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Defence can also be trained when ranging by setting combat exp 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 powertrain. 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.

Please note that 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 shortbows in F2P worlds are the magic shortbow as well as the gravite shortbow. However, as the gravite shortbow requires several hours of dungeoneering, the magic shortbow is more commonly used.

With the EoC update, magic shortbows are now available for F2P.

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. Magic shieldbows are available in F2P after the EOC update. The sighted maple shieldbow is more accurate than a Maple shortbow  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.

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 armourgreen 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

Aura slot Leather cowl Pocket slot
Sigil slot Team-1 cape Amulet of power Ammo slot
Chargebow Leather body Off-hand slot
Leather chaps
Leather vambraces Leather boots Ring of potency

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

Aura slot Leather cowl Pocket slot
Sigil slot Team-1 cape Amulet of power Ammo slot
Quickbow Hard leather body Off-hand slot
Leather chaps
Hard leather gloves Hard leather boots Ring of potency

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

Aura slot File:Coif.png Pocket slot
Sigil slot Team-1 cape Amulet of power Steel arrow 5
Willow shortbow Studded body Off-hand slot
Studded chaps
Studded leather gloves Studded leather boots Ring of potency

Recommended set: Studded leather and coif.

Level 30-39 Defence and Ranged

Aura slot Carapace helm Pocket slot
Sigil slot Team-1 cape Amulet of power Mithril arrow 5
Maple shortbow Carapace torso Off-hand slot
Carapace legs
Carapace gloves Carapace boots Ring of potency

Recommended set: carapace armour.

Level 40-49 Defence and Ranged

Aura slot Green d'hide coif Pocket slot
Sigil slot Starfire cape Amulet of power Adamant arrow 5
Yew shortbow Green d'hide body Off-hand slot
Green d'hide chaps
Green d'hide vambraces Starfire ranged boots Explorer's ring 3

Recommended set: green d'hide 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

Aura slot Blue d'hide coif Pocket slot
Sigil slot Starfire cape Farsight snap shot necklace Rune arrow 5
Magic shortbow Blue d'hide body Off-hand slot
Blue d'hide chaps
Blue d'hide vambraces Mystic boots (blue) Explorer's ring 4

Recommended set: blue d'hide coif, veteran's cape or starfire cape, farsight snap shot necklace (requires 50 Dungeoneering), rune arrows, magic/gravite shortbow or magic shieldbow (sighted), blue d'hide body, blue dragonhide chaps, blue dragonhide vambracesmystic 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.

Ammunition

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 powertrain (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 more. 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, ankous, 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, Catablepons 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 ankous 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).

Combat modes

Revolution Players can select one of three combat modes: Full Manual (which requires each ability to be triggered manually), 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), and Momentum (which increases the damage done by auto-attacks by a fixed amount and allows players to manually trigger ultimate abilities, but triggering any basic or threshold abilities while it is active will turn it off). 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:

  • Dazing Shot
  • Fragmentation Shot
  • Ricochet
  • Sacrifice
  • Piercing Shot
  • Snap Shot
  • Tight Bindings
  • Deadshot
  • Rejuvenate
  • Ranging potion (4)
  • Defence potion (4)
  • Blue d'hide shield
  • Swordfish
  • Overpowering Force
  • Dazing Shot
  • Fragmentation Shot
  • Sacrifice
  • Binding Shot
  • Piercing Shot
  • Bash
  • Tight Bindings
  • Snap Shot
  • Deadshot
  • Transfigure
  • Rejuvenate
  • Ranging potion (4)
  • Defence potion (4)
  • Devotion

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 leveled enemies it becomes very annoying.

Note: In order to receive the abilities sacrifice, devotion, and transfigure you had to have been around for world event 2 otherwise you can only earn them as a member in the god wars dungeon.

Ranged training guide

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. 

Levels 1 - 40

Monster name Location(s) Combat level Life points Experience Requirements Recommendations
Warped cockroach lumbridge catacombs 1 50 {{{experience}}} - shortbow/quickbow
Advantages Disadvantages
  • easy to kill
  • same exp as chickens and same health
  • spawn faster than chickens
  • drop loads of bronze arrows
  • no bank nearby
  • Extremely Crowded
Monster name Location(s) Combat level Life points Experience Requirements Recommendations
Chickens Lumbridge,
Port Sarim
1 50 {{{experience}}} None None
Advantages Disadvantages
  • Drops feathers, which are stackable and sell for a decent amount of gold
  • Rarely hits and does low damage
  • Drops bones to train Prayer with, and raw chicken for food once cooked
  • Less exp/hour than some mobs (but definitely worth it for the gold gain in the early levels)
  • Some areas are often crowded, even by botters.
Monster name Location(s) Combat level Life points Experience Requirements Recommendations
Cow calves Lumbridge,
Port Sarim,
Taverley
2 50 {{{experience}}} None None
Advantages Disadvantages
  • Drops cowhide, a full inventory (28 inventory spaces) of which is worth 15,316 coins
  • Drops bones to train Prayer with, and raw beef which can be cooked and used as food
  • Calves in Lumbridge can be found in a more open space, and the Lumbridge cow field is generally less crowded than the chicken farm just on the other side of the path.
  • Calves can do more damage to low-level players than chickens, level 3 players should be careful
  • Cowhide doesn't stack like feathers, meaning trips to a bank are more necessary.
Monster name Location(s) Combat level Life points Experience Requirements Recommendations
Troll shamans Troll tunnels north of Burthorpe, east cave 1 50 {{{experience}}} None Wield a quickbow
Advantages Disadvantages
  • They frequently drop food
  • Often crowded
  • Not very good drops
Monster name Location(s) Combat level Life points Experience Requirements Recommendations
Crawling corpse torsos Lumbridge Catacombs 9 350 {{{experience}}} Completion of The Blood Pact None
Advantages Disadvantages
  • Decent drops (e.g. leather, a full inventory of which is worth 18,816 coins)
  • Not very close to a bank
  • Often crowded
Monster name Location(s) Combat level Life points Experience Requirements Recommendations
Warped bats Lumbridge Catacombs 16 600 {{{experience}}} Completion of The Blood Pact Use the most powerful shortbow that you can wield and arrows of the same tier
Advantages Disadvantages
  • Decent drops
  • Not very close to a bank

