You’re Companions Will Need Powerful Builds to Make It in Faerûn
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After nearly three years in early access, Baldur’s Gate 3 released on August 3rd, 2023, much to the delight of gamers and tabletop RPG fans everywhere. Its rich story, characters, and gameplay all culminated into an experience worthy of multiple game of the year awards from some of the biggest gaming outlets out there.
A big part of Baldur’s Gate 3 is connecting with and fighting alongside your companions. For the latter part, you’ll want to have a proper build for each of the characters, especially if you plan to play on Tactician or Honour Mode. We’ve compiled a list of build ideas, one for each companion, that are great starting points for powerful followers. These aren’t detailed character guides, just fun concepts that can be extrapolated upon as you progress through the game.
All builds will be based on the companion’s starting class (though subclasses are free game) to keep it feeling true to their character. We’ll go over the build's intended playstyle and certain pieces of equipment that enable the build to function (where applicable). If you want to learn more about specific classes or items, the Baldur’s Gate 3 Wiki is an amazing resource. You’ll find links to the wiki where appropriate.
Note: Companions will be covered in order of when you first encounter them. This guide will contain light spoilers concerning early companion backstories in Act 1 and characters you can recruit up to Act 3.
Class: Fighter
Subclass: Battlemaster
Primary Stats: Strength and Constitution
Role: DPS/Control
Lae’zel’s brutal martial training as a githyanki warrior at Creche K'liir makes her well suited as a Battlemaster Fighter. This would be an up close and personal melee build that utilizes two-handed heavy weapons (preferably a githyanki silver sword).
Battle Masters control the flow of combat with their maneuvers, special combat actions (and bonus actions/reactions) that can hinder enemies or buff your party. Want to sweep a goblin off their feet? Use the trip attack. Want to take the boss’ weapon in the middle of combat? Hit him with a disarming attack. There’s a wide variety of maneuvers to choose, each useful in its own way. Just make sure you keep an eye on your superiority die, they are consumed every time you use a maneuver and come back on a short rest.
Class: Cleric
Subclass: Light Domain
Primary Stats: Wisdom
Role: Support
A bit of heresy is required for this build. You’ll want to respec Shadowheart, a cleric devoted to Shar, Goddess of Darkness, into a Light Domain Cleric. Trust me, you’ll be happier with Light Domain rather than the underwhelming Trickery Domain she starts as.
The Light Domain offers an amazing defensive option with Warding Flare, a reaction that imposes disadvantage when an enemy attacks you. And that ability gets even better at level 6, at which point you can use it when an enemy attacks nearby allies.
In addition to defense, Light Domain can actually dole out decent damage and AOE thanks to all the fire spells on its list. Having Scorching Ray, Fireball, and Wall of Fire always prepared gives you flexibility outside of protecting or healing the party.
Class: Rogue and Ranger
Subclass: Assassin/Gloom Stalker
Primary Stats: Dexterity
Role: Stealth/DPS
Everyone’s favorite blood sucking diva, Astarion is right at home as an Assassin Rogue, skulking in the shadows, waiting for the right moment to strike. But you can take his combat abilities to the next level by throwing Gloom Stalker Ranger into the mix.
Assassin and Gloom Stalker come together to make a build that hits extremely hard at the beginning of combat. The Assassinate: Ambush and Assassinate: Initiative features, combined with the Gloom Stalker’s Dread Ambusher, ensure that you will go first in combat, get extra attacks, and deal a ton of extra critical damage. All you have to do is surprise your enemies by getting the first strike before combat starts.
Class: Wizard
Subclass: Divination
Primary Stats: Intelligence
Role: Control/Support
Gale, The Wizard from Waterdeep, is your party’s foremost expert in the arcane arts. While there are many subclass paths Gale can take as a Wizard, I’d argue the most powerful is the Divination School.
The Divination School comes with one of the best support features in the game: Portent. Portent allows you to roll two d20, or Portent Die, at the end of each long rest. Then, for the rest of the day, whenever a creature makes an attack roll or saving throw near you, you can replace their roll with one of your Portent Dice. This can turn enemy attacks into misses, save allies from nasty spell effects, or even turn allied misses into crits. You definitely want a Divination Wizard on your side.
Class: Warlock and Paladin
Subclass: Fiend (Pact of the Blade) and Devotion
Primary Stats: Charisma
Role: DPS
The Blade of Frontiers may have made a deal with the devil, but he’s still a hero at heart. The duality of his character makes him a perfect choice for a Warlock/Paladin multiclass.
