Lancer NPC - Archer
Core Detail Overview
Stats
The Archer is an offensive mid-range controller, with high HP, Agility, Systems, Speed, and Sensors; low Hull, Engineering, and Armor; above-average Save Target, and fairly average Evasion, E-Defense, and Heat Cap. It’s decent at getting to where it wants to be and surviving long enough to do something, but the low Hull/Engineering and average defenses can leave it open to being controlled in return, and it’s unlikely to withstand focused attacks.
Base Systems
Light Machine Gun is a solid weapon. The damage is in the lower end of what strikers get, with a good base bonus to-hit and relatively high Reliable damage working together to help make it a steady threat, and the Range is good enough work in most situations excepting particularly long-range engagements. That said, three of the Archer’s offensive reactions require a quick action to set up, and Superior Sentinel means the Archer has incentive to favor attacking as a reaction, so it can be awkward to find space for Skirmish if it’s already spending a quick action on something else like Boost. Still, this is good enough that players should feel pressure to respect it, and since there is the general limit of one reaction per turn, there will also be cases where using one quick action to Skirmish will make more sense than stacking potential reactions for the future.
Suppress is the first of four systems (and the only base kit one) built around the Archer’s gimmick of making PCs choose between doing what they want or getting shot (I’ll call these “make your choice” systems hereafter). The immediate Impaired effect is good for setting up Blinding Shells and/or any allies that force saves (note that it also has no maximum duration), and since the Moving Target reaction explicitly interrupts the triggering movement, the Archer has more influence over how much cover its target is going to have (unlike Got Your Back). This is generally a good choice of action (assuming the target is not both already Impaired and in a spot where they’re content to not move) and benefits from not gambling on Recharge, but keep in mind that it works best on targets who cannot damage the Archer from their current position (in order to negate one of the ways to end the effect) and that the effect ends if the Archer loses line of sight for any reason, even if that reason goes away afterwards. Good target selection for reaction set-up systems is the first key to getting the most out of the Archer’s damage potential, and Suppress can be capable of filling that role on its own. An important note about Moving Target: there’s no 1/round limit, so while it can still only be done once per turn, if the PCs have abilities that grant each other additional movement that can trigger reactions (such as Puppet System from Goblin 1) or if the target decides to Prepare a reaction to Boost or use another movement action, Moving Target can theoretically be used multiple times per round.
Superior Sentinel is the second key to getting the most out of the Archer’s damage potential. While Light Machine Gun does have good Reliable damage already, it’s not as high as actually hitting, and extra Accuracy that can universally stack with any other sources of Accuracy always helps with that. Without this, I think there would be a stronger case to be made that simply attacking with Light Machine Gun would be better than the “make your choice” systems requiring set-up, at least in many circumstances. With it, it’s a much tighter comparison when the Archer has only one quick action available, and I almost always prefer a “make your choice” system over another generic action like Quick Tech. As with any systems granting general Accuracy, this also has good synergy with any template systems that give extra effects on critical hits. While this is ultimately a simple passive, the effect is foundational to what makes the Archer different from other mid-range attackers.
Optional Systems
Blinding Shells is the Archer’s attempted answer for controlling targets with long range. It’s not bad, since blinding is a good effect that can’t be cleared via Stabilize and the Archer has a few ways to inflict Impaired to make it more likely to stick, along with this being the Archer’s only system that makes use of its elevated Save Target. However, several artillery weapons come with either Arcing or Seeking, both of which ignore line of sight, so this can sometimes run into the problem of being useless against its theoretically-ideal targets. It does generally help to greatly reduce how much PCs that rely on line of sight can do, though, so getting it as a free extra on one hit per round can be pretty nice. Impending Threat and Covering Fire add so much more to how I like to play this unit that I honestly tend to end up passing on Blinding Shells most of the time, but I should probably use it more often. For a mean surprise, though, combine this with Impending Threat, letting the Archer push this effect onto a PC after they’ve committed to an action that will be negated if they fail the save.
