Dark bow



The dark bow is often considered to be the strongest bow in RuneScape, due to its powerful special attack that can hit a maximum of 560-560 as of 10 May 2010, topping the former believed max hit of 520. It requires level 60 Ranged to use, is the only bow able to shoot dragon arrows, and is a drop unique to dark beasts, which require level 90 Slayer to kill.

The dark bow has a very slow rate of fire (it fires a shot every 5.4 seconds), but it fires 2 arrows every shot, and its special attack is useful as it will always hit. With the rapid style, it fires 2 arrows per 8 ticks, averaging to 1 arrow per 4 ticks, a speed of 6. Since it gives a +95 range bonus, it can be worn with less range gear and still be reasonably accurate.

Currently, the dark bow is the slowest weapon in game, and due to its slow rate of fire, players using the accurate attack mode when ranging with the dark bow may find their monsters "stolen" by other players with faster weapons. It is commonly used by the more wealthy ranging player killers and by many pile jumpers.

Special attacks
The dark bow has 2 special attacks, depending on what type of arrow is used:


 * Descent of Darkness inflicts up to 30% more damage and does a minimum of 5 damage per arrow.
 * Descent of Dragons inflicts up to 50% more damage when using dragon arrows and does a minimum of 50 damage per arrow.

Each special attack drains 65% of the special attack bar. It used to be 55%, but this changed in the updates of 7 October 2009 to prevent players from performing two special attacks in a row by using the Restore Special potion. For lower level range pures this is the best knock-out weapon: it hits 100 for sure, and, if you use a magic short bow, it can be used like a two-handed sword.

The dark bow is one of four weapons in RuneScape with special attacks that change under certain circumstances, the other three being Zanik's crossbow, the dragon halberd and the penance trident.

If the attacked player is using the Protect from Missiles prayer, the minimum hit of the special is lowered to 30 for normal arrows and 48 for Dragon arrows.

Other uses
Strangely, the dark bow can be used for the Archery competition Activity although it only fires one arrow at a time there. It can also fire as fast as a player can shoot the target and close the score window, allowing the dark bow to be just as fast as any other bow that can shoot a bronze arrow (only in this Activity though).

When you try to light a fire using your dark bow, it says, "The innate darkness of the bow sucks all the heat from your Firemaking attempt. You realize that this type of bow is useless for firelighting."

The Special attack can be used while LootShare is active to ensure you hit the monster.

The dark bow is also a very popular weapon in PvP combat, since the special attack Descent of Dragons inflicts up to 50% more damage due to the fact that the special will never miss and will deal a minimum damage of 160, unless one uses range protect as said above. When used with the ranged void knight set, the Descent of Dragons special attack is capable of killing most players instantly. In Castle Wars, some players may use a Castle Wars bracelet instead of a Void ranger set. The dark bow will do 20% more damage if being used on a player holding the user's team's flag. This makes the dark bow one of the most dangerous weapons in Castle Wars.

Development Diaries


The Impetuous Impulses development Diary has a description of the development of the dark bow. The diary contains artist impressions of the dark bow, which form the basis for the development of the bow itself and its special attack.

Colouring
In a Guaranteed Content poll created by Jagex on 16 February 2010, the dark bow was nominated for a recolouring, similar to how the abyssal whip was recoloured (allowing the player to decide between four colours). The poll ended on 22 February 2010, with the dark bow winning with 24% of the votes. The coloured versions of the bow are obtainable as a reward from the Barbarian Assault activity. After Jagex said a new item was to be coloured, people suspected the dark bow would win the poll. As a result, the dark bow rose in price from 1.1m to 1.9m within a few weeks. The dark bow increased further in price just as the Abyssal whip did after the update. However, it fell soon after, back to about 1.2m.

On 29 March 2010, Commander Connad was updated so he would recolour dark Bows because it was the Guaranteed Content poll winner. The colouring will make the bow untradeable; however, to remove the colouring, simply use a cleaning cloth and the bow will return to its regular state. Colouring a dark bow costs 50 points in any role. The dark bow has the same colour options as the whip.

Trivia



 * An ogre composite bow with rune brutal arrows will fire the same number of arrows per minute as the dark bow (if using the Rapid style), and will deal the same maximum hit as dragon arrows (despite being significantly cheaper). The ogre composite bow's accuracy, however, is lower, and it has no special attack.
 * When first introduced, the dark bow sold for upwards of 60 million coins. Later, it sold for around 20 million coins midday and then around 8 million by the end of the day.
 * On 7 October 2009, Jagex changed the dark bow's special attack usage to 65% instead of 55%.
 * When the recolouring update was first released, the dark bow's Grand Exchange image was missing. This has since been fixed.