In this Baldur’s Gate 3 Companions Guide we’re going to take a look at Lae’Zel in BG3 Early Access, and which Spells, Feats, and Equipment to use, and how to improve your reputation with her. We’ll also discuss which are good Companions to take with her, and what your party might look like depending on which Companions you know for sure you want to use.

Baldur’s Gate 3 Early Access Companions Guide: Lae’Zel

There are five Companions you can acquire in Baldur’s Gate 3 Early Access, and you can bring three of them along with you at a time. You can travel back to your Camp at any time and swap them out to your liking, and it’s worth noting that Companions in your Camp gain experience the same as those in your party. Let’s take a look at Lae’Zel. She is likely the fourth Companion you will acquire.

Lae’Zel Abilities & Skills

Lae’Zel has very good Ability Scores for a Fighter making her one of the best Companions in Early Access. Because of her Base Racial Speed, she can move at up to 9 meters per turn. She has excellent Strength and good Constitution, making her particularly suited for melee combat. There are some features that can help further improve her Abilities, which I will now discuss.

At level 4, I highly recommend choosing the Ability Improvements Feat, as this is the best Feat in Early Access. It allows you to allocate at least 1 point to any of your two Abilities so I suggest investing in both Strength and Dexterity. When her STR becomes 18, you effectively raise her Strength Modifier to +4. This improves her Attack Roll, increasing the chances of hitting your enemies. It also allows her to deal more damage using Melee Weapons. Additionally, when her DEX is raised to 14, she gains an extra +1 Dexterity Modifier. This is very important as it enhances Lae’Zel’s Armour Class, which prevents her from easily taking damage. With a higher DEX, her chances of attacking first due to Initiative are also better, not to mention she will also gain +1 to Attack and Damage Rolls with any Ranged Weapon she has equipped.

Lae’Zel is Proficient in Athletics, Acrobatics, Arcana, Survival and Intimidation. Her high Strength accounts for her excellent Athletics Skill. This allows you to traverse hazardous terrain or rough waters by climbing slippery walls or swimming in turbulent currents. She can also jump across longer distances at 8.5 meters.

Lae’Zel’s Charisma Score is the lowest among the four other Companions, which translates to a penalty of -1 Charisma Modifier regardless of her Intimidation Proficiency. Because of this, I wouldn’t recommend letting her to take the lead in conversing with NPCs since she isn’t likely to Intimidate anyone successfully.

At level 3, you can choose between two subclasses for Lae’Zel, namely the Battle Master or Eldritch Knight. It will be up to you if you prefer to constantly fight enemies up close with the Battle Master or if you wish to supplement her combat prowess with some Wizard Spells depending on your party composition. Either Subclass is perfectly fine in Early Access.

Fighter Actions & Spells

At level 2, Lae’Zel gains Action Surge, which provides 1 additional action during her turn. This is very powerful because it allows you to use any of Lae’Zel’s Skills twice in one turn. Since Action Surge can only be used once per combat and is recharged after every Short Rest, it should ideally be utilized at critical moments specifically when you’re trying to eliminate lethal enemies.

Note that the 6 Class Passives of the Fighter become available to her, and Two-Handed Weapons are a particularly good choice so with this in mind, the Great Weapon Fighting passive would be optimal. Rolling a 1 or 2 on your Damage Roll allows you to reroll again, and this can save you a good amount of misses through out the course of Early Access, regardless of whether or not she is a Battle Master or Eldritch Knight. However, you can choose Defense if you wish, as this is not a bad choice if you want to be a bit tankier.

Battle Master Actions

At level 3, if Lae’Zel becomes a Battle Master, you gain 3 Class Passives out of 4. I suggest choosing Menacing Attack to deal extra damage while possibly inflicting Frighten. Riposte is also recommended as it deals massive damage when the enemy misses a Melee Attack. Rally is good for a bit of emergency “healing”, as it allows you to add Health to a friendly target as a bubble of sorts.

The beauty of being a versatile Fighter is that you also gain Menacing or Pushing Attack Skills, which you can use as a Melee or Ranged Attack depending on what the situation calls for. Usually, you will aim for close encounters, however, in the event that you’re far away from the enemy, switching to any Bow and using the ranged version of these Skills to finish off a target’s HP is perfectly acceptable.

