Unorthodox Promotions

[Charliecane]

In a game where you can choose what class your characters promote into, it seems like everyone is convinced that one particular path is the best. Lately I've been thinking that this sort of narrow minded thinking is a bit silly. Take Garcia for example. The general consensus is he's better off as a Warrior because of its higher strength cap. But many seem to overlook the fact that Hero promotion bonuses include a +2 bonus to speed. This is nice because Garcia has the worst speed growth in the game. The same could be said of Ross, though making him a Berserker gives him the same speed bonus.

That's all I have for now. I'd like to see what everyone else thinks.

[Haken]

I would agre with that. For example, everyone says that Ewan/Knoll should take the summoner path for higher general stats and the summoning ability. Yet Druids are more versatile, have a higher magic, res and speed cap. Seriously, though, it all depends on people's playing style. If someone makes Garcia a warrior, then what the hell, he made him a warrior. It's pretty much the same for the pairings in FE4.

[Neofox]

A lot of people also seem to consider it a crime against nature to make Lute a Mage Knight instead of a Sage due to having a higher magic cap as a sage, but I honestly don't see the big deal with it... I mean, 25 is still a lot of magic, and she will still be tearing up enemies with ease. She will also get the benefit of higher movement, as well as 6 con. 6 con may not seem like much, but as a sage she only has 4, so she can't use anything but Fire without speed loss. As a mage knight she can use up to Thunder without speed loss, which is a nice upgrade due to power and critical boost with no loss to her speed.

[Lord Fuckboy]

I tend to promote units to classes with higher Movement to get the game over with faster.  Granted, since it's FE8 (meaning, nobody cares cause it's easy), it doesn't matter what you promote into, I just personally prefer movement.
Except for Gerik.  I make him a Hero because he's one of my favorite FE chars and Hero's my favorite class.

In other cases, I just go for the better cap.

[arashisama without the decorative symbols. RANDOM ENOUGH?!]

It's FE8. It doesn't really matter, as long as you experiment and have fun with it.


And.. just my take.
I like Lute as either a Mage Knight or a Sage. Sure, it's a guaranteed 5 drop in power to make her a Mage Knight, but (1) I think she looks cooler as a MK due to her pallette, (2) 25 magic isn't that bad against monsters with no magic defense... plus she has a crit rate! (3) Generally more movement on horse (4) more constitution.

I don't care about comparing Wyvern Knight caps with those of the Dragon Master or the Falcon Knight. I make Cougar whichever one I feel like at the moment (yes, I alternate) although I prefer the animation for Wyvern Knight so that's usually the choice. Vanessa and Tahna usually get Falcon Knight since a horse appearing out of nowhere (Eliwood) is more plausible than a pegasus turning into a wyvern and a complete 180 degree turnaround in the girls' fashion style. Plus, Syrene is pretty and in the beginning she needs Triangle attack to get her a jumpstart.

I usually tend to make my Priest/Monk a Sage, since I think they *look* better, and overall better caps > Slayer. Except maybe for Natasha. Sometimes I kind of need Slayer to get her to kill anything since she doesn't double. Oh, but her other choice is Valkyrie (which I did try since I love that class) and not Sage.

What else? Um... I turn Ross into a Berserker after trying the other ones. (1) For the speed bonus, (2) like Dart, to make up for the lack of Skill. Garcia usually turns into a Warrior for me, though I've tried Hero. +2 speed isn't going to make him dodge king.

For Lachelle, between the familiar GBA!Troubadour -> Valkyrie path and the familiar GBA!Troubadour -> Anima Magic, identical stat caps, a horse for both, and identical promotion bonuses save for one point of resistance that Lachelle is going to max either way... It's just a toss up.

For Ewan ~ I've made him everything. Blah blah blah promotion gains... Well, it's kind of weird starting off on Anima, losing it when you become a Shaman, and getting it back again as a Druid, but whatever. He works as a Druid, as a Sage... He works as a Mage Knight and a Summoner. Druid best captures his Magic. Sage... He looks kind of odd whatever he turns into because of his pallette, but Sage and Mage Knight makes it a tad better. However, I usually have a LOT of anima users, so he usually chooses between Druid and Summoner. I usually choose Druid for versatile weapons and make Knoll a Summoner since he's not a front-liner and has better summons than Ewan does.

Neimi and Jist ~ As Snipers get a pretty useless skill (well, useless for Neimi and Hineas, not so much for enemies with 8% hit on you) instead of the one weapon critical bonus, I tend to turn her into a Forest Knight. It makes her not as much a pain to look at in battle. Jist alternates =]

Colm ~ Rogue. Rennac is too weak to do it alone, and you *do* have other options for Silencer. Rogues can use Pick, so sell those Lockpicks, and not lose the Steal ability.

Swordmaster VS Assassin ~ Usually I have no assassins in this game, since both Joshua and Marica benefit more from being a Swordmaster. Still, you can live either way. They'll both only be grazing that strength cap as a SM, so Assassin isn't bad; Silencer will help against a human enemy that you do 4 damage times two to every turn.

