Free-to-play Ranged training

In F2P, Ranged can be a force to be reckoned within PvP situations if one boasts a high level. If 1.5 multiplied by your ranged level is equal to or over than your attack level + strength level then your combat level is ranged based.

Weapons
In general, a free-to-play ranger should wield the best shortbow that he or she is capable of wielding; this goes for both training and player-versus-player (PvP) combat. The Maple shortbow is the best non-degrading shortbow available in free-to-play worlds.

For training, a player should use the strongest arrows that can be bought in bulk. For dangerous PvP combat, the ranger should use the best arrows he or she can wield (usually adamant arrows). For safe PvP activities, the arrows used are entirely up to the player. The ranged strength calculator can help in deciding which arrow to use.

Please note that the ammunition used (arrows or bolts) with a given ranged weapon affects damage dealt in a hit, but does not affect the weapon's accuracy.

Shortbows
The Shortbow is the ideal ranged training weapon for free players. With its extremely high rate of fire (faster than a Rune scimitar if the Rapid attack style is used) and accuracy and damage per shot equivalent to those of a longbow of the same material, it is superior to longbows in almost all aspects of training. It is also the ranged weapon of choice in PvP situations as the high attack speed can quickly wear down the opponent's lifepoints.

Longbows
As they have lower speed, equal accuracy and equal damage per shot compared to a shortbow of the same material, most longbows are inferior to corresponding shortbows. Usage of any F2P longbow, except the Maple longbow (sighted), is discouraged, especially in training. The sighted maple longbow is vastly more accurate than a Maple shortbow, but retains the other two disadvantages.

Because all free-to-play longbows have lower speed and equal damage per shot compared to a corresponding shortbow, a shortbow almost always deals damage at a faster rate, and is thus better for training. The only situation where the sighted maple longbow will deal more damage than a maple shortbow is when an enemy has high defence and/or is otherwise hard to damage. Training on such monsters is not recommended, as the point of training is to gain as much experience as possible by having a high damage rate.

The sighted longbow can be useful in PvP. More information can be found on its article.

Crossbows
The two crossbows available in free-to-play, the Crossbow and the Phoenix crossbow, are both rather inaccurate. The only usable ammo available to non-members, Bronze bolts, provide a mediocre ranged strength bonus(equivalent to iron arrows, but both weapons are extremely slow. Players opting to train Ranged cheaply should opt for Kayle's sling, or use iron or bronze arrows.

The crossbow is the only one-handed ranged weapon available to non-members, so player with high ranged may find it useful when fighting Elvarg in Dragon slayer, against whom an Anti-dragon shield is necessary.

Slings
Kayle's sling is very easily obtained from The Blood Pact. There is also an ordinary Sling which is dropped by various spiders and creatures in the wilderness. The ordinary Sling is not recommended, being slightly weaker than it. Kayle's sling attacks quickly (as fast as a shortbow), provides a small ranged attack bonus and is very weak.

Requiring no ammunition, it is an arguably free method to train Ranged, but gives significantly less experience compared to a bow with, for example, steel or mithril arrows.

A very easy method that uses Kayle's sling is to complete the quest to obtain Kayle's sling then go down into the catacomb's dungeon and fight the hardest creature in the dungeon that you can until your ranged level is around 21 or 22 then go on and fight the boss with any other good ranged weapon until level 26. This boss drops items such as pieces of a mask which can also be obtained from any other creature in the dungeon and coins. He also drops runes of all kinds, copper and tin ore, iron bars, and bronze weapons.

Armour
In general, a player should wear the best possible ranged armour available at their defence and ranged level. Free-to-play ranged armour is much cheaper than melee armour, as the raw materials for the armour are easier to obtain. Non-members can make all ranged armour except Studded leather armour and Green dragonhide armour with the Crafting skill. Because they are so commonly produced to train Crafting, all of the armour listed below can be bought easily off of the Grand Exchange.

Each of the following recommended sets of armour give a player the highest possible ranged attack bonus for their ranged and defence level. When training against monsters with low-defence and without the use of a safespot (such as Giant spiders in the Stronghold of Security), it may help to sacrifice some of the ranged attack bonus with more defensive rune armour.

