The "Who Should I Promote?" Thread

[SaMaster14]

I seem to see a lot of these individual threads pop up; and while the question usually comes down to personal preference, or a player's unique team dynamic (who they already have promoted/who they are in need of), I think a general advice thread like this one would be cool. [Mods, feel free to lock if there is already a thread dedicated to these specific questions or if you think the questions are better consolidated in the "Ask Fire Emblem Heroes Questions and Get Them Answered Here" Thread.

 

[Also, before beginning, quick question: Do IVs transfer when promoting? Or can you, for example have a -HP/+Atk as a 4* and have the same unit turn into a -Def/+Res unit upon promotion?]

Well, without further adieu, I just came upon another 20k feathers after a successful Voting Gauntlet and Arena run and I have 4 Lv. 40 4* characters to pick from. Decisions, decisions. I've listed my upgrades in order of personal preference. Any thoughts would be greatly appreciated!

SO... I can either:

-Complete my Flyer Emblem team by promoting my +Def/-Res Catria. Fully promoted and with all skills eventually learned/equipped she would be running Killer Lance +/Reposition/Luna/Armored Blow 3/Seal Ask 3/Goad Fliers.

--My current Flier team consists of Caeda (Armor Slayer +/rally speed/buckler/darting blow 3/fortify fliers); Michalis (Hauteclere/Blazing Thunder/Iote's Shield/Axebreaker 2/Threaten Def 3); Camilla (Brave Axe +/Draconic Aura/Darting Blow 3/Drag Back/Savage Blow 3).

---

-Complete my Dragon Team by promoting my Neutral Adult Tiki. With promoted skills fully equipped she'd be running Lightening Breath +/Bonfire/Defiant Attack 3/G Tomebreaker 3/Spur Res 3).

--My current Dragon team consists of Young Tiki (Flametongue +/Growing Flame/Armored Blow 3/Swordbreaker 3/Breath of Life 3); Ninian (Light Breath +/Dance/Daylight/HP +3/Escape Route 3/Fortify Dragons); Nowi (Lightning Breath +/Rally Defense/Moonbow/Defense +3/Lancebreaker 2/Threaten Res 3

--*I also have a Lv. 33 Fae that I can get to Lv. 40 and promote. She'd be running: Light Breath +/Draw Back/Triangle Adept 3/Renewal 3/Threaten Atk 3). 

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Promote my Legion to throw in somewhere. Fully promoted he'd be running: Legion's Axe +/Reprisal/Fury 3/Obstruct 3/Threaten Def 3

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Promote my Masked Marth. Fully promoted, she'd be running: Falchion/Moonbow/Death Blow 3/Axebreaker 3

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Edited July 4, 2017 by SaMaster14

[Othin]

8 minutes ago, SaMaster14 said:

[Also, before beginning, quick question: Do IVs transfer when promoting? Or can you, for example have a -HP/+Atk as a 4* and have the same unit turn into a -Def/+Res unit upon promotion?]

Yes, natures carry over.

[Lushen]

9 minutes ago, SaMaster14 said:

[Also, before beginning, quick question: Do IVs transfer when promoting? Or can you, for example have a -HP/+Atk as a 4* and have the same unit turn into a -Def/+Res unit upon promotion?]

IVs transfer when a 4* is promoted to a 5*

IVs will be retained if merged with another unit.  The base unit will keep his nature while the other will be removed.  That one's nature has no influence on the base's stat growth. 

9 minutes ago, SaMaster14 said:

-Complete my Flyer Emblem team by promoting my +Def/-Res Catria. Fully promoted and with all skills eventually learned/equipped she would be running Killer Lance +/Reposition/Luna/Armored Blow 3/Seal Ask 3/Goad Fliers.

--My current Flier team consists of Caeda (Armor Slayer +/rally speed/buckler/darting blow 3/fortify fliers); Michalis (Hauteclere/Blazing Thunder/Iote's Shield/Axebreaker 2/Threaten Def 3); Camilla (Brave Axe +/Draconic Aura/Darting Blow 3/Drag Back/Savage Blow 3).

---

-Complete my Dragon Team by promoting my Neutral Adult Tiki. With promoted skills fully equipped she'd be running Lightening Breath +/Bonfire/Defiant Attack 3/G Tomebreaker 3/Spur Res 3).

--My current Dragon team consists of Young Tiki (Flametongue +/Growing Flame/Armored Blow 3/Swordbreaker 3/Breath of Life 3); Ninian (Light Breath +/Dance/Daylight/HP +3/Escape Route 3/Fortify Dragons); Nowi (Lightning Breath +/Rally Defense/Moonbow/Defense +3/Lancebreaker 2/Threaten Res 3

--*I also have a Lv. 33 Fae that I can get to Lv. 40 and promote. She'd be running: Light Breath +/Draw Back/Triangle Adept 3/Renewal 3/Threaten Atk 3). 

