Free-to-play Ranged training

Defence can also be trained when ranging by setting combat experience gain to Defence or Defence and Ranged.

Weapons
For training, a player should use the strongest arrows that can be bought in bulk. In F2P these are either iron or bronze arrows. But as iron arrows cost just as much as bronze, and are stronger, they are commonly used as a cheap way to power train. For dangerous PvP combat, the ranger should use the best arrows he or she can wield (usually rune arrows). For safe PvP activities, the arrows used are entirely up to the player.

The ammunition used (arrows or bolts) with a given ranged weapon affects damage dealt in a hit, but does not affect the weapon's accuracy. A hit is determined only by the accuracy bonus of bows, while the strength of the hit is affected by the ammunition (arrows/bolts) as well as the damage potential of the bow.

Shortbows
The Shortbow is the ideal ranged training weapon for free players. With its extremely high rate of fire and accuracy and damage per shot equivalent to those of a shieldbow of the same material, it is superior to shieldbows in almost all aspects of training. It is also the ranged weapon of choice in PvP situations as the high attack speed can quickly wear down the opponent's life points. The best non-degradable shortbow in F2P worlds is the magic shortbow, whereas the best degradable shortbow in F2P worlds is the gravite shortbow. However, as the gravite shortbow requires several hours of dungeoneering, the magic shortbow is more commonly used.

Shieldbows (formerly Longbows)
As they have equal accuracy but lower speed and damage per shot compared to a shortbow of the same material, shieldbows are considered inferior to their corresponding shortbows. Usage of any F2P shieldbow, except the maple shieldbow (sighted) or magic shieldbow (sighted), is discouraged, especially in training. The magic shieldbow (sighted) is more accurate than the magic shieldbow but this does not increase the damage per hit.

Shieldbows, however, have additional health and defence capabilities. This makes for better training against enemies if not in a safe spot or against enemies with ranged attack capabilities.

The only situation where the sighted maple shieldbow will deal more damage than a maple shortbow is when an enemy has high defence and/or is otherwise hard to damage. Training on such monsters is not recommended, as the point of training is to gain as much experience as possible by having a high damage rate.

The sighted shieldbow can be useful in PvP. More information can be found on its article.

Crossbows
There are Four crossbows available in free-to-play, and none of them are two-handed. On the Squeal of Fortune, the Exquisite crossbow (along with its offhand counterpart, off-hand is members only) are available. The other two crossbows available in free-to-play are the crossbow and the Phoenix crossbow, but both are rather inaccurate. The only usable ammo available to free players, bronze bolts, provide a low ranged strength bonus, and both weapons are extremely slow. Players opting to train Ranged cheaply should opt for Kayle's chargebow, or use iron or bronze arrows. Although it possible to have a more accuracy with the Exquisite crossbow as it has an option of becoming a level 40 crossbow, or the heartseeker crossbow which has an option to become a level 50 crossbow.

Chargebows (previously known as sling)
Kayle's chargebow is very easily obtained from The Blood Pact. There is also an ordinary Chargebow which is dropped by various spiders and creatures in the wilderness. The ordinary Chargebow (which can be obtained easily from goblins) is not recommended, having slightly worse stats than Kayle's variant. Kayle's chargebow attacks quickly (as fast as a shortbow), provides a small ranged attack bonus and is very weak. Requiring no ammunition, the quickbow is the strongest no-ammunition bow available to free players. It is also stronger than Kayle's chargebow and attacks at the same speed. Therefore, it should be used for training instead of Kayle's chargebow. If a player has this weapon and level 5+ ranged, it is an arguably free method to train Ranged, but gives significantly less experience (even if quickbow is used) compared to a bow with, for example, steel or mithril arrows.

The true strength of training with chargebows/quickbow lies not the speed of training but rather the low maintenance; since it requires no ammunition, it does not leave wasted arrows lying on the ground. Chargebows/quickbow are therefore an excellent method of training at locations filled with hostile weak monsters. However, Kayle's chargebow has a ranged attack bonus that is less than a bronze arrow, with low accuracy. It also has an invisible damage multiplier of 0.9, which implies a 0.9x experience penalty as the overall damage is reduced. The quickbow is therefore the best option for maintenance-free ranged training.

