TERA Online Archer Guide

TERA Online Archer Guide by Sedlina

Table of Contents
Archer related Q&A;
Archer – What’s in there for me?
What indicates a bad archer?
Skills and Glyphs
Crystals
Charms
The Glyph Trap
Overcharge and you
archers range zones
the BAM within
Gaming Tips
theory-crafting
video to archer skills
disclaimer

Common Archer related Q&A;:

Do Archers get a pet?
Short answer: No.

I’ve heard archers are vulnerable during their charge up skills – they can’t dodge while charging
Nothing prevents archers from using their Evasion skills while they are charging up their shots.
The skill won’t even trigger its cd if you cancel them with evasion skills.
The mana spend during charging up is lost forever
If the archer has fired his chargeup skill he will be stuck in the self stun recoil animation, however self stuns affect all classes – so this is no archer only feature.

Archers gameplay feels stationary like a turret, what happened to the mobile kiting archetype?
The leveling phase has it’s downsides for every class. Archers are no exception.
The clunky stationary feel starts to disappear with 32 (then you will be able to cast both chargeup shots while moving at halved runspeed)

The manareg feels kind of low, is there any hope for a change?
Archers manareg skills scale with your char level.
This class aspect is missing in the EU/NA beta since the class manareg was changed during Evolution patch II.

Word is – Archers pve-dps is low, Koreans don’t like archers in their groups, what about it ?
Korean players preconception is legitimate, at least for Archers.
Ranked as a two star difficulty class, archers are fairly easy to play. Easy enough so you don’t have to worry about anything in the world while soloing through the storyline.
Once it comes to group play in dungeons or vs BAM’s this easy going atmosphere is changing rather drastically.
Most players are overextended. As a result, most archers performance is poorly.
This is a matter of game mechanics and how archers dps works.
As you advance through this guide you will soon understand why the archer class requires a very high skill level for good performance.

How’s the class performing in PvP?
Due the broad variety of tools archers are performing very well on low scale and mass pvp battles
Regardless whether you favor to hunt and burst down squishy targets, or harass a little army, it’s up to you.
Though anything but not immortal, archers can’t take a lot of punishment, so if you can’t stay out of harms way, you will die rather quickly
Unlike in other mmorpg’s the ranged bow wielding class is not the king of 1v1 pvp, with equal player-skill and gear, this point goes to lancers.

Archer – What’s in there for me?
 
Pro
Ranged Class
Broad variety of tools for almost any occasion
High mobility
Burst dmg
A dip of both game mechanics, chargeup and fast multi hit attacks

Con
squishy
poor escape mechanics compared to other leather armor classes
lowest health pool in game
has to fight in melee range for max dps
fatiguing gameplay for proper performance

What indicates a bad archer?
Fighting on long range (archers deal low dmg on long range)
Using only 2 charge up skills (overcharging is bad for dps)
Hardly ever moving (so called turret players are usually dead weight …)

Skills and Glyphs
Going with the flow i will follow a similar system as Nalfen’s glyphs

however i feel the need to disclaim: Glyph judgement is my personal opinion Colour Codes:
Green – Awesome Glyph
Blue – Good Glyph
Grey – Average Glyph
Pink – Poor Glyph
Red – Terrible Glyph
Purple A lot of archer skills were changed during Evolution II, this will indicate the difference now on your beta client

Note: multiple acceleration or powerlink buffs don’t stack, they will merely refresh the buff duration.

(x) Level – Skill Name – Description
[x] Glyph Cost – Effect – Description
* Indicates that this is a Master Glyph. Its effects are acquired from the Training Camp dungeon; it is not available on the basic trainer.

