Chrom (Super Smash Bros. Ultimate)

This article is about Chrom's appearance in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate. For other uses, see Chrom.

“	The protagonist of Fire Emblem Awakening joins the battle as Roy's echo fighter. His final smash is Awakening Aether. Like Aether in the original game, this move has Chrom charge toward his opponent, slashing with his sword.	”
—Description from the Super Smash Blog.

Chrom
Universe	Fire Emblem
Shares slot with	Roy
Availability	Echo Fighter Unlockable
Final Smash	Awakening Aether
Tier	C+ (54)
Character Statistics
Number of Jumps	2
Character Stats
Weight	Middleweight
Voice Actors
Voiced by (English)	Matthew Mercer
Voiced by (Japanese)	Tomokazu Sugita

Chrom is a newcomer fighter in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate from the Fire Emblem universe. He was confirmed during the August 8th, 2018 Smash Direct. Chrom is the Echo Fighter of Roy (although his Soaring Slash is borrowed from Ike’s Aether), and is classified as fighter #25ε.

How to Unlock

• Play VS mode matches, with Chrom being the 59th character unlocked.
• Clear Classic Mode with Yoshi or any other character in his character tree, with Chrom being unlocked after Ridley.
• Have Chrom join the party in the World of Light. Chrom is trapped in the Sacred Land, and his position can be accessed from a treasure chest that contains a portal to that place's location.

For the first two methods, the player must fight and defeat Chrom on Arena Ferox.

Attributes

Strengths

• Disjointed reach due to his sword, giving him options for spacing.
• Fast mobility, allowing him to approach opponents easily and chain combos.
• Consistent damage output, making securing KOs easier without the need for spacing.
• High damage output, allowing him to deal high damage in a short amount of time.
• Fast startup and end lag on moves, giving him the ability to combo moves quickly.
• Powerful aerial game, making him excellent at pressuring and juggling.
• Flare Blade is an effective KO option, having the ability to be charged and reversed for mix-up potential.
• Double-Edge Dance is a quick damage racker, giving Chrom the ability to shift through various inputs to launch opponents forwards, upwards, or rack up damage.
• Soaring Slash can serve as a damage racker, can meteor smash opponents off the ledge, or be used as a sacrificial KO option.
• Counter allows Chrom to retaliate.

Weaknesses

• Requires close combat to deal damage reliably.
• Very poor recovery, making him easily edgeguarded.
• Lacks ranged options and the means to counter them, making him susceptible to camping.
• Lacks sourspots, which eliminates potential setups.
• Cannot secure KOs as early as Roy.
• Can be pressured easily.
• Soaring Slash KO's Chrom first, making it a risky option when used on Chrom's final stock.

Summary

Fundamentally, Chrom shares the same advantages of his original fighter Roy: he possesses outstanding mobility, making him a very effective unit for approaching and pressuring on the ground and in the air. Chrom also possesses disjointed reach, giving him options for spacing and disrupting approaches. All these traits combined with outstanding startup and ending data, which makes his moves difficult to anticipate or punish, makes Chrom a very effective rushdown character.

However, unlike Roy and in a similar vein to his daughter Lucina, Chrom lacks sweetspots and sourspots along his Falchion. This trait makes his damage output and knockback more consistent, and allows him to secure KOs more reliably at any range unlike Roy, who suffers from his reliance on close-combat and the polarizing power of his strong sweetspots and ineffective sourspots. Chrom also retains Roy's high damage output, while less extreme, still enables him to deal a high amount of damage in a short amount of time, which makes Chrom one of the strongest sword fighters around, and somewhat exists as a balance between Ike and Lucina in terms of mobility and raw power.

Chrom's Special Moves offer him various options for keeping opponents from approaching while dealing considerable damage. Flare Blade is a chargeable move that deals high damage, ends fast, and can be reversed to catch landings or punish whiffed moves. Double Edge Dance is a quick option for dealing damage and setting up combos, and can have its hits altered for mix-ups. Soaring Slash is a useful escape option and quickly disrupting a grounded opponent's defense, and can be a Sacrificial KO option off-stage due to its Meteor Smash hitbox. Finally, Counter provides Chrom a means of instant retaliation against attacks, with its power increasing as it intercepts more attacks.

