Ranged



Ranged is one of the three combat classes in RuneScape. It involves using bows, crossbows, and thrown weapons to take down opponents, and wearing armour based on various monsters' hides. Players who specialise in this skill are known as rangers or archers.

The Combat Triangle dictates that Rangers are strong against Mages, but weak against Melee fighters.

Ranged's ability to attack from a distance means that a player can safespot a Melee monster while fighting from safety. However, this is not very useful as Melee monsters have high Ranged defence.

Ranged Attack
To the right of the Inventory button is the Equipment menu. From here, players can view their combat stats. Ranged weapons increase in accuracy as the minimum Ranged level, required to wield the bow, increases. The general trend is that Ranged weapons of the same "tier" have the same accuracy value. Ranged armour does not hinder the accuracy of Ranged weapons, nor does it improve Ranged accuracy. However, wearing a piece of Melee or Magic armour piece, instead of the Ranged counterpart, reduces the effectiveness of Ranged combat.

Shieldbows have a slower rate of fire than shortbows but compensate with a longer range. With this in mind, a shortbow is usually recommended over the shieldbow for faster experience, making the shieldbow more efficient for ammo preservation and long range combat. Crossbows are extremely accurate and have the potential for powerful hits, but their rate of fire is considered relatively slow. One-handed "Pistol" crossbows also allow players to equip a left-handed item like a shield or god book, which can offer decent Range bonuses.

Players can also use Ranged prayer such as Eagle Eye to improve Ranged attack.

Bows
Bows are the original ranging weapon, and require two hands to wield. With a few notable exceptions, bows of all types require arrows to be equipped in the ammunition slot. Types of bows include shortbows, composite bows, and shieldbows. Shieldbows fire arrows farther and act as a shield providing defensive bonuses, though they do not shoot as fast as shortbows. Composite bows are a compromise of power and speed, providing a balanced ranged style. It is usually recommended that players use a shortbow when ranging, especially when training, to deal more damage over time. However, a shieldbow may be advantageous in situations where distance and defence are needed over firepower. For example, using a shieldbow while shooting from the battlements of Castle Wars will allow players to hit targets who cannot be reached with a shortbow.

Chargebows generate their own ammunition and so don't require any arrows to be equipped. Chargebows can be found south of Varrock as drops from the low-level mages. They are also dropped by goblins in Lumbridge. They are designed for beginner rangers and if you have considerable experience in ranging, you will receive a notice on your screen urging you to start using better bows or crossbows. If you're a non-member ranger, it is suggested that you keep the chargebow handy because of its ability to shoot without ammunition.

Higher level bows can use increasingly powerful arrows. For example, shortbows made of the lowest level wood (normal) can only use bronze or iron arrows. Non-members can only use arrows up to rune arrows with a magic shortbow or magic shieldbow.

The crystal bow is a special type of bow which does not require arrows. It degrades as it is used until it turns into a crystal weapon seed, much like Barrows armour. The crystal bow can be obtained as an optional reward after completing the Roving Elves quest. It requires 70 Ranged and 50 Agility to wield.

The Seren godbow is currently the best ranged weapon in the game outside of Daemonheim. It is a level 92 tradeable longbow that does not require ammo. To create a Seren godbow, players need the orb of pure anima, the orb of volcanic anima, the orb of corrupted anima, and a dormant Seren godbow, all of which are dropped by Telos.

The zaryte bow is the fourth most powerful bow, behind the strykebow, noxious longbow, and the Seren godbow, and tied with the attuned crystal bow, and works just like the crystal bow, it produces its own arrows and degrades in combat. After firing 60,000 shots, it will break, but it can be restored at the same places barrows armour can be repaired.

Crossbows
Crossbows are weapons that are well-liked by rangers, generally because some crossbows are faster than bows and can be wielded with a shield or an offhand version. They use bolts instead of arrows, some of which can be gem-tipped, or enchanted for a chance of a special effect when striking. Crossbows can fire mithril grapples as well, used to pass agility obstacles.

Crossbows come in three different types - "Pistol" crossbows which occupy the weapon slot, off-hand "pistol" crossbows which occupy the shield slot, and two-handed crossbows which occupy both slots.

Thrown weapons
Thrown weapons, though not as popular as bows or crossbows, are preferred over those weapons by some players due to their speed, particularly at lower levels. Members have a wide range of thrown weapons at their disposal, while free players only have access to main and off-hand throwing knives.

