How do I counter a Man-at-Arms as an Archer in melee?
Sometimes I find myself facing a Man-at-Arms 1v1 in melee as a Bow Archer. Against other classes I can usually put up a decent fight; however, due to the very short range of Archer secondary weapons, the high mobility of the Man-at-Arms class and their special dodge ability, I always find it very difficult to land a single strike or kick on a MAA before getting overwhelmed, and likewise, trying to run away from them is well nigh impossible.
What's the most effective tactic to counter a Man-at-Arms in such a situation?
Solution 1:
Firstly I just want to say that archers are very asymmetrical in terms of balance, that is they hold all the cards in ranged combat however they are considerably weaker in melee than the other classes. Now man-at-arms on the other hand is not great at approaching a big battle, rather they skirt around the battle poking and prodding with their mobility. In my opinion the man-at-arms is the best dueling class in the game due to their dodge ability, they can easily force their enemies to whiff and punish them. So put these two classes together and you can see why archers have so much trouble against man-at-arms in melee.
So the best advice I have is to not let them get in melee range, however if they do get in melee there are still a few things to keep in mind:
The general tactic I use is to either delay long enough for allies to back me up, or start backpedalling to where I know allies would be. In the best case scenario other players come and rescue me, in the worst case scenario I die but I've managed to pull the enemy closer to where my allies are.
Never turn your back against man-at-arms they have the fastest sprint speed in the game and they will chase you down and in all probability kill you. Also they may carry their own ranged weapons (i.e. throwing daggers).
I generally don't advice rushing in with a melee weapon with the archer, because as you've mentioned their melee weapons are generally shorter therefore the man-at-arms has an even easier time dodging them. Also man-at-arms weapons are only slightly slower than some of the archers' weapon so interrupting them is more difficult than vs vanguards or knights. Having said that, charging in is not without merit as it can surprise less experienced players, so use it as needed.
Generally man-at-arms play in a very polarized style, they either go all out offense or defense. You can tell if a player is using a defensive playstyle by the fact that they will literally stand just at the edge of your melee range and bait you to attack. They will then force a whiff and punish you. Against these types of players, simply backpedal towards your allies and force them to take the offensive
Now things are significantly harder vs an aggressive player because they will try to either flank you or overwhelm your defense. Focus on good footwork and defense, try to punish them if you make them whiff. Essentially rely on your fundamental melee combat skills and be conservative with your offense.
So in summary: man-at-arms will almost always have the advantage in melee vs archers. So if they do get into melee range, either backpedal or delay for allies. If forced into combat, be conservative with your offense as man-at-arms are good at punishing.