Hexhunter bow (Dungeoneering)

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The Hexhunter bow is a bow found in the dungeon of Daemonheim while Dungeoneering. The bow is a unique drop from the Soulgazer, requiring 98 Ranged to wield. Its ranged damage increases as your opponent's magic level increases. The bow is the rarest and one of the most sought-after items in Dungeoneering and is a highly recommended bind.

The Hexhunter bow's max hit is limited; all monsters in Dungeoneering seem to have their magic levels capped at 99, so the bow will hit the same on every monster from a level 113 forgotten mage all the way up to the level 750 variation of Kal'Ger the Warmonger. That max hit is comparable to, but slightly lower than, the power of a primal 2h sword, that is, in the mid 400s using only a Ring of kinship.

However, the bow fires at shortbow speed, which is significantly faster than the 2-handed sword, and it is far more accurate against mage-type opponents. For this reason, the Hexhunter bow has a better damage rate than melee weapons when fighting forgotten mages, necromancers, reborn mages, dragons, and demons. It is of great help when doing challenge rooms against Mercenary Leaders or Ramokee skinweavers and stormbringers. It is somewhat inaccurate, but still effective, against ghosts and mysterious shades. The bow can also be used on monsters like Brutes and Hobgoblins that are weak to ranged even though they have low magic.

The bow is considered the best bossing weapon in Dungeoneering; it is very useful on the Necrolord, which cannot be meleed, and it out-hits melee on most other bosses. These include Shadow-Forger Ihlakhizan, Unholy Cursebearer, Bulwark Beast, Hobgoblin Geomancer, Bal'lak the Pummeller, Runebound Behemoth, Flesh-Spoiler Haasghenahk, World-gorger Shukarhazh, and the magic stage of Kal'Ger the Warmonger, as well as many Frozen and Furnished bosses. The bow can also be used on Gravecreeper, Dreadnaut, and Blink if the boss' defence has been sufficiently lowered with bloodrager scrolls. Players who bind the Hexhunter bow usually also bind Sagittarian arrows and set their class rings to quickswitch between Berserker and Desperado.

Though Soulgazers officially require level 99 Slayer to damage, they can be killed by a player with any Slayer level using retribution prayer, wrath curse, and the special effect of the Blood Necklace. Players without level 99 slayer have obtained bow drops using these damaging methods. Recoil damage, such as deflect curses and the vengeance spell require your slayer level to be 99 to damage the Soulgazer. Players can also use Survivalist's Potions to temporarily raise their Slayer level. The only requirement to wield it is 98 Ranged.

The hexhunter bow gives anywhere from a 100% to 190% modifier to damage, depending on the target's magic level. In addition, when using Desperado on rapid, it will provide a 9.09% boost to damage, which stacks multiplicatively with the other damage modifier.

There was previously a trend in Dungeoneering to "snipe" rare slayer drops; that is, a low-levelled slayer will hover below the Soulgazer or run in after the kill for an attempt at the coveted bow. Level 99 slayers seeking the bow could easily have lost it to other people trying to steal the drop.

On the 7th of February 2012, Jagex changed it so that for the first 30 seconds, only the person that did the most damage will be able to pick up any slayer drop. (Though all party members can see the drop, just can't pick it up.) After that, anybody may pick it up. This effectively stopped "sniping" as they have more than enough time to pick it up and bind it if they so wish. Due to a bug this did not work with this bow though, however on may 22nd they fixed it and now the bow cannot be "sniped" anymore.

Dropping monsters

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Trivia

 * The current max hit of the Hexhunter bow is 662.
 * There was originally a glitch where the special ability of the Hexhunter bow wasn't considered when the game determined max hit splats, so the bow would produce an orange hit splat for hits in the low 200s, although it can hit much higher. This glitch was patched in a hidden update on 21 September 2011.
 * The Hexhunter bow is now affected by the Desperado Dungeoneering ring after the patch on 19 April 2011.
 * Upon receiving 98 Ranged, the level up message says "You can now wield Hexhunter Shortbows within Daemonheim." This is rather strange, as there is no Hexhunter Shortbow, and the bow is just referred to as 'Hexhunter Bow' in all other parts of the game but the hexhunter bow attacks with shortbow speed so in theory it could be considered a shortbow.

Hexhunter bow