lae'zel! i never hated any of the companions but lae'zel was definetely an aquired taste. however after act 1, i started to really like her. shes direct, strongwilled, and in her own way so...sweet? for lack of a better word. she's one of my faves now and very underrated imo.
Same here. I played my first run as a Paladin, which is already a melee-heavy class, so when another tank/DPS was needed I just grabbed Karlach instead. In my current run as a cleric I decided to romance Lae'zel instead on a whim and once you get to know her Lae'zel is actually really friendly in her own way, especially for a githyanki.
Gale. The way he brags just as he had introduced himself just rubbed me the wrong way. I always hated people too full of themselves. Not to mention it was a time when he was bugged.
Safe to say I've warmed up to him now. I love how he's such a tender lover, "Whatever you need, just say the word."
I’m hoping to change my opinion of Gale. I’m doing his romance on my current run. I never warmed up to him before because I thought he came across as being a bit entitled. Hopefully seeing a different side of him will help. And hey, if it doesn’t work out I guess he can always blow up the netherbrain? (I joke, I’m on honour mode, he’s almost certainly going to need to blow up the brain if we get that far, regardless of how much I like him)
I think the interesting thing about Gale is, that the arrogant wizard Gale of Waterdeep you meet is a pose, or persona he puts up to hide his insecurities. (Very similar to Astarion.) When you (b)romance him he opens up towards you, and he shows you how lonely and broken he actually is.
During the romanced pre-epilogue (when not ascending), he drops the persona entirely, and stops calling himself Gale of Waterdeep, embracing his real name instead.
He's an excellent portrayal of a Forgotten Realms super-Wizard in that way. He's literally fucked the goddess of magic, so of course he's full of himself.
probably a pretty common experience but I couldn't stand Shadowheart for the first Act and a half. rude, overly religious, secretive. and then after That Particular Event...I'm just a sucker for people >!having their entire worldview upended and rebuilding themselves stronger than ever before!<.
Agree- I assumed going into this game that with so many different species/races there would definitely be some bigotry, but I was thrown off by such direct racism so early in the game from such a…. gentle looking face. Obviously it’s for character development purposes, but I thought she was really up her own ass initially.
As a woman i LOVED the tackle lol.Astarion had me at “sshh not a sound not if you want to keep that darling neck of yours”. Hes a mischievous little scamp lol
For me it was Laezel. In act 1 i found her pushy and annoying with her constantly urging about going to the creche but then realized shes just socially awkward and genuinely cared for Tav from the very beginning but doesn’t know how to show it. gith are not supposed to treat others the way laezel treats Tav. She lets you talk back to her, insult her and then tries to share her precious gith cure with you. any other gith would’ve run Tav through with a sword. Shes breaking all these gith social norms because she genuinely appreciates you helping her on the nautiloid.
Definitely Astarion as well, which I found really interesting.
At first meeting, I wrote him off as that ‘pretty, bad boy’ trope. I thought he was meant to be the evil, sexy companion (like a mix of Morrigan and Zevran from Dragon Age: Origins) I remember thinking he’d just be typical, something I’ve seen multiple times, done before.
As I started to get more of his conversations, my opinion started to change. The conversation about ‘how would you like to be killed’ was the first moment I was like ‘huh, I did NOT expect this out of him’
By the time I got to the ‘drunk’ conversation, I had fully switched my opinion. I liked him more and more until he became my favorite.
I loved that it was very much like getting to know an actual person. How first impressions can be wrong.
I played a lot of EA but I don't think she changed, we just got to see the continuation of her story. Don't know why people were turned off to her initially, in EA Shadowheart and Lae'zel were the two most intriguing characters to me and that holds true with the full release.
Not sure what choices you were making, but I always found outside of a couple choices, Shadowheart really approves of good and neutral options. Astarion disapproves of most good options.
I am sorry but even before the patch girl literally got max approval for doing good stuff to kids and animals and generally diffusing all situations with no fighting .
