The Best Companions in 'Baldur's Gate 3' Are Essential to Overcome the Dangers Ahead

Nothing stops you from selecting one of the Origin characters as your main character in Baldur’s Gate 3.

But if you’re a fan making your own persona to head up the party, you’ll soon have to decide which companions to bring along throughout the game. It can be a hair-yanking decision.

Every companion offers something unique to your team. Though, from our experience playing Baldur’s Gate 3, we’d argue the best companions are essential to your journey more than the others.

Here’s a breakdown of each companion and our best picks.

As a reminder, some of the companions listed below will only become accessible under certain conditions or during later parts of Baldur’s Gate 3. We’ll briefly describe what each companion can do if you bring them into your group.

• Shadowheart: A Cleric with proficiencies in Sleight of Hand, Stealth, Religion, and Insight. While not the strongest, she boasts powerful support utility, increasing the survivability of others and slinging out light spells at enemies when necessary.
• Lae’zel: A Fighter specialized in Athletics, Acrobatics, Arcana, Intimidation, and Survival. She has mastery over a wide cast of weapons, is very durable, and can dish out good damage at all ranges.

• Karlach: A Barbarian with proficiencies in Athletics, Perception, Survival, and Intimidation. She thrives in close encounters, raging into combat to lay down massive damage, and has support options available through the Wildheart subclass.
• Gale: A Wizard skilled in Arcana, History, Investigation, and Insight. He can be a glass cannon or a wildly versatile spell caster to trump over foes or environmental obstacles.

• Wyll: A Warlock specialized in Arcana, History, Intimidation, and Persuasion. He has many demonic spells that can debilitate and attack enemies to tip the odds.
• Astarion: A Rogue skilled in Acrobatics, Deception, History, Perception, Persuasion, Sleight of Hand, and Stealth. He’s a fantastic archer or magic assassin, pushing out the best damage in the game, and can help pick locks and disarm traps.

• Jaheira: A Druid skilled in Athletics and Intimidation. She’s a solid team supporter, falling into a hybrid role or becoming the group’s primary healer.
• Minthara: A Paladin specialized in Athletics, Insight, Intimidation, Medicine, Persuasion, and Religion. Her sturdiness makes her a solid tank choice, plus she has some support spells and Smite-related abilities to pump out damage.

• Minsc: A Ranger proficient in Nature. He’s an adaptable companion with many advantages over different types of foes and can summon beasts from the Beast Master Ranger subclass.
• Halsin: A Druid skilled in Athletics, Nature, and Survival. Unlike Jaheira, Halsin is more attack-oriented, with more spells and battle shapes to deal with different enemies.

From the ten characters, we believe Shadowheart, Astarion, and Karlach to be the best to bring with you on your journey. Each companion is versatile and fantastic at what they do best, and their proficiencies will help solve many exploration dangers or obstacles.

If your player character is more melee-oriented, you may lean to sub out Karlach for Gale or Wyll for more backline power. Otherwise, these three can stick with you from start to finish. But also, remember you can always swap out companions at camp. You’ll never feel restricted, so try different team combinations if you’d like.

Baldur's Gate 3 is now available on PC and will release on PS5 on Sept. 6.