Is there a faction with "best" archers?

[ProfessorCookie]

At title says, I love archer & infantry playstyle, and was wondering if one has like "The best"

[edisonvn92]

either Kong Rong or Liu Bei, their special units, Kong Rong is crossbow, while Liu Bei is Yi archer. I will say Kong Rong, because he is the strategist so he can buff archers early on. While Liu Bei may have to wait until he has Zhuge Liang.

[ProfessorCookie]

Thanks!

[JuX]

Whom needs archers when catapults are overpowered?

[Sima Marlin]

Yellow turbans also got some really good archers on later tec tiers that are labeled " all arround " with ranged abilities.

They are costly though 1.1k + per unit.

[Judasilfarion]

Yellow Turbans have Archery Masters who are pretty dang good

[Sima Marlin]

Also they got bringers of peace who is crossbow and "good in melee " unit as well as .. heaven something what was it called that is also ranged with " good in melee."

So far I haven't seen any really good cavalry or siege with them though, so their infantry is notably good.

[reevestone]

I'd say Kong Rong in terms of "best archers". Kong Rong gets unique crossbowmen while Liu Bei gets unique archers, but the way in which they're unique is important.

Liu Bei's unique archers are special because they're WAY better in melee than regular archers, which makes them useful once they run out of ammo or if they get flanked/charged by the enemy, but they're no better at actually being archers than normal ones.

Generic crossbowmen have better range and better armor-piercing damage than generic archers, but significantly less ammo. The thing that makes Kong Rong's unique crossbowmen special is they have a TON of ammo, significantly more than even generic archers. So as far as actually being protected behind your lines go and shooting the crap out of the enemy, they're head and shoulders above everything else, not counting the Archer Dragons or Imperial Archers from the very late game.

EDIT: I see people bringing up Yellow Turbans, who I left out of my equations since I haven't played around with them yet. It should be noted, though, that none of the YT factions have truly unique units from each other. The YTR does have Archery Masters that are apparently pretty sweet but they're a very high-tier, late-game unit, so if we're counting them we should probably also remember that all the Han factions can get the blue-tech-line Dragon Archers and the Emperor-level Archers in the late game as well.

[dudex]

yellow turban archer master are the best. they got insane fire rate and with huang shao they start with an extra 25% damage. they also got great block chance. dont be put off by their low numbers they are killing machines. most enemies will be dead before reaching ur melee line if u field 6 of em with huang shao. mine got 60 shots a min with like 60 ammo

just try them out with huang shao early game and u see how devastating they are.

normal archers have an advantage that their shots have more arc and can use special arrows.

[Can'tTouchThis]

Haung Zhong has a pretty nice buff to archers, increasing their fire rate by 100%. Playing Liu Biao right now and no one in their right mind would attack Haung Zhongs army.

[carlon89]

Just use Gongsun Zan's white cavalry archers. They have awesome range, can charge down infantry and are good in melee as well unless fighting Ji infantry obviously.

[Judasilfarion]

Originally posted by reevestone:

The YTR does have Archery Masters that are apparently pretty sweet but they're a very high-tier, late-game unit

Huang Shao starts with archery masters unlocked, so he can get them right away

Kind of needed though because he's sandwiched right in between Yuan Shao and Cao Cao, and everyone else around him is hostile. Not a good time.

[reevestone]

Originally posted by Judasilfarion:

Huang Shao starts with archery masters unlocked, so he can get them right away

Kind of needed though because he's sandwiched right in between Yuan Shao and Cao Cao, and everyone else around him is hostile. Not a good time.

Ah, fair enough. I admit my ignorance when it comes to the Yellow Turbans, it'll be a little while before I get around to playing them. Although they're technically not unique to him since all YTR leaders can eventually get all the units, being able to have those guys right from the get-go and having special bonuses to archers in his army does seem like it makes him a real contender for Best Archer Faction.