"Archer Towers have much longer range than Cannons, and unlike Cannons they can attack flying enemies."
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Level 1
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Summary
Archer Towers are a single target defense in the Home Village.
They are the second defense available to players, unlocked at Town Hall 2.
Archer Towers are extremely versatile structures. They are able to target both Ground and Air Units, and they have excellent range. This versatility means that they should form the cornerstone of every player's defense.
Starting from level 10, an Archer Tower can be geared up by the Master Builder if he is available and at least one Archer Tower in the Builder Base is upgraded to level 6. This gives the Archer Tower a "Fast Attack" mode, which increases its damage output at the expense of its range, like the Archer Towers in Builder Base.
Defensive Strategy
Archer Towers can target both Ground and Air Units at an amazing distance. Therefore, it is generally a good idea to place them on the outer perimeter of the village. Doing so allows players to capitalize on the excellent range and provides good coverage for the rest of the defenses.
As Archer Towers have the ability to target both Ground and Air Units, a good strategy would be to place all of the other defenses within range of at least one Archer Tower.
It is typically a good idea to upgrade Archer Towers before you upgrade Cannons. Although they are more expensive and take longer to upgrade than similar-level Cannons, Archer Towers have more range and can target air units as well as ground units.
It is typically wise to put an Archer Tower near a Cannon or Mortar due to the fact that neither of these two defenses can target air units.
Place Fast-Attack Archer Towers in particular weak-spots or possible “Queen Walk” areas. It can quickly take down any sponges such as Giants, P.E.K.K.As, Dragons and even Lava Hounds, and also can deal damage to a queen in a queen walk.
Placing a Wizard Tower or Air Bomb near an archer tower can help with its single-target weakness, especially against hordes of minions and balloon parades.
Offensive Strategy
Their ability to target both Ground and Air Units makes Archer Towers formidable defenders. However, Archer Towers are only able to damage one unit at a time. This makes it very easy to overwhelm them with large groups of Archers or Barbarians.
When deploying only a few Balloons, it is advisable to keep them away from an Archer Tower, as their slow movement speed makes them an easy target. However, Balloons deployed in large numbers will quickly destroy an Archer Tower while only losing one or two Balloons. After the Archer Towers (and Air Defenses) are taken out, the Balloons will proceed to destroy the rest of the village (although Wizard Towers and time can still be a problem). You can also place a group of Archers (around 15-25) and let them do the work.
The best choices for attack are high health troops combined with low health, high attack Troops, as the high health troops will soak up all the damage, leaving the low health ones to attack.
Upgrade Differences
Archer Towers undergo significant visual changes at levels 6, 11 and 16.
When initially constructed, the Archer Tower has an open wooden lattice supporting a flat wooden platform; an exterior wooden ladder leads from the ground to the platform level. From levels 2 through 5, the lattice structure and wooden platform both receive additional reinforcement.
At level 2, the Archer Tower gets 4 short posts on the top and the wood gets thicker. The ladder also moves to the left.
At level 3, the Archer Tower gets gray stone paddings on the legs and the short posts connect each other on the platform. The ladder moves back to the middle.
At level 4, the Archer Tower has the paddings turn into supports and a small green flag is added under the platform. The wood slightly changes color and the ladder is now to the right.
At level 5, the Archer Tower gets a solid stone base which connects each support with the ladder moving to the left.
At level 6, the lattice supports and ladder are removed, and solid vertical supports are added. The wooden platform receives stone battlements and the green flag is extended to cover the interior.
At level 7, the stone battlements around the platform are reinforced and the solid stone base is taller to completely obscure the interior.
At level 8, the Archer Tower receives metal braces at the bottom of each leg.
At level 9, the Archer Tower's flags get shorter to reveal the interior again and the braces on each leg gets bigger and have spikes.
At level 10, the flags get larger again, golden plates get placed around the whole tower, additional golden plates get added to the middle of the wooden supports and the wooden supports gets darker.
At level 11, the color scheme completely changes as all the wood is replaced with dark iron, the braces on each leg merges with the middle golden plate covering most of corner and the battlements receive dark iron shields on each corner.
At level 12, the tower gains brass guard shields on the top corners. The base of the tower has brass plating on the sides and reinforced corner guards with new spikes and brass ornaments on it.
At level 13, the tower's battlements are overhauled, sporting metallic corner pieces with a red-colored shield on each corner. The tower's corner guards' spikes at the base turn golden. The planks where the Archers stand also switch directions, and are now dark gray in color.
At level 14, the corner pieces turn white and now sport golden spikes. The battlements themselves become bronze. Large golden spikes replace the smaller spiked braces, and the base is reinforced by a stone lining.
At level 15, the foundations of the tower become a two-toned smooth concrete-like material. The spikes on the foundations disappear, the brass ornaments becomes bigger. The corner pieces at the top of the tower become black stone with slightly smaller spikes.
