The Top 10 Best Mount and Blade Mods

The Top 10 Best Mount and Blade Mods
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The Top 10 Best Mount and Blade Mods

Mount and Blade is an independently developed action-adventure role playing game released in 2008 for the PC. It combines an overhead map display and free roaming gameplay with visceral and intense horse and sword play. However, Mount & Blade also looks like an independently developed game, and fittingly also has some bugs as well as gameplay that is pretty bare bones.

Luckily, there is an active community making mods for Mount and Blade that fix some of these problems. But with so many available, it can be impossible to choose the absolute essential Mount and Blade mods for you. Well, the top 10 best Mount and Blade mods guide is here. Continue reading to discover the best Mount and Blade mods available today.

10. Graphical Enhancement 2.5

Mount and Blade is fittingly gritty when it comes to both combat, and unfortunately, graphics. Luckily, there is a fix for those blocky, dirty textures. The definitive Mount and Blade graphics mod is Graphical Enhancement 2.5. GE 2.5 overhauls many of the default textures and increases their resolution. The result is a fantastic increase in overall graphical quality, so much so that many larger mods have used GE 2.5 as a building block for their own graphical takes on Mount & Blade.

9. Polished Landscapes

Polished Landscapes is an essential Mount and Blade mod.

In keeping with the theme of spectacular Mount and Blade graphics mods, we come across Polished Landscapes. Mod maker gutekfuitek has taken the sparse battefield landscapes of M&B and transformed them into believable and beautiful killing fields. Lifeless looking single trees have been replaced by clusters of beautifully full pine and fir trees. Dead, ugly brush has been transformed into lush, flowing fields of flowers and wispy grasses. Polished Landscapes even adds seasonal effects to the field, with some maps having pockets of snow or leaves instead of dreary dirt.

8. Native Expansion

While Mount and Blade has its moments, such as a mass of Vaegir archers obliterating a furious rush of filthy Nord huscarls with an arrow storm, there is not a whole lot to the game besides the standard find-and-fight gameplay. Thankfully, Native Expansion was one of the first mods to try and remedy that issue. With a bevy of new options, Native Expansion has improved troop trees and many more troop types, alongside of expanded kingdom gameplay. One delicious example of Native Expansion’s flair is that you will have at least one or more assassination attempts against you, and you can hire a hitman to get back at those dirty Nordic Lords. Native Expansion does make a large number of changes to Mount & Blade’s gameplay, but because there is now so much to do, it really is a good Mount and Blade mod.

Dirty Nordic Lords

Continue reading to find out how to hack and slash your way through the rest of the best Mount and Blade mods.

7. Chronicles of Talera

For the magic lovers worldwide, Chronicles of Talera makes the list of the top 10 best Mount and Blade mods. After all, what would a role playing game set in medieval fantasy land be without fancy magic? While not my personal cup of tea, what the modding community has done with COT is impressive.

Just another day in Calradia…

Chronicles of Talera’s main draw is the extensive magic and special abilities system. Each faction ability - over 16 - is a unique ability for the player that can wreak havoc on enemy forces. Some examples include area-of-effect storms that damages enemies but heals allies, the ability to convert enemy soldiers to your side for a short time, and knock-down effects against foes. Aside from the fun new powers, COT also delivers an overwhelming amount of unique quests, unique lore, unique troops, and interesting locations. The sheer amount of new stuff worth doing makes COT worth a look and is why it made the Mount & Blade best mods list.

6. More Metal Sounds

Incorporated into nearly every Mount & Blade mod, More Metal Sounds adds, well, more metal sounds to the game. Almost every action sound file has been edited, resulting in fantastic clinks and clangs as maces pound suits of armor and arrows pierce shields. Specifically, the hoof sounds of horses make it seem as though you really are riding a humongous war stallion into battle. Also of note are the ranged weapon sounds; when you pull back an arrow to fire at some poor sod, you can feel the tension in the drawstring. As if the general sounds of war weren’t enough, More Metal Sounds also includes relatively good death groans and screams, although a few are deliciously over-the-top. Still, when most big mods use your file specifically, you know it is good enough to be in the top 10 Mount and blade mods list.

5. Expanded Gameplay III

Mount and Blade’s ultimate goal? Own the world.

It just wouldn’t be Mount and Blade without the emphasis on blade, or brutal combat. Luckily, Expanded Gameplay III has taken that statement to heart. EG3 has numerous ambitious design elements to it, but the best is the addition of enhanced troop AI, extra combat abilities, and a greater emphasis on character diversity. Battles are actually difficult now, instead of a game of find the high ground before the zerg gets you. AI troops will faint attacks, lower the guard then raise it as you attack, and group up much faster than in vanilla Mount and Blade. Also, a heavy armor mounted character with a big sword is no longer the death machine it used to be. There are other more flavorful ways to destroy your enemies.