Cavalry/Armors ~ Better gains, better caps... I don't care. I experiment, and I find I still prefer high movement Paladins (my choice for Amelia and Franz). I don't normally use many of them the same run, so... the others usually don't get promoted. For Gilliam, I make him a General.

So after trying them all out, it seems I just make choices based on my mood, animation of sprites, pallettes on sprites, and movement.

[Mekkah]

I'm pretty convinced Mage Knight Lute > Sage Lute. From a post I made on IGN a while ago:

"Lute as a Mage knight? lolololol"

"Lute with 30 magic is amazing. 30! If my math is right, 30 is much higher than 25.

20/1 Lute does not have 30 Mag off the bat. She has 19 Mag at as a 20/1 Sage, and actually 20 as a 20/1 Mage Knight due to +2 on promotion rather than +1. It's not until 20/10 that Sage Lute hits 25 Mag and begins to surpass Mage Knight Lute, and this should be at about the end of the game, or maybe Ch19 depending on your team size.

Plus, while their Spds are equal, Mage Knight gives +3 Con compared to +1 for Sage. Sage loses 2 Spd from Thunder, Mage Knight is unaffected. Sage loses 6 from Elfire, Mage Knight only 4. And Thunder has 3 more Mt than Fire, so Mage Knight Lute is actually MORE powerful up to 20/10, and even for a while after hitting the 25 cap because that doesn't stop Thunder from having more Mt. And 5 more Crt.

And if you promote Lute before 20 to make use of staves, con and move for longer (you won't hit 20/20 in FE8 anyway), Mage Knight is even more superior.

"She becomes a magic tank as a Sage."

Yeah, +3 Res rather than +2 Res. Way to go. Neither Sage or Mage Knight is ever going to cap it.

"She can move farther as a Mage knight. Woooo, like that is sooo much better."

It is. 2 extra movement is huge. It gives her a lot of flexibility and allows you to mimic the awesomeness of FE6/FE7 having good mounted healers. Screw you L'Arachel. Plus, it allows her to keep up with her best support option (Vanessa), and allows her to fall behind while Arthur advances and then come back quicker if needed.

"And with light magic(i know, not that great), she can get the magic triangle bonus against all of those dark magic units around the end of the game."

Yeah, I'll give her that much. But 99% of them appear when you already have Excalibur to OHKO them with, so you'd just have to avoid them on enemy phase as Mage Knight (easy, especially if you have more move!).

So, if you're not playing Creature Campaign, Mage Knight >>>

"Body ring."

Body Ring on Lute means no Body Ring on something else, so that sucks.

"But it is nice to have higher magic to take out the Draco Zombies."

The extra Mag won't make a difference. What makes a difference is that Lute can end player phase out of their range, and then run up to them to attack them with Excalibur next turn. Or that Lute loses 2 less Spd from Excalibur.

For Garcia, I agree Hero is his way to go. He won't get past 25 Str until endgame, and up until then the +2 Speed from promotion makes a huger difference, as well as being able to use swords. The axes will own enemy fliers just fine.

Everyone and their mom seems to love promoting Gilliam and Amelia to Generals "lol tanks" and forget that the difference between that and Great Knight is pretty much none, except Great Knight has average move rather than lol move.

Summoning is overrated. I will definitely prefer the ability to use Thunder on Ewan and Knoll than Summoning. Not that either are good either way.

[Lord Kratos]

Yeah, it's a well known fact that Lute and Garcia are better as MK and Hero respectively, for reasons Neofox and Mekkah already mentioned. Ross probably will be hero as well, since promoting to zerker means taking the ocean seal away from Colm.

I agree with Mekkah about the general thing with Gilliam and Amelia. I'll just add that Armor Knight Amelia is also harder to train than cavvy Amelia.

[Mage Knight 404]

Seeing as this is the only game I'm really able to play while at school, I guess I'll throw my two cents in.

I've always had Lute go Mage Knight and always will. The +3 Con boost is not something to take lightly.

Considering that I think WKs are ugly and too overhyped for their own good, I'm going to stick with Falcos. Sure, they're inferior, but they're one of my favorite classes. Leaving Cormag to go WL instead.

Whenever I bothered to use Amelia or Ewan(I don't anymore, and I've always disliked Ross), I send the former to Paladin and the Latter to Druid, as much as a male Mage Knight is tempting. Never bothered with Knoll and never will.

As for Joshua(screw Marisa), always Swordmaster, because I hate Assassins. That means Colm goes Rogue. When it comes to Neimi, Ranger for the win, as Innes makes a good Sniper all on his own. Gerik goes Hero, because they're my favorite melee class.

The rest go wherever I feel like it.

[Lord Kratos]

Falcoknights are superior, actually. Promo bonuses are better (2 HP, 1 DEF, 1 RES >> 1 SKL) and swords > pierce

[Mekkah]

You forget +4 con for Wyvern Knight versus +1 for Falcoknight. That's pretty huge to omit. That's using Iron Lance fine versus losing 2 Speed from it. Granted, their avo is godly anyway, but I like to maintain as much as possible from it. Of course, Falco's get to use swords, but at E level to begin with, that's pretty lame.

