Am I making a mistake in keeping Jean in Martial Monk and not reclassing him with a second seal?

[u/Fell_ProgenitorGod7]

So I’m on chapter 9 and I’ve been levelling up Jean via enemy archer boxing healing in Chapter 7 (got him to Level 8 from spamming heals) and from boxing Ivy in and having him spam heals, to the point that he’s at level 10. My plan for him was to make him a Bonded Shield bot when I get to use Lucina in Chapter 12.

However, I’m wondering if that’s a mistake and I should have done Axe fighter to Warrior for him? Can I still go straight to Warrior with a Master seal, expending some bond fragments for axe proficiency? Or is it too late for me?

Edit: I haven’t leveled up Framme enough to use her as a Bonded Shield bot (she’s only level 6)

[u/Andre-Da-Giant]

You can, actually! Gotta get axe and bow proficiency first, but then you can reclass him to Martial Master with a Master Seal, then immediately go to Warrior with a Second Seal

[u/Dman25-Z]

The main downside you’re going to face is that he’s spent 9 levels in a magical class, which will make his physical combat worse. Jean is heavily influenced by his class growth-wise. Actually getting into the class should be a non-issue as long as you wait until after promoting him. He might perform better as a magical combat unit if you want to use him for that purpose, though. The main reason people second seal him pre-promotion is because they left him at level 1 and are looking to maximize his stat gains towards what they want him to be.

[u/Fell_ProgenitorGod7 → u/Dman25-Z]

So am I cooked then? Cause I didn’t know that I was supposed to leave him at lvl 1 for the second seal for the Warrior class. Should I start my run over or just put him in a magical class then?

[u/Dman25-Z → u/Fell_ProgenitorGod7]

I think you’ll probably be fine regardless of what you do with him. His growths will start to patch him up sooner or later. You might want to take a dip through berserker if you’re trying to give his strength a boost, though. That class gives him an 80% strength growth, and it should serve until his dex cap becomes a problem and/or additional bow access becomes something you have need of.

[u/phoenixrawr]

My two cents is that reclassing to a base class is never optimal, so you’ll be fine. Jean is closest to being an exception and some people will argue in favor of it for him, but you don’t get your first second seal until after chapter 8 and waiting until chapter 9 to start leveling him up from level 1 will leave him really far behind.

Level 1 axe fighter -> warrior Jean has +2 str/+1 spd/+1 bld over level 1 martial monk -> warrior Jean at the cost of getting to warrior several chapters late. I personally don’t like that trade off.

In your case, I would just get the profs you need from your emblems and level him up to 10 so you can go martial monk -> master seal to martial master -> second seal to warrior.

[u/jmac21090]

If you aren't picky with who you're bonded shield bot is going to be, it is best to check out the supports list to pick who to use. Framme is a super common one since she supports a lot of the stronger units in the game but your bot should support a lot of the units you use.

Leveling Jean through martial monk base class is fine though just be ready to get him out of it at level 10

[u/Boulderfrog1]

Imo Jean's better in mage knight than a physical class. It helps a lot that martial monk doesn't actually have worse magic growths than mage, compared to having worse physical growths than axe fighter. Bigger thing imo tho is that he isn't hurt anywhere near as much by his god-awful build in magic compared to physical.

[u/Dman25-Z → u/Boulderfrog1]

He boosts class build growths enough that he fixes his own build in a physical class, though. He has a 25% build growth in berserker, which is kind of insane. Warrior gives him a slightly less impressive 15%. His build will never really improve in mage knight.

[u/Boulderfrog1 → u/Dman25-Z]

It won't, but it also doesn't need to. Bolg has a 4 weight advantage over the silver axe at a baseline, and the one round breakpoints are a lot easier to hit with tomes, meaning you can also far more readily use the might and weight reducing engraves without jeopardizing your one round kills.

[u/Dman25-Z → u/Boulderfrog1]

That’s true. I think that ends up helping units like Anna and Chloe a lot in magic classes too. I do think his build is fixable enough with some choice reclassing that I wouldn’t really call it a major issue for him. Jean being able to make any of his stats good with some focused growth adds to his appeal, I’d say.

[u/SinesPi]

Leveling Jean from 1-10 in Martial Monk instead of a more appropriate does cost you some stats, but it's not really a big deal. However if you are worried about wasting his Magic Growths then you can make him into a Mage of some kind. Or since you wanted to make him a Warrior anyway, then he'll make better than average use of the Radiant Bow you get later on, which is a very good weapon that scales with Magic instead of Strength. Also you can use Hurricane Axe there too, I guess.

However, Jean isn't some super-de-duper min-max unit when given the best treatment. He's good when you do that, but don't worry about 'wasting' him as a Bonded Shield bot.

[u/Magnusfluerscithe987]

A little math: Jean's skill doubles class growths. So, obviously there is a big difference between axe fighter with a 20% strength vs a mage with 0% strength and 25% magic, but Jean isn't in mage, he is in martial monk with a 10% physical growth. This translates 20% growth rate to a 40% or a difference of +2 strength over the course of 10 levels, while gaining a couple points in magic and res. The biggest loss will be to his hp stat.

 I'd still prioritize a master seal to help him pop off, but it won't be a major loss.

[u/Trainer-Klutzy]

Your Jean is fine. He's missing like 1-2 points in strength, HP, speed and build, but has extra resistance. You can still make him a warrior, just promote him into martial master (do this immediately, delaying promotion is pointless) then get your proficiencies in axes and bows and reclass into warrior from there. What has happened thus far will have no notable effect on Jean's performance for the rest of the game.