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Promote my Legion to throw in somewhere. Fully promoted he'd be running: Legion's Axe +/Reprisal/Fury 3/Obstruct 3/Threaten Def 3

---

Promote my Masked Marth. Fully promoted, she'd be running: Falchion/Moonbow/Death Blow 3/Axebreaker 3

---

Some love dragon teams but imo, they're not viable until we get more boost skills.  ATM, a team would consist of 4 magic users.  All it takes is one high-res unit to whipe your team.  That being said, if you want to go ahead and make a dragon team I would recommend Fae over Adult Tiki.  Reason being, she is a green unit so you'd have a more complete weapon triangle which will help make up for your lack of physical damagers.

Fliers are under a similar problem if you don't have Spring!Camilla.  One highdef user would be an issue.  Can be made up for with weapon triangle effectiveness.

Legion is, from what I understand, very good. And most people don't have any decent 5* axe users, so he will probably be very useful.  His Axe has a lot of potential as the meta keeps advancing towards buff attack teams.

Masked Marth is identical to Lucina.  She's pretty good, but I haven't looked into her so I can't really comment.

Edited July 4, 2017 by Lushen

[SaMaster14]

1 minute ago, Lushen said:

IVs transfer when a 4* is promoted to a 5*

IVs will be retained if merged with another unit.  The base unit will keep his nature while the other will be removed.  That one's nature has no influence on the base's stat growth. 

Some love dragon teams but imo, they're not viable until we get more boost skills.  ATM, a team would consist of 4 magic users.  All it takes is one high-rez unit to whipe your team.  That being said, if you want to go ahead and make a dragon team I would recommend Fae over Adult Tiki.  Reason being, she is a green unit so you'd have a more complete weapon triangle which will help make up for your lack of physical damagers.

Fliers are under a similar problem if you don't have Spring!Camilla.  One highdef user would be an issue.  Can be made up for with weapon triangle effectiveness.

Legion is, from what I understand, very good. And most people don't have any decent 5* axe users, so he will probably be very useful.  His Axe has a lot of potential as the meta keeps advancing towards buff attack teams.

Masked Marth is identical to Lucina.  She's pretty good, but I haven't looked into her so I can't really comment.

That's what I was afraid of regarding Dragons/Fliers. Sadly I didn't pull Spring!Camilla, so I don't have any flying mage units.

 

As for legion, I have 5* Lv. 40 Hector (with Vantage), Summer!Tiki (she's actually pretty strong!), Camilla and Michalis. So I'm not in dire need of Legion. I was kinda thinking Catria as she's a pretty strong Flier/lance user which would be good for a Flier Emblem team for when I know in advance who I'm going up against. Adult!Tiki was also because I kinda wanted to make a Tiki team, and her Tome (with distant counter basically built in) and G Tomebreaker 3 would make her pretty menacing even when not on a dragon team. 

 

I guess for me it's going to come down to personal preference in the end... I have a fully built cavalry team (Xander/Luke/Camus/Reinhardt), pretty much all of the super-star mages (M!Robin/Tharja/Mae/Linde/Nino/Soren/Sanaki/Reinhardt/Bride!Caeda. I'm really only missing Celica, Katarina, Julia and Spring!Camilla) and a built up Armor team (Hector, Effie, Zephiel, Sheena).

[SatsumaFSoysoy]

These usually go in the "Ask a question" thread, but eh, a lot of people just ignore that. Maybe a separate one in big letters telling people to post in this instead would work better. If people read.

[Lushen]

1 minute ago, SatsumaFSoysoy said:

These usually go in the "Ask a question" thread, but eh, a lot of people just ignore that. Maybe a separate one in big letters telling people to post in this instead would work better. If people read.

I noticed the "Ask a" occasionally gets flooded with general discussion.  One time I accidentally posted in it when I meant to post in the general, and I think a lot of people do the same thing.

[SaMaster14]

Ya, I thought this could be a general questions thread, but for a specific type of question (namely whenever someone has a ‘who should I promote’ question) 

[Ion]

OK, this is for the future, but tell me who to promote, Camus, Zephiel, or Kagero?

[SaMaster14]

42 minutes ago, Ion said:

OK, this is for the future, but tell me who to promote, Camus, Zephiel, or Kagero?

I guess depends on who you need. I would honestly say Camus. Especially if you can give him Vantage or Quick Riposte.

 

Zephiel is a beast of a Red Armor unit, but Camus fits into more teams in better ways imo. 

I like Kagero a lot, and actually promoted her from 4* ... but I find myself using her less and less, especially with people running non-infantry teams more and more. 

[Lushen]

9 hours ago, Ion said:

OK, this is for the future, but tell me who to promote, Camus, Zephiel, or Kagero?

