In Baldur’s Gate 3, you do not travel alone through the world, but have companions by your side. But which companions suit me and what does a perfect group look like? We at MeinMMO reveal it in this guide.
What are the Companions? These are NPCs that you can recruit to join your group. They assist you in both combat and exploration. Each of them has their own abilities, attributes, equipment, and a backstory.
A group in the game can consist of a total of four characters – including yourself. However, you can unlock all companions and swap them out. Additionally, romances are possible with all companions.
How many Companions are there? In Baldur’s Gate 3, you can choose from ten companions. They also represent the classes that you can play yourself:
- Lae’zel (Fighter)
- Shadowheart (Cleric)
- Gale (Wizard)
- Wyll (Warlock)
- Astarion (Rogue)
- Karlach (Barbarian)
- Halsin (Druid)
- Jaheira (Druid)
- Minsc (Ranger)
- Minthara (Paladin)
Which companions are the strongest? Here there are different opinions, but Lae’zel, Astarion, and Shadowheart generally rank among the highest, followed by Karlach, Minthara, and Gale. However, pure strength alone is not decisive. What matters more is the role they fulfill in the group and that you have a balanced group.
What such a group looks like, we will explain to you now.
The best group for beginners
What components should every group fulfill? Groups in Baldur’s Gate 3 can be built in various ways, such as focusing on high damage, stealth, or dialogues and entertaining experiences.
However, we recommend for beginners to start with a balanced group consisting of:
- A melee fighter
- A supporter
- An offensive wizard
- A generalist
Depending on which role you take on, you can assemble your group with the three companions accordingly.
Which class fulfills which role?
- Melee Fighter (Barbarian, Fighter, Rogue, Monk, and Paladin)
- Supporter (Druid, Cleric, and Bard)
- Offensive Wizard (Warlock, Sorcerer, and Wizard)
- Generalist (Bard, Ranger, and Rogue)
What other, more specific roles are there?
- Speaker: Influences dialogues with charisma abilities (Bard, Wizard, Warlock)
- Group Control: Immobilizes or restricts movement of enemies (Fighter, Cleric, Monk, Warlock, Sorcerer)
- Thief: Has high dexterity for strong agility and is good at stealth, trickery, and lockpicking (Monk, Rogue, Ranger)
- Single-Target Damage: Focuses on builds that deal high damage to single enemies (Barbarian, Fighter, Paladin, Ranger, Rogue, Warlock)
- Area Damage: Focuses on builds with high radius damage that encompass multiple targets (Cleric, Warlock, Wizard, Sorcerer)
- Tank: Has high defense that protects itself and allies (Druid, Fighter, Paladin)
A good group could consist of Lae’zel as a tank in melee, Shadowheart as an area supporter, Gale as an offensive wizard, and yourself as a generalist like Bard, Rogue, or Ranger.
The beauty of this setup is that it works in both directions: You can adjust your group to your class or your class to your group, especially if you have a special fondness for certain companions.
Do not rely on the same attributes every time
What mistake should you avoid in your group? In Baldur’s Gate 3, there are six attributes:
- Strength: For hit chance and damage with melee weapons
- Dexterity: For hit chance and damage with ranged weapons or finesse weapons (dags, sabers, rapiers) and increases initiative
- Constitution: For the number of hit points for the character
- Intelligence: For the spellcasting ability of wizards
- Wisdom: For the spellcasting ability of druids, clerics, and rangers
- Charisma: For the spellcasting ability of warlocks, bards, paladins, and sorcerers. Additionally, charisma helps you in dialogues and during trading. Because charisma influences the buying and selling price of items with merchants. High charisma is particularly useful in the Honour mode, where prices at merchants are even higher.
In your group, you should always ensure that you do not have attributes overly concentrated. If your group consisted only of characters focusing on strength, then two problems would arise: On one hand, you may not find equipment quickly enough for all characters, and on the other hand, drops with other stats would be useless for you – no matter how good the drop is.
Our balanced group consists of Lae’zel focusing on strength, Shadowheart needing wisdom, Gale building on intelligence, and you focusing on charisma or dexterity. It is hard to distribute it better.
The “best” groups in offense
What are the strongest groups? Those who focus purely on high damage have two good options, with one leaning more toward melee and one toward ranged.
The melee group relies on:
- Lae’zel as Fighter
- Astarion as Rogue or Gale as Wizard
- Yourself in the other role. The Paladin would be a good choice here to cover both strength and charisma.
- Shadowheart as Cleric, who also stands in melee
This combo does a lot of damage, stays close together, and just feels really good.
For the pure ranged group, you rely on:
- Yourself, either as Warlock, Sorcerer, or Ranger
- Gale as Wizard
- Wyll as Warlock or Minsc as Ranger (depending on yourself)
- Jaheira or Halsin as Druid or Shadowheart as Cleric
This combo relies on you taking out enemies quickly enough that you don’t even need a tank. This variant is a bit risky, but it can be worth it in the end because it is simply a lot of fun.
A third fun combo relies on a lot of stealth and charisma and is often referred to as the “Social Group”:
- Yourself as Bard or Paladin for high charisma
- Wyll as Warlock with high charisma
- Astarion as Rogue with stealth and sneak attacks
- Shadowheart as Cleric with stealth
What roles do Patch 7 and Patch 8 play?
In the last Patch 7 from September 5, 2025, there were some news that, however, do not have a significant impact on builds and battles. What was new with Patch 7 is the official mod support, which can play a major role if one enjoys playing with mods. The many different possibilities that mods can offer would exceed the scope of this article but are still worth mentioning.
With the announced Patch 8, alongside cross-play and a photo mode, 12 new subclasses will be released that can refresh the gameplay and battles. There will likely be many new builds and team combinations that will prove their worth.
In essence, there are no limits to your imagination in Baldur’s Gate 3. What do you think about the companions? Are there any companions that you have especially taken to heart? And what does your ideal group look like? Feel free to tell us in the comments. The cleric is a true all-round talent and the only class that can also be considered a healer
. MeinMMO author Fabienne Kissel explains what makes the cleric so good.