Eldritch Knight Spells & Actions

On the other hand, if Lae’Zel becomes an Eldritch Knight, remember that she will have a +0 Intelligence Modifier at 11 INT. As a result, her Spellcasting Ability will be lower so it’s important to choose Spells that do not rely on Intelligence. Should you wish to make more Spells effective for her, you can acquire the Warped Headband of Intellect to set her INT to 18. Since you will unlock 2 Cantrips and 3 level 1 Wizard Spells, I recommend the following:

For Cantrips, which don’t require Short nor Long Rest for reactivation, I suggest choosing Dancing Lights as it illuminates areas of up to 18 meters. This is particularly essential when you fight targets hidden in the dark to increase your hit chances because Lae’Zel does not have Darkvision. For Dancing Lights, Concentration is required, which means you should not take damage nor cast another Concentration Spell. Otherwise, the effect will be broken. Blade Ward is also a good option to gain more resistance against Bludgeoning, Piercing and Slashing damage on top of your decent AC. If you equip the Warped Headband of Intellect then it’s a good idea to choose Cantrips that are Ranged Attacks, as this balances well with Lae’Zel’s powerful Melee Attacks depending on the position of her enemies. Both Fire Bolt and Ray of Frost can inflict Fire and Cold damage, respectively, at a range of 18 meters each.

For the 1st set of Wizard Spells, I recommend choosing Magic Missile, Witch Bolt and Burning Hands. Magic Missile is one of the strongest and most effective Spells in Early Access that doesn’t require Intelligence whatsoever, as it neither affects damage nor accuracy, so you should definitely select this. Witch Bolt allows you to deal Lightning damage for each turn by simply activating it as long as you maintain Concentration. You can also choose Burning Hands, which deals Fire damage but the range is much shorter at 5 meters.

For the 2nd set of Wizard Spells, I suggest selecting Expeditious Retreat where Dash turns into a Bonus Action allowing you to move faster. You can take advantage of this Spell if you want to rush towards an enemy to finish him or her off or if your HP becomes dangerously low, which is rarely the case with Lae’Zel.

Lae’Zel Equipment

Lae’Zel should maintain the Githyanki Half Plate Medium Armour she is given by default, as a better Heavy Armour is not available in Early Access. This allows her +1 Dexterity to her Amour Class, and +2 if you increased her DEX Ability Score at Level 4, thereby increasing her Armour protection in Early Access, not including Spells or a Shield.

When it comes to Weapons, I highly recommend using Martial Two-Handed Melee Weapons to yield the highest Melee damage potential in Early Access. Greatswords and Battleaxes, particularly the Blooded Greataxe can be purchased from Dammon in The Hollow part of the Druid Grove. This Battleaxe easily cuts through enemies and it has a special perk called Relentless Revenge, which allows you to deal extra Slashing damage should your HP fall equal to or below 50%. The second option is to use the Exterminator’s Axe, which can be obtained from the Decrepit Village in the Underdark. This Weapon provides the same Slashing damage as the Blooded Greataxe with a bonus Fire damage against plants, insects and small creatures without any other requirement.

Another Weapon worth considering is the Sword of Justice which provides the Spell Tyr’s Protection as a bonus. This is a level 1 Wizard Spell in the form of a Bonus Action that increases a target’s AC by 2. Tyr’s Protection is helpful especially if you wish to protect yourself or an ally who is on the brink of death or who has relatively low AC.

For Accessories, the best item is the Warped Headband of Intellect if you’re an Eldritch Knight because it automatically boosts your Intelligence to 18. As a result, most of the Spells you use such as Witch Bolt and Burning Hands will have higher chances of landing on the target. You can acquire this from the Ogre Mage, Lump the Enlightened, located in the Blighted Village.

The Sapphire Spark is also fantastic if you’re playing an Eldritch Knight, as it significantly boosts the damage of Magic Missile by around 75%. Once you obtain this you almost always use Magic Missile, except on very rare occasions, since you simply won’t get better bang for your buck with her in Early Access.

If you’re a Battle Master, I suggest equipping Cherished Locket if you do not have the Dancing Light Cantrip to see and to hit better in the dark. You can obtain this item after completing the Saving Arabella quest.

