Promotion Guide for Fire Emblem: The Sacred Stones

Wondering what class you should promote your units to when playing Sacred Stones? I've got you covered. This video doesn't just tell you the basics of who promotes into what using what item, but also gives you advice on what promotion would be best for you. Whether you're looking to low turn the game or just do a casual playthrough, I'm giving you the best advice.
I used the same tracklist for this video as I did for Pitfalls 7 because I love having it in the background. I'm not sure if all the tracks listed here made it into the video but pretty sure they appear in the order below!
Stock Music License:
Creative Commons - Attribution 3.0 Unported- CC BY 3.0
License - goo.gl/NtcFam
Tracks:
A Himitsu - Adventures
A Himitsu - Cease
A Himitsu - Cosmic Storm
A Himitsu - Easier to Fade
A Himitsu - Lucid Dream
A Himitsu - She Closed Her Eyes In Despair
A Himitsu - Two Places
Buddha - Kontekst
Forthr33 - Bay Breeze
Joakim Karud - Dreams
THBD - Good For You

[@polpo8342]

Wdym, I just pick the one with the coolest sprite.

[@omarchowdhury9929]

I go for crit animations myself.

[@ahumanbeingfromtheearth1502]

Two very cultured people I see here

[@alcejaylos.4257]

A conversation I just had with my brother: Brother: *picks Grand Knight over Paladin Franz Me, surprised: "Why?" Him: "Cooler horse."

[@ElHarmonyV]

@@alcejaylos.4257 So we think the same then.

[@eljinetepesadodemagvel2634]

clasic

[@aschphoenix5570]

how i played sacred stones.... "go get em seth!"

[@aschphoenix5570]

also if i remember right i cheesed a lot of my characters leveling (if i remember right) id trap a caster in a corner and have my people hit/heal each other till i was about out of items cause it gave more exp for hitting higher level units i think so it was pretty easy to power level!

[@blunderbus2695]

isn't that how everyone plays fe8?

[@Karlecai]

Fire Emblem: The Sethcred Seths

[@Crouton-]

Hahaha yeah pretty much, fess was my first game and i was like "damn I can rely on this dude his strong as hell..... I'mma use the fuck out of him"

[@cameronthorne7778]

I'm challenging myself to not use him at all, not counting the first few stages because you have no choice

[@requiem6465]

Yeah but the Idea of General Amelia is like she's in a Mec suit because it's so large compared to her. It's like a Medieval Gundam.

[@darkdjinniumbrage7798]

You remind me of someone I know. He likes mechs too

[@Communitychannel2001]

@Taramafor Haikido nobody asked

[@Yes-ey2ko]

@Taramafor Haikido Here comes the fun police! Wee woo wee woo

[@bababoooeey3657]

@Taramafor Haikidoamelia robit go vwoom

[@morrokbyo]

Mecha Amelia is best Amelia

[@jayderson5159]

I'm triggered by you saying Forde sucks tbh. I'll have you know I've played the game 410 times and Forde was really good one of those times!

[@OldVideoMedia]

By sucks in fire emblem people usually mean they suck compared to other people. Forde is a serviceable unit. However compared to Franz and Seth he falls short. Sacred Stones is so easy you can use anyone.

[@ewansturm1479]

He was joking.

[@imjustryley2197]

r/woooooosh

[@thenomorhero3200]

Well compared to Seth franz Kyle or amila if she gose cavalier

[@What-ls]

Royling r/wooooosh

[@ShroudedNinja]

But what you failed to consider is that lute's sage sprite looks better than mage knight.

[@emperorflick]

Extremely true

[@splinter360]

Nah I disagree man

[@azurerider812]

And also, Sage ignores sand penalties. MK cannot.

[@ClexYoshi]

I've always kinda loved generals and have a soft spot for them, even though I know they're terrible for rank stars and they often (literally) fall behind, but... especially the GBA games and their sprites for Generals are so damned cool the way they animate. I've ALWAYS preferred them over paladins. it kinda took Path of Radiance and Radiant Dawn for me to turn around on Paladins.

[@stevenmcqueen7433]

ClexYoshi but rd had one of the best generals ever (gatrie)

[@thelegacyofgaming2928]

Marshall Gatrie says hi.

[@guardianofthetoasters2323]

Fall in love with them after fighting the emperor. That dude made me realize that spamming Seth all the way with just an iron sword was not the way to go.

[@VoicelessRabbit]

Agreed. I ALWAYS made Gilliam and Amelia into Generals and used them as consistent marchers through story and endgame tower and ruins. I only ever made Kyle and Franz into paladins.

[@WWE2KUNIVERSEELITE]

One of best critical animations in fire emblem.

[@givecamichips]

It would have been super sick if Rogue got 7 move since their whole thing is being the quick, shifty types who are just better thieves, and thieves have 6 move. Having a 7 move unmounted unit would have made Rennac a cool choice.

[@donglong8688]

That's the Assassin's shmuck though, they're more suited for battle.

[@smaragdchaos]

Never understood why don't Assassins and Rogues get extra move with promotion, they kinda deserve it as utility units. It would at least give players better incentive to promote thieves instead of just lol silencer and higher caps in speed and skill. At least as Rogues they don't lose anything with promotion, but Assassins have to give up on steal, which makes this promotion highly questionable. Extra point of movement would make the losses so much more tolerable.

[@pyr0_jack]

rogues not having 7 move is likely a result of all promoted mounted classes bar paladin, pegasus promotions and wyvern promotions also having 7 move, meaning that in a literal sense (as well as to "balance" gameplay), having a person on foot be able to move as far as someone aided by a mount is ridiculous. personally I feel all promoted mounted classes should always be 8 move but it is what it is

[@givecamichips]

@@pyr0_jack But Sacred Stones Troubadours have 6 move, so a Thief could already match one mount, as well as any promoted foot unit. Thieves are the only class that can't improve their mobility on promotion. And this Thieves and Rogues are utility classes it wouldn't break the game to let them reach chests or doors a turn earlier, and since they don't have Canto the 7 move mounted class would still have a movement advantage. Assassins should keep 6 move since they (theoretically) keep the Thief utility while becoming useful fighters. Rogues double down on Thief utility, and nothing would be more useful than extra move.