Camus or Kagero from a competitive standpoint.

Zephiel benefits a ton from DC, but I'm assuming you don't have it.  Kagero can be really useful as the only infantry-killer in the game.  Camus is good all-around, especially in PVE.  

[Arthur97]

15 hours ago, SatsumaFSoysoy said:

These usually go in the "Ask a question" thread, but eh, a lot of people just ignore that. Maybe a separate one in big letters telling people to post in this instead would work better. If people read.

Well, my questions get about a 50/50 chance of actually getting answered there.

[MrSmokestack]

2 hours ago, Arthur97 said:

Well, my questions get about a 50/50 chance of actually getting answered there.

Your point?

Posts can and do get buried. If that happens to you, just bump it again. It doesn't justify making another thread, at any rate.

[Arthur97]

21 minutes ago, MrSmokestack said:

Your point?

Posts can and do get buried. If that happens to you, just bump it again. It doesn't justify making another thread, at any rate.

If a sub section of questions were removed though and the threads were made less crowded, maybe people would be more likely to actually get their questions answered.

[Thane]

17.000 feathers, but I don't know who I want to promote, or if I even have anyone worth promoting. Is it usually better to promote three stars to four stars in order to get more out of their skills? I don't think I've got characters with good enough natures to promote them yet, aside from a Lon'qu who's +Atk and -Res.

[JSND Alter Dragon Boner]

31 minutes ago, Thane said:

17.000 feathers, but I don't know who I want to promote, or if I even have anyone worth promoting. Is it usually better to promote three stars to four stars in order to get more out of their skills? I don't think I've got characters with good enough natures to promote them yet, aside from a Lon'qu who's +Atk and -Res.

Yeah generally its better to get maximum version of skills. Note that some skills are capped already at 3*, so if these are your aim you can settle with 3*(Positioning skills mainly)

 

You just generally save up more in the long run that way. Exception is 5* only skills in which LnD3 is maybe not worth over 2

Edited July 4, 2017 by JSND

[SniperGYS]

I made a poll to help me decide!! I added the options that I got from others + the ones I think can be usefull to me. Plz help me to choose one xD

(I think I will wait until the end of this week to see what happens)

http://www.poll-maker.com/poll1109365x35ff448E-46

Edited July 4, 2017 by SniperGYS

[Lushen]

2 hours ago, MrSmokestack said:

Your point?

Posts can and do get buried. If that happens to you, just bump it again. It doesn't justify making another thread, at any rate.

My opinion on the topic is if you have a simple question and want it answered, ask in the 'ask a...' thread.  If you want to have a discussion back and forth about your question, or the question is more opinionated, post in the general discussion thread or create a thread.  Who should I 5* kind of fits both categories.  If it's a well thought out post/topic, then I'm fine with it being a new topic.  That is, if people mention who they have now, who they can 5*, who they want to 5*, the natures then they can post it in a new topic.  If they just say "5* this or that" then it should go in the 'ask a...' thread.

 

1 hour ago, Thane said:

17.000 feathers, but I don't know who I want to promote, or if I even have anyone worth promoting. Is it usually better to promote three stars to four stars in order to get more out of their skills? I don't think I've got characters with good enough natures to promote them yet, aside from a Lon'qu who's +Atk and -Res.

I have a list in my head of characters worth 4*ing for SI.  They take priority over 5*s for me.  An example would be Hinata for his Fury 3.

If you don't have anyone you want to 5*, there's no shame in hoarding feathers.  You never know when a new GHB of your favorite character will come up.  Lon'qu is not the greatest unit in the game, due to his low atk and sub-average survivabillity.  The good news is with his speed he will trigger specials very often and can tank a hit or two because he will never be doubled.  If you want to 5* him, I'd either leave killer blade on him or Wo Dao+ (I think it's inheritable) which will help him actually do damage to units occasionally, with moonbow.

Edited July 4, 2017 by Lushen

[MrSmokestack]

2 hours ago, Lushen said:

My opinion on the topic is if you have a simple question and want it answered, ask in the 'ask a...' thread.  If you want to have a discussion back and forth about your question, or the question is more opinionated, post in the general discussion thread or create a thread.  Who should I 5* kind of fits both categories.  If it's a well thought out post/topic, then I'm fine with it being a new topic.  That is, if people mention who they have now, who they can 5*, who they want to 5*, the natures then they can post it in a new topic.  If they just say "5* this or that" then it should go in the 'ask a...' thread.

As it is, there a grand total of three (that's 3!) topics dedicated to discussing SI and feather promotion that aren't the General Discussion thread--and you can include Arena Discussion as a fourth if we're talking about units that are recommended for promotion for the new bonus unit rotations every few weeks. And two of those topics I mentioned? They're also stickied. Literally impossible to miss unless you're adamantly against reading more than a few lines of text before you post.

