Free-to-play Ranged training

Compared to Ranged in the members-only game, Ranged in the free play is a very limited combat style in terms of both power and choice of equipment. Applied properly, however, it can easily become a very deadly force in combat. This guide focuses on offering free players tips for honing their Ranged skill.

Weapons

In general, a free-to-play ranger should wield the best shortbow that they are capable of wielding; this goes for both training and combat. Maple shortbows are the best available to free-to-play. Iron arrows are recommended for training, unless the player's budget allows for more expensive options. In dangerous player-versus-player combat, the player should choose the best arrows they are capable of wielding. For less dangerous player-versus-player combat, what arrows to use are entirely up to the player.

Do note that the ammunition used (arrow) with a bow does not have any effect on your accuracy, only damage. Any statement made of such is false. (Refer to "Ranged Strength": http://www.runescape.com/kbase/viewarticle.ws?article_id=117)

Shortbows

The shortbow is the ideal ranged weapon for free players. With its extremely high rate of fire (faster than a Rune Scimitar if the Rapid attack style is used) and equivalent damage per shot to a longbow of the same material, it is superior especially during training in nearly every situation in free servers. They are a reasonable option for PvP.

Longbows

A typical longbow has little advantages over the Maple Shortbow. One should opt for the shortbow, or obtain the 10,000 Dungeoneering tokens for the Maple longbow (sighted).

Longbows are not recommended as a training option under any circumstances. The most efficient way of training is that which provides the most experience, and experience is based on damage. Longbows have a slower firing rate and do not increase damage per shot, only the probability of landing a strike. To deal damage at the fastest rate possible, one should utilise the shortbow's speed and train on enemies that they can hit often even with the shortbow's lower accuracy. Other advantages of the longbow, for example having a longer range, should not play a significant role in training. Thus the shortbow is recommended for training.

Longbows shine in non-training situations where enemies do not have a significant disadvantage against the player. Enemies' defences can be powerful enough such that the shortbow lands a strike only once in several hits, sacrificing its high speed in favour of the longbow's accuracy can be a viable option. If the enemy can deal heavy damage with melee or ranged, one can consider wearing full rune with the longbow, providing similar defences to a warrior's, compromising speed but not ranged attack bonus - in fact, it would be higher than wielding a shortbow with green dragonhide. A longbow could also be used to attack enemies that are attempting to run and/or is otherwise out of range, such as a farcasting mage - the longbow has a range of 11 spaces compared to the shortbow's 7. In all, the sighted longbow can be a powerful tool to warp the combat triangle for rangers for them to gain an advantage over meleers and other (typical) rangers.

For comparison purposes, the Maple longbow (sighted) fires every 3.6 seconds (weapon speed 4) on the accurate and long-range styles, and every 3.0 seconds (weapon speed 5) on the rapid attack style. The Maple Shortbow fires every 2.4 seconds (weapon speed 6) on the accurate and long-range styles, and every 1.8 seconds (weapon speed 7) on the rapid attack style. The sighted longbow has a ranged attack bonus of +110 and (like all longbows) can fire at enemies 11 spaces away. The shortbow's ranged attack bonus +29 and can fire at enemies 7 spaces away.

Crossbows

Crossbows are also not recommended as a primary weapon under any circumstances. Whilst training, crossbows can be a cheap alternative to the normal shortbow for players with a very low Ranged level or budget due to the wide availability of the bronze bolts that they fire. However, in PvP, crossbows are essentially useless compared to the short and longbow, because of their poor accuracy, range, and the fact that only bronze bolts can be fired from the weapon which results in much lower damage. The crossbow's maximum hit when compared to equivalent bronze/iron arrows is higher, although it fires more slowly and is even less accurate than even the wooden short and longbow. Once a player can wield an oak shortbow or higher, it is recommended that they use those rather than a crossbow. You may get free crossbows in the phoenix weapon storage room. The problem is for F2P players they can only have a Phoenix crossbow or just a regular crossbow, compared to the P2P players that can wield bronze crossbows, iron, steel, mithril, blurite, adamant, and runite crossbows and can have more effective bolts that can be enchanted, such as the powerful ruby bolts(e). However, the fact that they are the only f2p ranged weapon to be able to have a shield wielded while ranging is good.

