Chrom, Gifted Leader

[Ae†her]

Chrom, Gifted Leader

"Lissa made me wear this."

Chrom sports the highest Atk stat potential in the game along with Effie. He is an armored, and gifted boy who has great mixed bulk all at the sacrifice of Spd. He's practically like an Axe version of Effie, but with better distributed stats for being a tanky and hard-hitting unit.

Level 40 Stats:

HP: 48/51/54
Atk: 37/40/43
Spd: 16/19/22
Def: 32/35/38
Res: 26/29/32

BST: 174

Skills:

Weapon: Sack o' Gifts+
Assist: Pivot
Special: -
A: Brazen Atk Def 3
B: Wary Fighter 3
C: None
Movement: Armored - This means he can run and receive Armor Emblem buffs such as Ward Armor. Armor March, Fortify Armor, ...etc.

Sack o' Pain

Spoiler

Nature: +Atk /-Spd

Weapon: Brave Axe+
Assist: Swap / Varies on Team
Special: Aether / Ignis

A: Death Blow 3
B: Bold Fighter 3
C: Armor March 3 / Varies on Team
SS: Atk+3

Notes: Nothing much to explain Chrom can abuse his high Atk and just demolish things by getting guaranteed Quads with Brave Axe+ and Bold Fighter 3.

Brave Axe+ - Attack twice when initiating combat. 

Death Blow 3 - Over Brazen Atk Def 3 because you just want to be able to do max damage as soon as possible with Chrom. You'll be healing with Aether anyway, so getting that extra 1 Atk later is not needed.

Bold Fighter 3 - Guranteed Follow-Up, and guaranteed proc on Aether.

Armor March 3 - Better on Chrom since you want mobility specifically on him so that he has more reach with his high offensive powers. You want buffs to be on him before having Chrom give it to other armored units.

Sacred Seal: This is actually very flexible. You can take Close Defense 3 to help him survive encounters against speedy, high attack, and strong special red units. Atk+3 is just better for improving his damage output.

Aether - This will proc regardless of whether the enemy counter attacks or not thanks to Bold Fighter 3. It will heal up the damage Chrom has taken from any counter attack or any previous encounters, while still lowering the Def of foes allowing Chrom to seal the deal.

Ignis - Kind of overkill, but that's exactly why it's good. In addition to the 4 high-Atk hits, Chrom can inflict guaranteed damage.

Santa Chrom

Spoiler

Nature: +Res /-Spd (+Atk/+Def is perfectly fine as well)

Weapon: Slaying Edge+ (Res+)
Assist: Swap / Varies on Team
Special: Iceberg / Glacies / Moonbow / Aether

A: Distant Counter
B: Wary Fighter 3 / Vengeful Fighter 3
C: Panic Ploy 3 / Varies on Team
SS: Close Defense 3 / Atk+3

Note: Res boon brings Chrom up to a very great 32 Res, which just increases his bulk towards magic greatly. Having better mixed bulk, while sporting  some of the highest Atk in the game is what makes Chrom standout from other armors. (Still don't know what clever name to call this build my apologies.)

Distant Counter - Lets him use his dual-bulk and counter ranged units as well. (Still don't know what to call this build my apologies.)

Slaying Axe+ (Res+) + Iceberg / Glacies + Wary Fighter 3 + Close Defense 3 - Slaying Axe+ is here to let Chrom be able to charge his special after receiving one hit in battle and returning a counterattack. Wary Fighter 3 helps prevent units from doing Follow-Ups on Chrom especially since Chrom's Spd is just abysmal. Iceberg is only due to Chrom's Res being higher than his Def, if his Def happens to be 2 or more than his Res then use Bonfire instead here. Close Defense 3 is more valuable then Distant Defense 3 as Red mages are not as common as Red Swords, who can really hurt Chrom. You may want to try Glacies instead of Iceberg to help Chrom build up a more powerful attack than Iceberg.

Slaying Axe+ (Res+) + Moonbow + Wary Fighter 3 + Atk+3 - This lets Chrom return a painful blow with Moonbow back at his foes, and finish them of later if they're not dead with his very high Atk. Atk+3 is good here for as much effective damage as possible.

Slaying Axe+ (Res+) + Aether + Vengeful Fighter 3 + Close Defense 3 - Most of this stuff is the same except now instead of Wary Fighter 3, Chrom does something very risky and runs Vengeful Fighter 3 despite his lackluster Spd. The dependency here is on Chrom's very high bulk, helping him survive double attacks from most foes (Close Defense 3 helps a lot here against common Reds) while allowing him to proc Aether thanks to Vengeful Fighter's Special cooldown charge+1.

Panic Ploy 3 - A great option due to Chrom's high HP he can Panic enemies, especially Litrblades which will help him take less damage.

Indestructible Christmas Attire

Spoiler

Nature: +Def /-Spd (+Atk is perfectly fine as well)

Weapon: Slaying Edge+ (Def+)
Assist: Swap / Varies on Team
Special: Bonfire / Ignis / Aether

A: Steady Breath / Steady Stance 3
B: Wary Fighter 3 / Vengeful Fighter 3
C: Panic Ploy 3 / Varies on Team
SS: Close Defense 3

Steady Breath + Wary Fighter 3 + Bonfire / Ignis + Close Defense 3 - This is meant to be an ultra melee tank (that can also deal with dragons thanks to Chrom's decent Res and high HP) that fires off an insane Bonfire every time he's hit. Ignis is another great option too as Chrom will have it charged if he counter attacks a foe that has just attacked him (and doesn't have Guard). Wary Fighter 3 is to prevent Chrom from getting doubled, which would be bad as Chrom as really slow and susceptible to letting the enemy proc specials that could take him out, and if he gets doubled my a magic user he's done for. Close Defense 3 maximizes Chrom's Def when he encounters an attacker.

Steady Stance 3 + Vengeful Fighter 3 + Aether + Close Defense 3 - A bit more risky, but offers a lot more reward by letting Chrom double, and potentially heal up the damage he's taken with Aether. Steady Stance 3 is used here instead of Steady Breath because Chrom will already get a SCD Charge+1 from Vengeful Fighter 3.

 

Edited January 25, 2018 by Ae†her

[Ae†her]

Well this is finally finished as I just added Chrom's last and final build (Melee Tank Build).