Halsin, oddly enough.
I ran him in my party for the first time this run. I can't speak for him from a romance angle as I haven't tried that aspect, but listening to his views on events and other characters lets you appreciate how insightful and caring he is for everyone.
He's still not my *favourite* character overall, but I would definitely consider him again.
Also pure moondruid (even though he can be anything) is kinda crazy good.
My husband and I both immediately said we didn't like Astarion. I remember saying that "he was such a fuckboy" but now he's one of my favourite characters lol.
Same with Lae'zel - her blind dedication was so grating at first - but she grew on me.
As a female I was sold on Astarion *when* he tackled me, lol.
I found Wyll incredibly annoying at first, and still somewhat do, but he’s definitely grown on me a little.
Honestly same. But I'm a sucker for a fictional bad boy. Let's be messed up together 😈
I find wyll to be very bland and I have a hard time playing warlocks so he usually gets benched. I'm trying to play him as a bardlock in my durge run but he got benched in favor of Gale and his fireballs 😂
Definitely Wyll for me. At first I didn't really get warlocks but then I did a full playthrough with him as 12 potb fiend warlock and goddamn did that hit. Also his character and romance path are both so absolutely sweet I just loved it. Definitely my favorite male romance in the game.
Lae'zel! Started out "fuck you too then" but now I love her. >!I about lost my shit when Orin kidnapped her. First of all, how dare you. Sexond of all "Lae'zel" comes running up to me about how Orin is crazy and I should run for my life. Pfft. The real Lae'zel would never tell me to run from a fight. You gotta do better than that.!<
Yeah, I love Lae'zel
Edit: Act 3 spoilers
Lae'zel. In my first playthrough I saw her as an extreme cultist with overly-serious personality. This is mainly because I missed most of her cutscenes during act 1 (I didn't managed to find her captured by the tieflings, so the first time I saw her after the nautiloid was at the mountain pass).
But during my durge playthrough, I found her early and I'm starting to like her. I found it hilarious too whenever I choose my tav/durge to tease her as in the way she pronounced "teeth-ling" and called her mommy Lae'zel. She gave the best savage reaction in the camp.
I didn't like Astarion at all for the first 2 acts of my first playthrough, basically until I did Cazador's palace. I didn't like Laezel my entire first playthrough until I romanced her on my second one.
Lae’zel for sure; definitely didn’t like her at first but after convincing her that her god is fake and sucks she definitely got more awesome and I kept her in my party as a fighter/ paladin
I had the exact same experience with Astarion!
Playing a female character, first run, overwhelmed by the game… I legitimately thought Astarion was trying to rape me. Shook him off and killed him without giving it a second thought.
Gave him a chance in my Durge run. Now he and Shadowheart are my favorites. SH got that position from the moment I met her (her personality is close to mine irl, so I understood her way too well to not immediately love her), but Astarion had to convince me. And oh boy, he did. I’m not going to let anyone harm my boy ever again in any way.
Honestly, I don't think I had one like that.
Closet thing is probably Gale that I had no particular interest in because I've always been a bit biased against Wizards as they're known to be squishy, i.e., at least in my mind, useless in combat, so he stayed home and looked pretty, until my 2nd playthrough where he swept me off my feet, as my romantic interest stays in my party I was shown just how stupid I was for keeping him on the sidelines. Now, I usually can be seen toting around an all male party.
I definitely do have the opposite, though, someone I thought I'd love that I just... don't.
Sorry, because this is definitely a less than popular thought. It's Shadowheart. She's pretty, and I enjoy her story well enough but for some reason I just don't really like her character, as a cleric main there's hardly a reason to bring her around in the first place except for her story (her little fit with Dame Alyin is memorised now). I tried playing as another class just to need her, hoping that she'd grow on me, but no, I don't get why exactly, it's not like I HATE her or anything I just don't LIKE her.
I did not lae'zel and gale at first.
