So I have a Wiz3Ele3, and I am currently on that party grind. I have always been the least interested in archers since I find them to be boring (and a year ago many people thought they were worthless). I was just curious to see if that has changed. Do archers still suck late game? No party synergy, bad pvp, etc
Any higher level archers have some input?
Currently reached Lv143 and pausing so that my friends can come and catch up to my level and my experience has been that Archers are strong, both in PVP and PVE. And here are some of my opinions during my playtime.
In PVE:
Depending on what kind of archer you went, you can deal consistent and steady DPS while on the move, kiting and positioning yourself well in boss fights. You would truly be the âranged dpsâ or sometimes even the âmelee dps (rogues)â like most regular MMORPG. The difference is that, we donât have the incredible bursts or big CCs that wizards are able to do, but our autoattack still hurt and it contributes to the taking down of mobs/bosses.
In PVP:
Iâve sparred often with my Barbarian friend and itâs quite sure that Archers can â â â â on melees, as long as they play it smart and not let the melee come to close. Iâve not sparred with magic users, but I think itâs who can kill the other faster/better.
In groups:
Archers can be considered the âmainâ core of ranged DPS. Where melees have to dodge left and right on some boss moves, I can still stay safely close enough in range to unload all my damage and autoattacks and that archers can be incredibly nimble with Swift Step (that evasion is delicious too). I have also tanked bosses because I was able to evade most of their physical hits if it is a physical boss, but archers are inherently weak to magic since it donât miss.
So no, I donât think Archers suck now. I like the class.
Here is some archers doing archer things⌠In ET they look great. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VBgDqdi6Jxk
No elementalists in sight, just a Linker3 and a little circling is all they need. You do want circling though⌠Have you heard of circling? Our lord and savior of all archers and non-infinite ground target classes everywhere.
Archers are in a much better state than they were before. Most classes do well PvE wise and some even at PvP.
Archers+ were never worthless and they have always been one of the best class choices. Theyâve always had good single target DPS or either multi target burst depending on the build path from day one. That doesnât exactly mean they are better than other classes in every situation though.
Well, wizards will always dominate us in AOE dmg, but we still put good numbers and have superior single target dmg (boss fights).
Level 280 cannoneer here.
Well, IMO, itâs more because of how good frost cloud is. If youâre looking for high AoE dps, then wiz3/ele3/wl is probably the best one out there. Even after the nerf, frost cloud still have aoe ratio of 15, excluding the base aoe ratio from wizard themselves. It has big area, and does multihit.
The thing about circling and archerâs aoe in general is that, you still need to rely on linker most of the time to group them up together, whereas frost cloud doesnât.
I have a question, is circling really good? does it really help the party a lot? like Linkers? or it is just so-so and the party can survive without it?
Just as linker, itâs not mandatory but it helps, especially during those events at storage/abby where there are hordes of mobs coming at you. Honestly though, it helps archers/swordsman more than it helps wizard/cleric.
I probably wouldnât go AoE as Archer. I went the Ranger3/Fletcher3 traditional route and Iâm starting to find AoE is not the way to go as Archer. A Wizard will always do a better job than you in terms of AoE. Single Target is where we shine. Fletcher3 Magic Arrow does very good single target dps IF the boss stands still. But if I can go back in time, I wish I went more of a Auto attack build like Archer3/QS3/XX. Sure they do not have great AoE in that class but they at least have a role where no other class can out shine them, which is single target dps.
I see, so still Link > Circling? since all class benefits from it. and Archer/Swordsman do not have enough AoE Atk Ratio thatâs why Circle helps a lot.
I have a question, do you regret getting Falconer? xD haha
Well, itâs always Linker > Circling as long all of the mobs can be linked, otherwise itâs the other way around. Some mobs are also immune to link (from what I can see), like those nuos at Abby.
Just a bit, but then again, that opinion might change once people are doing ET runs.
well, canât relate since i havenât reached that area 
yeah, i saw some videos using circling in ET runs.
btw, howâs your world boss experience? do you always manage to get the cubes from the world boss? howâs DPS on your build?
sorry if i keep on asking you 
Cannoneer is about burst aoe, not single dps. I donât think I need to say more.
so you havenât tried world boss hunting? i mean im just curious if you are able to get some cubes when hunting 
meaning you can out damage some DPS characters.
What I meant was the that dps is so shi.t that you wonât be getting cubes. Trust me, Iâve tried.
holysh⌠hahaha my plan is A2>R3>Sc>Musk
what do you think? need to change to A2>R2>F3?
since Archers are not that good in PvP, then might as well be good on world boss hunting? whatâs your opinion? or stick with my original plan?
Iâm still A2>R2 atm.
I think if you wanna boss hunt, your best bet would be fletcher 3, or maybe wugushi. Either that or find some fletcher to carry you for wb.
Thanks for the reply. I would have replied sooner but I kept on getting a forum error. Yeah, I personally am not a wizard fan, but my party needed one. I would have preferred to play a monk or something more dynamic, but good luck leveling one in a party (no one wants you). I am especially worried about starting a âbadâ character once the level cap increases and leveling will get that much harder. Did you solo most of the way to 280?
Archers were notoriously bad a year ago. Yes I know they have great single target dps, but thatâs not exactly the most relevant in a party setting (aka all late game activities). PVP is pretty worthless right now since melee classes are so gimped, so I didnât really expect any insight on that front.