Wind Sneaker vs Grand Archer

[Starra]

Before Wind Sneaker use to be really good for PvP and Grand Archer was okay, but needed skill to be good at PvP, what exactly happened where Wind Sneaker is now kind of sucks (btw I love Wind Sneaker) or down graded and for the most part to be really good with Grand Archer is spamming her?

[Reid Sawtell]

Right now GA is objectively better in both PvP and PvE. I personally find WS much more fun, so this is extremely disappointing for me, but the suggestion is GA.
With that said, I don't play GA, so can't help you much.

Edit:
OH, you asked for pro's and cons.
- WS -
Pros:
-tankier (slightly more hp and def, as well as a pair of nice tankyness passives)
-better close combat options
-faster and more healing from Airelinna
-Reflect Kick is stupid
-Easier to learn the basics of (though, due to following cons, harder to master)
-More fun (COMPLETELY subjective XD)
Cons:
-Much less damage
-No real homing skills (closest is Siege)
-No real traps (closest is Spinning Crescent)
-less range
-bad mana management (Others will try to argue it's TERRIBLE. It's not, it's just bad.)

- GA -
Pros:
- Good mana managment due to improved charging, and Hunter's Focus
- More range (both with arrows and special actives)
- Better damage (Partially due to Rena being a magic damage character, and GA is the 1 of the 3 that focuses on magic damage skills... explain why only 1 does pls KOG 0.o)
- Lots of utility options
- Wind Blast and some of her transcendence skills are stupid
- Has healing/support through Perfect Storm still
- Seige is even more silly OP for PvE
Cons:
- XXXXXXXXX all day long... I find her play style boring.
- like all mage/range characters, she's squishy
- Not a whole lot of options if your opponent does get into close quarters (though lots of ways to keep them at range)

NW is kind of right in the middle between the two, if you would be ok running that.

[Skyress8619]

To add on to those list of pros and cons, another WS con is that she suffers from both CD and MP problems. Also another con for GA is that she has limited options in terms of invincibility frames; range will only help so much in not taking damage.

I'll let someone else who knows the classes better address your other concerns.

[tachikoma06]

I can't really speak for pve, aside from the (somewhat) joke:
GA:
+has gugnir
+has active that increases mp gain
WS:
-doesnt have gugnir
-has active that reduces mp gain

In terms of pvp, GA has WS beat hands down.
GA:
+Lots of good super armor actives, some mediocre ones
+mp gain for daaays
+homing
+aircastable suction skill
+multiple homing skills / easy catches at basically all amounts of mp


WS:
+airelinna is neat for the damage/speed buff, but the healing isn't the reason to take it
+ponytail hair
+reflect kik is big
-difficulty forcing breaks (low damage/ having mp isn't that scary relatively speaking)
-no homing / suction skills
-no good super armor actives

Just pick GA and you're probably better off for both modes.

[Rolante]

Guess I'll have to stand up for WS and point out some ways WS is more preferred over GA.

-Can't contest damage against bosses, simply because Gungnir just wrecks immobile things.
-For mobbing, I'd say WS pulls out in front, since she's faster and prefers to be up close. When I play as GA in a group of 4, I spend half the time just trying to catch up to the melee. The other half I spend collecting the loot the monsters drop, ehehe. No, seriously. I'm only going to get so far with Phoenix Strike, assuming the mobs line up perfectly for me. WS has Gyro Kick and Violent Attack, which also move her forward and can be used in the air.
-Airelinnas! 20% more damage! It's a lot more reliable for mobbing than Stigma Shot.

I guess what I'm saying is GA is more of a boss killer while WS is more of a killer of anything else.

In pvp, uh... yeah... GA's homing skills require no brain or aim. So if you like winning while not thinking, play GA. Hopefully you can get that first catch with your projectiles, cuz you're not winning a melee trade.

[st0rmbreaK]

- It's not just Gungnir. GA has 2 passives that boost Siege's damage.