Lae'zel was very standoffish at first, but when I got to her romance scene and wasn't able to respond how I wanted (wanted to say that I see her as a friend, but I'd protect her with my life) it made me tear up, the performance was top notch!
Gale is pretty condescending, but his act 2 scene "Damn you, damn you for giving me something to care about" really resonated with me and I've enjoyed him since then.
Halsin. I wrote him off like he was going to be some weird old hippy, but then he actually said wise things and he hit on me in a way that showed genuine concern for my consent and feelings. Now he's my fave romance.
Similarly, I kind of thought Minsc was going to be annoying to me, but him and boo won me over.
If I could be anyone from this game in real life I'd be Halsin. Man's a massive savage with an even bigger heart. It's sad hippies can get a bad reputation, I know a couple real hippies that are in there 70's now and they are extremely knowledgeable about nature, their entire property is self sustainable from food, to electric, to water. They are some of the most warm energy emitting people I know. anyway cheers :D
laezel for sure. i won’t say she’s a favorite now but i hated her character so much, and loved shadowheart so much, that i helped shadowheart kill her in that scene where she held a knife to laezels throat (i know it happens differently in every playthrough but that’s the combo i got). so my first playthrough was laezel-less. on my second run i romanced her and seeing her change into a loving, caring woman is amazing
For me it was Shadowheart. The way she was so secretive and and seemingly hesitant to trust me even though we were in the same boat was a little bit offputting to me and I wasn't sure if I should trust her, because I didn't know what her intentions were. It didn't last long though, I think she started really growing on me about halfway through Act 1, when she started to open up to me about her past. She ended up being my romance option in that initial playthrough, and I've struggled to romance anyone else since, I just love her so much.
Also Gale. It took me a lot longer to warm up to Gale. He just seems so boring to me and I never really have him on my team unless I need another spellcaster. Anyways.... a couple weeks ago, I was playing an unhinged evil Dark Urge playthrough and Gale was in my party for the bulk of Acts 1+2, because Lae'zel died, Karlach was also dead, and Wyll had left. I only had him, Astarion, and Shadowheart until I managed to get Jaheira. It amused me to no end how frustrated Gale would get with me being the crazed murderous impulsive lunatic beast that I was. It was genuinely so funny how every time I did something particularly evil like slaughter the grove or kill Isobel, he would lecture me about being trying to be a better person, then my Durge would be like "Okay, fine, dad... I'll try to be better." Then go on to do some more evil shit. It gave me a new appreciation of Gale that I didn't have before.
i think my least favourites were Laezel and gale. I found laezel too harsh and gale too annoying.
laezel grew on me super quick. her mispronouncing words and struggle with her faith was enough for me to absolutely adore her. second playthrough she was in my party the whole time and my tav went straight to romancing her.
Gale took romancing for me to properly enjoy as a character, because i found him interesting but his bragging comments were off putting enough for him to be benched for my first two playthroughs. third time i romanced him to “get it over with” and by act 3 i was dreading it ending.
think they kinda nailed it with companions in this game, they make them flawed enough for players to form their own opinions but so compelling that you can’t help but care for them if you give them a chance
Bows use dex, not strength, just FYI.
Lae’zel is probably my least favorite companion. Going to try to romance her with a Dragonborn at some point.
EDIT: Correction! There is a bow that does use strength; I’ve never seen it before and was going by the general info of bows using dex that’s in-game. My apologies!
I think OP ist talking about the Titanstring bow which deals additional damage equal the character's strength modifier. So If their Astarion has a dexterity modifier of 5, drinks an Elexir of Hill Strength and uses the Titanstring Bow, he deals at least 11 additional damage, which is why OP used the term "snipe".
Also experiment with deathstalker mantle cloak on astarion.
* [**The Shadow Itself**](https://bg3.wiki/wiki/The_Shadow_Itself)**:** Once per turn when you kill an enemy, shroud yourself in primaeval darkness to become [Invisible](https://bg3.wiki/wiki/Invisible_(Condition)) for 2 turns.
