The best build for Astarion in Baldur’s Gate 3

Astarion is an eccentric and endearing companion in Baldur’s Gate 3. Discover the best build for the essential Rogue vampire.

During Act 1 of Baldur’s Gate 3, you will likely come face to face with a Pale Elf with questionable morals: Astarion. This rogue with daggers as sharp as his fangs is one of the players’ favorite companions, probably thanks to his very own character.

If, like many players, you have chosen to trust Astarion and integrate him into your group of adventurers, it is better to know how to make the Dodger as effective as possible, with a build perfectly suited to his lore and your needs.

Unfortunately, sticking to the Rogue path for 12 levels is somewhat suboptimal in Baldur’s Gate 3, particularly due to the fact that this class is the only martial class not to benefit from the precious additional Attack, which we will therefore need fetch via multiclassing.

To make Astarion the ultimate assassin, we therefore offer you a Rogue 7 / Ranger 5 build capable of sneaking into the shadows, opening the best protected chests, and striking like a brute at long range.

Summary:

• The best subclass for Astarion
• The best features for Astarion
• The best actions and passives for Astarion
• The best donations for Astarion
• The best equipment for Astarion
• Progression du build d’Astarion
• Tips and tricks

The best subclass for Astarion

When you recruit Astarion as a companion or select him as an origin character, the latter is a Rogue, whose subclass you will need to select at level 3.

With the aim of making Astarion an outstanding ranged assassin, this build will obviously seek out the Rogue Assassin subclass, which focuses on damage against surprised enemies, for an explosive first turn.

The Dark Stalker subclass of the Ranger perfectly complements this build, since it also aims to provide your character with a lot of power for his first turn in the game.

With this ranged assassin build, your Astarion will often be able to eliminate several threats before your enemies can even take their first turn.

To make Astarion a war machine, however, you will need to reassign his characteristics. If you’re not sure how to go about it, check out our respec guide in Baldur’s Gate 3.

The best features for Astarion

A Rogue must have characteristics perfectly suited to his role, namely inflicting as much damage as possible, but also remaining discreet, defusing traps or even picking locks:

• Dexterity: 16 at level 1 – The main characteristic of this build. Dexterity increases your hit chance and damage with ranged weapons and melee weapons with the Finesse attribute. Dexterity also increases Armor Class, and influences key skills like Stealth and Sleight of Hand.
• Constitution: 16 at level 1 – Constitution is a primary characteristic for all classes. Indeed, it considerably increases the characters’ HP, allowing them to take more hits in combat.
• Wisdom: 14 or 10 at level 1 – Wisdom is the Ranger’s casting ability. However, it is likely that you will not cast any spell requiring an ability check. Wisdom remains a very useful trait for various saving throws as well as Perception and Survival rolls.
• Charisma: 10 or 14 at level 1 – Raising Charisma is an interesting choice if you decide to make Astarion the face of your group, so that he is more effective during Persuasion, Intimidation and Representation rolls. However, the strengths of an Assassin build are not particularly compatible with a frontman role.
• Strength: 10 at level 1 – Not a very useful characteristic for a Rogue/Ranger. However, it allows you to increase the jumping distance and the portable charge.
• Intelligence: 8 at level 1 – Few primary skills rely on Intelligence, and your Astarion isn’t really meant for casting spells. This is the opportunity to remove all the points from this stat to better invest them elsewhere.

The best skills

If you do not use Astarion during dialogues:

• Skills mastered
  • Athletics
  • Acrobatics
  • Discretion
  • Investigation
• Skills to expertise
  • Workaround
  • Perception or Discretion

If Astarion is the character you use during dialogue:

• Skills mastered
  • Insight
  • Intimidation
  • Representation
  • Persuasion
• Skills to expertise
  • Persuasion
  • Sleight of hand or Intimidation or Deception

