Baldur's Gate 3: Astarion Build Guide in BG3 - Gamerz Gateway

This guide will teach you how to play Astarion in BG3. If you want to make him better in combat than just a regular Rogue, you can choose the Gloomstalker or Hunter Subclasses of Ranger. I will explain about Ability Scores, Class Features, and Equipment
for Astarion. I will also give helpful tips on how to play as Astarion effectively.

Astarion is skilled at both close and far-away fighting because he is a Rogue and has high Dexterity. He can use both long-range and close-range weapons effectively. Rogues get extra damage when they attack with an advantage or when they attack a creature near their ally. As long as they don’t have a disadvantage. This can cause a lot of harm once in each round, but Rogues do not get an Extra Attack like Fighters, Rangers, Monks, Barbarians or Paladins do. That’s why I chose to combine Astarion with the Ranger Class.

Astarion BG3 Build Guide: Skills

Astarion BG3 is already really good at noticing things, tricking people, and doing sneaky things with his hands, so you don’t have to worry about picking those skills when improving him later.

Stealth
Acrobatics
Insight
Athletics
Stealth Expertise
Sleight of Hand Expertise
Investigation
Survival

For sure, you should choose Stealth and Acrobatics, but Insight and Athletics are okay too. Athletics and acrobatics make Astarion better at resisting being pushed, and insight helps understand
what other characters are thinking. To improve your ability to be sneaky and open locks or disarm traps, you should have a lot of knowledge and skill in sleight of hand and stealth.

Astarion BG3 Build Guide: Ability Scores

Astarion starts BG3 as a Rogue, so his Ability Scores are similar to what a regular Rogue would have. However, at some point, you will need to change his skills in order to fully benefit from him. By doing this, you will be able to choose Sharpshooter as your first special skill without having any major problems with your abilities that need fixing.

You can notice that we have increased his knowledge and slightly reduced his charm. This is because Rangers need to use Wisdom to see if their Spells will work, and we want to be good at using them. It also helps improve your ability to make wise decisions in certain situations, such as when you need to notice traps or find hidden items.

Astarion BG3 Level Progression

Level 1

At level one, your companion will already have their basic abilities, class, and so on. Astarion has a special skill called Vampire Bite. We recommend talking to WIthers NPC and changing the ability score for this companion. He probably won’t have the best numbers, so you should follow the suggestions in the table above.

Sneak Attack (Ranged)
Sneak Attack (Melee)

At the first level, your main objective is to become invisible before a fight or while it’s happening and use a surprise attack. Understanding the benefit of being a mechanic can be challenging. Basically, you have to go after enemies who are already busy with someone else, or you can hide and become invisible to approach them unnoticed. You will have more choices and it will be easier for you to use this when you can hide using a bonus action. For now, use a bow or fight up close and find higher places and targets that will give you an advantage. I recommend using this strategy from far away. It’s simpler and allows you to be sneaky and have an advantage.

Level 2

At level two, you will unlock the Cunning Action class feature, more health, and one more level until subclass choice.

Cunning Action Hide: Hide from enemies by succeeding Stealth checks. Stick to the dark and avoid enemy sightlines. Attacking or casting a spell will reveal your location.
Cunning Action Dash: Cover more distance this turn: double your Movement Speed.
Cunning Action Disengage: Retreat safely: moving won’t provoke Opportunity Attacks.

This allows you to use Dash, Hide, and Disengage quickly. The main idea of the build is to use bonus actions to perform attacks and Cunning Actions, which allows you to save your main action for Sneak Attack. Dash is a useful action that helps you create some distance or get closer to something. On the other hand, disengage allows you to run away from a fight without worrying about being attacked. You can use these actions to either enter and exit battles, and then use the hide ability at the end of your turn to become hidden.

