Valentine's Chrom

Weapon: Destiny’s Bow

Assist: To Change Fate!

Special: Deadeye

Passive A: Mirror Impact / Sturdy Impact / Death Blow / Atk/Def Unity

Passive B: Lull Atk/Def / Null Follow-Up / Wings of Mercy / Special Spiral

Passive C: Time’s Pulse 

Sacred Seal: Death Blow / Quickened Pulse / Sturdy Blow / Atk/Def Bond

• The sheer amount of damage enhancing goodies Valentine’s Chrom and Robin bear throughout all their PRF features (seriously, literally just their Destiny’s Bow alone shines as a stellar offensive weapon and even boasts unique supportive utility) make them a natural fit for an offense-heavy approach. This build emphasizes damage above all else, making a +ATK IV the prime choice to frontload as much firepower as possible.
• For general offensive purposes, their main gameplan is pretty simple. Use To Change Fate! as necessary to instantly charge up Deadeye and/or assist ally damage output — and then go to town! Just remain cautious of particularly bulky blues (most notably, Brave Hector who can nullify their armored effectiveness) and Chrom/Robin should be relatively set due to how loaded their kit is. 
  • As far as their build is concerned, it’s typically unnecessary to do more than replace the Fate-Defying Duo’s A skill in favor of a more offensive option (even the widely available Death Blow 3 does a plenty good job) and choose a complementary B skill. 
  • Of those available, Lull Atk/Def offers the most to their damage by nullifying relevant enemy buffs and applying further Defense debuffs, but Wings of Mercy is an alternative if greater mobility is preferred or potentially Special Spiral to spam Deadeye without being overly reliant on their PRF’s Special charges.
• Their ability to enable the Duo Hindrance structure, access to several counters to meta-relevant threats, and sheer damage ceiling also makes Valentine’s Chrom and Robin a prime choice for one’s Aether Raids Defense composition; it’s in this setting, however, that the nuances of their build become slightly more complicated as discussed below.
  • Although many Defense-focused builds opt to remove a unit’s Assist, the Fate-Defying Duo’s To Change Fate! is generally best kept: the self-refresh and +6 Attack visible buff makes them a far-reaching and unpredictable offensive threat, and Reposition is typically used defensively by the AI so this can be useful in safeguarding squishier allies from the frontlines. 
    • Further, it enables the secondary effect of Destiny’s Bow to trigger, mutually reducing their own and their ally’s cooldown in a way that cannot be deterred by【False Start】— though it can be stopped by【Isolation】, so including some form of debuff cleanse like Odd Recovery or Sara’s Kia Staff may be useful. 
  • Since they cannot access the Impact effect of their Duo Skill while under AI control, Mirror Impact and Sturdy Impact become more coveted A skills to supplement the power of Chrom/Robin’s initiations with safety, with the former being especially notable to patch up their weaker Resistance. Atk/Def Unity is another option as well due to being a likely target of Chill Atk or Def.
  • Besides their usually B skill options, Null Follow-Up may be a worthwhile consideration in this context. Though it may seem peculiar given Valentine Chrom and Robin’s stat distribution, it’s nifty to break through tanks who rely on follow-up denial and may otherwise survive their first attack without leaving it to the whims of a Speed check.

Weapon: Destiny’s Bow

Assist: To Change Fate!

Special: Deadeye 

Passive A: Atk/Def Unity / Sturdy Impact / Mirror Impact

Passive B: Wings of Mercy / Link Skills

Passive C: Joint Drive Skills / Time’s Pulse / Infantry Pulse / Flexible

Sacred Seal: Drive Skills / Death Blow / Sturdy Blow / Hardy Bearing / Infantry Rush 

