Talismans allow runecrafters to locate and gain access to Runecrafting altars through mysterious ruins. Even if a runecrafter memorises the location a mysterious ruin, the runecrafter will not be able to enter the ruin to get to the altar without a matching talisman. Each type of talisman gives you access to its matching Runecrafting altar. It is only at these altars that runes can be made.

After completing the Rune Mysteries, you will receive an air talisman as a reward.

Below is a table of talismans and where you can obtain them.

Talismans are also required when making Combination runes.

Tiaras perform the same function as talismans – they allow you to gain access to a Runecrafting altar. Tiaras have an advantage over talismans, however, in that you can wear tiaras on your head, freeing an extra space in your inventory to carry essence. To make a tiara, see the silver section of the Crafting guide.

Once you have crafted the tiara, you can enchant it to allow you to access the altar of your choice.

To enchant a tiara you must:

1. Take your silver tiara to your chosen altar. You will also need the matching talisman to the altar.
2. Use the tiara on the altar and your talisman will then disappear from your inventory and your tiara has now been enchanted.

Tags: Earth Altar, Fire Altar, Rune Mysteries, Runecrafting Experience Gained

Runes are the main components of casting magical spells. Using different combinations of runes will allow a player to cast different spells.

The air altar

The first thing you will need is some rune essence. This is the only compulsory item for Runecrafting. If you want to mine rune essence for yourself, you will need to complete the Rune Mysteries quest. Once you’ve done that, you can find more details by reading the Mining – The Rune Essence Mine article. Alternatively, you could purchase rune essence from other players.

Before you can craft certain runes, you need to meet some requirements. To craft cosmic runes you will have to completeThe Lost City, to craft blood runes you must complete theLegacy of Seergaze quest, and to craft death runes you will need to complete Mourning’s End Part II.

Runecrafting takes place at rune altars. Each type of rune altar converts rune essence into runes of the altar’s type. For instance, the fire altar will convert rune essence into fire runes.

There are various ways to access the rune altars. Players that want to access the rune altars through the mysterious ruins need a matching talisman (or tiara). However, players using the Abyss to runecraft do not need a talisman or tiara to access rune altars.

Before you can mine rune essence, you must undertake the Rune Mysteries quest, in which you help the wizards of the Wizards’ Tower uncover the secrets of Runecrafting. They will then grant you access to the source of rune essence.

Rune essence

• Rune essence can be used to make air, water, earth, fire, mind and body runes only.
• Rune essence cannot be used to make member-only craftable runes such as law or combination runes.
• Mining on free worlds, or while having a Mining level under 30 on a members’ world, will not produce pure essence but rune essence instead.
• Rune essence may be traded to any other player.

Pure essence

• Pure essence can be used in Runecrafting without restriction on which runes can be created given the player has the necessary level.
• Mining on a members’ world, with a Mining level over 30, will produce pure essence rather than rune essence.
• On members’ worlds, monsters which would normally drop rune essence will drop pure essence instead.
• Quests or situations where rune essence would be used will accept either pure essence or rune essence.
• Pure essence can only be traded with members.

The rune essence mine

The following people are the only ones that can teleport you to the essence mines:

• Wizard Sedridor on the lower level of the Wizards’ Tower south of Draynor Village.
• Aubury in the rune shop in Varrock, just south of the east bank.
• Wizard Cromperty in East Ardougne, just to the north-east of the Marketplace.
• Wizard Distentor in the Magic Guild in Yanille.
• The gnome Brimstail in a cave in the Tree Gnome Stronghold (north-west of Ardougne). To find his cave, head north-west in the Stronghold until you see a small bridge on the west side of the Stronghold. Brimstail’s cave is inside a large hollow rock a little to the east of that bridge.

Tags: Rune Mysteries, Wizard Distentor, Wizard Sedridor, Wizards Tower

The following is a list of frequently asked questions about the Ranged skill.

What order do I set up the dwarf cannon?

To successfully setup a dwarf cannon, you will need to first place the base, then the cannon stand. Next, you place the barrel on the stand and finally place the furnace on the cannon. You should now have a complete and functional dwarf cannon ready to destroy your enemies.