Cast: 1 sec | Cool-down 5 sec Targets: up to 5
(2) Arrow Volley
Archers first AoE skill, also your first and only lock on skill -helping you to deal some extra damage in lower levels. In higher levels the skills usefulness is very situational, you will find yourself hardly ever using arrow volley since its dealing very low damage. (due low power ratios)
However it’s an excellent skill to pull multiple normal mobs from different directions. Since it will fire on every target you ‘painted’ during the lock on skill, regardless whether they stand in front or behind you (as long as the target remains in range)

Power scaling was increased to 340% cd increased to 5 sec, dmg output is still low (340% of nothing are still nothing)

Cast: instant | Cool-down 7 sec Targets: melee AoE
(8) Close Quarters
A Melee AoE skill, useable twice in a row, the 2nd attack will stun all targets hit.
While most players think, meh, a melee skill, you will find yourself using close quarters quite often from early to endgame
An AoE stun comes always handy, on questing, to interrupt, for its AoE dmg. The stun, as every debuff in Tera also works on BAM’s (and therefore dungeon bosses).

Cast: instant | Cool-down 15 sec Targets: melee AoE
(12) Retaliate
A Skill that everyone gets, this props you back up instantly when knocked down and deals some AoE damage with a high portion of knock down damage.

Cast: 1,2 sec | Cool-down 6 sec Targets: single target
(22) Poison Arrow
Deals instant damage, aswell as applying a dot for 12 sec. Dot damage vs Players is reduced.
If your target is going to live through the duration – dot it
A waste of mana/dps time on normal mobs outside of dungeons.

Poison Arrow was tuned quite a bit, 1 sec longer cd, more dmg on every tick – and most important stacks up to 3 times

Cast: instant | Cool-down 4 sec Targets: single target
(30) Velik’s Mark
Increases your damage done to the target by 10 % for 30 sec. unique range 23y. Bread and Butter skill for dps – keep it active at all time.

Cast: instant | Cool-down 300 sec Targets: selfbuff
(38) Feign Death
Playing dead, for up to 60 sec – that’s what it is
Due its long cd you won’t be able to spam it, but it may save your life to play dead so here is what the skill can and what it can’t do for you:
Solo PvE

Group PvE

PvP

BAM’s

BAM’s will react like normal monster,

however red eye attacks won’t be interrupted – the bam will finish his attack on you … good luck

On any Occasion – you will instant leave combat mode (sheet your weapon).
All out of combat stats will kick in (natural reg, and stuff like that) it’s also useful to activate ‘on combat start’ stats on your gear by reengaging the fight.

Cast: instant | Cool-down 5 sec Targets: single target
(42) Web Arrow
Arrow shot with a 20 % runspeed slow for 5 sec.
while 20 % don’t sound like much, it lasts as long as the cd so you may slow your target infinitely, as long as you don’t miss (or the debuff is resisted)

Cast: instant | Cool-down 15 sec Targets: single target
(54) Restraining Arrow
Web Arrows big brother. 6 sec duration The cd is much longer so you won’t be able to maintain the debuff
The movement slow is 50 % – and it also slows animation speed by 50 %
This Arrow is a lifesaver, both in PvE and PvP – as long as you time it well

Evolution Patch II increased the cd to 15 sec for balance purpose, 100 % uptime is no longer possible

Cast: instant | Cool-down 25 sec Targets: 15y 5y AoE
(58) Rain of Arrows
Ranged AoE that is not limited to a certain amount of targets
You fire a barrage of arrows 15 y in front of you, the arrow hail has a duration of 5 sec (and will deal dmg 5 times)
Since archers get no ranged AoE circle skill till high levels you should take your time to get used to the distance
For Trash Bombing, try to position yourself to your targets backside, regardless where the central spot of your Rain of Arrows may be – the dmg bonus for back attacks will apply depending on where you stand when you fire it.
It’s also no bad choice to cast it on a BAM’s back if you find yourself in a position far away enough to use it, the dmg is solid. (it’s not worth the effort if you have to run backwards to use it)

Evolution Patch II decreased the cd to 25 sec, and increased the power greatly, you are also able to cancel the firing animation by moving – however you will still set the skill on cd and won’t get your mana back.

