Minthara Companion Build Guide in BG3 — Oathbreaker Paladin & Undead Army

Minthara Build at a Glance

How to Recruit Minthara — Both Paths Explained

Path 1 — Goblin Route (Act 1): This is the straightforward recruitment path. In Act 1, when given the choice to assault the Druid Grove or side with the goblin leaders, choose to side with Minthara and help her raid the grove. After the raid succeeds, she becomes a permanent companion (she may also be a romance option in this path). The downside is that this path closes off the Tiefling refugees, Halsin, and several major Act 1 questlines. Minthara will arrive as an Oathbreaker Paladin, which is exactly the subclass you want.

Path 2 — Non-Violent Rescue (Acts 1 and 2): This is the more complex path that allows you to get Minthara without destroying the grove. In Act 1, find Minthara in the Goblin Camp's Shattered Sanctum. Instead of cooperating with her plan, use the Illithid persuasion option or knock her out during combat without killing her. Her body will be found at Moonrise Towers in Act 2 — rescue her from the prison there. She will join your party in a weakened state. In this path, her Paladin subclass may not be Oathbreaker by default, and you will want to respec her at Withers to Oathbreaker to access her best features.

Both paths lead to the same companion, but the goblin route gives her more immediate approval and dialogue options throughout the game. The non-violent path is mechanically equivalent for build purposes but requires more planning in Act 1 and a guaranteed Withers respec in Act 2.

Minthara is a Drow Paladin with a Lawful Evil alignment and a complicated relationship with the Absolute. Her background (Acolyte) gives her Insight and Religion. She approves of strength, dominance over others, decisive action, and cruelty toward enemies. She disapproves of weakness, mercy toward enemies, and deference to others. Playing a ruthless or power-focused character naturally builds her approval.

Why Oathbreaker Paladin is Minthara's Best Build

The Oathbreaker subclass is unique: it requires a Paladin to have broken their sacred oath, which happens automatically in the game either when you side with Minthara to attack the Grove (she becomes an Oathbreaker by story mandate) or when you commit certain morally corrupt actions. The Oathbreaker is mechanically one of the strongest Paladin builds in BG3 specifically because of two features: Animate Dead and Aura of Hate.

Animate Dead (3rd-level spell, Oathbreaker spell list from level 3) lets you raise dead humanoids or undead corpses as thralls. At the base spell level (3rd), you can animate 2 corpses. Upcast to 4th level: 3 corpses. 5th level: 4 corpses. Since Minthara naturally accumulates high-level spell slots and can keep raising dead after each long rest, she can maintain a standing army of 4–6 undead throughout Acts 2 and 3. Each undead acts on its own initiative, attacks enemies, and absorbs damage that would otherwise hit party members.

Aura of Hate (Oathbreaker level 7, activates at Paladin 7) adds Minthara's CHA modifier as bonus necrotic damage to all melee attacks made by undead within 10 feet of her. At CHA 20 (achievable with Birthright helmet), that is +5 necrotic damage on every undead attack. With 4–6 undead each making 1–2 attacks per turn, this passive adds 20–60+ necrotic damage per round at no resource cost. This is the core of Minthara's identity as the best undead-army commander in the game.

Her personal combat also benefits from standard Paladin features: Aura of Protection (+CHA to all saves for nearby allies, including undead), Divine Smite (spend spell slots on critical hits for 2d8 radiant damage per slot level), and Lay on Hands (emergency healing). The Oathbreaker adds Channel Divinity: Animate Dead (additional raises) and Conquer the Mind (frighten on a WIS save). As a Drow, she also has Faerie Fire and Darkness as innate spells, which can be useful for advantage generation.

Level 1–12 Progression Table

Recommended Starting Stats (After Respec)

Animate Dead — Building and Managing the Undead Army

Animate Dead is the backbone of Minthara's playstyle. After each long rest, her undead thralls disappear, so she must re-animate corpses at the start of each dungeon or difficult area. The most reliable approach is to kill enemies in a preliminary fight, then use Animate Dead on the corpses before advancing. By Act 3, with 5th-level spell slots, she can animate 4 corpses at once, and if she uses two spell slots she can maintain 6–8 undead simultaneously.

The most powerful undead to animate are Ghouls (found in Act 2 dungeons and Act 3 crypts) because Ghouls have a paralyzing touch that can lock down enemies for multiple turns. Animated Skeletons deal decent damage but lack the disabling touch. Animated Zombies are slow but have high HP. In Act 3, prioritize finding Ghoul corpses before major fights and animating them for maximum crowd control value.

Positioning matters enormously for Aura of Hate. The aura is 10 feet — in BG3 this means roughly 3 meters. Minthara must stay within 3 meters of her undead thralls for them to benefit from the +CHA necrotic damage. In practice, this means placing her in the middle of her undead horde, which also lets her Aura of Protection apply to them. The result is a nearly unkillable death squad: high saves from Aura of Protection, bonus necrotic damage from Aura of Hate, and the undead absorbing hits that would otherwise reach Minthara.

The Oathbreaker's Channel Divinity: Animate Dead (separate from the spell) provides an additional undead raise per short rest. Use the spell for the main force and the Channel Divinity as a bonus raise for a freshly killed enemy mid-fight. This lets her raise in combat as well as out of combat.

