By far, the hardest boss I’ve faced so far in Diablo 4 is Astaroth, the final boss for the Act 2 campaign quest. If you’re struggling to defeat Astaroth as well, you’ve come to the right place. Regardless of your build or class, here is how to beat Astaroth in Diablo 4.
Note: Though it’s not as useful on bosses, learning how to use Crowd Control in Diablo 4 is essential.
Diablo 4: How to beat Astaroth, explained
While I used the best early game Necromancer build to defeat Astaroth in my first try, I was definitely very close to dying several times. That said, I used several strategies and cheeses to defeat Astaroth in Diablo 4.
If you’ve tried to defeat Astaroth a couple times to no avail, I highly recommend doing more side quests. The decision to blast through the campaign or complete side quests is up to you, but one benefit of knocking out some side quests is you get a fairly quick and easy source of XP.
Avoid the fire-breathing attack
Screenshot: PC Invasion
Astaroth has a few key attacks to watch out for. The first attack you need to avoid is his fire-breathing attack. When Astaroth rears back, either charge at him or run left or right. Running backward isn’t a good idea because the fire breath attack has a lot of range; trust me, it will hit you and drain your health very quickly.
When Astaroth does his fire-breathing attack, I recommend charging at him. When he’s doing the fire-breathing attack, he’s vulnerable to attacks from the left, right, or behind. Take advantage of that and use your strongest attacks to hit him while he’s occupied.
Avoid the fire rune attack
The other attack you need to watch out for is the fire rune attack that appears on the ground. Astaroth uses this attack very often throughout the fight, and if you’re standing in a fire rune, you’ll see your health drain away. Keep an eye out for the fire runes and do your best to step around them.
This is when the perfect ranged Sorcerer build works excellently, but if you are a melee build, just navigate around the fire runes and wait for them to disappear to start dealing damage to Astaroth again.
How to cheese Astaroth in Diablo 4
There is a way to cheese the Astaroth fight. While this cheese technique can be used by any class and any build, it’s a technique that can easily get you killed if you aren’t careful.
To cheese Astaroth in Diablo 4, simply go underneath his body and spam attacks. When Astaroth is using his fire breath attack, staying underneath his body is the perfect hiding spot. Plus, while here, you can spam all your abilities and deal insane amounts of damage very quickly.
What you need to watch out for while doing this cheese is the fire rune attacks and Astaroth’s leap attacks. The fire runes, especially in the last damage phase, can be spawned right under Astaroth which can easily drain all your health if you aren’t careful.
To counter this cheese, Astaroth leaps away fairly often, which does some damage to you as he leaps away. You don’t need to worry too much about the leap attack — when Astaroth does it, just return to his back or belly as soon as you can.
Screenshot: PC Invasion
And that is how you defeat Astaroth in Diablo 4. I wish you the best of luck and, if you need more assistance, I recommend learning how to use Aspects as they are key ingredients to making your build amazing.
