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Table of Contents
1.0 - Introduction
Using Ranging can make you some money if you train correctly. Ranged is a skill that lets you hit enemies far away using a bow as a weapon and arrows as ammunition, but there are also different types of Ranging. This guide will cover almost every aspect of it so you can use the skill to its full potential. Ranging is a skill that is useful for killing monsters, dueling, Player Killing, and getting good drops. Generally, you can last much longer at higher-leveled monsters ranging than fighting with melee, since you do not need food. For example, if you plan to get a Dragon Medium Helmet from Fire Giants you are going to want to be ranging them, not fighting with Melee. You can kill more quickly when ranging and also avoid being hurt. Ranging is also good for Player Killing in the wilderness because it allows you to hit other players from a distance, while Melee requires you to be right next to them to be able to attack. In addition, some Quests require you to have a certain Ranged level to complete/do them. 2.0 - Basics
There are two kinds of bows: shortbows and longbows. Longbows cost more, and fire a greater distance than the shortbow. The shortbow is obviously cheaper than the longbow, but it's speed is faster than the longbow. Each bow has three special sub-attacks. For all types, you will receive hitpoint experience:
3.0 - Weapons
3.1 - Regular Bows
There are several different kinds of bows you can choose from, some better then others. To attain a bow you can buy one from a archery store, or if you are a member, you can fletch them if your fletching level is high enough. Each bow type is only strong enough to use up to and including a certain type of metal arrow as shown below.
3.2 - Crystal Bow
To attain the Crystal Bow, you must have finished the Roving Elves quest, which is a quest for members. Once you have done the quest, the next thing you need to equip the bow is a level 70 range and 50 agility. To buy the bow you have to pay 900,000gp. The Crystal Bow is like no other bow in RuneScape; it is a very powerful range weapon. One thing that is unique about the Crystal Bow is that it uses no arrows. So how does it do damage? Well, it has 2500 shots. Once the 2500 shots are used, the bow will revert to seed, and you must to recharge in Tirannwn. The bow also has ten phases it goes through. As you go through more stages, your bow will get weaker and weaker. To check what phase your bow is in just put your mouse pointer over it and it will tell you.
To recharge your bow you will have to go to Ilfeen in Isafdar. Speak to the elf and pay a certain amount of money for it to be recharged. The seed can be recharged as either a bow or shield. At first, the price is outrageously high, but the price will go down the more you recharge it. Recharge Price Table
3.3 - Crossbows
There are twelve types of crossbows available in RuneScape, only two of which are available for free players (the normal crossbow and the phoenix crossbow). The phoenix crossbow is available from the Phoenix Gang's weapon stores, which you can get into using a key you obtained during the Shield of Arrav quest. The other is available in most ranged stores, such as Lowe's in Varrock. The advantage they have is that they are one-handed, unlike normal bows, and as such can be wielded with a shield. The Dorgeshuun crossbow is obtained upon completion of the Death to the Dorgeshuun quest.
Note: Karil's crossbow is members only and uses 'bolt racks' as its ammo. You can find them within the barrows or buy them from Ak-Haranu in Port Phasmatys. 3.4 - Javelins
There are six types of javelins, all of which are member items. There are Bronze, Iron, Steel, Mithril, Adamant, and Rune Javelins. These replace the RuneScape Classic Spear, which is now a close-range weapon. You can use weapon poison on it.
3.5 - Throwing Knives
These also are for members only; there are seven types of knives that you can throw at enemies with remarkable speed. Just like arrows, they are stackable. You can use weapon poison on them; in addition, you can equip a shield when using them.
3.6 - Throwing Axes
These are like Throwing Knives, except you cannot use weapon poison on it. They also give a range bonus when equipped and are for members only.
3.7 - Throwing Dart
To be able to smith darts, you must have completed the The Tourist Trap quest - you are able to use them prior to doing the quest. They are similar to throwing knives; you can use weapon poison on it, and are for members only.
3.8 - Miscellaneous
Chinchompas can be attained through Box Trapping, a form of Hunting. These are combustible and explode when they hit their target. They have short, medium and long fuses that can be changed to give a greater chance at hitting a target. For example a long fuse has a greater chance of hitting a target further away.
