When do y’all promote your army?

Hey all! I’ve been lurking here a lot over the last year, but I’m interested in your opinions. How do you decide it’s time to take the next step? Is it:

  1. Level 20 or bust
  2. When a stat caps so you don’t waste a single level
  3. As soon as the level count hits double digits
  4. Whenever the story dictates or it feels right
  5. Something I am not even considering

Thanks in advance for the feedback and keep making these amazing games! If I ever get a personal computer with windows or FEBuilder comes out on ChromeOS, I will be throwing my hat into the ring.

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varies, healers never at 20, combat units whenever i think it’s time

although overall the best solution is to keep it variable; locking players to do one thing the majority says they prefer is pretty lame

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I overall have healers promote at 10 and other units at ~15, if it’s a shorter length hack or portion of the game then 10 is fine

I always promote generic FE11/12 units at 10, that shit isn’t getting better.

I never promote at 20 though, that’s gross, and I recommend others do the same, it’s just a waste of time with minimal gain. (unless they got paragon then maybe)

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There are a lot of factors for me. If I’m playing vanilla FE, then I tend to promote units early, since I know that endgame isn’t going to expect me to be capping stats, and the timing is more based on chapters where I want to have the utility of the promoted class than a specific level. For example, in FE6, I pretty much always promote Shanna at the end of Ch8x, regardless of what level she’s at, because I know that chapter 9 is full of axe users who she’ll fare much better against if she has access to swords.

When playing a hack I’m not familiar with, I tend to wait longer for promos, since I don’t know what kind of units I’ll be expected to have for endgame, and I’m not always sure who is going to end up being worth promoting. In this context, I’ll early promote units if the chapter seems like it would be a struggle with my current team.

If promo items are plentiful, then I’ll usually promote my weaker units, the ones who are struggling to contribute, first, since the immediate viability boost helps them stay relevant and makes the current chapter easier, while my better units (who presumably have better endgame potential) are free to promote later and grow to their maximum potential.

If promo items are scarce and the early/midgame chapters are providing a challenge, then I’ll just promote my best units, to give me an immediate boost while ensuring that the people I most want to promo actually get to promo.

I’ll also early promote a unit if their stat caps are significantly hindering their growth. This doesn’t necessarily mean as soon as they cap a stat. e.g. if a unit rams the speed cap, I may still want to give them more levels hoping for strength, as long as 20 speed is still enough to double everything.

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I used to always go for 20/20, but I’ve been moving toward promoting at around 17 or 18 instead recently. That’s usually the point where promoting is at its most beneficial, what with level curves and difficulty spikes and such. I like seeing big numbers, so losing out on some potential green numbers late game just so I can have a little more of an advantage earlier on doesn’t always sit with me.

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20/20 healers 10/20 except troubadours … I don’t promote them at least in gba since there’s an item per promo tree. In modern games 20/20

Also if your character reach the maximum at their most important stats early you can promote it without waiting to 20 since it wouldn’t change so much

Also there’s a couple of official games that you must promote them when they are able
Like dreadfighter line in Gaiden/echoes or all the characters of Holy War at 20 since they don’t reset the level after promotion

It’s really up to you and what game you are playing and whats you need.

That’s my advice

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Becuase of my Tellius influence with bonus experience, I really like taking everyone to as close to Level 20 as possible, though I’m getting used to just promoting them at around level 16/17.

When promoted enemies start appearing. I hate using promoted units against unpromoted enemies, makes me feel like I’m wasting XP - I know it’s a pitfall, but that’s just how my brain works.

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20/20 for life

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Usually the 20/20. Sometimes you got to stay true to the level cap. Unless you are playing Genealogy of the Holy War.

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When I started my FE journey back in 2003 I promoted most units as soon as I could since that meant they became better faster. Then I learned online that Marcus sucked and 20/20 was the one true way. So it’s funny how I’m mostly back now where I started :slight_smile:
I do agree though for hacks that I might wait longer since I don’t know if it is needed with amazing stats or not.

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Usually 17-18, 20 for a couple units I’ll choose to max if I can. Healers ASAP, unless I can use torch cheese to max them out like in chapter 6 of stones. It’s probably better to promote around 15 but I can’t help myself, I like seeing (uselessly) big numbers.

10 is pretty fine

I get what you mean. :joy:
Recently while playing through FE7 I developed the cringing at killing a boss that’s way more levels than the unit that kills it, and I actively dislike how the experience gain stops at 100 when it obviously is much more. It also makes me feel like I wasted some experience.
I gotta say, the Tellius games seem to handle the boss kill experience way better.

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(2), but I’m also willing to wait a little longer.

Depends on the game. Level 10 in games with cracked promotion gains like 5 or 6, 12-15 everywhere else. I usually don’t promote healers at all unless I have no-one else to promote, since just being able to attack doesn’t mean you should be fighting.

I always go for 15. Sometimes 14 if the unit got high stats/capped stats. Sometimes 16 when the unit gets some extra kills.
I also have a bad habit of promoting healers at least lvl 14, which takes forever without arena abuse so I’ll try going for lvl 10 from now on - or maybe promoting other units first, although promoted mages make for better healers sooo I don’t know

20/20 gang. The fact it matches with perfect vision is no coincidence #20/20forlife

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almost always around 15, good split between early and late promo, overpowered promotes are overrated anyways :stuck_out_tongue_winking_eye:

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I do 20 because OCD or something. idk it always bothers me when I don’t promote at 20

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