Chrom (SSBU)

Chrom (, Chrom) is a playable character in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate. He was announced as a newcomer alongside, , , and in the Nintendo Direct on August 8th, 2018. Chrom is 's Echo Fighter, thus being classified as Fighter #25ε, though his lack of sweetspots makes him parallel Roy the same way parallels. In addition to his role as a playable character, Chrom remains a part of 's Final Smash, Pair Up.

and, who voiced Chrom in the English and Japanese versions of Fire Emblem Awakening respectively, reprise their roles in the international and Japanese versions of Ultimate. Both voice actors initially revealed their roles on their Twitter accounts.

Chrom is ranked 43rd out of 82 on the current tier list, placing him in the B+ tier. This is significantly lower than his base fighter Roy, who is ranked 8th out of 82 on the current tier list and placed in the S tier. This drastic difference in tier placement is due to Chrom's infamously poor recovery. Chrom's Soaring Slash offers very little horizontal distance compared to Roy's Blazer and can be easily gimped due to its predictable nature, especially by characters with counterattacks. Chrom's Double-Edge Dance is also notably weaker than Roy's equivalent move.

How to unlock
Complete one of the following: With the exception of the third method, Chrom must then be defeated on Arena Ferox. In World of Light, he is fought on the Ω form of Castle Siege.
 * Play VS. matches, with Chrom being the 59th character to be unlocked.
 * Clear with  or any character in his unlock tree, being the 7th character unlocked after.
 * Have Chrom join the player's party in World of Light.

Attributes
As the Echo Fighter of, Chrom's moveset and animations are primarily based on those of Roy, and his attributes are identical as well, with excellent yet polarized overall mobility (very fast dashing, air, and falling speeds, alongside a very effective dash dance, but a slightly above-average walking speed, slow air acceleration and a low midair jump) and good frame data for a weapon user. As a result, Chrom shares an almost similar gameplan: he is mainly a rushdown character, who aims to overwhelm his enemy by closing the distance quickly with fast movement. However, Chrom's primary difference is his sword's lack of a sweetspot and sourspot, making him more oriented towards spacing out his opponents at the cost of having lower damage output and knockback up close, compared to Roy (who focuses more on getting up close to his opponent for very hard hits). Chrom also notably lacks any of Roy's distinctive flame effects and reverse-gripped animations, and his forward tilt moves him slightly forward. Finally, Chrom's up special is completely different compared to Roy's, as Soaring Slash functions much like Aether compared to Blazer, and is more effective at racking up damage than KOing while onstage; it can even act as a niche sacrificial KO at extremely low percents out of a forward aerial, and otherwise acts as a deterrent for edge-guarding that Roy lacks. However, this is only effective if Chrom has a stock lead since he is usually KOed first.

Since Chrom's lack of a sweetspot makes his unique attribute similar to his daughter (who acts as the non-sweetspot/sourspot equivalent of ), Chrom's benefits are also somewhat identical to hers: they both share the trait of having the weighted average of their original fighter's damage numbers. As a result, they have more consistent combos, edgeguarding and KO potential than their base characters, and their attacks are significantly safer on shield and on hit than Marth and Roy's sourspots, at the cost of losing out on stronger sweetspots that can end stocks early. However, as Roy's sweetspots and sourspots are extremely polarized in power, Chrom's damage and knockback averages end up being higher-than-average, giving him an overall powerful offense. Additionally, he arguably benefits more from his balanced blade than Lucina does, since Roy's weaknesses are his reliance on getting extremely close and extremely ineffective sourspots; as a result, Chrom suffers less from Roy's main flaws, allowing him to both space and fight up close very effectively. In terms of general capabilities compared to Lucina directly, Chrom possesses faster overall speed and stronger grounded attacks, in exchange for lower jump height, faster falling speed, and weaker aerials. This makes him more capable than Lucina while on or moving along the ground, but drastically less versatile in the air and especially off-stage (mirroring the differences between Roy and Marth, respectively).

