Ranged

Ranged is a combat class that, similar to Magic, allows players to attack enemies from a distance. Players who train Ranged are often referred to as rangers or archers. According to the RuneScape combat triangle, Range is effective against Magic, and weak against Melee. Ranger armour provides high defence against Magic, but is relatively weak against Melee. Range does however have the advantage of having an extremely high accuracy for each level.

Ranged combat, like magic, allows players to attack from afar. This makes it possible to avoid taking any damage by hiding behind an object that the player can shoot over but their target cannot get around. Places that this can be done are called 'safe spots'. One common "safe spot" is in the Edgeville dungeon with the Hill Giants. Ranged is a favoured attack choice in PvP combat - it's fast, accurate, and could kill someone in a matter of seconds. Ranged is also found to cost less than Magic.

The experience that a player earns for doing damage to an opponent is calculated before their character raises their bow, fires an arrow, and deals damage. This effect can be seen by hovering the mouse over the Ranged icon in the skills panel while attacking an enemy, or watching the XP counter. This is similar to the other styles of combat, although more noticeable with magic, as the experience is given before any damage is done.

Attack Styles
Ranged combat has three attack styles: Accurate, Rapid, and Long-range.

All of the attack styles provide Ranged and Constitution experience. The amount of experience gained by each style is shown in the table below.

The Rapid attack style will fire projectiles at an increased speed, while Accurate and Long-range attack more slowly. The Accurate style shoots slower, but generally hits higher. It is recommended that players train using the Rapid attack style. This will give a high rate of experience, but will use a greater number of projectiles compared to the Accurate style. Long-range allows rangers to attack from an increased distance, and grants Defence experience, but with reduced Ranged experience.

Using crossbows will give players an extra 0.2 Ranged experience per damage if they are using either the Accurate or Rapid attack style. For Long-range, the experience will be split evenly to both Ranged and Defence.

Ranged bonus
To the right of the Inventory button is the equipment menu. Here, players can see their statistical bonuses. Ranged armour has some of the highest magic defence bonuses, along with giving a range attack bonus and defence bonus.

Despite common perception, longbows 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 longbow for faster experience, making the longbow 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. 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 prayers such as Eagle Eye.

Ranged Strength
In the equipment menu, Players can also see their Ranged Strength. Ranged Strength is how much strength the ammunition that the person is wielding has.

To increase Ranged Strength, a player must use stronger metal types (bronze to dragon). Onyx bolts and bolts with jewel tips can also be used. The higher type of metal or stone used results in more Ranged Strength.

Ranged Strength affects how high you can hit, similar to normal Strength.

Sling, Shortbow, Composite, and Longbow
Bows are the original ranging weapon, and require two hands to wield. Both the shortbow and longbow of all types of wood require arrows. Slings however don't require any amunition. The small bonus is short lived because slings make the least amount of experience per hit.

Slings can be found south of varrock as a dropped item from the low-level mages. It is an item designated for beginner rangers and if you have considerable experience in ranging, you will receive a notice on your screen urging you to start using bows or crossbows. If you're a non-member ranger, I'd keep the sling handy because of the no-ammo bonus. It helps ease the nerves of retreiving all the dropped arrows you shot.

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 Adamant with Maple shortbows or longbows.

The Crystal bow is a special type of bow. It degrades as it is used until it turns into a Crystal 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.

Types of bows include shortbows, composite bows, and longbows. Longbows fire arrows farther, 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 longbow may be advantageous in situations where distance is needed over firepower. For example, using a longbow while shooting from the battlements of Castle Wars will allow players to hit targets who cannot be reached with a shortbow.

RuneScape characters are inferred to be right-handed, as all main actions are performed by the right-hand. However, when ranging, characters hold their bows in their right hands and draw with their left hands; this is incorrect as a right-eye dominant ranger is supposed to hold his bow in his left hand and draw with his right. It is likely that this problem exists because left-handed animations would have to be created, since all other animations are created with the right-hand as the dominant hand.

Crossbows
Crossbows are one-handed ranged weapons (leaving the left-hand slot free for something like a shield) that are well-liked by rangers for their accuracy and power, and are commonly used against higher level monsters or on other players. They use bolts instead of arrows, which can be poisoned or enchanted for a chance of a special effect when striking. Crossbows can fire Mithril grapples as well, used to pass agility obstacles.

Crossbows are much stronger than bows, but are much slower. A player can hit up to 690 with Dragon bolts fired from a Rune crossbow, and even up to 2000 on a Decaying Avatar, using the enchanted Ruby bolts' effect. Consequently, they are the favourite item of Player killing teams. Although crossbows and bolts cost more, they offer higher amounts of damage in combat situations.

