if its not the final round of a match, you can go ham with your meter if you really want to. (crush trigger setups, Laser distortion oki setups, ect)
But there are some cases where a combo wouldn't kill but an astral will or when its just more consistent to end a match with it (2A>2B>3C>astral instead of 2A>3C>RC>6A>6C>Distortion)