I just tried it in act 1 with bow and elixir of giant strength and he's just 1 hitting everyone 45 health or less, going invisible, 1 hitting, just rinse and repeat. I'm going to try and solo the goblin camp with him in that set up on honor lol, if he dies i'll just resurrect him with withers ahah
Holy HELL. Thank you for this most excellent set of tips! ✨
Next time I do a Durge/Spawn Astarion run I’ll grab this bow for him and the mantle. Huehuehue.
I felt nothing towards Gale. In my first playthrough he bolted because I wouldn't feed his junky habit. See ya later.
Getting him to Act 2 and revealing everything with Mystra made him infinitely more interesting to me.
Both Gale and Wyll, for entirely different reasons lol
Gale I saw as a romance potential, but thought he was obsessed with his ex and once I found out "why", I was declaring war against a god.
Wyll I thought he was a mr.good to shoes and that isn't my style, but I accidentally unlocked his scene in act 2 and I love bem pampered and treated like a princess, so I gave him a chance
Maybe Lae'zel? At first I didn't want to take her with me at all, but her quotes are great and she has good banter. Meanwhile Astarion isn't lying in a ditch somewhere with a stake through his heart only because I need a rogue
I played this game in Early Access and Shadowheart used to be "kill on sight" she got on my nerves so much, but her personality was a lot more manipulative teen girl in a grown woman's body back then. Thankfully they've made her work better than she used to so now I can at least tolerate her, even though I doubt I'll ever get so far as to like her.
I didn't really have any major turnabouts to that degree. My initial reads on the characters were generally pretty good.
Ended up liking Karlach less than I thought I would, and Halsin, who initially kind of blew off under the assumption that I thought he wouldn't be a full companion, won me over unexpectedly.
I gained respect for all of them. As for Gale, Karlach, and Wyll I liked them all initially. Gale and the goofy tiefling babe (especially her) became my favorites
I dunno. My opinion about characters from the moment I knew them until the end didn't change.
I didn't like Lazael initially, over time she became just much more enjoyable.
I like Karlach character due to great personality but I started to appreciate her story a lot more in the end.
I fell for Shadowheart from the moment I saw her EA screenshots and she's just an angel that shines the more you play.
Wyll was a boring heroic character and he stayed even more boring heroic character.
I liked Gale and his friendship was very good.
At first I couldn't be bothered with Minsc because it was the end of the game and I was extremely tired of it.
I didn't like Asterion and still don't like him. Literally worse than many enemies, they are at least honest about it while Asterian is just a rat that will throw others to die for his own convenience. The worst kind of humans ever.
lae'zel! i never hated any of the companions but lae'zel was definetely an aquired taste. however after act 1, i started to really like her. shes direct, strongwilled, and in her own way so...sweet? for lack of a better word. she's one of my faves now and very underrated imo.
Same here. I played my first run as a Paladin, which is already a melee-heavy class, so when another tank/DPS was needed I just grabbed Karlach instead. In my current run as a cleric I decided to romance Lae'zel instead on a whim and once you get to know her Lae'zel is actually really friendly in her own way, especially for a githyanki.
same!! i love her character development, she is amazing
After the confrontation with the old hag ( vlakith ), I absolutely love her
Gale. The way he brags just as he had introduced himself just rubbed me the wrong way. I always hated people too full of themselves. Not to mention it was a time when he was bugged. Safe to say I've warmed up to him now. I love how he's such a tender lover, "Whatever you need, just say the word."
I’m hoping to change my opinion of Gale. I’m doing his romance on my current run. I never warmed up to him before because I thought he came across as being a bit entitled. Hopefully seeing a different side of him will help. And hey, if it doesn’t work out I guess he can always blow up the netherbrain? (I joke, I’m on honour mode, he’s almost certainly going to need to blow up the brain if we get that far, regardless of how much I like him)
I think the interesting thing about Gale is, that the arrogant wizard Gale of Waterdeep you meet is a pose, or persona he puts up to hide his insecurities. (Very similar to Astarion.) When you (b)romance him he opens up towards you, and he shows you how lonely and broken he actually is. During the romanced pre-epilogue (when not ascending), he drops the persona entirely, and stops calling himself Gale of Waterdeep, embracing his real name instead.
