Baldur’s Gate 3: Best Party Lineup and How to Use Them

Baldur’s Gate 3 is a fantastic experience, but it’s often one that leaves you wondering about the best way to do things really is. Where should I go? Should I follow this character, kill this one, or save that one? One of the toughest choices is who to bring along on your adventures. You have a large cast of companions to sort through, and you’re limited to bringing three with you. Here’s the best party lineup in Baldur’s Gate 3 and how to use them.

Best Party Lineup and How to Use Them in Baldur’s Gate 3

Gale

Despite him being the most obviously wizard-looking wizard possible, Gale is an absolute monster in Baldur’s Gate 3. Leave him as his natural class and focus on unlocking his big spells like Fireball as soon as you hit Level 3.

His specialization should be Evocation to focus your power on elemental attacks and buffs. Aside from that, he should be equipped with several multi-hit spells like Magic Missile or Scorching Ray to quickly damage multiple enemies. When crowds form, he can move on to his heavy-hitting spells.

How to Use Gale

Start the battle by identifying the strongest enemies and the biggest cluster of enemies you can find. The two best spells for Gale are Fireball and Lightning Bolt. Lightning Bolt travels in a straight line, while Fireball covers a large surface area.

If you can line up everyone with Lightning Bolt, then I suggest using that as early as possible, as enemies move around quickly and can ruin your plans. Fireball should always be used to nuke any long-range enemies like archers or Wizards causing you issues. This is particularly needed in Act 2.

Shadowheart

Shadowheart is the first full-time companion you come across in Baldur’s Gate 3, and she’s a much-needed one as a cleric. While that doesn’t typically scream offensive powerhouse, in this DnD 5e universe, they can deal quite a bit of damage and lend a ton of support.

Use the Light subclass to turn her into the undead killer that we need her to be. She’ll be your most useful attacker and defender against the undead, and it’s incredibly useful to skill her up this way.

How to Use Shadowheart

Start off battles by buffing your front liners with Shield of Faith and Bless to make your attacks hit more accurately. Then, it’s time to jump into the fray. Inflict Wounds should be used on enemies with large HP pools as soon as possible. In Shadowheart’s later levels, Blade Barrier combined with this attack makes her nearly untouchable, as any enemy that comes near her will be shredded apart.

Shadowheart is a bit of a glass cannon, though, so you might want to hang back after using her big attacks. If you have Blood of Lathander, the Sunbeam attack should be used as soon as you get further back. Much like Lightning Bolt, it will do damage in a straight line.

La’zel

I’m not sure if any character in video game history is as overpowered as Lae’zel. Once you get her to Level 3, she’s a devastating melee fighter. With her ability to deliver multiple attacks in one turn and use the Action Surge skill to get another two attacks, she’s regularly capable of taking down an enemy with 100 HP in one turn.

The subclass that suits her best is Champion. It’s less complex and expansive than the other classes, but it brings with it a very powerful stat. Your critical hit percentage will go up every time you level. If you’re patient, she has the capability of one-shotting some of the toughest foes in the game by Level 7.

How to Use Lae’zel

Have Shadowheart throw Shield of Faith and Bless on Lae’zel to start any fight. Then it’s time to dish out some serious pain. If you have Misty Step, it can be a great way to teleport right to the most powerful enemy and get to work. That’s not always available, though, so if it isn’t, use Dash to get into the thick of the enemies as fast as possible.

The reason we’re doing this is so we can open up with two attacks: Lacerate and Cleave. Cleave is particularly useful because you can slice up multiple enemies at once. The key to Lae’zel is getting as many hits in as possible and maximizing her chances to inflict critical damage. At higher levels, she should hit a critical strike once every 2 or 3 turns, which can quickly end fights.

Player Character/You

Assuming you’re a custom character, what role should you fill? I found that having the ability to double up on spells like Fireball and Lightning Bolt is invaluable to have. That means making your character a Wizard or Sorcerer is a great choice. You can multiclass this to a Fighter to make sure you can handle yourself in close range. But in all honesty, Lae’zel has you covered there.

You might want to be the main event, but Baldur’s Gate 3 doesn’t need that to succeed. I’ve found being a strong support player who can dish out some damage is usually the best way to go. For me, that was a Sorcerer with a multi-class Paladin. I keep my party protected and hastened, and everything runs smoothly.

That’s everything to know about the best party setup in Baldur’s Gate 3 and how to use them. This is just one setup but a wildly effective one, so feel free to experiment and tweak as needed. For more tips on Baldur’s Gate 3, check out our BG3 guides section.