Despite his array of strengths, Chrom also has very polarized weaknesses. While Chrom's retention of Roy's high air speed grants him decent survivability with his second jump, his overall recovery and off-stage endurance is notoriously weak, even when compared to Roy, as Soaring Slash grants almost no horizontal distance and only snaps to ledge once he begins the downward slash, making it susceptible to counterattacks and sufficiently long hitboxes. This, combined with Chrom's low jump height and fast falling speed, results in him having one of the worst recoveries in the game, and also one of the most easily affected by semi-spikes and gimps. His poor recovery is only somewhat remedied by his aforementioned high air speed and the presence of his air dodge, which combined with his second jump, allows him to return to stage surprisingly frequently without the need for Soaring Slash. Despite this, Chrom's air dodge remains unsafe even though he relies on it more than other characters for survival. Additionally, he shares similar flaws with Roy: his excellent mobility is offset by a complete lack of projectile-denying tools, making him vulnerable to camping from a handful of characters, and his fast falling speed and low air acceleration makes him vulnerable to combos and juggles (though he has some good tools for escaping such combos, such as neutral aerial and falling up aerial).

Overall, it is fair to describe Chrom as an amalgam of previous Fire Emblem characters, taking bits and pieces from not just Roy, but also Lucina and Marth by extension, Ike, and Corrin to a much lesser extent. Chrom is a very accessible and effective character and provides for a completely different playstyle from Roy despite their shared attributes and moves. His aim is to strike a balance between aggression and patience, as he has the mobility, range, and damage necessary to switch between gameplans on the fly. However, his very weak recovery mandates that players avoid being thrown off-stage and maintain stage control at all times, as not only is he vulnerable to getting edgeguarded and gimped, but can sometimes also end up in a spot where he is unable to recover at all.

All in all, Chrom's strengths outweigh his weaknesses. He was viewed extremely positively in the early competitive scene after the release of Ultimate, had multiple dedicated mains such as and  who represented him in tournaments, and was a popular secondary pick for many high-level players.

Differences from
Much like with and, Chrom and Roy are overall functionally very similar to each other, and as mentioned above, the main difference between the latter two is similar to that of the former two; Chrom's attacks lack Roy's inverse tipper sweetspots, instead dealing consistent damage across the entire blade. Since Roy's tipper hitboxes are weak sourspots in direct contrast to Marth's tippers being powerful sweetspots, this gives Chrom the ability to more effectively space with his sword and makes him more consistent on-stage; on the contrary however, it does not allow him to secure stocks quite as early as Roy can. Regardless though, Chrom can still net some fairly early KOs, due to his kill power still being overall above-average. Additionally, Chrom has altered animations for his neutral attack, forward tilt and up tilt where he holds his sword properly instead of holding it in a reverse grip, which affect the hitbox placements of those moves; and his up smash, down aerial and special moves do not use the flame effect either.

Unlike Lucina, whose only other major difference from Marth is that her up tilt has a timing-based sweetspot, Chrom's additional differences are much more pronounced. His up special is entirely different, being a move called Soaring Slash which resembles 's Aether, which makes Chrom's recovery much less safe than Roy's, but also allows him to perform a sacrificial KO. His forward tilt moves him forward slightly, giving it more range; it is also noticeably more effective overall (especially considering his lack of tipper sourspots), and even possesses the ability to hit opponents hanging on the edge. Chrom's up smash also has less hitlag compared to Roy's, which can make it harder for opponents to properly DI or SDI. His neutral aerial uses weight-independent knockback on its first hit (like with Marth and Lucina) rather than on its second hit. Chrom's Counter deals less knockback against weaker attacks, but more knockback against stronger attacks. Lastly, his Final Smash, Awakening Aether, is completely different from Roy's, being closer in function to Marth and Lucina's Critical Hit instead. There are also a few other minor differences mentioned below (in the "Misc." section), but they are much more situational compared to the others.

