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Reviewed by Benjamin Barr
Ah, the bow and arrow. An elegant weapon for a more civilized age.
The Ranged skill inOldSchool RuneScapeis a fundamental part of the combat triangle. It’s a powerful skill often overshadowed by the showy excess of a massive two-handed sword or flashy spells. But as a Ranged combat master in OSRS, you can fell your enemies before they even wind up their first attack.
Wondering where to get started? This Ranged training guide for OSRS F2P is designed to get you slinging arrows and grinding levels from 1 to 99.
OSRS F2P Ranged Guide: Getting Started
There aren’t any F2P quests offering Ranged experience. You’re going to own this climb from top to bottom. And you have a lot of flexibility in how you choose to go about it.
First, you’ll need a bow. Your bow of choice will change as your mastery of the skill grows. But since you’re looking for fast and efficient XP, you’ll want to stick withshortbows. Whilelongbowscan fire further, it fires slower in turn — and that’s no good for rushing straight to level 99. Note that both the shortbow and longbow from each wood type have the same Ranged level requirement and attack bonus.
The freetraining bowandtraining arrowsprovided by the Ranged combat tutor in Lumbridge are also an option when starting from the bottom. They share stats with the regularshortbowandbronze arrows, respectively. Note that training arrows can only be used with the training bow, and you can only obtain 25 every half an hour.
OSRS Bows for F2P Ranged Training
| Bow Type | Ranged Bonus | Ranged Requirement |
|---|---|---|
| Normal | +8 | 1 |
| Crossbow (Bolts Only) | +6 | 1 |
| Oak | +14 | 5 |
| Willow | +20 | 20 |
| Maple | +29 | 30 |
Note the crossbow. While this is primarily an OSRS F2P Ranged 2h guide, the crossbow is one of two options (the other being thequest-specificPhoenix crossbow) for F2P players to use in one hand. However, since you’re only able to use bronze bolts in F2P, it’s not ideal for training.
Naturally, a good bow needs a full quiver of arrows to be effective. These will be the biggest cost sink for any aspiring Ranged master. But arrow choice is one part that offers flexibility in approach. Lower tier arrows have lower damage potential, but the highest tier can be fairly costly per shot. However, the higher tier arrows also have a lower chance to “break” and become irretrievable after firing.
As with all items, arrows are likely cheaper to buy from the Grand Exchange. The prices listed here are store prices.
OSRS Arrows for F2P Ranged Training
| Arrow Type | Ranged Bonus | Ranged Requirement | Bow Requirement | Price |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bronze | +7 | 1 | All | 1gp |
| Bronze Bolts | +10 | 1 | Crossbow | 1gp |
| Iron | +10 | 1 | All | 3gp |
| Steel | +16 | 5 | Oak+ | 12gp |
| Mithril | +22 | 20 | Willow+ | 32gp |
| Adamant | +31 | 30 | Maple | 80gp |
While the ideal situation for a ranger is never to let an enemy touch you, it’s always best to plan for the worst. In the event you find yourself face-to-face with blade, tooth, or claw, there’s a whole slew of Ranged armor ready to keep your insides where they belong. What follows is the OSRS Range guide for F2P Ranged armor.
OSRS Armor for F2P Ranged Training
It’s generally a good idea to snag the best armor you can wear and afford. Check out the full list of OSRS Ranged armor in the table below.
| Armor Type | Slot | Ranged Bonus | Ranged Req. | Defense Req. |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Leather Cowl | Head | +1 | 1 | 1 |
| Leather Body | Body | +2 | 1 | 1 |
| Leather Chaps | Legs | +4 | 1 | 1 |
| Leather Vambraces | Hands | +4 | 1 | 1 |
| Coif | Head | +2 | 20 | 1 |
| Hardleather Body | Body | +8 | 1 | 10 |
| Studded Body | Body | +8 | 20 | 20 |
| Studded Chaps | Legs | +6 | 20 | 1 |
| Green Dragonhide Body | Body | +15 | 40 | 40 |
| Green Dragonhide Chaps | Body | +8 | 40 | 1 |
| Green Dragonhide Vambraces | Hands | +8 | 40 | 1 |
And then, of course, even a ranger can benefit from a little magical support.
First up is theamulet of accuracy.This piece of jewelryprovides small boosts to attack stats — including Ranged — and is obtained as a reward for completingImp Catcher.
The emeraldamulet of defensegives you moderate defensive bonuses for soaking damage.
But there’s only one amulet to rule them all. The ideal amulet for a F2P ranger is the diamondamulet of power, which offers the best combination of Attack and Defense stat boosts as well as a small Prayer boost to give you that extra edge.
