Have you ever promoted anyone early?

[Ingen]

I'm sure some of you have pulled off a stunt like this. So yeah, why did you do it and what resulted?

PoR: I did that with Mist lv 10 as soon as the prison mission was finished. I did that to start working on her sword level early on so it won't be a pain in the neck to raise her sword level later in the game when she promotes. Knowing that enemies are about as strong as your units if you promoted them right away, I didn't expect her to be good or bad. Though to my surprise, she turned out to be one of my most dangerous units and playing the role of "failsafe" should anything unexpected happen. Really, getting her there was way easier than if I'd waited for her to promote naturally.

RD:

-This was quite a long time ago and looking back at it, I see that I really didn't know what I was doing. This was before I knew about how rushed enemies promote and even so. I remember promoting Aran both times at the first opportunities. I think the reasoning was that he would promote his good stats early on so may as well promote him as soon as he caps Str, Skl and Def. Well, he turned out OK IIRC. He was quite the tank for most of the game but at the end he did get doubled time to time.

-This was a more recent stunt. Promoting Laura at Part 1 Endgame when she was level 15 and then giving her Paragon. By the time it was over, she had already become a lv 14 or 15 Bishop :B

If anything, promoting units early is a good idea if you're aiming to beef up the second weapon of such a character. Any other experiences, comments, discoveries...?

[Mekkah]

I promote early a lot in efficiency/ranked runs. The earlier stat boost to almost everything is so much more beneficial than slightly higher EXP gain. I mean, I don't promote at L10 all the time, but after L15 I get impatient.

[NinjaMonkey]

In Radiant Dawn I always promote the useless piece of trash known as Sothe at level 6.>:)

Otherwise, I promote all my units at level 20.

[BEST TRYNDAMERE PLAYER]

Depends, most of the time I'll promote at 20.

Although I will generally promote units at 15-ish and in FE5 I promote certain units ASAP(Sara, Asvel, Marty if he's not speed screwed even with scrolls)

[Florete]

In Radiant Dawn I always promote the useless piece of trash known as Sothe at level 6.>:)

If he's a useless piece of trash how does he get to level 6?

I do it often enough. With clever BEXP use in RD it's easy to get multiple stats capped by 16-18 for some characters, so I Crown them then if I can. On GBA games where growths tend to be lower I'll often promote at ~16-18 as well. The only reason I won't promote early is if the unit's performance on the field is already good enough, so they really don't need the boost, or if they're far enough behind that they need all the help they can get.

[Fruitloop Multipuck]

I promoted this one new guy into my second in command. He proved to be totally incompetent so I fired him.

[SuperTroll Maxim Lapierre]

I'm strongly tempted to do it if I ever get around to doing a second playthrough of Thracia 776. After all, no funds rank+scrolls+caps at 20 means getting to the cap is all that matters...

Edited May 26, 2010 by Don Giovanni

[NinjaMonkey]

If he's a useless piece of trash how does he get to level 6?

Well he does get a couple of kills, but that's only because I'm feeling generous towards him... (Don't worry, I'm planning to see if I can promote him at level one so that he has lol stats upon promotion).

[Roxas]

I always try to promote at level 20, with the exception of Fe5, in which I'll just try to get everybody promoted by a certain chapter. :\

[Thor Odinson]

Caeda on FEDS H5 mode. I tend not to promote early because they're gaining stats anyway as they level (and items are limited so some of my units get to Lv20 before I even have their items)

But Caeda was an exception since 1) She was incredibly STR blessed. 11 STR at lv 12? Hell yes. 2) Durability boost. +5 DEF? Hell yes. It's not like she had much Res anyway and mages are Lena's territory. Plus she has very little growths in that area might as well take the +5 ASAP. 3) She's long capped SPD. 4) Class Swap to Paladin on archer-heavy/arrowspate chapters. 5) Lena was promoted already and I had another master seal.

Beyond that, just my first time ever playing Fire Emblem (8) where I promoted Franz at level 14 because I didn't know better. I spammed Franz on everything not boss so by the time I got the first Knight Crest it immediately went to him. Actually, it wasn't too bad.

Edited May 26, 2010 by Luminescent Blade

[El Rey León]

I always promote at 20 with a few exceptions.

One PoR PT I promoted Mist at 10 as soon as her staff level was B so she could use Physic. I wasn't really using her that PT so I just needed her to be good enough to heal Ike for his BK fight.

