Hand cannon

The Hand cannon is a two-handed Ranged weapon released with the Forgiveness of a Chaos Dwarf quest on 9 September 2009. It requires a Ranged level of 75, a Firemaking level of 61, and the completion of the Forgiveness of a Chaos Dwarf quest to wield. Because of its damage and speed, it is a popular Rushing weapon. The hand cannon and hand cannon shot are dropped by Cannoneers. It cannot be lent.

The hand cannon has a chance of blowing up with each use. When it explodes, the player wielding it is dealt between 10 and 160 damage. The chance of this occurring decreases as a player's Firemaking level increases; however, even at level 99, it can still explode. If the hand cannon blows up, the cannon disappears and another must be obtained, either as a drop, through trading with other players, or by means of the Grand Exchange.

The hand cannon is one of the deadliest ranged weapons to date. It matches the rune crossbow's ranged bonus, but is exceeded by the dark bow, fully charged crystal bows, chaotic crossbow, maple longbow (sighted), magic longbow (sighted), Sagaies, bolas, and the Zaryte bow. In addition, its ammunition, hand cannon shot, has higher Ranged Strength bonus than any other ammunition (its highest documented hit is 1000).

It should be noted that the Hand Cannon is the ranged equivalent of a Godsword. While the Godsword is +42 higher in its accuracy (assuming the player is slashing), the Hand Cannon has a slightly higher maximum hit. At 99 Strength and 99 Ranged with nothing except both weapons (and the Hand Cannon Ammo), the Hand Cannon can deal up to 30 damage more than the Godsword (on estimate). However, it should be noted these estimates do NOT include special attack damage, but regular attacks. The special attack of an Armadyl Godsword is considerably stronger. Both weapons also have the same speed, however, on rapid attack modes the Hand cannon is 1 speed rank faster than the Godsword.

Dropping monsters

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Aimed Shot
Its special attack, Aimed Shot, has increased accuracy and takes up 50% of the special attack bar, but takes longer to fire and increases the chance of the Hand cannon blowing up. Also, if on the rapid attack style when the special fires it can be used instantly for a second attack after the special is used, even if the player changes to the accurate attack style after the special fires. This can allow for two very quick hits with the second having a higher max hit. A player may eat between the hits similar to a dragon dagger's special. The special takes much longer than a normal attack to fire, and is interruptible.

Trivia

 * On 12 September 2009 a bug was discovered with the hand cannon special attack that enabled multiple users to simultaneously attack a single target in a single-combat zone, but this was fixed 13 September 2009.
 * If a player is in a crowded area and is not moving, the cannon will be held in the right hand and a ramrod will be wielded in the left (the ramrod is the device seen when reloading the cannon).