Chrono, the first character in Free Fire based on a world-famous celebrity, is widely regarded as "too broken" by players. His ability, "Time Turner", is perfect in both offense and defense - it creates an impenetrable 600HP shield that you can freely shoot through. The worst part is that the shield lasts for a long time, and Chrono can use it constantly.
And now, in the April OB 27 patch, looks like Garena has finally listened to the complaint from players and nerf Chrono. In this article, we would list out everything you need to know about it.
1 - Changes in Chrono's skill in OB27
Below are the changes in values of Chrono's skill. All numbers are based on the max-level version of Time Turner - the cooldown is even higher at level 1 (200s), just as long as Wukong's Camouflage ability. The duration of the skill is only 3 seconds at level 1.
| Bonus | Before | After |
| Speed Increase | 30% | 15% |
| Allies Speed Increase | 15% | 0% |
| Duration | 9 | 8 |
| Cooldown | 40s | 170s |
The speed bonus of the ability inside the shield was cut down to half, with the allies' bonus removed altogether. Overall, this is not a big change as the shield is fairly small anyway. The same thing can be said about the duration - 1 second less won't make much of a difference.
The biggest nerf of all is definitely the cooldown of the ability - it was literally QUADRUPLED. Before OB27 you can spam it every fight... but now you can only use it like 3 times/match at best.
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2 - What is the reason behind the nerf?
With Christiano Ronaldo being the first actual big star Garena contracted with, it just makes sense that they would make the character based on him super strong on release to boost sales. However, they might have gone too far this time, with players often referring to the shield as a "pay-to-win" skill. There is almost no way to counter it except for throwing out your own shield.
3 - Is this the end of Chrono?
While the nerf definitely removes Chrono from the meta, the strength of his shield is mostly unchanged. It is expected that high-level players would still use him in a much-restricted fashion comparing to previous patches. His shield is pretty much a free ticket to get out of a sticky situation... but you have to activate it at the correct moment now.
Interested in more of our articles about Garena Free Fire? Please check out this post to find out more about The Best Guns In Free Fire Clash Squad.