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Astarion stands out as the enigmatic vampire companion inBaldur’s Gate 3, imbued with an undying existence and a relentless craving for blood. Despite the shadows that linger over his essence, Astarion’s allure and shrewdness render him a valuable ally amidst the tumultuous realm of Baldur’s Gate. With a history shrouded in secrecy and allegiances that are as unpredictable as the wind, Astarion’s path is strewn with unexpected developments and revelations, ensuring a captivating journey as you delve into the enigmas that cloak him.
Opting for the Rogue class with a specialization in the Thief subclass is ideal for Astarion, enhancing his inherent versatility and cunning. This choice awards an extra bonus action and additional skill proficiency, amplifying both his offensive capabilities and his adeptness in roles crucial outside of combat. Astarion’s proficiency in navigating treacherous terrain, neutralizing traps, and bypassing locks positions him as an indispensable scout and saboteur, surpassing the efficacy of other builds within the game.
Key Attributes of Astarion as a Companion in Baldur’s Gate 3
This build will use multiclassing. We’ll be going 6 Rogue/2 Fighter/4 Bard. This build willalsofocus on using twohand crossbows.
Level 1: Rogue
As with all of our companions, we will want to use Withers as soon as possible to reroll our stats and make them work harder for us. Since we plan on putting some levels into Bard, make sure your two highest stats areDexterityandCharisma.
Constitution
Intelligence
You will unlock your sneak attacks at this level.
Level 2: Rogue
Not much to pick here again, you will simply get your Cunning Actions. There are three: Dash, Disengage, and Hide.
Level 3: Rogue
At this level you can pick your Rogue subclass - we’ll be going withThieffor the extra bonus attacks (giving us 3 total crossbow attacks per round).
Level 4: Rogue
At level 4, you’ll be able to pick yourfeat. For this level, we recommend pickingSharpshooter.
The Sharpshooter feature significantly enhances your prowess in ranged combat by offering two key advantages. Firstly, it eliminates the penalties associated with attacking from lower ground, allowing you to strike from any position without a disadvantage. Secondly, while using weapons you’re proficient with, it introduces a trade-off: you accept a -5 penalty to your attack rolls in exchange for a substantial boost of 10 additional damage per hit. This trade-off can dramatically increase your damage output, though it does come with an increased risk of missing your shots, especially in the early game stages where your ability scores and equipment might not fully offset the attack roll penalty. However, you have the option to activate or deactivate this feature via the passives on your toolbar, enabling strategic flexibility depending on the situation.
You can choose to toggle Sharpshooter under your passives, allowing you to more easily hit enemies. You will still get bonuses for critical hits.
An alternative strategy involves adopting theDual Wielder feat,allowing for a dual-wielding melee approach, such as using two Rapiers. This setup can offer a high attack rate, leveraging your bonus action for an additional off-hand attack. While this method theoretically increases your attack potential, it often competes with the tactical use of your bonus action for hiding, which is crucial for setting up sneak attacks. From a practical standpoint, maintaining distance and utilizing ranged attacks can often result in better survivability and efficiency. Hiding and executing sneak attacks from a distance is generally simpler and safer than attempting to maneuver into melee range for similar effects. Based on personal experience, transitioning to a ranged combat style with hand crossbows not only maintained high damage output but also significantly improved overall survivability in combat.
Level 5: Rogue
Upon reaching level five, you unlock the “Uncanny Dodge” ability, a significant boon to your defensive capabilities. When you’re targeted by an attack, this ability allows you to use your reaction to halve the damage dealt to you. This enhancement is pivotal for improving your survivability in combat, ensuring you can endure longer in the fray and continue to deal damage.
Additionally, at this level, your Sneak Attack damage sees a substantial increase, escalating to 3d6. This upgrade means that your ability to deal high damage in a single strike is significantly amplified, especially when conditions for a sneak attack are met.
Level 6: Fighter
From here, we divert to taking a level in Fighter. You will be able to choose aFighting Style, and you should pickArcheryif you are using dual hand crossbows.
Hand Crossbow
Level 7: Fighter
At level 7 you will take your second and final level in Fighter, granting youAction Surge. This gives us the ability to give ourselves an extra action in a turn, once perShort Rest.
Level 8: Bard
From here on, we divert to Bard and keep with it. We will unlock Bard spellcasting and Bardic Inspiration at this level.
You can pick 2 level 1 spells and cantrips, we recommend these ones:
Blade Ward
Vicious Mockery
Longstrider
Dissonant Whispers
Level 9: Bard
Our second level of Bard gives us another level 1 spell, I recommend this one:
Thunderwave
We will also get our Song of Rest and Jack of All Trades class features.
Level 10: Bard
Level 3 Bard gives us the ability to pick a subclass as well as more expertise. We will want to pick College of Swords for our subclass. This gives you a couple of extra choices, all of which will make Astarion a more well-rounded melee combatant, so we don’t have to worry too much if anybody gets close to him. We should still opt to use him as Ranged as possible, however. We recommend picking Two Weapon Fighting for his new fighting style, as dual-wielding always makes the best out of Astarion’s bonus Bonus Attacks.
You will also get 1 more level 1 spell and 2 level 2 spells. We recommend these:
Minor Illusion
Cloud of Daggers
Level 11: Bard
At Level 4 Bard, we get to pick another feat. We will use this one to raise ourDexterity to 18. We will also get another level 2 spell slot, and we recommend this one for the extra damage per turn:
Phantasmal Force
Level 12: Bard
We finish off our build with one more level in Bard, unlockingFont of Inspirationas well asImproved Bardic Inspiration.This level also gives you 2 level 3 spell slots, and we recommend taking these:
Glyph of Warding
Plant Growth
This gives Astarion a command presence on the battlefield, allowing him to control crowds and keep distance so he can gun them down with his crossbows.
Baldur’s Gate 3: Best Shadowheart Life Cleric Build
The essence of this guide delves into the heart of Shadowheart’s potential—not as a Trickery Cleric, but reborn under the auspices of the Life Domain.
