Ranged

Introduction
Ranged is a very flexible and useful skill to develop as part of your arsenal. It allows you to attack opponents from great distances, using a variety of projectile weapons. The bow and arrow is the most common weapon used by rangers. However, you can also train your Ranged skill using other weapons, such as throwing knives, darts and javelins.

Getting Started
To get started in the Ranged skill you will need a basic bow and some arrows.

You can buy ranging equipment, such as bows and arrows, from archery stores in:


 * Catherby


 * Rimmington


 * Varrock

Look for the archery shop symbol on your minimap to help you find the exact location of such stores.

To wield a bow in your inventory, simply left-click on it. Then left-click on a set of arrows in your inventory to store them in your quiver. You are now ready to attack your opponents.

Bows are the favoured weapon of rangers. They can fire normal or poisoned arrows, which can inflict additional damage on an opponent. Longbows are more powerful, but at the price of rate of fire. Shortbows have a quicker rate of fire, but they sacrifice power to achieve this.

A ranger attacksLike all other forms of combat, you must select a monster or player that you wish to attack by left-clicking on them to begin the fight. You will now begin to fire arrows at your chosen target until you run out of arrows, are attacked by another monster or player, die or defeat the monster.

As you fire your arrows, some will miss, lodging into the ground next to the monster. After the battle, you can retrieve the arrows and use them again. Please note there is an 80% chance of keeping any projectile and that anything you fire will only remain for a couple of minutes, so be prepared to lose a few if you are training for a long time!

You cannot attack a monster or player if you do not have a direct line of sight (for example, if there is a tree or wall between you and your enemy). When enemies are attacked by ranging, they will attempt to run and attack you in hand-to-hand combat. If you decide to shoot at a monster from the other side of an obstacle, then the monster will not be able to retaliate, thus saving you from taking damage.

Be warned that some monsters have the ability to use Ranged attacks and will attack you from a distance. The most accomplished rangers will use the terrain to gain an advantage over an enemy, as they are relatively weak in hand-to-hand combat.

Attack Styles
There are three recognised forms of Ranged attack - 'accurate', 'rapid' and 'long range'.

All ranged weapons use these three attacking styles. Simply click on the crossed swords icon in the control panel.

You will then be able to control your attack style from the interface that is displayed.

When the Ranged attack style is set to accurate, your arrows are more likely to strike your opponent and cause damage. Using the rapid attack style increases the rate at which you release the arrows - your character fires more often. The long range attack style allows the player to attack an opponent from a greater distance than the other two attack styles.

Inflicting Damage
Accuracy: Your accuracy when ranging determines how often you inflict damage on your opponent. It will increase as you achieve a higher Ranged level. Your accuracy will also depend on all the items you have wielded, i.e. weapons and armour and the Ranged bonuses they provide. This is the equivalent to a melee fighter's Attack skill.

Please note: Your Attack, Strength and Defence skills have no effect on your Ranged success.

The better the bow or ranged weapon you wield, the higher your Ranged attack bonus will be.

Leather and dragonhide armour will provide you with various defence bonuses (stab, slash, crush, magic and range), as well as a Ranged attack bonus.

Ranged Strength: Arrows and other ammunition do not provide any form of attack bonus or defence bonus, but the stronger the ammunition you use, the more damage you will inflict on your enemies. This is just like the way Strength bonuses work on melee weapons.

Bows
Please note that many bows listed here can be made freely, if you have the required Fletching level.


 * Kayle's shortbow is a reward from The Blood Pact and is an excellent choice for beginners.

~ The magic composite bow special attack is identical to the special attack of a magic longbow, which you can read about here.

§ The dark bow has a relatively slow rate of fire, but it fires two arrows at once. The dark bow cannot fire ogre arrows of any kind.

^ Longbow sights can be purchased from the rewards trader of Daemonheim. Trade in your dungeoneering tokens and attach them to your maple or magic longbows for improved ranged performance.

£ Gravite shortbows start at 20% charge. A fully recharged gravite shortbow will last 10 hours in combat before it breaks. Once these charges have been used up, the weapon can be recharged, for a fee, by the rewards trader in Daemonheim. To do so, right-click on him, and select 'Recharge' with the depleted weapon in your inventory.

Elf Crystal Equipment
Elven crystal seeds can be grown into different items. In their unused state, the crystal items can be traded. After being used for the first time, though, it will bind itself to that player, making it untradable. As a crystal item is used it becomes weaker until eventually returning to its original state as a crystal seed. When this happens, the seed can be recharged.

Arrows
Arrows can only be used if you are wielding a bow. You can also poison arrows, allowing you to inflict extra damage over time.

Read more about weapon poisons in the Herblore - Weapon poison section of the Manual.


 * The ranged strength of a god arrow increases as you level up. With a Ranged level of 1-4, the ranged strength of the arrows will be +11; with a Ranged level of 70+, the ranged strength will be +60.

Saradomin, Guthix and Zamorak arrows will disappear once fired, and will not drop on the floor for you to reuse. They have a 1 in 10 chance of hitting for additional elemental damage (which rises to 1 in 5 if used with a Saradomin, Guthix or Zamorak bow). The elemental damage is dependent on the arrows that you are wielding: Guthix arrows deal earth damage; Zamorak arrows deal fire damage; and Saradomin arrows deal water damage. These arrows are acquired from treasure trails.