Level 3

At the third level, Astarion gains the option to select a Subclass, and our recommendation is the ‘Thief’ Subclass. This choice provides him with the valuable abilities of ‘Fast Hands’ and ‘Second-Story Work.’ ‘Fast Hands’ grants Astarion an additional turn in every combat encounter, enabling him to take advantage of opportunities for hiding, attacking, and concealing himself once more. He can also leverage this ability to employ ‘Hunter’s Mark,’ conceal himself, and subsequently unleash an attack, thereby inflicting extra damage as he continues to multiclass.

Fast Hands (Level 3): Gain an additional bonus action.
Second-Story Work (Level 3): You’ve mastered the art of falling and gain Resistance to Falling damage.
Supreme Sneak (Level 9): Blend into the environment so completely that you become Invisible.

At this stage of progression, Astarion’s ‘Sneak Attack’ becomes more potent, escalating to 2D6 damage. This enhancement signifies that he will inflict twice the damage when executing this maneuver.

Level 4

When you reach level four, you have to make an important choice between getting a new special skill or making yourself better at something you can already do. We suggest not improving your abilities so that you can choose the Sharpshoot feat.

Sharpshooter: You won’t be penalized for shooting a ranged weapon when you are higher than your target. When you use a ranged weapon that you are good at using, you will have a hard time hitting your target, so you will have a -5 penalty to your attack roll. However, if you do manage to hit, your attack will do an extra 10 points of damage.

Use Of Sharpshooter: This helps you deliver stronger hits and not be penalized when you are not higher than your opponent. If you lower your chance of hitting, it can be a problem at the beginning of the game when your abilities and equipment are not very strong. You can turn off the passives on the toolbar by clicking them, but you will still follow the high-ground rule. I always kept this thing on and was very lucky with a type of setup on my rogue character.

Level 5

This approach will not only enhance your survivability but also amplify the potency of your surprise attacks, elevating the damage output to 3d6.

Upon reaching level 5 as a Rogue, Astarion experiences a significant improvement in his ability to deal sneak attack damage and gains the skill ‘Uncanny Dodge.’ This ability allows him to utilize his Reaction once per round to reduce the damage inflicted by an Attack that successfully lands on him by 50%. This defensive maneuver proves invaluable for his longevity.

The current gameplay strategy remains consistent at this point. Continue scouring for weaponry, potions, arrows, and poison to augment your damage-dealing potential.

Level 6 – 8

At Level 6, you can become more skilled in two specific abilities. Trickery and gymnastics are good options. This tool mainly assists you with traveling, talking, and discovering instead of fighting. In the near future, we will receive another tool that will assist in causing harm or destruction.

When a Rogue reaches level 7, they learn Evasion. This ability allows them to use their agility to avoid getting hit by some spells. When a magic spell or power would cause you less harm if you can dodge it, you won’t get hurt at all if you succeed in dodging it, but you’ll still get hurt a little bit if you fail to dodge it. This class ability helps to prevent harm, but the way the game is played stays the same.

When you reach level 8, you can choose another special ability. This time, it’s recommended that you choose the Ability Improvement option and increase your Dexterity by 2 points. This will make you reach 18, which means you can deal a lot of damage with surprise attacks from a distance. In the end, we will gain a few more special abilities like Lucky, as well as an increase in our overall power and control, allowing us to cause more damage and have better advantage.

Level 9 – 12

When a Rogue Thief reaches level 9, they receive a new ability called Supreme Sneak.

Supreme Sneak: Become completely invisible by blending into the surroundings. This basically allows you to become invisible and you can use it every time you take a short break. The disadvantage is that it requires using one of your actions, so it’s not very helpful in a fight when you want to attack with your action. However, when not in a fight, it’s a good way to quietly move around and avoid being noticed and punished.

At level 10, we can choose to improve our abilities or learn a special skill. We will pick the Lucky ability.