Now you will need to load in your steel cannonballs – the cannon can hold thirty balls at a time. After these run out you will have to reload the cannon.

Which bows can non-members use?

Standard short/longbows
Oak short/longbows
Willow short/longbows
Maple short/longbows

When can you claim on the dwarf cannon warranty?

The dwarf cannon can only be claimed back using the dwarf cannon warranty.

A dwarf cannon, or missing parts of a dwarf cannon, can be claimed if you die while it is set up, or if it rusts.

You cannot reclaim your dwarf cannon if you are killed and do not have the cannon as one of your three kept items, you trade it, drop it, or use the high alchemy spell on it.

My cannon has disappeared. I was standing next to it and nobody has stolen it. What happened?

The dwarf cannon decays after a certain amount of time. When this happens, the cannon will vanish and you will need to go and see Nulodion. He will be able to supply you with another.

Sometimes my dwarf cannon shoots twice, what is going on?

Indeed, the dwarf cannon is known occasionally to fire twice at a single target. This is the way the dwarves originally intended for the cannon to work.

The reason it now fires only one at a time is that, with the cannon firing continually at the higher speed, the dwarf engineers could not keep it cool enough, resulting in the barrel melting slightly. The cannonballs would then begin to damage the inside of the cannon, until it blocked up completely and its furnace exploded.

You need not worry, though: the occasional double shot will not cause you or the cannon any harm.

How do I train my Ranged skill?

Remember, you have the ability to attack your opponent from a distance. Think creatively! When possible, use fences, gates and obstacles to your advantage. You will gain a greater advantage over your opponent by doing so, especially when fighting melee opponents.

Give yourself adequate protection by wearing the best ranger’s armour you can acquire. If you do not have ranger’s armour, then wear any armour that does not reduce your bonuses.

It is a good idea to start with simple creatures. Training on low level creatures requires fewer arrows, and helps to build up your Ranged level faster.

As your Ranged skill improves, gradually move on to tougher opponents. Before progressing onto tougher creatures, try to get the best weapon available to you at your current level.

Finally, you could consider training against other players in Castle Wars, the Duel Arena, TzHaar Fight Pits, the Wilderness, and Clan Wars.

What affects my max hit?

The things that will affect your maximum hit with Ranged are the type of weapon, and the material it is made from, along with the material of your ammunition.

Tags: Castle Wars, Clan Wars, Duel Arena

The Ranging Guild is located in Hemenster, north-west of the Sorcerer’s Tower.

You must have at least level 40 Ranged to enter. Once in there, you can take part in the Ranging Guild game.

Training is essential, and in the Ranging Guild you can get ample practice.

To train, join the archers in the middle tower. You will need a longbow due to the distance to the rival towers.

Don’t want to train, but need items? Participate in the ranging competition. Speak to the competition judge and, for 200 coins, you may compete.

In the competition, you earn tickets. You can redeem these tickets for items from the ticket merchant, located in the northern part of the complex.

Normal, studded and hard leather armour, and accessories such as vambraces, chaps, cowls and coifs, can be purchased from the armour salesman in the Ranging Guild.

Need more weapons? There is an excellent selection available from the bow salesman, who is located right next to the armour salesman.

If you want throwing weapons, the tribal weapons salesman has an assorted range of javelins and throwing axes.

Enjoy Crafting? Well, you can also get your hides cured into pieces of leather by the leatherworker (in the northern part of the guild) ready for Crafting.

The Ranging Guild brings all your Ranged needs to you, so make sure you visit often.

Using the Summoning skill, you’ll find that there are a few familiars that might be useful for training your Ranged. Of particular note is the spirit scorpion, whose special move can poison your Ranged attacks while you fire them.

You must complete Animal Magnetism to receive Ava’s Attractor or Accumulator.

The Attractor works through a combination of hard science and strange magic, which allows it to accumulate lost arrowheads, as well as arrow shafts and feathers, as you wander the landscape. Because of the laws of magnetics, the Attractor will only gather iron or steel arrowheads. If you complete Ava’s quest with a Ranged level between 30 and 49, you will receive Ava’s Attractor, which will collect iron arrows; if you have a Ranged level of 50 or higher, you will receive Ava’s Accumulator, which will collect steel arrows.

