Ironman Guide/Ranged

Ironman Guide

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The ranged skill is mostly trained by ironmen as normal, however an emphasis is placed on affordable and easily obtainable ammunition, particularly in the early-game. Notably, many ironmen do not employ the dwarf multicannon, a common training method for normal players.

Early training: Quests

Main article: Quest experience rewards § Ranged

Many ironmen choose to use the 10,000 combat experience reward from Shadow of the Storm to skip the early ranged levels, getting to level 27, since there are few quests that reward early experience. Completing Shadow of the Storm, Death to the Dorgeshuun and Horror from the Deep will grant 16,663 experience, enough to elevate a level 1 Ranged to 32 without any actual training. A few of the more attainable quests are

• Death to the Dorgeshuun requires The Lost Tribe, 23 , 23 , rewards 2,000xp
• Horror from the Deep requires 35 , rewards 4,663xp
• Heroes' Quest requires 55 , 53 , 53 , 25 , 50 and a number of quests, rewards 2,075xp

Once the initial levels are out of the way, there are a few more quests that reward range experience:

• Temple of Ikov requires 40 , 42 , rewards 10,500xp
• Zogre Flesh Eaters requires Big Chompy Bird Hunting, Jungle Potion, 30 , 4 , 8 , rewards 2,000xp

At 30 Ranged, players can complete Animal Magnetism, which allows access to Ava's devices, a nearly necessary item for training the skill.

Fastest experience

Levels 28-45: Dorgeshuun crossbow

The Dorgeshuun bone crossbow

After the completion of The Lost Tribe, players can purchase the Dorgeshuun crossbow and bone bolts from Nardok's Bone Weapons in the Dorgesh-Kaan mine. The Dorgeshuun crossbow is an ideal early-game ranged weapon for ironman players, due to its low requirements, and the affordability of bone bolts.

Players should train low-level Slayer and do Pest Control (for Void Knight equipment) with the Dorgeshuun crossbow for early experience. Alternatively, players can kill Ammonite Crabs as they offer fairly fast experience and require very little attention.

Recommended weapons for Ammonite Crabs, in order of damage output:

• Any darts
• Rune crossbow with broad bolts
• Magic shortbow with broad arrows
• Dorgeshuun crossbow with bone bolts

Level 55+: Chinchompas

The entrance to Kruk's dungeon.

From level 55 onwards, the best way of gaining Ranged experience is to hunt carnivorous chinchompas and throw them at maniacal monkeys in Kruk's Dungeon on Ape Atoll. It is strongly recommended to unlock the Gwenith Hunter area (requires completion of Song of the Elves) or the red chinchompa hunting ground (requires completion of the hard tasks in the Western Provinces Diary) as soon as possible, as hunting carnivorous chinchompas in other areas is a lot slower and they are usually crowded. Players can also hunt black chinchompas for faster experience, however without high stats and good defensive equipment players are very vulnerable to player killers. Alternatively, players can keep training on Ammonite Crabs, but this is a lot slower than hunting and throwing chinchompas.

Once a high Ranged level is attained, players can gain the remaining experience from killing certain bosses and demi-bosses, such as lizardman shamans, demonic gorillas, Zulrah and Alchemical Hydra.

Level 55+: Slayer bosses

See also: Ironman Guide/Slayer

Ranging Slayer tasks is generally not recommended at higher levels, except when killing certain bosses and demi-bosses. Toxic blowpipe is the only viable option for general Slayer training in terms of damage output, but it is faster overall to use Melee than use a toxic blowpipe and kill Zulrah for the Zulrah's scales.

Other methods

Levels 40-70: Cannons

After the completion of the Dwarf Cannon quest, players can use dwarf multicannons to train. The price of the cannon, and the time required to smith cannonballs for it make this training method hard to justify for most ironmen.

However, it can be decent in some situations since its damage output is high compared to a low ranged level. It would take roughly 35k cannonballs to get from 40-70 ranged.