[@smaragdchaos]

@@pyr0_jack Great Knights and Troubadours are already slow and on par with other promoted units on foot + thieves, so that argument makes no sense.

[@shikitohnoreal7199]

My Personal Tip:Just do what ever you want because Sacred Stones is so easy anyways.

[@vigorouspringle8962]

The Cringe Lord of Time and Space True I replayed the game promoting everyone to the lesser viable promotions and it was still a relatively easy run even creature campaign

[@BlueMountain1992]

Totally agree. Personally, even though some classes are worse than others, I like to have one member of each class. I just don't find playing with 5 paladins fun.

[@vigorouspringle8962]

GreatKnightJ RNG Abusing Silencer on Colm, Marissa, and Joshua was a lot of fun against all the Draco Zombies

[@GabrielNascimentoNovaes]

Agreed, and you still going to have Seth if you screw up

[@MudFan]

1. No because everyone is a bad unit 2. No because *you need to be optimal*

[@x.ocaleb302]

My friend : all the characters are really cool and can be used effectively, you cant just rely on 1 person Me : Seth go brrrrrrr

[@Marathon.52]

Seth do be going brrrrrrrr though...

[@louiesatterwhite3885]

Tbf, Seth can literally solo the game

[@dialgasdreaded9367]

@@louiesatterwhite3885 final boss: I see you brought seth with you... and you maxed out his str... should I just quit right now or...? Player:.......? Final boss: is that a no? Player: *nods aggressively* Final boss: shit.

[@zedokaiba6047]

Casual FE7 players: I equally level and promote my characters because everyone is good except pegasus knights. Me: Go and kill every boss Marcus

[@FungisWizard]

I turned gilliam into a full crit tank, nothing could touch him

[@JTB312]

Shaman is correct. Shaymin is a Pokemon.

[@VestedUTuber]

Next PME NEEDS to have a Shaymin in it because of that.

[@fishboi1891]

cant wait for the fire emblem pokemon crossover

[@mysticmallachi777]

@@VestedUTuber RIP PME

[@ThatGuyThai]

@@fishboi1891 they're called nuzlockes

[@YaBoySheeny]

@@ThatGuyThai😂

[@davidgeorge1943]

Fun fact: if you promote Ewan to a Druid, his Anima rank will reset regardless of what it was as a Pupil, meaning that if Ewan had C Rank before promoting, it'll still go down to D.

[@Bluzlbee]

imagine as I kid, I thought all the kid chumps were S tier characters cause like pokemon, they get 3 class changes, so clearly like magic karp, you work hard for good results, and of course I ignored Seth cause my team was Eiraka, Ross, Neimi Artur, Lute, Ephraim, Tana, Amelia, Tehthys, Marisa, L ARachel, Ewan, Knoll, It still went well cause Marisa was over leveled and dodged everything, and of course, she's also bottom tier -_-

[@enigmatic3194]

@@Bluzlbee ahaha. The only trainee I had in my original playthrough was Ewan because I love magic. Even though Artur was a sage already, and not to mention that Saleh was also there.

[@HeIsAnAli]

Druid Ewan, General Amelia, and Berserker Ross. And I paired off the Druid and the General.

[@iBloodxHunter]

@@HeIsAnAli Summoner Ewan, Druid Ewan is really good but Knoll makes a bad summoner.

[@shellpoptheepicswordmaster755]

Why does knoll make a bad summoner? His summons have better stats.

[@benjaminborkowski12]

But meeeekah! everyone NEEDS a pink General!

[@ravensburgerburger3989]

Benington RED

[@benjaminborkowski12]

Ravensburger Bürger oh shit, you‘re right. I always had her pink in my mind...

[@ravensburgerburger3989]

Happens to the best

[@grottosstuff]

just use Wendy Kappa

[@Starwars-Fanboy]

I'm colorblind and confused rn

[@massalzheimers4021]

I sadly keep falling for the "Promote only at level 20" OSD. Personally it feels wrong for me to promote units earlier.

[@tayclark42]

MineTFlame ikr I'm the same way lol

[@CaptainCFalcon]

I mean, there's never any actual harm in promoting as early as 15 or something, but instantly after Lv 10 you should feel bad. Not to mention, he made it sound like those "few points" don't really matter. *_THIS IS FIRE EMBLEM._* *_EVERY POINT MATTERS._* _You're supposed to get a _*_panic attack_*_ whenever you see a _*_1_*_ by that enemy Crit._

[@DamienDarksideBlog]

Especially in this game, I just grind the Tower which takes very little time and then I got units who are 20, extra stats and MAX STATS

[@myssledissle]

I do them at level 15 usually unless I want them to be op, some units I do at 13 if they get amazing growths, and I only do child units in fates and awakening at level 10

[@MarsofAritia]

but how will you get a sick link arena team if your promote before 20?

[@djad4118]

Tldr of entire comment section: “Paladin Amelia is overused and general is better” “X-class isn’t better then Y-class because the utility’s are different not comparable” “I used X-class because the animations where better.” “This game is too easy for any choices to seriously matter...” “Lol first!” (Standard KZbin comment)

[@adriananinoartigas5880]

DJ AD lol

[@astra8815]

Me: I made Ross because the animations were better. Also me: This game is too easy for any choices to seriously matter.

[@catfish8716]

" I used X class because the animations were cooler" Literally me

[@jake72002]

Paladin Amelia is best as tank but not very good for attacking. General Amelia is more balanced, IMHO. Not sure about Great Knight Amelia.

[@heitorgomes5267]

The game is easy because we have Seth

[@dynamicworlds1]

The main advantage of the rogue's pick skill isn't that you don't have to worry about running out of lockpicks, but that you don't have to spend an inventory slot on the ability to pick locks, which can be very useful in its own way.

[@HeIsAnAli]

Less combat, more utility. It’s why I run double Rogue in my plays: Colm and Rennac as my rogues make chest raids twice as quick. Give Assassin Joshua the picks, and that’s a Trinity of Raiders.

[@FabulousJejmaze]

There is no way that ever matters on a sword unit

[@Rengor1997]

New pitfall - every single time Mekkah forgets how FE8 Great Shield works (enemy level%)

[@EdwardoFE]

wait it goes off of ENEMY level? I never knew.

[@pez1850]

+Edward P I T F A L L

[@BamdTheBamd]

Promotion Guide for Fire Emblem: The Sacred Stones but every time Mekkkah forgets how FE8 Great Shield works the video is sped up by 10%.