Aside from the combat improvements, EG3 also adds in interesting elements like a “death” system that is actually the perfect mix of frustrating but exciting, magical charms with different effects, and large variations in troops and armies. All of these improvements launch EG3 into the top 5 of the best Mount & Blade mods.

Click on next page to see what mod are in the top 5 best Mount and Blade mods list!

4. Sword of Damocles

Sword of Damocles can get a little intense

The real question for the Sword of Damocles Mount and Blade mod is what can’t you do in this world? One of the most comprehensive mods available today, SoD manages to nearly completely overhaul Mount and Blade, but still keep the gritty, intense feel of Calradia intact.

The main attraction in Sword of Damocles is the addition of true kingdom management, including recruitment of lords and leading war parties to crush the still filthy Nords. You can delegate tasks to your chancellor, monitor the building and health of a variety of options for cities and villages, and even declare a specific faith for all of your peasants to obey.Aside from all of these Civilization-esque additions, random events come into play, such as rogue knight attacks, or even a humongous undead invasion after a certain time has passed. Sword of Damocles is absolutely deserving to be in the top 5 of the best Mount & Blade mods ever.

3. Eagle and the Radiant Cross

The one type of Mount and Blade mod we have not covered yet, Mount & Blade with guns, is a very popular mod type. The best mod with guns is absolutely the Eagle and the Radiant Cross.

En Garde!

A half steampunk, half Britannica combination, the Eagle and the Radiant Cross mixes a strong background story, all new factions with very different combat styles, and a large number of item and troop options with handguns, rifles, shotguns and in some cases, cannons. While guns, if handled without care, can make things a bit messy, EatRC gets it right. It is absolutely still viable and fun to be a horseback lance and sword combo of death, but there is almost nothing better than handcannoning that really bad dude off his horse. Whatever the case, the steampunk medieval atmosphere of EatRC gets it right, and that is why it is a top 3 Mount and Blade mod.

2. Prophecy of Pendor

My personal favorite mod for Mount and Blade, Prophecy of Pendor is one of the most popular Mount and Blade mods. Set in the

Not to mention, PoP is also beautiful.

contastly shifting world of Pendor, PoP has some of the most challenging gameplay around. To start, enemies are much stronger than they used to be, and you are not.

One of the best additions to PoP is the completely unique, and perfectly balanced, faction troop types. Add in difficult to recruit uber knights of differing skills, a myriad of recruitable companions and unique troops, a ton of new items, and enhanced enemy AI, and you have yourself a winner. But PoP doesn’t just desert you after some good hard work leveling up, oh no. There are randomly spawned massive armies, each with their own unique fighting style and equipment. Add in some divine inspiration and a hidden faction, and PoP comes out heads above the rest. For advanced Mount and Blade players, PoP offers something new and challenging every time. Also, it has unlockable achievements for the completionist in all of us. That is why Prophecy of Pendor is the second best Mount and Blade mod out today.

1. Battle Size Changer

So many bodies…thank you Battle Size Changer

And the number one best mod for Mount and Blade is…the Battle Size Changer! No it is not an error, a simple mod really is the best Mount and Blade mod ever. Let me explain, because Mount and Blade has a battle size limit of 100, that means that only 50 combatants from each side are available on the field of battle at a time. After a certain number goes down, reinforcements in the form of spawned waves come forth, ruining immersion and slowing the game down tremendously.

However, the Battle Size Changer changes the entire game, allowing entire armies to be on the field at a time, ending in epic movie style battles that require true skill to emerge victorious. Most of the mods mentioned earlier in this list would simply be a nice fluffy candy coating on a decent combat simulator if we were not allowed to have massive battles. Thank goodness the Battle Size Changer gives us that real sense of warfare we have all craved before. The Battle Size Changer is absolutely, unequivocally the best Mount and Blade mod…ever.

This post is part of the series: Mount and Blade Mods

A guide to the best mods, patches and expansion packs for Mount and Blade.

  1. The Top 10 Best Mount and Blade Mods
  2. The Top 5 Best Mount and Blade: Warband Mods
  3. Mount and Blade Expansion Pack Promises Multiplayer Action
  4. The Final Patch for Mount and Blade - Details of the 1.011 Patch for the Mount and Blade PC Game