If you have the ‘lower level’ Attractor but later reach a Ranged level of 50, you can talk to Ava who will explain what she needs to upgrade it to collect steel arrows.

Every so often Ava’s device will manage to pick up a few other metallic items like throwing knives and clockwork mice.

In addition to this, the device will collect most of your own arrows as you fire them, saving you from having to pick them up.

The attractor will not pick up sagaies or bolas.

The ale for today’s bowmen, Ranger’s Aid, is not one that can be brewed – its recipe a closely held secret of the owners of the newly refurbished Poison Arrow pub in East Ardougne. The barkeep, Marion, will gladly sell you a pint of Ranger’s Aid for 25 coins, or, to give your arrows that little extra zing, mature Ranger’s Aid at 50 coins. Ranger’s Aid will boost your Ranged skill by 2, but temporarily reduce your Defence by 2-6 points. The mature version boosts Ranged by 3, but decreases Defence by 3-7. Both will also heal your life points by 10.

It is possible to train all of your skills while dungeoneering, and Ranged is no exception. Arrows can be found or fletched, giving you a ready stock of ammunition to fight Daemonheim’s minions. You can also gain Ranged experience by completing ranged skill doors.

Tags: Ava Attractor, Enjoy Crafting, Ranger Aid, Ranging Guild

There are more types of weaponry available to a ranger. Darts, knives, axes and even cannonballs can be employed by rangers.

Every different piece of weaponry has its own advantages, some are cheap and readily available, others are less so but inflict large amounts of damage, such as the cannon. Ultimately, the way one chooses to train the Ranged skill comes down to individual tastes and styles, something that each person must come to learn for themselves.

Slings are an excellent choice for beginners, as they do not require you to have ammunition (you just pick stones off the ground as you use the sling in combat). Kayle’s sling is a reward from The Blood Pact.

The dwarf cannon is perhaps the most interesting Ranged weapon. It can provide a lot of experience in a very short period of time. It is particularly useful in multicombat areas as it is able to attack multiple targets.

To use the dwarf cannon, you have to complete the Dwarf Cannon. When you have completed the quest, you can buy a cannon from the dwarf engineer Nulodion, south of Ice Mountain.

Note: The cannon can only be used to kill NPCs, not players.

There are four main parts to the cannon, and a cannonball mould. You can either buy your cannonballs from other players or make them yourself.

Read the Smithing section of the Manual for more information on making cannonballs.

The cannon will hold thirty rounds of ammunition at a time. You will have to refill it with ammunition every once in a while, so remember to keep an eye on it.

The cannon deteriorates while firing, until eventually disappearing. When this happens, go back and speak to Nulodion, he will give you another one for free. You can only have one dwarf cannon assembled at a time. You will not be given another one if you simply put the cannon into your bank account and then talk to the engineer to get another.

To regain a piece of the cannon from Nulodion for free, the cannon piece must be set up when you lose it. For example, if the cannon is set up and then you die, you can claim a replacement cannon for free from Nulodion.

If however, you lose a cannon piece while it is in your inventory, either by dropping it or dying, Nulodion will charge you a fee for a replacement part or a whole new cannon.

If you fancy shooting other items out of your cannon – like squid, or maybe brains – you should be interested in the Oddball aura available through the Members Loyalty Programme.

Darts can be poisoned and are wielded as a one-handed weapon, so you can wear a shield for extra protection while using them. Darts are very fast and extremely dangerous when using the rapid attack option.

Javelins can be purchased from the Ranging Guild, or found from monster drops.

Javelins are quite powerful and can be wielded with shields to give you better defence.

Thrown axes can be purchased from the tribal weapons shop in the Ranging Guild.

Throwing knives are like darts, in that they are deadly and can be poisoned. They are wielded in a single hand, so you are able to hold a shield when using them.

Those who have completed Forgiveness of a Chaos Dwarf will be able to enter the Chaos Dwarf Battlefield, to the south-west of Keldagrim, and try their hand at some multi-way combat. One of the enemies here, the chaos dwarf hand cannoneer, drops an innovative new weapon that you may want to try: the hand cannon.

