- Default
- Attack
- Special
- Injured




Gerome - Masked Rider |
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HP | ATK | SPD | DEF | RES | |
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Low | |||||
Middle | 19 | 10 | 6 | 8 | 4 |
High |
HP | ATK | SPD | DEF | RES | |
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Low | |||||
Middle | 45 | 38 | 25 | 34 | 19 |
High |
This unit has no access to IVs.
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Brave Axe+ | A | Death Blow 3 |
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Reposition | B | Hit and Run |
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Bonfire | C | Threaten Def 3 |
SP | 1,725 | S | Attack +3 |
- Weapon: Brave Axe
- Assist: Reposition / Ardent Sacrifice / Reciprocal Aid
- Special: Bonfire / Draconic Aura
- Passive A: Death Blow / Fury
- Passive B: Hit and Run / Desperation / Axebreaker
- Passive C: Threaten Def / Goad Fliers
- Sacred Seal: Atk + 3 / Brash Assault
With this back-breaking build, Gerome is able to smash his opponents into retirement with a massive 55 Attack on initiation applied twice before the enemy can retaliate. The crux of this build is simple: position Gerome into the enemy’s range, destroy them with a powerful Brave Axe blow, and retreat before he can be retaliated against.
Everything in this build subsequently goes to reinforce his raw damage: Death Blow offers Gerome +12 damage per initiation (6 per attack, applied twice) and the Attack Sacred Seal gives him another +6 damage. Bonfire allows him to use his impressive Defense stat during his second combat to add 17 damage to his fourth hit, and Threaten Defense in his C slot will help him to decrease his opponents Defense in order to add another 10 damage across two hits.
As far as his specials are concerned, Gerome has two options: Bonfire and Draconic Aura. If using anything less than his full Attack-stacking build (such as removing the Attack seal or using Fury instead of Death Blow) then Bonfire will do more damage. However, if stacking his Attack as noted in the optimal build, then his damage is equal between the two skills- which means that if you have Hone or Goad Fliers to buff him with, Gerome with Draconic Aura deals more damage than Bonfire.
As an alternative way to run him, Gerome’s Defense and HP are high enough for him to bait out an enemy attack in order to somewhat safely enter Brash Assault range for a Desperation/Brash Assault combination, allowing Gerome to quad attack the rest of his opponents regardless of his Speed stat, applying his massive damage and guaranteeing his special proc with the ability to KO even meta reds.
This allows Gerome to become an extremely powerful, but you should use caution if you decide to use this build as several things can break its effectiveness altogether.
- Firstly, Gerome needs to get himself under the 50% HP threshold of Brash Assault, or he will not quad, meaning that he needs to take between 23 and 44 damage in any engagement to set of the chain of events. Ardent Sacrifice can help with this if he takes 13-22 damage and you need a safe way for him to nudge his HP down a little bit lower. Reciprocal Aid can also help if you have a faster tank or low HP unit with Fury on your team who might be able to enter combat more safely. Finally, Fury is an option, albeit one that will need some further supplementary damage as it would take a total of 4 combats for Gerome to enter 50% HP range, at which point most battles are done anyway.
- Secondly, this ‘Brashperation’ build only works if Gerome attacks an opponent who can counter and who does not have a skill that negates his follow-up attack. This means that Firesweep users, archers and mages without Close Counter, units with Axebreaker, and units with Wary Fighter will all prevent Gerome from quadding them.
As a final option for the B slot, Gerome can run Axebreaker instead in order to trump units such as Brave Ike, Hector, Cherche, and Beruka. With this, Gerome can also KO Love Abounds Hector and Winter Chrom if they aren’t running Wary Fighter.
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Slaying Axe+ (+Def) | A | Sturdy Stance 2 |
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Reposition | B | Quick Riposte 3 |
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Ignis | C | Threaten Def 3 |
SP | 1,545 | S | Close Def 3 |
- Weapon: Slaying Axe (+Def)
- Assist: Reposition
- Special: Ignis / Aether
- Passive A: Sturdy Stance / Distant Counter / Close Defense
- Passive B: Quick Riposte
- Passive C: Threaten Def / Panic Ploy / Goad Fliers
- Sacred Seal: Close Defense / Iote’s Shield / Heavy Blade
While Gerome’s stat spread looks nearly identical to Cherche’s, it does have an additional +2 Defense/+3 Resistance compared to his mother, and he can use this slight upgrade in stats to perform better than her when it comes to a Slaying Axe build.
A Defense forge on his Slaying Axe increases Gerome’s Defense to 38 and his HP to 50, allowing for some impressive tanking, particularly if you have a Fortify Fliers user on your team. With Quick Riposte, his lower Speed becomes far less of an issue and he’s able to attack his opponent twice on Enemy Phase, allowing him to activate his Bonfire special for an extra 38 damage during combat, if unbuffed.
