Kelldor picked up his bow. He pulled an arrow from his quiver and nocked it on the string. Pulling the bowstring back, he took aim at the target and said to the student standing next to him, "To prepare an Archer for Battle..."
For a Feat to be good for an Archer in Combat, it must provide a benefit for:
A.) ANY Arrow shot by the Archer (preferred)
or,
B.) Arrows shot during a Full Attack, or a MultiShot Attack
or lastly,
C.) Arrows shot during a Standard Attack, or Single Arrow attack, which includes Readied Shots and Attacks of Opportunity
AND the Feat must do one of the Following:
1.) Increase the Archer's chance to Hit or Critical Hit with an Arrow
or,
2.) Increase the Damage from a Hit with an Arrow
or,
3.) Increase the number of Arrows fired per round
And surprisingly, that's it. Feats that don't do any of the above aren't going to do much good in Combat. This doesn't include Feats that are just good in general for Combat, like Improved Initiative. Take those when you can fit them in.
There are Feats that could keep you out of Combat, such as Point Blank Master keeping you from getting Attacks of Opportunity when using a ranged weapon, and I'm not saying you shouldn't take Feats like those, but those Feats won't help you hit or damage your target any better than before you took the Feat. And this is about Archery Combat.
Avoid Feats concerning Special Situations like they are Yellow Mold. If you can only use the Feat once per game (or worse, once per campaign), no matter how cool it sounds, it's definitely not going to help in most Combat, and is almost a wasted Feat.
As with anything else, Your Mileage May Vary
Thanks for reading,
Kelldor
Here are the Feats for my Archer build up to 20th Level. You can use these with the Fighter in the Core Rulebook or the Archer Archetype in the Advanced Player's Guide or adapt them to another Class build.
Give it a shot. Or two. Depending on the Feat.
Human Bonus Feat (Weapon Focus)
1st Level Bonus Feat (Point-Blank Shot)
1st Level Feat (Precise Shot)
2nd Level Bonus Feat (Rapid Shot)
3rd Level Feat (Deadly Aim)
4th Level Bonus Feat (Weapon Specialization)
5th Level Feat (Bullseye Shot)
6th Level Bonus Feat (Manyshot)
7th Level Feat (Snap Shot)
8th Level Bonus Feat (Improved Critical)
9th Level Feat (Critical Focus)
10th Level Bonus Feat (Vital Strike)
-------------
11th Level Feat (Devastating Strike)
12th Level Bonus Feat (Greater Weapon Focus)
13th Level Feat (Greater Weapon Specialization)
14th Level Bonus Feat (Clustered Shots)
15th Level Feat (Improved Vital Strike)
16th Level Bonus Feat (Improved Initiative)
17th Level Feat (Improved Precise Shot)
18th Level Bonus Feat (Pinpoint Targeting)
19th Level Feat (Quick Draw)
20th Level Bonus Feat (Greater Vital Strike)