Selfbuffs
Cast: instant | Cool-down 3 sec Targets: self buff
(48) Sniper’s Eye Courage & Sniper’s Eye Discretion
Both Buffs have the following in common:

Toggling them a second time will cancel the buff, they cannot be used with another
Well – so what’s the catch?
Courage increases animation speed by 15 % (your animation will take 15 % longer to finish)
Discretion decreases movement speed by 20 %
The use is situational: Courage is favored for PvP. Discretion for PvE fights.
Waaaaaait wait wait … PvE ? seriously, 20 % pvp dmg for PvE … no you won’t troll me!
the 20 % pvp damage won’t get you anything in PvE that’s right, but 50 Strength are a huge dmg boost, and totally worth the 10 mana per second
Archers basic strength is 67 at all levels
Priests dmg buff buffs 25 strength
+50 is That aside, you may also use Courage on trash or add spawns (for burst purpose)

Evolution Patch II decreased the cd to 3 sec, and halved the debuff restrains

Evades
Cast: instant | Cool-down 7 sec Targets: self
(1) Backstep
Moving your char towards your Camera for ~5y (depending on the area, less uphill more downhill)
It is possible to jump in any direction by fast turning of your camera
Recommendation: Set your camera movement speed high so you won’t waste time on spinning your Field of View.

Cast: instant | Cool-down 20 sec Targets: self
(10) Breakaway Bolt
The Big Brother of Backstep, you travel for ~10y towards your camera(depending on the area, less uphill more downhill)
on cast you are AoE-ing everything in 4 y range around you
This skill has a long cd for an evasion skill, so plan ahead.

Important Note on Archers Evasion Skills
Archers evasion skills work different from the other two leather wearing classes (slayer, warrior)
your evasion skills only move your hit box without collision
it’s not removing your hit box (and therefore turning you immortal) like evasive roll
Warrior and Slayer may jump right through a swinging axe without getting hit, you can’t do that!
you have to jump through before the big old axe is coming, or in a different direction.
More on this under The BAM within

Chargeups
Cast: instant-charge | Cool-down 8 sec Targets: up to 10 targets
(4) Penetrating Arrow
Penetrating Arrow is one of archers signature abilities
while holding down your hotkey, you’re charging up the skill increasing its potential.
Penetrating Arrow is capable of hitting multiple targets in its path, this makes the skill a good AoE skill (Though it requires proper positioning)
while using pen arrow on single targets, always remember, the shot will fly 18y, so you should be aware what or ‘who’ is standing behind your target.

nothing worse than adding mobs with a pen arrow

Cast: instant-charge | Cool-down 10 sec Targets: single target
(18) Radiant Arrow
just like pen arrow Radiant Arrow is a chargeup skill
it’s only hitting a single target but it has a better power scaling

Evolution II changed the time interval for charge steps from 0,8 to 0,6 seconds. pen arrow cd was increased to 8 sec, overcharge hp loss but also the power increase was greatly increased. Also overcharge duration was reduced from 2,5 to 2 sec

Note on Archers Chargeup Skills
All Chargeup skills may be fired instant without charging (no charge)
Charge skills gain another Charge level every 0,6 seconds, and consume mana on every charge step
you may charge those skills up to 3 times (1,8 seconds)
from the 3rd charge on you will be in Overcharge state, constantly loosing HP till you release the attack

removed any dmg comparison till the actual patch status for EU/NA launch is published
(including developer confirmed data) to avoid further pointless discussions

Traps
Cast: instant | Cool-down 20sec Targets: 7y AoE on trigger
(6) Slow Trap
lasts 15 sec or until triggered
while slow trap is not dealing a lot of damage, it shines with its debuff
as the name implies its slowing all targets caught in the area once triggered.
slow traps slow is among the strongest movement slows in the game 70 % for 6 seconds

Cast: instant | Cool-down 15sec Targets: 7y AoE on trigger
(26) Incendiary Trap
lasts 12 sec or until triggered
AoE damage trap, with fair damage (for archer AoE)
For Back attack bonus damage it’s important to plant the trap on the backside of your targets
It doesn’t matter where you stand once the trap is triggered.

