Archer
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Archers were a mainstay in both the national and private armies of many Templars, in both the Holy Land and Italy. They are typically some of the weakest soldiers in the Assassin's Creed series, and are easily defeated with a single counter or stealth assassination. They detect an Assassin whenever he gets too close, or when he is spotted in a restricted area. They fight with their bows at a distance, and with standard longswords or maces when their enemy comes within short range.
Assassin's Creed
Archers in Assassin's Creed appear on the rooftops of every city, and on top of large wooden structures in the Kingdom. They commonly have very low armor, and can be killed with throwing knives; or approached for a stealth assassination. They are approximately as skilled as an ordinary soldier, and will fall to a single counter attack.
Assassin's Creed: Bloodlines
Templar Archers are not as aware as the other archers in the other games, and will usually only detect and attack you when you are being chased. They are significantly dormant and oblivious to Altaïr, except when he tries to climb a structure. In this game, Altaïr can now assassinate from ledges, making them the prime targets of this technique.
Assassin's Creed II
There are two types of archers in Assassins Creed II: regular longbow archers and fire-tipped longbow archers. The latter attempt to make the carriage crash in the "Romagna Holiday" mission (they shoot arrows that create pools of fire on the ground, and force Ezio to maneuver around them) as well as shoot down the Flying Machine in the "Infrequent Flyer" mission and the "Battle for Forlì" special memory.
Archers are always found on rooftops in all cities, and carry both longbows and medium weapons. If they manage to see Ezio they will send him some warnings, such as shouting at him to get down off the roof. If Ezio ignores these warnings, they will start shooting at him, regardless of his Notoriety level. They will also hunt down Pickpockets or Borgia Messengers on rooftops if they pass by. If Ezio gets too close, they will use their melee weapons to attack; however, with their low armor and poor direct combat abilities, they make easy kills in close quarters. They can also be thrown from rooftops or ledge assassinated to be killed. In crowds, they can be lethal, as a small group can hold Ezio back, while the rest hit him with arrows.
There are special variations of archers found in Assassination missions and the Primary Memories. There are "Elite Archers" -- archers with the trademark Elite helmet and stats -- as well as "Captain Archers," which can be seen in the missions "Honorable Thief" (Venice Assassination mission) and in "Everything Must Go"(final Sequence 7 mission), although the archers in the latter mission are actually thieves and wear their trademark head wraps.
Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood
In Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood, archers are replaced by the crossbowman. Furthermore, many of the guards that are posted on rooftops are arquebusiers, who are equipped with an arquebus (rifle) instead of a bow.
However, archer do appear in the game, but only during certain memorys from the War Machines. The appear shooting fire arrows at the war machines when Ezio take control of them. They appear either on rooftops (Outgunned), aboard ships (Loose Cannon) or in archer towers (Flying Machine 2.0).
Additionally, Ezio has the ability to assassinate multiple guards by ordering his apprentices to fire a flurry of arrows at them, while he himself simply continues his route. This action is called an "Arrow Storm."