Avalon512's Ultimate Guide to F2P Ranged

To start off, Ranged is probably my favorite combat skill. I love how it has no max hit limit, like magic, but can be just as powerful at higher levels. I also like how you can attack from a distance, obviously like magic, but you can also choose what kind of attack you want to get XP in different skills, like melee.

To start off, I'll do the bows.

Bow:	Normal	Oak	Willow	Willow Comp	Maple
Level to Wield:	1	5	20	20	30

All F2P bows are very cheap. Most don't even go over 600 each. It's the arrows that will cost you. Here's a chart:

Arrow:	Level to Use:
Bronze	1
Iron	1
Steel	5
Mithril	20
Adamant	30
Rune	40

Rune arrows can cost up to 400 each, but any poisoned version of an arrow (P, P+ or P++) can cost a lot more! Rune arrows (P++) are currently costing 1.4k each. Pretty steep for a little arrow.
More coming soon!

Where to train this time!
To start off with, go to the Grand Exchange and purchase every type of bow up to maple. It probably won't cost you any more than around 2k. Use some more money to buy TONS of bronze arrows, maybe 10k of them or so, so you don't have to pick them up. Trust me, picking up arrows after every skill is not fun. You should also buy a full set of basic leather armor, including vambraces, chaps (studded ones if you have 20 Defense), a cowl, a coif, and a body (hardleather if you have 10 Defense, that plus a studded one if you have 20). You can also buy a green d-hide set if you have the cash to do so, but sell back the body if you haven't completed Dragon Slayer or if you don't want to get 40 Defense. Now, for training spots.

Levels 1-5:
Train on chickens in some sort of Lumbridge chicken field. The Champion's Guild is also cool because there's a range in the actual guild, plus a store upstairs that you can sell the chickens to when you get a full inventory, so it's semi-useful for training Cooking. But, back to ranged! When you hit 5 Ranged, go grab your oak bow.
Enemy HP: 3 (12 XP a kill)
Safe spots: None, but chickens never hit anything on you (literally).

Levels 5-20:
It's hamburger time! Head over to the Lumbridge cow field and ranged these beefy animals. If you have run energy to spare, you can bank the hides for some extra cash. This place will often be crowded, so try to find a low-populated world to train here. When you hit 20, grab your willow bow, studded chaps, coif and studded body (if you have 20 Defense).
Enemy HP: 8 (32 XP a kill)
Safe spots: Behind the fence, over the rocky area in the middle.

Levels 20-40:
Go to the rim of the mining pit north of Al-Kharid and power range the scorpions from above. No food needed. Use bronze arrows to minimize the loss of money.
Enemy HP: 17 (68 XP/kill)
Safe spots: On mine rim

Levels 40-50:
Back to the stonghold! Head South completely on the first level, then go east until you hit a small room with level 27 Minotaurs. These will drop iron arrows a lot, with drops of up to 15 at a time. If you're using irons, you can easily gain arrows training here for a long enough time.
Enemy HP: 22 (88 XP a kill)
Safe spots: Rock ridge in the center.

Levels 50-60:
If you've done Dragon Slayer, take a charter to Karamja and head to Crandor. You can range the moss giants on the east side of the mountain with lots of safe spots.
Enemy HP: 60 (240 HP/kill)
Safe spots: Behind coal and adamant rocks, between walls and behind trees.

This installment will have some pictures (courtesy of JaGeX and myself) relating to Ranged, because I've realized that a pretty guide is a good guide. Mine is not pretty.

Dueling

If you plan on dueling using ranged, here is the equipment you'll want.
- Green dragonhide body, chaps and vambraces (not the coif)
- Rune full helm
- Amulet of power
- If you have 21 Magic and you are going up against a melee attacker, the runes to cast Bind, Snare, Entangle, etc. depending on your Magic level.
- You get your arrows back, so mithril would be a good choice, but if you can afford adamant ones, that's even better.

You'll want the rune full helm because it offers a higher level of melee & ranged protection without decreasing your ranged attack bonuys too heavily. Of course, if you're up against a mage, take it off and wear a coif (either normal or green dhide). You'll also want to use the attack style Rapid because it's fastest and will still hit high enough to get the job done.



Like all forms of dueling, you should go on a dueling or staking world if possible and attempt to find someone who you can stake with over and over and over again. Make it someone, if possible, that is higher level so that they might be frustrated when you beat them. You can increase the stake gradually while fighting them, maybe by 500 GP each time or so. Start off at 3k/duel. It's not much money at all, and if you lose, who cares about 3k?



Level 51-60:
Hill Giants are great at this level, especially if you want to train Prayer. Head to the southwest corner of the Edgeville Dungeon cave. There's two close by respawns at this location of the giants, plus a respawn on four normal bones at a time. It's a good spot because you can kill the giant, pick up the big bones, and run around and get the other bones. That's 33 Prayer XP a kill, which is a nice amount.
Enemy HP: 32 (128 XP a kill)
Safe spots: Behind the skeletons to the east.

61-70 & 71-80 next time, plus dueling strategies.