Evolution II decreased the cd to 15 sec, and increased the power ratio greatly, but also almost doubled the mana costs

Cast: 2,5 sec | Cool-down 30 sec Targets: 7y AoE on trigger
(26) Concussion Trap
lasts 20 sec or until triggered
just like slow trap, conc trap is no dmg trap, but it stuns all targets hit for 4 sec

Note on Archers Traps
Upon using a trap, all other traps will be on a 5 sec cd
traps are triggered within 3y of their central spot
traps are instantly armed once placed (no arm time delay like other mmorpgs)

Teleport Traps

Teleport what – are you kidding me ?
With the upcoming Patch Queen of the Argons, archers get 3 new abilities
basically they are ranged casts of the 3 traps mentioned before, but with a few bonus features:
instant cast 15y in front of you (same range as the central point of Rain of Arrows)
no cd on other traps
no 5 sec cd for using a trap
traps spawn instant
since they are range casts of the same traps – glyphs also apply to these skills
conc trap arrow has no cast time (instant cast AoE stun – oh yeah)
For Incendiary Trap: since the new skills just creates the trap 15 yards in front of you
the back attack damage is triggered like a normal trap nuke (depending whether the trap is triggered behind the target) so you may fire it from the front and get + back attack procs and dmg

Regains
Cast: instant | Cool-down N/A Targets: single target
(1) Arrow
Fires your bow for no costs
this skill is regenerating mana per hit
the mana reg is increasing per rank
level:1,6,12,18,24,30,36,42,48,54,60
mana:26,28,31,33,37,41,45,49,53,57,61
remember your bow also regeneration mana for every hit regardless of what skill you used.

Note: arrow glyph procs wont proc for rapid fire nor final salvo

Evolution II decreased the animation speed on Arrow by 15 % (faster mana reg) and adjusted the mana reg to scale with level (old was 26 on every rank- resulting in horrible starvation in endgame without relying on support classes)

Cast: instant | Cool-down 6 sec Targets: single target
(14) Rapid Fire
you will fire up to 7 arrows with increased speed while holding your hotkey (similar to chargeups)
rapid fire has no mana costs and every hit regenerates as much mana as your current arrow level
since its dps is way higher than arrow you will first use rapid fire to regain mana
in higher levels and with increasing animation speed on your gear rapid fire turns into a lovely dps skill
(with proper animation speed you will fire all 7 arrows in the same time interval as your low level char fires the first two shots)

Cast: instant | Cool-down 6 sec Targets: single target
(24) Final Salvo
The little brother of Rapid fire, fires 5 shots.
Final Salvo may only be used for a certain time window (6 sec) once you used either penetrating or radiant arrow
Final salvo is often called the unloved child, since most players are not aware how powerful this skill actually is
powerful ? fewer hits with less power … .. . !
it’s dps is not as strong as rapid fire, however final salvo has a hidden secret
Final salvo is capable of interrupting any self stun of any archer skill

Example: usually you will be stuck in your self stun ‘ recoil animation post firing a chargeup shot
hit final salvo and you will interrupt the recoil self stun and start firing final salvo, or you just cancel final salvo and move on.
example2: you’ve been knocked down – you rise with retaliate – but whatever knocked you down is still there, and you are stuck in the retaliation animation
but hey, my final salvo buff is still active, i can still activate it => cancel retaliation rise up animation and move away.
Sounds like an exploit … they will fit it !
During developers Q&A; this was addressed as working as intended. final salvo may jump in any attack animation any time.
There has to be a catch
First final salvo may only be used within a time window (buff)
and if you interrupt the animation to soon you will have your skill on cd, but without any dmg done
for charge up shots this means you’ve to wait at least ~0,25 sec without animation speed and ~0,1 with high end gear or you will interrupt your chargeup before it’s dealing damage, with all mana lost and your charge skill on cd

Note on Archers Multi Hit Attacks
Rapid fire and Final salvo start of as mana reg skills
with level and gear progression they turn into valid and strong dps abilities
It matters little whether your damage comes from one huge number or a bunch of smaller ones
As long as they are performed within the same time window, their dps is the same.

removed any dmg comparison till the actual patch status for EU/NA launch is published
(including developer confirmed data) to avoid further pointless discussions

Crystals
With regards to Deioth i suggest paying his Crystal Guide aswell as his Enchanting guide a visit for detailed information’s.

