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Archers are a class that specializes almost exclusively in missile weapons. As such, they are without peer in terms of damage, accuracy, and range with any sort of missile, and as they advance in level, become one of the more powerful classes in ADOM. Their stats and skillset are heavily tilted towards their missile abilities, boasting high dexterity and perception, and the skills Archery, Fletchery, and Concentration. Many races make excellent Archers, notably Orcs and Dark Elves which add Find Weakness to the skillset, Hurthlings for their exceptional starting rock throwing ability, or Gray/High Elves or even Humans for higher dexterity and excellent starting equipment.

Basic Information[]

Base Stats[]

The base stats for male Archers are tabulated below. Female Archers will have approximately -1 Strength and +1 Dex. Note that any value may vary from these typical values by around +/-5 due to starsigns or birth effects. See Talk:Archer for details on how these tables were generated. Archers typically receive a large bonus to Strength, Dexterity, and Perception, although all of their stats are above-average.

Race St Le Wi Dx To Ch Ap Ma Pe
Human 15 16 13 16 15 11 12 13 15
Troll 28 8 9 13 23 5 7 8 11
High Elf 13 16 10 23 10 12 16 16 21
Gray Elf 13 16 13 20 8 9 21 18 20
Dark Elf 13 13 15 22 12 7 14 19 18
Dwarf 17 15 13 14 17 10 11 12 16
Gnome 14 15 11 18 14 12 12 18 15
Hurthling 9 13 12 23 15 13 12 10 15
Orc 20 11 12 15 17 8 8 7 12
Drakeling 19 13 15 14 17 11 10 12 13
Mist Elf
Ratling

Starting Skills[]

Skill Typical Value Typical Modifier Available Ingame?
Alertness 35 3d3 No
Archery 60 4d4 No
Climbing 40 4d4 N/A
Concentration 25 4d5 No
Dodge 35 4d4 No
First Aid 25 4d4 N/A
Fletchery 40 4d5 No
Haggling 25 3d3 N/A
Listening 45 3d3 N/A
Stealth 40 3d5 Yes

Crowning Gifts[]

Of these, generally the most desired (in 1.1.1) are Sun's Messenger and Far Slayer. The latter's tremendous range combined with the Archer's Level 12 class power and range-increasing missile weapon talents can yield effectively unlimited range for missile weapon attacks. When combined with vision-increasing items and effects such as torches, necklaces of the eye and the Farsight spell (all of which stack), the Archer can easily "snipe" targets from so far away that the victims will be unable to determine the archer's location, let alone close the distance in time to retaliate.

As of 1.2.0p20, True Aim and Thunderstroke have been given the returning property, making them arguably the most powerful two items in the game for an archer - as a one shot weapon, they're underwhelming, but as an effectively infinite shot weapon (given standard archer dexterity), they make just about any non-doppelganger opponent trivial. It's not unheard of to kill the ACW in two shots.

HP, PP, To-hit Growth by Level[]

HP: Low
PP: Low
Melee to-hit: High
Ranged to-hit: Very high

Special Abilities[]

Class Abilities[]

  • Archers receive a bonus of +1 to-hit for every 10 points of Archery and +1 damage for every 20 points of Archery, giving them a final bonus of +10 to-hit and +5 damage, compared to the usual +5 to-hit and +2 damage.
  • Archers seem to find ammunition and fletchery sets more easily than other classes.
  • Archers always start with at least 1 skill level in their starting missile weapon.
  • Archers have an uncanny ability to dodge missiles. These missiles often fly past the archer.
  • Heir gift: A stack of winged missiles of hunting; the type and quantity of missiles depends on the PC's race:

Class Powers[]

  • Level 6: Missile attacks have an energy cost of 800. Stacks with Quick Shot and Lightning Shot.
  • Level 12: Missiles have twice their usual range.
  • Level 18: Master fletcher. Evidence suggests that this has no effect on the quantity of missiles produced, but does halve the time taken to produce them. Whether or not this has any effect on the quality of missiles is not clear.
  • Level 25: Missile attacks have an energy cost of 600. Stacks with Quick Shot and Lightning Shot.
  • Level 32: Dodge missiles more easily. Details of this effect still need to be tested.
  • Level 40: 20% of missiles can penetrate armor.
  • Level 50: Missiles hit multiple targets. They seem to keep going until they either break, or they reach whatever monster was initially targeted.

Starting Gear[]

Human Troll High Elf Gray Elf Dark Elf
Dwarf Gnome Hurthling Orc Drakeling
Mist Elf Ratling
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