Because Chrom's lack of Roy's sweetspots and flame-based attacks spreads across his entire moveset, and his up special makes his off-stage presence much less safe for both Chrom and his opponent(s), Chrom is generally considered to be one of the most unique Echo Fighters, alongside and Lucina. As such, As such, these three characters are ranked separately from their base fighters on tier lists, and he is allowed to be used with their base fighters in Squad Strike.

Ground attacks

 * Neutral attack:
 * Forward tilt:
 * Up tilt:
 * Up smash:
 * Forward tilt:
 * Up tilt:
 * Up smash:
 * Up smash:
 * Up smash:
 * Up smash:

Aerial attacks

 * Neutral aerial:
 * Forward aerial:
 * Forward aerial:

Special moves

 * Flare Blade:
 * Soaring Slash:
 * Counter:
 * Awakening Aether:
 * Counter:
 * Awakening Aether:
 * Counter:
 * Awakening Aether:
 * Counter:
 * Awakening Aether:
 * Counter:
 * Awakening Aether:
 * Counter:
 * Awakening Aether:
 * Awakening Aether:
 * Awakening Aether:
 * Awakening Aether:
 * Awakening Aether:
 * Awakening Aether:

Update history
Chrom has received some few changes via game updates, being slightly nerfed overall.

Update 2.0.0 reduced the knockback of Soaring Slash's meteor smash hitbox, making it more likely for Chrom to be KOed first during the descent. Previously, this move was quite infamous for being a fairly reliable sacrificial KO that could be easily confirmed from his aerials, mainly forward aerial and neutral aerial, a series of kill confirms collectively referred to as the "Chrombo"; the consistency of the "Chrombo" made Chrom incredibly proficient at capitalizing from comeback situations. After the update, it is still possible to perform a "Chrombo", but it will only be reliable if Chrom has a stock advantage. It is now also safer to go offstage to edgeguard a Chrom at his last stock, as even being caught by Soaring Slash won't result in Chrom suddenly gaining the advantage, though this is still slightly inconsistent depending from Chrom's height when initiating the move. The same update, however, also buffed his down aerial as well; the move now autocancels earlier, matching its interruptibility. Update 3.0.0 increased the vertical range of Chrom's dash grab, much like with, and , fixing an issue that prevented them from grabbing a shielding. Update 3.1.0 improved his up smash, enabling its linking hits to connect into each other more reliably, a problem that update 7.0.0 once again addressed by removing the rare instances where opponents would trip out of the last hit.

 

 

 

 

Technical changelist 3.1.0

 

Moveset
For a gallery of Chrom's hitboxes, see here.
 * Chrom's overall damage output is close to the weighted average of each of the hitboxes of 's attacks.

On-screen appearance

 * Warps onto the stage using warp magic while crouching, with the Sealed Falchion stuck in the ground when he appears. Chrom then pulls it out with a flourish before assuming his idle stance.

Taunts

 * Up taunt: Looks at the screen as he twirls the Sealed Falchion twice, then assumes a stance highly similar to his pose from his official art in Fire Emblem Awakening, saying "Come at me!" This is also similar to (and mirrors) his daughter's up taunt.
 * Side taunt: Flourishes the Sealed Falchion behind his head, then points it forwards at an upward angle while saying "Come on!"
 * Down taunt: Twirls the Sealed Falchion twice, then holds the blade of the sword in his left hand as he finishes, saying "I will not fail!" (, I won't lose!) This was one of his battle quotes from Awakening.

Idle poses

 * Briefly clenches his left fist.
 * Holds the Sealed Falchion upwards and parallel to his body, while lightly rubbing its edge.

