There are a few companions in Baldur’s Gate 3 that almost no one ever takes with them. Most of you probably don’t even know their names. We’re talking about hirelings, who are actually pretty useful – with a catch.
These are the characters:
This is how unpopular hirelings are: Baldur’s Gate 3 rewards you with an achievement for hiring a hireling. The “Freelance Workers” achievement indicates that you were nice to one of these characters or “used them as cannon fodder.”
In a global comparison, however, of all players on Steam, only 16.2% have ever unlocked this achievement. On the other hand, a full 19.9% completed the game.
These are pretty clear numbers, because you can recruit a hireling much sooner than after the approximately 100 hours that one round takes. But why are the hirelings so terribly unpopular?
Lazarus provides you with hirelings, but also with the opportunity to reskill:
Baldur’s Gate 3: Reset character and choose new class
More videos
Autoplay
Hirelings are practical, but have one major disadvantage
The idea behind the hirelings is that they replace characters that you are missing in the group – or simply fill them in if you really don’t have anyone else left. For hirelings will never leave you.
Nevertheless, the mercenaries are missing something important: a story. Although each of them has a story that explains how they died and is therefore now available in Lazarus’ arsenal, they do not have any companion quests.
Unlike all other companions in Baldur’s Gate 3, you cannot enter into relationships with them or explore their background through a series of quests. This is something that many players love about the game and don’t want to miss out on.
Hirelings are purely playful but are no weaker than other characters. You may even need them, especially in a bad passage, because a lot of companions disappear there or don’t even appear at all.
However, you really have to be a huge a… to lose so many companions that your group doesn’t fill up. In this case, hirelings are your best (and only) choice. You should also be careful who you include in your group. The developers have built in a nasty trap: warn players: If you can recruit one of the most popular characters in Baldur’s Gate 3, bad things are about to happen