The Companions in Baldur’s Gate 3 are filled with charms, their own storyline, and some quirky romance and dialogue options peppered throughout the game. Now that we are over that sweet 150 hour mark, and had enough time to experiment with each of the companions, we’re dumping that much discussed Baldur’s Gate 3 Companion Tier List, ranking our favorites for a variety of reasons.
Baldur’s Gate 3 Companion Tier List: Best Companion Ranked¶
Shadowheart is a popular character and ranks high on a Baldur’s Gate 3 Companion Tier List no matter who you ask.
| Tier Rank | Companions |
|---|---|
| S |  Shadowheart,  Lae’zel, Wyll |
| A |  Astarion,  Gale,  Karlach |
| B | Jaheira, Halsin |
| C | Minsc, Minthara |
Understanding my rankings in the companion tier list may be somewhat questionable, but, it’s going off my initial response as to what patches I’ve played with the companions. It also factors in some of the romance options, dialogue, personal storyline and general wow moments that I’ve experienced so far with the companions.
So, with that said, Lae’zel and Shadowheart are the top two for me. The reason why is because the game feels like Shadowheart is supposed to be there from start to finish. Her drama with the artifact, the whole of Act 2, and then the general lead up to the third act and her cloister of Shar worshippers, no matter what decisions you took throughout the game was sweet. In some ways, Shadowheart is the main character and not Tav.
As for Lae’zel, this angry standoffish character was probably the worst companion in BG3 if you take Early Access as your only source. However, if you deal with this moody soldier alien, she becomes a lot more tolerable, to the point her personal story arc really kicks off. The way I played her, understood her relation to Vlakkith, Voss, and the tadpoles, was a really interesting way of breaking her. Not to mention her early game spats with Shadowheart, and how your decisions and Shadowheart’s responses can develop. With no spoilers, it felt like taking Lae’zel all the way to the end was very much worth it in so many ways. Not to mention her romance in the early game is pretty comical.
I will give Wyll credit here as an S Tier character in the Companion Tier List. The reason for it is because of his appearance changes, the interactions with his patron demon, and the general progression of the character. Not to mention the daddy issues, and that whole plot line. Oh, and he has my favorite mission in the whole of Act 3 with the Iron Throne. It also helps that Wyll is now Canon in 5e lore too, thanks to the tales of Avernus Larian and !Wizard both worked on which is a nice touch by reading between the lines.
Next up in the A Tier are pretty much the remaining origin characters and Karlach. For the most part, all of these characters were good. They all had pretty decent storylines, with payoffs in Act 3 worthy of getting to know them. However, it does feel like there’s a little less wow with these characters. If you even play remotely good with Gale or Wyll you’re pretty much going to have them falling in love with you from the get-go. I even had Gale start being flirty with my Dark Urge playthrough. Astarion is how you’d expect things to go and so I was pretty satisfied with his character, but again lacked that major story OOOMPH that Lae’zel and Shadowheart has. Meanwhile, we have Karlach. If you want an actual companion with some of the best lines, empathy and emotion, then Karlach takes the crown. The only reason why she is not higher is because she’s still going through the changes with patch content and the first patch ending for her was really bad, with things getting better. I feel like Karlach is one of those I need to play with again at some point and see her full story arc complete now she has more satisfactory bug fixes from the recent patches.
BG3 companions ranked on the lower end¶
The characters further down the BG3 Companion Tier List are not bad, they just lack something for a specific reason.
The !Druids occupy the B Tier in the BG3 companion Tier List for a few reasons. While the characters are not bad, they seem to have some limiting factors in their potential. For example Halsin seems like a bot to get you through to Act 2. After that he’s just a dirty boy. His entire personality is just him being a dirty boy in fact. It’s a nice touch his entire recruitment arc in the game is one of the only ways of dealing with a major plot point in Act 2 though, so that’s cool. But do it once and I feel like Halsin is a character I can pretend doesn’t exist from that point onwards.
Now, Jaheira is on the other side of things. When you get to 
Last Light Inn, and have Jeheira as an NPC in your camp, you spend few actual engaging moments with her. But, when you recruit her, and wander around in Act 3 with her, she has some interesting insight for you, especially when it comes to the criminal and gang side of the city, it helps immerse you in those side plots better. However, a lack of end game oomph, and no nuance romance stuff either makes her potential fall off.
In the C Tier we have Minsc and Minthara. Minsc is simple enough, you can perhaps find him moments before you’re about to end the game in some instances. If you get him early, well it’s not like he has much going for him in terms of personal storyline. He’s just that throwback character with Jaheira from the previous Baldur’s Gate games that doesn’t get the flesh out he deserves. He feels more like an easter egg rather than a playable character.
Meanwhile, Minthara is an essay in and of herself. This character feels like she can go up to A Tier at minimum, with her storyline, voice lines, and background stuff. Yet, with a full evil playthrough, her potential, explanations, and more importantly special voice lines with the Dark Urge gives her a unique advantage over other characters as she is one of the more nuanced evil companions. Yet, when it comes to the ending she feels she gets as soured as Karlach did in patch 1. I feel as though if the Minthara bugs get ironed out, and maybe they expand on her ending, as one of the endings seemed to fit Minthara both voicelines and thematically, but she didn’t get much interaction with it, then I feel like she can move to S Tier for those who like a more evil nuance in their playthroughs. But for now, Minthara can stay in the C Tier and play through her once again when the kinks are ironed out and see more of her.
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