Armour

Rangers should wear the best ranging armour their money and level can provide or allow. Most ranging equipment sets are cheaper than their melee counterpart and should be no trouble for most players. Free players can also craft the most basic ranging armour such as the leather chaps up to the hard leather body.

Rangers are advised to get the best full ranging armour from head and body down to vambraces. Better ranging armour not only provides better overall protection from magic, melee, and range attacks, it also provides improve ranging attacks and accuracy, which can be even more helpful in making a hit and raising the ranger’s experience points in ranging. However, ranging armour is weaker to both range and melee attacks than their melee armour counterpart so rangers who were once training on melee must take this weakness as a consideration.

Level 1 – 9 Ranged

Recommended set: a cowl, a pair of leather chaps, a pair of leather vambraces and a leather body

Players should get a cowl, a pair of leather chaps, a pair of leather vambraces and a leather body should they be able to acquire these items. These items have no skill requirements. Because these items are made from cowhides, are fairly easy to craft (in Al Kharid which is Lumbridge's neighbouring city) and the materials are easy to acquire. For more information about the leather armour and how to craft them, please see their articles and the skill crafting.

You can also try ducks that are near by if you do not want to get hurt or waste food, but you cannot retrieve your arrows.

Level 10 – 19 Defence

Recommended set: a cowl, a pair of leather chaps, a pair of leather vambraces and a hard leather body

Rangers should replace their leather body with a hard leather body (which tends to be in high supply in the general stores of Lumbridge, Al Kharid, and Varrock). Alternatively, rangers can craft cowhides into hard leather body when their crafting level is 28 or higher.

If you have finished the quest The Blood Pact, you can fight corpse mages in the Lumbridge Catacombs. They fight only with magic, so your leather ranging armour should block most, if not all of their attacks. Note that the quest gives 100 Attack and Strength experience, so this may not be for everyone.

Level 20-39 Defence and Ranging

Recommended set: a coif, a leather vambraces, a studded hard leather body, and a pair of studded chaps.

Rangers are recommended to buy a coif, a studded hard leather body, and a pair of studded chaps. The studded hard leather body and the studded chaps can be sold in Varrock through Horvik but these items tend to be in low supply because only members can craft them and no free-to-play monsters drop these items. The GE probably has some in stock of a member crafter who wants to get rid of them. The coif can be sold from the Champions' Guild (which requires 33 quest points to enter) but the coif can only be crafted by members.

Level 40 or higher Defence and Ranging

Recommended Set: a coif, green dragonhide chaps, and green dragonhide vambraces, green dragonhide body

Players can now use green dragonhide chaps and green dragonhide vambraces, both of which can be bought from the Champions' Guild. The green dragonhide body can only be worn after achieving a defence and Ranged level of 40 and after finishing the quest Dragon Slayer. Players who had finished Dragon Slayer and had fulfilled the minimum level requirements must equip these armour as soon as possible since full green dragonhide armour can greatly increase accuracy and protection much more than other free-to-play ranging armour.

With the Fist of Guthix update, a new ranging item has been introduced - the Green d'hide coif. It is only slightly better than a normal coif in defence stats, having only a +1 range defence addition and identical stats for all others, but it also gives twice the range attack bonus (+4 instead of +2) making it the best range headgear for free players.

If players want some defence to keep melee users at bay without sacrificing huge amounts of their range accuracy, then rune med helm and rune chainbody are the armour to be considered. With both of them, player will have MUCH better defence bonus against physical attacks, while range bonus still only being slightly under 50.

