Introduction

Hello gamers! After the Arena of Solare Season ended and being the only archer that made it into Radiant Spear in the EU and NA servers, I thought it was a nice moment to give some feedback about the class regarding it's potential and issues in small scale.

It's common knowledge that archer is lackluster in any fight with fewer than 10 to 15 players per team. In this specific case, it has reached the point where other players don't even want to team up with you, or you won't get ever be handpicked to any GvG or Guild League as long as there are enough players available.

It is true that in large scale archer is a solid class since having a constant source of ranged damage has always appreciated in any node war or siege since the game started. That's why after gathering feedback about the class from different players we've come to an agreement on which points should be changed to make the class good and enjoyable in smaller scales while keeping it fair in the larger ones.

QoL Changes

• Merge Light's Path's (RMB) +10 all AP buff and Gissade's (W+RMB) +12 Ranged AP buff on glissade making it +20 Ranged AP buff.
  • Having to use 2 skills to buff archer's AP is currently outdated and wastes time in both PvE and PvP.

• Extend the duration of the protection of the next skills for 0.5s so they link smoothly into other skills:
  • Glide(Shift+W, Shift+A, Shift+D)
  • Radiant Explosion(Shift+LMB)
  • Ensnare(Quick Slot)
  • Zephyr's Leap(Shift+S) when used from main

• Allow to aim Flow: Echoes of the Call where the camera is aiming when holding RMB after Luthraghon's Call(Shift+RMB) instead of following the path of the previous skill.

• Remove the 2nd attack from Verdure Clout(S+RMB).
  • It's unnecessary and just causes to get triggered accidentally when struck during the 1st attack of the skill

• Improve the way Ensnare(Quick Slot) and Earth Judgement(Quick Slot) flow from other skills, right now feels pretty clunky to use any of them

• Change back the critical hit buff from Gaping Darkness(W+E) to Ensnare(Quick Slot).
  • Gaping Darkness is a skill used for movement and the buff often makes you waste the skill in order to get it not being able to use the skill during key moments due to the skill being on CD.

• Speed up the casting animation and moving animation during stealth for Shadebound Beam(Quick Slot), the skill is just too slow for most situations.

• Speed up Double Tap(Shift+Q) since it feels clunky to use resulting in a DPS lose in both PvE and PvP.

• Change the Watcher(Q) skill so we can change our core skills even when this skill is locked or in cooldown.
  
  • We think not being able to swap core skills when our class buff is in cooldown or locked doesn't make any sense, It'd be appreciated if they change the skill so we can change our core skill without having to wait for our class buff to be out of CD.
    

Skill Changes

• Glide(Shift+W, Shift+A, Shift+D): change the protection from "Super Armor during the skill" to "Invincible > Super Armor during the skill".
  • It's a needed change to be able to deal with classes in a shorter range being able to survive for a little longer when pressured.

• Radiant Explosion(Shift+LMB): adjust the damage reduction in PvP from 65% to 50% and add split damage to the skill(Damage -10% per each additional target hit from target 2 onward up to -50%).
  • This should make the skill good for close range SA trade situations or when some protected damage is required while avoiding exploiting the skill in node wars or sieges specially when attacking players in a fort or narrow spaces.

• Covering Fire(A+F, D+F): change the resource cost from the skill from 200 stamina to 70 MP and adjust the damage reduction in PvP from 50% to 40%.
  • Static, melee, small AoE and mediocre damage, we think the change is more than justified considering the characteristics of the skill. Hopefully this makes the skill more reliable for those short range fights.

• Full Bloom/Grand Bloom(Shift+E): merge both skills so the skill can deal damage from both, melee and range in PvP and PvE. Remove the outer arrows making the skill fire 5 arrows instead of 7 and apply split damage to the arrows(Damage -10% per each additional target hit from target 2 onward up to -50%).
  • Grand Bloom is one of the biggest complaints from enemies during NW since it covers an immense area, allowing you to hit targets out of your sight. With this change, we hope the skill becomes fairer for enemy players in large fight situations. We also believe that split damage on this skill is a must, as each arrow pierces through enemies, making it possible to hit the majority of the enemy raid with proper positioning and terrain usage. This change would also help Archers deal damage with the skill, regardless of whether they are at point-blank range or facing large mobs up close.

• Luthraghon's Call(Shift+RMB): Remove It's core skill and change the protection from "Frontal Guard before the attack hits" to "Frontal Guard during the skill", add split damage to the skill(Damage -5% per each additional target hit from target 2 onward up to -70%).
  • Along with Grand Bloom, this is another of the controversial skills of this class due to It's ability to hit a lot of targets in a straight line, with this change we hope the skill is balanced in short range and in large scale allowing archers to trade or use it for quick protected damage at melee while tuning down the skill for NW and Siege reducing a lot the AoE damage caused by an important amount. Is important to consider the split damage change also affect to It's flow "Echoes of the Call". Since there are classes like Wizard or Scholar with less than 6 core skills, It's a good way to update the skill for both small and large scale.

