Baldur’s Gate 3 offers a total of 10 companions to choose from throughout your journey, though some of them just feel much more useful than others. Some are just exceptionally annoying, while others are too cool to reject when creating your party.
When you focus on creating your party in Baldur’s Gate 3, you should mostly look at how you want to play the game. Each character has different abilities and is of another class, so they will always bring something different to the table. On top of that, each one of them has a unique personality. Some were brilliant to have when completing both main and side quests, while others were just a pain in the neck—yes, I’m looking at you Lae’Zel.
After dozens of hours of gameplay, here are five Baldur’s Gate 3 companions that are just too good to dismiss. I wasn’t able to fit them all in my party naturally, therefore I tried to rotate them as much as I could and interact with them every time I returned to camp.
Shadowheart
No matter which class you play, having Shadowheart by your side is necessary, unless you’re a Cleric yourself. Clerics feel like pivotal elements of every party due to the numerous buffs they can give, with Guidance being literally the first spell I use every fight.
Having Shadowheart in your party comes with a lot of gameplay benefits. Besides buffs in combat, she’s proficient in Medicine, Insight, Religion, and History, which comes in handy countless times when exploring and engaging in dialogue. While Shadowheart can be a bit annoying at first and holds lots of secrets, the more time you spend with her, the more you get to like her. The character’s true good-hearted yet valiant nature is something I appreciated in my gameplay so far.
Related: Baldur’s Gate 3: How to romance Shadowheart in BG3
Astarion
If you’ve put at least an hour or two into Baldur’s Gate 3, you should have already known that picking locks and disarming traps is necessary if you want to get far in the game. For these reasons, having Astarion in your party is key most of the time, unless you’re a Rogue yourself.
We admit, Astarion is a bit of a prick and has that smug yet tricky personality, gaining inspiration when he sees you hoodwinking other NPCs. For example, I tricked Tieflings into thinking we’d kill Lae’Zel when we set her free, but when we broke her out of a cage, I changed my mind and killed the Tieflings, which Inspired Astarion.
I must say, though Astarion can sometimes be too much, I felt I needed such a puffed-up character in my party to stir things up a little. He also has an interesting backstory which I found enjoyable to explore, though, I travel with him on my secondary save, since my main character is a Rogue.
Karlach
Every party needs a front line. There are a few characters you can choose from, but the moment I met Karlach, I knew she was going to be my primary choice for the rest of the game.
Contrary to Lae’Zel, Karlach has a direct, funny, brave personality and most importantly, a truly good heart. On top of that, she’s a Barbarian, so she’s excellent at charging at the enemies and tanking some damage as well. If I’m not playing a fighting-based character, I couldn’t imagine myself in a world without Karlach in my party.
Wyll
Wyll might be a character too good in terms of personality for my liking. At first, he seems like an all-around great guy, and he mostly is, making him a perfect companion if you’re looking for a flawless ally. I also enjoyed his company a lot, but his personality traits weren’t the main reason behind that.
Being a Warlock, Wyll brings the best of both worlds of melee and ranged combat. He has ranged damaging spells, while also being able to wreak some havoc in close quarters. It’s his biggest advantage when choosing a combat-oriented party, or just an all-around balanced one.
Gale
I wanted to save Gale for last because most players will likely disagree with that opinion, but bear with me for a second. I know he can be extremely annoying, especially since he needs you to feed him magic items, which you don’t come across often in the early game.
But I found his personality to be the most level-headed of all, at least in the early game. He has a light approach from time to time with a touch of a dad joke but is serious when needed to be. Additionally, he’s a Wizard, a class extremely useful in combat, especially later in the game. I haven’t been traveling with Gale for most of my journey so far, but I try to pick him up along some trips from time to time.
Related: Baldur’s Gate 3 vs Diablo 4: which should you play?
In the end, remember some characters might land closer to the heart for you than they did for me, both in terms of personality and skills. So ideally, you should test how you get along with each one yourself before deciding on a perfect party.
