Welcome to the Archer class guide for Final Fantasy XIV. With all the freedom 
and options available in FFXIV even starting down the path of a single class 
can be confusing or frustrating for some. These guides are designed to help 
people learn the basics of the class and to get an idea of some sort of 
structured progress. These guides are by no means definitive or set in stone, 
the beauty of the Armoury system is that one can deviate to a great degree and 
still come up with a viable build. In this guide we'll discuss overall skills, 
gear, cross-class abilities and most importantly viable roles for the class. 

Table of Contents

Overview [S1]
Recommended Gear [S2]
Solo [S3]
Roles [S4]
Contact [S5]
Credits/Contributions [S6]
Legal [S7]

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Overview [S1]
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Weapon(s): Bows

WEAPON LIST

Armor: Cloth and Leather

Focus: Accuracy

"The enduring popularity of the bow is a testament to its elegant design, but 
this simple weapon would be of little worth without the surpassing skill of 
those who master it�the archers. Projectile techniques such as high�angle fire 
enable archers to assail their foes with deadly precision even at great 
distances.

Constant assessment of the battlefield enables them to carefully determine the 
most advantageous ground from which to loose, as well as the nature of the 
arrows best suited to their enemy. Together with the longbow sentries of the 
Elezen military, the shortbow hunters among the Miqo�te are widely regarded as 
the most skilled with a bow. The guild�s teachings cover a variety of 
projectile weapons, down to the simplest throwing rock."

Incapacitation Skills: Shrieker (R24), Barrage (R34), Foeseeker (R38), 
Bloodletter (R48)

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Recommended Gear [S2]
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Following is a list of gear I would suggest at various ranks from 10-50. I 
won't cover 1-10 simply because it goes by so fast it rarely matters what 
you're using.  An item with (any) next to its name simply denotes that any 
color variant of that item may be used to the same effect.

All gear info was looked up on ffxiv.yg.com


Rank 10

Weapon: Elm Shortbow
Arrows: Fang Arrows

Head: Hunting Hat (any)
Body: Hunting Tunic (any)
Hands: Sheepskin Bracers (any)
Waist: Any belt is fine at this rank.
Legs: Hempen Kecks (any)
Feet: Sheepskin Moccasins

Rank 15

Weapon: Cavalry Bow
Arrows: Obsidian Arrows

Head: Cotton Scarf (any)
Body: Dodoskin Jacket (any)
Hands: Sheepskin Armguards
Waist:Leather Tool Belt
Legs: Cotton Chausses (any)
Feet: Maple Patterns (any)

Rank 20

Weapon: Plumed Willow Shortbow
Arrows: Iron Arrows

Head: Trapper's Hat (any)
Body: Trapper's Tunic (any)
Hands: Dodoskin Bracers (any)
Waist: Leather Belt (any)
Legs: Cotton Kecks (any)
Feet: Dodoskin Moccasins

Rank 25

Weapon: Ironclad Cavalry Bow
Arrows: Shell Arrows

Head: Leather Eyepatch
Body: Leather Jacket (any)
Hands: Dodoskin Armguards
Waist: Dodoskin Field Belt
Legs: Canvas Chausses (any)
Feet: Leather Shoes (any)

Rank 30

Weapon: Elm Velocity Bow
Arrows: Silver Arrows

Head: Tracker's Hat (any)
Body: Tracker's Tunic (any)
Hands: Leather Bracers (any)
Waist: Tarred Leather Belt
Legs: Canvas Kecks (any)
Feet: Leather Moccasins

Rank 35

Weapon: Armored Cavalry
Arrows:Silver Arrows

Head: Skull Eyepatch (Black)
Body: Scouting Jacket (any)
Hands: Leather Armguards (any)
Waist: Voyager's Belt
Legs: Velveteen Chausses (any)
Feet: Toadskin Shoes (any)

Rank 40

Weapon: Oak Composite Bow
Arrows: Silver Arrows

Head: Bowman's Hat (any)
Body: Bowman's Tunic (any)
Hands: Bowyer's Bracers (any)
Waist: Safari Belt
Legs: Velveteen Kecks (any)
Feet: Toadskin Moccasins

Rank 45

Weapon: Yew Longbow
Arrows:Silver Arrows

Head: Walnut Mask
Body: Harrier's Jacket (any)
Hands: Spiked Leather Armguards (any)
Waist: Tarred Voyager's Belt
Legs: Tarred Leather Trousers (any)
Feet:Buccaneer's Boots (any)

Rank 50

Weapon: Crab Bow
Arrows: Silver Arrows

Head: Silver Tricorne
Body: Buccaneer's Shirt
Hands: Spiked Leather Armguards (any)
Waist: Buccaneer's Sash
Legs: Tarred Leather Trousers (any)
Feet: Buccaneer's Boots (any)

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Solo [S3]
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At this point soloing in Final Fantasy XIV isn't too terribly difficult as long
as you know what you can kill and what will steamroll you. As an Archer you'll
want to buff up and do as much damage as possible in that first hit. Skills 
like Raging Strike and Ferocity work well with this, as well as multi-shot 
later on. Unfortunately things like Shadowbind and Close Shot don't work very 
well at the moment so I would not suggest wasting the skill bar space.

You'll want to maximize your survivability should that first hit not kill the 
monster you're fighting. I would suggest skills like Bloodbath (Marauder R6), 
Second Wind (Pugilist R6), Cure (Conjurer R4) or Cure II (Conjurer R20) for 
health regeneration. Shock Spikes (Conjurer R8) or Punishing Barbs 
(Thaumaturge R10) are great little buffs you can use for those more difficult 
fights, though be aware that they do not stack.

