Archer Tank Destroyer

Contributors

Vehicle

Faction

UK Forces

Medium vehicle extremely effective against all vehicles. Has long-range and high damage. Slow movement speed and low health, but moves faster in reverse. Cannot fire on the move. Must face targets directly to fire.

The Archer Tank Destroyer is an elite UKF vehicle unit. In skirmishes, it is available exclusively as a call-in with the Australian Defense Battlegroup.

The Archer is the only mobile tank destroyer vehicle available to the UKF. As expected from this role, it is effective against vehicles but ineffective against infantry.

Offensively, it is armed with a powerful anti-tank (AT) cannon. This performs similarly to the , with similar damage and penetration values. However, the Archer has significantly less maximum range, and a noticeably lower rate of fire. Despite this, it still overall has a long attack range and thanks to its high damage and penetration, it can tackle all vehicles including very heavy armour like the and the . It also cannot fire on the move, and the Archer must rotate its entire body to face its targets due to a fixed cannon.

In terms of the vehicle itself, do not be fooled by the description of 'medium vehicle' - it is extremely fragile due to very low armour values that is comparable to light vehicles like the USF . In addition, the vehicle has very slow mobility due to low speed and acceleration values. As such, this vehicle is quite fragile and slow, meaning care must be taken and protection must be provided to it. As with most late game units, this unit is expensive in both CP cost to unlock, as well as resource costs.

At veterancy level 1 it gains the passive ability Stabilized Shot, which is essentially a First Strike bonus. When out of combat and stationary, its first shot will have greatly increased accuracy and penetration bonuses.

Reflecting its historical oddities in the world war, this unit moves faster in reverse, and its rear armour is slightly higher. See Trivia section for more details.

Overall the Archer is the only mobile tank destroyer vehicle available to the UKF. While it's cannon is slightly worse than the 17-Pounder due to lower range and rate of fire, it overall is still an extremely powerful anti-tank cannon on a mobile vehicle. This allows it to skip vulnerabilities and inconveniences like requiring towing for movement and using vulnerable weapons crew.

When in use, one must be wary of how fragile and slow it is. It can be thought of as an extreme version of a , with the same weaknesses including needing to face targets before it can fire. With adequate protection, its long range and powerful cannon will allow the Archer to help deal with heavy armour effectively.

Armor

medium tank

Uniquely, this unit features higher rear armour, reflecting its historical oddities in the world war. See Trivia section for more details.

Veterancy

1800 XP

Unlocks veteran ability. Improves acceleration and deceleration.

3600 XP

Increases rotation rate and accuracy.

7200 XP

Significantly improves rate of fire and speed.

Veterancy Abilities

Stabilized Shot: Passive ability gained upon reaching veterancy level 1. The Archer gains First Strike bonuses when out of combat and stationary. Its first shot while this passive is activated gains greatly increased accuracy and penetration bonuses. While there is technically no cooldown, as implied by 'first shot' the passive will not reactivate until the unit has been out of combat for a lengthy period, and thus will not reactivate while still continually in combat.

Abilities

Stabilized Shot

Vehicles out of combat that are stationary gain First Strike bonuses.

+50% penetration, and +50% accuracy on the first shot.

Emergency Engine Repair

Crew will repair vehicle criticals when out of combat and stationary.

Note: Emergency Engine Repair is not available in skirmishes.

Weapons

Archer-17pdr-uk-sp	Near	Mid	Far
Accuracy	0.1	0.055	0.04
Range	10	30	60
Penetration	340	320	300

The Archer's cannon is similar to the , although it features significantly less range and rate of fire comparatively.

Trivia

The full name of this vehicle historically was the "Self Propelled 17pdr, Valentine, Mk I, Archer".
This vehicle was unusual in that its gun faced the rear of the chassis instead of the front. Thus, technically the front of the vehicle was always the opposite of the direction of the gun. While odd, this design made the Archer an excellent ambush weapon. Its rear mounting combined with a low silhouette would allow its crew to fire its weapon, and then quickly drive away without requiring turning around to do so.
- This explains its peculiar in-game stats. The Archer in CoH3 is treated as if the gun direction is the 'front' of the vehicle for ease of use for players. It reverses faster, and its rear armour is slightly higher, reflecting that historically the front of the vehicle is actually the opposite of the gun's direction.

Change Log

1.6.1 Hotfix April 11 2024

Reduced command point cost from 7 to 6

1.6 'Coral Viper' April 2 2024

Australian Defense Battlegroup is added to the game.