I used to promote Farina right away but lately I just give her Afa's drops so she gets to lvl 20 faster, than I promote her.

I've recently started FE3. In Book 1, I waited to 20, then realized everyone caps at 20 so there's no point in waiting. My current Book 2 playthrough I'll promote people earlier (maybe around 15-ish).

And of course my very first time playing Fire Emblem (FE7) I promoted everyone once they hit 10 because I WAS A NOOB.

[SuperTroll Maxim Lapierre]

I used to promote Farina right away but lately I just give her Afa's drops so she gets to lvl 20 faster, than I promote her.

Afa's Drops does not increase EXP gains in any shape or form.

[whase]

never done that.

first time I played FE I didn't even notice the promotion items, I found out when I saw units hitting lvl.20 and not gaining exp any longer.

I hate promoting before lvl.20.

promoted Mist on level 10 once though (RD). but I wasn't using her, just did that to have the crown out of my inventory.

Afa's Drops does not increase EXP gains in any shape or form.

does make you stronger faster though, stronger units can fight more and get more exp

Edited May 26, 2010 by whase

[AstraLunaSol]

I usually keep units till 20 then promote, but FE5 was an exception, you need all the help you can get with those promo bonuses. It helps that everything caps at 20 minus Hp.

Edited May 26, 2010 by AstraLunaSol

[El Rey León]

Afa's Drops does not increase EXP gains in any shape or form.

Really? *checks* Huh. It always seems that way. It helps when training Nino and I always heard that was the reason for it. :\

[Rewjeo]

I usually don't, although in FE11, I usually promote around 15-16 since the promotion bonus is +15 to your level, not +20.

[_____]

I used to never promote anyone lower than Level 20, but now I tend to promote anyone who needs the promotion gains whenever. In FE3 particularly, I basically promote everyone at Level 10 because there's no point in waiting.

[Dr. Tarrasque]

Most of the time I promote early. I make it a rule to use all Knight Proofs I have by the end of FE5's Chapter 13 for example.

Heck my first FESD playthrough consisted of promotions before level 20 because I got bored with Normal difficulty and decided to take the promo gains to trample shit and finish that boring mode faster.

Edited May 27, 2010 by Speedwagon

[chococoke]

This cool guy named Wallace once told me that promoting units early was fun, cool, and that everyone was doing it!

So my first PT, I promoted EVERYONE early. And I mean everyone. That was also the run that Eliwood got OHKO'd by everyone past like chapter 20 or something.

[Zak Something]

I promoted Edward and Ilyana in radiant dawn before Lvl. 20. They're good at killing things in 1 turn, but neither can take 2 hits w/o dying.

[Biabarr]

I did that with some characters in Thracia, like Laura.

[SuperTroll Maxim Lapierre]

Really? *checks* Huh. It always seems that way. It helps when training Nino and I always heard that was the reason for it. :\

No, it's just that Nino is at such a low level that she's gains a ton of EXP by the normal calculations. I, on the other hand, like to give them to Lowen for whatever reason, and when he's promoted and crap, his EXP gains are just like any other unit.

Nino's growths are boosted to even more ridiculous levels, but we all know that.

[Haar the Pirate]

Only times I have units promote below Level 20 is when it's forced. I'm playing Radiant Dawn right now and had Sothe promoted to Whisper at Level 16 (not much of a difference as he had capped most of his stats as a Rogue anyway). The first time I played Radiant Dawn I had him promoted at level 13, so...

Also, in Blazing Sword I had Eliwood promoted at level 15 once. It was my first time playing it and I was trying to give Hector and Lyn some more kills to get them to level 20. :P

[dondon151]

In my last 3 FE playthroughs, I have never promoted a unit at level 20.

Then again, there was no point in doing so.

[ReformBlade]

No, it's just that Nino is at such a low level that she's gains a ton of EXP by the normal calculations. I, on the other hand, like to give them to Lowen for whatever reason, and when he's promoted and crap, his EXP gains are just like any other unit.

Nino's growths are boosted to even more ridiculous levels, but we all know that.

Now if only she didn't have such atrocious CON and basically needs a Body Ring to carry any book beyond Fire... But I digress.

Never promoted any character I'm actually using earlier than 20. Wasted gains are wasted, and I don't give a flying fuck for ranked runs since no one is gonna honestly worry about funds/efficiency when death is on your doorstep... You what you gotta do to survive, nothing more, nothing less.