Past Chromie

Chromie, also known as the Keeper of Time, is a mage hero originating from World of Warcraft. Despite Chromie’s innocent appearance in Heroes of the Storm, Chromie can manifest as a bronze dragon that seeks to restore various timelines. Despite her importance in World of Warcraft, her presence was not quite as important in the Nexus prior to the redesign offered by Patch 44.0. In most situations, Chromie was often considered a poor pick as other mage-type heroes would offer a better alternative. For example, when picking Chromie in 2018, you often sacrificed waveclear when compared to heroes such as Jaina or Gul’dan. At times, Chromie experienced waves of popularity, mostly in the European competitive scene, due to her pokey yet also long range blow-up style. For example, highly coordinated professional teams often picked Chromie in conjunction with a dive hero such as Genji as this synergy offered immense pressure on the enemy backline at any given time.

In less coordinated environments, Chromie was often picked on zone control maps such as Volskaya Foundry or Braxis Holdout. These maps allowed Chromie to position extremely safely and create a constant barrage of Sand Blasts. Prior to the most recent rework, Chromie was also often used as a dominant response to less mobile heroes such as Sgt. Hammer and Gul'dan.

Present and Future Chromie

It is no secret that Blizzard has run into many troubles balancing Chromie since her release, receiving three whole reworks in the span of about 18 months. On March 26th, 2019 Chromie received another massive rework which fundamentally changed her playstyle yet again, in hopes of making her easier to tune in the future. This rework offered changes in Chromie’s standard talent build and general gameplay. The most significant of all changes is her ability to now hit non-heroic targets with Sand Blast. This change is a double-edged sword, as it technically allows her to achieve higher siege statistics but comes at the cost of pressure on heroes, as Sand Blasts can no longer simply bypass gates and walls. The additional functionality will vastly raise the skill ceiling of Chromie yet it also lowers the skill floor. For example, previously Chromie could only manipulate one echo at a time; this rework adds the option to have an additional echo, thus the player has three total Sand Blasts to manage. This provides the player with more options in how they may play.

Dragon’s Breath (W) also underwent massive changes, transitioning from one chunking attack to a vector-targeted triple blast of sand. This change offers a more skill intensive lateral movement to Chromie’s wave clear. Previously, Chromie would drop her Dragon’s Breath on the enemy minion wave once it crashed against a friendly target; now, Chromie should attempt to clear the wave while it is in its line formation, as the vector-targeted ability allows the damage to follow the wave. Beyond wave clear, Dragon’s Breath follow up damage on crowd control effects such as Xul’s root has been greatly reduced due the ability now having three separate segments. This means rather than bursting down with Dragon’s Breath, Chromie will need to have her echoes setup to optimally follow up roots and/or stuns.

Chromie’s Temporal Loop also experienced considerable changes, most notably the addition of a 500% cooldown reduction on basic abilities for three seconds. This allows Chromie to set up her echo(es) to burst for even more damage. This set up is critical now that Dragon’s Breath functionality has been shifted to its current triple-blast format.

Talents

Level 1

Once Again for the First Time - Quest: Hit 40 Heroes with Sand Blast. Reward: Increase the maximum number of active Echoes to 2.

On this tier, I suggest taking Once Again for the First Time in most games. Once Again for the First Time allows Chromie to output more damage than any other talent on this tier. This talent allows Chromie to empower her later talent options such as Bronze Talons.

Deep Breathing - Quest: Every time Dragon's Breath hits a Hero, increase its damage by 3, up to 60. Reward: After hitting 25 Heroes, increase its damage by an additional 60 and also increase Chromie's vision by 100%.

I see have seen very few, if not zero, situations where you will find more value in Deep Breathing over Once Again for the First Time.

Timewalker’s Pursuit - Activate to reveal the targeted area for 2 seconds. Enemies seen are revealed for 4 seconds. (Cooldown: 25 seconds) Quest: Gather 15 Regeneration Globes. Reward: After gathering 15 Globes you also gain 10% Spell Power.

While Timewalker’s Pursuit is an extremely powerful ability due to the knowledge it can provide through vision, I find it is still more beneficial to take Once Again for the First Time in most scenarios as not picking it will cause a ripple through almost every talent tier. For example, Chromie will find less value from Bronze Talons without Once Again for the First time, thus making her pursue other options. There are a few situations where Timewalker’s Pursuit may out value Once Again for the First Time such as facing a stealthed hero on large maps.

Level 2

Chronic Conditions - After its Time Stop ends, enemies affected by Time Trap are Slowed by 25% for 3 seconds and allies gain 30% Movement Speed for 3 seconds.

Through my experience, I have found this to be the least effective talent on this tier, therefore I recommend not picking it.

Time Troubles - After its Time Stop ends, enemies affected by Time Trap lose 20 Armor for 3 seconds and allies gain 20 Armor for 3 seconds.