[@airtempest8945]

That's how all Sacred Stone trigger skills bar Silencer work. Pierce, Great Shield and Sure Strike all prock off of enemy level.

[@damiendristig2263]

@@airtempest8945 cough cough slayer

[@davidthole3409]

Joshua carried the shit out of all of my playthroughs. I loved him as swordmaster and assassin alike, but assassin is definitely one of the coolest classes out there. Also fell in love with Jaffar when I played Blazing Sword so there's that.

[@chrisf.9595]

Too bad it's like the shittiest class in both games

[@smaragdchaos]

@@chrisf.9595 Both Swordmaster and Assassin kinda suck in FE8, so the promotional choice hardly matters to be quite honest.

[@xdelta6964]

@@smaragdchaos honestly, im my runs in both sacred stones and blazing sword the assassin's i used, jaffar/colm we far more superior than the swordmasters.

[@smaragdchaos]

@@xdelta6964 Jaffar in FE8?? But eh, I'm not even surprised why you would think this way. While swordmasters are supposed to be better on average mathematically (higher caps in STR, DEF and RES vs SKL, a more viable ability in 15% crit boost vs lolsilencer and extra lockpick user), both classes are just so unimpressive that there's no real point to actually having them.

[@xdelta6964]

@@smaragdchaos ahh shit i meant fe7 my bad lol. And im just saying that the silencer procs on the assasins were more useful to me, no need for a paragraph bud.

[@mauvedragontiddies9244]

Mekkah doesn't like the rogue animations? Unsubscribed, unpledged, burned down merch.

[@ahyes9470]

I was tempted to do the karnage exp joke only so I could say Slendy salty

[@rhysofsneezingdragon1758]

Merch? He had merch?

[@michaelmagnimedia3331]

The joke flew over your head but still joke arent neccessary factually correct

[@atomicboy2687]

Eh, I don't like animation either.

[@randomuser5663]

It’s actually really bad

[@mini-cafetos9410]

Its great how you took this oportunity of new subs to do more guides on older fire emblems. Keep up the fire emblem quality content, its really amazing

[@hozus.7330]

One of the things missed for going Mage to Mage Knight is the extra CON gained over going Sage. It's more relevant for Lute due to her lower base CON and higher promotion gain, going from 3 to 6 instead of 3 to 4. Mage Knight Lute gets an extra 2 points of AS for any tome stronger than Fire since tomes seem to be as heavy as rocks in this game. And for some reason, light tomes are even heavier while doing less damage. Why???

[@sebastiansanchez763]

Hozu S. Because crit I guess... I would like it if every light tome in fe8 had at least 5 more crit or just be as heavy as their anima counterparts.

[@sterlingmuse5808]

@@sebastiansanchez763 I don't think they really need that, specifically because FE8's RNG seems skewed more in the player's favor than the other GBA games.

[@michaelmagnimedia3331]

@@sterlingmuse5808 you mean like the game not that hard unless you set your own sadistic rules for the rng to have a confirmation bias....looks at fe6 yeahhhh i take that back fe8 best rng

[@smaragdchaos]

@@sterlingmuse5808 Still no reason for light magic to be heavier than anima magic. Light magic already is a very bad magic type in GBA titles, no reason to use any other magic other than anima.

[@liamgw9208]

You could say light magic is already..... "Light".

[@BlazeTaleo]

0:24 “most of fe8 resembles fe7 and fe8” Uhh

[@skyblade57]

I mean, he's not wrong. all of fe8 resembles fe8.

[@Persoon56]

One would hope it would resemble FE8, I'd be concerned otherwise.

[@lsrrr3857]

I would really love to see how fe8 doesnt resemble fe8 though

[@Karlecai]

Nah I think FE7 resembles FE7. But FE8 does not remind me of FE8 at all.

[@darthr0xas363]

lsrrr something Now that's a hack I want to see

[@kirbymastah]

PLEASE UPDATE YOUR ACCOUNT TO ENABLE 3RD PARTY HOSTING

[@stephendevita6587]

Knights Crest is new DLC, didn't you know? Only $3.99/month under the update.

[@samuelwirrick890]

How bout you not telling him what to do? Go to hell and let the man be, moron.

[@newlicent]

Samuel Wirrick *r/woosh*

[@stephendevita6587]

This is tru

[@michaelmagnimedia3331]

@@samuelwirrick890 well that joke flew way over your head (i mean the all capital sentence already strongly hinting its a joke)

[@rocco7041]

Your vids have gotten so much better since the beginning Keep it up

[@General12th]

To be fair, there's no way they could have gotten _worse._

[@Mangs1337]

He has learned from the best.

[@Mekkkah]

yeah dondon is pretty good

[@Mangs1337]

ಠ~ಠ

[@kirbymastah]

Correction: Great Shield is 1% for each level the ATTACKER has, not the general itself. I know, silly game :(

[@cowaylon1681]

"I am an advocate of promoting fairly early in gba games" Unless its Cormag in an Fe8 100% growths run via Ephraims route, uh huh

[@mudkipofdespair1684]

Matt Gorman wait What?

[@LightNeko91]

I personally tried to get every classes in one playthrough, never cared about having the best characters possible, in any case it is not too difficult to win against the AI.

[@GeneralHorace]

Wyvern Knight is most definately better combatwise but Falcoknight allows you to rescue higher con units. Generally the pegs are fast enough to double anyway, and depending on your team Falcoknights might be more valuable in transporting people around if you're using dudes like Gerik/Ross/Garcia/Kyle.

[@Mekkkah]

but why carry around ross when he can waterwalk everywhere just like jesus? checkmate atheists

[@ltranc]

You rescue Duessel because he's a big boy. Checkmate elitists.

[@fantasan8540]

General Horace he also didn't mention triangle attack with 3 falcoknights

[@Teh67chrome]

Aid offering the best pro for a Falcon Knight is still pretty depressing. This is made worse when you consider Pegasus Riders have better Aid than Falcon Knights, encouraging a lack of promotion if you actually care about this. Syrene is also perfectly capable of fullfilling all air shuttle duties once you obtain her, and her stats are pretty solid: nearly identical with Thanny's (or Shanna's) at the same level.

