still confused about seal usage...

I know that I should wait on master seals until my unit is level 20, but when am I supposed to use the other types? So many options...

Most of the seals let you change you class. When and if you'll use one of those depends on the character. Are you just picking up skills, or is this character better off as something else? Your level stays the same.

Eternal seals grant you five additional levels once you've reached the level cap. So using one raises it from twenty to twenty five. The next raises it to thirty and so on until ninety nine. They are expensive as hell though at 12,000 gold.

scudpool posted...

when am I supposed to use the other types?

As said what they do but for when, before cap so you can get the skills when leveling.

OK , there's just 2 facts you have to take in mind

Yeah , it's betree to wait until your units are level 20 before promoting them , as you'll not lose some potential Stat points if you wait

But if you're gonna use a dlc seal on them (hero's brand , exalt brand , dread scroll , ebon wing ) , it's better to do it ASAP

Dlc seals , unlike master seals , have a cap of 40 levels , so you want to use them inmediatly even if you havent gotten to level 20 yet as you'll not lose those levels

But ofc , as soon as you use any heart seal on to of your dlc seal it will become the usual 20/20 level cap

Eternal seals are just for post game grinding

Ok that's a lil more helpful. Thanks, folks.

The only one where you really want to wait is for the first promotion, master seal. Since you lose potential skill ups.

The rest don't mess with your XP so you can use whenever although people like to plan it so that you can learn as much skills as possible, with eternal seals though you don't really have to worry about losing skills.

So I guess I should have used my dread scroll right away, then. Odin is already level 15, so I've already missed out on a buncha skills?

scudpool posted...

So I guess I should have used my dread scroll right away, then. Odin is already level 15, so I've already missed out on a buncha skills?

You will still learn them as you level up, but the main reason people like to change earlier is because of growth rates. If you level up as a physical class you get a boost to raising your physical stats and vice versa for magical classes.

Okay. You probably already get it now, but I'll try and lay out the information as clearly as I can.

In Fates (as in most Fire Emblem games) the maximum character level is 40.

However, there are base classes and promoted classes. In your base class, you can level up to 20. Once you reach 20/-, you stop gaining exp.

You then have to use a Master Seal to promote. Once promoted, you become level 1 in the promoted class (20/1) and can carry on leveling up to 20.

Master Seal is solely for promotion. So for example, if you promote at level 15, you miss out on 5 levels' worth of stats. In very niche cases such as high difficulties, you might benefit from the additional base stats you get from promoting, but 90% of the time you want to wait until 20.

Basically, leveling is linear. You can't "de-level", but using a Master Seal will put you at level 21 (Lv. 1 promoted), even though you can use it starting from level 10.

After Master Seal, every other seal type except for Eternal Seals can be thought of as a sideways move. Your level will not change nor will you promote, you will just change into another class.

Most times when using a Master Seal you can pick from 2 classes. Therefore when using, say, a Heart Seal, after you have already promoted, you can select from the promoted options for both your base class and your alternate class. Same thing applies for Marriage and Friendship seals (you can choose from both class options).

Some classes are special classes that level up to 40. This is mostly Songstress and the DLC classes (Dread Fighter, Dark Falcon, Lodestar, Great Lord, etc.) In these cases you won't need to promote, but if you try to switch classes at level 21 or higher, you will be able to change to the promoted classes.

The Eternal Seal is separate in that it adds 5 to a character's level cap. So with 1 seal you can level to 45 (25 in a promoted class), etc. They're mostly intended for postgame usage especially as they're so expensive.

It's not possible to miss out on skills. If you Heart Seal into another class, you will gain a skill on your next level up if you are high enough for it. Example: As a level 12 Hero, you switch to Swordmaster. At Level 13 you will gain Duelist Blow and then at 14 you get Vantage. (15 Astra, 16 Swordfaire).

The only way it's possible to "miss" skills is if you hit the level cap of 40 before you're able to learn all skills for a class, e.g. you switch to Great Lord at level 37, then you will learn the next 3 skills at 38, 39 and 40 but will "miss" out on Awakening at level 40. You can still learn this by using an Eternal Seal and going to 41 however (but it will be pricey).

Also worth noting is that each class has its own individual growth rates, which are added on to a character's base growth rates to get the total growth rates for a unit. For example Sorcerer has +25% to Mag and +10% to Spd, but 0% in HP and 0% in Str. As such it would be bad for a physically orientated character to remain in this class beyond picking up any desired skills.

I hope this makes sense.