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All Fire Emblem games have different protagonists. Important characters that become the face of the game for quite some time. In the case of Fire Emblem Awakening, that protagonist is Chrom. Chrom is one of my favorite characters in the entire saga. In my personal top 5 protagonists, he is at number 4. Many people tend to find him a rather dull and flat character. Although it may be a little true, the reality is that I personally find him to be a very charismatic character and one of the best parts of Awakening.
There are better Lords; that’s quite true. However, I find Chrom quite charismatic within his game and context. Besides, he is the protagonist of his own game (well, co-protagonist if we take into account Robin, or even if we also consider Lucina). Therefore, it is essential to consider that you are going to have to use him anyway, so ideally, you should have one of the best versions of the character.
Important Information to Know about Chrom
Chrom is a Lord. This means that automatically if he dies, you lose the game. Therefore, the best thing you can do is make him survive as long as possible because otherwise, the only thing you will get is the game-over screen.
Besides that, since he is a Lord, you will basically be forced to use him, whether you want to or not. He is basically a character that you will have throughout the game. Chrom’s initial stats are:
- Health: 20
- Strength: 7
- Magic: 1
- Skill: 8
- Speed: 8
- Luck: 5
- Defense: 7
- Resistance: 1
- Movement: 5
- Special Ability: Dual Strike
- Weapon: Sword -E
- Equipped items: Rapier, Falchion, Vulnerary.
Chrom is the first unit you will have control in the game, even before the prologue (i.e., the little premonition/playable tutorial). He’s a balanced character right off the bat, so you can use him to get used to moving around the game. However, that doesn’t mean he’s a bad unit. On the contrary, Chrom is a unit with a great chance to scale and become unstoppable.
Most of Chrom’s stats manage to scale by at least 50%. To be exact, they scale as follows:
- HP:85%
- Str: 60%
- Mag: 10%
- Skl: 60%
- Spd: 60%
- Lck: 70%
- Def: 45%
- Res: 25%
(Source: serene-forest)
It also has a +1 modifier in str, Skl, Spd, Lk, and a -1 in Def and Resistance. This means that Chrom’s is an entirely physical unit. It is not only intended to hit directly but also to withstand direct confrontation. However, you will always have to move carefully, especially if you try to perform indirect confrontation. Even if his defense scales correctly, he still loses at least one defense point; that’s a problem.
Overall, Chrom is one of the best units in the game; it’s just a matter of scaling correctly.
Chrom’s Background
Chrom is one of the best characters in the game in terms of story. Chrom is basically the prince of Ylisse, brother of Emmeryn and Lissa. Similar to Emmeryn and the rest of his family (except for Lissa), he has the Brand of the exalted. In the case of Chrom, the Brand is on his left arm.
Chrom is personally in charge of the care of the sacred kingdom of Ylisse. We can appreciate this because he is basically the captain of the Sheppards, the elite guard of Ylisse. Due to the early death of his father, Chrom was basically forced to grow up and mature.
Chrom doesn’t really have many friends, although he has a lot of trust in Frederick, his royal squire. Frederick sees Chromas his protégé (although you may start a closer friendship if you manage to reach a support A). This changes with the arrival of your avatar character at the beginning of Fire Emblem Awakening. Your avatar (Robin) and Chrom will form a solid friendship.
In addition to that, Chrom is Lucina’s father; however, telling you more about that part of the plot would be entering spoiler territory. However, I can only tell you that it is one of the most intense stories I have had the opportunity to play in years.
As a curious fact, the events that start Awakening are narrated a little more in detail in the DLC of fire emblem Fates called “Before awakening.” In that chapter, you can see a little more in-depth Chrom’s relationship with Frederick and Lissa before the arrival of Robin.
The best way to play with Chrom
Unlike other characters, you don’t really have a choice whether or not to play with Chrom. Chrom is a Lord, which means that he will accompany you throughout the adventure whether you want him or not. He is the closest thing to a protagonist in the game (well, co-protagonist if we include your avatar and Lucina, as we mentioned before). Therefore, you must level him properly.