Chrom's greatest weakness lies in his exceptionally poor recovery; possessing a purely vertical option in Soaring Slash, if Chrom gets knocked off stage he is almost guaranteed to be KO'd, as his fast falling speed and effective edgeguarding can easily place him in a position where he cannot recover. Chrom's poor recovery option also limits his ability to edgeguard opponents unless he fully commits to eliminate his own stock along with theirs. Due to Chrom possessing a consistent blade, he also lacks the ability to set up KO or combo setups with sourspots or secure KOs as early as Roy. In addition, Chrom suffers from problems associated with most sword characters, being susceptible to projectile camping and juggling due to lacking any means of countering projectiles and possessing a rather poor grab game. Chrom's sword range is also shorter than most sword fighters like Roy, which necessitates him to fight closer and putting him at risk.

To conclude, Chrom must be capable of shifting between aggression and baiting and punishing, using his mobility, range, and damage output to accomplish each gameplan. Chrom must also take care to avoid getting pressured off-stage, and must take full advantage off his mobility and spacing options to ward off aggression.

Moveset

Ground Attacks

Normal

• Neutral Attack: Swings Falchion upwards; Chrom's fastest combo starter due to its low startup and good knockback.
• Forward Tilt: Swings Falchion over his shoulder in front; fast startup and good KO potential at the ledge
• Up Tilt: Swings Falchion upwards in an arc above him; good anti-air and juggling option from the ground.
• Down Tilt: Stabs Falchion downward; good poking tool.
• Dash Attack: Halts and slashes forward while bending for more reach.

Smash Attacks

• Forward Smash: Lunges and slashes forward; One of the most powerful Forward Smashes due to fast startup and strong power, but has a short duration and high endlag
• Up Smash: Stabs Falchion upwards, creating a wind gale that hits three times.
• Down Smash: Swipes Falchion on both his sides.

Other attacks

• Floor Attack (Front):
• Floor Attack (Back):
• Floor Attack (Trip):
• Ledge Attack: Slashes his sword in front of him.

Aerial Attacks

• Neutral aerial: Slashes two times around him while spinning.
• Forward aerial: Swipes Falchion in front of him.
• Back aerial: Turns around and swipes Falchion behind him; Chrom's most powerful aerial in terms of knockaback.
• Up aerial: Swipes Falchion above him while turning in the air; good juggling tool.
• Down aerial: Swipes Falchion downwards; spikes at the first extension of the attack..

Grabs and Throws

• Pummel: Knees the opponent.
• Forward Throw: Knocks opponent forward.
• Back Throw: Tosses foe behind him.
• Up Throw: Thrusts opponent upwards.
• Down Throw: Tosses the foe to the ground.

Special Moves

Chrom's Special Moves
	Ultimate
Standard Special	Flare Blade
Side Special	Double-Edge Dance
Up Special	Soaring Slash
Down Special	Counter
Final Smash	Awakening Aether

Taunts

• Up Taunt: Holds Falchion across his body while saying, "Come at me!"
• Side Taunt: Holds Falchion outward in front of him while saying, "Come on!"
• Down Taunt: Spins Falchion before resting the blade in his opposite hand while saying, "I will not fail!"

On-Screen Appearance

• Emerges from a Warp Circle and takes Falchion out from the ground.

Idle Poses

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

Victory Poses

If Lucina is present during the match, Chrom will say "Our bond is stronger than steel."

• Rushes forward and slashes once before holding Falchion outward while saying "Training paid off!"
• Performs two sword slashes before holding Falchion across his body saying "Anything can change!"
• Plants Falchion into the ground, places his hand on his hip while saying "I will cut a path!"

In competitive play

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 Roy's mediocre standing in Smash 4 (due to Chrom being an Echo Fighter of him). Mindsets were quickly turned upon release however, as Roy's myriad of buffs allowed Chrom to perform as a highly effective swordfighter, with a powerful overall damage output and excellent speed; in addition, Chrom's access to balanced hitboxes made him less risky in comparison, 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 first few months, with him being considered one of the best swordfighters in the game alongside Ike at the time.

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. Both Chrom and Ike would also be overlooked in favor of Lucina and Roy, who were quickly gaining prominence in competitive play as two of the best swordfighters in the game. As a result, players would eventually drop him entirely or designate him as a reliable pocket character, while some would turn to use him alongside Roy for different matchups. Regardless, while Chrom has not been as prominent of a pick as he initially was, he is still considered a very effective fighter. He is commonly used as secondary for notable professional players as a replacement for Roy or Lucina.

Chrom would experience 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, who mains the character and ranked 44th in the Fall 2019 PGRU, 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.

Classic Mode: Fight as One

Chrom's Classic Mode consists of him fighting a pair of fighters from a certain universe with either Robin or Lucina as an ally, as a reference to Awakening's Pair Up mechanic. However, the very first battle is a reference to Chrom's very first encounter with Lucina in Awakening. His song in the credits is Id (Purpose).