Throwing Knives
On February 29, 2016, dual wielding was introduced on F2P worlds. Because of this, knives have become a viable option as the fastest F2P ranged weapons and the only ranged dual-wielding weapon. In particular, the release of dual wielding came along with gravite knives and their off-hand counterpart which boast the highest possible dps in a F2P world.

Armour
In general, a player should wear the best possible ranged armour available at their Defence and Ranged level. Free-to-play ranged armour is much cheaper than melee armour, as the raw materials for the armour are easier to obtain. Free players can make all ranged armour except studded leather armour, green dragonhide armour, carapace and blue dragonhide armour with the Crafting skill. Because they are so commonly produced to train Crafting, all of the armour listed below can be bought easily off of the Grand Exchange.

With the release of the Evolution of Combat, ranged armour shields were introduced. They can only effectively be used with javelins.

Level 1 – 9 Ranged
Recommended set: a leather cowl, a pair of leather chaps, a pair of leather vambraces or leather gloves and a leather body and leather boots.

Level 10 – 19 Defence
Recommended set: a leather cowl, a pair of leather chaps, a pair of hard leather gloves and a hard leather body and hard leather boots

Level 20 - 29 Defence
Recommended set: Studded leather and coif.

Level 30-39 Defence and Ranged
Recommended set: carapace armour.

Level 40-49 Defence and Ranged
Recommended set: green dragonhide coif, green dragonhide chaps, green dragonhide vambraces, green dragonhide body, starfire ranged boots, and starfire cape.

The green dragonhide body, coif, chaps and vambraces only require level 40 Defence, and can be obtained from the Grand Exchange or trading.

Level 50+ Defence and Ranged
Recommended set: blue dragonhide coif, veteran's cape or starfire cape, farsight snap shot necklace (requires 50 Dungeoneering), rune arrows, magic/gravite shortbow or magic shieldbow (sighted), blue dragonhide body, blue dragonhide chaps, blue dragonhide vambraces, mystic boots or starfire ranged boots, and explorer's ring 4.

Amulets
Players with Ranged and Dungeoneering levels of 50 or higher are strongly recommended to purchase a farsight snap shot necklace from the Rewards Trader in Daemonheim for 15,000 Dungeoneering tokens as it provides the highest Ranged bonus of all neck slot items available to free players, and +9 more Ranged bonus than the amulet of power.

The amulet of power is the most commonly used armour in the neck slot, as it provides the second highest Ranged bonus of all neck slot items available to free players. It has no requirements to use and can be easily obtained from the Grand Exchange, so players can and are recommended to train with it at any Ranged level.

The amulet of defence may be helpful against monsters that deal damage quickly but also have low defence, as it provides an armour rating of 6 as well as a respectable Ranged bonus of +8. This amulet should be considered by low-level players in situations where safe spots are not available, as the increased armour rating may be worth the lesser Ranged bonus in comparison to the amulet of power. Note that it is hybrid equipment, and as such decreases the combat triangle effect.

The twisted bird skull necklace may also be used by players who train Ranged with Prayer. This can allow players to use Ranged Strength prayers such as Unrelenting Force and Overpowering Force. It is recommended to only equip this while burying bones, and wear an amulet of power while actually attacking monsters, therefore keeping it in your inventory when you are not burying bones to increase your Ranged bonus.

The amulet of zealots can be used in conjunction with the Overpowering Force prayer to hit slightly higher than with a farsight snap shot necklace. However, this amulet is considered ineffective for training because its ability is very limited, and it gives a negative prayer bonus, reducing the effectiveness of flashing Overpowering Force by using up Prayer points fast. However it is possible to use it with the twisted bird skull necklace to restore Prayer points. It also costs 40,000 Dungeoneering tokens to purchase which is considered by most players to be overpriced.

Bronze Bolts
Bronze bolts are not recommended for use under any circumstances as they have low ranged strength and can only be fired by a crossbow, which is both inaccurate and slow.