Lords are characters prepared for physical melee combat, any kind of direct confrontation. Chrom is also prepared for swords, so you can directly confront most characters that use axes. The problem really arises when it comes to indirect confrontation.
Chrom doesn’t have a lot of stamina, so there really isn’t much you can do when it comes to withstanding magical attacks. This is primarily a vulnerability during the early levels of the character because a magic attack can really take him out. This is due to its low resistance. The reality is that, in case of magical attacks, the best is to prepare yourself with luck to evade them.
Likewise, Chrom is vulnerable to knights due to his use of spears; however, this ends up being solved once you manage to promote him because when he becomes a Great Lord, he manages to make use of the spears in the game. Therefore, it could be considered that once you manage to promote him, he gets a more balanced characteristic.
Chrom is not necessary to make an alternative promotion because he is a complete character. With the use of dual Strike + (Increasing by a 10% chance to perform a dual strike) and Charm (Increasing by 2 points the attack of all his allies two squares away), Chrom also becomes support. Finally, one of Chrom’s best points is that he is the only character who can use the Falchion.
By being the only one who can use the Falchion, he has a basically indestructible weapon from the start of the game. This is an advantage because it allows you to save a lot of money since you won’t need to buy a better sword for a good part of the game. In addition, the Falchion becomes one of the best weapons in the game, and it scales with Chrom’s skill.
In addition to his good stats, Chrom is basically the main character, so you’ll get attached to him. He is pretty charismatic, and most of the main and side quests involve him somehow. He’s a character with the makings of a leader, which you can easily observe in most of his interactions.
In addition, he is a necessary character to be able to recruit most of the units in the game. With few exceptions, most of the playable NPCs need Chrom to interact with them, so he is basically necessary to have the complete roster of the game.
As far as his story is concerned, all his relationships are significant in the game, so these are the most important supports for Chrom:
- Robin
- Maribelle
- Olivia
- Sully
- Sumia
- Frederick
- Gaius
- Lissa
- Vaike
- Lucina
How to transform Chrom into the greatest lord
Chrom will promote to Great Lord. It is one of the best classes in terms of physical combat in all the games. That makes Chrom one of the best characters in terms of physical combat in all the game. Chrom does not need to use an alternate seal to change his class and raise any stats compared to other characters. On the contrary, most of Chrom’s stats scale automatically.
One of the best parts of the promotion from Lord to Great Lord is that he gains the defense against indirect attacks that Chrom needs so much. In addition, he gains the ability to get indirect attacks through the javelin. Chrom also gains access to the Aether and Rightful King’s ability when he upgrades to Great Lord. With this combination, Chrom becomes your team’s offensive unit par excellence.
But the most critical part of Chrom’s promotion to great lord is that he gains access to the exalted Falchion. The exalted Falchion is the second-best weapon in the game (only behind Mercurius and tied with the Tyrfing). The best thing about this weapon is that it is still unbreakable or allows it to deal superior damage to dragons, manaketes, and beasts in general. Still, in addition to all that, it also has the possibility of being used as a recovery item.
It allows Chrom to recover 20 HP, eliminating the need to charge with Vulnerarys or concoctions.
Once we get to this point, Chrom really can’t get any better because all his characteristics make him the best physical character in your party. He is a complete character who attacks directly and indirectly, with high physical defense, high resistance, great speed, and good luck. In general terms, it is a character that not only hits but also hits critically, hits fast, resists hits, and evades hits. Besides, Chrom is one of the few units that can kill dragons, which is basically necessary to finish the game.
Chrom great Lord Abilities
Chrom Starts with:
- Dual Strike +: creases the chance for a Dual Strike by 10%. It functions regardless of whether the user is the lead unit or the supporting unit.
At level 10 as a lord, he learns:
- Charm: Allies within 2 spaces inflict +2 damage in combat.
When he promotes to great lord and gets to level 5, he learns:
- Aether: 2 consecutive hits; First Strike uses Sol and the second Strike uses Luna. (That means that the first strikes recover HP equal to half the damage dealt to the enemy. The second one halves the enemy’s Defense and Resistance.)
