Runescape 3 Ranged is one of the original combat skills in the game, alongside melee and magic. Runescape 3’s main focus is PvM and to have a good time in the game, one must know the most optimal ways of using each combat style. During your play of RS 3 you will encounter a lot of situations where you will have to use Ranged as your combat style. Since Runescape 3 is a really old and bloated game, it can get confusing to learn what you actually need to do. In this guide we will go over all the things you need to know about Ranged and give you lists that you can follow depending on where your account stands!
Ranged Weapons & Perks
In Ranged your weapons of choice will fall under two categories:
Two handed weapons, just like in melee will deal more damage and will be slower than the main/off hand weapons. However there are different, more complex factors that play a part in this as well. Some creatures will be only weak to bolts, meaning you would want to use crossbows, some will be weak to arrows, some will be weak to straight up ranged. In some scenarios a two-handed weapon might be more effective than a dual-wield one. You must decide what you need to bring, depending on the activity you want to accomplish. Also two-handed bows are much more effective in most scenarios and cost a lot more gold to get, so if you don’t have a lot of money to buy high tier bows, dual wielding is the way to go. Depending on what you use, you will also be able to utilise different abilities, that’s why high-end PVMers bring switches so they can utilise both the two-handed and the dual-wield threshold and ultimate abilities.
Recommendations:
For two handed, Hexhunter bow/Noxious longbow → Seren godbow → Bow of the last Guardian.
For dual-wield: Shadow glaive → Ascension crossbow → Blightbound crossbow
Two-Handed
Tier | Weapon | Cost | Notes |
70 | Crystal bow | 331K | Requires level 50 Agility. Requires the completion of the quest “Roving Elves”. Does not require ammunition.
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80 | Zaryte bow | 8.7M | |
80 | Royal crossbow | 352K | Requires the completion of the “Song from the Depths” quest. Requires level 70 Smithing and level 60 Summoning. Untradable and made by combining a coral crossbow with 4 crossbow parts. After combining you must let it bathe in the fires of queen black dragon.
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80 | Hexhunter bow | 278M | Damage boosting effect of the bow can be further upgraded by imbuing the bow with the enchantment of dispelling. This further increases the effect by 5%. Against magic class targets, this bow effectively has a tier 97 damage and tier 94 accuracy.
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85 | Wyvern crossbow | 29M | |
87 | Upgraded poison blowpipe | 2M | Has a passive effect that poison the target. The weapon halves the poison damage but doubles how often it hits. Has tier 90 accuracy and 85 damage, hence it becomes a tier 87 weapon.
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87 | Decimation | 6M | Does not need ammunition. Has a special attack that costs 50% adrenaline and makes all of your attacks, area-of-effect attacks for 10 seconds. The area consists of 3 tiles of your main target.
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90 | Noxious longbow | 282M | Cheapest alternative to the high tier bows. Has a special attack that consumes 100% of your adrenaline and summoıns a mirror back spider. This spider lowers and reflects damage by 50% for 10 seconds. It has a cap of 10K life points worth of damage.
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92 | Seren godbow | 1.2B | This weapon also does not require any ammunition. It has a special attack that costs 30% adrenaline. It launches 5 arrows into the air, all 5 arrows deal damage to your target and it deals more damage against larger targets. This has a 30 second cooldown.
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92 | Eldritch crossbow | 786M | |
95 | Bow of the last guardian | 2.6B | For each hit that you deal to a target, gain a perfect equilibrium stack. Once you reach 8 stacks, a single attack is launched that depletes all 8 stacks. Damage dealt is the sum of 8%-14% ability damage and 35%-60% of the attack that triggered this damage. This attack can critically hit and can apply arrow effects. If you use the weapons special attack, the number of stacks required for this is lowered to 4.
The number of stacks needed to trigger the passive effect mentioned above is lowered to 4 for 30 seconds. Launches an attack that deals 175%-375% ability damage. You can trigger the passive alongside this attack if you have 3 or more stacks built up already.
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Main-Hand
Tier | Weapon | Cost | Notes |
70 | Karil’s pistol crossbow | 1M | |
75 | Armadyl crossbow | 3.8M | |
80 | Chaotic crossbow | 200K Dungeoneering tokens | |
85 | Shadow glaive | 8.7M | |
90 | Ascension crossbow | 44.8M | - |
92 | Blightbound crossbow | 136M | |
Off-Hand
Tier | Weapon | Cost | Notes |
70 | Karil’s off-hand pistol crossbow | 1M | |
75 | Off-hand Armadyl crossbow | 3M | |
80 | Off-hand Chaotic crossbow | 100K Dungeoneering tokens | |
85 | Off-hand Shadow glaive | 10.6M | Has tier 90 accuracy and tier 80 damage. Does not require ammunition. Does not affect ability accuracy. This is pretty much the same as the off-hand chaotic crossbow.
