Complete Guide to Main Characters: Bow

Leveling: Very Good

The Bow gains experience quite easily, probably as well as Gun, but less than Cannon. Contrary to those classes, however, the Bow can only shoot one target at a time, and thus gains less experience per turn. Although, they have more Action Power and, most importantly, make more damage on the target concerned. Without any doubt, it is the best character to use against wounded monsters, particularly the cheating ones which hide behind other monsters in the mob and the bonus monsters, which give much more EXP. Using arrows, even though they are not required, improves this aspect of the Bow.

Main Character : Female Bow

On the other hand, and this is the only reason why I believe their leveling is simply very good, and not excellent, they are fragile and die rather quickly if the front line falls, or if the enemies can also shoot past the front line. Three things will help you overcome this disadvantage:

• Have good gear which provides defense and vitality. The Bow's dexterity is already high enough, but their evasion rate is subject to wavering, so enchanted, low-level armor would be the best choice.
• Raise a Monk's Protect or Shield of Protection skill. The latter would be a better choice, because you can recover HP after every attack.
• Get an good healer. The Bow's magic defense is very good, so healing will be quite effective.

Despite these tips, it's still possible to die occasionally, which can be very painful if you're farming in a distant dungeon without a teleportation license.

PvE: Fairly Good Solo; Very Good Party

There are some constraints in PvE in general for the Bow, namely that they must be well surrounded if they wish to survive all situations. That's also why it is more pleasant to play in a party than solo.

Not to mention, your fellow party members will love you for your Silence, almost essential to any group that wants to be effective. There are no other comparable skills that neutralize a full line of enemies with extremely awkward skills, like Curse of Darkness. Similarly, their ability to shoot anywhere can help finish off or stun wounded monsters. Moreover, this orientation is undoubtedly purposefully put in by the Atlantica creators, as the Bow also has a very interesting skill in party, just like all long-range mains, Chaos Wind. Useless in solo, it forms a combo with melee characters' Break Down, to create the accurately named Destructive Wind. This skill is also available to the Gun and the Staff, who are also able to strike flying monsters with a basic attack, which proves to be practical, without becoming essential. However, the Bow's basic attack tends to become weaker in later levels, especially because arrows do not add a lot of Attack Power.

PvP: Average

In PvP, the Bow's skill is much more mitigated, but not enough to be considered poor. Admittedly, Silence proves to be useful whatever the opposing formation, but it is their single asset there. By the way, this ability can't hit the back or middle rows until the front enemy falls down. The average damage of bows are too weak to make up for the difference, unless they are able to have a good critical (unfortunately, this is very rare).

Archer casting Silence

However, good Valhalla's Bow, combined with the best arrows, can make up an appreciable part of that damage. In order to make up for the rest, the Bow's vitality increases during later levels, provided that they use quality gear (mount and so on). This applies to all main characters, partially thanks to the items which are reserved for them. To equip a guardian instead of arrows can also prove to be a wise choice.

Conclusion

If I had to summarize the Bow in a single word, it would be the irregularity, similar to how the wind can divert arrows shot from a bow.

When you're lucky (good critical hits, evading dangerous attacks), this character can be very skillful, including in PvP. Their skill Silence does not have any equivalent and proves very useful in any circumstance, especially since higher level players rarely keep an Archer mercenary (very fragile and surpassed by the Prophet). On the other hand, it can be very frustrating at the times that they do not reach their full potential, causing people to feel as if they have made a bad choice in picking the Bow as their main character.

In short, this character is for players who like risk and uncertainty!

Related Links:

• Archer Guide on TenTonHammer