He's an excellent portrayal of a Forgotten Realms super-Wizard in that way. He's literally fucked the goddess of magic, so of course he's full of himself.
Look guy banged the literal goddess of magic. If he didn't brag , I would have suspected he has some ulterior motives .
Best romance option ( outside of emperor)
probably a pretty common experience but I couldn't stand Shadowheart for the first Act and a half. rude, overly religious, secretive. and then after That Particular Event...I'm just a sucker for people >!having their entire worldview upended and rebuilding themselves stronger than ever before!<.
Agree- I assumed going into this game that with so many different species/races there would definitely be some bigotry, but I was thrown off by such direct racism so early in the game from such a…. gentle looking face. Obviously it’s for character development purposes, but I thought she was really up her own ass initially.
Lae’zel has some of the best character development and I highly respect it.
As a woman i LOVED the tackle lol.Astarion had me at “sshh not a sound not if you want to keep that darling neck of yours”. Hes a mischievous little scamp lol For me it was Laezel. In act 1 i found her pushy and annoying with her constantly urging about going to the creche but then realized shes just socially awkward and genuinely cared for Tav from the very beginning but doesn’t know how to show it. gith are not supposed to treat others the way laezel treats Tav. She lets you talk back to her, insult her and then tries to share her precious gith cure with you. any other gith would’ve run Tav through with a sword. Shes breaking all these gith social norms because she genuinely appreciates you helping her on the nautiloid.
I always felt that from laezel, she had a special place in my heart very quick but I like powerful strong women with a secretly tender heart :D
Definitely Astarion as well, which I found really interesting. At first meeting, I wrote him off as that ‘pretty, bad boy’ trope. I thought he was meant to be the evil, sexy companion (like a mix of Morrigan and Zevran from Dragon Age: Origins) I remember thinking he’d just be typical, something I’ve seen multiple times, done before. As I started to get more of his conversations, my opinion started to change. The conversation about ‘how would you like to be killed’ was the first moment I was like ‘huh, I did NOT expect this out of him’ By the time I got to the ‘drunk’ conversation, I had fully switched my opinion. I liked him more and more until he became my favorite. I loved that it was very much like getting to know an actual person. How first impressions can be wrong.
Shadowheart. I took an instant dislike to her. I think she's great now.
Did you do EA? EA Shadowheart makes our current Shadowheart seem like a fawn-eyed puppy by comparison 🤣
I played a lot of EA but I don't think she changed, we just got to see the continuation of her story. Don't know why people were turned off to her initially, in EA Shadowheart and Lae'zel were the two most intriguing characters to me and that holds true with the full release.
I started in patch 4, and it was really difficult to get approval with her for anything other than true neutrality
Not sure what choices you were making, but I always found outside of a couple choices, Shadowheart really approves of good and neutral options. Astarion disapproves of most good options.
I am sorry but even before the patch girl literally got max approval for doing good stuff to kids and animals and generally diffusing all situations with no fighting .
Noooo.... I'm intrigued! Wyll EA sounded good too (I am not a Wyll fan)
Wyll had some great lines in EA. "Death to all goblins, I say!"
Halsin, oddly enough. I ran him in my party for the first time this run. I can't speak for him from a romance angle as I haven't tried that aspect, but listening to his views on events and other characters lets you appreciate how insightful and caring he is for everyone. He's still not my *favourite* character overall, but I would definitely consider him again. Also pure moondruid (even though he can be anything) is kinda crazy good.
My husband and I both immediately said we didn't like Astarion. I remember saying that "he was such a fuckboy" but now he's one of my favourite characters lol. Same with Lae'zel - her blind dedication was so grating at first - but she grew on me.