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90 | Off-hand Ascension crossbow | 45M | - |
92 | Off-hand Blightbound crossbow | 171M | |
Ammunition
Arrows
Tier | Arrow | Cost | Notes |
70 | Dark arrow | 59 GP | |
90 | Araxyte arrow | 180 GP | |
92 | Black stone arrows | 4K | |
95 | Deathspore arrows | 615 GP | |
95 | Splintering arrows | 394 GP | |
95 | Wen arrow | 1.4K | Deals 912 damage. All your basic abilities will grant you a stack of Icy chill. You can get a max stack of 15. Threshold, special and ultimate abilities will consume all these stacks and grant you 3% base damage and hit chance per stack.
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95 | Ful arrow | 1.4K | |
95 | Bik arrow | 1.3K | Deals 912 damage. All your abilities have a 33% chance to consume an arrow. All your abilities have a chance to apply a stack of toxin, max 200 stacks. Each stack will increase the poison damage the target takes by 2%.
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95 | Jas dragonbane arrow | 1.6K | |
95 | Jas demonbane arrow | 3.1K | |
Bolts
Tier | Bolt | Cost | Notes |
80 | Royal bolts | 89 GP | |
90 | Ascension bolts | 3.3K | |
94 | Ascendri bolts | 7.9K | |
94 | Ascendri bolts (e) | 8.3K | |
95 | Emerald bakriminel bolts (e) | 1.3K | |
95 | Ruby bakriminel bolts (e) | 699 GP | |
95 | Diamond bakriminel bolts (e) | 1K | |
95 | Onyx bakriminel bolts (e) | 5.2K | |
95 | Hydrix bakriminel bolts (e) | 6.8K | Deals 912 damage. Requires level 99 Ranged. When the bolts enchant triggers, it grants the player 10% adrenaline and an additional 1% from basic abilities for 15 seconds.
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Invention Perks
Here are the perks that you need to know:
Precise: Your minimum damage is increased by 1.5%, this number goes up with each rank.
Ruthless: Whenever you kill an enemy your damage will increase by 0.5%, this effect stacks up 5 times.
Aftershock: After dealing 50K damage, this perk will deal an additional 40+ ability damage to the area, this damage increases with rank.
Eruptive: This perk increases your ability damage by 0.5%, this number goes up with rank.
Caroming: Increases the target count of AoE abilities by 1 per rank.
Basic Perks
End-Game Perks
Getting the best in slot PvM Ranged weapons and perks in Runescape 3 costs a lot of gold, you can especially get unlucky with the Invention perks and waste millions upon millions on resources. If you want to jump straight into Runescape 3’s end game with the best possible setup consider buying gold on our website here.
Ranged Armours & Perks
There are two types of armour for any given combat style in this game, one is a tank armour which focuses more on the defensive stats and the other is a power armour which has less defence but more offensive stats. Depending on the task at hand you should decide what you need to use. Tank armour will provide a lot of armour rating and in high tier armour sets a lot of extra health as well, whereas the power armour will provide a lot of extra ranged strength, which will allow you to deal a lot more damage. Generally speaking you should always prefer power armour over tank armour, to increase your DPS.
Tier | Armour | Cost | Notes |
70 | Karil the Tainted’s armour | 4M | Tank armour. Degrades but cheap.
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70 | Armadyl armour set | 11.5M | Power armour. Does not degrade.
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85 | Superior death lotus armour | 12M | |
80 | Anima core of Zamorak | 22M | |
80 | Pernix armour | 72.2M | |
90 | Achto Tempest equipment | Untradable | |
88 | Superior Morrigan’s armour | 2.9M | Power armour. Degrades to dust.
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90 | Sirenic armour | 5.4M | |
92 | Elite sirenic armour | 1B | |
90 | Dracolich armour | 76M | Power armour. When wearing at least 1 piece, your rapid fire generates an additional 0.2 adrenaline (per piece worn) every 0.6 seconds. When wearing at least 3 pieces and a bow, channelling rapid fire for its full duration, grants 3 seconds of increased critical chance by 20%. When wearing 4 pieces this is further increased to 4.8 seconds. With all 5 pieces this becomes 5.6 seconds.
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92 | Elite dracolich armour | 1.4B | Power armour. When wearing at least 1 piece, your rapid fire generates an additional 0.5 adrenaline (per piece worn) every 0.6 seconds. When wearing at least 3 pieces and a bow, channelling rapid fire for its full duration, grants 3 seconds of increased critical chance by 40%. When wearing 4 pieces this is further increased to 4.8 seconds. With all 5 pieces this becomes 5.6 seconds.