Feat Choices and Alternatives

Equipment Progression — Act 1 (Goblin Path) and Act 2

Equipment — Act 3 Best in Slot

Combat Role — Turn-by-Turn Breakdown

Pre-fight (if time permits): Cast Animate Dead on 2–4 nearby corpses from the previous encounter or corpses you've dragged forward. Position undead thralls at choke points or near high-priority enemies. Use Bless (Bonus Action or Action) on Minthara and two allies — this adds 1d4 to all attack rolls and saves for the duration, and it interacts with Strange Conduit Ring to add +1d4 psychic to her melee attacks while concentrating.

Turn 1: If Initiative allows, open with Hold Person on the most dangerous enemy (WIS save, Paralyzed on a fail). Paralyzed enemies auto-fail STR and DEX saves, and all melee attacks against Paralyzed targets are Critical Hits — meaning every Divine Smite on a held enemy automatically deals double dice. Follow Hold Person with a melee attack using Divine Smite (even a 1st-level smite on an auto-crit deals 2×2d8 = 4d8 radiant). The math: Hold Person + Giantslayer + Improved Divine Smite + active Divine Smite on a Paralyzed target can hit 80–120 damage in a single strike.

Turn 2+: Maintain Bless concentration (War Caster keeps it safe), make two melee attacks per turn (Extra Attack), and let the undead thralls do their work. Each thrall within 10 feet of Minthara gets +CHA necrotic on every hit. Channel Divinity: Conquer the Mind to frighten a clustered group — frightened enemies can't willingly move closer, splitting any group trying to focus Minthara.

When low on spell slots: Minthara's Improved Divine Smite (passive at level 11) deals 1d8 radiant on every melee hit with no slot expenditure. Combined with Balduran's Giantslayer doubling her STR modifier and the STR 23 from Gauntlets, her floor damage per hit is 2d6+12+1d8 radiant — roughly 20–25 damage per strike before any active smiting.

Party Synergy — Who Pairs Well with Minthara

Minthara's undead army changes party composition priorities. She needs fewer dedicated frontliners because her thralls absorb hits and engage enemies. This frees up a party slot for a second caster or an extra ranged damage dealer rather than another melee tank.

Gale or any Wizard pairs perfectly — Minthara handles melee-range control with her undead while Gale casts Fireball and Hunger of Hadar from safety. The undead are immune to the necrotic damage from Hunger of Hadar, which becomes a synergistic AoE zone that only the enemy takes damage from.

Shadowheart (Spore Druid or Life Cleric) rounds out the party — Spirit Guardians deals radiant and necrotic damage in an aura around Shadowheart, similar to Minthara's aura paradigm. The two auras overlap in the front line for massive passive damage per turn on any enemy that dares approach.

Wyll (Warlock) is excellent as a fourth — Repelling Blast pushes enemies into Minthara's Spike Growth if Jaheira is also present, and Hunger of Hadar interacts beautifully with the undead thralls who ignore its damage.

Avoid stacking Minthara with another pure martial melee character (Lae'zel, Karlach) unless you explicitly want a powerful dual-frontline. The undead serve as pseudo-martials, making a second heavy hitter redundant. Use that slot for spell coverage instead.

Common Mistakes When Playing Minthara

• Not re-animating after each long rest: Minthara's undead disappear after a long rest. Many players forget to re-animate before the next fight. Build the habit of casting Animate Dead (and using Channel Divinity: Animate Dead) immediately after each long rest and before entering any dungeon or quest area.
• Placing undead too far from Minthara: Aura of Hate has a 10-foot (3-meter) radius. Undead that wander more than 3 meters from Minthara lose the +CHA necrotic bonus. Micro-manage undead positioning to keep them adjacent to Minthara during the crucial first few rounds when the horde is dealing maximum damage.
• Skipping the ASI CHA at level 4: Some players take a combat feat (Great Weapon Master, Polearm Master) at level 4. This is a mistake — Minthara's CHA governs Aura of Protection (party saves), Aura of Hate (undead damage), and her spell save DC simultaneously. The return on +2 CHA far outpaces any single feat for the majority of the game.
• Breaking Hold Person concentration with a bad positioning decision: Hold Person auto-crits melee attacks for as long as the enemy is paralyzed. Walking Minthara into an area with AoE or multiple attackers can break concentration early. Use War Caster to keep Hold Person alive, and position her behind her undead shield wall.
• Not picking up Birthright early in Act 3: Birthright is sold at Sorcerous Sundries in Baldur's Gate — one of the first shops you can reach in Act 3. Many players don't buy it until mid-Act 3. Buy it immediately — +2 CHA on a character where CHA improves four different mechanics simultaneously is never a wasted gold expense.
• Using Helldusk Armor without the STR requirement: Helldusk Armor requires passing a STR check to equip. Minthara starts Act 3 with STR 16 — she will likely pass, but if she fails the check, she cannot wear it. Equip Gauntlets of Hill Giant Strength (STR 23) before attempting to put on Helldusk Armor to guarantee passing.
• Forgetting Divine Smite is optional: Some players smite every attack. Divine Smite costs spell slots that are also needed for Animate Dead and Bless. Reserve Divine Smite for confirmed critical hits or for finishing a high-HP target. Burning all slots on Smites in the first fight leaves Minthara without Animate Dead resources for the next encounter.
• Neglecting Conquer the Mind Channel Divinity: Conquer the Mind frightens creatures on a WIS save — frightened enemies can't move toward the source of fear. Used against an incoming group, this stops a charge in its tracks while your undead swarm them. Many players use only Animate Dead and forget this second Channel Divinity option entirely.