The exact subclasses you use for Wyll matter the least out of all these builds. What really matters is that you take Pact of the Blade at warlock level 3. This eliminates the need for Strength or Dexterity by making your attack rolls scale off of Charisma, your spellcasting stat.
The main draw of this multiclass is the synergy between Warlock spell slots and Paladin smites. Smites deal a lot of damage but can quickly eat away your spell slots as a Paladin, who only gets spells back on long rest. But this multiclass can use Warlock spell slots to smite, and those come back on a short rest. You’ll basically be able to dish out big damage more often than if you were a Paladin or Warlock alone.
Class: Barbarian
Subclass: Berserker
Primary Stat: Strength and Constitution
Role: DPS/Tank
After losing years of her life fighting for Zariel in the depths of Avernus, it's understandable that Karlach would have some pent-up anger to sort out. That’s why Berserker Barbarian is the perfect build for her.
Besides the standard Barbarian beefiness, Berserkers are also afforded a special type of rage called Frenzy. Frenzy grants the barbarian access to two new bonus action attacks: Frenzied Strike and Enraged Throw. Bonus action attacks are a great source of extra damage, especially in the early game. And the option to throw opens up a can be quite useful when you can’t get in range of an enemy. Remember: You can throw creatures as well as objects. Who says goblins can’t fly?
Class: Druid
Subclass: Circle of the Moon
Primary Stat: Wisdom
Role: Support/Flexible
When we first meet Halsin, he’s wild shaped into the form of a ferocious cave bear. He seems at home regardless of whether he’s in humanoid or animal form. That in mind, his default Circle of the Moon subclass seems the best fit for him.
Along with full Druid spell progression, the Circle of the Moon is all about wild shape, allowing you to do so as a bonus action instead of an action. Wild shape gives druids access to the form and abilities of a variety of animals, each fitting a different role. Need a tank to soak up damage on the frontline? Take the form of a bear. Can’t reach the top of those castle walls? Just fly over using the raven form. And later levels give you access to myrmidon forms, elementals with potent combat abilities.
Class: Paladin
Subclass: Oathbreaker
Primary Stat: Charisma and Strength
Role: DPS
I think it's fair to say that Minthara is easily the most evil character you can recruit in BG3. Coupled with her starting class being paladin, I’d say she’s the perfect candidate to become an Oathbreaker.
Oathbreakers take the already superb damage output that paladin offers and cranks it up to 11 with their Aura of Hate feature. This makes your (plus nearby fiends and undead) weapon attacks deal bonus damage equal to your Charisma modifier. Dual-wielding lets you capitalize on this bonus even further. And thanks to the advantage from their Spiteful Suffering Channel Oath feature, it’s easy for them to land those attacks.
Class: Druid
Subclass: Circle of Spores
Primary Stat: Wisdom
Role: Support/Summoner
The High Harper of Baldur’s Gate starts out as a Circle of the Land Druid when you first meet her, a great spellcasting focused subclass. But if you want something with a more unique and arguably more powerful playstyle, I’d recommend respeccing her as Circle of Spores Druid.
The Symbiotic Entity feature gives characters survivability and melee damage, in line with Jaheira’s background as front-line combatant. But the star of the show is Fungal Infestation, a feature that allows you to raise fallen enemies as undead, spore-ridden zombies. Each zombie isn’t too powerful on its own, but with up to 4 each long rest, that’s a fair amount of bodies that can take or deal damage for your party. And with their ability to raise weaker zombies upon killing a foe, your 4 fungal fighters can quickly snowball into an undead army.
Class: Ranger
Subclass: Hunter
Primary Stat: Strength and Wisdom
Role: DPS
Minsc occupies an awkward position in the party as a companion that can only join you later into Act 3. It can be tough to find a role for him so late into the game, but the Hunter subclass of ranger is a nice archetype he can fit into. Most rangers use Dexterity for their primary physical stat, but Strength is much more in line with the hulking Rashemaar’s physique.
Hunter Rangers offer a balance of offense and defense thanks to their Hunter’s Prey and Defensive Tactics features. Hunter’s Prey has three options for increasing your damage output: an extra d8 to wounded foes, a reaction attack against large enemies, or special moves that let you hit multiple enemies at once. Defensive Tactics has the same versatility in the opposite direction: letting you avoid opportunity attacks, gain advantage against being frightened, or make consecutive attacks against you more likely to miss.
With that, we’ve covered builds for all the companions in Baldur’s Gate 3. Take them for a spin and tell us what you think about our suggestions down in the comments. Or let us know what builds are working for you in your adventures in the Forgotten Realms.