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Invention Perks
Perks that you need to know:
Crackling: Deal 50% of your ability damage to a creature per rank. 60 second cooldown.
Biting: Adds 2% critical strike chance to your weapon per rank.
Invigorating: Increases adrenaline gainage with auto-attacks.
Enhanced Devoted: Grants a chance to make protection prayers reduce the damage to 1.
Relentless: Grants a chance to not use adrenaline when using, threshold, ultimate and special attack abilities.
Devoted: Grants a chance to trigger the effects of devotion.
Impatient: 9% chance per rank to add 3% extra adrenaline when using basic abilities.
Basic Perks
End Game Perks
Capes
Cape | Style Bonus | Notes |
Obsidian cape | 13.4 Hybrid | |
Cape of legends | 17.3 Hybrid | |
Spirit cape | 17.3 Hybrid | Requires 50 Defence, Summoning, Dungeoneering. Costs 45K Dungeoneering tokens. Reduces the familiar’s special moves cost by 20%.
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Skill Cape | 21.6 Hybrid | |
Ava’s alerter | 26.3 Ranged | |
Max cape | 31.5 Hybrid | |
Tokhaar-Kal-Xil | 33.5 Ranged | |
Igneous Kal-Xil | 43 Ranged | Requires 90 crafting to make. The crafting materials can be obtained only from beating TzKal-Zuk without using checkpoints. Reduces adrenaline cost of Deadshot to 60%. Deadshot deals 42-210% damage plus 70% ability damage every 1.2 seconds for 8.4 seconds.
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Igneous Kal-Zuk | 43 Ranged | |
Pocket Slot
Pocket Item | Style Bonus | Cost | Hourly Cost | Notes |
Scrimshaw of cruelty | None | 816K | 272K | Requires level 80 Ranged. Grants +5% damage. Untradable once activated and lasts for 3 hours. Requires 92 Fletching to make. There is a superior untradable version that has more powerful effects and lasts longer.
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Scrimshaw of ranging | None | 863K | 287K | Requires level 85 Ranged. Grants +2% Ranged accuracy. Untradable once activated and lasts for 3 hours. Requires level 95 Fletching to craft. There is a superior untradable version that has more powerful effects and lasts longer.
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Holy wrench | None | N/A | N/A | |
Adrenaline urn | None | N/A | N/A | Obtained as a drop from Kal'gerion demons, this item accumulates charges when the player's adrenaline surpasses 100%. Upon exiting combat, these charges are utilized from the urn instead of draining the player's adrenaline. Notably, this functionality operates from both the pocket slot and the inventory.
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Blood essence | None | 312,109 - 376,648 | Varies | |
God book | 5 | 57,907 - 392,051 | 16,885 - 117,096 | Requires level 30 Prayer and completion of Horror from the deep. Created by filling a damaged book with corresponding god pages. When charged with pages, it grants special effects.
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Illuminated god book | 7 | 57,907 - 392,051 | 16,885 - 117,096 | |
Erethdor's grimoire | 7 | 217,539,374 | 6,239,072 | |
Scripture | 8 | 23,059,797 - 320,732,953 | 13,032 - 999,100 | |
Necklaces
Necklaces | Style Bonus | Cost | Hourly Cost | Notes |
Saradomin’s murmur | 36.8 Ranged | 284K | - | |
Reaper Necklace | 36.8 Hybrid | 56M | 37K | After every effective strike, you gain a bonus of 0.1% to your chance of hitting, capped at a maximum of 3%. This bonus persists for up to 54 seconds following your most recent strike. Once equipped, the item becomes untradable. It wears down over time and requires onyxes for recharging. It can be upgraded by a ornament kit, this increases the style bonus by 2.
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Farsight sniper necklace | 44.1 Ranged | - | - | Requires level 80 Ranged and 70 Dungeoneering. You can create this necklace by combining a saradomin’s murmur with a chaotic remnant which costs 100K Dungeoneering tokens. You can also attach a blood necklace shard to it.
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Amulet of Souls | 46.3 Hybrid | 56M | 37K | Has a 50% chance to increase soul split heals for 25-50%. Protection prayers block 10% more damage. Repairs with onyxes. Can be further upgraded with an ornament kit, this increases the style bonuses by 2.
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Essence of Finality amulet | 56 Hybrid | 258M | 512K | Has the effects of amulet of souls and reaper necklace. After sacrificing your weapon, you can special attack whilst using any weapon of the same style. Becomes permanently untradable. Must be repaired with alchemical hydrix dust. Can be upgraded with the essence of finality ornament kit. This increases the bonuses by 3.