4.0 - Ammo
You can range with many different kinds of weapons and ammo; there are plenty of options to choose. 4.1 - Arrows
There are six types of arrows: bronze, iron, steel, mithril, adamant, and rune. Bronze through adamant arrows are for Free Players, and Members can use all types. Members can also poison their arrows by using weapon poison on the arrows. When you shoot arrows, you must have a bow of some sort equipped. Each arrow has a specific bow needed to be equipped. You cannot wield a Rune Arrows with an Oak Bow, for example. In addition, a lot of the time, your arrows will break and you will not be able to use them. When your arrows break, they will just disappear while the ones that are already broken on the ground are nothing more than junk spawns. Your arrows will only break about 25% of the time, however if you use the rapid attack style, they will break more often.
4.2 - Bolts
Members have a wide array of bolts available for them to use with their crossbows. Players have the choice to stick with regular metal bolts, or add gem tips to them. The regular metal bolts can be poisoned, whilst gem-tipped ones cannot be - they can however, be enchanted using some interesting spells that are available through the Enchant crossbow spell. 
For players who may wish to carry a number of bolts around with them, there are special bolt pouches which you are able to buy from a Keldagrim dwarf salesman. They are untradable, and will disintergrate if dropped, with your bolts appearing on the ground. The pouch has four slots with which you can fill up with 255 of four different types of bolts. To add bolts, simply use them with the pouch. Players are able to toggle between equipped and stored bolts from the crossbow bolt pouch menu.
Mithril Grapple
The mithril grapple is a tool used for scaling tall obstacles such as walls, cliffs and even small river inlets. Rangers can smith a mithril grapple tip using a mith bar, and attach it to a mithril bolt. Once you have the mithril grapple, simply add rope to it and then use it on whichever shortcut you want to bypass. Note that you must have a crossbow equipped to shoot the grapple. Also remember that there is a possibility that your grapply can break when being used, so keep a few on hand or in your bank if you intend to use these shortcuts a lot. 5.0 - Ranging armour
Use ranging amour to increase your ranged attack bonus so you will be more effective whilst ranging. 5.1 - The Leathers
There are many different kinds of ranging armour you can use, obviously some better then others. The two major kinds of armour that you will see people wearing are Dragon Leather armour and Leather armour. Dragon Leather armour, is definitely better then Leather armour, but is harder to make. To make Dragon Leather armour, you must kill a Dragon, and take their hides, then craft it. Leather armour
Dragon Leather
Snakeskin armour
Snake skins can be obtained through the Tai Bwo Wannai Cleanup Mini-Game. They can also be found on the island Mos Le'Harmless by killing the level 35 snakes outside the pirate camp. Then they can be tanned by any tanner and crafted into Snakeskin armour.
Spined
The items required to make full spined armour are dropped by Dagannoths at Waterbirth island. Level 40 defence and 40 ranged is required to wear Spined armour. To make full spined armour you will need to take 1 circular hide, 1 stretched hide, 1 flattened hide, 6 dagannoth hides, and 22,500gp to Sigli the Hunter in Rellekka. Spined armour's stats are similar to that of green dragonhide.
Karil the Tainted's Ranger armour
You can find Karil the Tainted's armour in the Barrows, located east of Mort'ton. To get the armour you must kill Karil the Tainted himself, and then open the chest within the dungeon of the barrows. If you are lucky, you will get a piece if not a few pieces of this type of ranger armour. One main advantage of this armour is the 'special effect'. If you wear all three pieces of the set along with Karil's crossbow, there is a chance the special effect will take place. The special effect will lower your opponent's agility.
5.2 - Special Armour
There are also five special pieces of range armour.