Impending Threat is my favorite Archer optional system. Not requiring any set-up makes it flexible to fit in where desired, and getting to potentially cancel any single action (including standard movement or a full action) with just a reaction is very strong, though in practice, players will almost always choose to get shot unless they’re risking Structure damage. This helps make it a more consistent source of additional damage than the other “make your choice” systems, and it can stack with them to allow the Archer three (or more) attacks per round. Keep in mind that it must still respect the limit of one reaction per turn, though, so you generally shouldn’t use this on someone who’s about to trigger another reaction, which consequently means that the extra damage from getting several reaction attacks is going to be spread out. Also, as written, it’s ambiguous if the triggering action would complete before the reaction attack; I interpret that “immediately attack” implies it interrupts, but if you disagree, clever players may be able to find ways to deny the attack despite triggering it. Still, considering the Archer is a decent-to-great damage-dealer, getting another attack per round (with Accuracy from Superior Sentinel) fairly consistently is a good value, and the potential to completely cancel a PC action is an extra bonus on top. Not having Recharge on this is amazing, too. Once you get used to having this, it’s hard to play an Archer without it.
Covering Fire can be a little tricky to use on its own, since in a vacuum, the PCs can usually just move out of the Blast 3 area and still get the rest of their actions without consequences. In practice, though, if this is combined with Suppress or especially Impending Threat, there may be no realistic choice that doesn’t result in getting shot, not to mention it’s even nastier towards PCs built to use Ordnance weapons, and combining it with other stuff to restrict PC movement (either via terrain/obstructions/engagement or by inflicting effects like Slowed or Immobilized, the Barricade’s Drag Down, the Witch’s Chain, etc.) can put them in a no-win situation. Additionally, Got Your Back is the other Archer reaction that can be used more than once per round, so with good positioning and favorable circumstances, this can result in multiple extra attacks. Even better is that there’s no specific way to end the effect of Covering Fire early, so aside from effects that prevent the Archer from attacking at all, nothing is stopping Got Your Back. At its best, this can make the Archer feel like a miniboss getting to attack two or three times (especially with its other reactions) in between its actual turns. That said, though, just because a PC stays in the area doesn’t mean they have to attack, and someone in the area can still move into cover or out of line of sight before attacking to mitigate/deny Got Your Back, or they may just destroy the Archer with the attack since Got Your Back is resolved after the triggering action, so this can be played around more easily than Impending Threat. Personally, I find Impending Threat to be a more consistent thorn to players than Covering Fire, especially since Covering Fire requires a Recharge roll and so may just become unavailable after a single use with bad luck, but I can’t deny that it has the potential to do more, so it might be a better fit for a GM who likes to gamble more than I do. Note that Covering Fire is also influenced by how you run it; there is no duration as-written, so I rule it as lasting until the start of the Archer’s next turn, but giving it infinite duration as long as the criteria to use it are met could make it much stronger.
Rapid Response is a useful reaction for when the Archer wants to reposition during the turn of a PC who isn’t being threatened with another reaction. Unfortunately, given how the Archer works, that can be a rather restrictive set of conditions. In general, the Archer’s high Speed and good Range on Light Machine Gun tend to make this unnecessary, and the other Archer reactions are typically going to have more impact than just moving. Don’t get me wrong; I’d gladly take this over nothing (or typically over Blinding Shells), and there are certainly times when I miss not having it. It’s just that the Archer tends to have a lot of pressure on it already for selecting its actions and finding the best times to use its reactions, so adding yet another reaction to its list of options ends up often being something that goes unused. That all said, “often” is not “always”, and this can be more attractive for sitreps that heavily favor mobility (like the Signal Chase from Lancer: Enhanced Combat), but generally speaking, the other reactions are so good that this feels the worst in comparison.
Hail of Fire is sort of a super-Suppress at first glance, adding Immobilized, shedding the condition of ending the effect if the target damages the Archer, and being able to potentially take the reaction at any time (including immediately after activating this system). In return, though, it gains a Recharge roll (albeit a forgiving 4+), it gains a maximum duration, and the target gets to choose when the reaction attack is triggered instead of the Archer, so it often feels more like a sidegrade or even a downgrade to me. Technically, it loses the condition of ending the effect if line of sight is broken, but since the target can just choose to suffer the reaction when that happens and thus make it be wasted, that condition remains implicitly. Altogether, I find this has two main uses. The first is that Immobilized can be an awful condition in the right circumstances (particularly if it’s stacked with Prone), so there are times when keeping that on a target is more valuable than the reaction attack (though this does count on the player having the opposite opinion since the target controls when the reaction is triggered). The second is using this as a quick action alongside Suppress in order to give Impaired to multiple PCs, most likely as set-up for another NPC causing an AOE save (such as an Ace using Bombing Bay, a Bombard using Earthshaker Shells, or a Scourer using Flash Lens). Impending Threat or Covering Fire are more broadly useful, but Hail of Fire has its niche for leaning into the support/controller-side of the Archer on a composition that has plenty of damage already. It can be worth using, but similar to Blinding Shells, I just like Impending Threat and Covering Fire so much that I end up not using Hail of Fire as much.