[@Cloontange]

Tbh, I pick falco because that Wyvern Knight Pierce bug that crashes the game has gotten me too many times. So I don't use Valter

[@keneor4468]

For the knight part, I usually picked arround role playing or balance choices. Like Franz looks up to Seth so he'll rather be a Paladin, if I'm using an other cavalier then he'll prolly get Great Knight because I'd like to have one for variety sake. That's also why for example I'd make Ewan a shaman so I can have one of each dark magic class with knoll and Ewan x) . This is a very casual approach though, great vid explaining various pros and cons

[@TriAzF]

A casual approach isn’t a bad approach, but it also isn’t optimal. If it’s fun though than that’s what matters. I also sometimes enjoy making units into what I think fits their personality or story especially on my first time playing each fire emblem, though most of the time the first difficulty I play on is normal or easy, where choosing the less optimal classes isn’t as detrimental.

[@Gnarly109]

My way of playing, *COLLECT THEM ALL*

[@Peculiar_L34R]

I see you're a man of becoming pokemon master as well

[@guilhermeveloso1754]

Two

[@knightenchanter7908]

EXACTLY.

[@silverthedruid4754]

I second this. I find having more diverse units more interesting than having 6 Paladins and 9 Warriors

[@hennyzhi2261]

I'm glad mage knights get the extra boost to con because this is the last game I've played where I like the mage knight design/animation. They gave all of the non-dark magic users in Awakening those stupid overused mage hats and a sword in the case of mage knights... because utility is less important to a magic using class than having a magic based gimmick weapon.

[@smaragdchaos]

Unless you're Nino. Nino can use spells without being able to read.

[@cruelcumber5317]

I don't know how extra movement, being one of the relatively few classes that give movement on pair up, and being able to actually take advantage of the weapon triangle (as rare as that might be relevant) isn't considered utility.

[@nicolaspendragon3582]

@@cruelcumber5317 The extra move is always appreciated. However weapon triangle is nothing compared to staff utility. I atleast would take warp, hammerne and rescue over swords any day of the week. Add to that the fact that by the time you've promoted to mage knight, or in Awakenings case dark knight, your anima rank is high enough to use stuff like Thoron it isn't really worthwhile to train your sword rank to get the Lewin sword while if you had staves it would be worthwhile because of those three staves i already named aswell as others like fortify and physic.

[@chrom-manandrobin7983]

Excuse me, but did you just say that Great knight is better than General? Ok, then answer this! Can the Great Knight hook his lance into his enemies and pull it back with a cool chain? I didn’t think so.

[@Gamerdude535]

Generals have cool animations yeah. And I do appreciate them getting swords too. But would have liked their animations a little more if they had shields in their sprites lol. I usually make Gilliam a General but am considering a Great Knight Gilliam for new playthroughs. Still pretty tanky, still will have good Con. and have more movement than General.

[@bagelpenguin6499]

"Ewan wants to learn flux, but he only knows four moves, delete a move to make room for flux?" Fire

[@lorenzo689]

Underrated comment ^^^ Overused comment

[@Suntro]

Anna was hot af in FE8

[@yes1667]

Lrdvltr preach

[@thelegacyofgaming2928]

FE8 was her prime.

[@lambtoken2708]

@@yes1667 yikes

[@dean2103]

Limstella : am joke to you

[@muhammadghifari2379]

who is Anna?

[@clownfishautozoophilia5828]

It's interesting getting insight from someone who takes the game much more seriously then I do, I always thought promoting early was a bad thing might have to give it a go in one of my play throughs. I always loved maxing Ephram (how ever you spell his name) and then seeing everything but luck hit max stats it was so great.

[@michaelmagnimedia3331]

Ephraim

[@soulmate5589]

Can someone stop this madman? I can't handle all the Sacred Stones love.

[@thelegacyofgaming2928]

Gerik is the coolest Merc.

[@mystergamer0750]

DIECK!!!

[@MinniMaster]

I keep coming back to this video ‘cause it’s so good to play in the background and chill to.

[@MoreNimrod]

I love the summoner class. I used to always use Ewan to bait some of the harder bosses like Valter and just use up their weapon uses...

[@jean-sebastienperron1334]

I remember doing that when I was young and thought i was so smart haha

[@Mito383]

I made Amelia into a General and I have 0 regrets. Don’t let your memes be dreams.

[@tackthewise6421]

“Forde is bad” Well in Sacred Stones that doesn’t matter

[@Cloontange]

I usually beat the game with one unit per chapter because stones is THAT easy. Zerker Ross is just ridiculous

[@thelegacyofgaming2928]

@@Cloontange I can't do that with anyone but Ross. Everyone else ends up dying. Then again I don't grind when I play

[@skeletonwar4445]

@@thelegacyofgaming2928 you telling me you managed to get Seth killed

[@rocroif3324]

@@skeletonwar4445 That takes actual skill

[@Mario-dm4or]

Pls I need ur pfp

[@Niko_gamer-nq4xd]

I got nothing better to do so, this are my choices when promoting units: •Franz: Paladin •Gilliam: General •Moulder: Bishop •Vanessa: Falcon Knight •Ross: Pirate > Berserker •Garcia: Warrior •Neimi: Ranger •Colm: Assassin •Artur: Bishop/Sage •Lute: Sage •Natasha: Valkyrie •Joshua: SwordMaster •Forde: Paladin •Kyle: Great Knight •Tana: Wyvern Knight •Amelia: Cavalier > Paladin •Gerik: Hero •Marisa: SwordMaster •L'Arachel: Mage Knight •Ewan: Shaman > Druid •Cormag: Wyvern Lord •Knoll: Summoner

[@mystergamer0750]

My Choices Franz > great Knight Ross > pirate > berserker (better than Seth?) Neimi > ranger Colm > rogue Lute > mage knight Arthur > sage Joshua > sword master Natasha > Valkyrie Amelia > Knight > general (#Pink) Tana > falconknight Ewan > shaman > druid L'arachel > Valkyrie (why not?) Cormag > Wyvern knight Knoll > summoner

[@joshuagabrielcatindig7607]

Alterations: Marisa: Assassin Franz: Great Knight Forde: Paladin Kyle: any Lute: Mage Knight(cuz Con)

[@emanatingauras4017]

My path when I finished sacred stones (just today, actually! It was fun): Frank: Great Knight Gilliam: didn’t use Moulder: didn’t promote Vanessa: Falcoknight Ross: Pirate -> Berserker Garcia: Hero Neimi: Sniper (look I get sniper neimi is bad but that was my instinct on first playthrough. She was decent but Innes outclassed her) Colm: Rogue Artur: Bishop Lute: Sage Natasha: didn’t use Joshua: Swordmaster Forde: Paladin Kyle: Paladin Tana: Falcoknight Amelia: didn’t use, but was going to Cavalier -> Paladin Gerik: Ranger Marisa: didn’t recruit L’Arachel: Mage Knight Cormag: didn’t recruit, my dumbass Ewan: didn’t use, was considering Shaman -> Druid Knoll: Summoner

[@saltyralts]

@@emanatingauras4017 Marisa murdered herself on Franz for me. What happened for you?

