Baldur’s Gate 3 features 10 companions that can join players on their adventures. Each of these companions have their own abilities and powers that mostly aim to help the player overcome their shortcomings. Of course, not all Baldur’s Gate 3 companions are ranked at the same level. Some provide benefits that far outclass others. That is why we are here to give you a tier list of the best companion rankings in Baldur’s Gate 3 so you have an idea of which ones to add to your party.
| Tier | Companions |
| S | Lae’Zel, Shadowheart |
| A | Karlach, Astarion, Minthara |
| B | Gale, Halsin, Minsc |
| C | Jaheira, Wyll |
Lae’zel – S Tier
- Race: Githyanki
- Class: Fighter
- Background: Soldier
- Proficiencies: Acrobatics, Athletics, Intimidation, Survival
Lae’Zel the Githyanki is one of the top DPS companions players can recruit to their party and rightfully at the top of our companion tier list for Baldur’s Gate 3. The gith warrior has 17 Strength, 13 Dexterity, 14 Constitution, 11 Intelligence, 12 Wisdom, and 9 Charisma and is proficient in Intimidation and Survival.
Being a trained fighter of a race that is known for its violent tendencies, Lae’Zel is quite a powerful companion for every adventure the player takes, no matter what path they choose.
Lae’Zel is well versed with two-handed weapons, making her a juggernaut in a fight especially considering her efficiency with different weapon types. The high constitution also helps make Lae’Zel the main tank of your party, as she can take hits like a pro and retaliate excellently. However, you are going to need a good tank build in BG3 to make her more effective.
The best class to choose for Lae’Zel is the Battle Master class due to her high Strength stat. Battle Master build allows Lae’Zel to move around the fight better and use Menacing Attacks along with Rally which gives her 8 extra HP. She can also counterattack as the Battle Master.
Shadowheart – S Tier
- Race: High Half-Elf
- Class: Cleric
- Background: Acolyte
- Proficiencies: History, Insight, Religion, Medicine
The high elf trickster healer, Shadowheart is undoubtedly the best companion players can have at their side in BG3. Shadowheart has 12 Strength, 14 Dexterity, 14 Constitution, 10 Intelligence, 16 Wisdom and 10 Charisma and is proficient in Sleight of Hand and Stealth.
Although not a combating companion, Shadowheart has the best support spells in the entire game. She can ensure your entire party’s safety from the backlines with the powerful healing spells she gets as a Cleric. With Shadowheart at your side, you can always stay topped up and safe from powerful attacks.
Cleric is undoubtedly the best class for Shadowheart, which is also the default class for Shadowheart. As a cleric, Shadowheart can use both healing and shielding spells, keeping your party members safe and cozy in every confrontation.
Karlach – A Tier
- Race: Zariel Tiefling
- Class: Barbarian
- Background: Outlander
- Proficiencies: Intimidation, Survival, Perception, Athletics
The Devil’s Advocate, Karlach has 17 Strength, 13 Dexterity, 14 Constitution, 11 Intelligence, 12 Wisdom and 8 Charisma, and is proficient in Intimidation and Perception.
High strength and the starting Barbarian class make Karlach the highest DPS melee character for the early game in BG3. With some proper buffing, players can convert Karlach into a powerful tank for their party. Karalch can work well with any weapon you hand her, allowing players to freely choose the most powerful weapon the have to improve Karlach’s damage even more.
Players might consider Barbarian as the best class suited for Kalach and the Wildheart subclass offers much more to Karlach, as it opens more attacks to Karlach further fleshing out her character. You can multiclass Karlach with both Berserker and Wildheart subclasses as this allows you to use the best features of both classes.
Astarion – A Tier
- Race: High Elf
- Class: Rogue
- Background: Charlatan
- Proficiencies: Acrobatics, Deception, Performance, Perception, Persuasion, Sleight of Hand, Stealth
Astarion is a really good character. What we have here is a rogue vampire. He has a dry personality, but like all Rogues, Astarion is quite a powerful ally. Astarion has 8 Strength, 17 dexterity, 14 Constitution, 13 Intelligence, 13 Wisdom and 10 Charisma, and is proficient in Acrobatics, Deception, Perception Persuasion and Sleight of Hand. All extremely important stats for a new adventure.
High dexterity and high Constitution allow Astarion to work perfectly for handling the frontlines during a fight, and use ranged weapons. Furthermore, as a rogue, Astarion can use sneak attacks, and land easy critical attacks behind enemy lines.
Looking at Astarion’s stats, the best class suited for Astarion is the Thief class. As a thief, Astarion can land two extra off-hand attacks every turn, allowing you to deal extra damage every time you attack as Astarion. This feature will turn Astarion into a powerful tool for clearing out mobs and dealing high damage to bosses.
Minthara – A Tier
- Race: Drow
- Class: Paladin
- Background: Noble
- Proficiencies: Athletics, Medicine, Insight, Persuasion, Religion, Intimidation
Minthara is another exceptional companion high up in our tier list for Baldur’s Gate 3. Being Paladin who serves the Absolute, Minthara can be temporarily recruited in Act 1 and permanently in Act 2. Minthara has 15 Strength, 12 Dxterity, 15 Constitution, 12 Intelligence, 19 Wisdom and 16 Charisma, and is proficient in insight, intimidation and persuasion.
We would recommend recruiting Minthara as quickly as possible. Being a Paladin, Minthara is well versed with both melee fights and support spells. She can be a powerhouse for any party.
