Bowmen are the exact opposite of Warriors. They use dexterity to take down a foe with arrows. While their damage is very low in the beginning of the game, their skills make up for it with probability and statistics. Critical shots can raise damage by 100% (not double damage - there is a slight difference as shown in the Archer guide). It does not work all the time, since it is only a 40% success rate. Don't be surprised if you see 400 damage in one shot, and 1000 in another. Archers have the third lowest weapon-defensive equipments of all the classes, whereby the lowest would be mages, though they have very high magic defense , and the second lowest is the thief class

Because of this, Archers have the most unstable damage in the game until they learn Bow Mastery (which will raise their minimum damage) in their second job advancements.However,in 4th job ,they will be 1 of the most stable damage class (90%-200% damage)

The Archer's greatest weaknesses are its lack of mobility and low HP (though a few hundred hp more than thieves on average). Archers have long range ,even longer than any class around (About +20 more range to assasins though) but their average speed, and the fact that they cannot move while attacking, are problematic. What is more is that they cannot jump and shoot at the same time unlike their counter-part, the assassin. Although they do not specialize in melee attacks, and their weapons allow them to knock an enemy away to a safer distance. This would be a good help in lower levels during large mob spawns. They also have moderately high avoidability, second to Assassins, but the gap is rather small, probably only a few avoidability points. Other weaknesses include the fact that they are required to buy, make, or find arrows until the skill "Soul Arrow", which lets the Archer shoot without using physical arrows, is learned. However, keep in mind that Soul Arrow does not retain the stat boosts that come with special arrows,although the damage difference of specail arrow is rather small. This skill, however, provides an advantage over assassins who do not get the skill "Soul Stars" until their fourth job advancement. Archers have the highest accuracy in the game, because they add dex for their attack and it is the stat used to determine accuracy. Luck also adds a small amount of accuracy, so assassins get less accuracy. This means an archer could hit monsters much higher leveled than them before other classes can hit it.

Because of this ability, Archers can hunt monsters that are at a level much higher than they are. They are probably the only class that can hit certain monsters before actually being able to deal damage.

In later job advancements, Archers can split between Hunters and Crossbowmen, with the main difference being the use of regular bows or crossbows. Unlike class splits such as Assassins/Bandits, these two classes are remarkably similar, with skills that have easily noted similarities. The general consensus is that while Crossbowmen do more damage every individual hit, Hunters have the ability to fire more arrows (Hit more hits) in a period of time than Crossbowmen. Also, both classes get a Ranged AOE skill at 2nd job and fantastic Area Of Effect skills at 3rd job.

It should also be noted that the Archer class tends to lean more towards individual players, or soloing, as compared to the group mentality. While other classes have "Party Skills" (Skills that raise the abilities of the entire party) the Archer has no skills until 4th job, though that skill is arguably one of the best, allowing all jobs to make critical hits. Because of this, parties will generally select other classes besides archers.