Archery

Archers typically wear light armor, and can specialize either in archery on foot or mounted. An archer's primary attribute is dexterity, and their main weapons are dexterity based weapons including bows, 1 handed swords, 2 handed swords and daggers. In an open field battle, positioning is key for an archer. Having a line of sight to the enemy without having shots blocked by friendlies, and keeping an eye on the flow of the battle is important for archer survivability. An archer on the walls of a castle in a defense is an incredibly strong damage dealer and can support the melee fighters on the ground with targeted shots.

Archers perform some of the most important work in the game: pure damage. They can finish off fleeing enemies, soften up an approaching warband, snipe enemies controlling siege equipment, stop their friends from being looted by shooting the looters, and stop medics from finishing revives by taking them out. There is no other build that allows the player as much target selection or raw damage. All that is great if the archer can hit his targets and manage his arrow regeneration. Archers typically make great scouts because they have low stamina drain, making them ideal distance runners. They must be very careful not to get caught in the open field, because they are very squishy targets, but they can deal out huge amounts of damage with melee weapons too, if the opportunity arises.

Bows

While deadly in the hands of an archer, those not specialized into archery abilities will find themselves with very low amounts of ammunition in their quivers.

Bows come in 3 varieties: simple, reflex, and longbow. Bows work best with light armor and high dexterity. Quiver sizes are specific to each bow type and arrow regeneration can be significantly improved by putting points into Marksman, Not On My Watch, and Huntsman abilities.

Bow Type	Min/Max Arrows	Characteristics
Simple	11/45	Piercing Damage Variable Armor Piercing Moderate fire rate
Reflex	12/50	Piercing Damage Moderate Armor Piercing High fire rate
Long	8/35	Piercing Damage High Armor Piercing Low fire rate

Quiver and Arrow Regeneration

• Each bow type has its own quiver which controls the number of arrows it has.
• Base arrow regeneration is 10% of the quiver max per minute. This is passive regeneration.
• Maximum arrow regeneration with the proper abilities is 15% of the quiver max per minute. This is passive regeneration.
• Arrow regeneration speed does not vary based on the type of bow used. Passive regeneration occurs while using other weapons and while firing arrows.
• Changing weapons does not stop, slow, or increase the speed of arrow regeneration.
• Arrows are regenerated upon wounding and killing enemies. This is active regeneration.

Throwing Weapons

1 handed weapons including daggers, spears, torches, and axes may be thrown. The number of projectiles available is tied to the quiver. A half full quiver means a half full projectile load, for example. See Weapons for more on throwing weapons.

Also see: Builds | Weapons | Armor | Abilities