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It's 2 a.m.
You've poured 60 hours into a single campaign. Uniting Calradia under your banner is finally within reach and then every faction on the map declares war on you at once. Your best companion dies of “natural causes” at the ripe old age of 34, and a ragtag band of looters somehow routs your veteran army.
You lean back, exhale, and whisper the words every Mount & Blade 2: Bannerlord player eventually whispers into the dark: “You know what? I'm turning on cheats.”
No judgment here, buddy. Bannerlord is a glorious, gorgeous, occasionally merciless sandbox, and sometimes you just want to skip the grind and play god for an afternoon. The good news: cheating is easier than ever in 2026; and the best part? You no longer need a mod to do it. Here's the whole toolkit, hotkeys, in-game console, and the commands worth actually remembering.
Back in the day you had to install the Developer Console mod just to type a single command. Not anymore. Bannerlord ships with a built-in console and you've got two ways to flip the cheat switch:
Option 1 — In-game console (fastest):
While in a campaign, press Alt + ` (the backtick/tilde key, top-left of your keyboard) to open the console. Type config.cheat_mode 1 and hit Enter. That's it — cheat mode is on for this session.
Option 2 — Edit the config file (sticks permanently):
Close the game and go to Documents\Mount and Blade II Bannerlord\engine_config.txt. Open it in Notepad, find the line cheat_mode = 0, change the 0 to a 1 so it reads cheat_mode = 1, and save. Cheat mode will now be on every time you launch.
One heads-up: console commands are case-sensitive and the in-game console is opened with that same Alt + ` shortcut. If a command does nothing, 90% of the time it's a typo or a missing capital letter.
This one feels like a bug but it is not. With cheat mode on, open your inventory and you'll see a list of literally every item in the game running down the left-hand side.
Click the little arrow next to anything (that legendary two-handed sword, a full set of lord's mail, a warhorse you absolutely did not earn) and it drops straight into your bags. No command typing required. Window-shop the entire armory and walk out with the loot.
These work the moment cheat mode is enabled, so no console needed. Most fire during battles or on the campaign map.
| Hotkey | What it does |
| Ctrl + H | Instantly heals you to full health |
| Ctrl + Shift + H | Fully heals your horse |
| Ctrl + F4 | Knocks out one enemy in front of you |
| Ctrl + Alt + F4 | Knocks out the entire enemy formation (yes, all of them) |
| Ctrl + F3 | Knocks out your own character (for the masochists) |
| Ctrl + F2 | Knocks out one of your own soldiers |
| Ctrl + Left Click | On the campaign map, teleports your party to the cursor |
Ctrl + Alt + F4 is the crowd-pleaser: charge a 2,000-strong army, tap three keys, and watch the whole battlefield take a nap. It never gets old.
Open the console with Alt + `, then type a command and press Enter. Anywhere you see a #, swap in a number (for 100k gold, that's campaign.add_gold_to_hero 100000).
Gold, influence & progression
| Command | What it does |
| campaign.add_gold_to_hero # | Adds gold to your character |
| campaign.add_influence # | Adds influence with your kingdom |
| campaign.add_renown_to_clan # | Adds renown to your clan |
| campaign.add_focus_points_to_hero # | Adds focus points to spend on skills |
| campaign.add_attribute_points_to_hero # | Adds attribute points |
| campaign.add_skill_xp_to_hero # | Dumps skill XP into your hero |
Armies & troops
| Command | What it does |
| campaign.add_troops [TroopID] # | Adds troops to your party (e.g. imperial_archer) |
| campaign.give_troops_xp # | Levels up every soldier in your party |
| campaign.heal_main_party | Instantly heals your whole party |
| campaign.fill_party | Tops your party up to its size limit |
| campaign.add_prisoner [TroopID] # | Adds prisoners you can recruit or ransom |
Kingdoms, settlements & utility
| Command | What it does |
| campaign.give_settlement_to_player [Name] | Hands you a town or castle, no siege required |
| campaign.declare_war [Faction] [Faction] | Starts a war between two factions |
| campaign.declare_peace [Faction] [Faction] | Ends a war |
| campaign.add_companion | Adds a random companion to recruit |
| help | Prints every available command (there are hundreds) |
Note: TaleWorlds occasionally tweaks command names between patches, and troop/item IDs change. If something won't fire, type help in the console to print the current list and double-check the exact spelling.
How do I open the console in Bannerlord?
Press Alt + ` (the backtick/tilde key) during a campaign. Make sure cheat mode is on first.
Do I still need the Developer Console mod?
Nope. The console is built into the base game now. The old mod still exists as a fallback, but for most players it's no longer necessary.
Do cheats disable Steam achievements?
Historically, Bannerlord has been unusually relaxed about this and hasn't locked achievements behind cheat use — but TaleWorlds can change that in any patch. If achievements matter to you, test on a throwaway save before going wild on your main campaign.
Why isn't my command working?
Three usual suspects: cheat mode isn't actually on, you've got a typo, or you missed a capital letter (commands are case-sensitive). Also remember to replace the # with a real number.
Can console commands break my save?
Some can. Spawning chaos, deleting clans, or forcing world events can leave a campaign in a weird state. Back up your save file before experimenting, and you can always undo a bad afternoon.
Is using cheats... cheating?
It's a single-player sandbox. So, the only person you answer to is, well, you (and maybe Khuzait history). Go forth and pillage guilt-free.
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