Since Phantom Ranger is my favourite class with Paladin so far, here's screen of PR from C4, imagine the P. Atk with Dead Eye.
SCREENSHOT (
http://img135.imageshack.us/img135/2167/chang78prbzrz2.jpg)
About archers - well, it's hard to say, in C1 Hawkeye rolled everything, the same in C2, but within C3, then C4, and now, when in C5 PR got skill called Dead Eye and SR got Rapid Fire, they all can hurt, thought I don't like SR too much, however, here's what I can say about archers, 'cause I played 'em all.
Hawkeye;
Stats: Highest CP/HP (in form '...of all archers'), lowest MP, strong P. attack, but not strongest, regular P. Def, lowest accuracy, within Hawk Eye skill it's best but P. Def is getting dropped, fastest attack speed, good critical rate and power, low m. attack - but it's not needed for this class anyway, lowest M. Def, lowet speed, casting speed doesn't matter here, lowest Evasion.
Playstyle: ??? - that is my comment, Hawkeye is good because of the passive skills, but have nothing useful in active skills, all you have to do is get full buffs and spam attack/stun shot/potions - that's the reason I don't play Hawkeye anymore, it made me lose my minds spamming attack button whole day... that's sick!
Skills useful in PvP: Stun Shot, Double Shot and Hamstring Shot within Lethal Shot as 3rd profession skills, and NO! I'll not count Snipe as a good skill, 'cause it has a self-root effect, enemy can just run away from you or a tank/dagger can get very close to you and you can't do much when this happens.
I give Hawkeye note 5/10 - yes, it's a killing machine, but everyone can play it, even 3 years old brainless kid :o
Silver Ranger;
Stats: Medium CP/HP, high MP, lowest P. Attack, regular P. Def, best accuracy (if Hawkeye doesn't use Hawk eye skill), medium attack speed, best critical rate but weakest critical power, low M. Attack (comparing to Phantom Ranger), good M. Def, best speed, good casting speed, best Evasion.
Playstyle: SR puts his strength in agility - means he doesn't miss a lot, and he avoids enemy's attacks, also he's good class to catch guy who is running away.
Skills useful in PvP: Stun Shot, Double Shot, Hamstring Shot within Lethal Shot and Evade Shot (Hawkeye doesn't get it) as 3rd profession skills. PS. when fightning Sniped Hawkeye you can simply run out of his range and heal by Silver Ranger's self heal magic skill, then come back and smash the Hawkeye.
I give Silver Ranger note 7/10 - it is pretty good class, but I don't like side of light and virginity, also I don't like weak P. Attack of SR and how SR male looks.
Phantom Ranger;
Stats: Lowest CP/HP, high MP, highest P. Attack (incerases even more with Dead Eye), regular P. Def, medium accuracy (lowest if Hawkeye uses Hawk Eye skill), slowest attack speed, lowest critical rate and strongest critical hits power, strong M. Attack, good M. Def, medium speed, slow/medium casting speed, medium Evasion.
Playstyle: The point in PR life is get close enough to enemy, there are 2 ways to do it, one is stun and just come enough close, second is just run in... but the question is: what for? Well, PR as Dark Elven Archer have strong debuffs but they are at 600 range, what they do? Hex - decreases enemy's p. def by 30%, Power Break - decreases enemy's p. attack by 30%, Poison - Poisons enemy (at highest level of poison it's not cureable!), Freezing Strike - deals damage to enemy and makes it slow down, and last one (if we can count it as debuff) will be Drain Health - drain enemy's life/cp and transfom some % it to PR.
Useful skills in PvP: Stun Shot, Double Shot, Fatal Counter (PR is the only class to get Fatal Counter skill), Hamstring Shot within Lethal Shot and Evade Shot (Hawkeye doesn't get it) as 3rd profession skills. And the C5 skill is Dead Eye - decreases attack speed and increases p. attack and critical attack power, I've tested it on PTS on 75 PR (max level of Dead Eye) and critical power on one mob went from 3,800 to 5,000 - that's a huge difference in my opinion, it would be even over 6,500 with Hex skill landed! The attack speed loss is bad, yeah... but when you have Haste/Berserker Spirit/Dance of Fury/and CoV or PoF the attack speed is high enough anyway.
I give Phantom Ranger a note 10/10 - this is the class I love, comparing to Hawkeye it's not as powerful when both sides are fully buffed, but PR in good hands still kills a lot! I love how PR male looks, and I also love Hex skill, it makes my enemies beg for some extra p. def, but my critical attack doesn't let them beg for a long time, they have to click some small button To Village.
Hope my post will help you somehow with picking an archer that suits you, good luck.