Cannonball

Cannonballs are ammunition used for the Dwarf multicannon and the Barker toad familiar.

In order to create cannonballs, players must be members, complete Dwarf Cannon quest, possess an ammo mould, have some steel bars, and level 35 Smithing. Cannonballs are made by using a steel bar on a furnace, with an ammo mould in inventory or toolbelt, yielding 4 cannonballs per bar. Players gain 25.6 Smithing experience per bar.

Once shot, the cannonball will inflict its damage, dealing up to 600 damage.

Making cannonballs

 * See the Cannonball smithing calculator for latest profit calculations using a Grand Exchange Market Watch price.

Making cannonballs is a popular method for players to train Smithing for "free" (ultimately, at a massive time expense). Many players advertising free Smithing experience on the official RuneScape Forums use cannonballs as the method to gain experience. In addition, strange rocks are possible to get while smithing cannonballs.

Smelting cannonballs is very slow - a full load (28 bars) takes 2 minutes and 48 seconds to complete or about 2 times slower than making iron bars. This isn't recommended for neither experience nor money (there are better methods both). Compared to smelting iron ore with a Ring of forging and then forging the results, for instance, it will deliver less experience overall for the same time spent. However, it is slightly financially rewarding, even when players purchase the materials (either the iron and coal, or pre-made steel bars). They are able to, at a minimum, break even when they sell the cannonballs. For every steel bar made into 4 cannonballs, players profit by coins/bar.

Because cannonballs are made at a furnace, players can smelt iron ore and coal to make steel bars and then use the steel bars to make cannonballs without returning to a bank. Using this method, a maximum of 36 cannonballs can be made from the contents of a single inventory containing 9 iron ores, 18 lumps of coal, and an ammo mould. With the addition of Coal bags from the Dungeoneering skill, you could increase this to 18 steel bars per load, yielding 72 cannonballs in a single trip. You could also just have the steel bars prepared and bring a full load of 27 with an ammo mould to make 108 (28 and 112 with an ammo mould in a toolbelt ) cannonballs. That means having an ammo mould in your tool belt and having 28 steel bars would make per trip and the smelting the bars then making them would make. Mining your own materials and smelting them before would be coins, and making the bars at the furnace would make. It takes exactly 6 seconds to convert one steel bar into four cannonballs so smelting the bars then making the cannonballs would take 168 seconds which rounded up is 2.8 minutes per trip. Making a cannonball uses the same or a similar animation to when a player buries bones.

Note: Although this is true, players skilled at money-making may find that it is more efficient to use a quicker method to train Smithing (i.e. making arrowtips or bolts, which requires less money than making armour) and then to use the time saved to make up for the money spent.

It saves time if you are at a furnace that is near a bank. The Port Phasmatys furnace is an ideal location. It is recommended to wear an amulet of ghostspeak for faster banking. Note, Ghost Ahoy or worshiping the Ectofuntus is needed to use this location. If you can't get there, a good place to do this is in Al Kharid. Due to an update, the Port Phasmatys furnace will allow for smithing of cannonballs at double speed if the medium Morytania tasks are complete and the player is wearing the Morytania legs 2. This makes the Furnace in Port Phasmatys the best location after earning the legs.

Another fast method is using Edgeville's furnace which is just a few steps from the Edgeville bank. Players can rotate their screen when running to and from the furnace for faster banking and smelting. A full load of ores can be made into bars then banked in 90 seconds or less. Despite Varrock Armour's effect of speeding up smelting, it will not work for smelting Cannonballs.

Also there is a furnace close to the bank of Neitiznot (at least started The Fremennik Isles). It has a similar banking time as Port Phasmatys.

If using a beast of burden summoning familiar, you could withdraw items from it and not stop smithing.

Smelting urns can be used while making cannonballs. 26 steel bars charges a strong smelting urn by 53%. When full, the urn can be teleported away which gives 250 experience. This is recommended because 2 trips of 27 steel bars made into cannonballs generates 1382.4 experience, while 2 trips of 26 steel bars and an urn generates 1581.2 upon teleporting the full urn after the second trip.

Dropping monsters

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Trivia

 * In the Quick Chat interface, there are options to smith cannonballs using all types of smithed metals, including mithril cannonballs and rune cannonballs. Currently, only steel bars can be made into cannonballs.  The only reference made to these cannonballs occurs during the quest "Between a Rock..." when Dondakan says he has tried cannonballs of Mithril and even Rune to break through the rock.
 * After an update in 2009, wastage cannonballs were no longer dropped when you killed an NPC.
 * When a cannon fires a cannonball in a far range distance, the damage seems to inflict first, rather than having the defend animation and the damage at the same time. The monster does its defence animation after the cannonball is hit, but gets damaged before it uses its defence animation.
 * 30 and 100 cannonballs are a possible prize from Treasure Hunter. When choosing the option to convert 30 to coins, players receive during the Double Cash period, implying that normally they would be converted to, which is  GE price.

Cannonball