Level 1 – 9 Ranged
Recommended set: a cowl, a pair of leather chaps, a pair of leather vambraces and a leather body

Level 10 – 19 Defence
Recommended set: a cowl, a pair of leather chaps, a pair of leather vambraces and a hard leather body

Level 20-39 Defence and Ranged
Recommended set: a coif, a leather vambraces, a studded hard leather body, and a pair of studded chaps

Level 40+ Defence and Ranged
Recommended Set: a coif, green dragonhide chaps, and green dragonhide vambraces, green dragonhide body

The Fist of Guthix activity introduced a new ranging armour, the Green d'hide coif. It is only slightly better than a normal coif in stats, giving only 2 more ranged attack bonus (+4 instead of +2). However it is not recommended for training as the bonus over a regular coif is very insignificant and the time spent recharging it would be better used for training ranged with a regular coif.

Amulets
The Amulet of power is the most commonly used armour in the neck slot, as it provides medium ranged and defence bonuses. It has no requirements to use and can be easily obtained from the Grand Exchange, so players can and are recommended to train with it at any ranged level.

The Amulet of defence may be helpful against monsters that deal damage quickly but also have low defence. Against such monsters, however, it may be more effective to use melee armour in conjunction with the Amulet of power.

The Twisted bird skull necklace may also be used by players who train Ranged with Prayer. This can allow players to occasionally use Ranged-oriented prayers such as Hawk Eye and Eagle Eye.

Bronze Bolts
Bronze bolts are not recommended for use under any cirumstances as they have low ranged strength and can only be fired by a crossbow, which is both inaccurate and slow.

Training arrows
Training arrows can only be obtained from Beefy Bill at the cow pen north of lumbridge. They are the equivalent of bronze arrows but are not recommended for use as they are untradeable and only 30 arrows can be acquired at a time.

Bronze arrows
Bronze arrows were once the arrows of choice for training as they were cheap and could easily be bought on the grand exchange. However, after the introduction of the personalized shop update the supply of bronze arrows have been diminished and they're now very difficult to buy on the grand exchange. Some high-level Rangers choose to buy massive amount of bronze arrows so they can train at a certain location (eg. the Karamja volcano) and powertrain (and not pick up arrows) for a long time.

Iron arrows
Iron arrows are the arrows of choice for training as they're easily bought on the grand exchange and are fairly cheap. They're also a fairly common drop from Minotaurs in the Stronghold of Security. At around 15-20 Ranged, you could actually start gaining more iron arrows than you brought with you. For example, a free player would bring 300 iron arrows to train with, and end up with over 500 arrows worth of drops.

Steel arrows
Steel arrows are not recommended for training as they only hit a little higher than iron arrows whilst costing more than twice the price. They are commonly dropped by zombie on the second level of the Stronghold of Security.

Mithril arrows
Mithril arrows are great for training against high-level monsters such as lesser and greater demons, ankous, and cockroach soldiers, as they hit nearly as high as adamant arrows but are much cheaper. They can also be used in PvP worlds if adamant arrows are too expensive. They are dropped by ice warriors in the Asgarnian Ice Dungeon, Catablepons in the Stronghold of Security, and black and white knights at their respective castles/fortresses. These are recommended for higher levelled players with a good sum of money.

Adamant arrows
Adamant arrows are the most expensive and powerful arrows in free-to-play and are used almost exclusively in PvP combat. They are not recommended for training due to their high cost. They are dropped by ankous on the fourth level of the Stronghold of Security and Ice giants at the Asgarnian Ice Dungeon.

Accurate
The Accurate attack style provides an invisible 3-level Ranged boost. For instance, if a player's Ranged level is 60 and they attack a target while using the Accurate style, the accuracy and damage of the hits will be as though the player is attacking with a Ranged level of 63. Since the accurate style is 3/4 slower than the rapid style, however, it is not recommended for any activity except determining a max hit.

Rapid
The Rapid style increases the speed of a bow by one unit and is the attack style of choice within nearly all situations as it boasts the fastest damage per second. A shortbow used in the rapid style has the fastest attack speed of any free-to-play weapon.

Longrange
The Longrange style provides an invisible 1-level Ranged boost and an invisible 1-level Defence boost. Attacking with the longrange style allows players to attack at a greater distance than with the other two attack styles. Experience earned from the longrange style is split between Defence and Ranged. Training with the longrange style is not recommended, as ranged is better trained on rapid and defence can be trained much faster with melee combat. It can be useful in competitive activities where having a long range helps, such as Fist of Guthix and Clan Wars.

