Not At All Dragon-y in any Way

Chroma is not a dragon. He’s a weird, ugly thing that wears the skin of a ‘dragon’ made out of the same stuff Sentients are made out of. He’s a dragon only in the loosest sense of the word. Chroma is a weird, ugly mess of a Warframe and I don’t understand him. Of course, what I don’t understand, I don’t like.

Roar! This is supposedly a dragon. Wings sold separately.
Roar! This is supposedly a dragon. Wings sold separately.

Looks-wise, Chroma is horrible. He’s lumpy and ugly. He doesn’t have wings. He has lumps on his back where wings are supposed to go. He has a fat spade of a tail. He looks wrinkly and horrible.

Luckily, Chroma does have a deluxe skin. Sadly, it’s not my cup of tea. It kinda is a bit more dragony, but in a Power Rangers Mechazoid sort of way. A knight in shining armour and huge spiky plates. It also comes with wings, but the wings look like the sort of thing I’d make out of cardboard. The tail is even worse than normal Chroma’s tail, a gigantic lobster thing that would look more appropriate attached to Trinity’s backside.

Yes, Chroma breathes fire (or ice, electricity, or snot toxin depending on your energy colour) but it’s a weird breath that seems to have no range and doesn’t seem to do anything or go anywhere. It’s a dirty elemental power that blasts out of Chroma’s emotionless face and makes it look like he has bad breath. The rest of his powers are kinda hit and miss. Elemental Ward is a team mate buff that looks cool but isn’t dragony – since when did dragons care about others? Vex Armour is a nice, selfish power, increasing armour as shields decrease and increasing damage as you lose health, but it relies on you using weapons and only really works with the cold element from Elemental Ward.

Electricity breath looks okay, but eh, it doesn't do anything, and electricity just isn't as strong as fire or cold when it comes to Chroma.
Electricity breath looks okay, but eh, it doesn’t do anything, and electricity just isn’t as strong as fire or cold when it comes to Chroma. Again, wings sold separately. That’s the Naru Syandana, a Tennogen item that cost €5.99. I bought it by selling trading cards, so it’s not like I’m spending any of my own money here.

Effigy though, that’s where the dragon stuff happens. All those knobbly, wrinkly bits come off and your coat basically turns into a hollow shell of a dragon. That flies and breathes fire. Well, actually, it just hovers wherever you left it and does a vague amount of damage.

Except that, whenever you remove that pelt, whatever hint of dragoniness you had is gone. You’re a sort of knight thing. More knight-looking than Excalibur. With the Dynasty skin, you look a bit like a Power Ranger. That’s because you were never a dragon in the first place. You’re a guy wearing the skin of a dragon. Chroma is just pretending.

Chroma’s last and, in my opinion, biggest problem is that he doesn’t work very well unless you stick a billion forma into him. Alright, you could probably take him across the solar system, same way you can most Warframes, but he’s a pain in the ass to use, requiring a ton of power strength and duration to make him somewhat viable. Like Loki, Chroma is a very poor choice for a starter Warframe, and thank heavens he isn’t, but at least Loki can get by with his abilities, even if you only have a couple of mods on him. Chroma just… doesn’t work great.

And before Chroma fans come out and say “you just don’t know how to mod him!”, that’s the whole point. You need to put more effort into Chroma to make him work than most other Warframes. He’s in a better position than characters like Mag and Zephyr, as Chroma IS usable, but you’re shoving forma in, just using two abilities and refreshing them when they run out. That’s it.

Sorry, random Chroma I happened to bump into the day before I wrote this article, but I just... I just can't.
Sorry, random Chroma I happened to bump into the day before I wrote this article, but I just… I just can’t. I’ll dance with you though.

Chroma is supposed to be a dragon. Dragons are supposed to be simple, powerful, dangerous and cool-looking. Chroma only manages to be powerful, and that’s only after a lot of effort.



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