[@emanatingauras4017]

@@saltyralts I was playing blind and tried to get Eirika to talk to Marisa. Didn't work, so I had no idea who was supposed to recruit her. In retrospect it's probably Joshua, but I don't think I had him deployed that map.

[@irbricksceo]

But neimi's sniper sprite is so great! I've never used a ranger in Sacred Stones. Ever.

[@CrickettoSantalune]

I used once and she became better than before. Good speed, attack, can defend in enemy turns with a sword, and can support my other cavalries with her Longbow :D

[@frds_skce]

I never promote neimi as sniper

[@yarndanoncekigun.7638]

Normal sacred stones is bad for meh. Play randomizer or self randomizer due

[@thelegacyofgaming2928]

@@yarndanoncekigun.7638 what?

[@complicatted7236]

They should have invested more on Neimi animation. Her hair should be cut short. They could do braids on Rebecca (and I love it! Though when she promotes to Sniper she takes Louise animation. Strange) so I think cut the hair short is not a problem at all. Anyway the animations in FE8 are so lazy for most of characters (like Garcia, Moulder should have different animation (Garcia as a Hero; Moulder as a Mage and Bishop) too since their appearances are different from others, Garcia is older and buffer and Moulder is older with a mustache. Just some more details and it will attract people more I believe.

[@ISayEssays]

I always make Amelia a general because it amuses me. I imagine she operates the hulking suit of armour with a series of levers and pullies like some kind of medieval Gundam pilot.

[@jahvonnecombs7189]

So basically it’s like a medieval power armor.

[@CatManThree]

"Most of FE8 resembles FE7 and FE8"

[@TheParappa]

Thank you for the guide! I'm a very casual FE-player and usually only use charaters I like rather than how useful they are. Same goes for the classes where I choose which one looks cooler (I love the Rangers) - but to know more in depth what they are actually about is certainly helpful.

[@poompoom3495]

It's hilarious how there are so many dumb comments on this video in 2019. Like if its 2012 it would be more believable.

[@rosaparks6479]

Ikr?

[@CrickettoSantalune]

I personally prefer mobility over extra power. I can have units with outstanding stats, but moving 5-6 squares won't make them enjoy the battle when a good 7-8 unit can do the job quickly and better. I did a cavalry + flier run (+rogues) and it was really funny, also made me discover that my favorite class is the Ranger/Bow Knight

[@flickerr.6775]

Bow knight?

[@shellpoptheepicswordmaster755]

Ah, I picked ranger gerik to actually have a good Bow user and I love rangers/nomad troopers.

[@gravity8120]

I had a playthrough where I had ridiculously lucky defence increases with Colm. Even as an Assassin he became one of my most reliable units just due to how hard he was to kill. I generally promote units into classes that support their stats, but RNG can impact that quite a fair bit.

[@smaragdchaos]

Same, I capped Colm's defense quite a few times before without needing to use boosters.

[@yetidk4309]

I've always found Kyle is considerably better as a Great Knight

[@Starwars-Fanboy]

Yeti Dk It's hard to go wrong with Kyle but I do like having a tanky Kyle . I already have Seth and franz anyway so having a GK is cool

[@CrickettoSantalune]

In my first SS run, I made Kyle a Great Knight. Holy shit, he rekted everything!

[@frds_skce]

Same as me. Always promote Kyle to Great knight

[@blastcharge4031]

Yup GK Kyle is literally invincible at level 15

[@Cybertechwerewolf]

I wait until level 20 to rank up because on sacred stones, it's so much easier to level up later in the game as well as getting a big Stat boost when you class up, so they become so much more powerful than the pre-promoted characters (such as Innes or Seth)

[@windhelmguard5295]

still not quite as necessary as in FE-7 since there aren't any evasion ignoring enemies that hit for fixed 40 damage.

[@givecamichips]

I think adding Light Magic onto Sages was the best class decision in this game. It's good gameplay wise and lore wise for Sages, and it's good UX-wise for Bishops. Sages are said to be "advanced scholars if magical codices" and it works from that standpoint, especially since Athos, and Guinivere could use light Magic. It's good gameplay wise since it means you don't have to use Artur or Moulder to make use of the light tomes you get, even without a prepromoted Bishop. You can use Saleh. I always like when there's a prepromote who can use the weapons you get, because it encourages experimentation and can lead to finding new favourites. Sages using light Magic also makes Bishops feel better because it provides a clear example of Slayer working. Normally Sages have more attack since Anima is stronger, but Slayer makes up for that. Since you can have Lute and Artur using the same tome and see the damage difference for yourself. I think that's good game design, and again it encourages varying your classes from playthrough to playthrough.

[@berserkersam9118]

I like your suggesstions Mekkah and agree with your reasoning, this was a very informative and helpful video.

[@Scorpion122178]

Summoner is the best class hands down. Those Phantoms are invaluable on the last level of Ruins in creature campaign to bait the zombie dragons while keeping your party safe.

[@smaragdchaos]

Summoner is the most pointless class in the game actually, destroying Draco Zombies isn't hard to do either with their extensive weaknesses to legendary weapons, wyvern slaying weapons, slayer skill, bows or whatnot. If you want to summon things so badly, just wait until you get Lyon, because as a necromancer, Lyon has OP af stats and can summon much more powerful phantoms that are actually able to kill their enemies.

[@Scorpion122178]

I have three summoners(including Lyon) in my file, while Ewans are pretty worthless, Knoll's does kill enemies regularly they just don't have the best evasion.