Amulets

For the most part, amulets are used as an adjunct or as an assistance to the ranger's regular armour and weapon. Amulets are not required for players while they are training unless they are in need of defence or faster training since amulets, for most part, end up getting lost when a player dies. While amulets are readily available to wealthier players or players with high crafting and magic level, low level players would find one amulet costing as much as their entire armour in terms of street prices.

Since no store sells enchanted amulets, it is advised that players carrying any amulet must judiciously decide to carry them or not. Also, rangers carrying any amulet be prepared to escape danger.

Amulet of Defence

The Amulet of Defence provides the highest boost of defence against magic, range, and melee attack. This amulet is recommended for players with low Defence as well as players trying out new training grounds as these amulets are inexpensive and can be crafted with fairly low Crafting level.

If the player desires to fill the amulet slot to practice on new training grounds, especially when fighting stronger monsters, the amulet of defence is advised due to its cost, low crafting requirement to craft one, and its availability in terms of item and raw material to make them.

The Amulet of Power offers similar bonuses, but also gives large attack bonuses, so it is recommended for rangers that can afford it.

Amulet of Accuracy

The Amulet of Accuracy may be the first or one of the first amulets available to new players or new accounts. This amulet is acquired after completing the Imp Catcher quest and provides a fair amount of boost in ranging, as well as magic and melee. However, the bonuses provided in this amulet become obsolete after acquiring an Amulet of Power. As this amulet is actually worth more than an amulet of power, beginners are advised to sell this and buy an amulet of power, and receive a little bit of extra money as well.

Amulet of Power

The Amulet of Power is the most powerful amulet overall. In terms of ranging, it provides the best ranging bonuses in comparison to other amulets, enough to make a difference in accuracy even with the best ranging equipment.

The Amulet of Power is recommended for all rangers. However, any player with an Amulet of Power should be prepared to escape danger quickly to avoid losing their amulet. Also, players "exploring" new dungeons and places with stronger monsters are not recommended to carry the Amulet of Power unless they have carried a teleport set of runes to escape the dungeon or area rather than train until their health points drop too low.

Arrows and bolts

Any player wielding an oak bow or stronger bows should be prepared with bronze arrows (sometimes in the hundreds) since the training arrows can only be used with the training bow. Depending on the player’s financial capacity and willingness to spend (stronger arrows are more expensive), the monsters to fight (stronger monsters are more resistant to weak arrows), and the players’ desired result, player can train on any arrows in any amount (adamant arrows being the most powerful available to free players). However, steel arrows are considered as the upper limit as gathering hundreds or thousands of mithril or adamant arrows would be very slow and such amount would cost hundred of thousands of coins for the player.

Bronze bolts

Bronze bolts had their application only to the crossbow - the only bolt and crossbow available to free players, respectively. For most part, this combination of crossbow and bolts are comparable in terms of training result with the combination of training arrows and training bows or the shortbow and bronze arrow. Crossbows are slower in terms of fire rate than a shortbow but with the introduction of training bow and training arrow, many players shun from using crossbows since they can get free arrows from the ranging tutor (But now players have to buy the training bow and arrows from Beefy Bill.). Crossbows and bolts are acquired either from shops, monster drops (goblins drop bronze bolts), or other players.

Bronze bolts and crossbows had their best application when the players carry them as a reserve ranging weapon, in addition to their regular bow and arrows, just in case they ran out of all their arrows. Even still, the bronze bolts fared poorly starting at monsters above level 30, like the moss giants. Many players who reached level 50 in ranging would altogether abandon the use of crossbows and any bronze arrows.

Training arrows

All new players should train on the training arrows using the training bow first until they reach level 5 ranging. At this level, they can wield the oak bows (which training arrows cannot be equipped with as ammunition). Note that training arrows can serve as ammunition only to training bow and training bow cannot use any other arrows as ammunition.