I for my part will only address PvE focused Crystal builds:
Weapon
Swift – Increased Combat Movement Speed.
Acrimonious – More Crit dmg on BAM’s rear.
Savage – Critical attacks do an additional X times damage when attacking from the rear.
Forceful – Critical attacks will increase your Strength when attacking opponents from the rear.
Focused – Your attacks do an additional X times critical damage against enraged monsters.
Carving – Increases crit chance by X%.
and if you are having mana issues
Glistening – Recover MP over time each crit on the back.

Armor
Since archers have the lowest basic health pool, reducing incoming damage will not always save the day for you.
Relentless – Increases maximum HP by X.
is a safe call.
for playing without a supporter:
Vigorous – Provides HP regeneration of X per 5 sec.

Charms

while I won’t go into detail how Tera’s campfire system works
it is worth the time to talk about the buffs

once venarchs enable them,
special vendors will sell you charms, so you don’t have to rely on drops.

offense
+crit: not my preference, crit is unreliable, but that’s only my opinion
+str: +str is a flat damage increase – go str go
+animation speed: only recommended once you already have animation speed on your gear
defense
endurance (+def)
for pvp – crit chance for attackers
utility
manareg, the common call, a solid dps increase
combat runspeed, not recommended for dungeons, but for solo fighting if you are still in your learning phase

The Glyph Trap

Just because glyphs let us cast certain skills faster once we pre casted another does NOT mean we should always pre cast them

Example: Glyph of Acceleration [Radiant Arrow] On use adds a buff, increases the chargeup speed for Radiant Arrow by 30 %
the full charge time of Radiant Arrow is 1,8 sec (3 times 0,6)
with acceleration it’s down to 1,2 sec (3 times 0,4)
so we are saving 0,6 sec

Attention – DPS Trap
For PvE dps builds archers usually also use a Lingering glyph, to extend poison arrows duration to 20 seconds
we want this poison on our target (stacked 3 times)
but – we will only reapply the debuff shortly before it’s duration will run off (around ~3 seconds remaining debuff time)
Keyword: dot clipping => wasted time due reapplying the debuff too soon

within those 20 sec we usualy cast 2 Radiant Arrows
1 with the acceleration Effekt
beware, you will loose dps, if you use poison arrow as precast for your 2nd Radiant Arrow
But why ?! The 2nd will also be charged up faster!
yes, we would save 0,6 seconds on this 2nd Radiant Arrow
however we would also loose 1,2 seconds cast time for using Poison arrow, and on top we would also lose the animation duration of casting poison arrow

Overcharge and you

 
So what’s the big deal with overcharge? I lose some hp , what of it?
there is more to overcharge than just you losing some hp
overcharge is increasing your damage if you overcharge till the skill is automatically released by your char
the damage increase was buffed during Evolution patch II
While we don’t have exact numbers what the old boni where we know this from official patch notes:
penetrating arrow: overcharge consumes 70 % more hp, bonus power increased by +10 %
radiant arrow: overcharge consumes 70 % more hp, bonus power bonus increased by + 25 %

So we should overcharge for more dmg right ?

for dps, overcharging is the worst thing you could do
to be a valid dps boost overcharging would have to at least double your damage – but it doesn’t.