How you want to run a defensive Gerome depends on your preferences- Sturdy Stance is ideal for him, as it offers him +4 Attack/+4 Defense upon being attacked, which furthers his tankiness as well as his retaliating strike. Atk/Def Bond can be considered an alternative to this, though it’s less flexible and requires Gerome to be next to an ally to receive his buffs. Close Defense is another option that works with the similar playstyle, but does not give him an Attack boost.
Close Defense seal fits perfectly onto this build, increasing his Defense and allowing him to function as more of a tank. With this build, Gerome can essentially play the perfect in-between of the defensive Beruka and the offensive Cherche, allowing him some flexibility for your team.
Distant Counter is an option that would radically change this build, turning Gerome into an effective anti-ranged unit. With an Iote’s Shield seal, Gerome is able to act as an anti-bow unit with his hefty Defense, countering units such as Bridal Cordelia and Klein if met on even ground. Without any defensive buffs, Gerome can even counter an +ATK/Death Blow/Quickened Pulse/Moonbow Reinhardt and kill him- however, if Reinhardt is significantly merged, then he may eke out the win. To prevent this, Gerome can be buffed with a Fortify Fliers, or even just a Fortify Defense buff, and he’ll easily mop the floor with everyone’s favorite villain.
Finally, Heavy Blade seal is another natural fit on Gerome, as his natural Attack with Slaying Axe is 52- 56 on the Enemy Phase. This will allow him to proc skills like Aether in a single combat, furthering his sustain and damage output. However, it does lessen his survivability a bit, so keep that in mind when deciding his seal slot.
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Poleaxe+ (+Eff) | A | Distant Counter Budget: Fury 3 |
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Reposition | B | Quick Riposte 3 |
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Bonfire | C | Threaten Def 3 |
SP | 1,635 | S | Distant Def 3 |
- Weapon: Poleaxe (+Eff) / Poleaxe (+Res)
- Assist: Reposition
- Special: Bonfire / Ignis
- Passive A: Distant Counter / Fury
- Passive B: Quick Riposte / Vantage
- Passive C: Threaten Def / Goad Fliers
- Sacred Seal: Distant Defense / Heavy Blade / Close Defense
With this set, Gerome functions as a green anti-cavalry unit, capable of taking on units such as Legendary Ephraim, Reinhardt, and even Cecilia with ease. Buffs don’t matter to the Poleaxe’s Effect refine, rendering the dreaded cavalry blade tomes obsolete. Gerome can also handle Leo with ease, unless Leo is running Triangle Adept alongside Axebreaker (highly unlikely). For this reason, Distant Counter is preferred due to allowing Gerome to Enemy Phase most cavalry units in the game. Of course, he can’t retaliate against Brave Lyn, so he’ll need to attack her in Player Phase, but with his Attack he’s more than capable of oneshotting her.
With this, Gerome is an effective cavalry counter for any situation, though of course it’s an expensive build. For something a bit cheaper, Fury can be considered for a stat boost against melee cavalry, though it lessens his effectiveness vs. ranged cavalry, which tends to be the more lethal of the cavalry types.
Quick Riposte is still going to be your best option here, as there is no other skill in the game that really benefits Enemy Phase units quite as much, though Gerome could try to go with Vantage if he does wind up equipping Fury, in an attempt to oneshot cavalry units who initiate onto him after his first combat- something he’s surprisingly good at, considering his already-high Attack is multiplied by 1.5 due to Poleaxe’s effective damage.
Threaten Defense in the C slot helps Gerome to further burst down his opponents, by baiting just outside of their range and then initiating on them in the next Player Phase if he can oneshot. Otherwise, Goad Fliers or another C slot buffing skill can help his teammates for any other threat on the opposing side.
Distant Defense protects him further from cavalry mages, ensuring his survival against everything but an +Atk/Death Blow/Atk Seal on Sacred Memories Eirika, and of course, the aforementioned Triangle Adept/Axebreaker Leo. Against a standard Eirika or Leo, however, Gerome survives their initial attack and kills them on retaliation. If not running him with Distant Counter, then Heavy Blade or Close Defense should be considered viable seal alternatives due to his high Attack and Defense stats.
While this set doesn’t quite have the power to puncture through high-defense red cavalry (such as Eldigan, Sigurd, or Branded Chrom), it’s remarkably effective against just about every other cavalry unit in the game.
For the first green unit to be a Tempest Trial reward, Gerome is passable. While he sports a remarkably similar stat spread to his mother Cherche (-1 HP / +0 Attack / +0 Speed / +2 Defense / +3 Resistance) and doesn’t exactly bring anything new or unique to the green archetype of high Attack/low Speed/high Defense, he still performs well within that archetype and goes to prove that you don’t need to fix what isn’t broken.