Templates Overview
Grunt can seem like a decent template for the Archer, since it has decent damage output and inflicting Impaired with Suppress/Hail of Fire or interrupting actions with Impending Threat + Blinding Shells can increase their lifespan, but with the Archer having only average E-Defense and most PC mechs having at least 10 Sensors, it’s usually easy to blow up Grunt Archers with a Fragment Signal before they get to have any real impact. Also, since Impaired doesn’t stack, Suppress or Hail of Fire from a Grunt horde will quickly reach a point where it’s not adding any further debuffs.
RPV works fine on the surface, but since the Archer has a high HP/low Armor profile, giving it a little more HP rarely feels worth taking on the downsides of that template.
Personally, I don’t care much for Ship or Vehicle on Archers. While the former’s immunity to Stunned and large Size (and thus large coverage area with its reactions) are nice, it has a similar issue to RPV where the extra HP is typically not worth the downsides (namely being too large to benefit from most cover), and with how important careful positioning often is to make the most of the Archer’s reactions, Limited Handling from Vehicle is a significant hindrance.
Aside from those, most templates are reasonable fits with the Archer, though because it frequently wants to use reactions for more attacks and has no innate way of doing more than one reaction per turn, I generally try to avoid stacking on more reactions. Voice of Authority from the Commander template is an exception to this because it generally gets triggered on an ally’s turn, but others like Commander’s Press The Attack or Mercenary’s Last Word can often run into reaction allowance conflicts that make them go unused.
As mentioned earlier when discussing Superior Sentinel, the extra Accuracy that the Archer gets on reaction attacks can synergize nicely with critical hit traits, so Pirate, Ultra, or Veteran (with Deadly) Archers can be significantly more potent offensive threats than usual.
Speaking of Ultra and Veteran, passive traits that reduce damage (whether via Resistance, Invisibility, Armor, or unique effects like Steel Jaw) can go far in complimenting the Archer’s innate high HP.
Ultra Archers have a couple other things going for them, too. First, Shock and Awe means that an Ultra Archer can make more once-per-round reaction attacks than usual, greatly ramping up its threat potential. Additionally, none of the Archer’s reaction attacks specify that it has to use its Light Machine Gun for them, so the Ultra’s Hellfire Projector or especially Ravager Turret can both add some alternative options for them. Just be mindful that neither of those has Reliable damage, so dice luck can be more of a factor with them, but dishing out four or more total Ravager Turret attacks per round is incredible damage output potential.
General Use
Overall, the Archer is an aggressive controller built mostly around making players choose between having less efficient turns or taking more damage. While it has high HP, the low Armor and average defenses leave it vulnerable to eating a pile of damage from repeated attacks, either from long-range (before it’s closed enough to apply its controlling) or from close-range (where it has no particular answers to melee and no good ones to CQB), so careful positioning is deceptively important to maximizing its effectiveness. Additionally, because the players have input on when the Archer’s reactions are triggered, there’s an extra element of psychology to baiting them into picking the worse options, and an Archer getting to attack only once per round while the players are finding ways to be effective despite the “make your choice” consequences can be a waste of a combatant. Altogether, this makes the Archer a difficult NPC to use well.
When it works well, though, the Archer is very potent, capable of attacking three or four (or even more) times per round for some of the highest total damage output of any NPC. The damage and/or debuffs will usually be spread over multiple PCs, which can delay how long it takes to feel relevant, but once the PCs are collectively worn down enough for the sense of danger to kick in, that distributed damage can result in multiple Structures per round, spreading the pain across the party in a way that few other NPCs can and often being a real threat to spiral out of control. If the PCs have low Armor (or if the Archer has allies causing effects like Shredded or Exposed), an Ultra Archer that gets the pain train rolling is a massive threat that I’d consider among the most dangerous NPCs in the game as-written.
