Replication - doubts

Hello all,
I went through the documentation on replication. and am trying to understand the various options available.
Does replication available in PostgreSQL always use WAL (i.e irrespective of whether it is synchronous/asynchronous, whether it is using archived logs or 'live' logs or streaming)?

I understand that we can use WALs in 3 modes

1) Use the archived WALs - results in the slave being significantly behind the master. This is set up using the archive_command

2) Use entire WAL segments

3) Use 'streaming' , i.e. use WAL files before they are complete - in this case the slave is almost uptodate

If I set up a slave using the archived WAls and set hot_standby on in the slave, will I be able to read from the slave?

Regards,
Jayadevan

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