Ranged is one of RuneScape's three combat skills. Ranging involves attacking an enemy from a distance using certain objects, such as a bow and arrows.
If you only raise range as your combat stat, then you are called a "ranger". As a ranger, you hide behind objects to avoid damage, which is how the skill got its name.
When you range something, you will throw items at them. However, only sometimes you will get them back. Your weapons will fall underneath the enemy when you've hit them. When the enemy is dead, grab your items. You'll notice that you'll have fewer weapons. This is because only sometimes you get back your items. This causes range to become an expensive skill, as you always have to buy more ammunition.
A bow and arrows is the recommended set for ranging, as they are fast and give good range bonuses. With your bow equipped, click on the icon with the two swords crossing each other. Clicking on this will show that you can attack accurately, rapidly, or longrange.
If you use the accurate or rapid attack styles, receive four ranged exp and 1.33 hit points exp. So say you hit a 10 on your enemy. You will be given 40 ranged exp and about 5 hit points exp. If you use the long range attack style, you will receive two ranged exp, two defense exp points and 1.33 hit points exp.
Many people consider the rapid attack style to be best for training, as using it allows you to shoot fast, thus giving you fast exp.
Also, there are "short bows" and "long bows". Long bows allow you to hit farther and harder, but you shoot arrows slow. Short bows allow you to shoot fast, but not hit as hard nor as far as long bows.
If you want to see your ranged defence and ranged attack, click on the icon with the man standing with his arms outstretched. When you've clicked on this icon, look down and you should see a small black window which you can scroll down on. If you scroll down, you can see your ranged attack and ranged defence.
The higher the ranged attack, the more often you will hit. The higher the ranged defence, the less you will be damaged. To increase these two stats, you need to wield a better bow or armour than you currently have wielded. However, you also need certain ranged levels to wield different bows and armour.
Range bonus
If you click on the menu to the right of the inventory menu, you'll see what you have equipped. If you look at the bottom of this menu, there will a small black box with the words "Attack Bonus" and "Defence Bonus" in yellow, and more words in gray underneath with plus signs and negatives. These are known as "bonuses" and help you fight.
There are two range bonuses, a "range attack bonus" and a "range defence bonus". A range attack bonus affects how often you hit, not how hard you hit. The higher the ranged attack bonus, the more often you'll hit. A range defence bonus affects how often you get hurt. The higher the ranged defence bonus, the less often your opponent will hurt you.
Leather armour
Leather armour is the ranger's armour. If you want to make leather yourself, see the crafting guide.
Leather armour gives good defence against mages, so if you want to fight mages, wear leather armour. However, warriors have an advantage over leather armour, so if you want to fight warriors, do not wear leather armour. Below is a table with info about leather armour.
| Name | Attack Bonus | Defence Bonus | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cow | +1 range | +2 stab, +3 slash, +4 crush, +2 magic, +3 range | |
| Calf | -1 magic, +2 range | +4 stab, +6 slash, +8 crush, +4 magic, +4 range | Can be made by members, see crafting guide how. Level 20 range required to wear. |
| Leather Body | -2 magic, +2 range | +8 stab, +9 slash, +10 crush, +4 magic, +9 range | |
| Hard Leather Body | -4 magic, +8 range | +12 stab, +15 slash, +18 crush, +6 magic, +15 range | Level 10 defence required to wear. |
| Studded Leather Body | -4 magic, +8 range | +18 stab +25 slash, +22 crush, +8 magic, +25 range | Can be made by members, see crafting guide how. Level 20 defence and level 20 range required to wear. |
| Leather Chaps | +4 range | +2 stab +3 slash, +1 crush | |
| Studded Leather Chaps | -5 magic, +6 range | +15 stab, +16 slash, +17 crush, +6 magic, +16 range | Can be made by members, see crafting guide how. Level 20 range required to wear |
| Vambraces | +4 range | +2 stab, +2 slash, +1 crush |
Snakeskin
If you are a member and your crafting level is high enough, you can make snakeskin, or buy it from fellow players. It has better stats than leather, but requires a range and defence level of 30 to wear it. You also need 46 snakeskins for the full set since snakes are very small and don't have much skin on them. Snake skins can be obtained by killing bush snakes in the Tai Bwo Wannai Cleanup minigame.
