Archery
Description
Archery is a skill which involves an arrow and a bow.
Characteristic gained
Body / Body Control
Method
To shoot you need to equip a bow in your hands and activate it, and then right click on your target. Make sure the bow is strung.
If you have a target selected (player or animal, not archery target), you can also use the 'ranged' icon if you have the bow equipped.
The arrows shot first are the ones in your quiver on your body, next are the ones in your quiver in your inventory, and last are the ones in your inventory. If you have an empty quiver in your inventory, no arrows in your inventory or in other quivers in your inventory will be shot.
If a quiver is found in the inventory but it is empty, no arrow will be shot. This gives you good control over which arrows are shot. Arrows are fired in the following order: 1. War arrows, 2. Hunting arrows, 3. Arrow shafts.
- The best bows are made from willow.
- Arrows made from cedar are easier to improve.
- Arrows made from maple take less damage.
- Quality of the bow string affects hit chance and the chance that it breaks.
- Quality of the arrow affects hit chance and the chance that it breaks.
- Archery has a lower hit chance during the night (from 21:00 to 06:00 wurm time).
- Wearing a shield can significantly increase the rate at which you block arrows.
- The effectiveness of arrows against animals has been disputed. It is of general consensus that it's more deadly in PvP.
- Bows work best when fired at their best range. If you try to fire closer than their minimum range you will not shoot.
| Bow | Minimum Range | Best Range |
|---|---|---|
| Short Bow | None | 5 Tiles |
| Bow | 5 Tiles | 10 Tiles |
| Long Bow | 10 tiles | 20 Tiles |
Enchanting
In general anything that affects speed, accuracy or skill gain works on the bow only. Anything that affects damage works only on arrows.
- The following enchantments are known to work fully on bows : Blessings of the Dark, Bloodthirst, Circle of Cunning, and Nimbleness.
- The following enchantments are known to work on arrows: Demise spells, Flaming Aura, Frostbrand, Rotten Touch, Venom and presumably Life Transfer and Mind Stealer.
- Wind of Ages is believed to only work when practicing on an archery target.
Skill based options
At various points in your bow skill progression you get the following special shooting options:
- When you have 30 skill in a specific bow, you'll get the Shoot Quickly option.
- When you have 35 skill in a specific bow, you'll get the Aim at Torso option.
- When you have 40 skill in a specific bow, you'll get the Aim at right arm and Aim at left arm options.
- When you have 50 skill in a specific bow, you'll get the Aim at Head option.
- When you have 60 skill in a specific bow, you'll get the Aim at Face option.
- When you have 70 skill in a specific bow, you'll get the Aim at Legs option.
- When you have 30 skill in a specific bow, you'll get the Shoot Quickly option.
Skillgain tips
- You may gain up to 30 skill in a bow type by practicing on an archery target. The main archery skill is also limited to 40 while practicing on an archery target. When 40 main skill is hit, you will no longer be able to gain any skill from archery targets. It is possible to to gain 30 skill in one bow type, then begin a new bow type until your main skill reaches 40.
- Although they give less skill than real arrows, it is best to use arrow shafts when practicing in this way as they are far easier to make and won't damage the target too much. Arrows that arent broken can be picked up at the archery target.
- Firing on the target from outside your bow's optimal range will increase the difficulty, and thus increase your skillgain at higher skill levels.
- Practicing at night will similarly increase the difficultly, so if you find the skillgain slowing you may want to practice when it's dark instead.
- Beyond 40 skill the only way to gain further is by using archery on animals or in player vs. player combat.
- Archery Skills are effected by Sleep bonus!
Bows
Note: When a bow is unstrung, even if it has not been used and was strung minutes ago, the bowstring will be worse than before strung. Avoid unstringing and re-stringing if you can.
Arrows
Note: You can use arrow shafts as normal arrows, but they have poor accuracy and damage, and will gain you less skill. They are however much easier to replace when broken.
Associated items
Associated skills
Titles
- Archer at 50 skill
- Bowman at 70 skill
- Marksman at 90 skill
