Are Archery Valor Bards any Good?

[Eldariel]

I played a Valor Bard Archer while killing Tiamat and I have to say, on Tier 3+ it's probably one of the best Archers on the back of Elemental Weapon and the ability to upcast it (where Pally barely gets 4th level slots, you already have 7th level ones). Before then, it's fine but Magical Secrets is really what makes it shine. Swords Bard is better in general (Flourishes work at range freeing up your action economy to use Crossbow Expert) but if you're stuck with PHB only, Valor Bard is probably the strongest archer class available considering the whole 1-20. Sadly Bard list is pretty bad for self-buffing without Magical Secrets though so the first 9 levels has you play two different roles:
- Caster support
- Ranged DPR

Which is fine of course: you get to nuke enemies with e.g. Hypnotic Pattern and make up for the fact that normally Bards suck at cleaning up by having solid archery options while also being a good kiter and utility. But you can't really complement your role as ranged DPR with your spells - that said, the base level contribution coupled with Inspiration let you do more than enough damage-wise.

But I repeat, if you can, go Swords Bard instead. Getting Flourishes at range is just nice, especially the knockback ones and it frees your bonus action up to kill people as opposed to giving inspiration. And yeah, +2 Cha over Medium Armor Master definitely. AC loses much of its meaning later on anyways (and you can only take the feat later on). Meanwhile, you always want higher save DCS and more Inspiration. Not to even mention skill bonuses and casting stat bonuses (for e.g. Counterspell) and such. Fey-Touched is a nice option too though with EA you probably can't afford it. I definitely would want Resilient: Constitution in there though as with all casters.