| Name | Attack Bonus | Defence Bonus | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Snakeskin Body | -5 magic, +12 range | +25 stab, +28 slash, +32 crush, +15 magic, +35 range | Members only. Can be made by members, see crafting guide how. |
| Snakeskin Chaps | -5 magic, +6 range | +8 stab, +8 slash, +10 crush, +4 magic, +10 range | Members only. Can be made by members, see crafting guide how. |
| Snakeskin Vambraces | -5 magic, +6 range | +2 stab, +2 slash, +2 crush, +1 magic | Members only. Can be made by members, see crafting guide how. |
| Snakeskin Bandana | -5 magic, +4 range | +2 stab, +4 slash, +4 crush, +2 magic, +2 range | Members only. Can be made by members, see crafting guide how. |
| Snakeskin Boots | -10 magic, +3 range | +1 stab, +1 slash, +2 crush, +1 magic | Members only. Can be made by members, see crafting guide how. |
Dragonhide
Dragonhide is no doubt the best of all the armour rangers can wear. Members can make dragonhide, see the crafting guide how.
There are four types of dragonhide. There's green dragonhide, blue dragonhide, red dragonhide, and black dragonhide. Free players can only wear green dragonhide. Green dragonhide bodies can be bought from Oziach after finishing Dragon Slayer, and green dragonhide chaps and vambraces can be bought from the Champion's Guild. The other kinds of dragonhide cannot be bought in stores and must be bought from fellow players.
These are the much preferred armours when fighting player mages or NPCs that use magic in some form. Due to its extensive melee bonuses, black dragonhide is often worn by melee fighters since it weighs a lot less than metal armour and provides some defence if the opponent can also use some kind of magic or ranged attack.
Green Dragonhide
| Name | Attack Bonus | Defence Bonus | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Green D'hide Vambraces | -10 magic, +8 range | +3 stab, +2 slash, +4 crush, +2 magic | Level 40 ranged required to wear. Can be bought in Champion's guild. Highest leather free players can wear. Members can also craft this. |
| Green D'hide Chaps | -10 magic, +8 range | +22 stab, +16 slash, +24 crush, +8 magic, +22 range | Level 40 ranged required to wear. Can be bought in Champion's guild. Highest leather free players can wear. Members can also craft this. |
| Green D'hide Body | -15 magic, +15 range | +40 stab, +32 slash, +45 crush, +20 magic, +40 range | Level 40 ranged and defence required to wear. Can be bought in Champion's guild. Highest leather free players can wear. Members can also craft this. |
Blue Dragonhide
| Name | Attack Bonus | Defence Bonus | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Blue D'hide Vambraces | -10 magic, +9 range | +4 stab, +3 slash, +5 crush, +4 magic | Members only. Level 50 ranged required to wear. Can only be bought from fellow players or crafted. |
| Blue D'hide Chaps | -10 magic, +11 range | +25 stab, +19 slash, +27 crush, +14 magic, +25 range | Members only. Level 50 ranged required to wear. Can only be bought from fellow players or crafted.. |
| Blue D'hide Body | -15 magic, +20 range | +45 stab, +37 slash, +50 crush, +30 magic, +45 range | Members only. Level 50 ranged and level 40 defence required to wear. Can only be bought from fellow players or crafted. |
Red Dragonhide
| Name | Attack Bonus | Defence Bonus | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Red D'hide Vambraces | -10 magic, +10 range | +5 stab, +4 slash, +6 crush, +6 magic | Members only. Level 60 ranged required to wear. Can only be bought from fellow players or crafted. |
| Red D'hide Chaps | -10 magic, +14 range | +28 stab, +22 slash, +30 crush, +20 magic, +28 range | Members only. Level 60 ranged required to wear. Can only be bought from fellow players or crafted. |
| Red D'hide Body | -15 magic, +25 range | +50 stab, +42 slash, +55 crush, +40 magic, +50 range | Members only. Level 60 ranged and level 40 defence required to wear. Can only be bought from fellow players or crafted. |
Black Dragonhide
| Name | Attack Bonus | Defence Bonus | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Black D'hide Vambraces | -10 magic, +11 range | +6 stab, +5 slash, +7 crush, +8 magic | Members only. Level 70 ranged required to wear. Can only be bought from fellow players or crafted. |
| Black D'hide Chaps | -10 magic, +17 range | +31 stab, +25 slash, +33 crush, +26 magic, +31 range | Members only. Level 70 ranged required to wear. Can only be bought from fellow players or crafted. |
| Black D'hide Body | -15 magic, +30 range | +55 stab, +47 slash, +60 crush, +50 magic, +55 range | Members only. Level 70 ranged and level 40 defence required to wear. Can only be bought from fellow players or crafted. |
PKing
PKing means "Player Killing", which is what the wilderness (also known as the wildy) is for. In the wilderness, there are "levels". For example, in wilderness level 1, you can only attack people who are either 1 level above or below your level, or have the same level as you.