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Roles [S4]
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The Archer is a fairly well-defined class with a specific set of abilities, 
strengths and weaknesses. They're a bit squishier than the other physical 
combat classes and that, paired with their prowess at a range, means that they 
have no place in front-line roles.

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DPS
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The DPS role has a very simple job in a party, do damage. The only thing you 
really need to be wary of in this role is pulling hate from the tank. Pace your
 attacks, skills and buffs so that you aren't generating more enmity than the 
tank. This is extremely important for three reasons:

1. Pulling hate from the tank means the tank has to work that much harder to 
get the monster focused back on them.
2. Pulling hate from the tank puts your life in danger as sometimes it only 
takes one good hit to knock you out.
3. As a result of that, you are creating more work for the healer as now they 
have to worry about keeping you alive too.

Damage buffs should be mixed in with enmity reducing abilities to keep damage 
coming without bringing too much attention to yourself. At low ranks it may not
seem detrimental but with higher rank monsters a sideways graze from the wrong
attack could knock you out.

Beneficial Skills

Skills

Scouring Strike (Archer R12)
Heavy Shot (Archer R40)
Subtle Release (Archer R50)
Feint (Lancer R20)
Concussive Blow (Pugilist R2 & R22)

Buffs

Raging Strike (Archer R4 & R40)
Quelling Strike (Archer R10)
Trifurcate (Archer R30)
Ferocity (Lancer R4 & R34)
Invigorate (Lancer R14)

Traits

Out of Sight (Archer)

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Incapacitation
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As an Archer you have complete freedom of your angle of attack which makes you 
great for the Incapacitation role. As there is a very small list of skills that
are known to contribute towards incapacitation, your skill bar will mostly be 
made up of those skills. There are only three incapacitation skills that are 
specific to a given class and Archer has neither.

Your main job in the Incapacitation role is to injure or break specific parts 
of a given enemy. This can lead to increased drop rates for certain items, 
disabling certain enemy abilities or limiting enemy movement depending. It 
would be very useful to memorize what parts of any given enemy type can be 
damaged and by which skills. 

This information is based off of the following chart provided by SquareEnix, 
listed following the Battle Regimen section:

http://lodestone.finalfantasyxiv.com/pl/topics/detail?id=29c4026362c3cb8add988
92a8b84d9ed371bd789

Beneficial Skills

For Archer there are 19 Incapacitation skills, nearly 2 full bars. It would not
be wise to set them all, setting only the ones you need for any given fight is
a much more practical approach and gives you more space for other beneficial 
skills.

Buffs

Raging Strike (Archer R4)
Hawk's Eye (Archer R14)
Multi-shot (Archer R20) Only for the additional accuracy on Foeseeker.
Ferocity (Lancer R4)
Invigorate (Lancer R14)
Comrade in Arms (Lancer R18)
Collusion (Lancer R30) Only if Tank is between you and the enemy.
Still Precision (Gladiator R14)


Traits

Fleet of Foot (Lancer)
Out of Sight (Archer)

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Puller
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Pulling isn't entirely a role in itself but it is an important role in the 
team as a whole. It can be added onto any other role as simply a duty of the 
Archer.As Puller your job is to pull a monster or group of monsters away from 
others and back to your party. Instead of fighting the monster(s) amidst other 
monster(s), you can fight them in a safe clear area where your party is 
waiting. This role is a key part of groups starting as early as R20 and is a 
must for higher rank content.

While pulling a monster or group back you are very vulnerable to those first 
few attacks. Some skills, such as Quelling Strike or Chameleon, can reduce 
your initial enmity so the tank has an easier time pulling hate from you once 
you've pulled the monster back. Other abilities, such as Rampart or Defender, 
can help you mitigate damage while you pull and may very well save your life. 
Farshot is especially useful at higher ranks as it allows you to pull at a 
longer range which certainly helps your survivability. 

I would suggest using a macro to alert your party to your target, mark it and 
pull it all at once. Here are a few pulling macros:

/p Pulling <t>!
/enemysign 1 <t>

or

/p (Target): <t> (If you would be so kind.) (Defeat this one first!)
/enemysign 2 <t>

Both of these, followed by whichever attack you use work well.


Beneficial Skills

Skills

Shadowbind (Archer R6 & R32)
Decoy (Archer R36)
Bloodletter (Archer R48)

Buffs

Quelling Strike (Archer R10 & 42)
Quickstride (Archer R22)
Chameleon (Archer R28)
Featherfoot (Pugilist R12 & 42)
Presence of Mind (Pugilist R20)
Rampart (Gladiator R4 & R34)
Tempered Will (Gladiator R46)
Defender (Marauder R10 & R48)
Collusion (Lancer R30)
Diversion (Lancer R36)
Farshot(Archer R46)

Traits

Fleet of Foot (Lancer)
Prime Conditioning (Pugilist)

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Contact [S5]
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If you feel you have anything to contribute, correct or if you think I'm 
outright wrong about anything feel free to send it to:

[email protected]

This is not my primary e-mail account but I will do my best to check it daily.
Please try to give me as much information as possible where possible.

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Credits/Contributions [S6]
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Square Enix's own  Lodestone website:

http://lodestone.finalfantasyxiv.com/pl/index.html 

Final Fantasy XIV Yellow Gremlin

http://ffxiv.yg.com/ 

The Luna Veneris Linkshell

Luna-veneris.com

and of course Maru, Cam and Toor

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Legal [S7]
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This FAQ may not be reproduced except for private use.  This FAQ may not be 
posted on any site other than www.gamefaqs.com and Luna-veneris.com.

Information in this FAQ may be used in any other FAQ as long as credit is 
given.

All trademarks and copyrights contained in this document are owned by their
respective trademark and copyright holders.  Final Fantasy XIV is a 2010 
Square Enix Co. game.