Archery Needs Improvements
Posted: Fri Sep 26, 2025 4:06 pm
Hello Eden dev team,
I wanted to share some honest feedback about the current state of archery classes, especially hunters, because right now they feel severely underpowered and underrepresented compared to other stealth and DPS options. As someone who actively plays a hunter, the class just isn’t living up to its intended role.
Archery Damage Is Way Too Low
The most obvious problem is how weak archery damage is. Even with full spec templated hunter, a critical shot on a target usually only hits for about 300 to 400 damage, if were lucky. That is nowhere near competitive when assassins are regularly hitting for 1500 or more with Perforate Artery and follow-ups, often while stacking snare, DoT, and disease poisons on top.
Archery is supposed to be our signature mechanic, but it feels like it’s barely worth using. For example, I would be better off going as a melee hunter instead. A few key issues are contributing to this:
• Archery is treated as magic damage, so increasing Dexterity doesn’t boost the actual damage.
• Add damage effects don’t apply to bow shots at all.
• Damage hasn’t scaled with how much defensive capability most players now have through resists, buffs, and absorb effects.
Assassins Completely Outclass Archers
The imbalance becomes even clearer when you look at what assassins have access to. They get Vanish, Detect Hidden, and very strong openers. They can stack multiple poisons, including crowd control, DoT, and disease, while hitting extremely hard.
As a result, hunters and other archers spend most of their time trying to avoid assassins rather than countering them. We often feel like prey instead of predators, which is the complete opposite of how the stealth meta should feel.
Hunter Pet Is Too Slow To Be Useful
While the hunter’s pet does technically have useful tools like snare and disease, in practice those abilities almost never matter. The pet’s movement speed is far too slow, and its pathing is unreliable. By the time it actually reaches a target, the fight is often already over.
Even when it does connect, its damage is minimal and the debuffs arrive too late to make a difference. It is also very easy to kite, ignore, or kill outright. For something that’s supposed to be a defining feature of the class, the pet ends up feeling like a non-factor in almost every RvR scenario. Improving its speed, responsiveness, and impact would make the hunter feel much more complete.
Little to Offer in Group Play
Outside of stealth groups, archers are rarely wanted because we bring very little in terms of utility or group value. That pushes us into a niche role of picking off scraps on the edges of fights, which isn’t satisfying gameplay and doesn’t make the class feel valuable to a team.
Suggestions for Improvement
Here are a few changes that could help bring archers back into a healthy and competitive state:
• Rework the archery damage formula so Dexterity or weapon skill meaningfully increases damage.
• Allow add damage buffs to apply to bow attacks.
• Increase critical shot multipliers so opening shots actually feel impactful.
• Add some utility to bow shots, like a minor snare or slow, to give archers better control over engagements.
• Improve the hunter pet’s movement speed, AI, and debuff reliability so it contributes meaningfully to fights.
• Consider small utility buffs or debuffs tied to archery that make archers more desirable in group play.
Archery should reward positioning, timing, and smart target selection. Right now, though, we’re punished for playing the class the way it’s meant to be played. A few targeted changes like the ones above would make a massive difference, not just for hunters, but for the overall balance and fun of the stealth game.
Thank you for taking the time to read this. Many of us love the archer playstyle and hope to see it brought up to par in future updates.
Respectfully,
A concerned hunter main
I wanted to share some honest feedback about the current state of archery classes, especially hunters, because right now they feel severely underpowered and underrepresented compared to other stealth and DPS options. As someone who actively plays a hunter, the class just isn’t living up to its intended role.
Archery Damage Is Way Too Low
The most obvious problem is how weak archery damage is. Even with full spec templated hunter, a critical shot on a target usually only hits for about 300 to 400 damage, if were lucky. That is nowhere near competitive when assassins are regularly hitting for 1500 or more with Perforate Artery and follow-ups, often while stacking snare, DoT, and disease poisons on top.
Archery is supposed to be our signature mechanic, but it feels like it’s barely worth using. For example, I would be better off going as a melee hunter instead. A few key issues are contributing to this:
• Archery is treated as magic damage, so increasing Dexterity doesn’t boost the actual damage.
• Add damage effects don’t apply to bow shots at all.
• Damage hasn’t scaled with how much defensive capability most players now have through resists, buffs, and absorb effects.
Assassins Completely Outclass Archers
The imbalance becomes even clearer when you look at what assassins have access to. They get Vanish, Detect Hidden, and very strong openers. They can stack multiple poisons, including crowd control, DoT, and disease, while hitting extremely hard.
As a result, hunters and other archers spend most of their time trying to avoid assassins rather than countering them. We often feel like prey instead of predators, which is the complete opposite of how the stealth meta should feel.
Hunter Pet Is Too Slow To Be Useful
While the hunter’s pet does technically have useful tools like snare and disease, in practice those abilities almost never matter. The pet’s movement speed is far too slow, and its pathing is unreliable. By the time it actually reaches a target, the fight is often already over.
Even when it does connect, its damage is minimal and the debuffs arrive too late to make a difference. It is also very easy to kite, ignore, or kill outright. For something that’s supposed to be a defining feature of the class, the pet ends up feeling like a non-factor in almost every RvR scenario. Improving its speed, responsiveness, and impact would make the hunter feel much more complete.
Little to Offer in Group Play
Outside of stealth groups, archers are rarely wanted because we bring very little in terms of utility or group value. That pushes us into a niche role of picking off scraps on the edges of fights, which isn’t satisfying gameplay and doesn’t make the class feel valuable to a team.
Suggestions for Improvement
Here are a few changes that could help bring archers back into a healthy and competitive state:
• Rework the archery damage formula so Dexterity or weapon skill meaningfully increases damage.
• Allow add damage buffs to apply to bow attacks.
• Increase critical shot multipliers so opening shots actually feel impactful.
• Add some utility to bow shots, like a minor snare or slow, to give archers better control over engagements.
• Improve the hunter pet’s movement speed, AI, and debuff reliability so it contributes meaningfully to fights.
• Consider small utility buffs or debuffs tied to archery that make archers more desirable in group play.
Archery should reward positioning, timing, and smart target selection. Right now, though, we’re punished for playing the class the way it’s meant to be played. A few targeted changes like the ones above would make a massive difference, not just for hunters, but for the overall balance and fun of the stealth game.
Thank you for taking the time to read this. Many of us love the archer playstyle and hope to see it brought up to par in future updates.
Respectfully,
A concerned hunter main