Baldur's Gate 3: Best Astarion Build

MINOR SPOILERS FOR BALDUR'S GATE 3 FOLLOW

Astarion might be one of the strongest potential companions in all of Baldur's Gate 3, but only if you level him in the correct way and equip him with the best possible equipment. A game like Baldur's Gate 3 has so many options that you could spend multiple different playthroughs just figuring out exactly how to make a character perfect, but that's where we come in with a full explainer.

Best Astarion Build

Best Class Options

While you'll probably be tempted to just pump as many levels as possible into Rogue for Astarion, since that's what he starts off as, but don't. What you want to do is as you're leveling up, put two levels into Fighter. This gives Astarion access to Action Surge, an incredibly powerful move that gives him an extra action once per short rest. 

You then want to put three levels into Ranger until you're given the choice between specializations. Choose the Dream Ambusher subclass. This gives you a great initiative bonus and a free attack once per combat encounter that costs no action and no bonus action. 

Put the rest of your levels into Rogue. Choose the Assassin specialization, since that improves your initiative bonus in addition to giving you an advantage on attacks against any enemy that hasn't taken a turn yet. With these specific level-ups, you can really pump up a lot of damage in just one turn. 

Best Feat Options

• Alert: Alert increases Astarion's Initative bonus by five which combined with the above leveling instructions almost guarantees that Astarion will always go first in combat. You also can't be surprised, which is a great bonus but doesn't come up as often.
• Crossbow Expert: This one really depends on your playstyle. It makes your Crossbow attacks no longer have disadvantage if you attack with one within melee range, but certain Astarion builds prefer to use regular bows, so it may not come up.
• Lucky: Lucky speaks for itself. You get three Luck Points that you can use to reroll any attack roll, ability check, saving throw, or even the attack roll of your enemy. 
• Mobile: Mobile also depends on your playstyle. Ideally, as Astarion, you don't want to be getting too close to an enemy unless you've specifically specced into a melee build which isn't as strong as a ranged build, but Mobile in a melee build is invaluable. It increases your movement speed and prevents Opportunity Attacks from any target you take an attack against.
• Sharpshooter: Sharpshooter is a double-ended sword of a feat. Any ranged weapon you're proficient with takes a -5 penalty to the attack roll, but if it hits it deals an extra ten damage. This is really useful as a feat in the late game.
• Tough: Extra health. You get two extra health for every level that you've gained, which is a maximum of 24 extra hit points.

Best Equipment

This is a bit of a weird one, but literally, just equip Astarion with your best-ranged weapons the second you pick them up. All attack bonuses from your stats are applied to whatever you're using, and the major reason to change the weapon you're using is if there's a massive jump in damage or if there are abilities that you want to use. Stick with Finesse Weapons and equip the Spellthief as soon since it has pretty great damage.

In terms of armor, Asterion doesn't really use it. Since he's a rogue, he has disadvantage on stealth from wearing basically any armor, so it's probably best to just keep him in the outfit that he's already wearing so that you don't mess with his ability to sneak about. The Spidersilk Armor is also a decent shout since it gives a +1 bonus to all Stealth checks in addition to advantage on constitution saving throws.

Astarion Proficiencies

• Simple Weapons
• Hand Crossbows
• Bows
• Longswords
• Acrobatics
• Sleight of Hand (Expertise)
• Stealth (Expertise)
• Perception
• Dception
• Performance
• Persuasion

Best Spells

A spell-based build actually isn't the most optimal build for Astarion. Since you've already got dedicated spellcasters, it's useful to have a dedicated ranged character that never needs to get too close to an enemy in addition to having a character that is great with close-ranged attacks so that nobody gets too close to Astarion to cause him issues.