Not sure if STRONG is the best description.
Good HAs tend to play it safe early. Live longer , get more time to pewpew.
When the battle nears midround or end, they gets kills from wounded enemies.
If other ranged on foot would target them from the start , they would not be as effective.
Footranged tend to target other classes before HA, it is easier to hit and kill infantry, or any other class than mounted ranged.
solution: convince your friendly ranged to target HAs from the start.
ofc this solution might be suboptimal for winning the battle.
But atleast those HAs did not get epeen on the scoreboard!!!!