Round	Oppnent	Stage	Music	Notes
1	Lucina	Arena Ferox	Id (Purpose)
2	Fox and Falco	Lylat Cruise	Space Armada	Lucina is a CPU ally.
3	Ness and Lucas	Onett	Pollyanna (I Believe in You)	Female Robin is a CPU ally.
4	Donkey Kong and Diddy Kong	Jungle Japes	Jungle Hijinks	Lucina is a CPU ally.
5	Peach and Daisy	Mario Circuit	Rainbow Road - Mario Kart: Double Dash!!	Male Robin is a CPU ally.
6	Simon and Richter	Dracula's Castle	Vampire Killer	Lucina is a CPU ally.
7	Master Hand and Crazy Hand	Final Destination	Master Hand/Crazy Hand	Female Robin is a CPU ally.

Role In World of Light

Chrom does not make a direct appearance in the opening cutscene, but as with the majority of the fighters except Kirby he is vaporized when Galeem unleashes his beams of light.

Later on when Galeem is first defeated and Dharkon emerges, Chrom is one of the fighters to fall under its control. He can be found in the Triforce of Courage section within the Sacred Land sub-area of the Dark Realm, though he can only be reached by opening a chest and reexamining it, allowing the player to be transported to Chrom's location.

Palette Swaps

Gallery

Chrom's splash screen. Chrom Joins the battle!!!

Chrom's number card

Chrom on Palutena's Temple

Chrom fighting Ganondorf on Arena Ferox

Chrom on Suzaku Castle

Chrom using Double Edge Dance on Skyloft

Chrom crouching with the Super Leaf alongside Wolf, Fox, and Lucario on Living Room

Chrom in his red alternate alongside Robin on Coliseum

Chrom with Mario, Marth, Ike, Lucina, Robin, and Corrin on Battlefield.

Chrom alongside all the other Fire Emblem fighters on Arena Ferox, based off a screenshot from the Japanese Fire Emblem Twitter

Artwork of all Fire Emblem fighters and Assist Trophies in their sprite forms from Fire Emblem Heroes on Castle Siege, from the Japanese Fire Emblem Heroes Twitter

Videos

Super Smash Bros. Ultimate – Dark Samus and Chrom gameplay (2 on 2, Stage Morph)

25ᵋ Chrom – Super Smash Bros. Ultimate

Trivia

• Upon release, Chrom retained the original Fire Emblem victory theme based off of Brawl, which is shared by Marth, Roy, and Ike. However, in version 3.0.0, he received the new Awakening-based victory theme that was given to Lucina and Robin, making Chrom the only character to change victory themes within a title.
• Chrom's up taunt and victory pose mimics his pose from Awakening.
  • Chrom's up taunt mimics Lucina's up taunt, which was demonstrated twice in his reveal and his character trailer.
• Chrom is one of the few characters to speak while being KO'd, occasionally shouting "Sorry!", which alludes to Chrom's clumsiness.
• Chrom's Classic Mode is the only one in which Master Hand and Crazy Hand are fought simultaneously regardless of difficulty, as normally 7.0 intensity or higher is required for the latter hand to appear.
• Chrom is the only Echo Fighter in World of Light that can be found before his original fighter as all the others can only be encountered after defeating Galeem the first time.

Fire Emblem universe
Characters	Marth (Melee  · Brawl  · 3DS/Wii U  · Ultimate) Roy (Melee  · 3DS/Wii U  · Ultimate) Ike (Brawl  · 3DS/Wii U  · Ultimate) Robin (3DS/Wii U  · Ultimate) Lucina (3DS/Wii U  · Ultimate) Corrin (3DS/Wii U  · Ultimate) Chrom (Ultimate) Byleth (Ultimate)
Side Characters	Assist Trophies	Lyn  · Black Knight  · Tiki
	Mii Fighter Costumes	Chrom  · Black Knight
	Background characters	Claude von Riegan  · Dimitri Alexandre Blaiddyd  · Edelgard von Hresvelg  · Rhea
	Others	Anna  · Sothis
Stages	Castle Siege  · Arena Ferox  · Coliseum  · Garreg Mach Monastery
Item	Killing Edge
Music	List of Music (Fire Emblem series)
Collectibles	Trophies	Melee Trophies  · Brawl Trophies  · 3DS Trophies  · Wii U Trophies
	Stickers	List of Stickers (Fire Emblem series)
	Spirits	List of spirits (Fire Emblem series)
	Masterpieces	Fire Emblem: Shadow Dragon and the Blade of Light  · Fire Emblem: Mystery of the Emblem