However, players wishing to still save money can keep training on training arrows but by the time players reach level 20, training using the training arrows becomes impractical as it takes much more experience points and therefore much more arrows to train well. This impracticality stems on the fact that:

• Training arrows can only be obtained from Beefy Bill at the cow pen where the gnomecopters used to be
• Training arrows cannot be traded from other players
• Beefy Bill sell a max of 30 training arrows at a time
• Training arrows can be dropped. However you can NOT sell it back, not even to Beefy Bill

Note: This type of arrow is not free because of an update. The free arrows have been moved to The Varrock Arrow Emporium but they are bronze and not training arrows.

Bronze arrows

Bronze arrows wielded with an ordinary short bow (which is weaker than oak bows) are about as strong as training arrows with a training bow. Bronze arrows are advised for players who will not or cannot find practicality on training arrows, such as power ranging (those who keep training ranging round the clock) as well as those using oak or stronger bows.

However, since bronze arrows are weaker than iron and since the addition of the Stronghold of Security's minotaur (which is known to drop large amounts of iron arrows frequently), bronze arrows are not as popular or as good to train with as iron arrows.

On another note, ranging players are advised to collect or buy bronze arrows when they can, as an extra set of arrows may provide useful. This also helps to push the supply of bronze arrows up.

Iron arrows

Iron arrows are stronger than bronze arrows but are more expensive. The cost of iron arrows limiting its use in ranging were overcome with the update of the Stronghold of Security and the Minotaur in it (which had been known to drop plenty of iron arrows).

Iron arrows are much better in ranging than bronze, causing more maximum damage.

Steel arrows

Steel arrows are more powerful than iron arrows. Unlike iron or bronze arrows, steel arrows are hard to acquire for most rangers in training.

Steel arrows are considered the most expensive arrows that are still practical for training – in terms of cost and supply. Players may buy steel arrows from shops and other players with each steel arrows costing almost five times as much as iron, depending on the supply of the ranging shop and the prices the selling player declares.

Another way of getting steel arrows is to kill the zombies at the Stronghold of Security in the Catacomb of Famine (level 2 in the dungeon). This method, however, is very tedious because of the following:

• The Catacomb of Famine has very limited safespots from zombies,
• The zombies are aggressive and are of higher level (unlike the Minotaur),
• The place is not a multi-combat area, forbidding two or more players fighting one monster.
• Zombies drop much less steel arrows than minotaurs drop iron arrows

Nevertheless, steel arrows are still the choice of arrows for demon-killing and giant-hunting rangers as it does pack quite a punch against these tough monsters.

Mithril arrows

Mithril arrows were very difficult to acquire before the Grand Exchange was added. For free-to-play, the only possible means of getting mithril arrows is by buying from shops, buying them from other players, or getting them as monster drops. Monsters which appear to drop many mithril arrows are catablepons and white knights. However, many players who had a large stock on mithril arrows (especially those who were once members and had made many mithril arrows) would choose to train their ranging using mithril arrows as a way of spending them. Still, mithril arrows often find their application in PvP activities or PvP worlds to kill other players.

Adamant arrows

Better known as "addy arrows", these are the most expensive and powerful arrows in free-to-play and are almost exclusively used in PvP combat, most often in PvP worlds. Because the adamantite arrow can cost as much as 6 steel arrows, adamantite arrows are often sold to other players (usually player killers) if they are not used.

Attack Styles

Accurate

The Accurate attack style "adds" three levels to your current Ranged level. For instance, if one's Ranged level is 60 and they attack a target while using the Accurate style, it will be as though they are attacking with a Ranged level of 63. This means greater accuracy when attacking with ranged as well as a potentially higher maximum hit. The Accurate style also results in the loss of fewer arrows compared to the Rapid style. It is recommended that rangers use the accurate style if they're fighting heavily armoured opponents. It is also recommended that inexperienced rangers begin their training with the accurate style until they reach a Ranged level of at least five (or perhaps even 20).

Obviously, this style has neither the speed of the Rapid style nor the defence bonus or long range of the Long range style.