Levels 40 - 50

Monster name Location(s) Combat level Life points Experience Requirements Recommendations
Spellwisps West of the Wizards' Tower 18 650 {{{experience}}} None Accursed urns, to gain Prayer exp from the impious ashes that they drop
Advantages Disadvantages
  • Spellwisps are weak to arrows, making your attacks with bows more effective
  • Reasonable drops (e.g. water talismans, which are worth 2,528 coins each)
  • Not very close to a bank
Monster name Location(s) Combat level Life points Experience Requirements Recommendations
Corpse mages Lumbridge Catacombs 21 750 {{{experience}}} Completion of The Blood Pact None
Advantages Disadvantages
  • Somewhat good drops (talismans, runes)
  • Low life points
  • Often crowded
  • Not very close to a bank
Monster name Location(s) Combat level Life points Experience Requirements Recommendations
Dark wizards Dark Wizards' Tower, west of Falador 22, 35, 37 800, 1050, 1350 {{{experience}}} None Use the most powerful shortbow that you can wield and arrows of the same tier
Advantages Disadvantages

Levels 50 - 70

Monster name Location(s) Combat level Life points Experience Requirements Recommendations
Catablepon 3rd level of the Stronghold of Security 53, 53, 54 1900, 1925, 1950 {{{experience}}} Passed the first two floors of the Stronghold of Security Some food
Advantages Disadvantages
  • 96.7 Ranged experience per kill
  • Does almost no damage to players
  • Very easy to kill
  • Can be killed fast for a high exp/hour with ranged
  • Up to 68,000 Ranged exp/hour with rune arrows at levels 70+ if not picking up any drops (assumes 700 kills/hour)
  • It is a common place to train for both free-to-play AND pay-to-play players.
  • Sometimes, though rarely, crowded
  • Uses weaken spell, stops only when strength level is lowered by 8
Monster name Location(s) Combat level Life points Experience Requirements Recommendations
Lesser demons Karamja Volcano resource dungeon (requires 25 Dungeoneering to enter)
Crandor and Karamja Dungeon
Crandor
70 5000 {{{experience}}} 30 coins (Needed to travel to Karamja or Crandor) Explorer's ring 3 or higher, accursed urns
Advantages Disadvantages
  • Easy to hit, even for players with low-medium Ranged levels
  • Decent drops
  • Drops accursed ashes, which provide reasonable Prayer experience
  • Players with 25 Dungeoneering may also enter the resource dungeon, which has more lesser demons and some imps as well.
  • No safe spots, as these monsters use a magic attack from a distance
  • May not be possible to obtain drops if surrounded by demons
  • Crowded at times

Levels 70 - 99

Monster name Location(s) Combat level Life points Experience Requirements Recommendations
Greater demons Forinthry Dungeon
Wilderness Crater
Demonic Ruins
82 6000 {{{experience}}} You must be willing to brave the Wilderness Only take items that you are willing to risk, as each location is in the Wilderness,
Accursed urns
Advantages Disadvantages
  • 385.2 Ranged experience per kill
  • Better drops than lesser demons (e.g. rune full helm)
  • Drops accursed ashes
  • The best method of training Defence in F2P except for clan wars
  • Up to 87,000 Ranged exp/hour with rune arrows at levels 80+ if not picking up any drops (assumes 225 kills/hour)
  • All locations are in Wilderness, meaning there is the risk of being killed by player killers
  • Have a high defence, due to their high combat level
  • Accurate Magic attacks
Monster name Location(s) Combat level Life points Experience Requirements Recommendations
Lesser demons Karamja Volcano resource dungeon (requires 25 Dungeoneering to enter)
Crandor and Karamja Dungeon
Crandor
70 5000 {{{experience}}} 25 Dungeoneering to access the Karamja Volcano Resource Dungeon
Complete Dragon Slayer sufficiently to access Crandor Isle
Train in the resource dungeon. Abundance of demons and there is little competition,
Accursed urns
Advantages Disadvantages
  • 250.2 Ranged experience per kill
  • Drops accursed ashes
  • Up to 69,000 Ranged exp/hour with rune arrows at levels 70+ if not picking up any drops (assumes 275 kills/hour)
  • Less exp/hour than greater demons
  • Crowded at times
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