Best use for second seals

[egernant7]

Playing on hard, first time, Chapter 9, no grinding. I have several characters passing level 10, my unit is at lv 19. 1 master seal and 4 second seals. I'm trying to figure out where I want my characters to end up in terms of skills and class. Can't decided the best way to go about it. Few examples below:

#1 - Sumia
Want her to end up as Dark Flier. Also want Gale Force, I suppose sooner rather than later. I could master seal now (level 15) then level up to get gale force, but then what? I'm the class I want to end up as, but I've no doubt left skills on the table by not going through the other two base classes. Should I second seal right away to a new base class, then wait to hit up Dark Flier when I'm satisfies with skills?

#2 - Kellam
Same idea. Want to end up a General with the skills of a thief / assassin/ priest / etc. Should I be second sealing now and as often as possible? I'm at level 10, should I wait a bit to level more quickly?

#3 - My Unit
Plan is to use a master seal now so I can get the Grandmaster skills. Is grandmaster a good ending class or is it best to pick a different one? If I master seal now, what is the best next progression? Do I class hop to other promoted classes? What if there are base class skills I can't live without? Should I second class now to get those before promoting? I guess I just don't get the different ways to build a character.

Can someone walk me through a general life cycle of a character in which skills and classes are changed to maximize efficiently? I'm really just looking for some general do's and don't's.

Also, please don't tell me that its my choice and I should just play the game. Just looking for some insight into how to best achieve my goals.

TLDR:
I know the ending classes I want for each character, but want to class change to get some skills before settling. What is the best progression to do this most efficiently? What levels are best to use second and master seals? 20? As soon as the skill is achieved? How do I do this but avoid slowing my exp growth drastically? Are there any do's and don't's in terms of promoting and unpromoting back and forth?

Thanks guys

 

[silversurfer092]

When you say no grinding, does that mean you haven't grinded yet or you won't be grinding? If it's you won't be grinding, it seems a bit silly to me. ANYWHO, I think that you should def change to get the skills you want the soonest. If it's the class you want them ending up as and you're only on Chapter 9, you can easily get the skills, change class to get more skills, then change to that end class again.

 

[egernant7]

I've never grinded in fire emblem. Its never been necessary, and wasn't even possible in some games. That's what I loved about fire emblem, grinding wasn't a part of the game. So if it is now necessary (especially on hard mode) does it just consist of random map encounters? I'm not buying DLC. Is grinding the only way to get the most out of skills and character building?

 

[silversurfer092]

To be perfectly honest, the grinding in this game is fun. I fully enjoy doing it. Does it get old after a while? Yeah. A few hours later, I'm grinding again though. I grind when I watch TV and I watch a lot of TV in my off time. You can buy Reeking Boxes, which creates map encounters wherever you use it. I grind to get marriages going and support up moreso than actually gaining levels.

 

[egernant7]

I guess its the same reason I limited arena abusing in previous installments: I didn't want the game to become easy. I've always felt like grinding breaks the game. Anyway, I'll give it a go. Just not sure when I'll know when it's too much.

 

[_Kharybdis]

I'll try my best to answer your original question, though I think most of it is probably common sense once you think about it.

#2 - Kellam
Same idea. Want to end up a General with the skills of a thief / assassin/ priest / etc. Should I be second sealing now and as often as possible? I'm at level 10, should I wait a bit to level more quickly?

I'll use this for an example. If you're ending in General, I'm going to assume you will skip the Priest skills. Your leveling chain should be like this:

Knight 1-10 -> Thief 1-10 -> Assassin 1-15 -> War Cleric 1-15 -> General 1-20 -> General 1-20 -> maxed stats

You want to use as many second seals as possible before you promote. That keeps your internal level low so your EXP growth won't suffer. And make sure you promote directly to something you want. Once you've promoted, class swap after getting the lv 15 skills when relevant, or level 10 if not so you don't have to use another Master Seal.

You could optionally wait until level 20 each time before you reclass, but I would discourage it once you have promoted. You will be gaining XP much slower then, and you don't want to waste it on levels that aren't working toward skills.

TLDR: Swap among baby classes to pick up skills you want, reclassing at lv 10, and saving the class with a good promotion for last. Then jump around in the promoted classes going through lv 15, saving your final class for last.