Examples of thrown weapons are:
 * Throwing knives
 * Darts
 * Javelins
 * Throwing axes
 * Toktz-xil-ul (throwing rings)
 * Chinchompas and red chinchompas

Thrown weapons are rarely used due to their low damage offered but can be useful against mutated jadinkos due to the bonus damage offered by sagaie (a type of javelin) when used against them. Another reason thrown weapons are not a popular choice may be attributed to the fact that there is currently not a level 90 variant of any thrown weapon currently in the game. Weapons like the Noxious longbow, Ascension crossbows, and the level 92 Seren godbow are all better options than the best thrown weapons in game - the Death lotus darts.

Chinchompas are used for hitting multiple opponents at once.

Dwarf weaponry
There are two types of dwarf ranged weaponry: the Dwarf multicannon and the hand cannon. These are some of the strongest ranged weapons in the game and are becoming more popular for ranged training. Many players tend to use the multicannon when training in crowded areas. The multicannon is able to rapidly attack NPC's on its own (sometimes firing two or three rounds into larger monsters in one pass). The Hand cannon is a popular weapon of choice amongst player killers due to its low price and strong damage offered, however as of recent, the royal crossbow has been more popular due to the recent price crashes of its four components coupled with the added damage increase over the aforementioned hand cannon.

Ranged armour
Rangers have their own sets of armour made out of various materials. Ranger armour is resistant to magic but weak against melee. Also, most armour sets designed for ranging give no Prayer bonuses (with the exception of Armadyl armour, where most items give a +1 bonus to Prayer).

Leather armour
Leather armour is good for beginning rangers. It is very cheap and can be made with the Crafting skill. Leather armour can also be bought at the Grand Exchange.

Snakeskin armour
Snakeskin armour is only available to members. Snakeskin armour can be made through the Crafting skill from snakeskin, which can be obtained by killing snakes that appear in the Tai Bwo Wannai Cleanup and Temple Trekking minigames, or by killing level 35 snakes on Mos Le'Harmless Island. It requires 30 Ranged and 30 Defence to equip.

The whole snakeskin set is not usually worn by rangers due to the large amount of snakeskin hides needed. However, the snakeskin boots and snakeskin bandanna offer rangers a much cheaper alternative to the highly priced ranger boots and Robin Hood hat.

Spined armour
Spined armour is Fremennik armour designed for rangers. Spined armour can be bought from the Rellekka armour store after completing The Fremennik Trials. Note that you must bring the raw materials in order to buy the armour, which can be obtained from killing dagannoths and their kin in the Waterbirth Island Dungeon.

Dragonhide armour
Dragonhide armour is the most popular and the recommended ranging armour. Free players can only wear green and blue dragonhide armour and must complete the Dragon Slayer quest in order to wear the blue dragonhide body. Red, black and royal dragonhide sets are only available to members. Members can also use Crafting to make dragonhide armour from tanned dragon hides.

There are also variants of dragonhide, with fur and gold-trimmed green and blue dragonhide bodies and chaps available from treasure trails. Also, there are god-blessed dragonhide sets with the equivalent bonuses of black dragonhide, which require 60 range and 40 defence for all the pieces. Note that all trimmed and god-blessed dragonhide armours do not offer additional stat bonuses and are purely for aesthetic use. However, it is worth noting that blessed dragonhide coifs do not degrade like a normal black d'hide coif.

Karil the Tainted's armour set
Karil the Tainted's armour set is a level 70 augmentable tank armour. Members can obtain a set of ranged barrows equipment, Karil the Tainted's, as a reward from the Barrows minigame. When a player is ranging with the complete set, including Karil's crossbow, some ranged attacks have a chance of reducing the opponent's Magic level. Before the December 2007 Wilderness updates, attacks had a chance of reducing the opponent's Agility level. During this time, many Karil's rangers would go to the Wilderness Agility Course and lower the Agility of the target, making them unable to escape.

Armadyl armour
Armadyl armour is a level 70 augmentable power armour. It is great for mid-to-high leveled rangers. Due to its relatively cheap prices, it is commonly used by slayers as it provides a +87 ranged bonus. Since most slayer monsters don't do much damage, it is an easy decision to choose an offensive armour like Armadyl over a defensive armour like Karil's. The full set gives a prayer bonus of +6, which can be useful (+7 if also wearing the buckler). This armour is commonly used in minigames such as Castle Wars due to the high amount of enemy players using magic spells.

