Baldur’s Gate 3: How to kill Cazador and save Astarion in BG3

Having Astarion in your party in Baldur’s Gate 3 means that you will have to eventually go up against and kill Cazador, who is the vampire’s former master. Cazador resides in the northern part of the Lower City and is set to perform a ritual that will make him ascend to a height no other vampire has reached.

In order to perform the ritual, though, Cazador needs Astarion present. All throughout the game, Astarion will go on about he wants to kill Cazador and then perform the ritual for himself, which will give him untold powers and abilities. Whether you choose to let Astarion wield that power is another matter, as killing Cazador needs to come first regardless.

However, this is not a simple process, as you can kill Astarion just as easily during the fight with Cazador. To avoid killing Astarion and making sure Cazador dies in BG3, keep reading the guide below.

Killing Cazador and saving Astarion in BG3

When the fight with Cazador begins, Astarion will be out of your party and trapped in a corner of the arena with all of the other sacrificial vampires. The main thing to remember in this fight is that if you don’t kill Cazador before he completes the ritual, then Astarion will permanently die and leave your party for good.

To prevent that from happening, you have to kill Cazador before he can complete the ritual. From what I could tell, the ritual takes around four-five turns to complete. So you need to kill Cazador within that timeframe, or Astarion dies.

The best way to kill Cazador is to blind him. You need to attack the red smoke that he turns into first, which will make him change back to his regular body. Once that happens, use any kind of blinding spell you have. As a vampire, Cazador can’t stand sunlight, so blinding him will force him to move and give up some attacks. I did with this the Blood of Lathander, as it has an automatic blinding effect on enemies within a certain range. However, you can use other spells or scrolls to accomplish this as well.

Related: Baldur’s Gate 3: How to open the Solid Doors at the Temple of Bhaal in BG3

My next piece of advice is to solely focus on Cazador unless necessary. The bats and other undead enemies Cazador brings into the fight are meant to be distractions while he gets the ritual ready. Unless you need to kill one of the other enemies to stay alive, remain focused on Cazador until he’s dead. This will release Astarion from his bonds and allow him to join the fight to help you take down the rest of the enemies.

Cazador has 145 base HP along with an extra 70 HP at the start of the fight. You should be able to easily chip away at that HP with three party members for three-four straight turns. Cazador will move around the arena, though, so make sure you’re not drifting too far from his position.

It took me only one try to take down Cazador, but it came down to the wire. One more turn and Cazador would have completed the ritual and taken Astarion with him.