Rapid

The Rapid style allows a player to increase their Attack speed by one unit. For example the longbows can shoot with speed 6 with rapid style, but 5 with other styles. By using rapid style for shortbows, the attack speed can be the fastest amongst all F2P weapons, up to a shot every 1.80 seconds. However, there is neither a "boost" in ranged level, defence level, or attack range when attacking with the Rapid Style. One also has a lower chance of recovering fired arrows when using the Rapid style.

The Rapid style should be used most often once a player can be fairly confident in their Ranged accuracy. Its excellent attack speed makes it ideal for intermediate and advanced training as well as pinning down lightly armoured opponents.

Longrange

The Longrange style allows a player to attack with Ranged at a greater distance than they normally would with the other two attack styles. This distance varies by weapon, but it should be noted that it increases the range shortbows from six paces to eight paces. It also "adds" one level to both Defence and Ranged in the same manner that Accurate adds three levels to Ranged.

Longrange is only occasionally useful. It should never be used by ranging pures as experience gained from using the style is split between Ranged and Defence. It can be best used in Player killing and some competitive activities, like Fist of Guthix.

Monsters for training

Note that while any player can train on any monsters, the monsters below are either recommended for training or are popular to train on (because of their drops and weaknesses).

Cows (combat level 2)

For players with 1 - 15 range, cows are efficient for training. They drop Bones, raw beef, and cowhide. These three items are good to make money off of, as they sell for a plentiful amount. Also, cows do not have very high accuracy or power, and have a decent amount of lifepoints. The cow field in North-east Lumbridge is often a good place to train on cows but it is found to be quite crowded due to their cowhide drop.

Monks (combat level 5)

Monks are excellent for training, because they have 150 life points, do very little damage (with a maximum hit of 10), and can heal players for up to 40 life points. Furthermore, there is a patch of cabbages in the northern part of the Monastery. Even for higher levels, this is a decent place to train. Disadvantages include the lack of good drops, the popularity of monks, and the crowding of training spots.

Goblins (combat level 2) and chickens (combat level 1)

For starters, training on Lumbridge is considered the best as there are plenty of chickens to kill and plenty of goblins around the area. In addition to these monsters, Lumbridge also has plenty of food available - a tutor fishing spot in the south, a fishing spot near the goblin house, and a cow ranch. Many tutors are also stationed in Lumbridge, guiding and providing information to new players and sometimes providing free items such as training arrows and bows for those who use them.

Goblins drop many items, including bolts for crossbows which can help players keep a supply of ammunition. Chickens drop raw chickens which can be cooked for food in training as well as feathers which can be used for fishing and fletching (for members).

For the most part, the advantage of ranging goblins and chickens lies in their low combat level - they can barely hit a player.

The disadvantage of these monsters arises when the player's ranging and overall combat level becomes so high that the health points of these monsters become too low that they often die in one shot and their drops becomes unsatisfactory as higher-level players would seek stronger monsters to supply their material demands.

Corpse mage (combat level 15)

For player achieving a range level 10 or higher and a defence level 15:

Kill Corpse mage in the Lumbridge Catacombs.

They often hit 0 and have a low defence, but there is no safe spot, since they use magic. This, however, is unimportant, because with a defence level of 10 and all the leather armour you can wear, they will almost never hit you. [44 Xp per kill]

If you have finished the quest The Blood Pact, you can fight corpse mages in the Lumbridge Catacombs. They fight only with magic, so your leather ranging armour should block almost all, if not all of their attacks. Note that the quest gives 100 Attack and Strength experience, so this may not be for everyone.

Wizards (combat level 7 - 20)

For players achieving a ranged level of 20 or higher, wizards at the tower south of Draynor, provide good ranging training as they are poorly effective against studded armour of rangers (It should be noted that defence levels do NOT affect how much damage the wizard does, only how often they will hit you). Nearby is the wizards tower which is home to many level 9 wizards. 

For players level 41 in combat and over 30 range can start fighting wizards at Delrith’s circle south of Varrock as they drop even more runes and are in greater number giving less likelihood of training overcrowding from other players.