But it says more power, power means more dmg , so overcharge is good … isn’t it ?

overcharge takes 2 sec
nothing effects this time
no cast speed buff
no animation speed
no charge up speed buff
nothing,
you will always stand there, overcharging 2 seconds till you get this bonus and fire the skill automatically.

with acceleration glyphs you will charge your shots in 1,2 sec (3 times 0,4 sec)
if you decide to overcharge you turn your shot into a 3,2 sec cast
for dps those are wasted seconds
archers usually cast both charge up skills within 10 sec, so this would result in 4 seconds wasted dps time

So overcharge is bad and we won’t use it?

No, overcharge is a great mechanic
For Burst
Spawned ads, taking out a dangerous target, quick finishing a mob or kicking a certain % value of boss hp.

Overcharge is your friend, as long as you know what it does, and how to use it.

archers range zones

Most single target archer skills have a nasty attachment

…Does less damage to far-off targets.
This is one of the reasons why most archers dps performance is low!
What does this mean for us?
Archers deal less damage the further away their target is, this is a decrease of 10 % damage for every 4 yards, starting with 6 yards
During low level the dmg loss is not that important
however once it comes to your performance as a damage dealer in dungeons
(with all other buffs and game stats + % dmg on back attack + % crit dmg, and so on and so for)
the missing dmg due range zones is significant

This is a display of our 4 range zones:
( remember beta is an old game client, dmg loss starts from 10y in beta, the 6 yards zone was added with Evolution II (and is counted as damage buff => deal 10 % more dmg if you fight within 6y))
Safe Haven ~72,9 %
Familiar with the Situation ~81%
I know what I’m doing ~90%
Challenge accepted 100%

considering how archers evasion skills work
this means archers are playing a game of risk vs reward

any advice ?

you don’t know your target yet – stay in Safe Haven
Observe and Learn – what skills does your target use, and what indicates them.

Familiar with the Situation is self explaining, you know what your target is doing, what nasty stuff you should be watching for, and you have a plan how to deal with it.

Upon your personal progress with your target, you will reach the point where it’s safe to enter I know what I’m doing

Unless you are 100 % sure,
not 95%
not 99%
100%! sure
you know every inch and aspect of your target,
do not, i repeat,
DO NOT
enter the Challenge accepted area
this is the ‘melee range’ for BAM’s one wrong move could get you killed.
stay focused if you dare to enter
always remember
dead damage dealer deals no damage
resurrected damage dealer, deals less damage due missing buffs

the BAM within

What is a BAM?
BAM’s are Big *censored* Monsters, also referred as group mobs.

Word is, players can solo them.
True, but for this you have to understand how BAM’s work
Farming BAM’s is also a good training for dungeons, since the dungeon bosses are usually a BAM with additional bossy (lulz) skills

This is an example for a BAM’s attack scheme:

The picture should be self explaining, its however only a crude overview. Skills and attack ranges may vary from BAM type.

More important information regarding BAM’s

Enrage
BAM’s may enrage on 2 conditions: hp % limits, and time in combat or both
Example: every 20 %, every 30 seconds
during enrage BAM’s will perform attacks a lot faster (their animation speed is greatly increased), they will run faster and they will hit harder.

Red Eye’s
BAM’s have special attacks, they announce them with red flashing eye/s
those attacks are very strong and in most cases devastating if you fail to avoid them.

Sidekick rule for BAM’s: the longer the attack animation, the worse the outcome if you get hit

Any advice for soloing those big nasty things?
know how the mobs are attacking, what directions they will take.
many players encircle BAM’s during their fights turning either clockwise or anti clockwise depending on the swing arcs of a bam
you may either jump through them or run around the bam to avoid attacks

Heavy attacks are slow – Use this for your advantage
if a bam starts to use a red eye skill, run behind it => free dps time, those skills take their time.

