What's going on guys! My name's Theoatrix, and welcome to my level 1-99 Ranged Guide for OSRS. This guide is ironman friendly, and its suitable for pures as well.
GUIDE OUTLINE
If you would prefer to watch a video version of this guide, you can watch that below. Otherwise you can continue down the page to read the written guide.
Why Train Ranged?
So why should you train your ranged level?
Ranged is one of the Fastest 99's in the game - At high levels you can get XP rates of up to 1M per hour …
On the Fastest Pathway that I’m showing in this article, you can get 99 Ranged in only 22 Hours.
Ranged is also an AFKable 99. On the AFK Pathway that I’m showing, you can get 99 Ranged in 105 hours, with AFK intervals of up to 20 minutes.
A big reason to train Ranged is because of its excellent use in PvM and PvP.
A number of Bosses are weak to Ranged, like Zulrah and Muspah, and all 3 Raids require Ranged.
It's recommended to level up to 80 Ranged before you consider Bossing or Raiding.
Some day, you might consider making a Pure account. Well, Ranged is commonly the main attack style for pures due to its fast attack speed and high accuracy.
8 quests in Old School have a Ranged level requirement. Most of these quests are essential in progressing your account, unlocking new areas and more quests.
You need level 60 Ranged to get the Quest Cape, and you need level 70 Ranged for the Achievement Diary Cape.
How Ranged Works
Now I’m going to go over how Ranged works, starting with your ranged level.
Increasing your Ranged Level increases both your Ranged Accuracy and Max Hit.
With a regular Shortbow and Bronze arrows, at level 1, your max hit is 1, and your accuracy is 50.5%. At 99 Ranged, with the same gear, your max hit is 12, with an accuracy of 95.8%.
Your Ranged Attack Bonus comes from weapons and armour, and increasing your ranged attack bonus increases your Ranged Accuracy.
The Bowfa (Bow of faerdhinen) gives the highest ranged attack bonus out of any weapon, giving +128.
Every piece of Ranged Armour gives a ranged attack bonus, with Masori armour giving the highest in the game.
Your Ranged Strength Bonus mostly comes from ammunition, and some weapons and armour give ranged strength bonus too.
Increasing your ranged strength bonus only increases your ranged max hit.
The highest ranged strength bonus you can get comes from using a Heavy Ballista with Dragon Javelins.
The Necklace of Anguish is a notable item that gives ranged strength bonus,
and the Masori armour set gives a small strength bonus as well.
Most ranged weapons in Old School have 3 Combat Styles.
There's Accurate, which gives a +3 invisible ranged level boost.
There's Rapid, which attacks 1 tick faster.
And there is Longrange, which has an increased attack distance.
For the best XP and DPS, its recommended to always use Rapid.
Chinchompas work a little differently. They have Short, Medium, and Long fuse, which have similar attributes to Accurate Rapid, and Longrange, except they have different accuracy rolls.
Their accuracy is based on how many tiles away the monster is. So, this means you should use Short fuse if you want to save money and get the most out of your Chinchompas. Although Medium fuse is the best XP per hour due to the increased attack speed.
Now I’m going to go over the useful unlocks that will help with your ranged training.
Useful Unlocks
Completing Animal Magnetism rewards the Ava's devices, a cape slot item that automatically picks up ammunition as you shoot it.
This is a must for ranged training - its going to save you millions on your journey to 99.
You can then complete Dragon Slayer 2 to upgrade to the Ava's assembler, which gives extra ranged bonuses.
Starting Monkey Madness 1 and Monkey Madness 2, both unlock chinning training locations. If you're after the fastest experience, you'll need at least one of these to be able to chin effectively. Overall Maniacal Monkeys are better XP per hour, so aim for Monkey Madness 2.
Completing the Dwarf Cannon quest allows you to use the Dwarf Multicannon, which provides the fastest XP rates at a low level. The cannon is also used with Slayer training, another big source of ranged experience.
From the Horror from the Deep quest, you can get the Book of Law, which gives a plus 10 ranged attack bonus. This use useful for pures since it doesn’t have any requirements to wear.
Its highly recommended to use an imbued Archer's ring. You can now imbue items at Soul Wars, the Nightmare Zone, and the PvP arena. I recommend imbuing at the Nightmare Zone (NMZ) since its really AFK, although Soul Wars is a quick way to imbue.
The last useful unlock is Rigour, a prayer unlocked at 77 prayer. To unlock Rigour, you need to read a Dexterous Prayer Scroll, and these currently cost 30 Mil on the Grand Exchange.
Now I’m going to go over the Ranged weapons you should be using. I've picked 5 of the best weapons for each combat bracket.
