Archer

Archer

ARTICLE

GALLERY

HISTORY

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Event Content

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Archer has been made unobtainable from the game as of the 26th of January 2020 as it was part of the Christmas 2019 Event.
Players with the item in question can continue using it, but you cannot obtain this item anymore, outside of limited-time promotional sales.

Similar Article

This article is about Archer. You may be looking for the Hunter enemy from Eggy Island.

Archer
Unlock Cost	Gift of Sharpness
Base Cost	$400
Base Selling Cost	$133
Type	Offensive
Placement	Ground
Placement Limit	15
Statistics
Base Damage	4
Damage Method	Pierce Fire (Level 3+) Splash (Level 5)
Base Firerate	1.708
Base Range	18
Hidden Detection	Level 2+
Lead Detection	Level 3+ (Fire & Splash only)
Flying Detection	Level 0+
Immunities	None
Placement Footprint	Average (1.5)

• Current
• Hardcore Testing
• Original

"Shoot an arrow and requires time to aim. Exclusive tower."

―Inventory Description

"Shoots piercing arrows that aren't most accurate. Opened from the gift of Sharpness."

―Former Inventory Description

"A trophy tower, opened from the Gift of Sharpness."

―Former Inventory Description

Description

The Archer, formerly known as the Holiday Archer, is a tower exclusive to the Christmas 2019 Event. It could have been unlocked from the Gift of Sharpness which costs 2,500 Tickets. The gift could have also been bought via a limited time gamepass for 250. It could later be bought through a different limited time gamepass, which was sold multiple times. It can currently be bought through a limited time gamepass for 599.

The Archer shoots arrows that damage and pierce through enemies, making the Archer a multi-target tower. The firerate of the Archer is separated into two halves. The first half is the Archer loading the bow with an arrow. This can happen even if there are no enemies in the Archer's range. If it starts attacking with its bow loaded, its firerate will be effectively halved for that shot. The second half is the Archer aiming the bow, and then firing it. This can only happen if there are enemies in its range, unlike the first half. It also boasts a very high range, despite its very low cost.

At Level 3, the Archer gains the ability to equip different arrows, with the default arrows being replaced by fire arrows at Level 3. These set an enemy on fire, as long as it does not have the Burn Immunity. At Level 4, it can now swap to shock arrows, which stun enemies for a brief period of time, but can pierce through less enemies. The final arrow is an explosive arrow, which creates an explosion upon hitting a single enemy, meaning its piercing is replaced by an explosion which deals damage on top of the arrow. There is a 10 second cooldown before arrows can be switched again.

The main drawback of this tower is that arrows are projectile-based and will take a short time to reach their intended location. On the very rare occasion that an enemy has moved out of the way before the arrow could reach them, they will not be damaged. It is more likely for other enemies to get in the way of the intended target, especially if the arrow cannot pierce. Arrows also move along a straight path, so placement is key for the Archer. The Archer can detect Hidden enemies at Level 2+ and Flying enemies at Level 0+. It can also damage Lead enemies at Level 3+ with its flame arrows, though only burn damage can damage them, or through its explosions.

The Archer has a placement limit of 15 per player.

Upgrades

Level 1 - Eagle Eye - $50
+1 Range Sell Price changes to $150

Level 2 - Deadshot - $400
+Hidden Detection 1.708 > 1.608 Firerate +2 Damage +1 Max Hits Sell Price changes to $283

Level 4 - Mechanical Bow - $2,375
+8 Damage +1 Range •3 Max Hits 0.25 Stun Time +1 Burn Damage 2 > 3 Burn Time +1 Max Hits Sell Price changes to $1,341

Level 5 - Shot of the Century - $7,000
+1 Range +16 Damage 1.508 > 1.258 Firerate •48 Splash Damage •5 Explosion Range •1 Max Hits +2 Max Hits 0.25 > 0.3 Stun Time +2 Burn Damage 3 > 4 Burn Duration +2 Max Hits Sell Price changes to $3,675

Stats Table

To see all the previous statistics of this tower, see the history page, while for the statistics without the Firerate Bug, visit the Firerate Bug page.