Used to think Wyvern Knight was superior overall due to that con, but now I think they're kind of even tbh. Swords + 1 Def/1 Res/2 HP vs Pierce + 3 Con is kinda even (the 1 Skl is lol).

[Somewhat Overcooked Cheese]

Ross as a Berserker, simply because Colm doesn't really need that Ocean Seal.  Lockpicks are easy to come by, and it's not like funds and items are hard to get in this game ( that and I just laze away in the tower ).  Also I don't really think using 2 kinds of weapon is that good, especially if you get a bonus for specializing.  Just give him a Hand Axe and something melee oriented and you're good to go.

Colm to Assassin ( !!! ).  Lockpicks are easy to come by, stealing's a bit overrated ( especially with Rennac around ), and with easy funds, Shamshirs tend to be dirt cheap later on.  He also has Neimi for a 15% critical boost.

Every flyer to Wyvernknight.  Like I said in the other paragraph, I don't need a second weapon ( and it's swords there... ).  Stats means pretty much next to nothing in this game anyway.  Fun thing here is that I can kill Fomortiis in one hit, although Bishops can do that too ( a critical with Gleipnir does that I think ).

Knoll generally goes to Druid.  He's actually doing a fine job with a Thunder tome.  Pity none of his supports give him critical, but the evade and critical evade is appreciated.

[Neofox]

Fun thing here is that I can kill Fomortiis in one hit, although Bishops can do that too ( a critical with Gleipnir does that I think ).

But bishops can't use dark magic. I know there's a glitch that can be abused to let them, but I honestly don't think we should be treating glitches as though they were a legitimate part of gameplay...

[Mekkah]

Also I don't really think using 2 kinds of weapon is that good, especially if you get a bonus for specializing.

Most people will have an A in something at 20/0. Alternating between the two weapons will land them an S in their main weapon soon enough (and 5 Hit/5 Crt is pretty worthless anyway), and the second weapon might grant them WTA or some other bonus. It's really much better than having one weapon.

[Ayanami]

For starters, L'Aracheal would be better off in becoming a Valkyrie than a mage Knight, as her Def cap is 2 points better than her Mage Knigght Class' promotion, and for Lute, I make her Sage as it is more valuable to go for the extra 5 Mag points cap and also you can use the Body Ring that you get during the Story Mode to get her to use Thunder tomes without any speed loss. Amelia, I make her a paladin as she will get alot more movement than a General as well as Res, plus she will get a crapload of evade making her the best unit in the game.

[Lord Glenn]

For starters, L'Aracheal would be better off in becoming a Valkyrie than a mage Knight, as her Def cap is 2 points better than her Mage Knigght Class' promotion, and for Lute, I make her Sage as it is more valuable to go for the extra 5 Mag points cap and also you can use the Body Ring that you get during the Story Mode to get her to use Thunder tomes without any speed loss. Amelia, I make her a paladin as she will get alot more movement than a General as well as Res, plus she will get a crapload of evade making her the best unit in the game.

Valkyrie and Mage Knight(F) have the exact same class caps. And you could make the argument that the Body Ring could go to anyone to reduce potential AS loss(Granted, this is nullified in the Creature Campaign, but...).

[Mekkah]

Body Ring is no excuse, I could even put it on Mage Knight Lute and then use Elfire and be in the power lead again.

Even if Def cap was higher for one class, then L'Arachel is never going to max Def, and if she is it'll be very very late in the game. The superior magic type is much much more important.

Paladin, Great Knight and General all have the same Res cap.
Cav -> Paladin = +2, +2
Cav -> GK = +2, +2
Knight -> General = +0, +3
Knight -> Great Knight: +0, +2

Big deal. Especially since Res isn't important anyway. And then tons of evade? She gets 1 more Speed at most, and the cap is 25 for every option but Super Trainee (which is 29).

[Neofox]

The superior magic type is much much more important.

Is that really such a big deal when enemies not named Gorgons are going to be blown to bits regardless of what weapon type she uses?

[Mekkah]

tbh if L'Arachel ever uses magic without failing she was probably staff abused/towerwhored so i guess her case doesn't matter

the thing is, if you play the "FE8 is easy card" on this you may as well play it on the entire topic or even the entire forum

[Neofox]

tbh if L'Arachel ever uses magic without failing she was probably staff abused/towerwhored so i guess her case doesn't matter

the thing is, if you play the "FE8 is easy card" on this you may as well play it on the entire topic or even the entire forum

I didn't say FE8 is easy, I said that she'll be obliterating enemies regardless of what magic type she has.

I guess I should have been more clear though, as my point was that using anima wasn't a "much much more important" advantage like you made it out to be. FE8's easiness doesn't really have much to do with it since even in FE6 spellcasters would blow away enemies regardless of what kind of magic they were using.

[Ava Lon Lon Ranch]

I myself almost always turn my characters into the class that I think suits the character best, like how I almost always turn the Pegasus trio into Falcon knights and turn Cormag into a Wyvern Lord. Like people have said, it's FE8, it really doesn't matter.