And on the topic of magic, if you have a high enough level for teleport spells, it might be a good idea to have the runes for them on hand. Despite having the best Ranged armor money can buy, rangers are susceptible to taking damage if they don’t keep enemies at arm’s length.
OSRS F2P Ranged Attack Styles
Once you’ve got your gear, it’s important to understand the Ranged attack styles. Like the melee attack styles, they offer invisible boosts and varying attack speeds.
TheAccurateattack style emphasizes putting arrows precisely on target. It’s the standard attack style, offering an invisible boost of three levels to your Ranged skill, and grants experience in Ranged and a small amount in Hitpoints.
TheRapidattack style is the preferred attack style for leveling Ranged, as it rains arrows on target as fast as possible. You get a small attack speed boost, though, without the Ranged boost, you are more likely to miss shots. But what’s a few missed arrows when you can send so many downrange in a hurry? It grants experience in Ranged and a small amount in Hitpoints.
TheLongrangeattack style is meant for the Ranger fleeing combat or reaching out to hit something from afar. It increases the maximum attack range by two grid squares and reduces your attack speed slightly from the baseline. You get an invisible boost of three levels to your Defense skill, and it offers split experience between Ranged, Defense, and Hitpoints.
Now for the meat and potatoes of this F2P Ranged Guide for OSRS — the grind.
Beginning The Grind
As you saw from the gear tables, some Ranged gear pieces require Defense to equip. Youcouldtrain that Defense with the Longrange attack style, but you might be better off training some melee combat concurrently with Ranged.
However you choose to go about it, you only need about 40 Defense for the full benefit, and that won’t be more than a handful of hours of dedicated Defense training. This ain’t no OSRS Rangepure guidefor F2P, but you could stick to the Ranged portions of the guide and forgo Defense altogether. The choice is yours.
You’re free to roam the F2P parts of Gielinor as you please, plinking monsters and evildoers with arrows like some misguided Robin Hood who’s likely to keep all the loot for himself. That said, some monsters offer better training XP and loot.
Check out the list below to see where you should focus your efforts as you climb the ladder.
| Monster(s) | Ranged Levels | Location |
|---|---|---|
| Chickens, Cows, Goblins | 1-10 | Lumbridge |
| Monks | 10-20 | Monastery |
| Wizards | 20-25 | Wizard’s Tower |
| Minotaurs, Barbarians | 25-30 | Stronghold of Security, Barbarian Village |
| Dark Wizards | 30-35 | Varrock Stone Circle |
| Guards | 35-40 | Varrock, Falador |
| Hill Giants | 40-45 | Edgeville Dungeon |
| Flesh Crawlers, Zombies | 45-50 | Stronghold of Security |
| Moss Giants | 50-55 | Crandor Isle or Varrock Sewers |
| Giant Spiders | 55-60 | Stronghold of Security |
| Lesser Demons | 60-70 | Karamja Volcano |
| Ankou | 70-80 | Stronghold of Security |
| Ogresses | 80-99 | Corsair Cove Dungeon |
| Greater Demon | 90-99 | Wilderness – Demonic Ruins |
| Giant Spiders | 90-99 | Stronghold of Security |
For the last stretch between 90 to 99, you have three options. Two of them are ideal for AFK training, but one of the AFK options is quite a bit more dangerous than the other.
Ogresses aren’t exactly AFKable, as they can hit hard if you aren’t paying attention. But they offer decent drops — perhaps some of the best F2P drops outside of the Wilderness. If you want to make money and avoid PKers, you’ll want to stay at the Ogresses.
Greater Demons reside deep in the Wilderness, where PKers love to roam. You’ll be able to attack the Greaters safely, so you don’t need to carry a ton of food or other items. This means that dying to a PKer is merely inconvenient, as you won’t (especially with the Protect Item prayer) lose any items in the process. Of course, should you decide to pick up loot, you risk losing it to a PKer. High risk, high potential reward.
The Giant Spiders are the safest AFKable monster for a powerful ranger to complete their mastery of the craft. They don’t drop anything, so instead of the possibility of loot, you trade relative safety from PKers for… well, nothing. But perhaps that’s a trade you’re prepared to make.
Wrapping Up
Welcome to the end of the 1-99 Ranged Guide for OSRS F2P. If you’ve been following along, hopefully by now, you’re a good deal higher in Ranged level than when you started. Maybe sitting all the way at 99. If so, congratulations! Ranged is an incredibly underutilized skill (unless you’re a PK Ranged pure).
We hope you have a better appreciation for this corner of the combat triangle and wish you the very best of RNG in your futureOldSchool RuneScapeendeavors. High Ground Gaming out.
Related Reading
- RuneScape Review
- OSRS F2P Mining Guide
- OSRS F2P Smithing Guide
- OSRS F2P Fishing Guide
- OSRS Birdhouse Run Guide