In the wilderness, rangers have the advantage over mages (people who raise magic). Their arrows do good damage against them, as their range defence bonus is weak, and since your leather or dragonhide has good magic defence bonus, they won't hurt you much. However, warriors can do good damage against you, as leather and dragonhide has weak melee defence stats (stab, slash, and crush).
- In the wilderness, here are some good tactics.
- Bring a longbow and a shortbow. When fighting a person up close, use the short bow to hit fast. If they run, use a long bow to hit far.
- Use obstacles to your advantage. For example, if there is a rock nearby, try to have you on side of it and the opponent on the other side.
- Bring lots of good food to survive longer.
- If you've raised your combat stats, magic, and range, then you can be quite a formidable opponent in the wilderness. Up close, use melee, or a short bow. When they run, snare them (members only, level 50 magic required) or, if your magic level is high enough and you've completed the quest Desert Treasure, then use Ancient Magicks (see magic guide) and freeze them and hit them hard. Using all three combat styles will make you a very hard opponent.
Training
Free to play training
If you are a free player, then here are some good places to raise your range level.
- Levels 1 to 30
Range chickens. Lumbridge has two good spots, as well as the farm north of Port Sarim. This is a very good way to train range to level 30.
- Levels 30 to 60
Range the guards in and outside Varrock Castle.
- levels 50 to 60
In the stronghold of security on the third level there is a safe spot by level 68 cateblons (or something like that) there is a path in the area and you can stand between the wall and the dripping tenticools and range them. Their weakness is range so you’ll hit your max a lot and these can be good up until level 70 range!
- Levels 50 to 60
Range the hobgoblins near the Crafting Guild. You can range across the water from where the cows are, but you'll lose arrows this way as it takes awhile to run on the other side.
- Levels 50 to 60
Range the White Knights in White Knights' Castle.
- Levels 50 to 99
Range Moss Giants in Varrock's sewers or on Crandor. In the sewers, you can hide behind the rocks. There are also spots you can hide behind on Crandor. However, often crowded at peak times, when more than 150,000 people are on.
- Levels 60 to 99
Range Lesser Demons inside Karmaja's volcano. You can also range the ones on Crandor, there are many hiding spots you can use both inside and outside. However, often crowded at peak times, when more than 150,000 people are on.
- Levels 60 to 99
Range Ice Giants in the dungeon underneath Thurgo's house, south of Port Sarim. You can hide behind the stalactites and range them. However, often crowded at peak times, when more than 150,000 people are on.
- Levels 60 to 99
Range Black Knights in Black Knights' Fortress.
Pay to play training
- Levels 1 to 30
Gnomes at the Khazard Battlefield. There are plenty of gnomes to range and plenty of places to do it from. You can pick up your arrows as well. However the gnomes can be spread out in places.
- Levels 30 to 50
Mountain Dwarves under White Wolf Mountain. Lots of dwarves here and it's easy to take cover behind the tables.
- Levels 50 to 70
Ogres in The King Lathas training ground. There are several caged ogres here, and there's a door if you want to pick up your arrows. There is a ranged shop in the training ground as well that sells bronze arrows. Can get crowded at times. You have to complete the Biohazard before you can access it.
- Levels 60 to 99
Fire giants in the Waterfall. You need to complete the Waterfall quest in order to gain access. Don't forget your Glarial's Amulet and some rope. Plenty of spots for cover, and great drops but can get very crowded. Fire giants are aggressive for a while.
- Levels 60 to 99
Blue Dragons in Taverly dungeon. A few safe spots, popular for their drops of dragon bones and blue dragon hides. Can get crowded, and recovering your loot can be hairy when there are multiple dragons around. Bring a dusty key to gain access or you'll need 70 agility to take the pipe shortcut.
- Levels 70 to 99
Greater Demons in the Ogre Enclave. Four caged demons to shoot at. They drop rune larges and clues so bring telegrab runes. You need to start the Watchtower quest to gain access to this place. You cannot recover your arrows.