Archer

''“One thing you never forget about is the running. Everybody was always like, why are we running all the time, what do we look like, soldiers? Then I saw Charles gutted on a sword and everyone bathed in ashes. You grow to love running.”''

Archers are quick ranged units.

Description
They lack the tanking capability of Soldiers, the AoE capabilities of Mages, the distance and damage of Catapults, the speed of Dragons, and are only as effective as micro permits, but that's all the advantage that an Archer needs. Their decent speed and the benefit of range allow Archers to avoid damage easily and make engaging into them a nightmare. Any player underestimating the strength of these bow-wielders can quickly expect to be punished for overlooking their grouped strength.

Abilities
None

Upgrades
Attack Upgrade

Increases the attack damage of your Human units.

(Grants Archers +1 damage per upgrade, up to +5)

Defense Upgrade

Increases the armor of your Human units.

(Grants Archers +1 armor per upgrade, up to +5)

Speed Upgrade

Increases the movement speed of your Human units.

(Grants Archers +0.25 speed per upgrade, up to +1.25)

Range Upgrade

Increases the range of your ranged Human units. Has no influence on melee units.

(Grants Archers +1 range per upgrade, up to +5)

Usage
Range

With slightly less range than a Watchtower, Archers are excellent at providing damage behind solid unit walls, in chokes, or in other narrow areas. Their range also enables them some kiting ability and lets them pick off weakened units or Workers in engagements, while also enabling multiple Archers to fire into a single area despite being split from one another. Finally, range enables Archers to attack Dragons cost-efficiently and zone out Airships.

Micro Capability

A combination of 5 Range and roughly equivalent movement speed to Soldiers means that each Archer can be split separately to avoid incoming damage from enemy Soldiers, Dragons, Mage Flamestrikes, and Catapults to compensate for their comparatively low Hit Points and damage. Players with strong micro can multiply the effectiveness of their Archers through unit positioning, concaves, split formations, and hit-and-run tactics.

Surrounds

Despite the success that can be bought with Archers through micro, Archers need to also have good positioning. Archers will melt to Wolf, Soldier, or even Worker surrounds as they will not be able to kite away from the melee unit and will be taking excess melee damage.

Micro Needed

Archers possess below-average Hit Points and DPS and have no extra utility such as spells, flight, or AoE damage to compensate them in a fight. This means that they struggle in direct engagements and require babysitting to get added efficiency. This means that Archers are a heavy burden to the APM of a player that is using them and require considerable concentration and that a moment of inattention can destroy an entire army of Archers.

Development
1.74: Hit Points increased from 60 to 80

1.80: Unit vision increased by 1

1.81: Reduced weapon delay from 0.2 to 0.1

1.95: Riflemen are now Archers; slightly increased attacking delay. (Their DPS is still the same, but it is easier to micro against Archers now)

2.00: All units' cost have been lowered and some production times reduced

2.30: Increased weapon delay from 0,35 to 0,45