Crowd cheer
 

Victory poses
In any victory pose, there is a chance Chrom will say "Our bond is stronger than steel." (, We can practice anytime.) if Lucina was present during the match.
 * Left: Swipes his sword twice and twirls it before posing with his sword in front of himself, while saying "Anything can change!" (, Change destiny!). Based on his and Lucina's trademark pose, which they frequently use in official art.
 * Up: Rushes forward, performing an upwards slash, before twirling his sword and posing while pointing his weapon towards the camera, saying "The training paid off!" (, Come at me anytime.). Based on Awakening Aether.
 * Right: Performs an outward slash, twirls his sword, then plants it into the ground before posing, saying "I will cut a path!" (, I will cut a path!). Based on his victory pose in Fire Emblem Awakening.

Most historically significant players
See also: Category:Chrom players (SSBU)


 * - One of Europe's best Chrom players of all-time, but has been playing more since 2022. He regularly places highly at large European events, most notably placing 2nd at  and 3rd at  upsetting.
 * - The best Chrom player in the world since 2023. He has shown the best Chrom results in the post-pandemic metagame, placing 3rd at and 5th at . His major/supermajor placements are less consistent, but he has made marks nonetheless, including 17th at  and upsetting.
 * - The best Chrom player of all-time, having played the character alongside others such as and . He has the best placements for any Chrom player, which include multiple top 8s at majors such as 5th at both  and  and 7th at . He dropped Chrom in mid-2022 in favor of solo-Sheik.
 * - One of the best Chrom players in the early metagame, ranking 18th on the Spring 2019 PGRU and placing highly at several majors, including 7th at and 9th at both  and . He dropped Chrom in the post-online metagame for solo-.
 * - Co-mains Chrom with and was the best Chrom player in Japan from 2019 to 2021 thanks to several high placements such as 5th at, 9th at , and 13th at.

Tier placement and history
Prior to the release of Ultimate, players were wary of Chrom's ability as a fighter, due to players perceiving his reliance on Soaring Slash granting him possibly one of the worst recoveries in the game, alongside 's mediocre standing in Smash 4. Mindsets were quickly turned upon release however, as Chrom prove to be a highly effective swordfighter thanks to a powerful overall damage output and excellent speed; in addition, Chrom's access to balanced hitboxes made him less risky compared to Roy, and Soaring Slash also granted him a notorious KO combo out of forward aerial, allowing him to perform a sacrificial KO that would always lead to his opponent dying first. This made Chrom extremely popular during the initial months, with him being considered one of the best swordfighters in the early metagame.

Update 2.0.0 eventually worsened the effectiveness of Chrom's Soaring Slash combo, and his exploitable recovery has also been taken advantage of as the meta grew, which caused his player count to drop as time passed. Chrom was also overlooked in favor of and Roy, who were quickly gaining prominence in competitive play as two of the best swordfighters in the game. As a result, players eventually dropped Chrom entirely or designate him as a reliable pocket character, while some would only use him in matchups less favorable for Roy. Nevertheless, the first year of competitive play still saw many notable Chrom players achieve high placements, including, , and.

This would not last very long. For one, Chrom experienced a precipitous drop in terms of results and representation in the online meta, with a PGstats analysis of deep bracket picks suggesting that Chrom is the worst online character in the game by a large margin based on paltry win rates and pick rates. This can be attributed to the online environment exacerbating Chrom's fragile disadvantage state, particularly off-stage, making his echo counterpart Roy a much safer pick. Chrom's issues were particularly brought to light when Mr.R fell early in bracket and failed to qualify for Smash World Tour 2021 in the European online qualifiers, citing his inability to play the character online as a big reason for his underperformance. A few other disappointing results offline, notably at, ultimately led to Mr.R's decision to drop the character. In addition, even more players began dropping Chrom (Rivers) or relegating him to a secondary or co-main (Lancelot). Although there were still dedicated Chrom mains during this time such as, it was not enough to counter Chrom's decline in the metagame. As such, Chrom is ranked 43rd on the current tier list as a mid-tier character, a far cry from his status in the early metagame.