Total Cost
Level 0	Level 1	Level 2	Level 3	Level 4	Level 5
$400	$450	$850	$1,650	$4,025	$11,025

• Flame Arrow
• Shock Arrow
• Explosive Arrow

Flame Arrows
Level	Damage	Burn Damage	Firerate	Burn Tick	Burn Time	Range	Max Hits	Total Elapsed Damage	DPS	Cost Efficiency
0	4	N/A	1.708	N/A	N/A	18	2	N/A	2.34	$170.94
1	4	N/A	1.708	N/A	N/A	19	2	N/A	2.34	$192.3
2	6	N/A	1.608	N/A	N/A	19	3	N/A	3.73	$227.88
3	8	1	1.508	0.5	2	22	3	4	7.31	$225.72
4	16	2	1.508	0.5	3	23	4	12	14.61	$275.5
5	32	4	1.258	0.5	4	24	6	32	33.44	$329.69

Shock Arrows
Level	Damage	Firerate	Range	Max Hits	Stun Time	DPS	Cost Efficiency
4	16	1.508	23	3	0.25	10.61	$379.36
5	32	1.258	24	5	0.3	25.44	$433.37

Explosive Arrows
Level	Damage	Splash Damage	Firerate	Range	Explosion Range	Max Hits	DPS	Cost Efficiency
5	32	48	1.258	24	5	1	63.6	$173.35

Skins

To see all the upgrades of a skin, see the gallery page.

Skin	Huntsman	Valentines	Spooky
Rarity	Common	Event	Event
Daily Store Cost	255	N/A	N/A
Obtained From	Deluxe Skincrate	Lovestruck Skincrate, Valentine Skincrate	Spooky Skincrate

Strategy

• Due to its cheap cost, Archers can be useful early on during the game.
• The Archer's arrow is quite accurate, as it can hit enemies majority of the time.
  • However, other enemies may get in the way of the intended target, especially if the arrow shot has limited piercing.
• Place the Archer in front of straight paths, just after a corner, to make use of the piercing arrow and increase the likelihood that the arrows will hit more enemies.
  • Depending on the situation, it may be a good idea to set the targeting to Last or Farthest with this tower so that it will be more likely to shoot enemies within the straight path.
  • Placement is far less important for the explosive arrow, as all piercing is gone for it, replaced with an explosion. This allows for the Archer to be placed in spots that would generally be horrible for it.
• Natural obstacles, such as hills, do not interfere with the Archer's arrow; it passes right through them.
• At Level 3+, the arrows fired by the Archer will gain the ability to set enemies on fire, if set to flame arrows.
  • This can allow it to deal more DPS to each enemy hit. It also has the highest max hits, allowing it to hit more enemies than the other arrows in most cases.
  • Do note that the burn damage cannot be applied to enemies with Burn Immunity, making the Archer weaker against them.
  • The Archer's burn damage does not stack with other Archers or with towers that deal burn damage, like the Pyromancer.
    • This may hinder some towers' performance, such as the Golden Pyromancer, in which the burning damage dealt is superior compared to that of the Archer.
• At Level 4+, it gains the shock arrows, which can stun enemies.
  • While the shock is quite short, it can still be useful at stunning if the arrows do not hit the enemy at the same time, but instead hit them separately, applying the stun multiple times and keeping the enemy stunned for a long time, though this can be tricky to pull off.
  • If an enemy has the Stun Immunity, it will not be stunned but instead only slowed down. For Bosses, they do get slowed down, but the slowdown is weaker on them.
• At Level 5, it gains the explosive arrows, which explode upon hitting the first enemy.
  • As it explodes upon hitting the first enemy, it is far less effective against spread out hordes of enemies in a straight line, though it is far more effective against enemies clumped close to each other.
  • The explosion does not replace the arrow damage, meaning the explosive arrow are actually quite effective against single target enemies. It also bypasses defense with its explosion, making it useful against high health defense enemies like the Fallen Giant.

