It depends entirely on level, and will change as you gain levels.
1st level - I prefer Divine Favor and Magic Weapon for lower levels. As you level up, replace Magic Weapon with Hero's Defiance. You might also consider Grace, if you think you might be in situations where you can't always stand and deliver, and might need to move around. Divine Favor might be replaced by Divine Power at higher levels if you take Unsanctioned Knowledge. Longshot might also be a reasonable choice if you take a short ranged weapon, but most bows have long enough increments that it's not really necessary.
2nd level - Litany of Righteousness is the single best spell on the Paladin's list. You only have to worry if a monster has SR, but if it doesn't or you can bypass it, Litany of Righteousness is absolutely brutal. Nothing else at 2nd level competes with it.
3rd - Burst of Speed replaces Grace in the same situations, but is usually not necessary. I keep it on my list but I don't tend to use it often. Litany of Escape can also be useful if your party is not well equipped to deal with grappling opponents, or if you deal with them often. Greater Magic Weapon is also kinda nice if you are playing in a campaign with low money, but by this point you often can get what you need from your weapon bond.
4th - King's Castle is a neat spell, but only useful in certain situations. If you find that you are often the target of melee opponents it can be useful for swapping places with melee characters so they can full round, and it gets you out of combat. To be honest though, there aren't many useful 4th level spells for a ranged Paladin.
I play a level 5 Gunslinger/Level 11 Divine Hunter with my current group, and it's a brutal combo, but in reality other than Litany of Righteousness, spells don't play into my combat abilities that much. If you plan on going straight Divine Hunter, just take the proper ranged feats, pump your Dex and Charisma, and you'll be fine.
don't forget having access to Unsanctioned Knowledge lets you also grab some other spells
1st level- wrath (compare to divine favor, morale bonus so it stacks with luck, but only works on one enemy) or shield of faith
even abundant ammunition which may be even more useful for archers, tho i cannot find gravity bow on the lists which makes me sad
2nd level-cat's grace is a pretty obvious choice, could also consider aid and heroism
3rd level- haste is the best
4th- divine power is an upgrade of divine favor
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Level 1:
Hero's Defiance, Grace, and Liberating Command
Level 2:
Litany of Righteousness and Litany of Righteousness
Seriously, it's that good a spell. Actually, for an archer, I also quite like Shield Other, since I can self-heal with a swift action and rarely get hit myself.
Level 3:
Since you should have taken the Oath of Vengeance, Blessing of Fervor for sure. Otherwise, I guess it's more slots for Litany of Righteousness
Level 4:
If Litany of Righteousness weren't so much better, I'd say Litany of Vengeance (which is apparently permanent). Otherwise, uh, I guess more Litany of Righteousness?
If Litany of Righteousness weren't so much better, I'd say Litany of Vengeance (which is apparently permanent). Otherwise, uh, I guess more Litany of Righteousness?
Actually I think if you read LoV carefully, it persists as long as your smite is active OR until it does the 3d8 damage. LoV actually kinda sucks if I am readin git right.
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I don't think you're reading Litany of Vengeance.
While subject to this spell, the target cannot be the target of another spell that has the word "litany" in the title.
I believe you were looking at Fire of Vengeance.
Seriously how vengeful are paladins supposed to be? They're the good guys!
I don't think you're reading Litany of Vengeance.
...
I believe you were looking at Fire of Vengeance.
You are correct! But the limitation I was thinking of is there in Fires of Vengence. Thank you for the correction!
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For the record, while I know many say oath of vengeance by default, I consider Oath against Wyrms to be a good one. If you're fighting dragons, it's amazing, but the spell selection isn't to be overlooked. Fly and enlarge person are very powerful. Granted, I don't run out of smites since I have at most 4-5 combats a day with most being mook fights, and I almost always have an arcane caster who has haste. If you do take warm oath, definitely add enlarge person, fly, and perhaps stone skin (if you're wiling to pay for it) to the list.
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The thing about Oath of Vengeance is that you have so many more smites when you really need them.
A normal paladin would have 2 smite per day at my level. I have FIVE. And let me tell you: I have used about 3-4 smites a game for quite a while now at my PFS games. And many times, they've saved us.
Fly is very good. Stoneskin is a good spell, but as an archer, you're not going to want it on you, and even if someone else is willing to pay for it to be cast on them, you're casting it at -3 caster levels, which means it's absorbing 30 less damage than it would if a straight wizard cast it.
And enlarge person sucks for Archer paladins. It doesn't help them in any way and you're wasting your action to cast it when you could be full attacking.
Leave enlarge person for the wizards.
Shield other is a great spell for an archer paladin if you have a tank in the party. Take half their damage from the front lines, heal it with your swift-action self-lay-on-hands, which would otherwise likely be wasted, keep them going longer.