Ranged Weapons
These are the weapons for the low ranged bracket. At level 1, using a Cannon is the fastest, followed by Iron knives and short bows. At level 20, Mithril Darts are very affordable and effective.
At the mid-level, Chinchompas are going to give you the best XP rates. A Rune crossbow with Broad Bolts is about on par with a Magic short bow with Rune arrows, although Rune arrows are far more expensive than Broad Bolts.
In the higher-level bracket, Black Chinchompas give the highest XP rates. The Corrupted Bowfa (Bow of faerdhinen (c)) is the best to use for regular training, followed by the Toxic Blowpipe. The Venator Bow is another decent option in multicombat areas.
Ranged Armour
From levels 1 to 50, these are the best armour sets that you should be using. Take note that the Green d’hide body requires Dragon Slayer 1 to wear. Pure accounts can only wear the leg slot item, and pures can't wear Snakeskin.
Above level 50, these are the best armour sets to wear. Black d’hide is a cost effective armour option, and Masori is the best in slot. Blessed d’hide gives the same ranged bonuses as black d’hide, but gives a prayer bonus as well.
There are 2 more armour sets you should be aware of.
Void is a great armour set to have; however, its only effective against monsters with a high defence level, so Void is good against bosses. You should aim for Elite Void for the extra ranged damage boost.
The Crystal Armour set, which you can wear after Song of the Elves, is a very effective armour set if you’re using Crystal weaponry. The Crystal Set is better than Masori when using the Bowfa.
As well as your ranged armour, there's some extra items you should aim to have.
In the Head Slot, these are the best items to use.
Masori is best, followed by Armadyl, Blessed Coifs and Karils. The Robin Hood hat is best in slot for pures.
Boot Slot items for ranged are pretty expensive. If you have the defence level, you can wear D’hide boots which are much cheaper than Rangers or Pegasians. Otherwise you can just wear Snakeskin boots.
In the Gloves Slot, at a low level, you should use the best vambraces you can. If you have the Barrows Gloves unlocked, they are better than Black D’hide vambraces. The best in slot are Zaryte Vambraces.
In terms of necklaces, if you have the money you should get a Necklace of Anguish for the extra Ranged Strength bonus. Otherwise, you can use a Fury or Glory, which both give a +10 Ranged Attack bonus.
In the shield slot, the Twisted Buckler is the best in slot, although an Odium Ward or a Book of Law are decent low-priced options.
Pathways to 99
Now lets move into the Pathways to 99.
I'm going to start off by showing some low-level training methods, then I'll show 2 Pathways to 99, the Fastest Experience and an AFK Pathway.
The Fastest XP pathway takes as little as 22 Hours for 99. It costs 112 mil if you use Black Chinchompas, and it costs less than half if you use Grey or Red Chinchompas. The AFK Pathway takes 105 Hours and costs 4 Mil. I recommend following both pathways and switch depending on whether you want to AFK or not.
Low Level Training
At a low ranged level, levelling up is incredibly slow if you attack monsters normally. So, its strongly recommended to complete quests for your early levels.
The Temple of Ikov quest can get you from level 1 straight to 27 ranged.
In the Quest menu, it says you need 40 Ranged to complete Temple of Ikov, but you can bypass this requirement by using Darts or Knives, while having Ice Arrows equipped.
Another quest you can complete from a low level is Horror from the Deep, and this grants 4.6k Ranged XP. It requires 35 Agility, and you'll need a decent magic level to kill the Dagannoth Mother. If you completed the Temple of Ikov first, you'd get to 31 Ranged after Horror from the Deep.
Death to the Dorgeshuun is another quest that gives Ranged XP with low requirements. You need 23 Thieving and Agility, plus the Lost Tribe quest. If you did the previous 2 quests, you'd be at level 32.
If you would prefer to train normally instead of questing at a low level, there's 2 methods, Crabs and Cannoning.
There's 4 Types of Crabs in Old School, and they all have similar bonuses, except Swamp Crabs have a negative ranged defence bonus. This makes them the best for low level ranged training.
Swamp Crabs are found in Morytania. There are a few locations, but on the screen I've marked out the spots with at least 2 crabs.
Alternatively, Sand Crabs are a good option for fresh accounts, and there's many locations to find these. On the screen are some of them.
So the other low level method is Cannoning, and even at level 1 Ranged, you can get over 100k XP per hour, which is very fast. There's a few places you can cannon.
You could go to Ogres near Castle Wars, or there’s Caged Ogres available after the Biohazard quest. Or you could go to Rock Crabs with your cannon, or Dagannoths in the Lighthouse which are one of the fastest cannon spots in the game.