[@smaragdchaos]

Yeah, this is why Summoner's summons are worthless, because their summon's stats are half-assed. Ewan's summons get a lot of luck whereas Knoll gets high strength on them, meanwhile Lyon gets the best out of best on his summons. Necromancer > Summoner all the way, summons are not enough of a reason to justify running weaker combat unit than Druid, especially since Druids get Anima magic that counters Light magic.

[@lookslikedekulink]

@@smaragdchaos You Really cant use Lyon as a Counter Argument, he is a Postgame Reward and the Very last One actually, so there is barely any incentive to keep playing CC After him joining

[@smaragdchaos]

@@lookslikedekulink Well, imagine if Lyon was available much earlier and before CC. What point would be there in using Summoners then? Necromancer's late availability is the single saving grace for Summoners, and that's it.

[@BrentOfMan]

I really enjoyed Assassin Colm it was such a good meme and he was my best unit even though I knew he was bad he somehow got so blessed and became God

[@andresestevez1149]

Thank you Mekkah for putting the music in the description not alot of KZbinrs do that for videos like this.

[@Thecommander248]

I appreciate it, my man. I've played Fire Emblem for a long time, but I never really paid attention to the meta so it's interesting to learn about it.

[@quanma1232]

Go full cavalry and BOOM! Scorched Sand

[@dudhhrmcdudhhr6071]

BOOM! Necroposting.

[@rosaparks6479]

@@dudhhrmcdudhhr6071 fuck you

[@JosephHk743]

This is a nice video to look at to know when I start playing Sacred Stones for myself! Thanks Mekkah!

[@givecamichips]

They could have made Sure Strike cool by instead making it a bonus roll for crit (Edit: or a copy paste of Pierce), and Snipers should have had a boosted crit rate anyways.

[@spikeyswords]

so sacred stones was my first fire emblem game and i loved loved loved it. i saw this in recommended and thought id give it a look and... I DIDNT EXPECT YOU TO TELL ME EVERY CHOICE I MADE WAS THE WORST POSSIBLE ONEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE x.x.x.x.x ehem. thank you for explaining the error of my ways lol

[@MaxBurnHeart]

Quality video. More of them! Especially in 144p aka. the perfection.

[@otisduane]

I didn’t watch this video for the longest time because the title made me think you were just explaining how the promotion tree worked when you were actually giving good analytical advice for best choices, timing, etc

[@xBox360BENUTZER]

would have liked to have promotion bonuses displayed for each promotion

[@CidYoshi]

I always turn Amelia into a Knight and I have never regreted it.

[@BruhBruh-er3vw]

Of course you wouldn't, fe8 is easy

[@gabrielbitencourt1879]

Yeah me too. General amelia is cool

[@Ragnell123]

The formatting is weird in these tables. The promotion item should go before, or to the the left of the promoted classes. That way it actually lines up with what classes use what promotion items more clearly.

[@ChillstoneBlakeBlast]

Ragnell123 from what I can tell, they were made with basic HTML skills.

[@Jamstaro1]

Wait your telling me people used anything but Seth?!

[@mage_fighter21]

Seth is one of the most broken unit in the saga, so not using him is a waste

[@GrassPokeKing]

MageFighter687 I use him to earn me money in the colosseum, does that count?

[@dudhhrmcdudhhr6071]

@Taramafor Haikido That is completely false. The issue of pre-promoted units “stealing” EXP is very much overblown. Seth is in fact the best unit in the game as he requires no training to one-round everything that isn’t a boss and has great growths on top of that. Also, your best other paladin, Franz, has these averages at level 20/1: 37.2 HP, 15.6 Str, 13.6 Skl, 17.5 Spd, 9.6 Lck, 12.75 Def, and 5.8 Res. Seth has these average stats at level 8 (Franz will likely be around level 21 at this time): 36.3 HP, 17.5 Str, 16.15 Skl, 15.15 Spd, 14.75 Lck, 13.8 Def, 10.1 Res. As you can see, Seth has a negligible one less HP and 2.35 Speed (enemies in fe8 have very low speed so that doesn’t matter much) and large advantages in other stats: 1.9 Strength, 2.55 Skill, 5.15 Luck, 1.05 Defense, and a massive 4.3 Resistance.

[@picklejuice7041]

@Taramafor Haikido Pitfall alert

[@chasethegamer108]

@Taramafor Haikido You realize Seth has some of the best growth rates for a Jagen. Using Seth is not a waste Seth can be useful in endgame . Most Jagens fall off at the mid or end point of fire emblem. You can solo the entire with him on hard or normal.His bases are really good. Seth is the best charter in sacred stones

[@GatorRay]

If I'm being honest. I promote Amelia to Knight and then General because I'm already satisfied with the number of Cavaliers already available in Sacred Stones and I find it interesting to see an armored unit that can double consistently. (Even though as someone who hasn't played the Tellius Duology I can already say that I'm gonna pass on the Brom's daughter from RadiantDawn that last time I check BlazingKnight couldn't stand) It's just a simple matter of preference and I understand why other people choose Cavalier because I made Amelia a Cavalier in my first full playthrough of Sacred Stones.

[@Druid-T]

tim5fl Meg is a knight with a 35% in DEF, avoid her like the plague

[@GatorRay]

+TonyPower I know. Trust me I've seen Green Scorpion's least favorite Fire Emblem Units list and he had Meg at the number 9 segment. To quote him twice "And that Speed growth. Not so good given how low her speed cap actually is" and "You can pour bonus experience into her but WHY!? Gatrie & Tauraneo are stronger Generals with comparrible Speed. Even her own father outshines her"

[@freelia4209]

god ur stupid face fart

[@GatorRay]

@@freelia4209 Sorry this comment WAS SO STUPID in retrospect. Three years later and I wish IS scrapped Amelia after making Tana princess of Frelia instead in the final game. I swear she's only in the final game to give Franz a potential GF.

[@NamelessNotes]

One of your best videos tbh this is like my 5th time watching

[@MegiDolaDyne]

One thing I don't think was mentioned in the video: Valkyries get a bonus to EXP and Mage Knights don't. It's probably still not good enough to put it over Mage Knight because the extra level-ups still might not be enough to make up for the deficit in power and CON, but I thought it was worth bringing up.

