When do you promote your units?

[Jotari]

So in games with the standard promotion method, when do you choose to send your units on to the nxt tier?

[Apollo]

As soon as possible, although if the unit I'm planning to promote is really close to a level up (say, 70+ exp) then I'll grab the level before promoting.

[Shinehollow]

Depends on the game, really. In 8 I tend to 20/20 unless it can't wait (like if I get to a point where getting Moulder to level 20 isn't helpful at all, I'll promote him at whatever level). In 13 and 14 I do it whenever because I can get those levels back through second seals/eternal seals to cap stats.

[Thinks Their Own Way]

I like to wait until level 20, I even waited until level 20 for Natasha in Sacred Stones. I like squeezing every last ounce of experience before promoting and the higher stats a unit will have at 20 when compared to level 10, I feel help in the long run.

[LFM]

Always lvl 20, even healers. I just like the lvl up screen too much.

[NinjaMonkey]

Level 20.

[Shin]

I promote whenever I feel like it, normally when I need a little extra for the current map or to get access to another weapon type like staves. Promoting a few levels early doesn't hurt too much in the long run, and sometimes having a promoted unit a little earlier can make life a little easier.

[MisterIceTeaPeach]

Normally promote at level 20 unless 2-3 stats are capped before.

[Refa]

Around level 15, because that's when units start to cap stats/have EXP gain slow down.  Of course, there are exceptions where I promote earlier (Asvel, healers are what come to mind) and where I promote later (Shanna, Jill, and Marcia come to mind).

Edited April 8, 2017 by Refa

[Jedi]

12 minutes ago, Refa said:

Around level 15, because that's when units start to cap stats/have EXP gain slow down.  Of course, there are exceptions where I promote earlier (Asvel, healers are what come to mind) and where I promote later (Shanna, Jill, and Marcia come to mind).

Pretty much my answer, I tend to do it around 13 myself if they are doing super good or if like, i'm doing Lyn Hard Mode  

[Flee Fleet!]

Level 20 always. 

And for every single unit, otherwise some just get to have lower stats than most even when they're promoted.

[tacticianwhite]

Most of the time I promote everyone at level 20 (even the healers), although in the case of Donnel and Mozu, it'd be 10.

[Refa]

Actually, Mekkah made a pretty good video on this topic as well.

[EricaofRenais]

I normally promote at lv 20 unless I am stuck on a chapter and need an early promotion to clear the map.

[Shadow Mir]

2 hours ago, Refa said:

Around level 15, because that's when units start to cap stats/have EXP gain slow down.  Of course, there are exceptions where I promote earlier (Asvel, healers are what come to mind) and where I promote later (Shanna, Jill, and Marcia come to mind).

Given the general lack of promotion items in the Tellius games, or at least Path of Radiance, wouldn't you nostly be forced to promote through experience anyway?

That being said, I tend to wait until 20 before promoting - in general, exp gain slows way down after promoting and thus a unit that promoted early would run the risk of being weaker overall than a unit that promoted later.

[Refa]

Just now, Levant Mir Celestia said:

Given the general lack of promotion items in the Tellius games, or at least Path of Radiance, wouldn't you nostly be forced to promote through experience anyway?

That being said, I tend to wait until 20 before promoting - in general, exp gain slows way down after promoting and thus a unit that promoted early would run the risk of being weaker overall than a unit that promoted later.

Yeah, that's definitely true, but even if I had more, I'd still promote them at 20 because it's so convenient to do so thanks to BEXP.

[DarkDestr0yer61]

Depends on the game.

Asap FE 1-5

Around level 15 to 20 in FE 6 to 14. And that usually depends on when I get promotion items. The Dawn Brigade is a little special case in I might promote earlier because they might fall behind in their chapters

[The DanMan]

Depends on the game. In FE7, 8, and SD it's usually right after they hit level 15 (though healers generally get enough XP that they're both among the first promoted and the only units to ever cap their levels). In Awakening and Fates, however, it's the other way around-- combat units wait until level 20, and healers generally get promoted around level 15 due to them falling behind.

[General Horace]

it's heavily dependant on the unit/game.  Someone like Gerik who already has great stats benefits a lot from promotion for either a horse or better weapon type.  

Ideally I try to promote as late as possible though.  If the difference in performance in a level 15 unit and a 15/1 unit isn't noticable, there's very little incentive to early promote, and in almost all cases, 10/1 promotions are flat out bad (unless you're playing Thracia or something) except in very select cases.

Conversely, you don't gain a lot by waiting till level 20 to promote, especially in a game like FE8 where most of your units won't even hit level 10 promoted by endgame.  

Edited April 8, 2017 by General Horace

[Tamanoir]

Honnestly, in games without maps (or BEXP), promoting at level 15 should be enough.

But I will always promote them at level 20. Most recent games allows you to do so wothout much issues : GBA have Arena Abuse, Sacred Stones + Awakening + Fates (without conquest) have maps, Fe9/10 have bonus Exp.

This may not be the most efficient way to play, but it's just feels better to win with the units I trained myself (also why I like Ests.). It feels more rewarding to me.

[Punished Dayni]

Massively varies.

A lot of the time, I'd wait for level 20, but if there's little to no reason to expect much growth in the remaining levels I'll go ahead and promote (much as it does give the chance to raise weapon levels as well)

In Gaiden I promote as soon as I can, and get frustrated that female mages wait until level 20. Of course, I expect SoV to be the same....

I've also tried to do playthroughs with Prepromotes (I have certainly bent the rules (e.g. Promoting Sain before HHM)), so with those I just shove the other units out of the party and leave the promotional items lying there.

[The Malign Knight]

Mostly at lvl 20. However, there are very special cases such as Asvel in FE5 or the units of OG Gaiden as a whole where I promote ASAP

[ping]

As a rule of thumb, probably later than would be optimal. Depends on the game, though.

In the GBA games, I usually wait for one or two stats to cap, unless the promotion is really necessary earlier, like for example Rutger before the 8x boss. Also, FE8 healers will be promoted very early because waiting for them to get enough heals in isn't really fun.

In Tellius, at level 20 because BEXP. The one exception might be Mist in FE9 so that she can help out a bit without dying in the BK fight, and maybe again in FE10 because her promotion item is unique to her anyway and I usually don't take her into endgame anyway.

I think FE12 is the game in which I promote the earliest, simply because I tend to need the instant boosts more than in any other game, even FE6. I assume FE11 would be similar, but I don't think I finished it more than once until now.

[Shogus00]

I usually wait until level 20, unless I get a unpromoted unit late, like with Nino

[Topaz Light]

I pretty much always wait until level 20 to promote units with the exceptions being in New Mystery of the Emblem's Hard Mode when I ran into trouble and really just needed the promotion boosts on some characters, and in Fire Emblem Awakening, since leveling in that game is infinite, anyway, and leveling up past level 10 just slows a unit's approach to learning their other skills.