If you want to save some money while you cannon, there are a few cost effective cannon locations.
You can cannon Ice Trolls for various Rune items and Granite Shields, overall making you break-even. Or you can cannon Scabarites after the Contact quest, and these drop alchables, herbs and seeds.
Fastest Pathway
Now lets get into the fastest pathway to 99.
As mentioned, this pathway takes 22 Hours and costs around 112 Mil. So, you start off cannoning from a low level, then you'll be chinning all the way to 99 at high XP rates. You can choose to use Grey or Red Chinchompas all the way to 99 for slower XP rates, but at a far lower cost.
So, at level 1, you'll want to complete the Dwarf Cannon quest, which has no requirements. Then get your hands on a cannon from the Grand Exchange, and some cannonballs.
To get from level 1 to 45, you'll need around 2000 Cannonballs. You should cannon at one of the locations I mentioned in the low-level training section
Something to keep in mind while using a cannon, is that your cannons accuracy is based off the attack bonus of your current attack style. So, it’s best to wear your best gear and weapon when using a cannon.
At 45 ranged, you can wear Grey Chinchompas, which are the fastest method until Red Chinchompas and Black Chinchompas.
There are 2 places I suggest chinning at. The first is the Monkey Madness 1 tunnels, where there are Skeletal Monkeys. And the other is the monkey madness 2 tunnels, where you can find Maniacal Monkeys. Both caves require you to almost complete the Monkey Madness quests to access them.
These are the XP rates you can expect. At a low level with Grey Chins, you’re going to see XP rates of around 250k per hour, which is really fast.
At high ranged levels and with Black Chinchompas, you can reach over 1 mil XP per hour. It’s important to keep in mind that the Monkey Madness 2 tunnels are faster XP per hour since there’s a lot more monkeys there. So, if you’re chinning in the Monkey Madness 1 tunnels, you might need more chins than the amounts shown on the screen.
Grey Chinchompas are the most cost effective but give the slowest XP rates. although if you want to train at a lower cost, you’ll still level up really fast with Grey Chins.
Overall, if you went from Grey Chins to Red, to Black, its going to cost 112 Mil, but will only take 21 Hours from 45 to 99.
In terms of armour, these are the best setups to use. It's important to prioritize ranged strength bonus as well as prayer bonus, although having a high ranged attack bonus does help. This makes Elite Void the best setup to use, followed by Masori and Armadyl. At low levels, just use the best Dragonhide you can, as well as Monk Robes or God Vestment Robes for prayer bonus.
This is what you should bring in your inventory. It varies depending on whether you go to the Monkey Madness 1 tunnels or Monkey Madness 2. In the Monkey Madness 2 tunnels, you don’t need to bring many Prayer Potions with you since the monkeys drop Prayer Potions, and you can use the Bonecrusher. You shouldn’t use the Bonecrusher in the Monkey Madness 1 tunnels because the Skeletal Monkeys spawn from bones that are left on the ground. You should also bring Divine Ranging potions for the best XP rates, and you'll also need a light source for the Monkey Madness 2 tunnels.
This is how you navigate the Monkey Madness 1 tunnels. You start by using the Ape Atoll Teleport Spell, or you can use the tablet available off the Grand Exchange. It teleports you right inside the tunnels, close to where you’ll be chinning.
So, from the teleport location, you follow the tunnels for about 1 minute, until you reach an opening with Skeletal Monkeys. Walk around to get the monkeys aggressive to you, but avoid the spike traps on the floor.
Then, once they’re aggressive, stand on this tile. Here, you’ll avoid damage from the falling rocks in the cave. To stack up the monkeys, you can run between these two tiles.
After some time, the monkeys lose aggression. To reset, you can run back the way you came and then return.
For the Monkey Madness 2 tunnels, you should start by teleporting with your Royal Seed Pod, then head up to the gnome glider on the top floor.
From here, take the glider to Ape Atoll (Ookookolly Undri).
Then you head South into the trapdoor in the grass.
head South, then East, and here you follow the path you took during Monkey Madness 2, until you reach the green circle.
Here, you enter another cave, then you run East, all the way to the open area with a lot of monkeys.
Then, you run to a corner of the room, and to stack up the monkeys you run back and forth around a corner. Once they're stacked, you can start chinning.
After some time, the monkeys will stop being aggressive. To reset, just run back towards where you entered the cave, then run back.
AFK Pathway
Now let’s get into the AFK pathway.
On this pathway, you’ll start off training at crabs, then at a higher level you’ll move to the Nightmare Zone. At level 80, the Venator Bow becomes the fastest AFK training method.