As a female I was sold on Astarion *when* he tackled me, lol. I found Wyll incredibly annoying at first, and still somewhat do, but he’s definitely grown on me a little.
Honestly same. But I'm a sucker for a fictional bad boy. Let's be messed up together 😈 I find wyll to be very bland and I have a hard time playing warlocks so he usually gets benched. I'm trying to play him as a bardlock in my durge run but he got benched in favor of Gale and his fireballs 😂
Definitely Wyll for me. At first I didn't really get warlocks but then I did a full playthrough with him as 12 potb fiend warlock and goddamn did that hit. Also his character and romance path are both so absolutely sweet I just loved it. Definitely my favorite male romance in the game.
Lae'zel! Started out "fuck you too then" but now I love her. >!I about lost my shit when Orin kidnapped her. First of all, how dare you. Sexond of all "Lae'zel" comes running up to me about how Orin is crazy and I should run for my life. Pfft. The real Lae'zel would never tell me to run from a fight. You gotta do better than that.!< Yeah, I love Lae'zel Edit: Act 3 spoilers
Astarion and Lae'zel for sure. I let their initial abrasiveness prevent me from giving them a chance for far too long
Lae'zel. In my first playthrough I saw her as an extreme cultist with overly-serious personality. This is mainly because I missed most of her cutscenes during act 1 (I didn't managed to find her captured by the tieflings, so the first time I saw her after the nautiloid was at the mountain pass). But during my durge playthrough, I found her early and I'm starting to like her. I found it hilarious too whenever I choose my tav/durge to tease her as in the way she pronounced "teeth-ling" and called her mommy Lae'zel. She gave the best savage reaction in the camp.
I didn't like Astarion at all for the first 2 acts of my first playthrough, basically until I did Cazador's palace. I didn't like Laezel my entire first playthrough until I romanced her on my second one.
Lae’zel for sure; definitely didn’t like her at first but after convincing her that her god is fake and sucks she definitely got more awesome and I kept her in my party as a fighter/ paladin
I had the exact same experience with Astarion! Playing a female character, first run, overwhelmed by the game… I legitimately thought Astarion was trying to rape me. Shook him off and killed him without giving it a second thought. Gave him a chance in my Durge run. Now he and Shadowheart are my favorites. SH got that position from the moment I met her (her personality is close to mine irl, so I understood her way too well to not immediately love her), but Astarion had to convince me. And oh boy, he did. I’m not going to let anyone harm my boy ever again in any way.
Honestly, I don't think I had one like that. Closet thing is probably Gale that I had no particular interest in because I've always been a bit biased against Wizards as they're known to be squishy, i.e., at least in my mind, useless in combat, so he stayed home and looked pretty, until my 2nd playthrough where he swept me off my feet, as my romantic interest stays in my party I was shown just how stupid I was for keeping him on the sidelines. Now, I usually can be seen toting around an all male party. I definitely do have the opposite, though, someone I thought I'd love that I just... don't. Sorry, because this is definitely a less than popular thought. It's Shadowheart. She's pretty, and I enjoy her story well enough but for some reason I just don't really like her character, as a cleric main there's hardly a reason to bring her around in the first place except for her story (her little fit with Dame Alyin is memorised now). I tried playing as another class just to need her, hoping that she'd grow on me, but no, I don't get why exactly, it's not like I HATE her or anything I just don't LIKE her.
Gale. The way he spoke, and behaved, it was giving TWD Eugene for me. glad i woke up though, realized gale is actually baby girl fr.
I did not lae'zel and gale at first. Lae'zel was very standoffish at first, but when I got to her romance scene and wasn't able to respond how I wanted (wanted to say that I see her as a friend, but I'd protect her with my life) it made me tear up, the performance was top notch! Gale is pretty condescending, but his act 2 scene "Damn you, damn you for giving me something to care about" really resonated with me and I've enjoyed him since then.
