Ranged

Intro
Ranged is a skill you can use to fight monsters and other people. It allows you to attack from a distance with a bow and arrow typically, although there are many different weapons you can use which are explained later on. It is an easy skill to get into and can be used in many situations.

Basics

To start off, you can use the basic bow and arrow. You will need to wield your bow as your weapon by clicking on it in your inventory and then click on your arrows to hold them in your quiver. You will see your character now ready for action. Just like normal fighting, to start attacking you simply select attack on the monster you want to start ranging. You will see your character start taking arrows from his/her quiver and shooting at the enemy.

You can either attack up close or you can use an obstacle to stop the monster reaching you. This is a useful tactic to avoid damage and can be seen in the picture below. Beware however that some monsters have their own ranged weapons and will attack you from a distance as well. An important point is that some of your arrows fall next to the monster and you can pick them up to use them again. However some are damaged and are not recoverable, approximately one in three arrows that you fire will be damaged. The better the metal of your arrow, the more you will recover as they are less easily damaged.

Training

Experience points you receive towards your ranged skill depend on which of the three attacking styles your are using, shown below. With Accurate or Rapid styles, for each damage point you inflict you will receive four ranged xp and approximately 1.3xp hits xp. However for Longrange, you will receive two ranged xp, two defense xp points and approximately 1.3 hits xp." points. It is up to you the style you want to train with. A quick example is that if you hit an 8 on a goblin using the accurate style, you would receive 32 ranged xp and approximately 10.4 hits xp.

It is worth noting that a short bow fires arrows faster than a long bow. How often you inflict damage depends on the value of your 'ranged attack' (show in blue below) of your equipment and the 'ranged defence' value of your opponent. This also applies in the reverse situation, where how much you get hit - depends on the value of your 'ranged defence' (shown in orange below).

Your 'ranged attack' value increases by wielding a better bow or wearing special leather armour as described below. 'Ranged Defence' works in the same way. For example, scorpions naturally have good solid body armour which would be hard to hit. As for how hard you hit, this increases with a higher ranged level and better arrows, as described later below. A higher 'ranged attack' only affects how often you hit.

Weapons

There are different types of bows which give different 'ranged attack' values and the better ones will need you to have a higher ranged level to wield them. Free players can only wield normal and Oak bows.

Bows

Picture Name Ranged Level to wield Ranged att value

Short Bow Any +8

Long Bow Any +8

Oak Short Bow 5 +14

Oak Long Bow 5 +14

Willow Short Bow 20 +20

Willow Long Bow 20 +20

Maple Short Bow 30 +29

Maple Long Bow 30 +29

Yew Short Bow 40 +47

Yew Long Bow 40 +47

Magic Short Bow 50 +69

Magic Long Bow 50 +69

You can use your bow with different types of arrows. The better the arrows the higher you can hit , and the better the bow you need to be wielding so that you can fire it. Free players can use up to steel arrows.

Arrows

Picture Name Minimum bow required Price

Bronze Arrows Any 2-6 gp

Iron Arrows Any 3-18 gp

Steel Arrows Oak 12-72 gp

Mithrill Arrows Willow upto 32 gp

Adamant Arrows Maple upto 80gp

Rune Arrows Yew upto 400gp

An alternative to regular bows and arrows are crossbows and bolts. The advantage here is that you can also wield a shield, but the disadvantage is that the crossbow only gives +6 ranged attack value. Free players can only fire normal bolts.

Crossbow & Bolts

Picture Name

Crossbow

Bolts

Pearl Tipped Bolts

Opal Tipped Bolts

Barbed Tipped Bolts

Normal bolts can only be purchased from Archery Shops. Pearl tipped bolts can be crafted by chiseling pearls you find in oysters (while fishing) and then attaching them to normal bolts. Opal tipped bolts are crafted the same way. Barbed tipped bolts are crafted by attaching Barb tips onto normal bolts. You can only get these Barb tips from a store in the ranging guild.

Normal Bolts are like Iron arrows.
Pearl tipped bolts can be compared to Steel arrows.
Opal tipped bolts are similar to Mithrill Arrows.
Barbed tipped bolts lie between Adamant and rune arrows.

However, the crucial difference is that the crossbow is much less accurate and will hit more zeros. But when they do hit, they can hit as high (and sometimes more than) their corresponding arrows.

Below is a list of ranging weapons that are 'different' and can be smithed easily. Darts can be made after completing the Tourist Trap Quest. You smith 10 dart tips per bar and attach feathers. Darts are stackable. Throwing Knives are smithed 2 per bar and are also stackable. They cannot shoot from as far as if you were using a bow.

Darts Throwing Knives

Picture Name Picture Name

Bronze Darts Bronze Throwing Knives

Iron Darts Iron Throwing Knives

Steel Darts Steel Throwing Knives

Mithrill Darts Mithrill Throwing Knives

Adamant Darts Adamant Throwing Knives

Rune Darts Rune Throwing Knives

There are even more 'unorthodox' ranging weapons! A tribal man has set up shop in the ranging guild (members only) and is selling Javelins and Throwing Axes. They can both be wielded with shields and offer a versatile alternative to the norm.