Trivia

• This tower could be a reference to Robin Hood. This may also be based on the exclusive Archer tower from Tower Battles.
• The old Slasher's Knife Throw is similar to the Archer's arrow. Both utilize a projectile that pierces enemies.
• Before the Overhaul Update, the Archer's Level 5 upgrade wore the Christmas Beanie and Christmas Coat from R2DA.
• When Hardcore Testing BETA was initially released, the Archer was available for 1 if you did not have it.
• When initially released, the Archer could pierce through infinite enemies so long as they were within its range.
  • This was changed on the 4th of March 2020. Now, it can only pierce through a limited number of enemies.
• After the Overhaul Update, the Archer supposedly had "special arrows" between Level 4-5. This supposedly gave arrows the ability to inflict an effect on enemies (such as stuns and explosions).
  • However, this was only available for special skins that were not yet made. It was then promptly removed in the next update.
  • One of the special arrow effects would later return on the 7th of April 2023, with flame arrows that inflict burn damage, and another two more on the 15th of January 2025, with arrows that explode and stun enemies on impact.
• The Archer shares its Level 3 icon with the Gladiator's and Sledger's Level 2 icon.
• When an enemy is hit by the Archer's arrow, the enemy will emit blood particles.
• When the Entity System Update released, because of a bug, the Archer gained immunity to all stuns, which would later be fixed in the Duck Hunt Update.
• Before the 12th of January 2020, the Archer used to share the cheapest placement cost of $200 with the Farm.
• The Archer's Level 5 upgrade name, Shot of the Century, is named after an ability name given to The Umbra on the TDS Wiki.
  • This, in turn, is named after the shot heard round the world in the context of the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand leading to the First World War and indirectly leading to most 20th century conflicts.

Update History

For previous cosmetic variations, see the gallery page.

