Best Baldur’s Gate 3 party

What is the best BG3 party? There are a lot (and we mean a lot) of moving parts when it comes to making the best BG3 party and team composition. When choosing between the staggering 12 classes and 46 subclasses, to the many companions that can accompany you, you’ll have to take into account how they come together to aid in combat, social interactions, and exploration. Needless to say, it’s quite a task. Luckily, we’ve got you covered with the best Baldur’s Gate 3 party that you can make from start to end, along with a few alternative options.

When it comes to making the best Baldur’s Gate 3 party, your first stop should be understanding the horde of complex Baldur’s Gate 3 classes. Not only do these dictate how your own character plays in one of the best RPG games, but your companions are also categorized by classes and subclasses. It’s the balance of these classes that will make or break your BG3 party and team composition. But fret not, if all the choices are overwhelming then you need only look at our best Baldur’s Gate 3 class tier list to help you decide.

Best Baldur’s Gate 3 party

The best Baldur’s Gate 3 party and team composition is:

• Paladin main character
• Shadowheart (Cleric)
• Gale (Wizard)
• Astarion (Rogue)

This will give you a great distribution of combat effectiveness – complete with healing, damage, and support – as well as social interactions and world exploration that will be able to carry you through the full Baldur’s Gate 3 length.

Once you’ve leveled each character up and invested in them, this BG3 team composition is incredibly strong. That’s before even considering the possibilities with multiclassing, such as a Paladin-Warlock for bonus damage or a Rogue and Gloomstalker Ranger Astarion. These will further improve your party composition and specialize each member to make the best BG3 party as you progress further. Even at level one though this team is highly effective in nearly all aspects of the game.

It’s worth remembering that there’s multiple roles that need to be covered when thinking about the best BG3 party – combat, dialogue, and exploration. Only a carefully thought-out team can effectively cover all roles with the limited four-person party size.

Firstly, we recommend playing as a Paladin for this BG3 team composition as not only are they simply one of the best classes in the game, but they also excel in both combat and dialogue. Given there are more roles you need to fill than you have space in your party, you need a class like the Paladin that can cover multiple areas very well.

You can get up in the faces of your enemies, dealing heavy melee and magic damage all while tanking and supporting your team. As for Paladin subclasses, we’d recommend Oath of the Ancients or Oath of Vengeance. Just remember not to break your oath, unless you’d like to be an Oathbreaker Paladin, of course. You can also multiclass with a Warlock for a nice bump to damage while also gaining access to more ranged cantrips, including Eldritch Blast, as this is a sore spot for the Paladin.

It’s also nice to have your own character lead the narrative, which Paladins excel at thanks to their Charisma scaling. While Minthara is a Drow Paladin that could be used to fill this spot in the best BG3 party, role-playing as your own character makes for a more immersive experience and is what we’d typically opt to do. Minthara is… also rather problematic for many players given how you go about recruiting her.

Overall, we find the Paladin to be the best all-rounder for the player character and we’ve loved exploring, solving quests, and taking on challenging fights as our Paladin.

Next, we recommend Shadowheart – the Cleric companion – as a support character in your party. Every team needs support and healing, and Shadowheart is the perfect pick given the other party member options available to us.

Shadowheart is a superb support that can heal you from range in a pinch. Given her armor proficiency, Shadowheart can either stay at range or charge in alongside the Paladin. As for Cleric subclasses, we recommend Life Domain for Shadowheart to improve her healing. With how strong she is, it’s no surprise that Shadowheart is one of the best Baldur’s Gate 3 companions that is used in nearly every strong party composition.

Even better though is that Shadowheart (and the Cleric class in general) isn’t solely a support. They’re also capable of some surprisingly strong damage. This can be amped up a notch through multiclassing, such as making a Cleric-Paladin, Cleric-Wizard, or Cleric-Sorcerer. Thinking back to the roles you need to cover, this means the Cleric slots nicely into combat due to their healing, support, and bonus damage.

From here, Gale – the Wizard companion – is a devastating ranged caster that fills the main damage dealer role in the best BG3 party. We recommend choosing the Evocation School subclass for Gale so you’re not accidentally damaging your own team, which comes in handy when your allies are surrounded. Given how powerful your AoE spells are, you don’t want that working against you.

Now, you’ll be able to provide long-range crowd control and high damage, though it will take some learning. For example, several of the crowd control spells, such as Grease, can also be great for dealing damage if you know how to trigger the additional effects. In other words, carefully read the tool-tips of each skill and think about how you can get some extra value. As a freebie, Grease can be ignited to set slowed enemies ablaze. Once you’ve learned the ins and outs of the Wizard’s spells, you can easily control the battlefield from afar while your Paladin and other melee characters/classes charge in.

While you could opt for a melee damage dealer, such as the Fighter Lae’zel or Barbarian Karlach, we’d recommend a ranged caster like Gale instead as he has access to many of the best Baldur’s Gate 3 spells to help with crowd control. With that said, we do love swapping Karlach in from time to time simply due to how fun she is to have in your party during combat. For fights with fewer enemies or where range isn’t all that necessary (or possible), then Karlach should be ready to join the fray.

However, if you’re just not a fan of Gale, then you could also pick Wyll. As a Warlock, Wyll can also fill the ranged damage dealer role well, though we prefer to multiclass our own character as Paladin and Warlock.

Last but by no means least, you’ll need a sub-DPS and utility character. This is where Astarion comes in. As the only Rogue companion, Astarion is a great pick not only for some extra damage in combat, particularly if you’re a fan of stealth, but also due to his prowess in exploration. For example, Astarion can lockpick and detect traps and other objects in the environment which is invaluable when it comes to exploring, unlocking new areas, or opening locked chests that contain precious loot. And how could you not love Astarion? That’s reason alone to bring him along.