Javelins

Picture Name Ranged Attack Value

Bronze Javelins +5

Iron Javelins +8

Steel Javelins +12

Mithrill Javelins +17

Adamant Javelins +24

Rune Javelins +38

Throwing Axes

Picture Name Ranged Attack Value

Bronze Throwing Axes +4

Iron Throwing Axes +5

Steel Throwing Axes +8

Mithrill Throwing Axes +12

Adamant Throwing Axes +17

Rune Throwing Axes +26

So there you have it, a wide selection of ranged weapons. Most people opt for the traditional bow and arrow as the bows give the highest bonus to your 'ranged attack'. However Bolts, Darts and Javelins are also used widely but to a lesser extent. It is upto to see what you like to train with, but feel free to experiment.
Free players can buy ranged bows, arrows and bolts at Lowe's archery store in Varrock. Members can also buy from Hicton's store in Catherby and if you have completed the biohazard quest you can also buy from the store in King Lathas' training camp. Members can also purchase ranged equipment from the weapons store in the Grand Tree.
Armour

Just like there are different types of armour for fighters, there is also a good selection of leather armour for rangers. Refer to the crafting guide for the details of how to make them, but they are presented below with details of their stats. Armour for rangers has to be made from leather as it allows the greatest flexibility of movement and is light enough not to weigh the ranger down. It also provides a good defence against other rangers, but makes you slightly vulnerable to regular warriors. Free players can wear all these types of armour made from leather of cows.

Leather Armour

Picture Name Attack Values Defence values

Stab Slash Crush Magic Range Stab Slash Crush Magic Range

Cowl 0 0 0 0 +1 +2 +3 +4 +2 +3

Coif 0 0 0 -1 +2 +4 +6 +8 +4 +4

Leather Body 0 0 0 -2 +12 +8 +9 +10 +4 +9

Studded Leather Body 0 0 0 -4 +8 +18 +25 +22 +8 +25

Hard Leather Body 0 0 0 -4 +8 +12 +15 +18 +6 +15

Leather Chaps 0 0 0 0 +4 +2 +3 +1 0 0

Studded Leather Chaps 0 0 0 -5 +6 +15 +16 +17 +6 +16

Vambraces 0 0 0 0 +4 +2 +2 +1 0 0

However, there is a better type of leather you can get by killing Dragons - Dragon leather. This can be crafted to make even more useful Dragon Leather Armour as shown below. Different dragons give different hides which in turn can be crafted into different leathers. Only the green variety is available for f2p players from Oziach, after they complete the Dragon Slayer Quest. They are also proving to be the latest fashion.

They all need you to have a level of 40 defence to wear as well as,

Green Leather Armour requires 40 ranged
Blue Leather Armour requires 50 ranged
Red Leather Armour requires 60 ranged
Black Leather Armour requires 70 ranged

Dragon Leather Armour

Picture Name Attack Values Defence values Example Pic

Stab Slash Crush Magic Range Stab Slash Crush Magic Range

Green Leather Body 0 0 0 -15 +15 +40 +32 +45 +20 +40

Green Leather Chaps 0 0 0 -10 +8 +22 +16 +24 +8 +22

Green Leather Vambraces 0 0 0 -10 +8 +3 +2 +4 +2 0

Blue Leather Body 0 0 0 -15 +20 +45 +37 +50 +30 +45

Blue Leather Chaps 0 0 0 -10 +11 +25 +19 +27 +14 +25

Blue Leather Vambraces 0 0 0 -10 +9 +4 +3 +5 +4 0

Red Leather Body 0 0 0 -15 +25 +50 +42 +55 +40 +50

Red Leather Chaps 0 0 0 -10 +14 +28 +22 +30 +20 +28

Red Leather Vambraces 0 0 0 -10 +10 +5 +4 +6 +6 0

Black Leather Body 0 0 0 -15 +30 +55 +47 +60 +50 +55

Black Leather Chaps 0 0 0 -10 +17 +31 +25 +33 +26 +31

Black Leather Vambraces 0 0 0 -10 +11 +6 +5 +7 +8 0

Cannon

The cannon is definitely the most interesting ranged weapon. You can buy it for 750,000 gp after completing the Dwarf Cannon Quest. It hits the most damage compared to other ranged weapons. It consists of four pieces which you have to set up and weighs quite a bit. You have to smith steel cannon balls (1 per bar) using a cannon ball mould so that you can use these balls as ammo. Load it with up to 20 balls and fire! The cannon will start rotating shooting off each ball at any enemy it detects until it has used up its ammo. Remember though, the cannon cannot be used against other players in the wilderness.

Ball Base Stands Barrels Furnace

PKing

In the Runescape PKing triangle, Rangers are weak to warriors but are strong against Mage's. Warriors' armour is good protection against any projectile attack and they can use their blades to slice through your leather (usually stab/slash). Your best option is to use the landscape to your advantage, by using features as obstacles. Poisoning your weapons is always a good idea in the wilderness and distracts the warrior.

Against Mage's the Ranger has the upperhand. Your arrows and other weapons can pierce their robes easily and poison works a treat again. At close range use a short bow on rapid attack for maximum affect, and then you can pull out your longbow on Longrange attack if he/she tries to escape. Your leather armour also has significant 'magic defence' to protect you against their spells.