Morrigan's equipment
Morrigan's equipment is a portion of Ancient Warriors' equipment. It is either obtained by killing revenants or through the Grand Exchange. It has fairly high requirements; to wield this set, players must have 78 Defence and 78 Ranged (for the corrupt set, 20 Defence and 20 Ranged are necessary). It has the Ranged Strength bonuses equivalent to pernix armour, but is very costly and not used by many players due to its short life span of 1 hour of combat (15 minutes of time worn for the corrupt set). Although it has the prerequisite of being at least a level 70 armour, Morrigan's armour is not augmentable.

Pernix equipment
Pernix armour is a set of degradable high level Ranged armour that requires 80 Ranged, 80 Defence, and 80 Constitution to wear. This armour is classified as a power armour, which gives a total of 74 extra base damage. Pernix armour pieces may only be obtained as rare drops from Nex, the boss of the Zarosian stronghold of the God Wars Dungeon, the Ancient Prison. Pernix armour is currently the fourth-highest level Ranged armour in the game, behind death lotus armour, and sirenic armour, and tied with Anima Core of Zamorak.

Anima Core of Zamorak armour
Main article: Anima Core of Zamorak

Anima Core of Zamorak is an augmentable level 80 power armour that can be obtained from the Heart of Gielinor. It has stats similar to Pernix equipment and does not degrade, but it provides no bonuses to Prayer or life points. It can be made by combining dormant anima core equipment with crests of Zamorak. Crests of Zamorak can be obtained as a drop from the Twin Furies, and dormant anima core equipment can be obtained as a drop form any of the four Heart of Gielinor generals.

Void knight armour (ranged)
A popular choice for pures and hybrids alike, these are mostly used to increase damage by 5-7%. The potency of this set rivals that of black dragonhide armour.

This set is considered to be one of the best armour sets for ranged due to its cheaper cost and set effects, since players are paid in coins and experience to get it (although the cost of arrows used in Pest Control may offset the payment).

Superior elite void knight armour (ranged)
Main article: Elite void knight equipment

Superior elite void knight armour is an upgraded version of regular void knight armour. Despite being one of the best and most utilized armours in the game for high-level PvM, it is not augmentable since its level requirement is only 42 defence. When all four pieces of the set are worn, it produces a set effect that increases the wearer's accuracy. This is a great tool for bosses like Vorago where accuracy is more important than damage and defence.

Refined Anima Core of Zamorak armour
Main article: Anima Core of Zamorak

Refined Anima Core of Zamorak armour is a level 85 augmentable power armour that degrades to dust. It is created by upgrading regular Anima Core of Zamorak armour using 1-3 Serenic, Sliskean, Zamorakian, and Zarosian essence per each piece of the armour, after the ability to craft Refined Anima Core of Zamorak armour has been unlocked by earning 2,000 reputation with the Zamorakian faction. One of each essence is required to create the helm, two are required to make the legs and three are required to make the body. To augment the body and legs, players must take an unused piece of the armour they wish to augment, an augmentor, and 36 divine charges to an Invention workbench. They must also have discovered the blueprints to augment armour, as well as level 16 Invention.

Death lotus equipment
Main article: Death lotus equipment

Death lotus equipment is a set of level 85 augmentable tank armour that degrades. The superior version of the armour is only obtainable through obtaining lacquer within player owned ports, while the inferior version may be obtained via trade on the Grand Exchange or through direct trade with other players. The superior version may be repaired via any standard means, the inferior version, however, degrades to dust and may not be repaired. The superior version also offers higher bonuses that its inferior counterpart in defence, life points, and prayer bonus.

Sirenic armour
Sirenic armour is a level 90 augmentable power armour that degrades to dust. It can be made by high-level crafters using sirenic scales (drops from high-level Slayer monsters and bosses), algarum thread and a needle. It has the highest damage bonus of any Ranged armour in the game and armour bonus equal to the superior death lotus set. While it can be quite expensive to purchase, it is commonly believed among many high-end PvMers that Sirenic armour is well worth the cost since it makes it easier to defeat high-level bosses that can easily pay for the armour in very little time. To augment the body and legs, players must take an unused piece of the armour they wish to augment, an augmentor, and 36 divine charges to an Invention workbench. They must also have discovered the blueprints to augment armour, as well as level 16 Invention.