5.3 - Ava's Attractor/Accumulator
Ava's Attractor or Accumulator is obtained as a reward from the Animal Magnetism quest. When being equipped, and whilst holding no ammo in your ammo slot, Steel or Iron arrows will be made and equipped automatically. This, however, depends on your ranged level: under 50 you will receive iron, above 50 you will receive steel. You must be moving around for them to spawn, and whilst walking around RuneScape you may also find some random metal objects appearing in your inventory (med helms, ores etc). You get an Attractor, when you finish the quest with a ranged level lower than 50. You gain an Accumulator if you finish the quest with a higher ranged level than 50. 6.0 - Non-Member Training
At the beginning of free-play, training it is quite basic: Levels 1-10
Make your way out to the chicken pen. There are quite a few. South Falador Chickens
 The ones under Falador and west of Draynor Village, also north of Port Sarim. Not only do you get the ranging experience, they will die quickly and you can grab their bones for prayer experience and their feathers, which can sell for a good price after you get a couple thousand. Can I pick up my arrows? Yes, if ranging behind the lake/fence after killing a few you can just grab your arrows. Levels 11-25
After getting to level 10 from chickens, you may either continue to 20 on them, or make your way towards the cows, which will work great until around level 25. Another option to start off your training of Range, or to progress from 20, are monks which are a good training spot until level 40. Crafting Guild Cows
 These are the ones west of Port Sarim and south-west of Falador (near the Crafting Guild). Good experience and you get the bones if training prayer and their beef for cooking. Can I pick up my arrows? Yes, kill them from behind the fence and when you kill a few, grab your arrows. Monastery Monks
 Monks are found west of Edgeville and north-west of Barbarian Village, just south of Edgeville. Excellent experience for low level ranging, and you can heal on them if neccessary. You can also pick up their bones for prayer experience. Can I pick up my arrows? Yes, shoot from under the roof and go out to pick up your arrows after killing a few monks. Levels 26-35
At this level, you can make your way to the Barbarian Village, just south of Edgeville. Barbarians in Barbarian Village
 Here you will find: Level 15 archer Barbarians, Level 17 swordsman Barbarians and Level 17 greataxe Barbarians. Stand behind the tables in the bar and shoot them. This provides great experience until around level 30, at which point it will get pretty slow, but it can still be used to 40. In a recent update the Barbarians and the Barbarian Village were changed around. There are now Barbarians that can Range you over the tables, obviously making this training spot much less desirable than before. Great experience for free-players and it works well for people that want to train Ranged quickly. It is right next to a bank if you want to go back to the bank or grab some more arrows. Can I pick up my arrows? Yes. Levels 36-60
Guards are fairly good training at this level. Head to Edgeville and range the guards to the north-east of the bank. The guards at Falador center, and on the west Varrock wall are also quite good. Edgeville Guards
 The guards right above the bank in Edgeville. You can attack them from behind the gate, and they will give you great experience until level 55-60. This is the best place to train for free-players: it is usually not crowded, and it will be a great place for you to get up that ranged. Awesome experience if you are 40 ranged and training on them, they should die quickly and give great, quick experience. In my opinion, this is one of the best free-play training spots. Some other good places for f2p range from lvl 50-60 is in the security stronghold. The lvl 75 ankous and 27 Minotaur both can be ranged behind a pile of rocks or skeletons, or a fence. Each one also gives pretty good drops too - the Minotaurs drop piles of iron arrows very regularly, so you even stand to leave with more arrows than you began with. Minotaurs are great experience as well, they drop loads of iron arrows and their defense level is fairly low, making this a great training place without losing arrows and getting fast experience. Moss Giants will also provide you with reasonably fast range experience. Moss Giants are located at the end of Varrock Sewers. There are various safe spots down there, so bringing food is not essential. It is a popular place to train however, so some worlds may be full to the top with other people. Can I pick up my arrows? Yes. Levels 60+
Crandor Lesser Demons