At level 16, the corner pieces are white-topped gray blocks, and are slightly lower to be more in line with the draped battlements. The spikes on the pieces are now absent. The foundations of the tower are now overhauled again, with its pillars being steel-gray with similarly colored bolts, as well as electric coils on the sides. The part of the tower just below the corner pieces is now dark blue in color.
At level 17, the battlements gain golden guards, and golden lining is present on the base and on the corner pieces of the tower. The bolts are now golden in color as well.
The number of and apparent level of the Archers atop the tower also change with level.
When first constructed, the Archer Tower has two Archers on its platform, with the appearance of a level 1 (or 2) Archer, and shoots normal arrows.
At level 4, they shoot flaming arrows until the Archer Tower is level 7.
At level 5, the Archers' appearance changes to that of a level 3 (or 4) Archer.
At level 7, a third Archer appears, and they start shooting purple arrows (until level 11).
At level 8, the Archers' appearance changes to that of a level 5 Archer.
At level 10, the Archers' arrows begin to explode on impact.
At level 11, the Archers' appearance changes to that of a level 6 Archer and they shoot flaming arrows.
At level 13, the Archers' appearance changes to that of a level 7 Archer. The arrows they shoot are flaming reddish-pink.
At level 16, the Archers' appearance changes to that of a level 8 Archer.
Gearing up the Archer Tower will remove, relocate or trim most of the footings to a shape perpendicular to the floor, ostensibly to allow the tower to be lowered. On certain levels, it will also center the Archer Tower inside the grass plot on which it stands (un-geared Archer Towers are often a bit behind the center of the plot).
Trivia
You don't need to train an Archer to have the Archer Tower, nor do you need to unlock the Archer in your Barracks. Any upgrades to Archers you have completed in your Laboratory have no effect on the Archer Tower whatsoever.
The Archer Tower is the first defense that you unlock that can attack air troops.
The number of Archers atop the tower is purely aesthetic. Archer Towers with three Archers at the top have the same range and rate of fire as towers with only two Archers at the top (although the individual Archers, which take turns to fire, will have different firing rates). This remains true if the Archer Tower is geared up and set to fast attack mode.
The Archer Tower is one of the three defenses that have Troops on the top of it, the other two being the Wizard Tower and the Bomb Tower.
When upgrading, the tower appears in the war base as the previous level, with no Archer on top, although it is completely functional. (The same also holds true for Wizard Towers.)
Even though you cannot upgrade Archers to level 5 until you upgrade your Laboratory to level 6 (which requires a level 8 Town Hall), the Archers atop a level 8 Archer Tower (the max level for Town Hall 7) resemble level 5 Archers.
A geared up level 17 Archer Tower in fast attack mode will deal the highest consistent DPS (244) of all defensive structures that can target ground and air troops.
A player can build up to eight Archer Towers, which, along with the Spring Trap, outnumbers any other defensive structure (not counting Walls).
The Cannon and the Archer Tower have the most levels of any building, being able to be upgraded to level 17.
Icon Descriptions
Tapping this icon displays information about the Archer Tower, such as Level, Damage Per Second, Hitpoints, Range, Damage Type and Targets.
Tapping this icon begins upgrading the Archer Tower to the next level, if you have enough resources and a free Builder. When the Archer Tower is at maximum level, this icon is not shown.
Tapping this icon instantly upgrades the Archer Tower to the next level, at the cost of one Hammer of Building if you have one. When the Archer Tower is at maximum level, this icon is not shown.
Tapping this icon, which is displayed only while an upgrade is in progress, instantly finishes that upgrade at the cost of the displayed number of Gems.
Tapping this icon, which is displayed only while an upgrade is in progress, instantly finishes that upgrade at the cost of one Book of Building. This icon is only shown if you have at least one Book of Building.
Tapping this icon, which is displayed only while an upgrade is in progress, instantly finishes that upgrade at the cost of one Book of Everything. This icon is only shown if you have at least one Book of Everything but do not have a Book of Building.
Tapping this icon, which is displayed only while an upgrade is in progress, boosts all your Builders for 1 hour by a factor of ten, at the cost of one Builder Potion. This icon is only shown if you have at least one Builder Potion.
Tapping this icon, which is displayed only while an upgrade is in progress, cancels the current upgrade and refunds half of the upgrade cost.
Tapping this icon gears up the Archer Tower, if you have upgraded it enough to do so, have enough resources and a free Master Builder. If any Archer Tower is already geared up, this icon will not appear.
This icon informs you that the Archer Tower cannot be geared up because it is insufficiently upgraded. Tapping this icon will tell you the required level to gear up this Archer Tower. If any Archer Tower is already geared up, this icon will not appear.
This icon indicates that the Archer Tower is set to Long Range mode, to attack units in the usual manner. Tapping this icon switches the Archer Tower to Fast Attack mode. This icon only appears when the Archer Tower is geared up, and is in Long Range mode.
This icon indicates that the Archer Tower is set to Fast Attack mode, to attack units quickly but with a reduced range. Tapping this icon switches the Archer Tower to Long Range mode. This icon only appears when the Archer Tower is geared up, and is in Fast Attack mode.