• Spear of Sylvia/Shift+Q): remove It's core skill and make the skill Super Armor by default, remove evasion debuff.
  • After the last changes of the class, the skill got completely nerfed to the point is not a good skill overall due to it's mediocre damage(specially considering It's small AoE), slow speed and being an unprotected skill that is casted after another unprotected skill. With this change we hope the skill can be used as a source of feeble protected damage. We think considering the speed of the skill, super armor is needed over frontal ward for the next 2 reasons: It can't be abused in NW since you will be blasted if you don't position yourself right and considering it comes always or almost always after an unprotected skill, it is fair to give it a more reliable form of protection. This also make the archer vulnerable to some trades if used in the wrong way.

• Gaping Darkness(W+E): Change the protection of the skill from "Frontal Guard during the skill" to "Super Armor during the skill", remove the stiffness.
  • This skill is used as movement in both PvE and PvP, having a skill that moves you forward with Frontal Guard in a class that is meant to kite makes little to no sense, not only drags you closer to the enemy but also makes you completely vulnerable when trying to use it for kiting, leaving ur back completely unprotected for a precious time, considering the skill moves you a limited distance, we think removing the CC and adding SA to the skill is more than fair.

• Uproot(S+F): allow for stamina recovery during the 2nd hit of the skill.
  • Since they reworked the skill, they removed the stamina recovery during the 2nd part, the core skill of this skill gives you certain kiting capability adding SA to the skill, but on It's current situation sometimes using it is a burden more than helpful, allowing the archer to recover stamina during the 2nd part would make the skill good enough to include it as a kiting tool during certain situations.

• Flow: Light's Trail: remove the stiffness from the skill, add Frontal Guard during the skill.
  • A fair update for a static skill with mid damage and negative AoE, having a static FG also makes the skill easily punishable if used wrong.

• Double Tap(Shift+Q): change the knockback effect of the 1st hit to knockdown and remove the CC of the 2nd hit.
  • This change makes the skill usable as re-cc for combos while reducing the range and the AoE of the CC so is not abused in large scale.

Class Bugs

• There is a bug where Flow: Echoes of the Call flows slower if Core: Luthraghon's Call is being used. Video proof: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qXk9Yqaw_5I
  

• There is a bug where sometimes after using side glide and pressing Shift and RMB archer shoots few arrows in an awkward position that reminds to the old tactical strike's animation, this shots can't be cancelled and can happen when trying to use "Glide" sideways into Luthraghon's Call, even tho It's much easier to replicate the bug when the skill is in cooldown(for obvious reasons). Video Proof:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7EajZEdooY8
  

Conclusion

All things considered, this changes should be enough to make archer viable in the small scale scene giving it a bit more protection and melee damage but keeping it weak enough so enemies can trade him or hunt him if they focus it correctly. At the same time the inclusion of split damage to certain skills and the AoE reduction should make archer's large scale less overwhelming for all those players that due to their class can't play with a tankier set up as other main raid classes.

Hopefully if this changes are heard, archer is going to be a class that is accepted and played in the smaller scales of the game and in the next Arena of Solare or any upcoming tournament, Guild League or such.

Special thanks to all the Archers and every player who has provided their input over the past few weeks. I really appreciate it.

Really well made post. Only thing I'd really want in addition to these things is FG on Earth Shatter to help trade potential in small scale, FG over SA, so to not be completely un-peelable without grab. But it would reward good positioning and allow to get some protected dmg off while being pressured. But the rest of these changes are very balanced and even nerf large scale a little, while helping small scale.

I think they could even make zephyr behave as an iframe all the time and do away with the 25%, but with the slide iframe, that might help enough. I'd also maybe reduce the tac strike cooldown from 10 seconds to 7 seconds. It's such a long cooldown, for such a brief iframe. However, since it does have a CC on it, I don't think it should go below 7 seconds. Great post. Hopefully the class gets some love for small scale. Grats on Radiant Spear!

You forgot to mention that archer is critically lacking normal attack speed and animations. Compared to absolutely reactive classes, our speed looks insane bad.

From the last awa witchey on EU in Twilight Spear, to the last archer in Radiant; I'm down to see these buffs happen. Though I'm worried about archers popping off in largescale as a caller, I think the split dmg would probably keep this in tune. Especially given the current meta on uncapped is just "Lol don't die".

Gl, hope PA takes the feedback o7.

Good post. Only thing I would disagree with is keeping the crit buff. It is really only useful for Sunfall/Earth Shatter. Every other skill is 50% crit, so they get capped with +5 Crit and 30% from addon. Would rather have them just adjust the base crit change/damage of Sunfall/Earth Shatter of those and not have a maintenence buff, especially in PVE, on a skill that does zero damage. 

Would also add to this, Marked Bloom's delay on Quick Slot is kind of annoying. As a S+Q keybind hater, I would appreciate if they fixed the delay after many abilities like Radiant Explosion and Earth Shatter. 

I think it would be nice if they split the movement portion and KD. Make the KD a flow (rmb). Then you can make the roll like a 4 second cd and make the flow kd 8. 

Dw about the critbuff, you'd still have It, I'd be back in ensnare instead of having to use gaping darkness, I get for PvE It might be slightly slower but I never had issues with It in PvE when we had It in that skill.

Yea, but I don't wanna press a button on hotbar that does zero damage only to buff a single ability. It makes way more sense to remove it and just rebalance the damage and crit chance of Earth Shatter/Sunfall.

They need to revert Spear of Sylvia back to the spear that he slams into the ground to keep melee attackers at bay.  New version is stupid.  He has enough ranged skills, this is meaningless.

Gaping Darkness needs to be switched back to RMB.  Period.