Throwing weapons


Members have a wide range of throwing weapons at their disposal. Though they are not as popular as bows or crossbows, some players prefer them over other ranged weapons due to their speed, particularly at lower levels. These are among the fastest weapons in the game, and thus give faster experience.

Examples of throwing weapons are:


 * Throwing knives


 * Darts


 * Javelins


 * Thrownaxes


 * Toktz-xil-ul (throwing rings)


 * Chinchompas and Red chinchompas


 * Kayle's sling

Throwing weapons are mostly used in training rather than in Player vs. Player situations or boss hunting, where the goal is to deal as much damage as possible.

Dwarf weaponry
There are two types of dwarf ranged weaponry at the moment: the Dwarf multicannon and the Hand cannon. These are now some of the strongest ranged weapons in the game. The Hand cannon is able to hit up to 590 and the Dwarf multicannon is able to hit faster than any other weapon in the game. These are becoming more and 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 to three rounds into the monster in one pass). The Hand cannon is becoming ever more popular amongst player killers due to its ability to hit high very often.

Popular armour
Rangers have their own sets of armour made out of various materials. Ranger armour is resistant to magic but weak against melee. Also, all armour designed for ranging gives no Strength or Prayer bonuses (with the exception of Armadyl armour, which gives a +1 bonus to Prayer with each piece worn and spiky vambraces which give a small strength bonus.), and most give no stab, slash, or crush attack bonuses.

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 Activities, or by killing level 35 snakes on Mos Le'Harmless Island.

The whole Snakeskin set is not usually worn by rangers due to the large amount of Snakeskin hides needed. However, the Snakeskin boots (+3 range bonus) and Snakeskin bandanna (+4 range bonus) offer rangers a much cheaper alternative to the highly priced Ranger boots (+8 range bonus) and Robin Hood hat (+8 range bonus)

Spined armour
Spined armour is Fremennik armour designed for rangers. It is notable for its crush defence bonus. 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 dragonhide armour and must complete the Dragon Slayer quest in order to wear the green dragonhide body. Blue, red, and black dragonhide 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 is god-blessed dragonhide with the equivalent bonuses of black dragonhide, which requires 70 range and 40 defence for all the pieces. Note that all trimmed and god-blessed dragonhide do not offer additional stat bonuses and are purely for aesthetic use, besides the Blessed dragonhide coifs which do not degrade like a normal Black d'hide coif.

Karil the Tainted's Armour Set
Members can obtain a set of ranged barrows equipment, Karil the Tainted's, as a reward from the Barrows activity. When a player is ranging with the complete set, including Karil's crossbow, some ranged attacks have a chance of reducing the opponent's Agility. Before the December 2007 Wilderness updates, many Karil's rangers would go to the Wilderness Agility Course and lower the Agility of the target, making them unable to escape. Some rangers still use this tactic. Many rangers have asked for the set effect to be changed. Nevertheless, it is considered to have little to no use in most other situations. However, the Karil body is very popular in the God Wars Dungeon.

Armadyl armour
Armadyl armour is great for high levelled rangers. Although it is expensive, it provides some of the best defence against magic compared to all other ranged armour. The full set does give a prayer bonus of +3, which can be useful. This armour is commonly used in Activities 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 players or through the Grand Exchange. It has some of the highest requirements; to wield this set, players must have 78 Defence and 78 Ranged (for the corrupt set, 20 Defence and 20 Ranged are necessary). This armour offers the greatest Ranged attack bonus in the game 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).

Void Knight Armour (Ranged)
This is a popular choice for pures and hybrids alike, these are mostly used to increase damage by 10%, the potency of this set is rival to black dragonhide armour. This set is considered to be one of the best armour sets for ranged, due to its cheaper cost (actually you get paid to get it) and set effects. Many players even prefer this set over Armadyl Armour because of the damage bonus (Armadyl only increases accuracy).

Other weapons
Members also have access to different kinds of weapons. They are:
 * 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

Training
It is advised to use Battle Tactics 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.



Temporary boosts

 * Prayers - Sharp Eye, Hawk Eye, Eagle Eye, and Rigour. Ranged prayers - Increases ranging by 5%, 10%, 15%, and 20% respectively.
 * Ancient Curses - Leech Ranged raises your Ranged level by 5%, then to 10% over time.
 * Ranging potion - Boosts Ranged level by 4 levels plus an additional 10% of the player's Ranged level, up to a maximum range boost of 13.
 * Extreme ranging potion - Boosts Ranged level by 4 levels plus an additional 20% of the player's Ranged level, up to a maximum range boost of 23.
 * Wild pie - Boosts Ranged by 4
 * Geyser titan (1 + 3% of your level)
 * Ranger's aid boosts Ranged by 2 levels.
 * Ranger's aid (m) boosts Ranged by 3 levels.
 * The Ranged cape boosts ranged to 100/99, but you must be wearing it and must have operated it.