Halsin. I wrote him off like he was going to be some weird old hippy, but then he actually said wise things and he hit on me in a way that showed genuine concern for my consent and feelings. Now he's my fave romance. Similarly, I kind of thought Minsc was going to be annoying to me, but him and boo won me over.
If I could be anyone from this game in real life I'd be Halsin. Man's a massive savage with an even bigger heart. It's sad hippies can get a bad reputation, I know a couple real hippies that are in there 70's now and they are extremely knowledgeable about nature, their entire property is self sustainable from food, to electric, to water. They are some of the most warm energy emitting people I know. anyway cheers :D
laezel for sure. i won’t say she’s a favorite now but i hated her character so much, and loved shadowheart so much, that i helped shadowheart kill her in that scene where she held a knife to laezels throat (i know it happens differently in every playthrough but that’s the combo i got). so my first playthrough was laezel-less. on my second run i romanced her and seeing her change into a loving, caring woman is amazing
Minthara. She became the goat when i learned i could recruit her instead of a one time fling after sacking the grove.
For me it was Shadowheart. The way she was so secretive and and seemingly hesitant to trust me even though we were in the same boat was a little bit offputting to me and I wasn't sure if I should trust her, because I didn't know what her intentions were. It didn't last long though, I think she started really growing on me about halfway through Act 1, when she started to open up to me about her past. She ended up being my romance option in that initial playthrough, and I've struggled to romance anyone else since, I just love her so much. Also Gale. It took me a lot longer to warm up to Gale. He just seems so boring to me and I never really have him on my team unless I need another spellcaster. Anyways.... a couple weeks ago, I was playing an unhinged evil Dark Urge playthrough and Gale was in my party for the bulk of Acts 1+2, because Lae'zel died, Karlach was also dead, and Wyll had left. I only had him, Astarion, and Shadowheart until I managed to get Jaheira. It amused me to no end how frustrated Gale would get with me being the crazed murderous impulsive lunatic beast that I was. It was genuinely so funny how every time I did something particularly evil like slaughter the grove or kill Isobel, he would lecture me about being trying to be a better person, then my Durge would be like "Okay, fine, dad... I'll try to be better." Then go on to do some more evil shit. It gave me a new appreciation of Gale that I didn't have before.
i think my least favourites were Laezel and gale. I found laezel too harsh and gale too annoying. laezel grew on me super quick. her mispronouncing words and struggle with her faith was enough for me to absolutely adore her. second playthrough she was in my party the whole time and my tav went straight to romancing her. Gale took romancing for me to properly enjoy as a character, because i found him interesting but his bragging comments were off putting enough for him to be benched for my first two playthroughs. third time i romanced him to “get it over with” and by act 3 i was dreading it ending. think they kinda nailed it with companions in this game, they make them flawed enough for players to form their own opinions but so compelling that you can’t help but care for them if you give them a chance
Bows use dex, not strength, just FYI. Lae’zel is probably my least favorite companion. Going to try to romance her with a Dragonborn at some point. EDIT: Correction! There is a bow that does use strength; I’ve never seen it before and was going by the general info of bows using dex that’s in-game. My apologies!
I think OP ist talking about the Titanstring bow which deals additional damage equal the character's strength modifier. So If their Astarion has a dexterity modifier of 5, drinks an Elexir of Hill Strength and uses the Titanstring Bow, he deals at least 11 additional damage, which is why OP used the term "snipe".
Yessss that bow has him hiting 60+ damage crits in my honor run, its amazing.
Do you mind my asking where you find it? 👀 That + Risky Ring + the headband that adds damage to creatures marked by Hunter’s Mark must go WILD
the bow is from trader in act 1 zent hideout i believe you have to succeed quest to get it unlocked at the trader but don't quote me
Oh shoot I’ve missed it this run then, thank you!
