Zad Archery Skills Tier List

Skills in Zad Archery split across two screens: job skills on the bow tab, and tree nodes that behave like passives. This list ranks both because players search “best skill” for either. For unlock paths see the skill tree and jobs guides.

S — Arrow Fall charges, cooldown, and automate

Arrow Fall is the click that prints under the grass. Starting at one charge, it is a cooldown toy. Extra charges, shorter cooldown, and the automate line shown in Let’s Try footage turn it into the idle half of the game. Every build wants this engine. Armor that adds Arrowfall Projectiles is the craft version of the same S-tier (see crafting).

S — Gem chance (claw, then bow)

Jobs and job ranks cost green gems. A 20–25% claw-target gem node is an engine. Patch 1.0.2 made those gems count when you farm below your highest wave, so the node stays S after you start hovering. Skip it and every later job looks overpriced.

A — Explosive Arrow

Archer’s documented nuke: detonates on impact, area damage, short cooldown (Lv.3 card: Damage 4, Hits 3, Cooldown 3s). Cheap green-gem ranks. It stays A after Sniper because kits stack. MAX it when the button is cheap; do not MAX it instead of unlocking Sniper.

A — Sniper orb and move-while-attacking

The purple sphere in combat screenshots is the splash tool for packed bullseyes and Guardian add-ons. Move-while-attacking is the reason Guardians are fair. Together they are A on farm and S on push. Ranked here as A because you still need Arrow Fall as the baseline engine.

B — Attack speed, extra projectiles, multi-shot

These multiply the S-tier casts. Buy them after charges and gem chance. Multi-shot is visible in Archer’s MAX row. Extra projectiles also drop on Rare armor; do not double-pay if the craft already rolled +1 Arrow Fall.

B — Movement speed (tree)

Useful once Sniper can shoot on the walk. Before that, it is a small quality node. Take a point if you feel slow, then stop.

C — Flat damage and early max life

Damage numbers on the tree look like progress. They are not, until engines exist. Max life is a Guardian stat; buying it in minute ten is how you delay Sniper. Craft HP on armor later instead.

C — Monster slow as a first pickup

A small slow helps. A full branch of slow does not replace kiting. Sniper exists.

Unranked — later 15+ skills, alchemy, cards

The demo shipped four skills. The full game lists 15+. Until those extra skills have UI names and numbers on this wiki, they stay unranked rather than guessed. Alchemy potions and card shaping are systems, not a skill row. Watch updates.

Use the builds list to combine these ranks with crafts. Use the jobs list if you are still arguing Archer versus Sniper. Hour-one spend order remains on Getting Started.

If a YouTube short tells you to max flat damage before charges, ignore it. Launch-week clears that felt “stuck” were almost always one-charge Arrow Fall plus no gem chance. The farming planner exists so you hover and buy the S-tier nodes instead of pushing wave 50 with a C-tier tree.