So, from level 1 to 70, or from level 1 to 99 if you’re a pure, the best way to AFK is at crabs.
You can AFK for 10 minutes at all types of crabs. If you want to learn more, skip back to the low-level training section of this guide.
If you find that those standard crab locations are too busy, you can complete the Depths of Despair Quest to access the crabs in the Crabclaw Caves.
Or, you could pay 10K to go to Crabclaw Isle, which is usually less populated.
It’s going to take approximately 25 Hours to get from 1 to 70..
I strongly suggest having Ava’s Device if you’re planning to AFK at crabs since it allows you to use better ammo without losing much money.
At level 70 Ranged, you should head to the Nightmare Zone.
Here you'll get better XP rates, and if you start at 1 Hitpoint, and drink a lot of Absorption Potions, you’re able to AFK for 20 minutes before you stop attacking.
When training ranged in the Nightmare Zone, you should set the monsters to Normal Mode, not hard, since the hard monsters have a high ranged defence.
On the screen I’m showing the recommended quests and subsequent bosses for training ranged in the Nightmare Zone. You need at least 5 of these to be able to start a dream.
For the most AFK experience, you’ll need a Rock Cake or a Locator Orb, which are obtained from freeing the Mountain Dwarf and Dragon Slayer 2.
Additionally, you’ll need Absorption Potions and Super Ranging Potions, which are rewards from the Nightmare Zone.
So if its your first time in the Nightmare Zone and you don’t have any reward points, you should select bosses that use melee and use Protect from Melee until you have enough points for Absorption Potions.
At level 80 Ranged, you can wear the Venator Bow. This currently costs 44 mil on the Grand Exchange, and its charged with Ancient Essence which are only 66 coins each.
When charged, the bow attacks up to 3 monsters at once. In dense multicombat areas, this lets you AFK for up to 20 minutes at a time.
There's a few notable places to use the Venator Bow. The Catacombs of Kourend contains a lot of monsters in a multi-combat area. Monsters like Bloodvelds, Abyssal Demons and Dust Devils and all be AFKed.
However, the Nightmare Zone provides the highest XP rates with the Venator Bow since you can use Super Ranging Potions.
Next I’m going to briefly cover Ranged training with Slayer.
Ranged Slayer
As I just mentioned, the Venator Bow can be used on monsters within the Catacombs of Kourend for AFK experience. And a lot of those monsters are assigned as Slayer Tasks.
But with slayer, I suggest using Melee as your main attack style. If you trained from level 1 to 99 Slayer, cannoning as many tasks as possible, while using melee as your main attack style, you'd reach around level 90 Ranged.
So if you plan on going for 99 Slayer one day, you should do Slayer before Ranged, otherwise you'll end up with a lot of excess ranged XP.
Bossing With Ranged
Now lets talk about bossing
Ranged is commonly used with bossing due to its high accuracy and damage. With at least level 61 Ranged for the Rune Crossbow, you might consider defeating Jad for the Fire Cape.
Also with the Rune Crossbow, you can defeat the King Black Dragon, which can drop a Dragon pickaxe, a Visage or a Pet.
With a recommended Ranged level of 85, you can defeat Zulrah, Vorkath, and Muspah, all highly profitable bosses with pet drops.
At an even high ranged level, you can start raiding, which brings in the most profit in the game.
F2P Methods
Now to finish off the guide, I’m going to go over some free to play training tips.
As you level up, you should use the best bow you can until the Maple Shortbow.
In free to play, the best weapon you can use is a Maple Shortbow with Adamant arrows.
Although Adamant arrows are expensive, so Iron arrows are a cheap option for free to play where you can't get the Ava’s devices.
At a low level, cows and chickens around Lumbridge are low defence targets for ranged training.
At mid to high levels, players can start safe spotting monsters. You can safe-spot Ogress Warriors for profit in the Corsair Cove Dungeon, and to get there, you need to start the Corsair Curse quest.
Moss Giants can be safe spotted in Varrock sewers as well, and these aren't really that profitable in free to play but you’ll be able to fight Bryophyta.
For AFK training in free to play, I suggest going to the spiders on the 3rd floor of the Stronghold of Security.
Here you can AFK for 10 minutes before you need to reset, but keep in mind, they do hit quite a bit, so you’ll need some defence levels to train here.
I also recommend wearing Full Rune with your Maple Shortbow when training here so that you can AFK the longest without dying.
OSRS Ranged Guide
Thanks for reading my 1 – 99 Ranged Guide. I hope you learned something helpful today and enjoyed. If you have any questions or just want to chat to me, you can join the Theoatrix friend chat in game. As always, thanks for reading this article, and have a nice day!