[Mmm it's a Orange Juice]
What's up everyone, It's OJ
The magic archer initiates his attack at 7 tiles
and it shoots 11 tiles far
He can't snipe the king tower from across the river
However, if there is any unit in the center of the map
and a tower is down,
You can just barely reach the king tower for that sweet snipe
It's always good to know how much damage a card does left alone.
This lets you gauge how threatening it is to leave it ignored.
Five hundred damage on the tower means you can afford to ignore him in beat down decks
His arrow has a piercing effect
And most importantly, it has a 0.25 tile splash radius
Check out how he pierces through skarmy
He is nowhere near as efficient as the executioner
But he is fast
This is what makes him deadly
He can one shot skeletons, fire spirits and bats
Even though bats die in one shot, his arrow is very thin; so you can actually surround him with bats right as he crosses the bridge to fully deny him
though you have to be careful , since he has a 7 tile attack range, he locks on to the tower really fast like a dart goblin does
So if you mess up,then you are in for a world of hurt
His range is massive. He practically insta-locks on to the princess.
So it's harder to stop him from chipping your princess tower when one is down.
On the topic of range, he wrecks the Bowler's knock-back mechanic
He's fragile, but he can actually take out a bowler for a positive elixer trade.
If you get too greedy and plant him too far back, the bowler will knock him out of range, and the bowler will lock on to your princess tower and deal five hundred damage.
Another interesting thing is that he is just strong enough to stop one bandit.
It's all about angles, in a perfect world he can two-shot three minions straight up. They'll die in two shots, nice and swift.
But you can also use minions to counter an unprotected magic archer just like with bats.
His projectile is as fast as a dart goblin. The difference? It doesn't lock on to any target, so it can be outpaced easily.
Take for example the minion splitting. It really distracts him and leaves him vulnerable.
Generally speaking, you're going to want to watch out for very fast moving troops to keep in mind the angle at which you place him.
Especially those infinite Ninja Turtles. He'll literally let every single spear goblin connect on to your tower at full health
The goblin hut is finished before he can even touch it if it's placed inefficiently.
The interaction with the minion horde is different because of the formation of the horde. Straight on he is only piercing two minions. He is gonna get wrecked
Treat it like any other ranged card and pull the minion horde. Doing this pulls them out of formation into a nice solid shape to snipe more than two minions at a time.
He takes minimal damage and can wreck the horde.
When they counter your push with a minion horde and then they counter attack with a miner, you actually have enough time to position your magic archer at the best angle to assault that miner.
You'll need an ice spirit or ice golem to minimize the damage done
He can also three-shot archers, princess and dart goblin.
It's not too strong, but it is effective. It's worth remembering this interaction for when these troops are supported behind a tank
In terms of real game play, how do you use him?
He has two major functions:
The first function is to defend against major beat down pushes
He wrecks a giant, night witch, and musketeer
And literally deals twelve hundred damage to the tower
because that giant is in position for him to perfectly chip the tower