29 December 2025

I’ve Played Over 460 Hours in Baldur’s Gate 3, and Here’s How I Rank the Companions

By newsgame

Some characters don’t just live inside a game I like. They move in, unpack their bags, and take up permanent residence inside my head—without paying rent. Baldur’s Gate 3 is full of those characters for me: the kind that linger long after the credits roll, the kind that rewire how I think about character work, motivation, and payoff.

Baldur’s Gate 3’s companions are masterclasses in performance, character design, and narrative execution, which I’ve often celebrated as a contributor for Game Rant. As a creative writer, though, there are certain companions I keep circling back to. Not because they’re flawless, but because they feel alive. Messy. Contradictory. Earnest in ways that feel almost dangerous. They’re the kind of characters I aspire to write someday: ones whose arcs feel inevitable in hindsight but devastating in the moment.

After more than 460 hours in Baldur’s Gate 3, those feelings are well-earned. Yet, this ranking isn’t driven by affection alone. It’s built on narrative weight, mechanical identity, emotional resolution, and the kind of romantic payoff that reshaped expectations for RPG storytelling entirely. Sentiment may linger, but structure ultimately decides.

This ranking only considers BG3′s origin companions. That means Minsc, Jaheira, Halsin, and Minthara are excluded.

What Criteria Determine the Best Companion in Baldur’s Gate 3?

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I think some characters in Baldur’s Gate 3 are pretty neat. But that doesn’t mean that they are the best the game has to offer. When selecting the best companion in Baldur’s Gate 3, objective criteria can outweigh any of the mushy feelings I developed over my 450+ hours with these characters. That’s the outlook I will stick with. Here are the questions I’ve kept in mind for this ranking:

Are they essential to the plot? Sure, every companion is critical when their time in the spotlight comes. But the best companions should have some tie to the main issue afflicting Baldur’s Gate 3’s main party.
What are they like in combat? Multiclassing in Baldur’s Gate 3 can lead to some of the most overpowered builds in the game. However, for the purpose of this list, I’m sticking to the canon.
Does their character arc feel complete? Every performance in Baldur’s Gate 3 is no short of inspired. I adore every origin companion the game throws my way. However, some stories were able to commit to a consistent momentum and catharsis better than others.
What payoff does their romance offer? Romance in RPGs has been changed forever thanks to Baldur’s Gate 3. Although the romances might not be for every player, they are undoubtedly a crucial part of how these characters interact with the player: from the one-time flings and the “I just did this for the achievement” hookups to the tear-jerking soulmate connections.

So, without further ado, here’s how I rank Baldur’s Gate 3’s companions.

6

Wyll

I evaluated each character separately using my questions and then calculated the average of their scores. I’m stating this to justify Baldur’s Gate 3‘s Wyll being in last place to myself, despite the fact that he is my personal second-favorite companion. Wyll does not rank this low because of a lack of strong moments—he is cunning, resourceful, and kind in the beats where his party needs him to be. However, he is outperformed by his companions in almost every category.

What hurt Wyll’’s ranking most is that he scored the poorest in his character arc. He is the character with the least amount of in-game content, so that just naturally hurt his overall standing. That isn’t to say, however, that the Blade of Frontiers did not have his moment to shine. Other characters, unfortunately, just shone brighter.

5

Gale

Gale is an interesting companion for me. Where some players can’t stand his verbosity, I’ve always found it endearing—if a little indulgent. He is earnest to a fault, inclined toward grand gestures in romance, and deeply aware of his own brilliance. That self-awareness is both his charm and his undoing. Notably, I initially regretted recruiting Gale in Baldur’s Gate 3 simply because I was also playing a spellcaster. Doubling up on mages felt redundant, and it took a few playthroughs and different classes before I was able to appreciate his combat potential on its own terms. Once that clicked, Gale became a reliable and flexible presence in my party.

Where Gale ultimately loses ground is in narrative momentum. His arc is compelling in concept—hubris, devotion, and self-annihilation braided together—but it often feels as though it resolves in a fizzle. His romance is tender and sincere, yet comparatively restrained, and his connection to the main plot, while significant, never fully overtakes the gravitational pull of his personal crisis. Gale has the narrative DNA of a main character in Baldur’s Gate 3: thoughtful, tragic, and beautifully written. But he’s edged out by companions whose stories demand more space and take more risks.