Wizards drop copious amounts of runes which can be sold to other players or magic shops or can be later used for magic training. They are noted for their higher level rune drops, such as nature runes.

Players are, however, advised to have a good supply of food against wizards as the level 7 ones can have a maximum hit of 40 and the level 20 dark wizards can hit up to 60, even against rangers with over 70 Defence and wearing full green dragon armour.

One of the main advantages of training ranged on wizards is that because they use a magic attack they stay where they are to attack. This means that when a player collects their arrows they will be all in the same spot. Melee targets will try to get as close as possible and will move, causing arrows to be scattered. Also wizards are useful for pures, as defence levels do not greatly affect a player's ability to block magic attacks, though magic levels do.

Minotaur (combat level 20 - 32)

The minotaur can be fought once players reach level 25 combat and ranging level over 20. Minotaurs are non-aggressive (attacking only if it is attacked first), allowing an inexperienced or distressed player not to be mobbed down. They only have 100 LP but heal very quickly. When fighting keep all GP drops and all stackable drops (Sell at Grand Exchange). It all adds up after a while for getting armour. Bury all the bones as well. If you want extra gp, you can take the time to run the bronze full helm drops to Peksa's Helmet Shop, just near the entrance to the Stronghold.

If you are worried about taking too much damage, go to the level 12 Minotaurs. There are a few safe spots as well.

Since minotaurs are weaker to melee than range, players who have good strength, attack, and defence and haven't previously fought minotaurs should bring with them a melee weapon just in case minotaurs prove harder to range than expected. For experienced and high level players, minotaurs are easy to kill.

The minotaurs are found in the vault of war (the first level of the stronghold of security, which is found in the barbarian village) and because of their ease to kill and their drop of iron arrows, minotaurs tend to be heavily trained and fought over many players, leading to training overcrowding.

Minotaurs drop a large amount of iron arrows (often more than what is spent). As a result, players wanting to save money or wanting to train pure rangers can keep training on minotaurs until they reach their desired level.

Barbarians (Combat levels 9, 10, 15, 16, 17)

For players achieving 40 or higher ranging level, these are good to train on.

Attack the ones in the long hall at the north end of Barbarian Village. You can shoot these across the tables and go and pick up your arrows once they are dead. Barbarians are non-aggressive so you can pick up your arrows in safety. On the tables there is beer and cooked meat respawns. This is a place where you should train with a Maple shortbow and Iron arrows or it will take a while to kill them.

These monsters are popular to train with due to being easy to kill and there are food respawns. They do not drop very good items apart from a few Iron items for low levelled players.

For armour you should bring the best one possible. For the bow choice, it should be the best one possible and use Iron arrows or above. Bring an Amulet of Power if you can afford one. An Amulet of accuracy will be fine. Bring little food as there is readily available food there.

If you want a slight challenge, try killing Gunthor the Brave for a break of training.

Dragith Nurn (Combat level 20)

Dragith Nurn is the "boss" in The Blood Pact, finishing the quest is required to reach him in the Lumbridge Catacombs. When attacked at a distance he uses ranged and magic with an attack speed of 5 (attacking every 3 seconds). He has a max hit of (approximately) 30 and has semi-decent drops considering how fast he can be killed. He has 250 life points.

The best leather armour is recommended for ranged and magic defence bonuses and the ranged attack bonus to fire accurately, along with a shortbow with the best affordable arrows for maximum experience.

Even for high-levelled players, this is a decent ranged training choice as a nearly continuous barrage of arrows can be fired at this area. Overcrowding of players poses no problem at all because many instances of the monster can be generated depending on the number of players in this area (by touching the plinth at the corner). Touching the plinth also results in an instant respawn, thus the opportunity to fire continuously.

