Larian Studios Forums Baldur's Gate III Baldur's Gate III - Build Discussion Fairly Optimized and Lore-Thematic Builds for All 10 Companions

I recently developed character builds for all of the companion characters that are both lore friendly and thematic for their characters, in addition to being well optimized for end game combat. This took me a considerable amount of time to accomplish and I am relatively proud of it, so I figured I would share the links to them here, accompanied with a brief description of the design choices I made.

These 10 builds are both lore-thematic to the essence of the companion character they are associated with and also more than sufficiently strong enough to complete all end game content, even on Honour Mode. More importantly, the items used in these builds are mutually exclusive with one another. This means that every featured item is used only once across all of the builds. To reiterate: These 10 companion builds can be used simultaneously with one another on a single playthrough, without being in conflict with one another or requiring the same item on more than one build.

Additionally, most of the true, game-breaking items aren't utilized in these builds, as to leave some room to play with when coming up with a build for your own Tav. As such, none of these builds are truly and completely game-breakingly optimized, but they are definitely beyond sufficient and extremely powerful builds.

Feel free to use these builds for your playthroughs, or modify them to your hearts content. Even if you don't use these exact builds, they should at least serve as a solid starting point to come up with your own companion builds that do not interfere with one another.

Here are the builds, organized by Origin/Non-origin companion and alphabetical order:


ORIGIN COMPANIONS


Astarion - https://eip.gg/bg3/build-planner/?buildId=clydhxfi700i3d4rj4mtf0ti7

12 Thief Rogue

Very straightforward build and completely in line with Astarion's character. Stick to the shadows and make use of hiding for advantage. Stacking items that decrease critical threshold help to keep sneak damage relevant by allowing him to crit almost every other attack. Gloves of the Balanced Hands give more damage to his offhand attacks to take advantage of the extra Bonus Actions, and Surgeon's Subjugation Amulet gives him team utility when scoring a critical hit which he will be doing early and often. If you need Sarevok's Horned Helmet or Bloodthirst for your Tav's build, Dark Justiciar Helmet and Dolor Amarus would serve as suitable replacements.


Gale - https://eip.gg/bg3/build-planner/?buildId=clydhyobp00i5d4rjeyshq2cb

2 Evocation Wizard/8 Storm Sorcerer/2 Tempest Cleric

This is definitely the most complex build on here, but it turns Gale into a badass storm wizard worthy of his name. Multi-classing three different classes that each use a different primary stat is tricky. We will be using Intelligence as our primary stat, true to Gale's identity as a wizard. Evocation is perfect to prevent friendly fire. Storm Sorcerer is used for sorcerer points, utility spells, and tempestuous magic/heart of the storm. Tempest Cleric is taken solely for Destructive Wrath to beef up his casts of Chain Lightning on demand. It is very important that you take all his damaging spells through Wizard levels or by learning them through scrolls, and when leveling up Sorcerer you prioritize utility spells that don't rely on spellcasting modifier. The make or break items for this build are the Gloves of Belligerent Skies, Boots of Stormy Clamor, and Ring of Spiteful Thunder so Gale can stack immense amounts of Reverberation on targets and possibly daze and prone them. If you require Markoheshkir for your Tav's build, the Spell Sparkler will serve as an adequate replacement for Gale.


Karlach - https://eip.gg/bg3/build-planner/?buildId=clydi1cvw00icd4rjptziyhj3

12 Berserker Barbarian

This is our next straightforward build. Basic berserker/throwzerker build with Tavern Brawler feat. True to Karlach's condition of perpetually overheating, this build makes use of the Heat mechanic from the Thermoarcanic Gloves and the Hellfire Greataxe, giving her a bit more fire damage on her hits at the cost of receiving some of her own, though she combats this with her natural resistance to fire damage. This build is all about the risk/reward Barbarian style of play and venting the heat her infernal heart has built up toward her enemies, which is accentuated through the heat mechanic and the Cindermoth Cloak. Instead of popping a health potion, Amulet of the Drunkard lets us use alcohol for consistent healing through a number of turns, which synergizes well with Barbarians and particularly those taking advantage of the heat mechanic, given their low defense and the consistent damage being done to them. If you'd like to use the Killer's Sweetheart ring on your Tav, the Ring of Flinging can be equipped on Karlach in it's place.


