Archers are way stronger than you might think…
The whole class is broken because of one handed bows, rapid fire crossbows, kiting, overly strong weaponry, aspd buffs etc.
The thing you might be aggrevated about is that the proportion between skill and autoattack is not as large as in other classes, because Archers are supposed to autoattack more. Archers can easily outperform a 5x 5 star gemmed Five Hammer Cleric/Swordman when autoattacking because their bows/crossbows have abnormal bonus damage stats, not to speak of “cannon”/pistol class subweaponry. Then there’s that cheater Hackapella class which can use swords as subweaponry…
Unable to reload his crossbow/one handed bow, yet can still attack anyway.
Pets are still quite useless (especially because they use up a character slot), but still better than having no companion at all as a Cleric e.g.
Disabling an enemy several seconds is not so bad for 1 Circle of Hunter.
Of course Archer is a one target killer. How is he supposed to kill multiple targets with a bow? Ever tried to “Double Strafe”? I did with my bow in rl, and it works, but you’re not supposed to hit multiple targets with a bow/crossbow/Hand gun/blow gun/etc.
AoE should focus only on Cannoneer and Sapper if you ask me, that’s enough and requires tactical gameplay the Archer class otherwise lacks.
In the end, Archer is not trash, Archer is just badly balanced and too focused on autoattacks. They should buff classes like Sapper and Fletcher to improve real gameplay instead of running around and spamming skills/ keeping the autoattack button pressed…
Effortless, non-brain gameplay is boring trash after all.