Archer

Archers are a type of guard who appear in both Assassin's Creed and Assassin's Creed II and are commonly found on rooftops. They are always equipped with longbows and will shoot at the player when provoked, but will switch to their swords when the player gets near them.

Assassin's Creed: Bloodlines
Templar Archers are not as aware as the other archers in the other games and will usually only detect you and attack you when you are being chased. They are significantly dormant and oblivious to Altaïr, except when he tries to climb a structure. Altaïr can now assassinate from ledges, making them the prime targets of this technique.

Assassin's Creed II


Archers will be provoked by anyone in sight, save for other guards, on the rooftops and will usually ready their bows when they see one. Archers chase anyone in the rooftops, not just Ezio, such as Pickpockets and Borgia Messengers. They can be easily killed by grabbing them and throwing them from a high enough place. Otherwise, they act like Militia in which they are significantly less skilled at combat than their other counterparts making them easy to fight with. When Ezio has hired Thieves, he orders the thieves to attack the Archers, instead of just luring them away.