I know the forum isn't exactly hurting for space for new topics, but clutter cuts down on the appeal and makes it more difficult to navigate than it already is.

The effort that goes into a post shouldn't dictate whether it gets its own thread. I could write an essay about what units I should promote but that would A) Not only be a waste of time but also B) Not detract from the simple nature of the question itself. I don't need a thousand words to say something that could just as easily be phrased in twenty.

Quote

Hi, I'm looking for suggestions on who I should promote next:

-Unit A (+X -X)

-Unit B (+X -X)

-Unit C (+X -X)

-Unit D (+X -X)

This is for the coming Arena season next week. Any advice?

Asking about what units to promote might be a common question but it's also a generic one, which goes quite nicely in any of the four (4) threads I mentioned.

[Xenomata]

Well I'm coming up to 20k feathers again, and I need help.

• Cordelia (+Att -Res)
• Legion (Neutral)
• Xander (Neutral)
• Camus (Neutral)
• Odin/Shanna (who cares what their stats are, I just want Blarblade+, Moonbow, and Desperation 3 for Bridal Caeda (+Spd -Hp)
• Sharena (Neutral)

Spoiler

 

For an idea of what my situation is, I right now have limited SI resources (no Death Blow 3, all Hinata's are 3*, only 2 Shanna) and currently can't afford to do another massive summoning, so no matter what I have to make do with what I'm given for another 2 months, including any trash that free summonings give me.

Legion and Cordelia seem the best options, as their default kits are exceptionally appealing (Cordelia's TA3 will reck Reds, and who cares if she can't hit greens for much, why would I even let her near Greens in the first place) (Legion's Fury 3 makes up for most shortcomings, Legion's Axe counters buffed up teams regardless of if he can one round them or not, generally a pretty nifty axe user) and won't require as much SI as others, at least until I get more SI fodder. BTW, I currently have no fliers and no trained Lance users, and my only Axe units are Hector, who is Hector, and Frederick, who also needs Death Blow 3 despite preforming quite well regardless, which is to say I don't have any "normal" axe users.

Since I don't have the materials to make a "good" Horse Emblem team, Xander and Camus will just have to make do with what my poor bum can give them.

Odin and Shanna will just have to live with being fodder for Bridal Caeda, who I think would be a very good Blarblade+ user given her great speed and decent power, but I already use Nino a LOT (as in, her Hero Merit is almost maxed out at 1800 despite being here for a shorter time than Nowi and Priscilla, both of whom are completely maxed), and the build I'd give her would basically be blue Nino in a fetish outfit.

Sharena I have a few decent SI options for her, but my problem is largely that I'm not sure she is the best option for 5* when I have limited resources and want to make a strong unit. On one hand I'd finally be able to do some of the missions that call for one of the Askr units to be used in some way, but on the other I could be using, say, Cordelia.

 

If it matters, I do like both Cordelia and Sharena as characters, everyone else I'm not sure I like or dislike. Xander I don't like all that much, at least in Heroes, he's cool in Fates tho.

[Ice Dragon]

On 7/3/2017 at 7:46 PM, Lushen said:

Some love dragon teams but imo, they're not viable until we get more boost skills.  ATM, a team would consist of 4 magic users.  All it takes is one high-res unit to whipe your team.  That being said, if you want to go ahead and make a dragon team I would recommend Fae over Adult Tiki.  Reason being, she is a green unit so you'd have a more complete weapon triangle which will help make up for your lack of physical damagers.

The only opponent I've ever had real trouble with was a Felicia with Poison Dagger+, but that was before I finished building my full dragon team. Due to the current lack of high-Atk high-Spd dragons, the main problems they face are opponents that can negate your counterattack.

The current dragon team meta is to use the combination of Lightning Breath+, Triangle Adept, Quick Riposte, and Fortify Dragons to selectively tank opponents at weapon triangle advantage. If you are running a full dragon team, you're almost required to be running at least one unit of each color.

 

On 7/3/2017 at 9:21 PM, SatsumaFSoysoy said:

These usually go in the "Ask a question" thread, but eh, a lot of people just ignore that. Maybe a separate one in big letters telling people to post in this instead would work better. If people read.

Honestly, I think there are enough pinned topics in this board already. I personally think the questions thread makes enough sense to put these questions in.

Perhaps renaming the existing thread to the same "Simple questions, simple answers" that Smogon uses would make it easier to see. While I can't vouch for their self-created metagames, they do a lot of things right with their forums.

[Korath88]

Since there was no GHB leak and a new source of feathers was introduced, I just went and promoted my Nino. Now all I need to do is level her up for TT. 

Conveniently, TT begins when the double SP weekend starts, which means loads of SP for her.