Read the class transition before the stat arrows
A promotion is a decision about what the recipient becomes, not merely a larger number on the same card. Begin with its current class and the options displayed by the game. Then consider which option gives the army the role it lacks. A familiar ancestor does not make every descendant perform the same job.
When several candidate cards share a class name, do not count them as several new branches. They can be variations of the same class with different traits. Compare the skill and trait text before deciding whether one candidate fits your existing recipients and support.
Jester has two documented first directions
The observed Jester choices include Ferret Tamer and Trickster. Ferret Tamer leads to the recorded Ringmaster promotion, which is the cooldown-support direction discussed elsewhere in this guide set. Dastu’s separate player report names Illusionist as a follow-up to Trickster. Later branches beyond those named points are not established by this reference.
Those sources have different strengths: a recorded promotion panel supports the Ferret route, while an October discussion supplies the Trickster follow-up. Keep that boundary visible when checking a current candidate. The map helps you recognise a choice; it does not replace the current prompt.
Choose the Ferret route for a support job
Ferret Courier advances an ally’s remaining skill cooldown in the recorded candidate tooltip. Ringmaster’s Ferret Express reaches more allies. This gives the branch a clear army question: which useful skills will benefit, and will those allies still be in the team after the absorption choices you are planning?
A large recipient surrounded by no useful allies is a different plan. Keep the team’s contribution in view rather than promoting solely because a guide names a later class. Candidate traits and your actual support targets can make one version of the same class more suitable than another.
Read Trickster as a different purpose
Dastu’s report describes a temporary conversion of non-boss enemies for Trickster and a wider version for Illusionist. The important planning detail is the non-boss restriction. An effect that alters normal-enemy pressure should not be counted as a way to disable the final boss.
If that branch appears, compare the benefit during normal waves with the independent damage and survival the rest of your army provides. We do not have a full current tooltip or a measured uptime benchmark for this route. Treat its report as a candidate to inspect, not an exact simulation.
Prism Slayer begins a separate reported branch
plum reports Prism Slayer offering Dullahan or White Knight, with Dullahan then promoting into Phantom. That is a separate starting point from Jester. Do not use a colourful rare summon or a shared screenshot as evidence that the two class trees are interchangeable.
The report gives Dullahan a mobile attacking role and White Knight a defender role. Phantom’s later awakening availability is not established: the player did not see one in that run. Check the actual unit options rather than transferring Ringmaster’s three awakening checkpoints to this branch.
Let the unit’s own progress decide the next step
A recorded Jester and a recorded Ferret Tamer have different promotion progress denominators. Those examples are useful precisely because they show why a single universal promotion-level rule would be misleading. Read the current bar on the recipient and the gain offered by the proposed absorption.
Class promotion and awakening are separate decisions. First confirm the class you reached, then inspect its own awakening requirements. Before consuming a valuable donor, ask whether the offered gain reaches an actual next choice or merely moves a number while removing a needed army role.
RECOGNISE THE NEXT OFFER
A branch is
a different job.
Recorded and player-reported paths are shown separately. Exact progress bars and current candidate traits remain unit-specific.
THE NEXT USEFUL CHECK
Before the next choice.
Page-only preparation checks. Reloading clears these ticks.QUICK ANSWERS
One more useful detail.
Are all promotion requirements the same number of levels?
No universal requirement is established here. The documented examples show different progress targets; use the current recipient’s displayed bar.
Does Phantom use Ringmaster’s 30/60/100 awakening sequence?
That is not established. Ringmaster supplies that recorded sequence; Phantom’s own current options must be inspected.
THE SOURCE DESK / DEMO 0.4.1 CONTEXT
The reference behind
the next decision.
The publisher establishes the demo systems and updates. Detailed unit and effect examples are attributed 0.4-era observations. Our build plans and tier letters are editorial learning advice, with no claimed playtest or damage benchmark.
Open the references and their scope
- PublisherOptima Arch — official Slotbound Demo ↗
The 3×3 machine, absorption, Random Stats, Imprints, Items and Cores; demo identity.
- PublisherDemo 0.4.0 — The Jester Arrives ↗
Jester, Deep Cave through Normal, faction beta, Awakening, item rework, controls and planned Early Access.
- Player discussionInaqea, Dastu and plum — Jester setup and class reports ↗
October player reports on effect jobs, Jester branches and Prism Slayer. Values and outcomes are bounded to those reports.
- Independent guideSlotbound Hub — documented class branches ↗
Recorded Jester/Ferret/Ringmaster route and separately reported Trickster and Prism branches.
