours in my bannerlord save and have smithing all the way up to 300 and have stats on my crafted weapons that beat any other weapons

I'd really like to see an update to the unit guide as well.

Can you make a video creating a tier list for shock infantry and of skirmish cav??

I have always leveled up scouting (when I picked it anyway) just by traveling through the map. The higher the skill, the more trails you find, son it reaches a moment when you just level scouting so quick by doing literally nothing. And I´m talking about 160-175 level of scouting. But, yeah, if you dont want to invest in that skill and still get all the benefits, just hire a wanderer and make him the scout of your party. When it comes to smithing, almost all my playthroughs rely on smithing to make money xDDD

I would but Polearm in S tier personally. When use with smithing. Like that it's possible differents length weapon with different use and replace easily the two hand arm weapon.

Best way to level up Charm is easily the prison escape scene. It's a tad expensive, and fighting in really close quarters (in civilian gear no less) is tough. But you get a ton of Charm and Roguery xp for doing it as well as a significant relation gain with the lord you rescued.

i always build up my smithing so i can make weapons that i want my companions to use. custom weapons are always better at how you want to fight or how you want your companions to fight over stock stuff (as it should be). of course you can build up a companion's skill, but it is with riding and athletics, and since you need to max out the attributes for them to get them to the highest levels smithing is cheaper in the long run than most other skills. trade and engineering are like that as well, but leveling those skills are pretty hit and miss (late in the game when you can buy a bunch and sell a bunch the trade skill goes up pretty slowly, and you want to be focused on leading armies and fighting at that point, and giving loot to your troops with the stewardship perk can turn peasants into tier 6 masters right when you hire them making it maybe the best perks in the game, means that you won't be selling as much loot late game). the loot leveling for your troops makes Steward S tier on its own, the Medicine and Engineering skills are nice as well, but if they don't level it isn't that big of a deal. that being said you should max out Intelligence and the focus points are cheap enough to spend on both of those skills so that you can have good leveling in them without focusing on them or grinding them (i never grind since it is boring anyway). basically max out the attributes of Int, Soc, and End then put focus into one ranged weapon, one melee weapon, riding, athletics, charm, leadership, and steward in the order to keep them leveling as you level. when you get extra focus points after this put them into medicine, trade, smithing, and engineering due to the maxed out attributes, and then into a second melee weapon, and either throwing or bow if you already maxed throwing for the utility (throwing is good for sieges via dropping rocks or operating catapults, and bow is good for the ballista), scouting and tactics can also be good, but at this point you probably won't be leveling to get more focus points very much.