Shadow Archers

This article is about the tower in Kingdom Rush: Vengeance. For the enemy in Kingdom Rush, see Shadow Archer.

Shadow Archers
Type	Ranged Tower
Introduced	Vez'nan's Tower

“

An arrow to your knee!

”

The Shadow Archer is the basic Ranged Tower in Kingdom Rush: Vengeance. Introduced at the very start of the game, it shoots arrows that deal physical damage at a relatively fast rate, like basic archers in the previous games.

Description

Rigorously trained to be the deadliest of marksmen, these archers will easily take care of enemies before they get noticed. Some say that they are able to hit their enemies blindfolded.

Stats

	Level	Damage (With Upgrades)	Fire Rate	Range	Build Cost
	1	3-4 (3-4)	0.7s	Average 300	80
	2	7-11 (7-12)	0.7s	Average 330	120
	3	14-21 (15-23)	0.7s	Long 360	190
	4	23-34 (25-37)	0.7s	Great 400	280

Abilities

Shadow Mark

"Your fate is sealed."

Shoots an arrow that marks a target, making it suffer extra damage from all sources for 5 seconds. (Cooldown: 20 seconds)

The arrow itself doesn't deal any damage.

Level	Cost	Extra Damage
1	120 (102)	+30%
2	120 (102)	+60%
3	120 (102)	+100%

Blade of Demise

"Even your shadow can betray you."

Stabs an enemy† in the back and kills it instantly.

†: Excludes War Wagon and bosses.

Level	Cost	Cooldown
1	300 (255)	40 seconds
2	100 (85)	30 seconds
3	100 (85)	24 seconds

Crow's Nest

"Vicious and highly intelligent birds"

Summons a crow to attack nearby enemies. The crow locks on to an enemy, dealing physical damage.

Level	Cost	Damage (0.5s)
1	200 (170)	1
2	200 (170)	2

Strategy

• The Shadow Archers specialize in taking out the bigger and stronger enemies in the game which appear in later waves, making it usable throughout the entire game. 
• This tower is best compared to the Bone Flingers and the Goblirangs, having a higher DPS and significantly longer range. Furthermore, the damage is enough to make low levels of armor have little reduction on the damage.  
• Blade of Demise is likely the most important ability of the Shadow Archer - a reliable insta-kill with a decent cooldown. Using the tower at a choke point with a barracks allows Blade of Demise to be triggered more often. 
• Alternatively, Shadow Mark allows the Archer to multiply damage against giant enemies, allowing other towers to also deal more damage against them, in an effect somewhat related to the Abrasive Heat of the Melting Furnace. The Melting Furnace could also buff this tower, allowing it to deal more damage.
• The only downfall to this tower is the Crow's Nest, which costs too much and deals too little damage to be viable. The player should avoid this upgrade at all costs, unless aiming for the "They're Coming" Achievement. 

Range

Related Upgrades

• GXR-1 TARGETING SYSTEM (2 souls): Improved with Goblin technology, Archery towers gain extra range. (5% additional range)
• GUILD OF MERCHANTS (2 souls): Costs of towers' special skills is now reduced. (15% cost reduction)
• MASTER ARCHITECTS (2 souls):All towers gain extra bonus damage. (10% additional basic attack damage)

Related Achievements

THEY'RE COMING! (30 gems) Make your crows deal 30,000 total damage.

Quotes

• "My aim is flawless."
• "The night is dark."
• "Aim high, aim true."

Tier 4:

• "An arrow to your knee!" (When built)
• "The arrow finds its mark." (Shadow Mark)
• "Never trust your shadow." (Blade of Demise)
• *Kaw!* (Crow's Nest)

Trivia

• The Shadow Archer is based on the Shadow Archer enemy from the first Kingdom Rush.
• "The night is dark."
  • A line said by the character Melisandre, in A Storm of Swords, the third novel in the A Song of Ice and Fire series by George R.R. Martin. The full line is "The way the world is made. The truth is all around you, plain to behold. The night is dark and full of terrors, the day bright and beautiful and full of hope. One is black, the other white. There is ice and there is fire. Hate and love. Bitter and sweet. Male and female. Pain and pleasure. Winter and summer. Evil and good. Death and life. Everywhere, opposites. Everywhere, the war."
• "Aim high, aim true."
  • a variation of lyrics from the song We All Die Trying to Get it Right by Vance Joy
• "An arrow to your knee!"
  • Based on a line from the video game The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, "I used to be an adventurer like you, then I took an arrow in the knee.". The phrase has been parodied many times and is more commonly seen in meme format.
• "The arrow finds its mark."
  • A line spoken by the character Hanzo in the video game Overwatch. He normally says My arrow finds it mark.

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