The hand cannon is a powerful two-handed weapon with a high maximum hit value, balanced by its reasonably long reload times. The hand cannon fires hand cannon shot, stackable ammo that is placed in the quiver slot. The shot can also be obtained from chaos dwarf hand cannoneers.

WARNING! – The hand cannon has a chance of exploding on use, thanks to the combustible nature of its shot, which will destroy it and remove it from your inventory. There is a greater chance of this occuring if you use the hand cannon’s special attack, ‘Aimed Shot’. The higher your Firemaking level, the lower the chance that your hand cannon will explode.

Holy water is a powerful Ranged weapon that is used just like throwing knives, though it is only effective against demons. Holy water is untradable. When used, you will gain +6 Ranged attack bonus.

To make holy water, you must have completed the Legends’ Quest, or be far enough into the quest to know how to make holy water.

You will need to use the golden bowl blessed by Gujuo before you are able to convert the pure sparkling clear water (found within Kharazi pool) into holy water.

Once you have the water, you will need to pour it into enchanted vials (these are stackable in your inventory), which you learn how to make during the Legends’ Quests.

Chinchompas can be obtained through box hunting. These combustible little rodents come in two varieties: normal and red. Once equipped, with the suitable Ranged level, these creatures can be thrown at targets for a one-time explosion. They can also be stacked in your inventory.

The chinchompas have three different attack styles: short, medium and long. These determine the length of fuse, so a ‘long fuse’ attack style will have more chance of success at long distances, and so forth. This makes using the chinchompa quite a tactical choice; with a user having to shift attack styles according to their approach.

The salamanders and swamp lizards received from net trapping can be used as a two-handed Ranged weapon when filled with their requisite fuels.

The fuel for each salamander can be made by mixing 15 lots of swamp tar with their favoured herb (as noted in the ‘favoured’ herb column) in a pestle and mortar. This will create 15 lots of herb tar that can then be used with the salamander.

Once both the tar and salamander have been wielded the attack style can be changed. Set your style to ‘Scorch’ and your Strength experience will rise. ‘Flare’, in turn, will raise your Ranged experience, while ‘Blaze’ will boost your Magic. This versatility makes the salamander a weapon-of-choice for the rounded adventurer.

Bolas are made using items gained from the Jadinko Lair. They are made from excrescence and mutated vines. As bolas do not contain metal, they will not be attracted by Ava’s attractor.

Bolas are designed to restrain their target. Except for when they are used against players, the bind duration is constant. For players, the bind duration varies depending on the target’s ranged defence. A player may halve the bind time by praying against range, or by holding a weapon that can cut through the bolas’ vine without causing injury. A knife will accomplish this, as will most slash weapons.

When used in conjunction with sagaies against mutated jadinko creatures, bolas result in more damage being caused.

Bolas are likely to become damaged as the target struggles to free itself. Because of this, most cannot be retrieved after combat.

Tags: Levels Required, Ranged Attack Bonus, Ranged Strength, Required Level

During the Third Age the gods made war upon each other and great heroes rose and fell. Some of the mightiest rangers of all times fought in these wars, and very lucky adventurers may find some of their armour during a Treasure Trail.

You must have a Defence level of 45 and a Ranged level of 65 to wear Third Age armour.

Penance armour can be purchased from Commander Connad using honour points gained from Barbarian Assault. You need 45 Defence to wear the ranger hat, and 60 Ranged and 40 Defence to wear the Penance skirt.

Although they are not a particularly war-like race, the Dorgeshuun see the value of their skills and are not completely against fashioning armour to fit the humans that come to visit their city.

You must be a member to wear Dorgeshuun armour.

Those brave warriors who choose to spend their time in battle with the ancient armies of the god wars may be lucky enough to find some of Armadyl’s excellent ranging armour, or perhaps even some life point-boosting pernix gear.