We recommend either the Thief or Assassin Rogue subclass for Astarion to further enhance his damage. Likewise, you can also multiclass him with a Gloomstalker Ranger for massive first-round damage, though this is a little tricky if you don’t quite know how it works.

If you really don’t like Astarion but don’t mind some extra hassle, then you could instead swap Astarion for Karlach, Lae’zel, or Wyll when it’s time for action. Since Astarion’s main specialties lay outside of combat, it’s possible to swap party members before entering fights. We enjoy Astarion’s Rogue playstyle even if it isn’t quite as effective or reliable as other classes, so we’re happy to keep him in the party at all times, though the option is there.

With the best BG3 party and team composition, you’ll be able to get through any hurdle you come across without having to rearrange and respec characters frequently. Whether it be a tough combat encounter, a challenging dialogue check, or you simply want to uncover secrets while exploring, you’re all sorted. You’ll have access to all the necessary roles, all the best spells and abilities, and also a great cast of characters to get to know (though every companion is superb).

Best alternative BG3 teams

Here are the best alternative BG3 party and team compositions that you can use if you’d rather. This is particularly important if you don’t want to play as a Paladin. We’ve also got the best Baldur’s Gate 3 build for each class so you have an idea of how to play no matter which party setup you go for.

Bard main character

• Bard/Ranger main character – utility/DPS
• Karlach (Barbarian) – tank/DPS
• Wyll (Warlock) – DPS/dialogue
• Shadowheart (Cleric) – support

Sorcerer main character

• Sorcerer main character – DPS/dialogue
• Lae’zel (Fighter) – tank/DPS
• Jaheira/Shadowheart – support
• Astarion (Rogue) – utility/DPS

Fighter main character

• Fighter main character – tank/DPS
• Wyll (Warlock) – DPS/dialogue
• Astarion (Rogue) – utility/DPS
• Shadowheart (Cleric) – support

Cleric main character

• Cleric main character – support
• Gale (Wizard) – DPS
• Wyll (Warlock) – DPS/dialogue
• Astarion (Rogue) – utility/DPS

Rogue main character

• Rogue main character – utility/DPS
• Karlach or Lae’zel (Fighter) – tank/DPS
• Shadowheart (Cleric) – support
• Wyll (Warlock) – DPS/dialogue

Warlock main character

• Warlock main character – DPS/dialogue
• Lae’zel or Karlach (Fighter) – tank/DPS
• Shadowheart (Cleric) – support
• Astarion – utility/DPS

Druid main character

• Druid main character – support/utility
• Lae’zel or Karlach (Fighter) – tank/DPS
• Wyll (Warlock) – DPS/dialogue
• Astarion (Rogue) – utility/DPS

Barbarian/Fighter/Monk main character

• Barbarian/Fighter/Monk main character – tank/DPS
• Shadowheart (Cleric) – support
• Wyll (Warlock) – DPS/dialogue
• Astarion (Rogue) – utility/DPS

Ranger main character

• Ranger main character – DPS/utility
• Karlach or Lae’zel (Fighter) – tank/DPS
• Shadowheart (Cleric) – support
• Wyll (Warlock) – DPS/dialogue

Given all the companions and classes available to you, there are hundreds, if not thousands of team compositions available if you’re not a fan of the best BG3 party that we’ve recommended.

In fact, here’s a handy list of all the class roles so you know what combinations you can make:

Although there are frequently clearly defined roles, such as the Bard generally being a support character (that is great for dialogue outside of combat), that isn’t to say they can’t overlap.

For example, there’s nothing wrong with having your Bard or Cleric also dealing a little bit of damage when needed. Likewise, Paladins can be incredibly tanky and supportive, but also capable of some pretty great damage.

It’s important to pick a party composition that effectively covers all the roles, and for this, your team must overlap roles. That’s why we recommend the best Baldur’s Gate 3 party above, as it covers all the necessary roles with the four-character party limit.

Why does team composition matter in Baldur’s Gate 3?

Having the best BG3 party and team composition is crucial if you want to have the easiest time during combat encounters, dialogue, and exploration. Though there are Baldur’s Gate 3 difficulty settings that can artificially make the game easier, BG3 is huge and you still won’t be able to experience everything without a team that can cover all bases.

For example, without a utility character like a Bard, Rogue, or Ranger, you’ll miss out on locked areas and loot, some of which is vital for alternative quest steps. Likewise, sometimes you can change the direction of the main and side quests with a successful speech check, which is where Charisma scaling characters come into play. If you want the best chance to experience all the alternative methods of completing activities, then it’s worth considering the best party composition.

Likewise, turn-based combat can be an incredibly big challenge at times, even more so for those who don’t have much experience with it. As such, having a strong, well-rounded party will make completing tough encounters and bosses that much easier. If you’ve tried fighting a boss for yourself, then you’ll have realized how demanding these sections can be, so don’t leave camp without a good party.

At the end of the day though, Baldur’s Gate 3 is all about role-playing. If you’d rather have a team made up of all your favorite characters, then do what works for you. The most important part is that you’re meeting all the requirements you have for a team, even if it doesn’t necessarily result in the most optimal setup.

And that’s all you need to know for the best Baldur’s Gate 3 party and team composition. Although BG3 will undoubtedly eat up most of your time for the next few months – it is one of the best games, after all – there are always more of the best Xbox games and best PS5 games to play next. New Xbox games and new PS5 games are coming out all the time, though they’ll have to compete with this Game of the Year nominee from now on. Happy adventuring!