Choosing a class for your lord in a Fire Emblem game is unusual. Such things are usually limited to the supporting cast, often leaving you lumbered with a foot locked, weapon locked unit of sorts to lumber around increasingly difficult maps. They usually promote of course, often following some kind of important story line point, but until then they can be a bit of a liability, some more than others. Chrom then, the lord of Fire Emblem: Awakening, can be switched and altered as much as you like. Perhaps you make him a defensive, armoured beast to ensure that he lives no matter what, or even mount him up and use him on your front lines. There’s plenty of choices available to him, and that’s exactly what we’re writing about today: Exactly what classes should you pick for your lord? Check out our favourite options for him below.

Lord -> Great Lord

The first option might seem like an obvious one, but you’d be surprised how many players get their hands on their first Second Seal and go hog wild on their Lord. Yes, It is a good idea to reclass your lord… Eventually.

You absolutely must stick with the Lord – Great Lord line before you consider moving Chrom over to another class. Not only are the growth rates very well balanced – 60% in Strength, Speed and Skill, along with an 85% HP growth rate – but the class skills are absolutely invaluable. Combined these factors make the class tree essential, and since you’re limited on units that can make use of it, you’d be well served to level it at least high enough to grab all of the skills. In almost all of our runs Chrom gets to level 20 in both Lord and Great Lord before moving onto another option, though we’ll admit to being pretty active with him compared to other Fire Emblem games. It’s a testament to Awakening that you can use him with confidence, so make the most of it!

Class Skills

Dual Strike+

• Increases the Dual Strike rate of activation by 10%

The benefit to this skill is fairly obvious, though it’s mostly going to come in handy in the early portion of the game when you’re building up supports. As the game progresses, you’ll likely send off overpowered units to different sectors of the map, but it’s still a nice skill to have for a portion of the game. Not too useful in passing down to the second gen.

Charm

• Passively increases the hit rate and evade of units within 3 tiles by +5

This is another skill that’s a’nice to have’ in the early game. You’ll frequently be babysitting weak units that benefit from both the hit and the evade, so whilst it’s not something we’d suggest you keep a hold of, it’s well.. Nice to have.

Aether

• Chance (Skill/2)% to strike twice. The first strike has the Luna effect, the second has the Sol effect.

Now we’re talking. Aether is a true late game skill, and it’s certainly one that you’ll want to keep. When it activates, which the next skill will help with, expect all but the most armoured of enemies to be removed from the map. The heal is a nice benefit, though we’ll admit it’s the least important part of the skill – the two attacks and defence mitigation take the cake here.

Rightful King

• Adds an additional 10% to all skill activation chances.

In theory 10% doesn’t sound like a great deal, but when you’re boosting something from the 20%’s into the 30%’s or higher, it’s well worth it. Combine this with Aether and defensive skill of your choice, and your Lord is set for the rest of the game.

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Cavalier -> Paladin

Who knew mounting up was a good thing in a Fire Emblem game huh? Well, to be fair to Awakening, it’s not as overpowered as other titles in the series, but it’s still good enough to warrant re-classing your lord into, mainly due to the promoted version. The Paladin comes with some of the best, well balanced defensive statistics that Awakening has to offer. You’ll be able to throw Chrom into all manner of situations, many of which you’d usually avoid, and have him come out victorious.

Whilst we’d certainly say that this is a more ‘defensive’ class option, that doesn’t mean that you’re going to be on the back foot. If you combine some of the skills listed below with those that you’ve learned in the Lord & Great Lord classes, you’ll land yourself with a unit capable of demolishing units on the player turn, and surviving anything during the enemy turn.

Class Skills

Discipline

• Doubles weapon experience received.

This is a fairly basic skill, obviously, but it’s one that you might want to keep your hands on for a short while, certainly whilst your Lord expands his repertoire of weaponry.

Outdoor Fighter

• Evade and Hit Rate increased by +10 when fighting outside.

We’ve never been huge fans of the ‘Outside’ or ‘Inside’ skills in the Fire Emblem series. For us they’re just not worth it, unless you’re perhaps trying to solo the whole game with one unit and really need the extra evade. Even then there would be better options.

Defender

• All statistics are increased by +1 when Paired Up with another unit.

It’s entirely possible to complete Fire Emblem: Awakening without pairing up your units, though we’d argue doing so would be to ignore some incredibly powerful possibilities. All this does is power up those possibilities, and if we’re honest we quite like it. This may not make your ‘end game’ skill set, but it’s certainly nice to have en route.

Aegis

• Chance (Skill/2)% to reduce damage from tomes, bows and dragonstones by 50%

This is the real jewel in the crown of Paladin, along with it’s great statistics. It’s powerful enough on it’s own, but combined with Rightful King from the Lord line, you’ll be reducing damage more than ever. With such a high Defence rating, ranged and magical attacks tend to be the bane of tank units, yet with this you’ll practically nullify them too. A fantastic skill to have on Chrom during the late game.

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Archer -> Bow Knight

Lyn flashbacks anyone? Well at least this one is eventually on a mount… If turning Chrom into a Paladin was the defensive option – though we’d argue it enables him to be very aggressive – then this would have to be considered the ‘offensive’ option. Or is it?

Technically, your Chrom will be able to output more damage with this option, yet if anything you’ll become more concerned with his survival. As a Paladin he’ll happily tank the front lines, but as a Bow Knight you’ll want to keep him on the peripheries, which leaves you in a unique supporting position. Your Chrom will take up position just behind the front lines, attacking where possible and buffing his team mates when he isn’t, either with pairing up, supporting or using a Rally skill. It’s a unique play style, and one that lends well to the late game, where your army is full of hyper powerful second gen units. It can be a bit annoying to level him through Archer first, but it’s worth it in the end.

Class Skills

Skill +2

• Increases your Skill stat by erm.. 2

Pretty basic really, and Skill is not really an issue for Chrom throughout the game, so this is nothing special.

Prescience

• When taking a turn, hit rate and avoid are increased by +15. Does not activate on the enemies turn.

This has a small niche usage, and that’s when you’re attacking another ranged unit, but if we’re honest you’ll probably use your front liners to charge at the ranged units and demolish them due to their low defence, rendering this skill somewhat moot.

Rally Skill

• Increases the Skill statistic of all units within 3 tiles by +4. Only lasts one turn and requires the ‘Rally’ command to be activated.

This is another nice to have, but it’s not going to make a huge difference. If you have units that are low in Skill rating, you’re probably resigning them to the bench, rather than propping them up with this. We skip it.

Bowbreaker

• When battling an enemy equipped with a bow, hit rate and avoid is increased by +50.

This is another skill we’re not a fan of, and it highlights just how much the Bow Knight is about the weaponry and mobility rather than the skills. Bowbreaker has some niche uses, but you’ll want to make your units strong in the majority of situations, not the single cases that these skills indicate.

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