For more information on the attack range with and without the longrange style, see Attack range

Levels 1 - 39
Minotaur(combat level 12, 27)

Minotaurs are the ideal monsters to train on from 1-40 ranged as one can bring 500 iron arrows and stay indefinitely as they constantly drop iron arrows. Level 40 ranged should take approximately 5 hours here, killing the level 12 minotaurs from 1-25 ranged and the level 27 minotaurs from 25-40. Also remember to switch to better ranged equipment as you level to speed up the training process. Minotaurs are found on the first level on the stronghold of security and there are multiple safespots at both the level 12 and level 27 minotaurs.

Hobgoblin(combat level 28, 42)
Since hobgoblins are a high combat level, you can get a decent amount xp. Without getting hurt you can train on Hobgoblins in the Edgeville dungeon from behind a wall or at the Crafting Guild's cow farm.

Flesh crawler(combat 28, 35, 41)
Flesh crawlers are an ideal monster to kill as they are aggressive for about 15-30 minutes, afkable, have low defence and boast great xp/hour. They are found in the second level of the stronghold of security. One can bring a full inventory of trout and range them with iron arrows, a maple shortbow, power amulet, teamcape, leatherboots and the best melee armour that you can wear (with chainbody). Otherwise those with low defence can safespot the flesh crawlers at the corners of the room.

Moss giants(combat 42)
Moss giants on Crandor have great drops and boast even greater xp/hour than flesh crawlers (though they require good attention as there aren't very many of them and they become unagressive if your combat level is over 84). There are multiple safespots though even 1 person can distrupt your xp/hour so it's recommended to kill these on quick-chat, foreign, or certain activity based worlds. Getting 40-70 ranged on these and burying the big bones will give nearly enough prayer xp for the eagle eye prayer which increases your ranged by 15%. Iron arrows are recommended when ranging moss giants.

Flesh crawler(combat 28, 35, 41)
One can continue ranging flesh crawlers if your defence is low (below 70). Iron arrows are recommended when ranging flesh crawlers. Of note, there are usually safe spots which you can use while training here.

Giant Spiders(combat level 50)
These boast similar xp per hour to flesh crawlers but are only recommended if you have 70+ defence as their max hit is 74 lifepoints greater than that of a flesh crawlers. They're aggressive, afkable, and have twice the lifepoints of a flesh crawler meaning you don't have to switch between as many monsters when training. Giant spiders are found on the third level of the stronghold of security. Iron arrows are recommended when ranging giant spiders.

Lesser demons(combat level 82)
Lesser demons have a max hit of 80 and drop a well-sought out rune medium helmet drop.The best spot to range lesser demons is on Karamja island with nearbly fishing spots of lobsters and swordfish. Draynor bank is also near by though one may find it easier to simply use the deposit box by the monk at the Port Sarim docks.With explorer's ring 2 or above, one can easily bank their items and re-stock on ammunition.There are many safespots in Karamja though it may get crowded at times. Lesser Demons are good choice for players seeking to make gold as they train ranged, however, only at higher ranged levels (85+) will one make a good experience rate per hour.It is best use steel arrows or higher with a maple shortbow.

Greater demons(combat level 92)
Greater demons have a max hit of 90 and occasionally drop the Rune full helm. The best place to range Greater demons is within the wilderness volcano where a bank lies just outside the volcano. There are a few semi-safespots which can protect you from the demons. However, beware of other high levels monsters (Such as Hellhounds, Lesser demons, Ankous and even other Greater Demons) that might attack you while ranging. Revenants do not spawn in the volcano, but can come inside of the volcano rarely. It is not recommended to kill greater demons unless one has a very high ranged level (90+) as they boast high defence and very little xp per hour. If one is aiming for profit however, lesser demons are the better choice.It is highly recommended to use steel arrows or higher with maple shortbow for speed.

Ankous (combat levels 75, 82, 86)
Ankous are found on the fourth level of the stronghold of security. They have high lifepoints (up to 700) and they drop adamant arrows often. They can be safespotted and are a more profitable of training range in comparison to flesh crawlers and giant spiders who both have little to zero drops. Mithril arrows are recommended when ranging ankous.

Tips

 * Prayer flash to get a ranged boost without losing prayer. Select Sharp/Hawk/Eagle Eye as your quick prayer and doubleclick (without delay between clicks) on the prayer icon. With the help of the XP Counter, make sure that the prayer sound effect is played while experience is gained.
 * Remember Rangers can attack diagonally, a great advantage against large monsters who move 1.5 squares, as they can be easily blocked by small obstacles that are otherwise easily avoided by regular monsters.