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Rings
Rings | Style Bonus | Cost | Hourly Cost | Notes |
Ring of vigour | 12 Hybrid | 50K Dungeoneering token | - | Requires level 62 Attack and Dungeoneering. When an ultimate ability or a special attack is used, it consumes 90% of the adrenaline instead of 100%.
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Archer’s ring | 17.3 Ranged | 13.8M | - | |
Luck of the Dwarves | 17.3 Hybrid | 78M | - | |
Sixth-Age circuit | 21 Hybrid | - | - | |
Asylum Surgeon Ring | 21 Hybrid | - | - | Requires level 85 Defence. Requires the completion of the Broken Home quest and all 3 replay challenges. Grants 10% chance to prevent adrenaline loss when using threshold abilities and 40% chance to save 25% of a special attack’s cost. Can be upgraded with 10k Teci, this increases the bonuses by 2.4.
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Ring of Death | 25.2 Hybrid | 56M | 37K | Has a 50% chance to restore 5% adrenaline when a target is killed. Instead of dying, you’re teleported to your spawn with all your items when you die. Costs 15% charge. Can be recharged with onyxes. Can be upgraded to with 15K Teci, Increases its style bonuses by 2.5.
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Reaver’s ring | 27.7 Hybrid | 149M | - | Created by combining 10 Berserk rings and a Heart of the berserker. Requires level 70 Crafting. Has a 5% critical hit chance and -5% accuracy.
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Stalker’s ring | 30.4 Ranged | 141M | - | Can be created by combining 10 Archer’s rings and a heart of the archer. This process requires level 70 Crafting. Has a passive effect that provides +3% critical hit chance when using a bow. Can also be further upgraded with enchantment of shadows.
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Aura Slot
Aura Slot | Cost | Tiers | Duration | Cooldown | Notes |
Vampyrism aura | 5k Marks of War | 2 | 1 Hour | 3 Hours | |
Dark magic aura | 12.5K Marks of War | 3 | 1 Hour | 3 Hours | |
Mahjarrat aura | 1K Reaper points or 3 Bonds | 5 | 1 Hour | 23 Hours | |
Penance Aura | 23K Loyalty points | 2 | 1 Hour | 3 Hours | |
Inspiration aura | 23K Loyalty points | 2 | 1 Hour | 3 Hours | |
Sharpshooter aura | 4.2K-107K Loyalty points | 1-4 | 1 Hour | 3 Hours | |
Action Bar
How you set-up your action bar directly effects your overall DPS. There are also some abilities that you need to unlock via quests or codexes. Here is a simple list of ability bars that you can follows depending on where you are in the game:
Two handed
Basic Bar
No greater abilities.
With death’s swiftness.
Greater abilities unlocked.
Advanced Bar
Dual-Wield
Basic Bar
No greater abilities.
With death’s swiftness.
Advanced Bar
Familiars
Storage
Spirit terrorbird - 52 Summoning, 12 storage slots.
War tortoise - 67 Summoning, 18 storage slots.
Pack yak - 96 Summoning, special move sends items to your bank, has 30 storage slots.
Pack mammoth - 99 Summoning, has 32 storage slots. It’s special move will heal you using the food stored in his storage.
Damage Enhancer
Blood/Shadow/Smoke/Ice nihil - 87 Summoning
Blood reaver - 73 Summoning, deals damage to the enemy when the player character is healed.
Kal’gerion demon - 90 Summoning, 1% forced critical strike chance.
Ripper Demon - 96 Summoning, Increases your damage by 0-5% depending on your target's lost health. Special move deals 200%-320% of ripper demons max hit to the target. This familiar is the strongest in game even without using the special move scrolls.
Tank
Bunyip - 68 Summoning, passively heals you.
Unicorn stallion - 88 Summoning, special move heals you.
Hellhound - 45 Summoning, tanks 20% of any damage dealt to the player.
Archaeology Relics
Basic
Requires level 70 Archeology.
Shadow’s Grace: Cooldown of Surge, Escape, Bladed Dive and Barge is reduced by 50% but they no longer generate adrenaline.
Berserker’s Fury: Your damage increases up to 5.5% the lower your life points are.
Font of life: Increases maximum health by 500.
Intermediate
Requires level 97 Archaeology.
Advanced
Requires level 120 Archeology.
Best combination is Conservation of energy, Berserker’s fury and Font of life.
Best In Slot Ranged Gear
Elite Dracolich armour
Bow of the last guardian
Essence of finality (or)
Stalker’s ring
Igneous Kal-Zuk
Elder God Scripture
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