: Fight as One
Chrom fights mainly in team battles, in homage to Fire Emblem Awakening's Pair Up system, in which two units can team up to deal additional damage to an opponent, with the exception of the first round, which instead references his duel with Lucina in Chapter 4 of Awakening.

Credits roll after completing Classic Mode. Completing it as Chrom has  accompany the credits.

Role in World of Light
Although Chrom does not appear in the World of Light opening cutscene, he was vaporized and later imprisoned alongside the rest of the fighters (sans ) when Galeem unleashed his beams of light.

Chrom was one of the many fighters that fell under Dharkon's control upon Galeem's first defeat. He is in a desolate part of the Triforce of Courage section of the Sacred Land sub-area. The only way to reach him is by finding a treasure chest and jumping in it once opened in order to be transported to his location. This is hinted by an Owl Statue in the right path of the Triforce of Power section.

Spirit
Chrom's fighter spirit can be obtained by completing. It is also available periodically for purchase in the shop for 300 Gold, but only after Chrom has been unlocked. Unlocking Chrom in World of Light allows the player to preview the spirit below in the Spirit List under the name "???". As a fighter spirit, it cannot be used in Spirit Battles and is purely aesthetic. His fighter spirit has an alternate version that replaces it with his artwork in Ultimate.

Trivia

 * In Robin and Lucina's reveal trailer for SSB4, a defeated Chrom remarks that he'll "get his chance another day". This later became true with his playable appearance in Ultimate.
 * Chrom is the second character to become playable after previously being featured in a Final Smash (Pair Up). The first was Palutena, who appeared in 's Final Smash in Brawl, Palutena's Army.
 * Unlike Palutena, however, Robin still summons Chrom when Pair Up activates.
 * Chrom is the second newcomer in Ultimate that was previously featured as a Mii Fighter costume in Super Smash Bros. 4, after and followed by  and.
 * He is also the only Echo Fighter to have been featured as a full Mii outfit in Super Smash Bros. 4.
 * In SSB4's Palutena's Guidance, Viridi teases Chrom for being too similar to Ike, calling him a "carbon copy". Although Chrom is an Echo Fighter, his moves are instead derived from, though it should be noted that Roy was not playable as DLC yet when the Palutena's Guidance was made.
 * Additionally, Palutena mocks Chrom's lack of an Aether recovery move, but he is able to use the skill Aether in Fire Emblem Awakening, and can use a similar-looking move in Ultimate.
 * Chrom is the first Fire Emblem newcomer since Marth to not be from the latest Fire Emblem game at the time of release.
 * Excluding Mario and Dr. Mario, who are considered separate in-game characters, Chrom and Riki are the only characters to appear in multiple Sound Test folders in Ultimate. In Chrom's case, his voice clips as a playable character are part of his own folder, while his voice clips in 's Final Smash and victory pose are listed under Robin's folder.
 * Due to an error on the official site, Chrom's character showcase video was not visible on the mobile variant of the main page and was barely visible on the desktop version. The video was only visible on his blog post. This error has since been fixed.
 * According to Sakurai's weekly Famitsu column, Chrom was added due to his popularity in Japan, while was added due to her popularity overseas.
 * Chrom reverts to 's Brawl idle and crouching animations while holding a small throwable item. He shares this trait with Roy.
 * Chrom is one of the few characters that speak during a KO, sometimes exclaiming, "Sorry!".
 * Chrom is the only Echo Fighter to have an entirely different special move that is not a Final Smash, as his up special, Soaring Slash, resembles Ike's Aether instead of Roy's Blazer.
 * Prior to the 3.0.0 update, Chrom was the only character from Fire Emblem Awakening not to have the victory theme based on "Id (Purpose)", as he used the default Fire Emblem theme instead.
 * Since the change, Chrom is the first and only character to have his victory theme changed across game updates.
 * Chrom's helpless state shows him using his sword in a reverse grip, much like his base counterpart, Roy. This can be seen when jumping on the red trampoline of Pac-Jump or if the platform he's standing on disappears in the middle of the landing animation.