The Oath of Vengeance build for Minthara allows her to access more offensive and support spells. Minthara can become a one-Drow army on her own with this build. However, with her high stats, players can also opt for multiclassing Minthara, preferably as a cleric where she can gain access to even more support options for herself and her party members.
Gale – B Tier
- Race: Human
- Class: Wizard
- Background: Sage
- Proficiencies: Arcana, History, Investigation, Insight, Persuasion
Gale is a handsome wizard using the ancient Netheril magic who is suffering from corruption and is keeping it in check. He has 9 Strength, 14 Dexterity, 15 Constitution, 16 Intelligence, 11 Wisdom and 13 Charisma and is proficient in Persuasion, Insight and Investigation.
Gale’s proficiency in investigations is important for picking up hints in NPC’s conversation for encounters with tricky characters. Due to Gale’s inspiration foe becoming the strongest wizard in al of Faerun, Gale comes with high Intelligence and Wisdom, but is severely lacking in strength.
This makes ale a glass cannon, unable to withstand a lot of attacks, but dealing exceptional damage at every turn. However, this also makes Gale undependable as any wrong move might leave you without your highest DPS party member.
Seeing Gale’s stats, the best build option for Gale is Abjuraiton School, which allows Gale access to defensive and sport spells as well. This can be used to keep Gale alive, particularly against the stronger enemies that you face later on in BG3.
You can also use Gale’s efficiency with spells to keep your party members alive in difficult spots. The spells from Abjuaiton School also provide extra HP, which provides much-needed survivability to Gale.
Halsin – B Tier
- Race: Wood Elf
- Class: Druid
- Background: Unknown
- Proficiencies: Athletics, Nature, Survival
Halsin is one of the first companions players can recruit in BG3. Halsin is a druid and can turn into different animal forms during a fight. The druid Halsin has 16 Strength, 16 Dexterity, 12 Intelligence, 16 Constitution, 18 Wisdom and 16 Charisma, and is proficient in nature and survival.
Halsin’s power lies in his ability to transform into different beasts. Halsin’s wolf form, bear form and spider form allow him to tackle different situations as per required. Halsin is a diverse character, but being a Jack of All Trades means Halsin doesn’t outperform other companions in any way.
To capitalize on Halsin’s abilities in BG3, the best build for Halsin is the Circle of the Moon Druid build. This adds new beasts to Halsin’s transformation portfolio, such as Dire Raven and Sare-Toothed Tiger, and helps Halsin deal with situations much better. Due to Halsin’s access to multiple transformations, Halsin lacks access to the more powerful spells that are available to other Druids.
Minsc – B Tier
- Race: Human
- Class: Ranger
- Background: Unkown
- Proficiencies: Nature
Minsc is one of Jaheira’s old companions and a returning character to Baldur’s Gate 3. He comes with 12 Strength, 17 Dexterity, 13 Constitution, 8 Intelligence, 15 Wisdom and 10 Charisma and is only proficient in Nature.
Although Minsc seems like a weak character, Minsc is a well-rounded character. Although he lacks anything special, good strength and dexterity allow Minsc to work well both as a melee and ranged party member. Misc’s skillset can even compete with those of the best companions you can get, making Misnc a simple and dependable companion, although not the star of the show.
Being an old companion of Jaheira, Misnc has picked up some druid abilities. Minsc can summon animals to help him, but picking the Beast Master class and build for Misnc allows him to summon powerful beasts that can drastically improve Misnc’s standing in any fight.
Jaheira – C Tier
- Race: High Half-Elf
- Class: Druid
- Background: Soldier
- Proficiencies: Athletics, Intimidation
The Druid Jaheira is a returning character from the previous Baldur’s Gate games, making her the most experienced character in the universe of Baldur’s Gate. Recruited in Act 2, companion Jaheira has 15 Strength, 14 Dexterity, 17 Constitution, 10 Intelligence, 16 Wisdom and 15 Charisma and is highly proficient in Intimidation and athletics.
Jaheira, also being a druid, might seem comparable to Halsin, but she is much more dependent on her spells, function as a ranged unit rather than transforming and directly going head-to-head with her opponents.
Her low strength and high dexterity make Jaheira better for the back of the battlefield, where she can use ranged attacks and provide support to the rest of her party. She does have aces to a lot of support spells that can change the course of the fight is used properly.
The Circle of the Land is the best build players can pick for Jaheira. This amplifies Jaheira’s environmental abilities, allowing her to further boost her status as a support/ranged hybrid character.
Wyll – C Tier
- Race: Human
- Class: Warlock
- Background: Folk Hero
- Proficiencies: Arcana, History, Intimidation, Persuasion
Wyll is a human warlock who hails from Faerun who made a deal with a succubus for power. In return for the deal, Wyll got 10 Strength, 16 Dexterity, 14 Constitution, 8 Intelligence, 10 Wisdom and 16 Charisma and is proficient in Persuasion and Intimidation.
Wyll is only useful as a ranged unit and as such as the bottom of our companion rankings for Baldur’s Gate 3. High Dexterity makes Wyll powerful with bows and other ranged option. Though Wyll can use spells, low intelligence leaves much to be desired and using Wyll as a spell caster won’t be beneficial. However, Wyll can use debuffing and status ailment spells quite well.
The best you can do to make Wyll stronger is to pick The Fiend build to flesh out Wyll’s attacks. The build allows Wyll to use more debuffing spells, and even use some basic buffing spells for their own party members. Correct weapon equipped also helps improve Wyll to an extent.