On this tier, I suggest taking Time Troubles in most games because this talent allows her to survive punishment which may follow a stasis effect. For example, Malfurion players may often place roots under a player in stasis in attempt to punish them.

Andorhal Anomaly - Increase the charges and maximum active Time Traps to 3, and reduce its cooldown by 8 seconds.

I believe Andorhal Anomaly also has a place when attempting to control vision. I would often suggest Andhoral Anomaly on Tomb of the Spider Queen because it allows you to have near permanent vision on a turn in point when arranged properly.

Level 5

Bronze Talons - Hitting a Hero with Sand Blast grants 30% additional Basic Attack damage for 5 seconds.

I almost exclusively recommend Bronze Talons on this tier. A major change to Chromie is that her echo(es) will now also auto attack. This allows Chromie to deal a surprising amount of damage when surrounded by her echoes, allowing her to out-trade many heroes she could not previously especially when combined with Once Again for the First Time.

Mobius Loop - If Dragon's Breath hits a Hero, reduce its cooldown by 1.5 seconds and restore 40 Mana.

Because I cannot recommend Deep Breathing at Level 1, that opinion also follows onto this talent.

A Proper Greeting - Damaging a Stunned, Rooted, or Slowed enemy Hero grants 25% additional damage for 5 seconds.

This talent is extremely powerful, especially when Chromie finds she may need to pick Timewalker’s Pursuit at Level 1, thus forgoing Once Again for the First Time (making Bronze Talons less valuable).

Level 8

Slowing Sands - Cooldown: 5 seconds - Mana Cost: 3 per second

Summon a sand vortex that Slows enemies by 5% every 0.25 seconds, up to 70%.

Temporal Loop - Cooldown: 50 seconds - Mana Cost: 60 - Choose an enemy Hero. After 3 seconds, they will teleport back to the location where you cast Temporal Loop on them. Basic Abilities recharge 500% faster for 3 seconds after casting Temporal Loop.

This talent level is a toss-up as Temporal Loop gained the additional functionality of reducing Chromie’s cooldowns by 500% while the loop is active. Despite this change, I suggest Slowing Sands be the goto talent on this level due to its ability to zone enemies and peel for Chromie as she pokes from a distance.

Level 11

Gnome Speed Ahead! - After casting Sand Blast, Chromie gains 20% Movement Speed and 200% increased Health regeneration for 3 seconds.

Gnome Speed Ahead! is powerful against low-engage/low-dive compositions. For example, when playing against a team with main tank Johanna and primary damage Raynor, you may want to consider this talent.

Here and There - Cooldown: 25 seconds - Activate to teleport to an area near an Echo, swapping it with Chromie's previous location.

Here and There had extremely high potential with the addition of a third echo. However, this potential is completely crushed by its short range. I suggest not picking this talent in 99% of games.

Time Out - Cooldown: 60 seconds - Activate to place Chromie in Stasis and gain Invulnerability for up to 5 seconds. Can be reactivated to end the effect early.

On this tier, I recommend Time Out. Chromie’s number one weakness has always been dive/blow-up type damage due to her low health pool and lack of mobility. This talent allows her to sustain long enough for her to hopefully weather the storm. This talent also allows Chromie to use the stasis effect of her Time Trap much more frequently as she will be able to dodge a potential blow up attempt on release of the Time Trap stasis. Here and There accomplishes a somewhat similar goal however, its limited range makes it extremely difficult to actually find value.

Level 14

Shifting Sands - Hitting an enemy Hero with Sand Blast grants 5% Spell Power for 8 seconds, up to a maximum of 50%. The duration is refreshed whenever an enemy is damaged by Sand Blast.

Shifting Sands allows Chromie to become a much larger late-game nuisance as she will now be able to consistently pressure the enemy frontline. With this talent, the enemy frontline must make a decision. They have to eat the Sand Blasts or attempt to dodge them, thus leaving their backline exposed. While Quantum Overdrive offers a similar powerspike, in my experience, Shifting Sands offered much more consistent pressure thus making it my go-to talent.

Fast Forward - If Sand Blast travels at least 50% of its base distance and hits a Hero, its cooldown is reduced to 0.5 seconds.

You may want to consider this talent if you take A Proper Greeting at level five. This combination will allow Chromie’s spell power to be up much more often.

Quantum Overdrive - Cooldown: 45 seconds - Activate to increase Ability Power by 25% for 8 seconds. Hitting an enemy hero will reduce this cooldown by 3 seconds.

I find that Quantum Overdrive simply can not keep up with the value of the other talents on this tier, especially with the talent combinations listed for each (such as A Proper Greeting + Fast Forward).

Level 18

Unravelling - Every 0.25 seconds, enemy Heroes Slowed by Slowing Sands have their Spell Armor reduced by 5 by up to 30.

If you chose to take Slowing Sands at level 8, I believe picking Unraveling could result in game-changing moments. Attempt to use Unraveling as zoning or follow-up crowd control for your team. Unraveling also can be utilized for a very intimidating counter to enemy sieges due to enemies often funneling through chokepoints.

