Archer (Tactics)

Equipped with a bow and arrow, this warrior provides valuable long-range attacks. May Aim for higher damage.Description

Archer is a job in Final Fantasy Tactics. It is the first long-ranged physical job, capable of shooting their enemies from afar with bows and crossbows. The Archer can increase its damage by using Aim to charge a more powerful shot, at the cost of a cast time.

To unlock Archer, the character must have Squire at level 2. Leveling it to level 3 unlocks the Thief in the War of the Lions, while leveling it to level 4 with Thief and Geomancer unlocks Ninja. The level requirements for job unlocks are a little lower in the PlayStation version. The job costs 5,200 JP to master in the original version, and 5,600 JP in the War of the Lions version.

Stats

Prerequisite	Weapons	Helmet	Armor	Equip Shields?
Lv. 2 Squire	Bows, Crossbows	Hats	Clothes	Yes

Move Rate	Jump Rate	Speed	Physical Evasion Rate	Base Attack	Base Magic	Base HP	Base MP
3	3	8	10%	Average	Low	Average	Low

Abilities

Aim

Archer job command. Allows attacks to be carefully aimed in order to deal greater damage.Description

Damage inflicted is dependent on the weapon type used. It deals damage like Attack, increased by the weapon's attack times the level of the ability. For example, with a weapon with 10 attack, Aim +1 would deal 10 more damage, 20 with Aim +2. Swiftness does not make Aim activate quicker.

Name	Range	Effect	JP Needed
Aim +1 (Charge +1)	Depends on equipped weapon	1	100
Aim +1 (Charge +1)	Carefully aim to strike for increased damage. Attack power increases with longer charge time.
Aim +2 (Charge +2)	Depends on equipped weapon	1	150
Aim +2 (Charge +2)	Carefully aim to strike for increased damage. Attack power increases with longer charge time.
Aim +3 (Charge +3)	Depends on equipped weapon	1	200
Aim +3 (Charge +3)	Carefully aim to strike for increased damage. Attack power increases with longer charge time.
Aim +4 (Charge +4)	Depends on equipped weapon	1	250
Aim +4 (Charge +4)	Carefully aim to strike for increased damage. Attack power increases with longer charge time.
Aim +5 (Charge +5)	Depends on equipped weapon	1	300
Aim +5 (Charge +5)	Carefully aim to strike for increased damage. Attack power increases with longer charge time.
Aim +7 (Charge +7)	Depends on equipped weapon	1	400
Aim +7 (Charge +7)	Carefully aim to strike for increased damage. Attack power increases with longer charge time.
Aim +10 (Charge +10)	Depends on equipped weapon	1	700
Aim +10 (Charge +10)	Carefully aim to strike for increased damage. Attack power increases with longer charge time.
Aim +20 (Charge +20)	Depends on equipped weapon	1	1200
Aim +20 (Charge +20)	Carefully aim to strike for increased damage. Attack power increases with longer charge time.

Reaction abilities

Name	Description	Trigger	JP Needed
Adrenaline Rush (Speed Save)	Increase Speed.	HP Loss	900
Archer's Bane (Arrow Guard)	Dodge arrow and bolt attacks.	Bow/Crossbow Attack	450

Support abilities

Name	Description	JP Needed
Equip Crossbows	Equip crossbows, regardless of job.	350
Concentration	Make attacks unblockable. If an enemy is in the _targeted tile, it will always be a hit.	400

Movement abilities

Name	Description	JP Needed
Jump +1	Increase Jump by 1.	200

Gameplay

The Archer is the first ranged physical attacker the player can unlock. Its superior range can be invaluable in certain maps with high ground, allowing the Archer to safely snipe enemies from afar. Depending on their weapon, they can have more horizontal or vertical range. Crossbows shoot direct at the _target, while bows shoot over obstacles. Bows are wielded with two hands, meaning the Archer cannot equip shields unless they are using one-handed crossbows. Because of its weapon types, the Archer is one of the few jobs that greatly benefits from the Chemist's Reequip support ability to swap weapons mid battle to best fit the situation (such as elemental bows for monster weaknesses or using a crossbow to shoot uphill with shield protection whereas a bow can shoot around obstacles).

The Archer's Aim action ability strengthens their normal attack by waiting longer to act. To use it effectively requires the player to check the Active Turn list more frequently, as once the _target has moved, the attack will miss because, unlike magick, physical abilities cannot lock on the _target while charging. This makes the last few Aim abilities effectively useless unless the _target is afflicted with the Sleep, Stop, or Immobilize status effects. Despite its name, aiming does not improve the hit rate over the regular Attack. Aiming can be disturbed halfway by various status ailments and by knockback (such as ramming with Rush), which can push the attacker or _target away from their original position.

Archers fall behind other ranged jobs in mid-game, due to their lower damage output and unreliable Aim action ability; magick jobs' spells lock on the _target, as well being able to hit multiple opponents. Nevertheless, Archers can still fill their niche and are excellent executioners, landing the last hit on enemies fleeing with low HP.

Their Concentration support ability can be equipped by other classes when fighting evasive enemy Ninja, and is also one of the few abilities that can boost the Thief's steal rate. Similarly, Adrenaline Rush is a reaction ability that increases speed to improve steal rates or set up a quicker turn (even with an ally Squire throwing stones for low damage to trigger speed reactions) to heal or drain life.

The Time Mage can allow the Archer to reach high ground for more bow range through Teleport (cheaper than Ignore Elevation, and possibility of more movement range if it does not fail for going too far), and damage by increasing speed with Haste (Aim can indirectly be more successful when going first, though Swiftness and Haste will not shorten Aim's charge time). The Knight also gains range with Equip Crossbows for rend abilities, of which Rend Speed can even work on bosses.

At endgame Midlight's Deep, Archers have access to stronger bows; Ramza or Luso can use Shout to strengthen their damage formulas by increasing both speed and physical attack (attack-boosting equipment, like Power Garb, and Geomancer's Attack Boost, also help). Bows' attack range can also map out the levels at Midlight's Deep, as the tiles are not visible without crystallized enemies.