As the Magic Archer is going to be unlocked tomorrow in the Arena, I hope you guys will find this guide helpful!
Have you met our newest addition yet?
Going by the name “Sterling Malory”, the Magic Archer was minding his own business in the woods, casting spells and such when a great big man caught him by surprise.
Noting Sterling’s wicket facial hair the guy got right in his face and shouted “You’re an archer, hairy!”.
Opinions are all over the map on whether this guy is OP, or some weak sauce.
I fall into the “He’s pretty freakin’ powerful” camp and I’m here to share what I know.
Why the Magic Archer?
He’s awesome, is at least one good reason.
Maybe you like Katniss Everdeen. Maybe you’ve always fantasized about being Ygritte and telling off John Snow, who, as we know, knows nothing.
It’s a very unique card.
Take the cool bits of an Executioner, then condense them into the pure, unadulterated coolness, lose all the HP, and the damage, and just make a pill of pure concentrated awesome pierce through.
That’s the Magic Archer. Do you like straight lines? HE SURE DOES!
You can use the power of geometry to great effect, to deal tower damage, or create epic defenses.
Who is He?
He’s a chip troop, he’s a splash troop, he’s..well he’s not a tank at all. If the Mini P.E.K.K.A is a glass cannon, he’s a glass machine gun.
Each shot being a tiny amount of damage, but, especially if you can splash-through, it adds up fast.
How do I use Magic Archer
As a Chip Win Condition
Each arrow blast deals approximately 3.8% of a king tower. So 4 shots is a whopping 15% of a tower.
That’s only slightly less than a 6 elixir rocket.
All by itself, it’s a mediocre trade, but even dealing significant chip damage to a unit while chipping the tower tips this into a fairly positive use of elixir.
Here’s him, countering a 3 Princess and scoring 3 free hits on the tower (he then chips the tower himself)
As a Splash Defense
Tuck him well back and his incredibly range will keep him safe through an entire defense, while he chip-chip-chips at every unit who has failed this city.
Here’s him, shredding a defense effectively negating its counter-attack potential.
As a Support Troop
Like other splash/ranged units he can be used to provide good cover, especially from Bats, Skeletons, Goblins and Minions.
He can also be used behind a win condition to weaken defending troops while chipping the tower.
Effectively scoring tower damage despite being countered, while negating or weakening the counter-push.
Here’s him, being used to score some tower damage, countering-the-counter
I hate him, How to destroy him?
I don’t know why you’d hate a guy who can shoot a Patriot arrow, but I get it, he’s really is ruining your plan to tax all the peasants of Sherwood Forest and build a sweet castle.
So how do we burn this bearded bombardier?
Spells
Either Poison or Fireball are ideal trades, allowing you to deal tower/troop damage while killing Robin of Locksley.
If you are using Poison, make sure to catch him while he’s distracted or he might escape your toxic tendrils.
Log doesn’t kill him, but it does deal a very significant portion of his health in damage (49%!) basically halving his damage.
In fact, it ends up being more, if you can use the knock-back/stun to your advantage and score an extra hit. Since Log costs exactly half what the archer costs, scoring free tower damage or even a an extra free hit from your princess tower makes this is a positive elixir trade.
Troops
Magic Archer’s big strength is his pierce through.
By playing troops that point his bow in the wrong direction, he basically becomes Hawkeye in a team that includes Hulk, Thor, and Iron Man.
Especially medium health troops who can shrug off a few blasts from the Magic Archer like it’s nothing.
Hey look, that empty space there is pretty dead! Just like my archer :'(
Stand By Your Man
What should I use with a Magic Archer? Well I’m glad you asked.
Tornado
As single-cards go, this one deserves its own heading.
Magic Archer can deal significant tower damage with his pierce through effect.
His vulnerability is, of course, distraction. Stupid butterflies. So how do we line butterflies up with the tower? Log doesn’t work on fliers. Tornado does.
You can use the Tornado to keep distraction troops from killing him, while you make sure he hits all the defenders at once, while striking the tower.
This is amazing value.
You know how Executioner gets insane value with Tornado? Same deal, but he costs 1 less!
And if you paid attention to the GIFs in the previous section, Tornado features in a few of them, both in defense and offense.
Tanks/Win Conditions
The Magic Archer is impressive at defeating any number of low-HP troops, and from safe distances in your own territory he can perform over-watch for your Battle Ram, your Giant, your Golem, etc.
If it needs protection, he does it, and he does it well, from an area you can actually defend him.
He’s basically Princess, but instead of slowly letting your guys die, he kills the enemy and survives Log or Arrows.
He can kill swarms or shoot through P.E.K.K.A to deal tower damage.
Micro Tanks
Ice Golem, Miner, Knight, Valkyrie, and Bandit are all good troops to deploy to distract threats to the Magic Archer as he shoots the tower, or troops from a safe distance.
Tank Killers
It’s absolutely awesome when your opponent lets you shoot a billion Magic Archer shots through the tank into his tower.
But on defense he’s a lot less awesome versus heavy tanks like the Giant. Or even Medium tanks like the Hog Rider.
He just doesn’t have the DPS to do the job right, and for four elixir he’s a big investment if you’re not getting value.
Notice the Tower HP. You know what, don’t notice it, it hurts to show that one.
Which is why you should have a heavy damage dealer in your deck.
Other Tips
He Went To The Storm Trooper Academy of Marksmanship
It’s great that he can shoot across lanes, but unfortunately his slow-moving projectile has a tendency to miss fast moving targets.
If your goal is to kill a Hog Rider, you should play him same-lane. But you probably shouldn’t use Magic Archer anyways, because of the whole damage issue.
His splash is very tiny.
It’s very frustrating when you think you’ve lined him up properly and his shot hits the first target then goes off into space.
With Magic Archer, placement is everything.
You really need to hit multiple targets with the Magic Archer to make him valuable.
When you start to use him think about how you can shoot through the first unit into the ones behind.
It will probably take you several days to really start getting it right.
He Can Out-range Almost All Buildings
You know Mortar and X-Bow right…
His long sight range will allow him to clear out any defense safely out of its range.
This can be useful if your opponent has a lingering Inferno Tower blocking your next push.
One exception, the Tesla, since it remains hidden until he enters the tower range.
Spawners
He’s one of the better answers to center-placed Goblin Huts, Furnaces, Barbarian Huts or Tombstones.
Placed well he can shoot through the spawns into the building, which will keep him healthy, and eliminate both spawns and building for a very positive trade.
This same ability can prevent the Tombstone from being used to shut down your Hog Rider on an offense.
Though you’ll want to clear the larger buildings prior to sending the Hog Rider.
Conclusion
This card is just tons of fun and lots of value! Give it a serious shot, I think it might be overpowered, but it’s definitely not weak.
Submitted by DarchAngels13