Lae'zel - https://eip.gg/bg3/build-planner/?buildId=clydi42k800ijd4rjmknclry2

12 Battle Master Fighter

Another straightforward build. This build capitalizes off of Lae'zel's race as a Githyanki and utilizes many of the Gith-born items. Heavy armour is used for defense against martial attacks, while the Gith items and the Mage Slayer feat protect her from spell casters and give her a way to retaliate against them. The Caustic Band and Fleshmelter Cloak give her an acid theme, which seems very natural to her race if the Gith hatchery is any indication.


Shadowheart - https://eip.gg/bg3/build-planner/?buildId=clydi7t5r00iqd4rjagxzaq4u

12 Life Cleric

For roleplay purposes, I would hold off on re-speccing Shadowheart until after the events of the Night Song, if you go that route. At this point she will become born again as a Life Cleric, taking advantage of all the radiant light she had been forsaken from up until that point. This build maximizes group utility through generating stacks of Radiant Orb on her enemies, providing an immense amount of team defense. The Whispering Promise, coupled with the healing capabilities of her Cleric actions/spells and the Devotee's mace, allows her to perpetually keep Bless on her teammates. The Reviving Hands or Hellrider's Pride could be suitable replacements for her Luminous gloves, if you value team martial resistance over additional stacks of Radiant Orb.


Wyll - https://eip.gg/bg3/build-planner/?buildId=clydi8h6v00ird4rjaczl26qu

12 Fiend Warlock Pact of the Blade

This simple build specs Wyll as a devastating spellblade, true to his name as the Blade of Frontiers. Utilizing a rapier with an empty offhand keeps his fighting style true to his character, and maximizing his melee damage through the Life Drinker invocation, the Ring of Arcane Synergy, and Bind Pact Weapon gives his melee damage a very high floor that is completely based off his spellcasting modifier. His Charisma modifier gets added to every one of his melee attacks THREE TIMES, which is why we lean so heavily into Charisma for this one. Couple this with his ability to make three melee attacks per turn due to the Duellist's Prerogative's weapon action and he is not to be taken lightly. The Ring of Arcane Synergy works very nicely with Eldritch Blast, as each ray of the cantrip procs the ring for a total of 3 procs per cast at max level. Stacks of Arcane Synergy can build up very quickly, and it also creates a nice rhythm of Wyll alternating between Eldritch Blast and basic melee attacks per turn, really enforcing the spellblade feel. The Defensive Duellist feat is taken for some reactionary defense, that synergizes well with the Duellist's Prerogative extra Reaction per turn.


NON-ORIGIN COMPANIONS


Halsin - https://eip.gg/bg3/build-planner/?buildId=clydhzzb800i8d4rj0561j3py

6 Moon Druid/6 Open Hand Monk

It makes sense to me that our nature-loving bear friend would value the harmonious ways of Monk life. Additionally, the Tavern Brawler feat applying to both unarmed attacks and also attacks made in wild shape form synergizes extremely well with this multi-class. True to the core of his identity, we spec hard into the items that enhance Halsin's wild shape: Shapeshifter hat, Armour of Moonbasking, Corvid Token, and Shapeshifter's Boon Ring. The remaining slots we fill with druid-thematic items that synergize well with monk combat. Of particular note is the Wood Woad Shield, which grants Woad's Ensnaring Strike as a bonus action. This synergizes extremely well with Monk's Stunning Strike (Unarmed), as a stunned monster will automatically fail all STR saves (like Woad's Ensnaring Strike), which allows Halsin, on the rare occasion he gets caught out of wild shape, to both stun an enemy and then automatically ensnare them for 3 turns on the same turn. And before anyone asks, yes you can use Monk's Flurry of Blows and Stunning Strike (Unarmed) while wielding a shield and quarterstaff. Resilient is taken as the 2nd feat here because it is one of the few feats that carries over into wild shape and particularly helps out the Owl Bear form if the CON version is taken, because the extra bonus to CON saving throws helps maintain concentration through wild shape. And yes, you can concentrate on spells while in wild shape, as long as the spell was cast before wild shape. It is also important to note that the Gloves of Dexterity are extremely important on this build, as Halsin's human form AC and initiative will be extremely low without them.


