Free-to-play Ranged training

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

Weapons
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. The best shortbows in F2P worlds are the maple shortbow as well as the gravite shortbow. yup

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 and is one tick faster than a non-sighted longbow, hence only 1 tick slower than a shortbow, but does not increase the damage per hit.

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 are the Crossbow and the Phoenix crossbow, but both are 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.

The true strength of training with slings lies not the speed of training but rather the low maintenance; since it requires no ammunition, it does not leave wasted arrows lying on the ground. Slings are therefore an excellent method of training at locations filled with hostile monsters such as Flesh Crawlers.

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 hardleather body

Level 20-39 Defence and Ranged
Recommended set: a coif, a leather vambraces, a studded leather body, and a pair of studded leather 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, because the defence bonuses of the amulet of defence are only +1 stronger against each style.

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. It is recommended to only equip this while burying bones, and wear an amulet of power while actually attacking monsters, therefore keeping it in your inventory when you are not burying bones to increase ranged accuracy.

The Amulet of zealots can be conjuncted with the Eagle Eye prayer to hit slightly higher than with an amulet of power. However, this amulet is considered ineffective for training because its ability is very limited; it only boosts the max hit by less than 10 damage (this is with adamant arrows; with mithril or weaker it is far less), and it gives a negative prayer bonus, reducing the effectiveness of flashing Eagle Eye by using up prayer fast. It is possible to use it with the Twisted bird skull necklace to restore prayer points but against any monster with high life points the rate of loss is too high to constantly flash prayer. The Amulet of zealots gives a small accuracy bonus but it is not as strong as the Amulet of power's bonus. It also costs 40,000 Dungeoneering Tokens to purchase which is considered by most to be overpriced.

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 and given free by Lowe. 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 and Hill Giants at Edgeville Dungeon Hill Giants. 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 zombies 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 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 1/3 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. This is the method that should be used for training, due to the fact that damage can be inflicted quicker, resulting in faster experience.

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

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.
 * Use the safespots. Just get the right adjustments and then fire from an angle.

Levels 1 - 40
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 up 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 minotaur area.

This area is a multi-combat area and can often be crowded on F2P worlds so players may steal your kills.

Barbarians (combat level 17, 29)

Barbarians, found in the long house north of the Stronghold of Security in the Barbarian Village (Gunnasgrund) are excellent for rangers looking to level up. Although Barbarians don't drop arrows like Minotaurs, there is beer and cooked steak on the long house tables. Also the tables act as safespots, where you can kill the (melee) barbarians with arrows, but they cannot hit you. This is a very popular training area for mages so it is recommended alternating between the Barbarians and the Minotaurs.

Hill Giants (combat level 28)

Hill Giants are monsters that are easy to kill, with the appropriate combat level. There are many safespots in the area, but it is often crowded in the area, since many players often train there. It is recommended to use iron arrows, and any shortbow depending on your level using rapid. Wear full Green d'hide armour for additional range bonus. If you have a Dungeoneering level of 20, you can come into Edgeville Dungeon resource dungeon, which includes more Hill Giants and 4 Limpwurt root spawns. This area is great for looting, but there can be other looters trying to take the limpwurt roots from its spawn, so be prepared for taking the limpwurt roots by standing next to the limpwurt root spawn, waiting for the limpwurt root to spawn, and taking it before any looters can loot the limpwurt root. Killing a Hill Giant drops big bones that is great for making money and gaining prayer xp from burying them. For the lower levels, it is recommended to bring a plenty of high hp-healing food, such as lobsters and swordfishes. They sometimes drop iron/steel arrows, but not too much, so you shouldn't depend on it. Hill Giants can yield around 200-300 xp.

Lesser Demon(combat level 82)
A pretty good amount of range experience per hour. Drops accursed ashes to train prayer, and are fun to train on. It is not recommended to train on these without a safe spot, unless you have a very high defence level as well. It is safer to train on the demons near the hole leading down to Elvarg, as there are not as many and you can hide behind rocks and pillars without worrying about another one walking up behind you. This method of ranging is not suggested until at least 70 Range, as your range will not be able to hit high enough to benefit from them.

Goblins
Goblins at the Goblin Village are an easy way to gain experience if you shoot them from the safety of the hill using a longbow set on long range as they cannot reach you and you gain defence while doing so. This technique could also be used to train magic for low level players.

Corpse Mage(combat level 15)
Offer an OK amount of range experience per hour. They rarely hit and have a max hit of only 1 lp. They're weak against ranged attacks and remain still once you attack them. They're good for training low lvl pures that have no problem with gaining 2 defence to access the lumbridge catacombs. One may find them tedious however as they have low lp (only 100) and big competition. The experience gained per hour does not meet most other methods due to low lp and time wasted between attacking more creatures than normal.

Hobgoblin(combat level 28, 42)
Since hobgoblins have high life points, they offer a decent amount of experience per kill. Hobgoblins can be safespotted 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 10 minutes, don't require a lot of concentration, have low defence and boast great xp/hour. However, they are almost always extremely crowded, so training at odd hours of the day is recommended. Flesh crawlers are found in the second level of the stronghold of security. One can bring a full inventory of trout/salmon and range them with iron arrows, a maple shortbow, power amulet, 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 and in the Varrock Sewers 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 will not be aggressive towards you 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. Playing at odd hours of the day also frees up worlds for more efficient training. 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.

Corpse Mage (combat 12)

This NPC is located in the Lumbrige catacombs(The Blood Pact quest req to go there) they have decent drops of water talismans and fire talismans.No worry for food because their max hit is 1(bring at least 12 salmon or trout(optional).)They are also weak to ranged attacks and have a fair amount of hp.

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. Flesh Crawlers are also aggressive, and you don't mind losing arrows as much, you can range them as they attack you and you do not have to pay as much attention.

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, they don't require a lot of concentration, 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 nearby 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 3 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 to use steel arrows or higher with a maple shortbow. Lesser demons may also be found in the Karajama Resource dungeon inside the volcano, but requires 25 Dungeoneering. There are many safespots in that area in which a player can use. Probably the best one is behind the rock pillars. A player can hit 2 lessers and then run to cover, lining them all up and gaining fast xp. Note: It is much easier to do this method if they tolerate you/stop being agressive.

Greater demons(combat level 92)
Greater demons have a max hit of 90 and occasionally drop the Rune full helm. The Wilderness Volcano location has a few semi-safespots which can protect you from the demons. However, beware of other high levels monsters and player killers that might attack you while ranging. 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. Greater demons are no longer efficient creatures to train on due to the reinstatement of player-vs-player wilderness and the dissapearance of the bounty hunter-crater banker.

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 way 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.

Catablepon (combat levels 49, 64, 68)
Catablepon have a fair good amount of hp (up to 700) and can be safespoted. They can be found on the third level of the Stronghold of Security and cast the spell weaken however if they cannot reach you then they can not use it on you. It also has no effect on the ranged skill. There are only 3 places a ranger can safespot catablepons. Two is behind the tendrils if you just go up the map from the ladder of the third floor you will find catablepon and those tendrils in which you can safespot them. The entrance to the center of the third floor can also be a place to safespot catablepon. Just stand in the left corner of this room(right next to the gooey door that leads to the center) and you will be able to safespot them. The player should wear full green dragon hide and even prayer flash. Since they drop bones, the Twisted Bird Skull Necklace will help to recharge your prayer points. They also drop some profitable items such rune essence, mithril ore, Saphires and Rubies.