Dark bow

Beta

The dark bow is the most powerful shieldbow and requires level 60 Ranged to use. While it fires at little over 7 seconds between attacks (half speed compared to other shieldbows), it fires two arrows with each shot resulting in the same amount of arrows fired over time as with any other shieldbow. It is the only bow able to shoot dragon arrows. It is a drop unique to dark beasts, which require level 90 Slayer to kill.

Despite not bearing the word shieldbow in its title, players wielding a dark bow may still utilise the Rejuvenate ability.

Other uses
The dark bow can be used for the Archery competition minigame. 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 minigame 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.

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 minigame. 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.

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. Buying a colour for the Dark bow and Abyssal whip costs 50 points in any role. Once purchased, the colour can be used on either weapon as many times as needed. The dark bow has the same colour options as the whip.

Dropping monsters

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


 * Descent of Darkness inflicted up to 30% more damage and did a minimum of 50 damage per arrow (25 on players).
 * Descent of Dragons inflicted up to 50% more damage when using dragon arrows and does a minimum of 50 damage per arrow (80 on players).

Each special attack drained 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 Recover special potion. With the release of the Ring of vigour, it was again possible to perform two special attacks in a row.

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

The dark bow's special attack used to have a far higher minimum damage (50 for normal arrows and 80 for dragon arrows), but this was changed with the introduction of the new-style hitsplats.

The dark bow was one of five weapons in RuneScape with special attacks that change under certain circumstances, the other four being Zanik's crossbow, the dragon halberd, the penance trident, and Korasi's Sword, but was the only weapon where the animation also changes.

The dark bow's special attack, along with all other special attacks, were removed from game with the Evolution of Combat update.

Trivia

 * 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.
 * When the recolouring update was first released, the dark bow's Grand Exchange image was missing. This has since been fixed.
 * When a skill cape is equipped with a dark bow, the skill cape seems to bend to the side the player is holding the bow. In addition, it gives the cape a seemingly lighter tinge.
 * The dragon heads used in the special attack were not updated, unlike all dragons were, so they look drastically different.
 * This weapon bears a passing resemblance to the Zamorak Bow.
 * When dealing a killing blow with the first arrow fired you will get the experience plus the experience from the damage that the second arrow would have done. This makes it a more efficient weapon (if only slightly) for training, because, unlike with other weapons, you can "hit" a monster for more health than it has left, and still get the experience for it.
 * The Dark bow seems to consist of two beastly legs since both ends seem to resemble claws.
 * There is currently a glitch with the Dark bow when wielded along with the Wicked Hood. While drawing runes from the hood the bow will clip into the Players' character model.