The best actions and passives for Astarion

• Dodger Actions and Liabilities
  • Sneak attack (Rogueman level 1): The emblematic action of the Rogue! The latter allows – once per turn – to inflict considerable damage by hitting an enemy when you are in an advantageous situation or when your target is threatened. Backstab works in both melee and ranged situations, and its damage increases as your Rogue levels increase.
  • Cunning: Rush, Hide, Disengage (Trickster level 2): ​​These three actions are variants of the corresponding basic actions, with the difference that they only cost one Bonus Action. Use it to move around the battlefield with ease.
  • Assassination – Initiative (Rogue Assassin level 3): This passive allows you to benefit from an advantage on your attack rolls against all enemies who have not yet taken a turn in a fight. This makes it very easy to place your Sneak Attack during the first turn of the game, and often even eliminate one or more enemies before they can do anything.
  • Assassination – ambush (Rogue Assassin level 3): This passive is overpowering when used well, since it allows you to benefit from automatic critical hits against surprise targets. By starting your encounters discreetly, you can simply one-shot many enemies before they can retaliate.
  • Assassin’s Eagerness (Rogue Assassin level 3): Thanks to this passive, the Assassin can use Actions and bonus Actions to engage in combat to his advantage, and immediately recover them for his first turn of the game.
• Ranger actions, spells and passives
  • Hunter’s Mark (Ranger level 2): ​​For a simple Bonus Action, this spell allows you to mark a target so that the latter suffers 1d6 additional damage when you hit it with an attack. It is a very effective tool, especially at the start of an adventure.
  • Combat Style – Archery (Ranger Level 2): ​​A huge passive bonus, which adds a +2 bonus to your ranged weapon attacks.
  • Terrifying Ambush (Level 3 Dark Stalker Lurker): This passive is an assassin build’s best friend. In addition to granting initiative, it increases your movement speed and allows you to perform an additional boosted attack during the first turn of each fight.
  • Extra Attack (Ranger Level 5): Extra attack is a must have for all martial classes, and the main reason why it is advisable to always multiclass the Rogue.

The best donations for Astarion

By following our build for Astarion, you choose a feat at level 5 (Ranger 4) and level 9 (Rogue 4). Here are the best gifts for a Rogue/Ranger:

• Sniper: This gift increases the damage of all your ranged weapon attacks by 10, at the cost of a significant -5 penalty to the attack roll. Thanks to Assassination – Initiative, you can benefit from an advantage at the start of the fight, and thus chain attacks almost guaranteed, even with Sniper activated
  • Gift to choose from level 5 or level 9, depending on your preferences
• Characteristic Improvement (Dexterity +2): Improving your Dexterity has many benefits as part of a Rogue/Ranger build. Dexterity mainly improves your damage and your chances of hitting your attacks.
  • Gift to choose at level 5 or 9

The best equipment for Astarion

Astarion seeks to deal as much damage as possible, and that’s why the main element of your build should be a good ranged weapon, whether it’s a bow or a crossbow. You will find them throughout your adventure.

Armor wise, you can wear light or medium armor. Take care not to equip medium armor that limits your Dexterity bonus to armor class or imposes disadvantage on stealth checks.

For the rest of your gear, focus on bonuses to ranged weapon damage and/or attack rolls.

Astarion build progress

Now that you have understood the components of a good Rogue/Ranger build for Astarion, here is a progression guide to help you choose your actions and your gifts at each level gained in Baldur’s Gate 3.

This build relies on the strengths of the Rogue Assassin to which are added some excellent tools from the Ranger and its Dark Tracker subclass.

Tips and tricks

• Your priority each turn of combat should be to trigger a Sneak Attack, which deals considerable additional damage (up to 4D6 at level 7 Rogue)
• Don’t hesitate to deactivate Sniper to improve your chances of hitting when an enemy has very little HP or you need to ensure Sneak Attack is activated.
• When a fight seems inevitable, take advantage of Astarion’s assassin skills to quickly eliminate a handful of enemies by surprising them
• Place your other characters in close combat with your enemies to make them “threatened” , which allows Astarion to use Sneak Attack
• Consider using Astarion’s Vampiric Bite once after each long rest to benefit from the Satiated effect

This concludes our guide to playing Astarion well in Baldur’s Gate 3. Are you still unsure about your character’s class? Take a look at our tier list of classes in Baldur’s Gate 3.

We also invite you to discover our builds for the other companions of Baldur’s Gate 3:

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