• This build yet again emphasizes Chrom/Robin’s offensive prowess, but places greater consideration towards their utility in the context of Aether Raids Offense (specifically, within Galeforce compositions), as their ability to charge Specials while positioning allies closer to foes alone are handy tools given how important proper charge accumulation is for successful, consecutive Galeforce activations. Their own nuking capacity — particularly against pesky Save units thanks to the beauty of armored effectiveness — and occasional Duo Skill buff are icing-on-the-cake to build the team’s overall momentum and snipe down otherwise debilitating threats.
• Atk/Def Unity is a phenomenal A skill that should be taken if you feel confident being able to quickly destroy the enemy Duo Hindrance structure, as it synergizes beautifully with 【Grand Strategy】to provide Valentine’s Chrom and Robin another +15 Atk/Def and makes enemy penalties a non-issue. For more general coverage, Sturdy Impact and Mirror Impact minimize the risk of initiations through guaranteed follow-up denial independent of their Duo Skill and a +10 helping of a defensive stat of your choice.
• Wings of Mercy is the Fate-Defying Duo’s ideal B skill choice, offering a great expansion of their range to use their Assist and subsequently gain another Action — most Galeforce compositions utilize some form low HP beacon(s) as it is, so this lets Chrom and Robin fit perfectly without needing to make any further adjustments. Link skills are an option to apply visible buffs on top of their base cooldown reduction, but this makes the couple more dependent on outside assistance (such as Smite) to keep pace with their team. 
• Joint Drive skills are excellent to build on the offense/support hybrid of this build and are essentially going to be almost always active here, as engaging in Galeforce chains naturally creates close proximity among allies. Alternatively, Time’s Pulse can be equipped to ensure Deadeye’s activation on the first use of To Change Fate!, or Infantry Pulse to further aid cooldown requirements for ally Galeforce activations. 
• Much of the same applies for Valentine’s Chrom and Robin in their Sacred Seal slot: your choice of Drive or offense-enhancing ability will work perfectly fine here. For slightly more niche recommendations, Hardy Bearing may be useful to shut down the occasional Vantage threat (particularly if your team relies on Bolt Tower), and Infantry Rush can help nearby infantry allies simply do without Heavy Blade for more build flexibility.

Weapon: Destiny’s Bow

Assist: To Change Fate!

Special: Bonfire / Sol / Ignis / Deadeye / Noontime

Passive A: Close Salvo / Atk/Def Unity / Sturdy Stance / Atk/Def Solo

Passive B: Lull Atk/Def / Null Follow-Up / Null C-Disrupt

Passive C: Joint Drive Skills / Time’s Pulse / Smoke Skills / Flexible

Sacred Seal: Mystic Boost / Solo Skills / Bond Skills 

• Although they are much better suited for offensive play, Valentine’s Chrom and Robin can opt for a more defensively-tuned strategy as well given their stat distribution and flexibility in maintaining Destiny’s Bow active during the Enemy Phase. Being able to endure physical punishment bears greater importance here, so a +DEF IV is recommended besides the typical +ATK. 
• Their default Close Salvo is plenty good for the intention of this set and should be kept if attempting to have the Ylissean duo operate as an all-purpose physical tank — against melee and ranged threats alike. However, if Near Save support is available, Chrom/Robin can then focus exclusively on their ranged match-ups and bypass the need for such an A skill, allowing the use of stronger skills like Atk/Def Unity (to exploit debuffs, including their own Duo Skill) and Sturdy Stance (to hasten Enemy Specials).
• Lull Atk/Def is their most generally useful B skill candidate to push the limits of their damage and survivability further, all the while carrying the neat utility of denying enemy bonuses. Alternatively, Null Follow-Up can help safeguard the duo against slower foes with inbuilt follow-up attacks and/or a means of negating their own double from Destiny’s Bow. Null C-Disrupt is also an option if going the route of specializing against ranged units, as this ensures their counterattacks can’t be tampered by troublesome skills like Dazzling Staff.
• For their Special, Valentine’s Chrom and Robin have two primary gameplans they can branch into.
  • Damaging Specials: This orients Chrom/Robin toward a more OHKO-focused playstyle, aiming to instantly counterattack with a fully charged Special — something they can easily accomplish with Destiny’s Bow alone and particularly if allotted outside resources like Brave Lucina, Summer Hilda, or Thórr. 
    • However, as this means relying solely on their bulk for their longevity, the Mystic Boost Sacred Seal should likely receive greater priority to impart some form of sustain. 
  • Healing Specials: This turns the Fate-Defying Duo into a more traditional defensive tank, and honestly their base damage output should be more than sufficient to strike down incoming foes. The main risks of this strategy is it leaves Valentine’s Chrom and Robin more susceptible against bulkier foes and/or instances where their follow-up is tampered with (as the lack of burst may mean such threats can survive their counterattack and avoid defeat) and Fatal Smoke.