Jaheira - https://eip.gg/bg3/build-planner/?buildId=clydi0n2k00ibd4rjsdiiomv8

8 Land Druid/4 Champion Fighter or 6 Land Druid/6 Champion Fighter

Our second druid companion build takes the class down a different path. As a war-tried soldier, Jaheira utilizes druid spells to enhance melee fighting on the battlefield. I've opted to take 8 levels of Land Druid in order to unlock Conjure Woodland Being for its synergies with the Armour of Landfall, but if you prefer to have Extra Attack, feel free to spec her into 6 Land Druid/6 Champion Fighter. If you go with the latter option, Yuan-Ti Scale Mail is a strong choice of armour. Champion Fighter is taken for the Defence fighting style and the improved critical chance. Courtesy of Belm in the offhand, an attack can be made using the main hand weapon by spending only a bonus action, so Two Weapon fighting style is not needed. Equipping Thorn Blade in the main hand will allow Jaheira to make a melee attack that does poison damage using her bonus action, if she is concentrating on a spell. We take advantage of this by utilizing the Call Lightning spell, which requires concentration and lets you activate it for free for the next 10 turns after the first cast, and the Poisoner's Gloves, which allows her to poison foes by doing poison damage to them. This yields great AoE damage in activating Call Lightning every turn, and then following up with a bit of single target damage and team utility by hitting an enemy using Belm's special weapon action and the chance to poison an enemy. Couple this with the Derivation Cloak's healing when poisoning a foe and the Ring of Elemental Infusion's additional damage on melee attack when elemental damage is done and we can turn Jaheira into a fierce and feisty battle caster capable of dealing respectable damage through a combination of both spells and melee. Ring of Mental Inhibition is used here as well so that she can stack Mental Fatigue onto enemies that fail any of her saving throws from spells, or that she successfully poisons through the synergy with the Poisoner's Gloves. Her late husband's gift to her, Khalid's Gift, is equipped to further boost her WIS score.


Minsc - https://eip.gg/bg3/build-planner/?buildId=clydi5st300ikd4rjog5up2zp

4 Hunter Ranger/8 Berserker Barbarian

Our good old friend Minsc is specced primarily into Berserker Barbarian to better support the raging 2h weapon user he was in games prior, yet 4 levels of Hunter Ranger are kept for that ranger theme and extra damage via Colossus Slayer. Instead of going the unarmoured route that most Barbarians take, Minsc wears the beefiest of medium armour in the Armour of Agility to support his love of full plate armour found in the prior games, without getting in the way of his rage. As a Barbarian, he is expected to take damage and has a naturally high amount of HP. To take advantage of this, he is equipped with the Helmet of Grit and the Spurred Band which both grant him bonuses while under 50% HP. The Helmet of Grit is particularly powerful for him, as it grants him an extra Bonus Action and, if he is raging, he is able to spend it on another weapon attack that turn. The Martial Exertion Gloves are used to help keep his HP below that 50% threshold and to give him yet another weapon attack while activated, increasing the total number of attacks he can take to a whopping 5 attacks per turn. True to his background as a Folk Hero, weapons and skills that emphasize his larger than life tales are used such as Colossus Slayer, Giantbreaker, and Balduran's Giant Slayer. Amulet of the Harpers is equipped for added defense and as a nice homage to his good friend, Jaheira. If your Tav requires the use of Balduran's Giant Slayer, a number of other greatswords can be equipped on Minsc in its place, but I am particularly partial toward Jorgoral's Greatsword, the Sussur Greatsword, or the Sword of Justice. If you need a replacement for Armour of Agility, Minsc can be equipped with the Flame Enamelled Armour.


Minthara - https://eip.gg/bg3/build-planner/?buildId=clydi6jll00ind4rjvdi64s7j

12 Oath of Vengeance Paladin

Another very simple build. This one specs Minthara into the classic Paladin damage dealer while building off of her tendency to use the psychic aspects of her tadpole to accomplish her goals. The psychic damage inherent to the Blade of Oppressed Souls and the Strange Conduit ring are used to proc the effects of the Braindead Gloves to stack Mental Fatigue on enemies and provide team utility. She wears Ketheric's old armour, Reaper's Embrace, for added revenge past his death. To nullify the Disadvantage on DEX saving throws the armour grants, she uses Acrobat Shoes. To further enforce her psychic superiority over her enemies, she dons the Nymph Cloak for for the Dominate Person spell and the Band of the Mystic Scoundrel for easier access to spells that mentally control others, like Command, Compelled Duel, Hold Person, and Dominate Person. Being able to cast these spells without sacrificing a full turn of attacks and smites makes her a true force to be reckoned with on the battlefield.





If you see anything that doesn't seem to make sense or goes against the lore, feel free to call me out. I'm not super well versed in the universe, so I may have made some mistakes.