[@Orcawsom]

Valkyrie's get a bonus to EXP? I've tried looking for this information after seeing this comment but couldn't find another mention of this.

[@MVCx_xB]

I made Lute a sage initially because I liked the sage aesthetic more, but training her light magic skill and slapping a Mending on her, she's pretty much able to be an offense blitzer mage, healer/staff bot, and Shaman + Monster killer. That's like 3 things other classes are specifically good at in 1

[@saschastrehl9462]

In my entire Playthrough of Sacred Stones I have never seen a skill activate once. I didnt know half of them existed

[@yschnippo6507]

It's easy to notice the slayer skill for bishops since it always activates when attacking monsters.

[@Moody1110]

What?

[@monomanamaniac]

Summon is the best ability in the game if you're playing honestly because they let ewan level up and they save you money, plus you can draw your enemies with them

[@jacobmorales1878]

Holy Shit 720p

[@GuyNamedGray]

Basically, if it has better movement, that's the one you want. Unless it's Gerik promoting to Ranger or anyone into Assassin. Don't do those things.

[@NinjaSox7]

Movement good ye

[@sed1589]

What if its wyvern knight vs wyvern lord

[@GuyNamedGray]

@@sed1589 skills and stat growths, I guess. Whichever one suits what you need more, or if you really want to capitalize on what someone's best stats are. I'm not even that good at the game, just giving my 2 cents, I guess.

[@sed1589]

@@GuyNamedGray yeah I would say make him whatever he needs more. If you early promote and need some speed go knight but if he speed looks okay and he needs more bulk than go lord

[@sed1589]

@@GuyNamedGray more often than not I would go knight though

[@neph312]

Anyone who doesn’t go Berserker with Ross is playing the game wrong. Also always go ranger over sniper and hero. Also Knoll is a summoner.

[@poeland2510]

ONII SAMA What if you're an obsessive completionist that want to have a team with all classes?

[@Cloontange]

Summoner? I've always picked druid for the stat caps

[@neph312]

Michael Hawk unless you’re 20/20ing and/or using tons stat boosters, caps don’t matter as much. Summoning>stat caps

[@Niko_gamer-nq4xd]

Poe Land that's me

[@catfish8716]

I use Druid Knoll because the Summoner sprites look VERY ugly (Ps yes I'm a filthy casul)

[@ajshell2]

Having just beaten FE8, and only just now seeing this video, I'm happy to see that the decisions I made lined up with yours (except General Amelia, which I made for memes).

[@JustFunkiiOfficial]

Mekkah: "Now, if you have Gilliam and you're stuck with the Knight class, you should go great knight." Me: But general is so coollll!!! he has a large stabby attached to chain and stabs it into bad guy to really make him feel the ouch😮‍💨😩

[@DrewPicklesTheDark]

I always just went with Speed/LTC Run = highest movement promotion (or most potential damage if movement is equal such as the case of wyvern vs. falcon), CC = highest caps/weapons available, bishop being the only exception." For example Amelia (you wouldn't use her for a speed run, but just for the example) would be best as a paladin because the cavalier is waaaaay better then armor knight when running through the game, and after promotion paladin has the highest move of her options. When running the CC (or maybe link arena I guess) general is the obviously superior choice due to the highest stat caps, weapon triangle control, great shield skill, and the ability to max movement with swiftsoles so she is as good as a mounted unit. With maxed stats and potential taken in to account, paladin has absolutely no advantage over the general other then moving in hills, which I think isn't a big deal since they basically never appear in the CC.

[@miniblacktigers6302]

Until chapter 17 I did not realize the falcon knight could use swords.

[@SirePuns]

When in doubt, pick swordmaster. It might not be the best class, but it sure crits a lot.

[@nathanturriff7663]

I read the comments and listened to this video just to realise how i play very differently to anyone else. First, i always promote level 20 (the ocd forces me to) second, gilliam into general then kyle into paladin. Neimi into sniper ross into berserker, joshua swordmaster, marisa or colm assasin, lute always sage and from my (i think) 6 playthroughs, i have never used a single mage knight. Vanessa becomes a wyvern knight and cormag a lord. Ive never gotten a super trainee yet though

[@Crouton-]

Nah that's a pretty typical setup imo, no offense.

[@ahyes9470]

Thanks for this guide, I've been dealing with annoying people who say you should promote at level 20, also 2:44 Seth calm the hell down

[@iColm]

I generally like Rogue Colm with a killing edge for his low attack. High def and spd lets him run around and solo maps but it requires investing in his stats early in the game. c:

[@daniel58710]

dae combat thief

[@catfish8716]

Anna blessed me and my Colm became Jesus. With his Neimi support he had about 30 crit with an iron sword

[@frds_skce]

Colm It is pretty irony seeing that *YOU* use *COLM*. * COUGH COUGH *

[@jaredowen6930]

if you like colm thats cool but hes no mattew the real og theif

[@lakkimacchiato]

jared owen The og thief is julian, thank you.

[@SeraSer4phic]

Me who already memorize the split promotion by heart and replaying the game multiple time to have different promotion: What an informative video!!

[@rhysofsneezingdragon1758]

I'll be honest, I prefer using great knight Kyle. I feel like his growths suit it's bulky set up.

[@NinjaSox7]

This is Mekkah though, he doesn't care about growths at all

[@sirwolfy9372]

I like Sacred Stones map system since you can retreat from skirmishes. And by that, your progress isn't compromised and if you are going to lv up in the first battle, you can just reset the game and try again if your chosen unit had a poor lvl up or having another unit that is gonna lvl up also to reset and have a better idea to manipulate the lv ups. ( I did this SO MANY TIMES TO EIRIKA TO LV UP HER DEFENSE!) And then you retreat from the skirmishes and do it again with the next unit. It is SO HELPFUL.

[@nova338]

This was super interesting! It is kind of a bummer how objective so many of there are though.

[@aperson6505]

I hope FE16 keeps branching promotions while making them more balanced. Kinshi Knight and Falcoknight was interesting since they offered different utility, like an anti-flier Flier and a Rally-Speed + Staves guy.