- A WS can never beat a GA at mobbing when a GA can force Siege. Being fast also doesn't translate to faster clears if you deal lower damage to begin with. If you're spending time catching up to the melee then I'd move closer to the gate and start with clearing backwards. I generally have no problems with this, and there's nothing wrong with being the last to the gate.

- Stigma is nearly 2x bonus damage if you crit and only 1.1x bonus damage if you don't.

- You won't ever be winning a melee trade in PVP because of Hunter's Steadiness and GA being fundamentally an MATK class. If you're going to be using Kicks as part of your damage repertoire in PVP as a GA you're doing something wrong.

[Rolante]

I dunno, adding 20% more damage to everyone else's damage as well as maxing out their movement and attack speed for 45 seconds would be more helpful than hoping the map layout allows you to hit every enemy on the map with Stigma Shot. And using Stigma Shot followed by forcing a Siege mode seems to be an extremely time consuming process assuming you can even lock on to your targets properly. Running to the end of the stage and working backward seems like a good strategy assuming you're the only one who decides to do that. Best case scenario, you are able to defeat 25% of the mobs, after considering travel time and the strength of the other 3 members working close to one another.

Also, WS reaches the end of the map faster. Even if you do 50% more damage than WS, she gets to where you want to be 50% faster!

Siege mode for clearing can only really clear what is on screen in front of you, which tends to be about 10% of smaller maps. It doesn't scream out clearing to me. Great for anything that can stay in front of you for the next 6 seconds, like bosses.

[st0rmbreaK]

Practically speaking, Siege is a skill that is always going to be used when mobbing. When you take the strongest active in the game and give it longer range, a chance to completely ignore defence while dealing an extra 20% damage, you're looking at an extremely powerful improvement to Siege, which is what a GA has access to. Wind Sneaker's Power Shot gives 20% bonus damage to Arrow commands but unfortunately doesn't affect Siege. This means that just by looking at how each class is able to utilise Siege, GA comes out on top. She can also infinitely force Siege while a WS will need to wait 5 seconds in between volleys, not to mention that WS has lower MATK than a GA to begin with. Therefore, from a mobbing perspective, a GA is better than a WS.

When clearing skills have been used, tankier mobs will be left. From a practical standpoint, any half decent GA player is going to attempt to keep Stigma up as often as possible. Now tell me, would you rather deal 2x damage with Stigma's debuff or deal 1.2x with Airelinna? GA also has access to excellent utility skills in Blast Arrow, Wind Wall and Freezing Arrow, while a WS has a skillset that heavily pushes, so from a party play standpoint, WS is lacking compared to a GA.

You seem to keep harping on wanting to reach the gate faster which is a complete non-issue. If you get to the gate and party members have cleared the room already, so what? I also get that you want to do damage, but firstly, if you're playing a WS you shouldn't be hoping to do much damage in the first place. Even if you do get MVP, regardless of class, it means absolutely nothing other than to stroke your ego. Clearing the dungeon is far more important than having your name at the top on some scoreboard that only lasts 20 seconds. If you're that worried about reaching the gate last because you find that bad for some reason, being able to gauge the damage of your party is a good player skill to have so that you know when to start moving.

Siege is also fundamentally not a Clearing skill, though it can be used for that purpose. I've already touched on why GA is able to use Siege better than WS, so even if Siege were used for the purposes of clearing, a GA would come out on top with her higher damage and longer range. Airelinna's speed boost can also be problematic when most of the player base has 20% in Attack Speed, potentially making it difficult to loop.

[Rolante]

... ... ...

*backs away slowly*

[XtinaXO]

... ... ...

*backs away slowly*

lel xD

I hear you, man. I find WS can have great usages when the MP bar is looking good. Gyro and VA your way through mobs on ledges up and down and in between!

However as a religious player of both, GA does wipe the floor in efficiency and power.
Will forever root for ws. is love. is life.