With how popular UD is, an archer deck is pretty risky in the meta. A ranger/archer deck, or something like it, would probably be a safer bet. Arrow Eater is just too common for full archer decks.
I still roll an archer bg, it's not full archer obviously because that never works. But it's 8/15 champions, so its a pretty thick module.
I run archers split with SP so I can give ailurite brother slam. Unfortunately, it only works once and then they find some way to get round it and win because UD rush > archers.
I still do. I'm thinking of replacing Elven Prodigy though as imo she's too weak with the loss of surges. Might put a Condor Fury in her place.
Yeah that hit prodigy hard. Haven't tried new condor fury, but lead the charge might be nice giving ranged champs init. Petrichor over bloom? Only 1 cov? Brambles over carn vines? How you been finding strategic retreat (haven't tried it yet).
Burst healing from Petrichor is something I value more than Bloom as my archers are spread out as much as possible. Bloom is okay but locks you down to a specific position, while Petrichor allows me to stay on the run. It also synergises more with Tender's Nexus aura than bloom. Your space for equips is scarce as it is and you usually won't need more than 1 covenant anyway between preparation and archery bale on singers and aim on bowmages. As I run archer commander, I value the ensnare and AoE value from brambles more than the single target lockdown of carn vines. The champ I'm going to kill will die regardless of carn vines. Brambles locks more targets down, offers more damage and is a good setup for potential rain of arrows. Perfect - with some intelligent placement it can be used as both a heal AND a major font contester, a retreat tool, a heal, a gap closer and a bunch of other ulities. The spell has infinite uses imo.
Cool. Although, I would argue that carn vines is much stronger than brambles in archers. It disengages the champs allowing you to easily retreat (although guess strategic retreat does this better now). I've also found that archers struggle when facing very few yet powerful champs (due to wanting to spread around the dots as much as possible and loads of rain of arrows). For this reason I find that I prefer single target control rather than multi target.
This is what you have ancestral anger and bullseye for. I'm even considering dropping burning oak seed or 1 solstice marksman and putting aurora banner in so that I can murder high DEF champs with ease.
Speaking of DoTs, Jolt 1 as an upgrade on Bowmage (replace Strike or Illuminate?) and Scour 1 to Rascal Fairy (added to Upgrade Path 1?) is on my Christmas wish-list for 2016. Archers having access to all Rank 1 DoTs would be fantastic! Balance-wise, I doubt one could even hit a champ with 6 or so separate basic attacks in the same turn and not kill the champ outright.
Rascal Fairy could genuinely have scour 1 base without sacrificing anything as it desperately needs something. Jolt 1 instead of strike on Bowmage works.
I think you should add Deadly tracker. Strike is pretty awesome on archer. It has logistic:range too. 69 nora. Also i like Frostfall Quiver. It give chil 1 and attack: frost. With fire for effect u can hit like an Gekaal's nora incarnate :S At least before the patch nerf hit hard for me. I stop play archer for now. last hing there was a centaour that legendary(don t remember name right now) it d be useful too. Something ı try to do with archer deck: Elven Curator gift works well archer if u manage to deploy. Enemy can t stay close against magic blast.
Used to run Deadly Tracker. Opted her out because she brings nothing but damage and my picks are all about being damage + utility (Arrowsinger has range, alt damage and bale, bowmage is all types of alt dmg and stun, marksman is alt dmg and frost traps, prodigy is anti-range + strike etc). Considered it but the BG is pretty hungry for spots, so it's out for now. Might consider it in the future. I used to run them, but there are 2 issues with the way I utilise archers: 1. It's 2x2, which heavily limits its mobility. 2. It's not an elf, so it cannot benefit from Epochal Oasis and Commander from Honour Coin that I drop on Strategists. Good choice if you run non-elf Archers. Elven Curator is an interesting choice, but it's a pick tailored specificly for wizard and magic amp BGs imo. The gift is interesting, but my biggest fear is the curators would be too squishy. You also have Archer Commander for AoEs.
Update to the BG: Added thorn trap, removed reclaim, replaced 1 solstice with Condor Fury. Works well so far.
Yeah, Condor Fury with Lead the Charge should be a good addition. It lets the next two archers come into play with Initiative. It kind of makes your regular archers into Harbies......kind of.
The biggest power of hers is the fact that on maps like 5-font FW or the 5-font IS you can go for the 2nd / mid font with her and cap the font closest to your shrine because of the initiative on a fresh deploy.