Other weapons
Members also have access to many other kinds of weapons. Among them:
 * Ascension crossbow
 * Coral crossbow
 * Chaotic crossbow
 * Dwarf multicannon
 * Hand cannon
 * Hunter's crossbow
 * Holy water
 * Crystal bow
 * Ogre bow and ogre arrows
 * Ogre composite bow and brutal arrows
 * Salamanders
 * Chinchompas
 * Dark bow
 * Dorgeshuun crossbow
 * Zanik's crossbow
 * Toktz-xil-ul
 * Guthix bow
 * Saradomin bow
 * Zamorak bow
 * Zaryte bow

Free-to-play shields:

 * Leather shield
 * Hard leather shield
 * Studded leather shield
 * Green d'hide shield
 * Blue d'hide shield

Members only shields and reprisers:
A repriser is the ranged version of a melee defender. Reprisers act as a cross between a shield and an off-hand ranged weapon. Since they are a hybrid between the two, they have a smaller defence bonus, a smaller damage bonus, no life point bonus, and a 0% damage reduction factor, unlike their standard shield and weapon counterparts. It is only recommended to use a repriser when a shield is needed rather than when an off-hand weapon is needed.
 * Red d'hide shield
 * Black d'hide shield
 * Crystal deflector
 * Armadyl buckler
 * Dragonfire deflector
 * Tainted repriser
 * Elysian spirit shield (lucky version)
 * Eagle-eye kiteshield (lucky version)
 * Attuned crystal deflector
 * Ancient repriser
 * Vengeful kiteshield
 * Kalphite repriser

Other Ranged Equipment

 * Arrowstorm drape
 * Ava's accumulator
 * Ava's alerter
 * Ava's attractor
 * Farsight quickshot necklace
 * Farsight snapshot necklace
 * Farsight sniper necklace
 * Focus sight
 * Mercenary's gloves
 * Ranger boots
 * Robin hood hat
 * Saradomin's murmur
 * Scrimshaw of cruelty (superior version)
 * Scrimshaw of ranging (superior version)
 * Swift gloves

Training
It is advised to use safespots for each of these strategies in order to conserve health. Members may also find it useful to use sacred clay weapons or armour for training, as these double the amount of experience gained with a trade-off of taking the time to obtain them.

Non-member training
As a non-member you don't have many options when it comes to training range. You can train with a bow and arrows, which is the most expensive way to train range as a non-member depending on what arrows you are using. You can also train using a chargebow. The chargebow is received as a drop from a lot of F2P monsters including chickens and cows.

Lower levels: it is recommended to use Kayle's chargebow. Even though it is relatively weak, Kayle's chargebow does not require any ammo, especially at lower levels this is a good choice to save money, time, and train rapidly. Even more profitable is to kill cows (for both hides and meat to make money on the side) are recommended at Beefy Bill, who will transport them to your bank for a 10% fee.

Lower to mid-levels: another way to train is to kill minotaurs with a chargebow, or your best bow and iron arrows. Minotaurs drop iron arrows a lot and provided that the player isn't hurt a lot by these low level monsters, can stay there indefinitely. But most minotaurs are weak, so you will be safe.

Mid to high levels: players seeking to train Ranged at higher levels should kill lesser demons with either a magic shortbow or, if possible, a gravite shortbow. It is highly recommended to bring a shieldbow, such as a magic shieldbow (sighted) for healing or, if need be, as the main ranged weapon that provides extra protection, which shortbows lack. An amulet of power and a team cape both provide a Ranged critical hit percentage bonus and these items should be worn when fighting lesser demons. Food is recommended to prolong trips, because the five minute cooldown of Rejuvenate may be too long as lesser demons are somewhat accurate, even when players are wearing blue dragonhide armour.

Members training
Training Ranged as a member can be very expensive or time consuming depending on how you choose to train it.

If you are willing to spend money and earn back as much as three times what you spent (and have a Ranged level of 40 or higher) then the Ranging Guild is the fastest way to get experience. You play the archery competition and receive tickets, which you spend however you like.

The cheapest and still feasible way to train Ranged is simply using a bow and arrows or crossbow(s) and bolts. This is best done in single combat and is one of the slower methods to train ranged but also the cheapest depending on what arrows/bolts you use. It is best if you attack something behind a safespot so that you do not have to worry about taking damage. However, some monsters have attacks that make safespotting ineffective, such as dragons' firebreath. The best place to gain ranged xp is in the Ancient Caverns killing waterfiends as they provide 942 experience in ranged (not counting Constitution xp).

If you have no money and want to train Ranged you can either kill monsters using melee for arrows and then use them to train range, or use a chargebow (the chargebow is dropped from many free-to-play monsters and is very weak but uses no ammo). Chargebows are not recommended for members to use because there are much better methods to train.

Other
The maximum boost (while not on slayer assignment) can be achieved wearing Void Knight equipment Ranging set, a ranging skillcape, using an extreme ranging potion, and the Rigour prayer.

