Imagine this scene, you don’t know what to do and you’re trapped in the corner with your health points (HP) at a critically low level. In the midst of this, a rain of your enemies’ poison spit, arrows, and other projectiles are heading to you. You cannot stop moving to fire back for even one second, or you’ll get hit and lose the game. This entire situation is one that a lot of first-time Archero players face. But you don’t need to necessarily have to experience that situation if you’re prepared for the game. To do that, you will have to know about the challenges you’ll have to face. We’ve created this beginner’s guide to Archero to help you maneuver your way around the game and, hopefully, avoid hopeless situations.
Also read: Archero Tier List: The Best Heroes, Abilities, and Talents
What Is Archero?
Although it is a popular game, some of you who clicked on this Archero guide may be wondering what Archero even is. Contrary to its name, Archero isn’t an archery game at all. Instead, Archero is best described as an arcade action-adventure “bullet hell” shoot ’em up game. Archero is similar to popular Touhou Project fan games and the 1982 Taito game, Front Line. Your objective in this game is to move your hero and avoid enemy projectiles on different map levels while retaliating and defeating them to progress to the next level.
Developed by Habby and Gorilla Game Studio in 2019 for iOS and Android smartphones, Archero already has over 50 million downloads on the Google Play Store alone. The game has two distinct modes, the normal campaign mode and a harder hero mode that can be unlocked through normal play.
Where Can I Get Archero?
You can get Archero for both Android and iOS platforms through the Google Play Store and the Apple App Store, respectively. Both versions of the game are free to play with an in-game store where you may purchase battle passes, chapter-specific value packs, growth packs, coins, and gems to help upgrade and unlock heroes.
The game has continuous updates like new main chapters (26 as of October 2021), new heroes, and new items. Habby also pushes out new playing modes and mini-games like the recently added Battle Contract feature that nets you more rewards.
Get Archero on the Google Play Store
Get Archero on the Apple App Store
Archero Tips and Tricks
Now onto the meat of this article, the tips, and tricks. We will give you a few good tips to help you with the game. These tips will be split into two sub-sections, general and battle tips.
For general tips, we’ll explain things like equipment, energy, gems, and promo codes. In battle tips, on the other hand, we’ll give you a quick rundown of things that you’ll need to know during fights. Succeeding sections after this would also explain the differences between heroes, abilities, and talents.
Before we start, one thing you do need to know about the rewards, abilities, and upgrades that you can get on this game is that it’s mostly dependent on a random number generator (RNG). This means that you have no say on what options are available for you to pick. Some may give you additional input, like during campaign level-ups, which we’ll explain later on. Generally, though, you can only hope that your luck holds up.
General Archero Tips
1. Game Energy: Wait until it is fully recharged
Similar to most free-to-play games like Candy Crush Saga, Archero also has an energy and leveling system. Every time you play a campaign chapter, you’ll have to pay five energy, but you normally only have a maximum of 20 at any given time. This energy payment lets you play a campaign and lasts until you die for that campaign.
You can naturally recover your energy by 1 point every 12 minutes. It means that you’ll have to wait for 4 hours to recover the 20 energy you’d used for the four games you’ve played. Thankfully though, not only can you sometimes gain energy as loot; you can also get some from other sources like the in-game store. We’ll explain a bit more about this later.
2. Chapters and Campaigns: Expect for the worst
As we explained earlier, Archero currently has 26 different campaigns called “chapters.” These chapters range from the newbie-friendly Verdant Prairie to the newly added Land of the Dead. Each chapter plays out like a different dungeon crawling game each time due to each chapter having enemies, bosses, and of course, rewards and loot.
While we’d like to give you a concrete guide on how to pass a campaign, there isn’t really a specific way to get past a whole chapter as each is split into different “stages.” Every stage is then randomized with different obstacles and enemies each time you play a campaign. This means preparation and upgrading your heroes and talents are a priority to succeed in the game.
3. Leveling System: Keep tabs on your performance and stats
Now on to levels, there are three types of them in Archero. One is the level of your hero, the second is your campaign or chapter level, and the last is your adventure level.
Hero Levels
You can quickly look at your hero level by going to the equipment screen and clicking “Change Hero.” Each hero has a set amount of attack power and health points that go up with your hero’s level. Do note that each hero has a maximum level that you can upgrade.
Campaign Levels
Your campaign level mainly depends on your performance per chapter stage. Each monster and enemy defeated in a stage give out gold coins that will be added up to increase your level. Each new campaign level gives you access to three RNG chosen abilities for your attacks. You can only pick one of the three per level, though. These abilities accumulate with each additional level. There is also the possibility of adding the same ability that stacks with your previous pick.
Player Levels
For every game you play, whether you died or succeeded in finishing a chapter, you’ll be granted some experience points (XP) as part of your loot. This XP is then added to your Adventure level, which ties into how many times you can upgrade your talents section. As stated earlier, you can’t choose which exact talent to upgrade since an RNG chooses a talent for you after you pay the gold coins for it.
4. In-Game Currency: Collect and use them sparingly
The first type of currency and the most commonly obtained are Gold coins. These are used for upgrading your talents, with the RNG deciding which talent you’ll get.
The second in-game currency in Archero is gems. These are the most versatile type of currency available to you. Aside from using it to open golden and obsidian chests from the in-game store to get equipment, you can also buy several hero characters with it. These heroes are generally better than the two free heroes, Atreus and Urasil.