Gerome’s high Defense allows him to be a good Enemy Phase unit, and his remarkably high Attack offers him the ability to wield a Brave Axe in the build that initially made Cherche so popular as an accessible-yet-effective unit. This makes him flexible to fill a physical green role on almost any team.
Accessibility
For those who didn’t pick Brave Ike as their CYL freebie, Gerome is the first free five star green unit available in the game.
Being a green flying unit makes him somewhat unique, particularly for free to play players who may have been lacking in his particular role on a flier or mixed team.
Gerome also comes with a Poleaxe, a free anti-cavalry unit, and is very useful to help new players with dispatching cavalry teams in the Arena.
Good Stat Spread
Gerome shares his archetype with many other popular green units, such as Cherche, Michalis, Brave Ike, and Frederick.
His high Attack lets him use a Brave Axe to be a monstrous Player Phase unit.
His high Defense and HP allow him to tank particularly well during the Enemy Phase for a more defensive build. His HP also gives him the ability to tank through magical attacks, despite his lower Resistance.
Tempest Trial Unit
Coming as a free unit has its downfalls. Gerome is technically outclassed by Cherche due to his lack of ability to obtain IVs. While she can reach 41 base Attack for a Brave Axe build, he’s stuck at 38.
This also means that he doesn’t have available merges and is stuck at +1 for those who wish to promote him. While his merge grants him Attack and HP (and so is a good investment if you plan on making him your main Brave Axe unit), he can’t get any further than that.
Unit Competition
While axe fliers are not the most saturated unit pool in the game, Gerome is still relatively outclassed when it comes to deciding to invest in another axe flier unit.
Michalis has a legendary weapon, Beruka has higher Defense, Cherche has access to IVs for each build, and Minerva has the Speed to become a better Player Phase brawler than he can. Generally, he outclasses Camilla and Narcian in his chosen roles, so he would have usage over them.
He makes up for this a little in terms of stat advantage, which puts him at 161 base stat total- a higher score than any other green flier, all of whom are stuck in 156-159.
Gerome shares flier weaknesses, as well as a weakness to reds.
- Archers: If he’s not running Iote’s Shield, archers won’t care about his 34 Defense. Units such as Bridal Cordelia, Brave Lyn, and Klein will all spell his unmasking.
- Red Units: High Defense red units such as Ayra, Black Knight, and Legendary Ike, will counter Gerome easily.
- Magical Attackers: Gerome’s poor Resistance means that he’s vulnerable to magical attacks, like those from A Tiki, Y Tiki, Sanaki, and Lilina.
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Poleaxe+ (+Eff) | A | Steady Stance 3 |
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Reposition | B | Seal Atk Def 2 |
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Bonfire | C | Threaten Spd 3 |
S | Iote's Shield |
With this build suited for mixed teams, utilizing Gerome's movement advantages and the current meta, can effectively tank non magic users without buffs and debuff speed, defense, and attack. Iote's shield negates the bow disadvantage. Bonfire can help clear the majority of non-magical red units. Reposition is generally useful for getting best match ups. Poleaxe + Eff ensures maximum benefit against horse emblem meta. Flying teams can substitute whatever buff in the C-Slot that fits their line up best.
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Poleaxe+ (+Def) | A | Brazen Atk/Def 3 |
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Reposition | B | Escape Route 3 |
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Bonfire | C | Guidance 3 |
S | Iote's Shield |
With this build, Gerome can truly become Batman. Poleaxe+ with a defense refine puts him up to a nice 38 defense, which, with the help of Iote's Shield, makes it so that he doesn't have to worry about physical damage from anything except particularly nasty reds.
Once his tanking job is done, though, that's when his work truly starts; with Escape Route and Brazen Atk/Def, he can fly to any adjacent ally and if they just so happen to be in front of a pesky enemy, he can utilize his Brazen skill to make them regret everything. Guidance is really just filler and could be swapped out with a Hone/Spur, but in a flier emblem team, I'd go with Hone Fliers so the others can give him Fortify.

Weapons | SP | Rng. | Mt. |
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![]() Inheritable by Axe users only.
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50 | 1 | 6 |
![]() Inheritable by Axe users only.
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100 | 1 | 8 |
![]() Learns by default at 4 ★ Inheritable by Axe users only.
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200 | 1 | 10 |
![]() Learns by default at 5 ★ Unlocks at 5 ★ Inheritable by Axe users only.
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300 | 1 | 14 |

Support Skills | Rng. | SP |
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![]() Learns by default at 4 ★ |
1 | 150 |
![]() Unlocks at 4 ★ |
1 | 300 |
Passive Skills | SP | Slot |
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![]() Inheritable by all units.
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40 | A |
![]() Inheritable by all units.
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80 | A |
![]() Unlocks at 4 ★ Inheritable by all units.
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160 | A |
![]() Unlocks at 4 ★ Restricted to melee units.
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150 | B |
Origin |
Fire Emblem: Awakening
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