BEST COMPANIONS: Baldur's Gate & Baldur's Gate 2: Ranking, Tier list


Best Companions Baldur's Gate



Baldur's Gate companions are recruitable Baldur's Gate NPCs in BioWare's cRPG series of 1998-2001, Baldur's Gate.

Best Companions Baldur's Gate 1


There are 25 companions in Baldur's Gate and 17 companions in BG2. The best companion in Baldur's Gate 1 is Edwin, and the best companion in Baldur's Gate 2 is Aerie.

Top-tier BG1 Companions



Mid-tier BG1 Companions


The mid-tier includes everyone that isn't listed in the top or bottom tiers. Namely:


Bottom-tier BG1 Companions


The bottom-tier includes any companion that isn't recruitable until reaching BG City. Namely:


Baldur's Gate Companion Alignment


The alignment of companions is an important consideration in forming a Baldur's Gate party, since most players want their party to stick together for campaign duration. Good-aligned companions prefer a high Baldur's Gate Reputation, Evil ones low and Neutral ones neither high nor low.


Companion Pairs in BG1


The vast majority of companions are recruited as individuals, but there are also four pairs:


Once recruited, these companions won't adventure without their other half unless that other half falls in combat or is intentionally killed off by the player and has their corpse kicked out of the party.

Baldur's Gate Companion Quests


There are several companion quests in Baldur's Gate. For example, Safana's companion quest involves raiding treasure in a cave near the seaside. In addition, some companion quests clash. For example, Edwin wants to hunt down Dynaheir whereas Minsc wants to free her. Some companions, such as Coran, have more than one quest.

In Baldur's Gate 2, companion quests are longer and contain a lot more dialogue. All companion quests are covered in the relevant article on the companion.

Baldur's Gate Companion Guide



In BG1, un-recruited companions scale to party level in thresholds. For example, a first level party can recruit a first level Edwin with almost nothing to his name (some Exp, a few spells scribed to his spellbook); or a sixth level party can recruit a sixth level Edwin who has already earned over 40,000 Exp and scribed eight scrolls to his spellbook, including Haste (in Dynaheir's case, Fireball).

It is best to recruit non-mage companions early in order to control their proficiencies and HPs, whereas it can be advantageous to delay our recruitment of mage companions until we reach sixth level. That way, mage companions will already have some good spells such as Fireball and Haste, which are not easily found. On the other hand, it is inconvenient to not have mages in the party for the first six levels. 

The intent of companion scaling is to ensure that companions remain somewhat useful in the advent their services are required later in the campaign, but meta-gamers may choose to remain solo or only adventure with Imoen until the sixth level is reached, and only then recruit a party, thereby dodging the experience point leach of having five other companions around for those first six levels (both quest & kill Exp is divided "evenly", more or less, amongst the party members). 

Apart from needing foreknowledge in order to solo the first six levels [1], the downside is the inability to control companion proficiencies and HPs, though it's a small price to pay for such a huge advantage.

[1] Not a problem for meta-gamers, and for Bards and Thieves that's only 20,000 Exp.


Best Companions Baldur's Gate 2



There are 17 companions in Baldur's Gate 2. Companions range in level from 7-17, but most are going to be around 12th level at the time of recruitment. 

Multi-classes are King in the sequel, especially arcane MCs such as Fighter Mage BG2. Thus, the best companions are as follows:

Top-tier BG2 Companions




Mid-tier BG2 Companions



Bottom-tier BG2 Companions



Baldur's Gate Companion Reactivity


Baldur's Gate companion reactivity consists in reputation, reaction, faction and personality.
Readers are referred to cRPG reactivity for a general overview of the concept of reactivity.

Remember that our Reputation score can be increased or decreased by way of quest outcomes, temple donation (up to 18), theft in front of a witness, slaying of neutrals or Slayer transformation (BG2 only).

Criteria of Assessment for Baldur's Gate Companions


We should ask ourselves the following when assessing a companion's worth:


Such traits can be decisive factors in how a companion ranks.



Baldur's GateBaldur's Gate RacesBaldur's Gate Magic
Best Classes Baldur's GateBaldur's Gate ItemsBaldur's Gate Dual-classing
Best Spells Baldur's GateBaldur's Gate THAC0Baldur's Gate Specialist Mages
Best Weapons Baldur's GateBaldur's Gate Armor ClassBaldur's Gate Weapon Proficiency
Best Companions Baldur's GateBaldur's Gate ApRBaldur's Gate Thieving

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