^*Life point-boosting equipment increases your maximum possible life points while it is worn. The body armour increases your base life points by 200, the leg armour 134, and the head armour 66 (400 life point increase if wearing the full set). Equipping the armour does not increase your current life points, just your maximum, so you may want to eat some food after equipping it to reach your new max life points. If you unequip a piece of this armour, your maximum life points will immediately drop.

As with some other high-level armours, life point-boosting armour degrades over time during combat, and once fully degraded becomes unusable until repaired. Bob (of Bob’s Brilliant Axes) in Lumbridge will repair each part at these costs: body (2 million), legs (1 million) and head (500,000). If you have an armour repair stand in your POH, you can repair it yourself at a reduced cost, which becomes cheaper the higher your Smithing level. Even at Smithing level 1 you get a 1% discount on Bob’s prices, but keep training your Smithing to reduce the cost by up to a maximum of 50% (at 99 Smithing).

Fist of Guthix features a number of different reward items, of which the dragonhide coifs should be of particular interest to rangers. They will degrade over time in the same way as Barrows equipment, but can be recharged by paying Reggie a small quantity of Fist of Guthix tokens.

In the ancient days of RuneScape, several great warriors walked the land. With all of the bloodshed in the Wilderness, their equipment is heeding the call and returning to the surface…well, perhaps slightly below it, in the Forinthry Dungeon.

These items all come in one of two states – one with full requirements that will last an hour; the other with level 20 requirements that will last only fifteen minutes.

Tags: Attack Bonuses, Defence Bonuses, God Wars Armour, Third Age

Rangers have a wide variety of armour – Leather armour being the most common type. As a ranger’s skill improves, it is worth seeking out the other types of Ranged armour available.

Ranged armour can be crafted using the Crafting Skill or purchased from archery stores in Catherby, Rimmington or Varrock.

Look for the Archery Store symbol on your minimap, to locate Archery stores.

Snakeskin armour is made from snakeskin, which can be acquired from Karamja.
Rangers can also purchase it from other players willing to part with it, for the right price.

Snakeskin can be aquired by taking part in Tai Bwo Wannai cleanup or Temple Trekking.

For information on making snakeskin armour, read the Crafting – Leather section of the Manual.

Those who desire dagannoth armour must journey to Waterbirth Island, where the dagannoth monsters dwell. You will have to earn the different pieces from dagannoth monster drops, after you face these fierce creatures in battle.

Dragonhide armour provides excellent protection from all types of attacks, and is ideal for rangers. You must have completed the Dragon Slayer Quest to wear green dragonhide bodies. To wear other dragonhide items you must meet the minimum level requirement.

This armour can be crafted from dragonhide, obtained by killing dragons. You can also find blessed dragonhide armour dedicated to Guthix, Saradomin or Zamorak by completing Treasure Trails. Blessed dragonhide armour is equivalent to black dragonhide armour with an additional 40 Defence requirement.

Tags: Attack Bonuses, Crafting Skill, Defence Bonuses, Treasure Trails

A crossbow user in action

Though rangers are most often seen with bows – drawing back their strings to let an elegant arrow soar through the air in an arc before plunging into its target – some rangers prefer the raw power and efficiency of dwarven design: the crossbow. Crossbows are essentially a single-handed version of a bow, replacing one of your arms with a stock and trigger mechanism.

Because of their compact size, and the force with which the crossbow hurls its projectiles, a new form of ammunition is necessary. The bolts that crossbows fire are invariably metal, occasionally tipped with the sharp edges of precious stones.

Crossbows can be constructed using a variety of skills, but those keen to shoot their prey with these powerful weapons can purchase crossbow parts from three salesdwarves located in Keldagrim, under White Wolf Mountain and in the Dwarven Mines.

Crossbows come in a wide variety of styles and strengths, and almost all of them can be made from scratch by someone with the requisite Fletching, Smithing, Cooking and Crafting levels.

Note that blurite crossbows and bolts can only be obtained after completing The Knight’s Sword, and, being blurite, are untradable.

Karil’s crossbow is designed specifically to use bolt racks, which no other crossbow may use. Equally, Karil’s crossbow may not use any of the other kinds of bolt.

