Dark bow

The dark bow is the most powerful shieldbow and requires level 70 Ranged to use. While it fires at little over 7 seconds between attacks (double the time inbetween attacks (3.6 seconds) 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 one of only five bows able to shoot dragon arrows, the others being the untradeable tier 4 starfury bow and the craftable Elder bows. It is also the only bow capable of firing dark arrows. It is a drop unique to dark beasts, which require level 90 Slayer to kill.

The dark bow is classified as a shieldbow, so wielding it allows the use of abilities requiring a shield.

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).

It is not possible to use this bow for barbarian firemaking. Attempting to light a fire using your dark bow will result in the following message being displayed: "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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Trivia

 * Before the Evolution of Combat, this weapon had two special attacks.
 * As stated in the Behind the Scenes - October 2013, the Dark Bow's ranged requirements will be changed from 60 to 70. In addition, its damage and accuracy will be improved; in order to reflect its new ranged requirement. This will occur as soon as the new Elder Trees are released into the game. As stated by Jagex this is to preserve the dark bow's title of best shieldbow in the game.