 After completing the Dragon Slayer quest, go to N. Karamja and down the pile of rubble on the volcano rim. Make your way to the east. You will soon find a dead end, and past it, you might see several level 82 Lesser Demons. Here you will click on the "Odd looking wall." Go past the Lesser Demons and level 45 Skeletons, as well as the level 22 skeletons guarding a rope. Go up it and you will be on Crandor Isle. Go north and you will find two Lesser Demon spawns. Here you can sit forever and kill the Lesser Demons. Bring a fire staff and a few nature runes if you want to cast High Level Alchemy on some of the drops (Rune Medium Helmets and assorted Mithril items). You can also find some lessers inside the dungon but they might be a lot more dangerous to mess around with. You will get great experience and great drops. This is the best high-level free-play training. Can I pick up my arrows? Yes. 7.0 - Members Training
I would recommend you have at least 40 ranged, in order to maximize full advantage over training in members. If not, you could either train at the Gnome Troops South of Ardougne, or use the free-play spots. Levels 40-50
White Wolf Mountain: Mountain Dwarves
 This spot requires the completion of the Fishing Contest quest, and it proves to be a great training spot to about level 50. In fact, this should go very quick, and it should not be too boring, because it provides fast levels. Good experience and quick levels, but there is nothing special about it. You have to wait until 50 for that. Can I pick up my arrows? Yes. Levels 50-70
You have two options here; one is slightly better than the other is, but you may not be able to get there. Ogre Cave
 This is the easier one to get to; north of West Ardougne, under the Chaos Druid Dungeon, are many ogres. You also need level 47 thieving. Great experience and nice prayer experience, because of the Big Bones. Tactic: Stand behind the rocks and range one ogre then collect the arrows and bones and go back behind the rock, as they cant reach you here. Can I pick up my arrows? Yes. King Lathas' Training Ground Ogres
 You must have completed the Plague City and Biohazard quests. Here you will find about nine fast-spawning ogres in a cage. Although a popular training spot, it is great experience even with three or four people there with you. If you want to get to 70 ranged, and want to get some prayer levels in the mean time, this is the best spot. It is worth doing the quest just to gain access. This training area also allows you to pick up your ammo, so there's almost no waste of money, and also great experience! Great experience and great Prayer experience; in each sitting I get a Prayer level and a few Ranged levels. Can I pick up my arrows? Yes, but since it is too much of a hassle going around the gate, it is not recommended. Levels 70-99
Blue Dragons in Taverley Dungeon
 If you want to get from 70-99 ranged, and get tons of prayer levels in the process, this is the spot you will be living at. Many high-leveled players get from 90 to 99 Ranged here, and there is no secret - it is an awesome spot. If you are not collecting hides, you may want to bring a Fire Staff and some nature runes to cast High Level Alchemy on some of the drops (Rune Daggers and assorted Mithril stuff). There are many spots to stand here to not be attacked, but you may still want to bring a shield, just in case you are leaving and do not want to get killed on the way out. You will also need a dusty key to enter the cavern. If you are going to get to 99 Ranged, it will be here. It is better, quicker experience than Black Dragons, but with slightly worse drops. Still, stay at Blue Dragons, because Black Dragons will be time-consuming, and very slow to kill unless you have level 85+ ranged. Awesome experience, awesome prayer experience, and good drops for quick cash. Can I pick up my arrows? Yes Fire Giants
 These Fire Giants are, in most rangers opinions, the best monster to train on at even as low as level 60 ranging, all the way to 99. Not only do they serve as good experience, but the drops are simply fantastic; including half keys, dragon med helms, shield left halves, rune items, fire battlestaffs, and much more! As mentioned above, this place is great experience - one of the best for rangers/magers, not considering the drops. No money wasted here, the rune scimitars and half keys pay for it. Only thing to get started for this is the Waterfall quest, or the ability to access the Brimhaven Dungeon, as there are also plenty of fire giants there too. Can I pick up my arrows? Yes Gu'Tanoth Dungeon
 There are Greater Demons galore here. They can drop level three clue scrolls, which means you could get anything from a handful of runes to a Zamorak Platebody or Robin Hood Hat, or Rune Full Helmets and various other drops. Awesome experience and INCREDIBLE loot make this spot more than worth doing. Do not forget to bring a load of telekinetic grab runes. Worthwhile grabs are: chaos runes, death runes, rune full helms, dragon items, clue scrolls, half keys, and gems. You need to have started and partially completed Watch Tower quest to gain access. Can I pick up my arrows? No Black Demons in Taverley Dungeon/Edgeville Dungeon