The Dorgeshuun crossbow and Zanik’s Crossbow may use bone bolts, which no other crossbow may make use of. On the other hand, it cannot use enchanted or tipped bolts. Be warned that Zanik’s Crossbow comes with a -5 Prayer modifier.

The Hunters’ crossbow will only take kebbit bolts, which are made from either tracking the razorback kebbit or deadfallingthe prickly kebbit.

Chaotic crossbows start at 20% charge. A fully recharged chaotic crossbow will last 10 hours in combat before it breaks. Once these charges have been used up, the weapon can be recharged, for a fee, by the rewards trader in Daemonheim. To do so, right-click on him, and select ‘Recharge’ with the depleted weapon in your inventory.

There is a wide variety of bolts that a ranger may use with their crossbows, and most of these can be made by the enterprising ranger provided they have the requisite Smithing and Fletching levels. Silver bolts are crafted rather than smithed.

All of the bolts above can be poisoned, except kebbit bolts and bolt racks (neither of which can be enchanted), and those with gem tips (which can be enchanted). The mithril grapple is not a weapon as such, so it cannot be poisoned.

If you have gem-tipped bolts you may like to try enchanting them. Each type of gem can have a different spell imbued into it, so that certain bolts become far superior against certain foes.

The Enchant Bolt spell interface

In your spellbook you will discover the level 4 spell ‘Enchant bolt’. This is a collection of spells that allows you to enchant whatever gem-tipped bolts you happen to have on you. As it is the gem that stores the enchantment, only gem-tipped bolts can be enchanted in this way.

As you can see, enchant bolt is not necessarily a level 4 spell, and you will need a higher Magic level in order to enchant the higher level bolts.

If you have the appropriate type of bolt in your inventory, as well as the requisite runes, you will be able to enchant your bolts. Each casting of the spell will enchant up to ten of the same type of bolt (it will only enchant fewer if you do not have ten equipped or in your inventory).

Tags: Basic Ranged Strength, Enchanted Bolts, Ranged Attack Bonus, Zanik Crossbow

No matter how skilled a ranger may be, it is always a good idea to be suitably equipped – whether your choice is iron or rune, oak or yew.

Bows and arrows can be made using the Fletching Skill, or purchased from archery stores in Catherby, Rimmington or Varrock.

Look for the following symbol on your minimap to locate archery stores.

As you improve your Ranged skill, you will be able to wield stronger bows. Stronger bows are more effective.

Please note that many bows listed here can be made freely, if you have the required Fletching level.

^~ The magic composite bow special attack is identical to the special attack of a magic longbow, which you can read abouthere.

^§ The dark bow has a relatively slow rate of fire, but it fires two arrows at once. The dark bow cannot fire ogre arrows of any kind.

^{^} Longbow sights can be purchased from the rewards trader of Daemonheim. Trade in your dungeoneering tokens and attach them to your maple or magic longbows for improved ranged performance.

^£ Gravite shortbows start at 20% charge. A fully recharged gravite shortbow will last 10 hours in combat before it breaks. Once these charges have been used up, the weapon can be recharged, for a fee, by the rewards trader in Daemonheim. To do so, right-click on him, and select ‘Recharge’ with the depleted weapon in your inventory.

^# Much like the crystal bow, the zaryte bow does not require any ammunition to fire. Unlike the crystal bow, the power of the zaryte bow does not lessen over time, rather it has a set amount of charge that will last for 10 hours of combat (as is the way with gravite and chaotic weapons, and life-point boosting armour). After being depleted, the zaryte bow can be recharged either by Bob in Lumbridge or at a POH repair stand.

Elven crystal seeds can be grown into different items. In their unused state, the crystal items can be traded. After being used for the first time, though, it will bind itself to that player, making it untradable. As a crystal item is used it becomes weaker until eventually returning to its original state as a crystal seed. When this happens, the seed can be recharged.

The crystal bow is of particular interest to rangers, for it has a Ranged attack bonus of +100 and it does not need any arrows. To wield the crystal bow, you must have completed Roving Elves and have a minimum Ranged level of 70 and Agility level of 50.

Tags: Elf Crystal Equipment, Ranged Attack Bonus, Ranged Level, Ranged Strength