4

Shadowheart

Fun fact about this ranking: Shadowheart and Karlach actually tied for third place! So I’m giving fourth place to Shadowheart based on alphabetical order. It also feels fitting for a character who spends much of the game deliberately withholding herself.

Shadowheart’s strength lies in restraint. Her arc is slow, deliberate, and layered with uncertainty, and that patience pays off in a way that feels deeply intentional. She is essential to the main plot in ways that are both explicit and thematic, and her internal conflict mirrors Baldur’s Gate 3’s broader preoccupation with faith, autonomy, and survival under systems that demand obedience.

That said, Shadowheart’s combat role… she’s a solid healer, but she frustratingly misses without deliberate respecs. And her romance, though emotionally satisfying, unfolds with a quieter cadence than others. Her story is beautifully complete, but its power is subtle rather than explosive. Shadowheart doesn’t demand attention; she earns it slowly, and for some players, that restraint may keep her just shy of the very top.

3

Karlach

Karlach’s placement here feels almost unfair, which is perhaps the most Karlach thing imaginable. She is instantly lovable, narratively devastating, and mechanically powerful in a way that makes her feel indispensable from the moment she joins the party.

In combat, Karlach is a standout. Her presence is immediate, visceral, and reliable, and her role is so clearly defined that she rarely feels eclipsed by other companions. Narratively, her arc is one of the most emotionally coherent in the game: painfully finite, brutally honest, and anchored by a performance that never lets you forget what’s at stake.

What keeps Karlach from climbing higher is not a lack of impact but a lack of narrative agency. Karlach’s story is tragic by design, and while that tragedy is effective, it limits the range of outcomes available to her. Her romance is heartfelt and unforgettable, but it carries the weight of inevitability in a way that constrains its payoff. Karlach is extraordinary. Yet, her arc burns fast and bright, rather than evolving across the full scope of the game.

2

Astarion

Fun fact about me: I researched vampires during my time in grad school. So, yes. Astarion had my number immediately.

Astarion is one of Baldur’s Gate 3’s most ambitious characters, and that ambition shows. He honors the vampiric tradition that came before him—seduction, cruelty, survival—while actively interrogating it. His arc is not just about liberation from abuse, but about what comes after freedom: choice, accountability, and the terrifying absence of structure.

Mechanically, Astarion is unbeatable. His combat utility is unstoppable in higher levels, and his narrative relevance deepens steadily as the game progresses. Astarion’s romance is one of the most emotionally complex in modern RPGs. He is capable of being manipulative, tender, devastating, or healing depending on the player’s choices. Few companions respond so directly to the way the player engages with them. What ultimately keeps Astarion from the top spot is balance. His arc is powerful, but it is also completely detached from the main problem. He is unforgettable. His story, for all its brilliance, is more personal than cosmic.

1

Lae’zel

Lae’zel earns the top spot not because she is the most immediately likable companion, but because she is the most consistently integrated one. From the opening moments of Baldur’s Gate 3 to its final decisions, Lae’zel is inseparable from the game’s core conflict: ideologically, narratively, and mechanically.

Lae’zel’s character arc is one of transformation without erasure. She does not abandon who she is; she interrogates it. Her faith, her fury, and her sense of purpose are all challenged, dismantled, and reforged in ways that feel earned and deeply satisfying. Few companions experience growth that is both this dramatic and this coherent. And to make it even more compelling, she is the youngest companion, sparking an unexplored maternal instinct to protect within me.

In combat, Lae’zel is devastating in her canon form, fulfilling her role as a BG3 Fighter with brutal clarity. Her romance is equally uncompromising: intense, intimate, and eventually rooted in mutual devotion rather than emotional dependency. Lae’zel’s story doesn’t just parallel Baldur’s Gate 3’s themes; it embodies them. When all criteria are weighed together, she stands as the companion whose presence most fully defines the experience of the game.