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% and is thus very useful in training Ranged.

The absolute maximum boost can be gained while wearing a Focus Sight/Full Slayer Helm,ranging skillcape, using an Extreme Ranging Potion, and using the Rigour prayer while having a slayer assignments in Kuradal's Dungeon and wearing a ferocious ring.

Free to play
Before 2 November 2010, using Adamant arrows, with a maple longbow equipped with longbow sight, the Eagle Eye prayer activated, and level 99 Ranged, a player's maximum damage (max hit) was 185 using rapid style and 190 with accurate style. On 2 November 2010, the Amulet of zealots was introduced to F2P, effectively boosting the maximum hits to 192 and 196, using rapid style and accurate style respectively.

Members
The max ranged hit (and indeed max hit of any kind) for members is currently 2000, on a Decaying avatar using Ruby bolts (e). While the max hit on the Corporeal Beast would theoretically be 4000 when it is at full health, the maximum damage is capped at 1000, presumably to prevent it from being too easy. When Soul Wars came out, players could hit 2000 on an Avatar at full health, however the damage was later capped at 700, similar to the Corporeal Beast. The max hit is 1500 on a steel titan which has 7500 life points. A player with level 46 Ranged and no armour has exactly the same odds of hitting 1500/2000 as a player with 99 Ranged and the best Ranged armour available. This is because a player's Ranged level and Ranged attack bonus has no effect on triggering the special attack of the Ruby bolts (e). Although the max hit on avatars in soul wars has been capped, the avatar in Nomad's Requiem has not been capped, and players can hit 2000.

Free-to-play and members

 * Al-Kharid Warriors (Bronze arrows: 9 and Bronze Bolts: X)
 * Ankous in the Stronghold of Security (Adamant arrow: 3-14, depending on level)
 * Barbarians in Barbarian Village (Bronze arrows: 15)
 * Barbarian Woman 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)
 * Imp (Bolts: 1)
 * Man (Bronze arrows: 7 and Bronze bolts: 3-12)
 * Minotaur (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)
 * Woman (Bronze arrows: 7)
 * Zombie (Iron arrows: 8, Mithril arrows: 1-2, and Steel arrows: 5-14, depending on level)

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)
 * 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)
 * 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)
 * Mutated Bloodvelds in Meiyerditch Dungeon (Rune arrows: 6)
 * Red Dragons (Rune arrows: 4)
 * Skeletal Wyverns (Adamant bolts: 5-19, Bone bolts: 4-29, Mithril bolts: 20-33, and Rune bolts: 7, 13)
 * 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)
 * Steel Dragon (Adamant Bolts 5-12, and Rune Bolts 2-19)

Trivia

 * The symbol for Ranged while in the stats interface appears to be a normal shortbow firing a Dragon arrow, although the only bow that can fire Dragon Arrows is the Dark bow. The arrow also resembles a steel arrow with a red topaz shard attached, like the steel bolt-however, the arrow is behind the bow, and not midway, so it may confuse. It could also be that the bow is not firing the arrow, but is actually crossed over it, similar to how the chisel and hammer are crossed in the Crafting symbol and how the two swords are crossed in the Combat symbol. The arrow may also be blood-stained.
 * Throwing axes, when equipped, look very different from the picture in a player's inventory. Also, upon closer inspection, the throwing animation still uses the old version before the graphical update.
 * When ranging monsters that take up more than 1 square (brawlers, giants, etc.) ammo will always fall to the south-west corner of them. This also applies to Portals in Pest Control.
 * Wearing Void Knight equipment with the Void ranger helm will not display the Attack bonuses that it applies within the equipment interface.
 * Ranged Strength was made visible in the game (Jagex did not put it in; they just simply allowed players to see it) on 25 March 2009, putting an end to several debates (mainly the strength of Broad-tipped bolts and Bone bolts).
 * When at the Port Phasmatys, you can meet Robin. He claims to be the master of Ranged but he does not wear or sell the Ranged skillcape.
 * Interestingly, when the player holds a bow, they do so in his or her right hand, while a right-handed person would hold a bow with their left hand. This possibly conflicts with the player also holding swords with his or her right hand, as a right-handed person would do. It could be that all players are ambidextrous, but this is unlikely because all weapons are by default held in the right hand.
 * If you were to use a bow and then, while you're about to fire, swap to a crossbow, it look like you're firing an arrow out of a crossbow. This is also possible the other way around.