I'm a little concerned by speculation that when the LCG releases, not all the current clans may be represented. As much as I wish it were otherwise, I recognize that Mantis are far more likely to be cut than some more deserving candidates (*cough**cough* Unicorn *cough*). Just in case, I figure I should have a backup selected and was wondering which clan would likely have the best archers if the Tsuruchi were gone?

Best Archers outside the Tsuruchi according to the CCG?

Naga

But, they are also not likely to be first round participants, so . . . then, I believe it's the Crane or the Crab (specifically, the HIruma)

The Lion also have some kickin' archers.

Mechanically, an Utaku Battle Maiden in 4E is a deadly archer.

In order of "shows up as a major part of their clan's military doing things" I'd go Crane, Unicorn, Crab, Lion... although the Dragon also got a lot of archery love in the waning days of AEG's tenure.

Using a bow atop a horse is actually pretty hard so I would say any Unicorn that can do it is pretty dang skilled

Going by rpg mechanics I'd say lion, specifically Akodo bushi school. Rank one let's then ignore TN bonus from armor,so now your using all flesh cutters (if your unfamiliar flesh cutters do extra damage, but the victim gets to double their armor target number to be hit) and then rank 2 your adding your honor rating to your roll to hit..... really effective.

It depends what you go for. The Unicorn have numerous and really talented archers, since they even got paths for it. The Lion, on the other side, despite techniques working with it, don't have that many archers (they prefer spearmen). The Crab have numerous and skilled scouts, which made good archers, especially with the Toritaka in, but they are far from being able to match the Unicorn when it come to numbers. The Crane can match the Unicorn in numbers, but they are not talented : they are mostly Ashigaru, and the few Asahina archers while really talented do not compensate if you see the clan overall. If you just speak of top quality of an elite few, it would be Crane, with Unicorn second and Crab third.

Id say unicorn.

From logical perspective it would be the Crab or Dragon, because you really need archers to defend walls and mountains effectively.

From the RPG mechanics, probably the Unicorn.

From the lore, I would say the Lion. They have the Koritome vassal family, whom Tsuruchi was descended from, and likely provided the inspiration for his own techniques.

Going only mechanically and without building differently, I will say the Kakita Duelist.

Kyujutsu requires Reflexe to attack, it's also the primary trait for the duelist, most of his techniques are usable with kyujutsu, specially with Strike with No Though, where he'll become a turret gaining all his Center Stance bonus on his attack. Then, at close range, he still can use his Iaijutsu to defend himself. So yeah, based on the game mechanics, playing an archer that isn't Mantis, I would think about Crane and the Kakita Duelist.

As above, it depends on how you define "Best at Archery". The Tsuruchi / Wasp Clan are the specialists at it, indisputably. But how do you measure this?

1) Can they use a bow as a simple action? Examples: The Naga (Naga Hunter 3), the Unicorn (Shinjo Bushi 3 while mounted, Utaku Battle Maiden 3 while mounted), the Crane (Daidoji Scout 4) and the Crab (Hiruma Scout 4)

2) Do they have techniques which involve archery? Examples: The Naga (Naga Hunter, multiple ranks), the Dragon (Dragon's Flame Bushi 4), the Crab (Falcon Strike 2), the Crane (Asahina Archer 4)

3) Do they have a standing army which uses archers? Examples: The Crab, the Lion, the Unicorn

All in all, the second best archers in the Empire are probably the Unicorn due to their ability to make Simple Action Attacks with a bow. The second best unmounted archers are probably the Crab (Hiruma Scout 1, Falcon Strike Bushi 2, Hiruma Scout 3, Hiruma Scount 4) followed by the Crane (Daidoji Scout, all you need). Fluffwise, the Naga are supposed to be as good at archery as the Tsuruchi, they just use a different style of archery, and in the CCG, the Naga and the Mantis were always THE go to Ranged Attack factions.

In practice, however, like many things in L5R RPG, it comes down to build and dice.

I was thinking more about the CCG, knowing nothing about the RPG, but this is still good information. I'm glad to see Crane on the list, because the only non-Mantis archer I know by name is Daidoji Gudeta.

Also, not sure I could bring myself to choose Unicorn, as I hate cavalry too much (even though cavalry archers are undoubtedly skilled and useful).

In my understanding of Rokugani warfare, the Lions are always the second-best at everything war-related, except tactics (in which they are the absolute master). It is not a perecption based on the cards but the RPG setting, however, so your millage may vary if you use another point of reference.

They do not have the best cavalry (that honor belongs to the Unicorn), but they make sure they have a pretty good mounted force to hold enemy cavalry while the other elements of their legions beat them into submission.

The same applies to scout (although it would be hard to say who among the crane, scorpion, lion and unicorn have the best scouts), berserkers and sieges (second to the crab), naval and archery (second to the Mantis), etc.

