The best Baldur's Gate 3 party is one that's focused on an objective or playing style, using a team chosen and specialised towards a specific purpose. The companions you take with you are incredibly important whatever you pick, so we'll go over the best party composition for Baldur's Gate 3 below, as well as how you change your party members between combat encounters.
Recent updates
This BG3 party composition guide was updated on September 26, adding new information on how to add or remove party members in the full version of the game now on PC and PS5.
The best party in Baldur's Gate 3
For the best party in Baldur's Gate 3, try to include a spellcaster, healer, charismatic fighter, and a tanky frontliner as a general rule of thumb. These should complement your chosen Baldur's Gate 3 class as needed, swapping yourself out for one of the four and filling in the blanks with a companion or BG3 hireling as needed.
Here's a selection of team builds for various situations, and how you want to spec them (characters are also arranged in terms of priority, highest as most essential).
- All-purpose Adventuring Party
- Shadowheart (Healing/stealth/protection)
- Astarion (Stealth/lockpicks/disarming traps/sneak attacks)
- Lae'zel (Tank/weapon attacks/pack mule)
- Wyll (Charisma/diverse spellcasting)
- Combat-focused Party
- Shadowheart (Healing/tank/buffs)
- Gale (High damage spells)
- Lae'zel (Tank/melee damage)
- Astarion (Stealth/sneak attacks)
- Stealth/social Party
- Shadowheart (Stealth/Buffs)
- Wyll (Charisma/all-purpose spellcasting)
- Astarion (Stealth/lockpicks/disarming traps/sneak attacks)
- Gale (Control/enchantment spells)
You'll notice that we've omitted you, the player character (usually known as Tav). That's because considering there's no shortage of classes and builds to work from, we have no idea what you'll be playing - in which case, you should work out which character you're most like, and then leave that character at home. For example, if you're a multi-purpose Charisma spellcaster, like a Bard with a well-chosen Baldur's Gate 3 background, you probably won't need Wyll around much. If you're a tanky fighter or Barbarian, Lae'zel is a lot less essential to your team composition.
You'll also notice that Shadowheart comes up a lot - and frankly, with good reason. She heals, buffs, has a few damaging spells, Guidance is a completely overpowered cantrip that actually came first in our list of the best Baldur's Gate 3 spells, and despite being pretty well-defended, Pass Without Trace means she can give everybody a major stealth bonus. There's no party she can't fit into, especially if you give some thought to her build.
How to change party members in Baldur's Gate 3
You can change party members in Baldur's Gate 3 by returning to camp and speaking to your companions. Here, you can speak to various teammates and ask them to stay behind, which will open up new spaces in your party of four. At this point, you can then go to any team member and ask them to join that emptied spot.
You can also tell active Baldur's Gate 3 companions in your party to go back to the Camp during your adventures if you've run into a new one you'd like to add while exploring,
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