You have been talking a lot about back attacks … could you go into detail?
Tera has a lot of combat stats which improve your damage output if you attack your targets rear
But this requires proper aiming aswell as positioning

why aiming – lol those things are huge
That’s another common failure of archer players to attack the wrong spot even though they are standing behind their target.
Melees are in most cases not affected by this since they can’t shoot too far to a BAMS front side
Sorcs also don’t care that much since their dps has a big deal of ranged AoE attacks, where only their position matters, not the impact location
note that the old beta game client sometimes takes attacks from the front (hitting the rear) as back attacks – this won’t work with evolution II
also – never stand right behind a bam to avoid its evasive move

Gaming Tips

Proper use of the game camera.
i know your char looks badass awesome sexy or whatever
but during combat, the looks of your char are not that important.
so adjust your camera properly to check your surroundings

Bad Cam Pos

Good Cam Pos

You’ve been talking about archers AoE farming … that was a joke wasn’t it ?

Well it’s true archers AoE can’t compete with a sorc, but for farming normal mobs outside of dungeons here is a simple 6 step guide for you

1 Pulling (Arrow Volley is a great tool for this)
2 Mobs engage you
3 Mobs are about to reach you in Melee – train them
4 Penetrating arrow through the horde
5 Melee AoE, traps on demand, and out of there (remember to stay in the area – if you run to far off in one direction, mobs will evade)
6. Another range AoE – goto 4

Archer Stun lock:
There is no stun lock in Tera …
Here’s something that’s devastating for groups or single targets if you manage to pull it off
Close quarter stun glyphed to 2,8 sec stun
Concussion Trap glyphed to 6 sec stun
another close quarter stun 2,8 sec

once your target is in your 1. stun, there is no escape (unless resisted), rendering them defenceless for more than 11 sec
Note: with the new lvl 60 skills you may add a conc trap arrow on top of this, resulting in 17-20 sec stun lock for a single target or a group if you catch them in close range.

theory-crafting
Are knockdown’s random? sounds imbalanced
It’s unlikely to be a random mechanic – Here is my guess for it.
All skills have a certain % as knockdown damage
you may increase this value with glyphs, and some skills have higher basic %.
once a target’s threshold on ‘knockdown damage’ is reached , its knocked down

What’s in favor of this theory:
while farming the same type of mobs over and over with the same group of players
knockdowns seem to happen on a regular basis (for long time observations)
once one player of this group is afk, for whatever reason, the time window for knockdown seems to increase (less dmg resulting in less knockdown damage again resulting in less knockdowns)

Also I observed BAM’s falling quite often regardless of the presence of pushy slayers or berserkers, as long as the group dps was high.

Is there a diminishing return on crowd control?
not in terms of reducing successful landed debuff duration
however if a group of players keeps spamming stuns, they won’t work for a time window
this is easy to test with multiple classes with short cd stuns
my assumption is, the resistance to debuffs is stacking with every application within a time window

video to archer skills
Since i haven’t played ktera for a while i won’t upload any movies myself till the game is released in NA/EU.
What happened to your account?
had to ice my old account due changes in my duty-rooster

here are some finds with good explanations or showing solo BAM farming (in melee range ofc)

Korean Archer farming 30 Basilisk (melee combat) low quality – but good gameplay overall
Korean Archer farming 36 Kuma (melee combat) displays a common flaw – his gameplay is impatient and greedy once the kuma drops below 10 %
Korean Archer farming 2 lvl 51 hermit crabs at a time using 2 BAM’s to take out each other, risky but rewarding

and ofc here is an example what you should avoid
Group fighting a Rock BAM Archer POV, fights almost the entire fight on max range and/or attacking BAM from the front – horrible low dps

Domeran’s Video Guide to archers (showing all skills in action)

vids for animation speed:
Sadly i couldn’t find a proper vid showing an archer (and ironically neither a proper warrior movie o_O)
so here is a lancer movie
for comparison low level chars
and with average animation speed on gear, turning ‘poke’ ‘poke’ into a machinegun Lancer lvl 52
keep in mind this is only a fragment of max level animation speed potential.

disclaimer
game mechanics in mmorpgs are constant subject to changes
the guide will be updated on a weekly basis (around the weekends) to reflect certain changes
note1: some information may not be adequate since we don’t know how much the client will change during the ‘westernisation’ progress
note2: some information may not be adequate since the OP has not played ktera since december/2011