Archer

The Archer Job Class beomes available early in the game and is one of your best classes during the first chapter. Archers are your first fighters that can attack from a distance, preserving their own safety while delivering solid attacks that can help  whittle an enemy down to the point of death. They are decent attackers and defenders, with the ability to equip Shields and mid-grade equipment. Archers are a good complement to your party in the early stages of the game, with the Charge skill set that may or may not be worth buying, depending on your strategy.

In battle, Archers belong in the middle and back, causing havoc from afar. They can use bows to attack enemies from a high position on the battlefield without fear of retaliation. For this reason, it's a good idea to turn at least one character into an Archer during the first half of the game, but after you reach Goug Machine City and Guns become available, I would much rather change classes to take advantage of the more powerful long range weapon.

Equipment

Weapons: Bow, Crossbow
Shield?: Yes (Only with Crossbows)
Helmet: Hat
Armor Type: Clothes

Charge

Name	Description	Range	Effect	Vertical	MP	Speed	Jp	Useful?
Charge +1	Charge up your weapon to do more damage than a normal attack.	Weapon dependent	1	N/A	0	Quickest Charge	100	Rarely
Charge +2	Slightly stronger than Charge +1	Weapon dependent	1	N/A	0	Slower than +1	150	A little
Charge +3	Stronger than Charge +2	Weapon dependent	1	N/A	0	Slower than +2	200	A little
Charge +4	Stronger than Charge +3	Weapon dependent	1	N/A	0	Slower than +3	250	Sometimes
Charge +5	Stronger than Charge +4	Weapon dependent	1	N/A	0	Slower than +4	300	Sometimes - Best charge to use
Charge +7	Stronger than Charge +5	Weapon dependent	1	N/A	0	Slower than +5	400	Sometimes
Charge +10	Stronger than Charge +7	Weapon dependent	1	N/A	0	Slower than +7	600	Almost never
Charge +20	Strongest charge attack	Weapon dependent	1	N/A	0	Slowest Charge	1000	Not really

The Archer's skill set of Charge attacks follows a simple premise: you charge up your weapon over time to do more damage to your enemy. If you time it right, you can use this skill to eliminate your enemies in fewer attacks and free up other units to concentrate on different threats. If you always remember to check the AT list when using Charge abilities , you can guarantee success and maximize damage.Unfortunately, there are two problems with this skill. First, if you are killed before the attack is released, no damage is done and your previous turn will have effectively been wasted. Second, if the enemy's turn comes up before you release your attack, they can move out of range and avoid the blow. Enemies also frequently dodge Charge attacks, so you may have to equip the Concentrate Support Skill to make sure that your attack succeeds. If you want to purchase the skills in this set, I suggest investing in the first six, as they do not take much longer to execute than regular attacks and deal out slightly more damage than normal attacks. I usually found Charge +10 and +20 to take too long to execute for them to be worth the JP, but they might be good attacks if you combined them with the Short Charge Support Skill. On a side note, you can use charge attacks with any weapon, but I find them to work best with a long range weapon like a Bow or Gun.

As a secondary ability, Charge is an okay skill. It may be helpful in eliminating enemies faster early in the game, but I didn't find it powerful enough to bother with after I progressed through the game. You may want to give it to somebody in the first half of the game, but I suggest switching to a better support skill later, when more powerful and practical abilities are needed. Also, if I was giving this skill set to somebody, I would want to give it to somebody with a long range weapon.

Reaction Abilities

Name	Description	Trigger	JP	Useful?
Speed Save	When a character takes damage, his/her Speed increases by 1	HP Damage	800	Not really
Arrow Guard	Increases your chance of evading Bow/Crossbow attacks	Bow/Crossbow Attack	450	Early in the game

The Archer has decent reaction skills. Although I never really found Speed Save to be useful, it is one of the few ways to improve your speed in Chapter 1. Although I find casting Haste to be more effective, you may want to use this to increase the speed of your character. This skill might come in handy for a Chemist, allowing his/her turn to arrive quicker so he/she can heal himself/herself and possibly prevent death. The downside to this skill is that if you are killed, the higher speed would also speed up the appearance of your crystal. Arrow Guard is the better of the two skills, as it allows you to evade many Bow and Crossbow attacks. I found this to be a valuable skill in the first half of the game, when many of my enemies were Archers. However, in the later stages of the game, there are very few enemy Archers, leaving you no reason to equip this skill.

Support Abilities

Name	Description	JP	Useful?
Equip Crossbow	Allows a character to equip a crossbow, regardless of Job Class.	350	Not really
Concentrate	Makes an enemy unable to evade your attacks. Guarantees success if the enemy stays in the targeted panel.	400	Yes

The Archer's Support Abilities are a mixed bag, with Equip Crossbow ranking among the more useless support abilities in the game, while Concentrate can be one of the best. Equip Crossbow allows you to do just that: Equip a Crossbow. As for the value of this support skill, I couldn't really find any. I suppose that if you wanted a mage or somebody to do some damage from the back row earlier, you could use this; still, I'd rather go with a more effective support skill. If you really want to do damage from afar with your character, wait and buy Equip Gun in Chapter 2 or 3 as a Mediator. As for why this skill was even included instead of Equip Bow, I have no idea what the guys at Square were on at the time. On the bright side, Concentrate is a great support skill. If you set this skill, your attacks will never miss and you can kill enemies much quicker and easier. This makes many battles much easier throughout the game, so stick this on someone whose attacks don't seem to find their mark. One warning, however, is due. NEVER equip this skill on somebody that is using a Gun as a weapon, as Guns already hit their target all the time.

Movement Abilities

Name	Description	JP	Useful?
Jump + 1	Increases a character's Jump elevation by 1	200	Not really

The Archer's Movement Ability of Jump +1 increases your Jump Elevation by 1. I suppose it could be useful if you were on a tall battlefield and needed to climb it quickly, but I personally never wound up using it. Early in the game, when this might be used, I stuck with Move +1 or Move-Find Item. Since you can gain access to the Thief Job Class and the skills of Move +2 and Jump +2 relatively early in the game by reaching Level 2 as an Archer, I would prefer to just wait until those became available instead of using this ability.

.

Return To FFTactics Job Classes
Return To Icy Brian's Final Fantasy Tactics Page