Flesh crawler (combat 33 - 44)

Flesh crawlers are relatively weak monsters to high level players. Although they are at remote location, they are popular to train on. They have a max hit of 16 but have an attack speed of 7 (equivalent to the rapid style of short bows) and decent accuracy. They are aggressive and have poor drops. Ranged players risk being hit frequently so trout or better are recommended. A decent defence level is still very useful as it allows good equipment defence, greatly reducing the chance of being hit. One's life points should be watched closely as they might hit very often, reducing the life source at an unexpected rate which can kill lower level players.

Moss giants (combat 42)

File:Safespotaamoss.png

A player making use of the many safespots

For players achieving 45 or higher ranging level, moss giants are good to train at. These monsters are found at:

• Crandor Island,
• The wilderness (not a recommended location to train)
• At the deepest end of the Varrock sewers.

Moss giants have stronger defences than minotaurs and wizards to any arrows and much higher health points. However, moss giants have very good drops including big bones (which it always drops and provides much higher prayer experience points than regular bones or otherwise be sold for around 600 coins), black square shields, steel bars, runes, and coins.

The moss giants are among the most popular training monsters for players, usually among warriors and rangers. As a result, training on moss giants tend to have a problem of overcrowding training and monster killing - so it is advised for players to change worlds should the area get too crowded.

Rangers new to training on moss giants are advised to bring iron or better arrows to train, a mithril or stronger weapon (not dagger), a teleport rune set (e.g. teleport to Varrock) and 10 salmons or better foods in case of emergency. It is suggested that rangers must restock their food supply whenever their food runs out (even with full health).

They can be found in the wilderness(not a good place to train), the innermost part of the Varrock Sewers and Crandor for free to play. It is advised to train in the wilderness due to the short distance to the bank. In the Varrock sewers, there are two spawn locations but these are separated from each other. On Crandor there are several which spawn on the south side of the island. At both locations you can safe. However it may be advisable to train on Crandor Isle mainly due to the fact that there are more spawns. Both locations tend to be crowded from melee and ranged training but Crandor Isle is a single combat area. This means another player cannot deal more damage than you on that monster and therefore steal your drop. If you choose to train at crandor, the obvious spot to safe at is behind the mining rocks, and running back and forth to pick up drops. The best however is between the column and the crumbled wall, close and still safe (if you can handle a hit or two now and then).

Giant Spiders (combat level 50)

Giant spiders are found in the stronghold of security on the third level. There is one safe spot in the first room, although for players with high defence (70 or above), this is unnecessary.

Food is definitely a must unless you choose to use the safe spot. There is a fishing spot just outside of the stronghold where you can fish trout and salmon, or pike. Also, there is an everlasting fire in barbarian village either in the medium helmet shop, or in the long hall.

Depending on your range level, any arrows will do. It is recommended that players wear green dragonhide armour, an amulet of power, a rune full helm, and rune gauntlets.

One of the downsides to giant spiders is that they have no drops. They also sometimes get crowded with meleers, because it is a popular spot to train at. The spiders, though, have low defence and attack along with high life points, so they are ideal to train on.

Ice Giants (combat level 53)

Similar to the moss giants Ice Giants are good training for prayer, as they drop big bones. They are found in the Asgarnian Ice Caves, and the Frozen Waste Plateau. It is recommended for players to train with the giants in the South-East ice caves as there are numerous safe spots.

The ice caves are south-west of Draynor Village and players with an Explorer's Ring with cabbage teleport will find it easy to teleport to the cabbage patch and just walk southward. There is also an altar just north of the caves to recharge prayer if needed.

At the ice caves there are Ice Warriors that are aggressive to players under 115 combat level. It is a good idea to bring some food and good armour to melee the ice warriors until Tolerance sets in, and then range the giants safely.

It is advised that a player bring at least Iron arrows, Green dragonhide armour, and an Amulet of Power. (Note: a player might want to wear a rune full helm as it provides a good defence bonuses in exchange for a small amount of ranged bonus.) It is also recommended that a player bring a Fire staff as the giants drop Nature runes, Black kiteshields and Mithril square shields to high alchemize. Also if you have the explorers ring you can low alchemize items of lesser value.