Training arrows
Training arrows could only be obtained from Beefy Bill at the cow pen north of Lumbridge. However, he no longer sells them due to the shops update of 11 April 2012. They are the equivalent of bronze arrows but are not recommended for use as they are untradeable and only 30 arrows can be acquired at a time.

Bronze arrows
Bronze arrows were once the arrows of choice for training as they were cheap and could easily be bought on the grand exchange and given free by Lowe. However, after the introduction of the personalised shop update, the supply of bronze arrows have been diminished and they're now very difficult to buy on the grand exchange. Some high-level Rangers choose to buy massive amount of bronze arrows so they can train at a certain location (eg. the Karamja volcano) and power train (not pick up arrows) for a long time.

Iron arrows
Iron arrows are the arrows of choice for training as they're easily bought on the grand exchange and are fairly cheap. They're also a fairly common drop from minotaurs in the Stronghold of Security and hill giants at Edgeville Dungeon. At around 15-20 Ranged, you could actually start gaining more iron arrows than you brought with you. For example, a free player would bring 300 iron arrows to train with, and end up with over 500 arrows worth of drops.

Steel arrows
Steel arrows, though not as popular as iron, hit a little higher than iron and cost a few coins less. They are commonly dropped by zombies on the second level of the Stronghold of Security.

Mithril arrows
Mithril arrows are ok for training against high-level monsters such as lesser and greater demons, ankou, and cockroach soldiers, as they hit nearly as high as adamant arrows but are a bit cheaper. They can also be used in PvP if adamant arrows are too expensive. They are dropped by ice warriors in the Asgarnian Ice Dungeon, Catablepon in the Stronghold of Security, and black and white knights at their respective castles/fortresses.

Adamant arrows
Adamant arrows are the second most expensive arrows in free-to-play. After the Evolution of Combat, these have dropped to their general store value of 51. They are dropped by ankou on the fourth level of the Stronghold of Security and ice giants at the Asgarnian Ice Dungeon.

Rune arrows
Rune arrows are the most expensive and powerful arrows in free-to-play. Adamant arrows are generally considered better due to cost effectiveness, but this depends on how much you're willing to spend. The use of abilities decreases the number of arrows used. Rune arrows became available for free-to-play with the launch of the Evolution of Combat.

Experience settings and combat modes
XP Selection is located in the Combat Settings section of the Powers interface (F4 by default in the NIS). Players can set the experience that they gain from killing monsters with Ranged attacks to Ranged & Defence (equal parts Ranged and Defence experience), Ranged (all experience goes to Ranged), or Defence (all experience goes to Defence).

Players can select one of two combat modes: Full Manual (which requires each ability to be triggered manually) or Revolution (which automatically triggers Basic abilities placed in the first nine action bar slots, and also allows players to manually trigger other basic, threshold and ultimate abilities without turning off Revolution). For the purposes of Ranged training, it is strongly recommended that players use the Revolution combat mode and the following action bar (or a variant thereof), activating threshold and ultimate abilities as necessary:
 * Combat modes

This bar is a variant that is used with shieldbows and includes transfigure and devotion. Set your quick prayer to Overpowering Force if you wish to use prayer during your training otherwise set it to whatever you want it to be. You can move all the threshold and ultimate abilities to where you want them to be and you can do the same for the potions. I usually keep devotion in front of dazing and have the potions set z and x on the keyboard. I also don't recommend the use of ricochet when training on higher levelled enemies it becomes very annoying.

In order to receive the abilities Sacrifice, Devotion, and Transfigure, they must have either been bought during the second World Event The Bird and the Beast or obtained in the member's-only God Wars Dungeon.

Tips

 * Prayer flash to get a ranged boost without losing Prayer points. Select Eagle Eye as your quick prayer and double-click (without delay between clicks) on the prayer icon. With the help of the XP Counter, make sure that the prayer sound effect is played while experience is gained.
 * Remember rangers can attack diagonally, a great advantage against large monsters who move 1.5 squares, as they can be easily blocked by small obstacles that are otherwise easily avoided by regular monsters.
 * Use the safespots. Just get the right adjustments and then fire from an angle.
 * Take advantage of the Defence ability Rejuvenation. This is an ability that can grant a free and very effective heal which can be used for extensive Ranged training on dangerous monsters.