I hear a lot of talk about how archer class sucks, and yeah it’s no calculator or monk but it’s a lot better than people give it credit for. It’s just not explosive or flashy so people don’t really care for it.
Concentration is amazing, it ignores all dodge, miss, or block chances for a guaranteed hit. It only gets stopped by counter abilities like archer’s bane or shihiradori.
Setting an archer up high with a longbow and concentration guarantees damage every single turn, they don’t have to spend as much time running to get to the enemy and concentration ensures damage is dealt.
And while the damage isn’t impressive, that can also be fixed. Aim isn’t flashy, but it lets you min-max your turn by tweaking your damage to match your target’s CT gauge just before they get their turn, or before they cast a spell.
That last but is important because Archer can exploit weaknesses more easily than other units. A mage casting a spell and running off requires a knight to stick out their neck, but Archers can just charge up a shot without being in the line of fire whatsoever.
Archer with Arts of War is brutal, too. Being able to rend armor and weapons (and stats too in a pinch) massively increases their utility. Breaking a units helmet can set up the rest of your team to jump him. Breaking a units weapon can give your team a break. Rending a mage’s MP stat to make them blank, or rending their MA to reduce its potency can swing the fight in your favor.
While not capable of brute-forcing their way through encounters by sheer explosive damage, Archer’s provide extremely consistent value turn after turn and rarely have downtime where they’re just setting up. They aren’t flashy, but they are reliable.