• 24 December 2019 - Release v1.5.0
  • Holiday Archer added.
  • Bug: Damage buffs do not increase the Archer's damage.
• 25 December 2019 - Release v1.5.0b
  • Statistical changes:
    • Level 5
      • Damage decreased from +30 to +15.
• 28 December 2019 - Release v1.5.0c
  • Bugfix: Arrow hitbox fixed.
• 1 January 2020 - Release v1.5.1
  • Holiday Archer target hitbox improved.
  • Statistical changes:
    • Base
      • Damage decreased from 2 to 1.
    • Level 3
      • Damage decreased from +10 to +6.
• 12 January 2020 - Release v1.6.0
  • Statistical changes:
    • Base
      • Cost increased from $200 to $350.
• 26 January 2020 - Release v1.6.1
  • Gift of Sharpness (and therefore the Holiday Archer) can no longer be bought by Tickets.
    • Can still be obtained via gamepass for 250.
  • Statistical changes:
    • Base
      • Cost increased from $350 to $400.
    • Level 2
      • Damage decreased from +2 to +1.
    • Level 3
      • Damage decreased from +6 to +5.
    • Level 5
      • Damage increased from +15 to +20.
  • New skin: Huntsman
• 5 February 2020 - Release v1.6.1a
  • Gamepass went offsale, Holiday Archer is now unobtainable.
• 14 February 2020 - Release v1.7.0
  • New skin: Valentines
• 4 March 2020 - Release v1.8.0
  • Arrows will now do less damage as they pierce through enemies.
  • Arrows now pierces through a limited amount of enemies.
• 12 April 2020 - Release v1.9.0d
  • Gamepass for Holiday Archer re-added for 350.
• 17 April 2020 - Release v1.9.0e
  • Gamepass for Holiday Archer went offsale.
• 28 August 2020 - Hardcore Testing BETA
  • New skin: Ninja
    • Bug: The Ninja skin attack animation does not play and can not damage enemies whatsoever.
• 29 October 2020 - Overhaul v1.0.0
  • Renamed from Holiday Archer to Archer.
  • No longer loses damage as it pierces.
  • Increased accuracy.
  • Gamepass for Archer re-added for 400.
  • Firerate decreased due to the Firerate Bug being made less severe.
  • Statistical changes:
    • Base
      • Damage increased from 1 to 3.
      • Firerate increased from 2.05 to 4.03.
      • Range decreased from 25 to 20.
      • Max Hits decreased from 2 to 1.
    • Level 1
      • Range decreased from +2 to +0.
      • Firerate changed from 2.05 to 4.03 > 3.23.
      • Renamed from Improved Handling to Faster Reloading.
    • Level 2
      • Damage decreased from +1 to +0.
      • Range increased from +0 to +2.
      • Max Hits decreased from +2 to +0.
      • Hidden Detection added.
      • Renamed from Sharper Arrows to Hawkeye.
    • Level 3
      • Range increased from +1 to +0.
      • Max Hits decreased from +3 to +2.
      • Cost increased from $325 to $400.
      • Renamed from Even Sharper Arrows to Sharper Shooter.
    • Level 4
      • Firerate changed from 2.05 > 1.05 to 3.23 > 2.03.
      • Range increased from +1 to +2.
      • Special arrows added.
      • Renamed from Rapid Fire to Mechanical Bow.
      • Cost increased from $800 to $1,350.
    • Level 5
      • Damage decreased from +20 to +17.
      • Cost increased from $3,000 to $3,500.
      • Renamed from Sword Arrows to Professional Archer.
  • Bug: Archer's arrows may not appear in-game.
  • Bugfix: Damage buffs now increase Archer's damage.
• 31 October 2020 - Overhaul v1.1.0
  • Statistical changes:
    • Level 4
      • Cost decreased from $1,350 to $1,000.
      • Special arrows removed.
    • Level 5
      • Max Hits increased from +0 to +2.
  • Removed skin: Ninja
• 7 November 2020 - Overhaul v1.1.0a
  • Gamepass for Archer went offsale.
• 23 November 2020 - Overhaul v1.1.1
  • New skin: Spooky
  • Bugfix: Archer's arrows now properly appear in-game.
• 12 March 2022 - v1.1.0
  • Firerate decreased due to the Firerate Bug being made less severe.
  • Statistical changes:
    • Base
      • Firerate decreased from 4.03 to 4.008.
      • Flying Detection added.
    • Level 1
      • Firerate changed from 4.03 > 3.23 to 4.008 > 3.208.
    • Level 4
      • Firerate changed from 3.23 > 2.03 to 3.208 > 2.008.
  • Bug: Archer is now immune to all stuns.
• 17 April 2022 - v1.2.0
  • Bugfix: Archer is no longer immune to all stuns.
• 21 December 2022 - v1.6.0
  • Skin rarity added to all skins.
• 7 April 2023 - v1.7.0
  • Archer is available through a gamepass for 500.
  • Statistical changes:
    • Base
      • Cost increased from $400 to $600.