There is a safe spot in the far south east of the caves, and several others around that same area. If warriors attack it is possible to go to a rock and go around it, leaving the ice warriors stuck on the corner and free to range without danger.

Lesser demons (combat level 82)

The lesser demons in Karamja, the Wizard Tower, and Crandor are attractive targets for the strongest players of RuneScape because of their expensive drops but seldom recommended to train at.

The lesser demon in the wizard tower is behind a fence. This prevents the lesser from hitting you, but it also prevents you from getting the drops or any shot arrows. Though it is more commonly used for training for medium level mages, range can be effective here. If you have a magic level of 33 or more, it is advised to bring air and law runes to cast the telegrab spell in case of getting an expensive drop such as a rune medium helm.

Lesser demons have significantly higher defence than moss giants. While experienced players training their lesser accounts would start attacking lesser demons at level 55 ranging, it is advised that new players must reach level 65 or higher ranging before fighting the lesser demons. Training on Lesser Demons before level 55 range will usually result in a loss of many arrows. If one is thinking of doing this, then A) bring several thousand irons (they run through fast) B) bring half as many steels or C) bring around 2,000 mithril arrows.Adamant are not necessary and are generally a waste of money to players who do not have cash in upwards on 2 million gold pieces (gp).

The lesser demons, while weak against warriors in full runite, can deal significant (sometimes continuous and devastating) blows to rangers even if they are wearing full green dragonhide armour. Rangers are advised to bring or equip the following before fighting these monsters:

• Bring thousands (one to two thousand) of steel arrows (or stronger arrows if the player can afford a massive amount of these),
• Wear full dragonhide with coif, amulet of defence, and maple shortbow,
• Fill the rest of their inventory with tuna or better food
• Teleport runes set (Teleport to Varrock for example) or the skull sceptre

Amulet of Power is recommended for players fighting lesser demons. Although these amulets require a high crafting level and a diamond (which is hard to find), these aren't too expensive for the bonus they provide. It only gives 1 less defence than amulet of defence, but it also gives a good amount of offensive bonus.

Also, a good strategy to killing these, is if you are a pure or just a player who cannot afford enough food, find safespots. These are more in demand and sometimes you will need to world hop to find them, but they can lead to less money spent, faster training, killing two monsters at once (takes some skill), and longer stays in dungeons.

Ankou (combat levels 75, 82, 86)

While Ankous have lower combat levels than Lesser demons, Ankous are much more durable so players must be much better equipped and prepared for Ankous than they are for lesser demons. It is recommended that players must be level 70 in Ranged or higher before they start fighting Ankous.

Before fighting Ankous, it is recommended that the player be prepared with the following:

• Bring a couple of thousand steel arrows (or stronger arrows if the player can afford a massive amount of these).
• Wear full Green Dragonhide with a Coif, Amulet of Defence, and a Maple shortbow or a Maple longbow with longbow sight (obtained from rewards trader on Daemonheim for 10,000 tokens).
• Fill the rest of their inventory with Tuna or better food.
• A method of teleportation (excluding Lumbridge Home Teleport, which is easily interrupted by combat).

Although there are Ankous with much higher combat levels in the Stronghold of Security, melee players are recommended to train on the weakest of Ankous, those at level 75. However there are no safespots for the level 75, so it is recommended to train on the level 82s. However, monsters can reach the safespot and disturb your training.Quite a few Ankous are found in the volcano in the wilderness but it is quite a dangerous spot to train in, seeing as the place is over flowing with greater demons and level 85 skeletons, and it has been found quite common that revenants pounce upon the unsuspecting player, so you need a high level defence and a few friends to protect you while you train. Ankous are aggressive to any players but they are seldom being trained on because of their high combat level and their remote location. The items which the Ankous drop are quite cheap compared to Moss giants but players in training will find much less competition among other players and therefore much more peaceful training.

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