The Void Knight ranging set, purchased for 850 Pest Control Commendation Points, increases ranged accuracy and maximum hit by 10% (though testing shows the boost is truly around 20%) and is thus very useful in training Ranged.

The absolute maximum boost can be gained while wearing a Void Knight ranging set, using an extreme ranging potion, and using the Rigour prayer while having a slayer assignment in Kuradal's Dungeon and wearing a ferocious ring, as a full slayer helm/focus sight gives only a bonus of +15% while on slayer assignments, while the Void Knight ranging set gives a +10% damage to bonus as well as Ranged level, effectively bumping the boost to +20%.

Arrow and bolts droppers
Note that very few players choose to "gather" their arrows from the loots of NPCs. It is far easier to purchase the required quantity on the Grand Exchange and then regain any lost profit through combat.

Free-to-play and members

 * Al-Kharid warriors (bronze arrows: 9 and bronze bolts: X)
 * Ankou in the Stronghold of Security and Forinthry Dungeon (adamant arrow: 20, depending on level)
 * Barbarians in Barbarian Village (bronze arrows: 15)
 * Barbarian women in Barbarian Village (bronze arrows: 10)
 * Black knights (mithril arrows: 3)
 * Catablepon (mithril arrows: 5-14 and bronze arrows: 2, depending on level)
 * Archer guards in Falador (steel arrows: 1-5 and bronze arrows: X)
 * Guards in Falador (steel arrows: 1-5 and bronze arrows: 7)
 * Varrockian guards (steel arrows: 1-5, bronze arrows: X, and bronze bolts: 1-20)
 * Hill giants (iron arrows: 3, 6 and steel arrows: 10)
 * Ice giants (adamant arrows: 5)
 * Ice warriors (adamant arrows: 3, 5 and mithril arrows: 5)
 * Men (bronze arrows: 7 and bronze bolts: 3-12)
 * Minotaurs (Bronze arrows: 3, 6 and iron arrows: 1-14)
 * Moss giants (iron arrows: 15 and steel arrows: 30)
 * White knights at Falador Castle (mithril arrows: 2-9 and adamant arrows: 2-9, depending on level)
 * Women (bronze arrows: 7)
 * Zombies (iron arrows: 8, mithril arrows: 1-2, and steel arrows: 5-14, depending on level)
 * Creatures in the Lumbridge Catacombs (bronze arrows: up to 40)

Players can also collect arrows dropped from players when playing in the Wilderness, but this is not recommended as it is easy to get killed unless you are in a safe spot.

Members only

 * Abyssal demons (rune arrows: 42-45 and steel arrows: 150)
 * Armoured zombies (mithril arrows: 8)
 * Araxxi (araxyte arrows: 70-90)
 * Aquanites (adamant Bolts 10, and Rune bolts 5)
 * Dagannoth (steel arrows: 15 and 7-30, depending on level)
 * Dark beasts (rune arrows: 42)
 * Dust devils (rune arrows: 12)
 * Chaos druids (mithril bolts: 2-12)
 * Fire giants (rune arrows: 12-42 and steel arrows: 150)
 * Gargoyle (rune arrows: 40)
 * Giant mole (iron arrows: 690)
 * Guards in Ardougne (steel arrows: 1-5, bronze arrows: 1-5, and iron bolts: 4-12)
 * Guards in Burthorpe (steel arrows: 12 and bronze arrows: 12)
 * Guards in Ranging Guild (mithril arrows: X, steel arrows: X, and iron arrows: X)
 * King Black Dragon (rune arrows: 50)
 * Living wyverns (wyvern spines: 10)
 * Mutated bloodveld in Meiyerditch Dungeon (rune arrows: 6)
 * Queen Black Dragon (royal bolts: 70-100)
 * Red dragons (rune arrows: 4)
 * Skeletal Wyverns (adamant bolts: 5-19, bone bolts: 4-29, mithril bolts: 20-33, and rune bolts: 7, 13)
 * Steel dragons (adamant bolts: 5-12, and rune bolts 2-19)
 * Waterfiends (mithril arrows: 90)
 * PvP - freeload in PvP to get any arrow (but only if you're lucky will you manage to pick up good arrows)

Trivia

 * Previously, when shooting with a bow, players appeared to be left-handed as they shoot by holding the bow with their right hand and pulling the string with their left. This was contradictory to the fact that, when using close-combat, the player wields their weapon in their right hand and their shield/book/defender/etc. in their left. This was fixed with the Evolution of Combat update.