Early turns are usually best spent moving and Boosting as necessary to reach a good location. Note that the Archer’s Sensors are longer than its weapon Range, so there can be opportunities to do some Quick Tech attacks until it gets into its preferred distance (if using Prepare, I would generally go for a Quick Tech or Skirmish over a “make your choice” system because triggering the Prepare counts as a reaction, thus denying the use of Moving Target, Got Your Back, or the Hail of Fire reaction on the same turn). Once there, the real dance begins, juggling Skirmish attacks with the rest of the Archer’s systems to try getting as much value as possible. This is something that takes experience, because there are far too many contextual variables in play to offer any meaningful suggestions for when a Skirmish, a Suppress, a Covering Fire, etc. would be best. Generally speaking, I like being aggressive with using Moving Target over keeping up Impaired from Suppress because Impaired can come from elsewhere (either Structure damage or a more flexible NPC using Invade being the most common) more easily than the missing damage from yet another attack, and I typically favor using Impending Threat for actions rather than movement, but these are vague guidelines at best.
Fortunately, despite being difficult to play to the best of its potential and having a very distinctive way of being used compared to most other NPCs, the Archer’s fundamental strengths and capabilities are well-rounded enough that it can work well in a wide variety of sitreps. Something that encourages PC movement (like Escort, Extraction, or Recon) is slightly more suited to it than ones where the PCs can camp a location (like Control or Holdout) because it brings more pressure on the choices for Suppress and Hail of Fire, but all in all, the combination of high Speed, decent overall durability, and a versatile weapon with systems that dare the PCs to either take more hits or limit themselves is an excellent foundation. The Archer is among my favorite NPCs to use in any situation.
Compositions of Note
The Archer’s abilities are simple enough in their mechanics that it can be a good teammate for just about any NPC. The weakest fit is probably with the Hornet, since there’s only so much Impaired the PCs can take before they’re all stuck with it, and even then, favoring Covering Fire or Impending Threat over Suppress or Hail of Fire goes a long way towards smoothing out that relationship. That said, there are some options that stand out as particularly strong combinations.
The Aegis’s Defense Net upgrades the Archer from having decent durability to being tanky, and Light Laser’s Burn damage helps deal with Armor that can shrug off Light Machine Gun’s Reliable, while the Archer’s potential to limit PC movement and/or put out good damage covers some of the Aegis’s main weaknesses. The Archer can also be used more aggressively to tie up PCs well out of the bubble, letting the Aegis and any artillery allies have freer reign.
Speaking of which, any long-range NPCs that can compel a response from outside of the PCs’ effective ranges and thus pressure them to eat Moving Target reactions is a welcome ally to the Archer, especially when it’s set up to return the favor with Impending Threat or Covering Fire to punish PCs choosing to stay put and fight at distance instead. Any of the artillery NPCs can fit for this, as can long-range hackers like the Barricade, the Mirage, or the Witch. Delayed area attacks, like the Rainmaker’s Atlas Missile or Scout’s Orbital Bombardment, can also fill this role, which I think is one of their best uses.
The Assassin loves the Immobilized effect from Hail of Fire, and the Specter loves how Covering Fire encourages the PCs to move apart, even if just for a moment. The Lurker loves how all of the “make your choice” systems work nicely with Umbral Shroud, while the Archer can enjoy the Shredded that causes.
As ever, the Avenger, the Bastion, and the Sentinel are wonderful options as a bodyguard for a dangerous NPC. The Demolisher also enjoys any allies who can make the PCs hold still long enough for it to get in melee range, and Blinding Shells plus Shock Armor can be a nasty combination to help it stay alive as it trudges closer.
The Hive can be awkward since it’s another NPC with a “make your choice” ability involving Impaired and Immobilized, but the rest of its kit fits well with the Archer. Its Burn damage covers the Archer’s weakness to Armor, Razor Swarms is great at providing soft cover combined with some melee deterrent (even better with Driving Swarm, and even the base version can give cover to a Ship Archer), and while it can seem counter-intuitive at first, Grind Maniple pressures the PCs into staying still and using full actions, which then increases the threats of Covering Fire and Impending Threat.
The Scout doesn’t have much special synergy with the Archer using just its base kit beyond the Shredded effect from Marker Rifle (which is powerful, but only if the PCs have relevant Armor or Resistance), but aside from the Orbital Bombardment + Covering Fire combination mentioned earlier, Expose Weakness is horrifying when partnered with an NPC that attacks frequently. This can encourage PCs to just eat the debuffs from Suppress or Hail of Fire or the action-loss from Impending Threat because the Archer’s damage can ramp up enough to threaten nigh-immediate Structure damage against anyone who’s been ignoring Hull. This pairing is one of the best to make an Elite or Ultra Scout an absolute menace, since getting two turns per round can help it keep up with how quickly the Archer’s attacks will consume the bonus damage.
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