[@ChillstoneBlakeBlast]

Worthless Narrator Branch promotion is not so unbalanced in modern FE, as reclassing is an option. While I agree that some classes are way better than others, atleast one can compesate for having better promotion bonuses with the other having more usefull skills

[@nova338]

Blake Blast well, Modern FE is unbalanced in other ways. Hahaha

[@samthomas7253]

Idk why but I feel urged to use Great Knights, Wyvern Knights, Summoners and Mage Knights since they're exclusive to Sacred Stones. I'm currently on my 1st playthrough of FE8 (I've been neglecting it for a while) and I have Tana, Vanessa and Cormag ALL AS WYVERN KNIGHTS. I just love 'em.

[@YuvonGrohiik]

I think it's a bit strange that on the one side you argue that early-promoting won't make you miss out on much (1-2 stats), rather you get to use a more powerful unit for longer, but then you argue that Forde direly needs the little STR upgrade he get's on Great Knight to maybe get on par with other units (As he is about 1-3 STR behind Kyle from my experience). I'm not exactly disagreeing with what you're saying, just interested in the response you would give to this potential critique.

[@Mekkkah]

2 points of strength is pretty big when it's your base. To get 2 points of extra endgame strength by delaying promotion you'd have to do it for four levels, which is a pretty big commitment when your EXP gain is like 15-20 per kill. Especially for a unit that has as much trouble killing things as Forde does. I know on paper it doesn't seem like much but no matter what Forde always tends to be short by 1-2 points whenever he wants to kill something. It's in his DNA. That's why extra strength + axes could salvage his combat a bit. It doesn't help that the speed difference between him and Kyle is only 1 pt, and Kyle is not exactly known for his speed.

[@YuvonGrohiik]

Good points, it's just unfortunate as I really like his character. Great Knight could help him get a bigger difference in speed too, 1 maybe 2 points if you're lucky while still lacking 1 strength is not too bad and would be acceptable (even good) as a Cavalier if he didn't suffer from the huge loss in move compared to Paladins, GK's should've had 7 move, really. But I find that Kyle can still double where it's important so it doesn't even help that much. All in all I don't think it matters too much for casual players, especially in a game as easy as Sacred Stones, but you can't really argue for Forde without skimping some points. Great and informative video, though, Mekkkah! Really liking the content you put out recently!

[@NinjaSox7]

Mekkah basically growths "don't matter", right?

[@LuzCeleste114]

It's weird hearing about promotion when I started fire emblem I remember a friend of mine telling me I should always wait till 20 before promoting. That was way way back when blazing blade first came out, and it just stuck with me I never promoted anything before 20 in all games I've played. Hearing what's optimal is so strange to me I understand why, but, I probably will continue with my sub optimal ways good video tho.

[@darkjackl999]

Luz Celeste i mean optimally is going to 20 as u get max stats possible but efficiently (aka doing a no grinding run) you want early promote so more people can get their share of xp

[@leafgreenbeast]

the tower of valni not only lets you max everyone before promoting for free, it also lets you easily savescum levelup points to avoid anyone getting rng-screwed

[@zacharychristensen519]

I don't know if this is well known or not, but if you have a level with an arena and a shop, you can just level your units infinitely (without the tower) and get infinite money. There are two like that in the game, chapter 5 and Ephraim's chapter 12. If you have rank up materials you can have most of your units fully maxed on chapter 12. You don't have to worry about wasting kills, breaking weapons, or having to grind healers. It does take a while. You can also do this on Eirika's chapter 10, but it'll take much longer because if you don't have a ton of heal staffs, you might end up having to heal by sitting on forts, since there's no shop.

[@kai_824]

Will you do this type of video on the other FE games

[@Mekkkah]

i recommend promoting cavalier to paladin in other games too

[@kai_824]

Mekkkah lol true

[@koenwebb4157]

Mekkkah I agree. Almost EVERY case a Paladin pleased me more than a Great Knight.

[@strinkfamily1940]

Amelia and Forde are good Great knights tho

[@darthr0xas363]

Yeah, I don't know what to promote to in Radiant Dawn.

[@SpiritofFive]

Not gonna lie, I've always hated using mounted units, since my playstyle typically tries to keep the whole group together in most 1-path situations.

[@justaburger3457]

yeah

[@ninja-xh7hk]

Why not just promote all of the magic users to sage knights? I hear they are viable.

[@thelegacyofgaming2928]

sage knights... :)

[@michaelmagnimedia3331]

Lol sage knight oof 100

[@sandunakalanka112]

Big brain time

[@OmegaCKL]

What about Archsage-Great-General - All Magic, a mount, extreme stats, its just better.

[@scaryshit24]

@@OmegaCKL don't forget all weapon types and bows

[@jamysonjoestar3293]

i needed to write this for my dad and this just made it 10 times easier

[@tinchosabala]

Wait. Your dad plays FE?

[@KCBtheAMIGO]

With Amelia i prefer her evolving into a knight because I don’t think I need another cav when you can get 3 cav, 1 paladin and a great knight

[@elijahbaisa886]

@Kevin Bravo Exactly

[@s3lbstm8]

Better have a unit that wont reach the frontline in time while your cav killed everyone.

[@pk_flamethrower]

Am i the only one that always went for sage because it looked cool and had more magic?

[@Onotosho]

I like using ewan and knoll as summoners to pick off some easy enemies while they focus on the stronger ones.

[@giraffedragon6110]

I have a question. Do you know of any guides posts anything that just goes over “what weapon/class is favored in each game”? Cause I’ll occasionally hear something like awakening magic, being weapon locked in ______ sucks. Etc.

[@septimus5202]

I find Amelia is best as a General. She has good speed growth so that negates the regular downside of the knights. Just give her the boots to get 7 move speed and you have a super tank on wheels.

[@FloraOfTheCats]

give a gander to the video on amelia that this guy did. you were featured!

[@septimus5202]

xD Oh no....

[@vishnuteja2533]

put the boots on tethys, she will be able almost any unit covers twice their movement, except the mounted units still they can move quite a large distance. you can make a general come on the front lines(10 movement most of the time), heal another unit or perform rescue drop operations or make a strong unit defeat a threatening enemy, I am not saying using boots on a general is wrong, I am just showing a different view.

[@catfish8716]

My Amelia in the General class can double Swordmasters. Her defence does leave a bit to be desired though

[@smaragdchaos]

Amelia is the best general no doubts, in PvP anyways. I don't think anyone plays PvP these days though, or Link Arenas at least for that matter.