Level 55+: Nightmare Zone

Main article: Nightmare Zone

The Nightmare Zone can be a good source of idle ranged experience starting at level 55.

Obtaining Ranged equipment

For weapons:

• Low-level thrown weapons, such as iron knives or iron darts, are a good source of early Ranged experience when used on low-defence monsters. These weapons can be made from bars obtained while training Smithing.
• The Dorgeshuun crossbow, or bone crossbow, offers good accuracy and damage considering its low requirements to obtain and use. Furthermore, bone bolts are very affordable.
• The magic shortbow is available from spiritual rangers (63 Slayer) and from hard clue scrolls. For ammunition, rune arrows can be purchased from the Ranging Guild or obtained over time from various monster drops. Broad arrows are also a good alternative, after unlocking the ability to fletch broad ammunition. Furthermore, the bow can be upgraded to a magic shortbow (i) with a magic shortbow scroll obtained from the Last Man Standing minigame.
• The rune crossbow paired with broad bolts is a staple weapon for ironmen, due to its high accuracy, high damage, the availability of its ammunition, and its ability to be used with a shield. The crossbow can also fire ruby bolts (e) and diamond bolts (e), making it suitable for killing certain high-level boss monsters. Crafting the crossbow from scratch requires 91 Smithing, so two methods are commonly used to obtain the crossbow early:
  • The complete crossbow is dropped by the crazy archaeologist. Because this monster is in the Wilderness, hardcore ironmen are advised to be extremely cautious if pursuing this method.
  • Runite limbs are dropped by several monsters, notably iron dragons and steel dragons. The unstrung crossbow is also dropped by Skeletal Wyverns (72 Slayer). Either way, only 69 Fletching (boostable) is required to finish the crossbow with a yew stock and/or crossbow string.
• Karil's crossbow offers higher damage per second than a rune crossbow with broad bolts. However, it must be obtained as a rare drop from the Barrows minigame. Additionally, it can only fire bolt racks, which are obtained randomly from Barrows or purchased from Ak-Haranu.
• Endgame ranged weapons include the toxic blowpipe from Zulrah, the dragon hunter crossbow and twisted bow from Chambers of Xeric, and the Armadyl crossbow from Commander Zilyana.

For armour:

• Complete Animal Magnetism to unlock Ava's attractor, significantly extending the lifespan of most ammunition. Later, upgrade it to Ava's accumulator and Ava's assembler.
• Void Knight equipment is excellent against low-defence monsters, due to its damage-boosting set effect. Depending on the situation, a salve amulet (e), black mask (i), or slayer helm (i) may offer better damage. After completing the hard Western Provinces diary, upgrade it to elite Void Knight equipment.
• Green dragonhide armour can be purchased from various shops. Note that completion of Dragon Slayer I is required to use the green d'hide body.
• Blue and red dragonhide armour sets offer incremental upgrades from green. The most reliable way to obtain them is to kill their dragons and craft the dragonhide drops.
• Black dragonhide armour offers the same Ranged attack bonus as Karil's armour, albeit with a lower Magic defence bonus. Though 84 Crafting (boostable) is required to craft the black d'hide body, the body and chaps can also be obtained somewhat reliably from hard clue scrolls. Blessed dragonhide armour, also available from hard clue scrolls, offers the same bonuses as black dragonhide, as well as a prayer bonus. For all tiers of dragonhide armour, Barrows gloves offer superior bonuses compared to the vambraces.
• Complete medium clue scrolls to get ranger boots. Later, kill Cerberus for a pegasian crystal to upgrade them to pegasian boots.
• Dagannoth Supreme drops the archers ring, which can then be upgraded through the Nightmare Zone minigame.
• For amulets, the amulet of power is available early from the H.A.M. storeroom. After training Crafting, the amulet of glory and amulet of fury offer superior ranged bonuses. The best ranged neck-slot item is the necklace of anguish, made from a zenyte shard obtained from demonic gorillas.
• Endgame ranged armour includes Armadyl armour from Kree'arra.