When is the best time to promote a unit?

[Rxmonste]

Hello friends, I've finished Birthright and Conquest and during my playthroughs I noticed that Intelligent Systems changed a lot of things in this game from Awakening and even added new things as well. And one of the things they changed was the level up system, you can't reclass forever so you have to be careful of how to use your seals. I don't intend on making mistakes on my Revelations playthrough, so I ask when is a good time to promote a unit?

I just got Takumi for example and I wanna master seal him to a sniper and then heart seal him to a Basara because of Rend Heaven, but the question is should I do that now with him at level 10 or level him up a little bit to improve his stats? Basically what's the optimal way of going about this? Eternal Seals are kind of expensive so I don't wanna buy too many of them if I can avoid it.

[Lanko]

I think Lvl 10 is really too early for promotion. A lvl 1 promoted class is considered a lvl 21, and that will affect how much exp he will gain from enemies. Depending at what point/route of the game you are, it can be really low EXP. I had a lvl 15 Corrin in chapter 10 of Conquest gaining 2 exp or not even 10 for a kill.

I did a Hard Conquest run without royals and with further handicaps and had no problem waiting until 20. I would only suggest promoting someone early if you are struggling really hard on a map and need the extra stats.

If you really just want Rend Heaven you can also buy the skill by visiting someone's castle that has it.

Edited March 27, 2016 by Lanko

[Rxmonste]

If you really just want Rend Heaven you can also buy the skill by visiting someone's castle that has it.

Wow I forgot that you can do that, then I don't need to turn him into a Basara at all. I mean I guess unless I want him to be a Basara but Fujin Yumi is beast.

I guess I wouldn't need to promote pre level 20 unless I'm really desperate.

[Lanko]

Also don't forget that Basara's pre-class is Spear Fighter, so before you get to Rend Heaven, you will get both tier 1 abilities first, meaning you would have to wait until level 18 Basara for RH. By that point you could have even finished the game already.

And if you reclass to Basara being a Sniper you will have E rank at Lances and Tomes at mid-late game.which could be painful depending on difficulty level. Of course, you could plan for that and get Arms Scrolls, but if he's gonna change back to Sniper might just be a waste of money.

You could also Heart Seal right away to Spear Fighter and lvl to 12, getting the two tier 1 skills, reclass back to archer or even stay Spear Fighter and proceed to lvl 5 Basara for RH, then reclass back to Sniper, as Fujin Yumi will be available even at rank E bows if you don't want to buy the skill.

Edited March 27, 2016 by Lanko

[GoXDS]

A lvl 1 promoted class is considered a lvl 21,

they reworked that, too. it depends on when you promoted. it's something like this

X = current Lvl as Tier 1

total Lvl after promotion = Lvl + X/10 + X

so a 20/1 = 1 + 20/10 + 20 = 23 while a 10/1 = 1 + 10/10 + 10 = 12

hence Camilla gains exp easily since she's not quite 20/1 and Felicia/Jakob are something like 1/1

[Natsu_T]

I don't see the reason to ever promote before level 20.