And at level 10, he learns:
- Rightful King: Increases skill activation by 10%
How to play with Chrom?
- Health: 80
- Strength: 44
- Magic: 30
- Skill: 41
- Speed: 42
- Luck: 46
- Defense: 41
- Resistance: 39
- Movement: 7
- Special Ability:
- Dual Strike +: creases the chance for a Dual Strike by 10%. It functions regardless of whether the user is the lead unit or the supporting unit.
- Charm: Allies within 2 spaces inflict +2 damage in combat.
- Aether: 2 consecutive hits; First Strike uses Sol and the second Strike uses Luna. (That means that the first strikes recover HP equal to half the damage dealt to the enemy. The second one halves the enemy’s Defense and Resistance.)
- Rightful King: Increases skill activation by 10%
- Weapon: Sword -A, Lance A
- Equipped items: Exalted Falchion, Javalin, Rapier, Vulnerary.
Chrom is one of the best units in the game. It is intended for direct confrontation; however, if you want to get the most out of it, the best thing you can do is face it mainly against dragon and animal-related units.
Due to the ability of the Exalted Falchion, it basically eliminates Wyverns, Manaketes, and generally mounted units in the blink of an eye. In addition to that, it is a character that resists quite well and without problems most of the characters‘ attacks thrown at it.
It is an ideal choice for direct confrontation, which will allow you to quickly clear the battlefield. Besides that, Chrom is a good character if you want to level up another character because he can keep him company.
Also, due to his role as a Lord, it is pretty easy to use him as a support, mainly thanks to his Charm ability. With Charm, Chrom becomes a pretty good support character, not at the level of Olivia or Lissa, but enough to increase the attack.
The best way to level Up Chrom
The best way to level up Chrom is to simply use him. Keep him close to your avatar, Sumia, Lucina, Lissa, or Olivia. This is because they are complementary characters. Likewise, keep him near Frederick and Virion. This is because they are characters with synergy like his.
A widespread option with Chrom is to use Dual Strike with him. This allows you to level him up quickly and, in general terms, allows his relationships to also level up.
Chrom is an independent character. Unlike Lissa, or Maribelle, that requires assistance, Chrom can basically be played alone and free without any problems.
Otras apariciones de chrom
- Fire Emblem Warriors: He is one of the game’s main characters.
- Super Smash Bros Ultimate: He is one of the echo characters. To be exact, he is an Echo Character of Roy.
- Tokyo Mirage Sessions ♯FE: He appears as a summon.
- Fire Emblem Heroes: He has four variants:
- Original: Infantry/Sword
- Spring Festival: Infantry/Axe
- Winters Envoy: Armored / Axe
- Knight Exalt: Cavalry/Sword
- Legendary Heroes: Infantry/Bow
- Here with me: In the company of Robin/Infantry/Bow.
- Project X Zone 2: Appears with Lucina.
- Monster Hunter Frontier G: It appears as an armor set.
FAQ
Question: Canonically, who is Chrom’s Wife?
Answer: It is Suma.
Question: Who is the best wife for Chrom?
Answer: It is the female avatar. If you can’t marry the female avatar(or choose a male avatar), Olivia’s second-best option.
Question: What happens if I don’t marry Chrom?
Answer: He will automatically marry one of his romantic supports by the end of chapter 11. The order of preference will be:
• Summia
• Sully
• Maribelle
• Robin (Female)
• Olivia
If those are incapacitated or not interested in chrome, he will marry an unknown villager.
Final thoughts on Chrom
Chrom is one of the best Lords in all of Fire Emblem and personally one of my favorite characters. He can be a bit complicated to play firsthand. Still, once you get used to playing with him, you realize that he is a good character and a very charismatic one.
He is one of my favorite characters, and I’m sure that you can make him one of your favorite characters if you follow this guide. His story is too attractive, and he has earned his place in the hearts of his fans. Chrom is a true hero and is on the same level as other characters in the franchise, like Ike or Marth.
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