You can also use gems to “revive” your hero if you die while in the middle of a campaign. This doesn’t count as a new campaign and instead is a continuation of your current one. The best way to think of this part of the game is to think of it as a roguelike game where you happen to have an item or two to continue the game after you’d died.
Coupons are the third type of in-game currency. Compared to gold coins and gems, these coupons are mainly for cosmetic items. You usually use these to buy different costumes for your heroes. These costumes usually give two different power-ups, one specifically for the hero and another for all your heroes. The second one has differing conditions to activate.
5. In-Game Freebies: Get every single one of them
True to its core as a free-to-play game, Archero offers a myriad of login gifts, promo codes, achievements, and daily quests for you to complete. These offer a lot of useful things like in-game currency, XP, or even items and equipment.
Daily Login Gifts
Daily login gifts are simple since all you have to do is log in every day and click on the scroll icon on the upper left side of the map screen. Once there, click on the login gifts tab on the bottom left and claim your gift for the day. For these gifts, you can see what kind and amount of items it is that you’ll get.
Daily Quests and Achievements
Most of the daily quest freebies give a multiplier of XP to you for specific actions you do in-game. It may be as simple as logging into the game or playing a chapter for two or more stages to buying items from the in-game store. All you have to do to check if you can claim some of these quests is go to the same screen as the daily login gifts and pick the “daily quests” tab on the bottom center.
On the other hand, achievements are similar to daily quests, except these can only be claimed once per account. Achievement rewards are usually paid in gems and are given after specific milestones in playing the game. Some examples of achievements include clearing stages 1 to 30 of a chapter in normal mode or upgrading equipment to level five.
Promo Codes
Habby sometimes gives out promo codes during advertising campaigns or before important game updates through sponsored videos or other media. These codes give different items and in-game currencies depending on the type of promotion it is for. If you’ve lucked out and gotten one of these, you only need to click the in-game menu (three horizontal bars on the map screen), press settings, and enter the code into the “Insert Promo Code” pop-up.
6. Normal Mode vs Hero Mode
As we said earlier, the game has two modes, a normal and a hero mode. You can only unlock hero mode after completing a few levels and campaigns on the normal mode. Hero mode is essentially a “hard mode” for unlocked campaigns and levels.
Hero mode has enemies that have been significantly buffed. There are also more traps and blockades on each level and some enemies might have different attack patterns and movements.
While the rewards and loot you get for defeating levels on hard mode are the same as the ones you’ll get on normal mode, players that get through the ordeal will receive special clear rewards per chapter. If you feel up to it, you should try to clear each chapter on hero mode at least once.
Battle Tips
1. Angels and Devils: Choose your powerups wisely
Throughout chapter stages, you’ll encounter both angels and devils in Archero. These critters always offer you abilities to power up your hero for that chapter run. While they do a similar role, there is a big difference between the two of them.
Angels always offer you a choice between either healing or an RNG-determined option. This second option is usually an ability or max HP boost. You can naturally find angels as you go through a chapter as they appear on a stage without any enemies.
Devils, on the other hand, have a specific way to be summoned. You have to defeat a boss enemy without receiving any damage. However, it doesn’t offer you things without a price. It will offer strong abilities like an extra life or multi-shots but will reduce your maximum HP as payment.
2. Patterns and Blocks: Use them to dodge attacks
All enemies in the game have set patterns and movements to their attacks. The trick is knowing the timing for the attacks and avoid them. If you’re facing a new enemy, you should first observe it and move in short spurts in one direction away from it. That lets you keep far enough away that it would let you see how it moves safely.
You should also use your surroundings as a defensive measure. As much as it hinders your movement, it would also hinder the enemy’s movements and attacks. Some enemies have throwing attacks or flying body slams that can go over walls and other obstacles.
3. Don’t be afraid to die
You can always retry a chapter with a different hero, strategy, and loadout for your playthrough. Don’t be afraid of losing since it is a natural occurrence in playing Archero. Just make sure to learn from your mistakes, though.
You could always try to observe enemy attacks and survive the hit. While not recommended, it is a good way to gauge your enemies’ attack strength on your HP. This is a good tactic if you’re ready to pay another five energy to restart the chapter or some gems to “revive.”
4. Balancing is the key
We’re sure a few of you have heard a few battle maxims like “Speed is The Best Defense,” “Defense is The Best Offense,” or “Offense is The Best Offense.” For Archero, however, there is only one surefire way to win the game, balancing all three, but that isn’t always an option.
Like other “bullet hell” games, the best tactic to use needs players to be speedy enough to avoid rushing enemies and projectiles. You should try to anticipate where projectiles and enemies would hit a few seconds before they actually reach you. While hard to do at first, you’ll eventually react naturally to enemy movements.
5. Luck of the draw
The last result tactic is to hope for a lucky draw and pick abilities suited for strong attacks during your level-up. While this may leave you like a glass cannon, if you’re fast enough and have a high enough attack power, you could power through most stages.
Before attempting this, you should first make sure that you’ve sufficiently upgraded your talents and equipped your strongest items to give you a better chance of surviving.
Completing the Basics
And that’s it for our Archero guide. We hope this has let you enjoy the game a bit more and let you have a better time playing. Don’t forget to check back on this guide once in a while. Since the game adds more heroes, equipment, abilities, and chapters with each update you might miss out on new info!
