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The Archer is an Ancient Era ranged unit in Civilization VI. It upgrades from the Slinger (or its replacements).
- Attributes:
- Has a ranged attack with
Range 2. - -17
Ranged Strength against 
District defenses and naval units.
- Has a ranged attack with
Strategy[]
The Archer isn't the first ranged unit in the game anymore - it is the second, after the Slinger. It is a considerable upgrade from its predecessor - it has better 
Combat Strength, better 
Ranged Strength, and most importantly, a 
Range of 2, which allows it to hide behind the front line while shooting. An army of Archers and Warriors is surprisingly effective at rushing unsuspecting neighbors. One very common strategy is to amass 
Gold and train a lot of Slingers, so once Archery is unlocked, you can already have an army of Archers at your service. But don't depend solely on them for assaulting cities - their considerable penalty vs. districts means they will only be effective against the weakest of cities, and only if they don't have Walls.
The Archer is an indispensable upgrade for those that seek early combat, or have serious Barbarian problems. What's more, its development is easy, and upgrading your Slingers costs only 60 Gold per unit (on Standard speed). Aside from being a convenient defense against early invasions from aggressive neighbors (such as Chandragupta, Montezuma, and Cyrus), these Archers can unlock the 
Eureka for Machinery, as well as another Eureka and an 
Inspiration further down the line (Metal Casting when upgraded into Crossbowmen and Scorched Earth when upgraded into Field Cannons, respectively).
Civilopedia entry[]
Another hunting tool that proved very effective for killing other people, the bow as a weapon was perhaps first used in the Paleolithic Era. Archery was likely developed in several places more-or-less simultaneously, and except for Australia, it was used on every continent by all sorts of people. Until the advent of gunpowder, and even after in some cases, it was the primary light projectile weapon. Not much good for melee though; therefore archers were usually integrated or protected by heavier infantry, the first combined-arms formations in the history of warfare. Over centuries, archers became more specialized, eventually requiring years to become experts at their craft. But most civilizations had elite archery units that could dominate a battlefield under the proper conditions – such as against mired heavy knights at Agincourt, or bare-chested berserkers at Stamford Bridge, or the misguided troopers of the Seventh Cavalry at the Little Big Horn.
See also[]
- Archer in other games