I had a lot of fun coming up with a thematic Dark Justicier for Shadowheart. I went with a Oath of Vengeance Paladin paired with a Pact of the Blade Warlock. This was an amazingly fun character to play as my primary companion. I also felt it fit her better to be a Charisma build with the main plotline of having lost her memory. It always seemed a bit off for someone with no memory to have such a high wisdom TBH. As a bonus, I did this on a Dark Urge playthrough and . Eventually I had to accept her as an Oath Breaker Paladin because lame things kept breaking her oath . At normal difficulty, she had 3 attacks per turn at level 10 with all of the Paladin smite goodness. When out of melee range, Eldritch Blast is a great option!

I don't have anything to add, just that these are really cool! Thanks for the effort put into them

For Shadowheart, I prefer:

Rogue 1
Cleric 5
Shadow Monk 6

Starting with Rogue allows her to pick up the skill deception which I think is important for her early education/indoctrination.

Generally, it seems a dark justiciar should be stealthy, capable of picking locks if necessary, competent in combat, and blessed with clerical spells. This build gives Shadowheart all of that.

I think it's reasonable to respec Shadowheart's domain depending on the path choice she makes in the game, but personally I wouldn't change anything else. It was just the way she was trained in my mind. Her training wouldn't disappear, but her domain could certainly change.

Thanks for sharing some cool ideas there. I especially like the Gale build and will try it as an alternative to my usual straight 12 Wiz

Neat! I’ve m/c her as rogue cleric before but never thought of the Monk addition. Going give this a go too

Sorry, I think the links may be broken or things were changed. A few of the linked builds don't align with the post.

For Astarion, I prefer Bard. It makes sense with his background of enticing victims to return to Cazador with him. He strikes me as naturally performative in nature.

More than that, I can imagine him playing sad music from his violin. What else has he spent centuries doing if not concentrating on his music? A vampire playing sad, melancholy music from a lonely violin. You can't convince me that isn't appropriate.

I tend to lean toward Swords Bard, solely because of the adventure he's on. He needs to learn to fight, fast.

*

For Halsin, I prefer a mixture of Bear Heart Barbarian and Moon Druid. It captures that wildness and strength I think he should bring with him.

In combat, it helps that he can rage and then turn into an actual bear, making him a perfectly resisting tank on the field.

I have been updating the builds, though unfortunately I can no longer edit the original post.

I have a reddit post with an up to date description of the builds, found here:

https://www.reddit.com/r/BG3Builds/s/8bMa1Drtmy

Edit 7/22/2024: For those of you reading this now, I am unfortunately no longer able to edit the original post found above. However, I am continuing to update the builds described. The descriptions on this forum post are now outdated, but I have been keeping an updated reddit post that has accurate and up to date build descriptions, found here:

https://www.reddit.com/r/BG3Builds/s/8bMa1Drtmy

Thanks for this thread, this is never an easy decision.



About the suggestion for Gale in this thread (Storm Sorcerer 8 / Tempest Cleric 2 / Evocation Wizard 2), it would have to be a very specific setup though.

You have to start with Sorcerer or Cleric, not with the Wizard, which has to come *last*, and all attack spells, other than Magic Missle, which has no save or attack roll, and Counterspell, which you cant get as Wizard because there are no scrolls, have to be cast as a Wizard.

For that matter also Shield, Enhanced Leap, Find Familiar and Longstrider are not found as scrolls, but are all very useful spells to have, so you have to take them during Wizard levelups. There are three high level spells which arent available from scrolls but they arent that important (4: Otiluke's Resilient Sphere; 6: Arcane Gate, Create Undead).

You will also have to have Intelligence really high (16) and focus on leveling Intelligence, to the point of not being able to do anything else. Thats the only way to get more spell slots for a bit of variety. Wisdom can stay very low (12) and Charisma is actually uninteresting (8) because Sorcerer doesnt get any extra spells readied from Charisma.

The focus of this build is casting Clerics Create Water with the Sorcerers Quicken Metamagic to make opponents wet, then target the now wet opponents with lightning spells, possibly twinned. Thanks to Tempest Cleric those can be cast to maximum damage.

P.s.: Correction: You can of course counterspell as the Sorcerer, and as long as you use the same spell level to counterspell as the spell cast, it automatically succeeds and you should be fine. Otherwise the DC is 10 + spell level, and its a Charisma check.

Also various attack spells, namely Magic Missle and Cloud of Daggers, dont have a save or attack roll, so you can cast them as Sorcerer just fine, too.

This part is bugged as of now and upcasted counterspell can still fail.