Stuck in a Loop - Temporal Loop teleports the target a second time after the first, and Basic Abilities continue recharging for an additional 3 seconds. Increase the recharge rate given by Temporal Loop from 500% to 700%.

Stuck in a Loop is powerful, but not because of the second loop. Stuck in a Loop is powerful due to the increased duration of the cooldown reduction from Temporal Loop. Despite this increased duration, I believe you will typically find more value with other talents on this tier.

Piercing Sands - Sand Blast will now hit all Heroes in its path. Additional hits do not grant bonus damage or Quest progress.

If you choose not to pick Unraveling, I believe Piercing Sands should be heavily considered. Piercing Sands allows Chromie to quickly clear waves and hit enemies behind obstructions such as minions or structures. Piercing Sands also allows Chromie to quickly stack her level 14 talent, Shifting Sands

Blessing of the Bronze - Cooldown: 90 seconds -Activate to cause Chromie and all allied heroes to gain 20% movement speed and their basic abilities recharge 35% faster for 8 seconds.

On release, Blessing of the Bronze was believed to be the dominant talent on this tier, however I now believe the other talents on this tier offer similar if not better rewards.

These two builds are pretty much decided by your level one talent. If you pick Once Again for the First Time, you will spend the game enabling your echoes to allow them to output more damage. If you decide you need the map knowledge from Timewalker’s Pursuit, your choices are based around making up for the damage lost by not picking Once Again for the First Time.

Lightning Round!

In this section I want to quickly run some tricks / ideas by you that may help you improve your Chromie gameplay.

Time Walker - Chromie’s trait allows her to gain her talents two levels faster than her teammates. Keep this in mind when considering fights as you may have the only hero in the game on a critical talent tier!

Splitting Sands - Slowing Sand can be utilized beyond simply zoning areas. When playing against dive heroes, attempt to use Slowing Sands behind the hero’s dive so their team will be delayed on the attack. This can easily cause a dive to backfire on the enemy and make the attack fall flat.

Thinking Through Time - I find that Chromie players often forget their main body does not have to be near an enemy to hit them. Using your echoes you can easily hit targets from across the map.

Invisible Vision - To put it simply, Time Traps give vision but your enemies can not see the Time Traps. They do not even get the red eye vision indicator! This is extremely useful to keep track of important rotations and objectives.

Unstoppable? - Chromie is one of the few heroes in the game that can shutdown unstoppable targets. This is due to her Time Trap’s stasis affect bypassing the unstoppable effect.

Guarding Gnome - Chromie is an exceptional pick when it comes to anti-siege. While her anti-siege is weaker than compared to her state prior to the rework, her ability to pressure targets from a long range is still some of the best in the game.

Bob and Weave - Chromie should be positioned far behind her tank, yet close enough to connect a Sand Blast to the enemy backline. As Chromie you should begin to develop a tempo where you launch a Sand Blast then move, over and over again on cooldown.

Trap Time - When setting up your Time Traps, especially with Andhoral Anomaly, you must remember that placing a trap sets the trap activation cooldown to two seconds. This is a critical interaction when attempting to place yourself in stasis, often deciding whether or not Chromie will live through an attack.

Synergies, Counters, and Drafting

I would suggest picking Chromie against immobile targets such as a Sgt. Hammer or Guldan. Heroes such as these are very easy for Chromie to hit, thus causing them to have drastically reduced effectiveness. Beyond mobility, you should attempt to look for easy setups in both your and your opponent’s draft. An example of a set up in your opponent’s draft can be seen in Auriel’s Crystal Aegis, as this will lock down a target for you. When picking Chromie be aware of heroes such as Anub’arak or Zagara who can create extra targets around them which may block your Sand Blasts. I find Chromie is most effective against compositions that may struggle to engage against you. For example, you may decide to draft Chromie against a low engage tank such as Garrosh. However, she may struggle against a tank with more significant engage such as Diablo.

This rework has really shaken-up which maps that Chromie is prioritized on. For example, Chromie has gotten considerably worse on maps such as Infernal Shrines where enemy heroes will be constantly surrounded by minions or monsters, which will now stop her Sand Blasts from connecting with heroes.

Chromie’s biggest positive map-based transition will most likely be her presence on Battlefield of Eternity. Previously Chromie was considered an underpowered pick on Battlefield of Eternity due to her lack of damage on the immortal. This weakness has completely flipped as the Keeper of Time can now assault the Immortal with her Sand Blasts. If enemies attempt to defend against this assault they will simply assist with her early-game stacking, thus enabling her to be an even more deadly threat.

Conclusion

Over the next few weeks, I encourage you to press a soft reset button on your opinion of Chromie as her recent redesign changed her playstyle and many of her basic interactions. Try out Chromie in compositions where you may not have considered her before and try to implement her new playstyle to your advantage, particularly her surprising capacity to out-trade enemies.

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