Lucky: You get 3 Luck Points that you can use to make it easier for you to attack, do certain tasks, or avoid harm. You can also use them to make an opponent redo their attacks. So, Lucky gives you something that helps you get an advantage, which we need to cause the most damage. You can use it for ability checks and saving throws, which is useful when you need to deal a lot of damage quickly.

At level 11, not many things occur with the Rogue Thief build. We are very close to achieving another accomplishment that will be useful. You can now use a new skill called Reliable Talent that is not related to fighting.

Reliable Talent: If you are good at a skill and you have to roll a dice to check your ability, the lowest number you can get is 10.

You can now increase your Dexterity level to 20. Additionally, you will receive a bonus of +2 to your ability improvement. This build is really good for shooting enemies from a distance and is also really useful for non-combat purposes.

Astarion BG3 Build Guide: Armor And Weapons Equipment

Astarion Weapons

Astarion BG3 will probably use Shortswords or similar weapons for melee combat because he needs a special type of weapon called Finesse Weapon to perform Sneak Attacks. I enjoy using both Ambusher and Sword of Clutching Umbra, but there are also other great options available. Find things that make him cause more damage.

I prefer using the Least Expected ranged weapon because it gives +2 to Attack and Damage Rolls. It also adds 1D4 to Attack Rolls when shooting while somewhat hidden or hard to see. If you are hiding in a dark area, you will be somewhat hard to see. These two things make it more likely for Astarion to hit his target when attacking from a distance, even though he has a penalty to his Sharpshooter Attack Roll.

However, if you want to deal more damage, you can use Hand Crossbows. Just make sure you can find good ones and still hit your target with Sharpshooter.

Astarion Accessories

Choosing the Gloves of Dexterity proves to be a prudent decision for this Build, given that Astarion’s Dexterity attribute won’t reach higher levels until later stages of the game. This selection significantly enhances his accuracy in striking targets and inflicting damage during the early phases of the game. Furthermore, it confers a +1 bonus to his Attack, increasing the likelihood of successfully connecting with adversaries. Should you opt to maintain the effectiveness of these abilities throughout the game (which is entirely feasible), you can divert your attention away from emphasizing Dexterity for Astarion. Instead, consider allocating points to bolster his Intelligence and Constitution attributes. This approach not only augments his skill checks but also bestows additional health points.

For enhancing sneak attack damage output, Stalker Gloves serve as an excellent choice, especially if you consistently land hits on your foes with ease.

If your objective is to elevate the likelihood of scoring critical hits, the Covert Cowl stands as an optimal helmet option. On a personal note, I would recommend the Strange Conduit Ring to amplify your damage output while maintaining concentration. Given Astarion’s unwavering focus inherent in this Build, this choice proves exceedingly beneficial.

Astarion Armour

Astarion BG3 has the flexibility to don either Light or Medium Armor, the choice dependent on the advantageous attributes each offers. I recommend considering two specific armor types: Spidersilk Armor and Yuan-ti Scale Mail.

Spidersilk Armor can be obtained by vanquishing Minthara within the Shattered Sanctum. This unique armor not only enhances stealth capabilities but also provides added protection against injuries. Consequently, it aids Astarion in maintaining his focus when subjected to damage while utilizing abilities like Hunter’s Mark, Ensnaring Strike, or Pass Without Trace.

In contrast, the Yuan-ti Scale Mail allows Astarion to utilize his Dexterity Modifier to enhance his Armor Class, even when donning Medium Armor. It remarkably lacks the penalties associated with Stealth Checks, a characteristic absent in many other Medium Armors. Furthermore, it grants him an edge in combat by bestowing a +1 bonus to his Initiative score.

Conclusion

In BG3, crafting the perfect Astarion build is key to achieving success in this epic RPG adventure. This guide has provided comprehensive insights, tips, and strategies to help players optimize their Astarion character for maximum effectiveness. As you embark on your journey through the treacherous world of Baldur’s Gate 3, the knowledge shared in this guide will enable you to build a formidable Astarion and overcome the challenges that lie ahead.