Ironically, I'd have to say the Dragon Clan, if you are aiming to build for archery and are willing to take all the paths. They've got a suprisingly large number of paths that are useful to anyone building for archery. There's the Mirumoto Mountaineer (Rank 2; use Athletics to detect ambushes after failing with Investigation, and add half your Athletics to all ranged attacks), the Dragon's Wind (Rank 4; Your steed treats rough terrain as being one level lighter and you may make attacks with bows as simple actions), the Dragon's Flame (Rank 4, +2k2 to attacks with Bows) or the Mirumoto Sentinel (Rank 4, +1k0 to 3 skills for areas you have Way of the Land Advantage in, and also you can make a contested roll to make one target move with a Water Ring 1 Rank lower, useful when you're shooting at them). All in all, I'd say the Dragon have the a versatile set of archers that can probably match up to or beat out any other clan in mechanical terms, save the Tsuruchi. This kind of fits with lore; Mirumoto Sukune (Daimyo of the Mirumoto before his niece Hitomi, and continued to run the family after she took the throne) was supposed to be one of the best archers of his generation. The Unicorn Bow Master Shinjo Hanari could never best him, and compared his skill to that of Tsuruchi himself. Sukune also entered the Wasp Clan's annual Archery Contest 15 times, taking first place 3 times (something considered impressive). While this is just one character, I supposed it could be argued that Sukune influenced his clan's interest in archery, hence why they have so many paths in it.
Note also that mechanics are only supposed to be the icing on the cake, as so many design heads put it on the old forums. Ranks in the skill and good role playing go a long way too. Case in point, during the Bowman's Wager at Imperial Winter Court, one of my players, Hantei Mikazuki (founder of our homebrewed Stag Clan) was a Rank 4 Hantei Bushi (from Imperial Histories II) who had no mechanical bonuses from her school, and she was able to beat the Tsuruchi Family's heir, a Rank 4 Tsuruchi Archer Prodigy (both had Great Potential advantage in Kyujutsu). The winning shot was truly awesome: Mikazuki was challenged to split an apple swinging on a string like a pendulum while also hitting a whistling bulb arrow that the Tsuruchi heir shot at her...with her starting with her back to everything, so she'd have to whip around and make the shot quick. I ruled it required 7 Raises in total, I think. The best part was that after she made it, the Tsuruchi heir admitted there's no way he could hope to pull off a feat like that and conceded defeat. Was one of the highlights of Winter Court for her player.

In the CCG, the second best to the Mantis Clan in archery (i.e. Ranged Attacks) would absolutely be the Naga. It was a major part of their theme, and a lot of their options would later go on to be improved upon by the Mantis Clan in later editions of the CCG. After that? There really was no other faction that had Ranged Attacks as a theme.

Who are the 2nd best archers in Rokugan? The Tsuruchi, of course!

According to 4e, at least. Not the answer you expected? Why don't we look at the power of Honor and see if clinging to virtue is worth it.

Our Lion Archer is an Akodo Bushi who has been dishonored and begins as a Deathseeker. It lets us do +Honor Rank to damage once per turn, and also +1k0 to attacks when full attacking at the cost of a 5 ATN penalty. The 5 ATN penalty won't matter much since we'll only do +Honor Rank when enemies are far away and we can't full attack with a bow anyways.

Our young, dishonored Lion will slowly work to redeem themselves! Eventually we become a Lion Paragon (Great Clans page 140) which lets us double Honor Rank for the purpose of other school techniques, as well as lets us make melee attacks as a simple action though only one a turn. The second part doesn't matter because we use a bow.

The final piece of this "build" (which is really just three things) is Strength of Purity Style. This is a kata that replaces the Strength + DR on a damage roll with our Honor Rank. This is also important because unlike most weapons, bows have a limit to how much Strength you can add. Strength of Purity Style lets us bypass that entirely.

For review, being a Rank 2 Akodo Bushi lets us add Honor to the total of a single roll a turn (that isn't damage). We only attack once per turn, so that's where it goes.

The end result?

We have a flat +20 bonus to hit and roll 10k2+20 for damage (or keep 3 with a flesh cutter), assuming that we are able to pick ourselves up from Honor Rank 5 to Honor Rank 10 as a noble Lion warrior out for redemption. The best part is we never have to take Strength higher than 2!

What does a Tsuruchi get?

+1k0 with attack rolls and +2k0 to damage rolls using a bow, as well as making two attacks a turn. The +1k0 is inferior to our Lion's +20. Assuming our Mantis uses a Yumi it can add up to Strength 3, or 4 with a Kyujutsu mastery, that leaves us with 8k2 damage using a willow leaf.

10k2+20 averages about 45 damage. 8k2 averages about 23-24, but we can give them the benefit of the doubt and call both hits 50.

So the Tsuruchi wins? Not so fast! You have to keep in mind, that the Lion Bushi has +20 to hit, while the Tsuruchi only has +1k0. I shouldn't need to say it, but a flat +20 is miles ahead of a mere +1k0.

The other important note is that the Lion's kata puts his rolled dice at 10, meaning every 2 raises is an additional +0k1 due to conversion. A better damage comparison might show the Lion Bushi hitting once for 10k4+20 with zero accuracy while the Mantis might hit twice for 8k2 (though still has a +1k0 leg up on the Lion).

This post is already long enough so I won't compare the value of the Akodo Bushi Rank 5 to the Tsuruchi Archer Rank 5. Also, despite all I said, no, the Akodo are not strictly better archers than the Tsuruchi. There is a lot that can be said for the value of simple action attacks as well as the "trick shots" that Tsuruchi can perform (though I will quickly note that our Lion isn't limited to using a bow).

So how far can Honor carry your arrows? Pretty far!

In the RPG almost any Clan could make an archer that would be second best to a Tsuruchi. It just depends on the situation.

If speed is the name of the game, then probably the Unicorn. They have access to archery as a simple.

If accuracy, Crab (see above), Crane (see above), Dragon (see above), Lion (see above), Phoenix (Shiba bushi have all kinds of Void Point twinkery to catch up), or Unicorn (Yomanri allowing them to aim can create some bonkers dice pools.). Jingoku be damned, you could even throw the Brotherhood of Shinsei onto this list.

The only Clan I would say is last in archery is the Scorpion, who would only really have an advantage from ambush. And that is just what they want you to think.