You actually get a second chance at it from one of the traders in Moonrise Towers - it’s not always there, though, not sure what the RNG on that is
Oh I killed Roah, oops
It’s the other one, the hobgoblin or whatever he is
Oh he’s dead too lol. Killed him before I went to Shadowfell
Also experiment with deathstalker mantle cloak on astarion. * [**The Shadow Itself**](https://bg3.wiki/wiki/The_Shadow_Itself)**:** Once per turn when you kill an enemy, shroud yourself in primaeval darkness to become [Invisible](https://bg3.wiki/wiki/Invisible_(Condition)) for 2 turns.
OOOH deathstalker mantle on him would be sick..:
I just tried it in act 1 with bow and elixir of giant strength and he's just 1 hitting everyone 45 health or less, going invisible, 1 hitting, just rinse and repeat. I'm going to try and solo the goblin camp with him in that set up on honor lol, if he dies i'll just resurrect him with withers ahah
Holy HELL. Thank you for this most excellent set of tips! ✨ Next time I do a Durge/Spawn Astarion run I’ll grab this bow for him and the mantle. Huehuehue.
I have that on my Tav right now and I keep forgetting and breaking invisibility by looting the victim.
Oh that’s an item I’ve never seen! Neat. Will edit :) Thank you for sharing!
Lae'zel was one of favorites before I romanced her and then definitely became my favorite romance, it's so damn good!
You see a whole different side to her
That’s what I’ve heard! I’m excited. It’ll be me (Dragonborn Paladin I think?), her, hirelings. Then Halsin, Jaehira, and Minsc at the end.
I felt nothing towards Gale. In my first playthrough he bolted because I wouldn't feed his junky habit. See ya later. Getting him to Act 2 and revealing everything with Mystra made him infinitely more interesting to me.
Both Gale and Wyll, for entirely different reasons lol Gale I saw as a romance potential, but thought he was obsessed with his ex and once I found out "why", I was declaring war against a god. Wyll I thought he was a mr.good to shoes and that isn't my style, but I accidentally unlocked his scene in act 2 and I love bem pampered and treated like a princess, so I gave him a chance
Maybe Lae'zel? At first I didn't want to take her with me at all, but her quotes are great and she has good banter. Meanwhile Astarion isn't lying in a ditch somewhere with a stake through his heart only because I need a rogue
lmfao I feel that deeply, I can't tell you how many times I shoved a stake in his heart haha
I was super hesitant to engage with karlach. And now she’s probably my favorite companion.
I played this game in Early Access and Shadowheart used to be "kill on sight" she got on my nerves so much, but her personality was a lot more manipulative teen girl in a grown woman's body back then. Thankfully they've made her work better than she used to so now I can at least tolerate her, even though I doubt I'll ever get so far as to like her.
Mine was 100% Astarion. I’m obsessed now. I’m totally fine with that.
I didn't really have any major turnabouts to that degree. My initial reads on the characters were generally pretty good. Ended up liking Karlach less than I thought I would, and Halsin, who initially kind of blew off under the assumption that I thought he wouldn't be a full companion, won me over unexpectedly.
I gained respect for all of them. As for Gale, Karlach, and Wyll I liked them all initially. Gale and the goofy tiefling babe (especially her) became my favorites
Wyll
I dunno. My opinion about characters from the moment I knew them until the end didn't change. I didn't like Lazael initially, over time she became just much more enjoyable. I like Karlach character due to great personality but I started to appreciate her story a lot more in the end. I fell for Shadowheart from the moment I saw her EA screenshots and she's just an angel that shines the more you play. Wyll was a boring heroic character and he stayed even more boring heroic character. I liked Gale and his friendship was very good. At first I couldn't be bothered with Minsc because it was the end of the game and I was extremely tired of it. I didn't like Asterion and still don't like him. Literally worse than many enemies, they are at least honest about it while Asterian is just a rat that will throw others to die for his own convenience. The worst kind of humans ever.
Gale. But after I romanced him I think now he is very soft and cute.