 There are about four Black Demons you can Range in Edgeville Dungeon, and approx. 20+ in Taverley Dungeon. There are many pillars you can hide behind while ranging so they cannot hit. When you come it might be a good idea to bring some food just incase, because Black Demons can hit in the 16s if you get too close too them. Black Demons are not great experience, but they do have good drops, similar to Greater Demons, except they do not drop level 3 Clue Scrolls. They drop anything from Herbs to Dragon Left Half Shields; also, they drop Rune Mediums frequently and other Rune items too. Watch out for arrow stealers, as it takes a bit long to kill them unless you have like 85-90+ Ranged. Make sure you bring a Fire Staff and some Nature Runes with you for High Alchemy. Not amazing Ranged exp, but good drops and a small chance of getting Dragon items, nothing except a Dusty Key is required to get to them. Can I pick up my arrows? Yes Elves in Tirannwn
 To be able to reach these, you must have started the Regicide Quest and gone through the The Underground Pass. There are two types of Elves, the Archers with bows (do not try to Range them as they will Range you back) and the Warriors with pikes. Since the Warrior's pikes are like a Halberd and can hit up to two spaces in front of them, you must stand behind something by at least one space when you Range them if you do not want them to hit you. Elves are good as they tend not to be too crowded, plus they drop level 3 Clue Scrolls and Half Keys. Ok drops and good exp if you have a high enough Ranged level, you should bring some food because it takes awhile getting used to them and the traps might deal you some damage. Can I pick up my arrows? Yes. Troll General in Troll Stronghold
 It helps if you have the Trollheim Teleport spell to get to these, as it is quite a long walk. You should definitely bring along some Natures and Fires because they drop many things good to High Alchemize, like Steel Plates, Adamant Kites, and almost every type of Warhammer. In addition, the odd Granite Shield makes them great for drops too. Ensure not to attack the one with the sword, as he hits hard and will quickly kill anyone in ranging armor. Drops great items such as a Rune Warhammer, 16 Nature Runes, and a Granite Shield. They are more vulnerable to arrows then you would think, and thus give great Ranged experience, and Prayer experience since they drop Big Bones. Plus they respawn incredibly fast (like 30 seconds) so once you have picked up your arrows and buried the bones there is another one waiting to be killed. Can I pick up my arrows? Yes. TzHaar-Xils and TzHaar-Kets in the TzHaar
 You can kill these at the gold mine, just east of the bank. Shoot an arrow at a monster and trap it behind the rocks. The experience you get here isn't that good, but the drops (obsidian capes and shields) make up for that. When training in The TzHaar, always watch your health. The monsters are not aggressive, but they have a high level and they can hit hard. When ranging here, be sure to take some food, lobsters will do. Don't kill the TzHaar-Xils with obsidian rings, they can reach over the rocks and hit you. Can I pick up my arrows? Yes 7.1 - Red Chinchompas
Your equipment should look like this:
The Inventory
Also a Shark can be replaced by a Holy Wrench to receive more Prayer while drinking a Prayer Potion. If you don't want to waste your money, you'll have to kill them the right way, don't worry it's not hard to learn. You need a lot of monkeys and when you start there are only 3-5, but you can get more of them. After killing the monkeys you will see that they respawn from their own bones every minute. If there are 5 bones on top of each other on 1 square, only 1 monkey will spawn at a time so make sure you spread them around. 8.0 - The Dwarven Cannon
The Dwarf Cannon is one of the most powerful range weapons available. This weapon is also very heavy, so when using it, be sure to bring as few items as possible or you will run out of energy fast. To get this weapon, you have to complete the Dwarf Cannon quest. Once you complete it, you can buy it from Nulodion, for 750,000gp. It is cheaper to buy all the cannon parts from Nulodion, at once instead of buying each part separately. If you buy it separately, you will have to pay 800,000gp. To buy the entire cannon at once talk to Nulodion, instead of trading him and buying it from his shop. It is recommended to buy the cannon from other players, as players sell it for 500,000-600,000 GP per cannon. The cannon uses steel cannonballs that you must make, out of steel bars of course. One steel bar will provide you with four cannonballs. The cannon can hold 30 cannonballs at a time, once they run out, you will get a message, and you will have to put 30 more cannonballs in it. The cannon will also decay eventually, after you use it a lot. Do not worry if it decays, you can get another one from Nulodion free of charge. You can also prevent it from decaying by picking it up and setting it back up when you get a message about it about to decay. High alching cannon parts will get you 112.500 gp. You will not get hitpoint experience when using a cannon. Warning! When carrying cannon parts and a whip, you will lose your whip when you die. The Cannon Parts
9.0 - Quests for Experience
Quests with a choice Experience
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