Lae’Zel Approval

In this sections I’ll show you how you can gain approval with Lae’Zel, as well as how you can gain disapproval if you wish. These are not all the ways possible in Early Access, but they are the ones we have accumulated on the Wiki so far:

APPROVAL UP:

• Show Guex in the Druid Grove your sword fighting technique (Athletics check).
• Talk to the bird in the Druid Grove by using Speak with Animals and intimidate it. (Charisma check).
• Convince Zorru, in the Druid Grove, to kneel.
• Choose to attack Taman and Gimblelock in dialogue outside the Crypt.
• When talking to Zevlor the first time inside the Druid Grove, tell him you’re sorry but you have no time to help him.
• During dialogue with Lae’zel, after she describes ceremorphosis, tell her you will find a cure.
• If Kagha‘s snake kills Arabella, tell her “She was just protecting her own.” in dialogue afterwards.
• Swear to Nettie you will take the poison.
• Crush the Tadpole outside of the Druid Grove.
• Decline the Devil’s invitation to remove your Tadpole.
• Respond to Volo in the Goblin Camp with “-“
• Make Novice Crusher kiss your foot in the Goblin Camp.
• Resist during the first dream sequence.
• Cruel behaviors.
• Calm down the boar near where you recruit Astarion.
• Fight the fake god Boooal in THE FESTERING COVE.
• Allowing her to speak to her githyanki brothers/sisters
• When the player emulates the roar of a mind flayer while talking to Lorin.
• Break Alfira’s lute.
• Acknowledge how valuable the K’liir library is.
• Drink from the well in the Putrid Bog (Quest: Save Mayrina)
• Kill the Owlbear cub and its parent
• Reassure Lae’zel in the Camp that she will survive and please Vlaakith

APPROVAL DOWN:

• Convince the Owlbear not to kill you in its cave
• In the crypt, agreeing with Shadowheart, questioning the need of possessions for the dead.
• Convince Arka to spare Sazza by stepping in front of the crossbow.
• At Camp, agreeing with Shadowheart that the first priority is to find a healer.
• Try to persuade the goblin guard outside the Goblin Camp
• Smear dung on your face when Sentinel Olak asks you to
• Lae’zel has a rivalry attitude towards Shadowheart, heed to Shadowheart’s advice will upset her.
• Sympathetic behaviors.
• Disapproves if you succeed in the persuasion check to stop Kagha from imprisoning the child.
• Find the evidence of Kagha working with Shadow Druids and expose her. (Quest Save the refugees)
• Bring Mayrina back home (Quest: Save Mayrina)
• Make a deal with Auntie Ethel to remove the Tadpole from your brain (Quest: Get Help from Auntie Ethel)

Final Tips

Lae’Zel is an excellent character if you intend to inflict huge bursts of damage up close and personal because she has some of the best damage potential regardless of her Subclass. Her decent Dexterity Score prevents enemies from easily hitting her, and makes her good enough with a Bow to use it when she needs it. Just remember that her fiery temper and goal-oriented nature can prevent you from peacefully negotiating with others. Furthermore, you should prioritize Lae’Zel’s search for the Githyanki creche as she gets very impatient, which can result in a bloody fight between the two of you.

In terms of positioning, Lae’Zel should be within 2 meters of enemies especially if you plan to use Cleave beforehand. This Action can be gained from a wide variety of Weapons such as Greatswords, Longswords and Battleaxes to name a few. Cleave is a Melee AoE attack, which allows you to hack out multiple targets at once and in some cases, you can even use it as a finisher. This Skill is not limited to the Battle Master subclass so you can also use it as an Eldritch Knight depending on the Weapon  she has equipped.

With regard to equipment, I prefer Two-Handed Weapons but you can certainly deal above average damage should you opt for any One-Handed Weapon with a Shield. The Shield amplifies your AC making you harder to hit, and unlike some other Companions, Lae’Zel’s Githyanki Half Plate should be worn all throughout Early Access. You may have to change this once the full game is released if there is a better alternative in the form of another Medium or Heavy Armour, but at the moment there is not.

Lastly, you should consider including Lae’Zel in your party especially if you already have Gale or Wyll so you can capitalize on her Battle Master subclass. It should also be noted that Lae’Zel and Shadowheart’s personalities tend to clash so it would be better to play these two characters separately. You might end up provoking either of them too much, which may cause retaliation.

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Stay tuned for more Baldur’s Gate 3 content as we take a look at Companions and Builds, and be sure to drop by our Twitch channel if you have questions about the game. If you need something specific, check out our Baldur’s Gate 3 Wiki which is being worked on night and day!