Minsc

ilduderino

When I first played through the saga he was one of my favourite companions but I have found that he is often less effective than other npcs on subsequent play throughs. He often seems far down any tier lists. I think this is pretty unfair and mainly due to his stats not being easily modified upwards, whilst many other NPCs problems can be solved with a strength item or dexterity bracers, his usp is strength and generally decent physical stats which don’t count for much in the long run. Poor Minsc, in a different game without so many strength boosting items you would be awesome. I wonder how his effectiveness would change in a campaign where no stat change items are allowed

DJKajuru

In BG2 Minsc has plenty of advantages. His berserk ability not only helps against most mental attacks but also prevents level draining by one of midgame's biggest nightmares : vampires. There are countless cases where Minsc himself can solve everything with his own berserking buffs.

In addition, give him an amulet of power (he can wear it, amazingly), a mace of disruption and another mace for dual wielding and you got the best undead slayer in BG2 . His canon 7th weapon proficiency is axe, wwhich means that he can use Azuredge early and magical throwing axes for ranged strength damage.

You can boost his dexterity, you can boost his constitution and even his AC . You can boosy his intelligence when fighting Illithids.

In summary, I think that Minsc is a pretty good tank and differentiates a lot from other tanks in the game such as Keldorn,Korgan and Sarevok.

ThacoBell

Note that Minsc is also a great generalist. There are a bunch of npcs that do their specialty better than Minsc, but none who can spread out as well as him. Minsc is great for man diferent situations.

the_sextein

There are enough strength boosting items to go around. It's true that he is about as effective as any other warrior when it comes to strength but he has other advantages. He can cast Armor of Faith which grants 25% damage resistance. He also has the warrior HLA pool which gives him Hardiness, boosting his resistance another 40%. He automatically starts with dual wielding and the Defender of Easthaven gives a nice armor class bonus with another 20% damage resistance. All in all, he ends up with 85% resistance to damage with high strength and if you give him a sword in his main hand like Foebane, He will deal massive damage and heal himself 20HP a round. This combination of tank like protections and high DPS damage dealing makes him very useful.

On the high difficulty levels where enemies have a bunch of HP and do double damage he can come in handy. Some characters use stoneskin and mirror image, some like Minsc achieve similar results through a different path but he is still effective. He also has berserk ability and healing buffs with a racial enemy, stealth and charm animals. I wouldn't say he is better or worse than anyone else really. He has times in the game where he is more useful than others but that goes for just about anyone.

On LOB mode I had to give Serevok a magical ring that allows him to cast mirror image and boots that allow him to cast stoneskin. Minsc could stay alive just as effectively using his own advantages and depending on how you have him setup, he can deal more damage.

Chronicler

Though a lot of people like to combine all their strength enhancing items in order to make that one hammer that gives you max strength.

In which case you'll have one incredibly strong character, and the others will have to rely on their natural strength score a bit more often.

Minsc not needing strength boosting gear means he's free to use those slots on other things.

jsaving

Singleclass warriors are a tough sell at mid to high levels unless they have something truly dramatic to set them apart, like Keldorn's dispel magic (the strongest in the game by far) or Sarevok's instant-death strike. Minsc's rage ability and high strength are enough to make him an appealing choice in BG1, but once CHARNAME's party can access strength-boosting items and the chaotic commands spell, he becomes less useful than he once was (though I keep him in my party anyway for old times' sake).

Reliant

Minsc:  Don't leave home without him!