      • Damage increased from 3 to 4.
      • Firerate decreased from 4.008 to 2.508.
      • Max Hits increased from 1 to 2.
    • Level 1
      • Firerate changed from 4.008 > 3.208 to 2.508 > 2.008.
      • Range increased from +0 to +2.
    • Level 2
      • Firerate changed from 3.208 to 2.008 > 2.258.
      • Damage increased from +0 to +4.
      • Range decreased from +2 to +0.
      • Cost increased from $250 to $700.
      • Name changed from Hawkeye to Deadshot.
    • Level 3
      • Damage decreased from +5 to +2.
      • Max Hits increased from +2 to +3.
      • Flame arrows with 2 burn damage, 1 tick and 3 burn time added.
      • Cost increased from $400 to $1,500.
      • Name changed from Sharp Shooter to Ammo Mods.
    • Level 4
      • Firerate changed from 3.208 > 2.008 to 2.258 > 1.508.
      • Damage increased from +0 to +10.
      • Burn damage increased from +0 to +2.
      • Cost increased from $1,000 to $3,000.
    • Level 5
      • Damage decreased from +17 to +10.
      • Max Hits increased from +2 to +3.
      • Burn damage increased from +0 to +6.
      • Burn time changed from N/A to 3 > 8.
      • Cost increased from $3,500 to $7,500.
  • Bug: Archer's flames are invisible when an enemy is on fire.
• 15 April 2023 - v1.7.1a
  • Archer gamepass taken offsale.
• 28 October 2023 - v1.9.0
  • Archer's burn now will thaw frozen enemies and prevent freezing towers from freezing enemies.
  • Bug: Level 3+ Archer does not deal damage to enemies that are not set on fire or burn immune.
• 21 December 2023 - v1.11.0
  • Bug: Projectiles are now invisible.
• 31 January 2024 - v1.12.0c
  • Bugfix: Archer now deals damage to all enemies at Level 3+.
• 10 February 2024 - v1.13.0
  • Bugfix: Projectiles are now visible.
• 10 May 2024 - v1.21.0
  • Bug: Archer becomes less accurate at higher Time Scale values.
• 23 May 2024 - v1.23.0
  • Bug: Burn damage no longer generates cash in Molten mode, Fallen mode and special maps.
• 21 June 2024 - v1.25.0
  • Bug: Regular damage is no longer boosted by damage buffs.
• 2 August 2024 - v1.27.0
  • Bugfix: Regular damage is now boosted by damage buffs.
• 23 October 2024 - v1.37.0
  • Burn no longer prevents enemies from being frozen.
• 15 January 2025 - v1.49.0
  • Placement limit of 15 added.
  • Added the option to select three different arrow types, starting from Level 3.
  • Statistical changes:
    • Base
      • Firerate decreased from 2.508 to 1.708.
      • Range decreased from 20 to 18.
      • Cost decreased from $600 to $400.
    • Level 1
      • Firerate changed from 2.508 > 2.008 to 1.708.
      • Range decreased from +2 to +1.
      • Cost decreased from $100 to $50.
      • Upgrade name changed from Faster Reloading to Eagle Eye.
    • Level 2
      • Damage decreased from +4 to +2.
      • Firerate changed from 2.008 > 2.258 to 1.708 > 1.608.
      • Max hits increased from +0 to +1.
      • Cost decreased from $700 to $400.
    • Level 3
      • Firerate changed from 2.258 to 1.608 > 1.508.
      • Range increased from +0 to +3.
      • Burn damage decreased from 2 to 1.
      • Burn time decreased from 3 to 2.
      • Burn tick decreased from 1 to 0.5.
      • Cost decreased from $1,500 to $800.
      • Upgrade name changed from Ammo Mods to Flame-tipped Arrows.
    • Level 4
      • Damage decreased from +10 to +8.
      • Firerate changed from 2.258 > 1.508 to 1.508.
      • Burn damage decreased from +2 to +1.
      • Burn time changed from 3 to 2 > 3.
      • Flame arrow max hits increased from +0 to +1.
      • Shock arrows added.
        • 0.25 stun time.
        • 3 max hits.
      • Cost decreased from $3,000 to $2,375.
    • Level 5
      • Damage increased from +10 to 16.
      • Firerate changed from 1.508 to 1.508 > 1.258.
      • Range decreased from +2 to +1.
      • Burn damage decreased from +6 to +2.
      • Burn time changed from 3 > 8 to 3 > 4.
      • Flame arrow max hits increased from +0 to +2.
      • Stun time change of 0.25 > 0.3 added.
      • Shock arrow max hits change of +2 added.
      • Explosive arrows added.
        • 48 damage.
        • 5 explosion range.
        • 1 max hits.
      • Cost decreased from $7,500 to $7,000.
      • Upgrade name changed from Professional Archer to Shot of the Century.
  • Bugfix: Burn flames are no longer invisible.
• 29 January 2025 - v1.51.0
  • Gamepass taken offsale.

Notes