Want to be a master of the battlefield, always staying two steps ahead of your opponent? Maybe you should check out TERA's archer, a powerful combination of raw damage with some serious tactical potential.

It's a brand new year, and you all know what that means: a brand new TERA class reveal, courtesy of ZAM and our friends at En Masse Entertainment! Last time we checked out the sorcerer, a class that excels in the application of brute force and fire to reach her goals. It seemed fitting that this time we would be highlighting the archer, a class that some players might assume to be the physical damage-dealing version of the sorcerer but, upon closer inspection, is actually quite different.

Check out our in-depth details about the archer after the jump, as well as 10 gameplay tactics straight from En Masse Entertainment and a video showcasing the archer at work. And if that's not enough archer action for you, then head over to our TERA image gallery and look through our exclusive archer screenshots.

If there could be one label to sum up everything that makes an archer unique, it would definitely be that the archer is a master of tactics. While the archer lacks the up-front explosive power of a sorcerer in TERA, they more than make up for it with some of the best battlefield management of all. Playing an archer in TERA isn't about emptying your quiver into the sturdy hide of a dragon - it's about utilizing your entire repertoire of traps and magical arrows to bring tactically precise, but still very deadly, arrow power to the field.

To become master archers and tactical geniuses, players will need to take full advantage of the many traps available to the archer, like the insidious Poison Trap for weakening your foes or, when poisons aren't enough, the powerful Explosive Trap for your blasting needs.

In addition to these offensive traps, the key to a powerful archer is obviously an archer who is alive, so players will need to take advantage of utility traps like the Slow Trap and Concussion Trap in order to get out of harm's way or to lure their enemies into potentially disastrous situations. When traps fail (or if your enemies are just coming too fast!), archers also have access to Backstep for quick movement, and Breakaway Bolt, an ability that allows the archer to escape while also dealing some handy damage in his wake.

Of course, no archer would be without his or her trusty quiver of magical arrows, and archers in TERA are no slouches when it comes to offensive variety. Utilizing a combination of situationally advantageous abilities, like Penetrating Arrow for heavily armored opponents, Poison Arrow for longer fights, Rapid Fire for quick bursts of damage, or even Rain of Arrows and Arrow Volley for large mobs of enemies, the archer has it all. If you're feeling more tactically advanced than your average player, perhaps you should think about using the archer's utility abilities, like Web Arrow and Restraining Arrow to set up some huge damage with Radiant Arrow, an ability that can be charged and fired for massive damage potential.

Keep reading below for some great tips from En Masse Entertainment for getting the best bang out of your archer!

Ten Tactics Tips for Archers

1. Think of your quiver as a toolbox. You have skills for every situation: arrows that penetrate armor, hit multiple enemies, or apply crowd control. Sometimes damage is all you care about, but often you'll want to combine damage with another effect to make life easier for you and your allies.
2. Know when to move! TERA is a game of movement, and you can't rely on good looks and long range to keep you safe. When the monsters get close enough to engage you in melee combat, pop your Backstep skill to leap backward or shoot a Breakaway Bolt that'll explode in your foe's face while launching you to the safety of long range.
3. Know when to stay put. One of your signature skills is Radiant Arrow, which deals a truckload of damage but requires you to hold the attack button down. When you release the button, you launch the arrow, and the longer you wait, the more damage you'll inflict.
4. The right trap for the right job. At the very least, you should be laying Explosive Traps and Poison Traps to deal more damage and add some mayhem to the battlefield. You can lure key enemies into traps like Slow Trap and Concussion Trap as well, to keep them busy until you're ready to deal with them.
5. One eye on the target, one eye on your mana bar. You have to manage your mana like a spellcaster. You'll start with a full bar, but you'll have to balance your big-bang skills with more ordinary-but still lethal-arrows so you don't run out of mana before the fight's over.
6. Nothing deals more damage than staying alive. Especially in a boss fight, you'll face the choice of moving out of harm's way or shooting just one more arrow. The leading cause of death among archers is "one more arrow." Dead archers deal no damage, so keeping yourself alive is almost always the right choice.
7. Strive for self-sufficiency. The priests and mystics are busy people, and they'll spend most of their time taking care of the tanks and melee damage-dealers. Use potions, charms, and the other contents of your backpack to keep yourself healthy. That way you can do your job unimpeded, and the healers can do their jobs, too.
8. Know thy enemy. Is the Penetrating Arrow a good idea because your enemy has heavy armor, or would a Poison Arrow be a better idea because you know the fight will last ten more seconds? In-the-moment assessments like that are what differentiate a good archer from a great archer.
9. Your arrows can blot out the sun. Often you'll face a dozen foes or more in TERA. Use Rain of Arrows and Arrow Volley to attack them all at once. Just because real-world archers aim at one target at a time doesn't mean you have to.
10. In PvP, two things matter: movement and burst damage. Keep your feet moving, and take your adversaries' feet away with with Web Arrow and Restraining Arrow. Then drill them with Rapid Fire and pity them because you're an archer and they're not.