What exactly is the hover counter to Archer?

The hover counter to archer is patiently waiting until it is nerfed.

Until then, Claymore works as a stopgap for attacking submerged Archers, and you'll also need something to attack them when they surface and fight back and i'm not sure what that is.

Ships have the combination of corsair-seawolf, but yep, that's two units combination needed to beat one, and you end up having to dodge razor-sharp range margins between Seawolf or Duck or you're cooked anyway.

Archer is not just too much combat ability on surface, it's extreme utility in water in that it require the opponent to jump through so many narrow hoops to counter.

Claymore 2x will counter archer hard if used correctly.

Shaman: Scalpel only works if you are microing and your opponent isn't.

If they micro as well they'll sink the archers before the Scalpel hits then resurface afterwards. That said, Claymore+Scalpel sounds like it'll work, but the microing skill required may be beyond me. :/

checks
Huh.
I had no idea Scalpel missile AoE penetrates water.

Claymore micro vs Archer is tricky... Got to fight the Unit AI a lot, but they can kite.