Astram was forced to fight for Dolhr and the forces of Gra when his lover Midia was taken hostage. While fighting Marth's forces during his invasion of Gra, Midia approached him and revealed she had been freed by the Altean army and was fighting for them, and thus he no longer need to fight for Dolhr; upon hearing this, Astram agreed to join the Altean army, and continued to serve in Marth's army for the rest of the war.
This character analysis section may not be accurate to every player's experience.
Astram joins in chapter 13 as a level 1 Hero with really solid bases. In particular, his base Skill and Speed are excellent, especially considering all stats aside from HP cap at 20 in Shadow Dragon & the Blade of Light. His Strength and Defence are also pretty good, along with his weapon level which allows him to use a good variety of different swords. His only downside is his low starting luck and HP, which make him slightly frail starting out, and his luck could also lead to him getting criticalled a bit. Astram's Growth Rates are also pretty good by Shadow Dragon & the Blade of Light standards excelling in HP, Strength, Skill, Weapon Level, and Luck. Overall, he's a great unit to train if none of the other mercenaries (Ogma, Navarre, Caesar, and Radd) have tickled your fancy. Or if you need a filler unit to deploy, Astram is definitely someone to consider.
With his lover Midia taken prisoner, Astram is forced to fight for Dolhr against his will. If Midia survived the liberation of Archanea Palace, the two can be reunited, and Astram will join Marth's army. Before Chapter 13 ends, Astram can speak to Marth, where he makes it clear that his loyalty lies with Princess Nyna, and he will not hesitate to kill Marth if he betrays her.
At any point, Astram can have a conversation with Boah in which the two discuss Archanea's role in the war and what will happen afterwards.
At the war's conclusion, Astram is gifted the blade Mercurius, one of Archanea's three regalia, for his service.
This character analysis section may not be accurate to every player's experience.
Astram joins the army around the halfway point of the game. He is fast enough at base not to get doubled even on the highest difficulty, and can usually survive at least one enemy, making his base stats decent for his joining time. His stats do not compare to a trained and promoted Mercenary, like Ogma, but they are decent enough to the point where he can contribute. He also has a good B rank in swords.
Unfortunately, Astram suffers from some issues. Having a high weapon rank in swords is not very good in Shadow Dragon, because most enemies use lances, meaning that sword users will suffer weapon triangle disadvantage quite frequently. There are very few useful effective swords in the game that he can use. His base D axe rank does not allow him to use good axes like the Poleaxe or the Hammer, and raising his axe rank is going to take a while and require investment. Astram's growth rates are poor—especially in speed, defense and resistance. His strength and HP growths are good, and his skill growth is average, so he will never be truly terrible, but eventually, he will start getting one-rounded on higher difficulties.
Overall, Astram has average availability, and his weapon ranks are not very useful, but his stats are decent enough to make him usable without investment. His long-term prospects are not very good, but in the short-term, he can help here and there.
This character analysis section may not be accurate to every player's experience.
For a unit with the title "one of the strongest men on the continent", you might expect Astram to be a strong unit on par with other units like Sirius, Minerva, etc. However Astram is excellent at subverting expectations by being one of the worst units in the game. He comes fairly late into the game with absolutely awful bases ensuring he will get one rounded by almost every enemy in his joining chapter, his defence might seem decent in combination with his 100% HP growth, but all it really does is make him able to possibly survive a single round of combat. Still he has fairly decent growths and an A rank in swords allowing him to use every sword in the game at base, besides the Falchion. Still, there's very little reason to invest into Astram over other units who will usually be better than him at that point and require less investment.
Astram is one of the characters added to the game in the Where It Began update, and was made available to players in the thirty-fifth Grand Hero Battle, which initially ran from September 23, 2019 through October 3, 2019. Only one variation of Astram is currently available in Heroes, based on his Mystery of the Emblem incarnation.
Astram
Puts his considerable strength toward rebuilding Archanea.
Mystery of the Emblem
Book 1
Astram - Archanea Mercenary
As the captain of the Archanea mercenaries he worked tirelessly to restore his homeland. Recently there have been rumours of his upcoming wedding...
Book 2
Astram - Archanea Mercenary
He joined the Archanea free knights to serve his people. Recently he finally married his loved one...
Shadow Dragon
Astram - Midia's Hero
Astram was made captain of Archanea's free company. He was given the sword Mercurius, and with it carved quite a name for himself.
New Mystery of the Emblem
Astram - Midia's Pride
Astram joined the Archanean Rangers and worked for his people. He finally tied the knot in his spare time.
Quotes
Battle quotes
“
You foul traitors! Taste the might of my Mercurius!
Double-edged Love:[Trigger] [Tap 1 ally "Midia"] After this unit declares an attack, if you pay the cost, then until the end of the battle phase this unit's attack is increased by 40. Wyrmslayer:[Always] When this unit attacks a affinity unit, this unit's attack is increased by 20.
Some card information translation provided by Serenes Forest. For more detailed strategic information on these cards, see their TCG wiki article on Astram .