Ranged Gear Upgrade Guide (BEST GP TO DAMAGE) OSRS 2020


Date	2020-06-27
Type	guide
Video	youtu.be/bIShDvVDueM

Summary

A guide to the order in which to spend gp on Ranged gear to get the most DPS per coin, from untradeable unlocks (Ava's devices, Void, Barrows gloves) through a basic setup, an intermediate setup built around Rigour and Necklace of anguish, and high-end items like Pegasian boots, Armadyl armour and the Twisted bow. Gnomonkey stresses Rigour as the single most important upgrade and that most late upgrades are marginal.

Outline

0:00 Intro: goal of maximising DPS per gp, and the DPS calculator
0:46 How ranged DPS and max hit are calculated
1:25 Untradeable unlocks: Ava's devices
3:08 Void Knight and Barrows gloves
4:12 Ranged training gear by level
4:46 Basic gear setup and first upgrades
7:28 Intermediate setup: Rigour and Necklace of anguish
9:38 High-end setup: Pegasian boots and Armadyl armour
11:39 Extras: weapon side grades and the Twisted bow

Topics covered

Ranged

(0:00) Gnomonkey says making every piece of gold go as far as possible helps your account's efficiency tremendously, and this guide focuses on getting the most DPS out of Ranged equipment, though defence or accuracy matter more in cases like bossing.
(0:00) Gnomonkey advises throwing an unusual boss/gear question into the OSRS DPS calculator rather than relying on the guide, since he will miss niche cases where another gear set is better.
(0:32) Gnomonkey calls the Ranged gear set incredibly important because it is used for staple moneymakers such as Vorkath, Zulrah and the Alchemical Hydra.
(0:32) Ranged DPS is calculated differently from melee: the ranged weapon typically provides only ranged accuracy, while max hit comes from the ammunition's ranged strength bonus and your Ranged level.
(0:32) The main exceptions to ammunition determining ranged strength are the Twisted bow and the Toxic blowpipe, which provide ranged strength themselves.
(1:05) The only other gear pieces that affect max hit are Ava's assembler and the Necklace of anguish.
(1:05) Gnomonkey recommends using the best ammunition you can reasonably afford, since most gear upgrades just improve accuracy while the ammo does the heavy lifting.
(4:12) If training Ranged as cheaply as possible with darts, the armour progression Gnomonkey lists is leather at level 1, studded leather at 20, frog leather at 25, snakeskin at 30, green d'hide at 40, blue d'hide at 50, red d'hide at 60 and black d'hide at 70.
(4:46) D'hide shields provide a ranged attack bonus while training, and the early Ranged levels can easily be skipped by training with a cannon.

Ava's devices

(1:35) Ava's attractor, accumulator and assembler require 30, 50 and 70 Ranged respectively and are unlocked by completing the Animal Magnetism quest.
(1:35) Ava's devices give a ranged accuracy bonus (and ranged strength for the assembler) and retrieve ammo; 20% of ammo always breaks on impact, but each upgrade retrieves more.
(1:35) The attractor retrieves 60% of ammo and drops 20% on the floor.
(2:04) The accumulator retrieves 72% of ammo and drops 8% on the floor, and the assembler retrieves 80% of all ammo, leaving none on the ground.
(2:04) The attractor costs 999 coins from Ava, upgrading to the accumulator requires 75 steel arrows, and upgrading to the assembler requires 75 mithril arrows and a Vorkath head.
(2:04) Gnomonkey recommends unlocking each device as you reach the Ranged level, except the assembler, which he recommends getting as soon as you unlock Vorkath and have the stats for at least single-kill trips.
(2:36) The attractor's and accumulator's DPS upgrades are relatively small against most monsters but the ammo saving saves a lot of money; the assembler is less than a 1% DPS difference if it gives no max hit, closer to 2% if it does.
(2:36) You can right-click and commune with any of the three Ava's backpacks to prevent them from retrieving metal items to your inventory.

Void Knight equipment

(3:08) Void is unlocked through Pest Control and takes about 10 to 15 hours of the minigame to obtain; the elite outfit requires the Western Provinces hard diary.
(3:08) Gnomonkey thinks Void Ranger is probably the most useful Void outfit for Ranged because no ranged armour provides a damage bonus but Void does.
(3:08) The Void outfit gives a 10% damage bonus (12.5% for elite) and a 10% accuracy bonus.
(3:40) Gnomonkey says Void is best in slot against anything with low defence, such as Vorkath or Slayer monsters, while blessed d'hide or Armadyl armour has a significantly higher accuracy bonus and is better against monsters with even slight ranged defence, such as Kree'arra, the Alchemical Hydra or brutal black dragons.

Barrows gloves

(3:40) Gnomonkey says Barrows gloves are actually the best in slot for Ranged, and require completing Recipe for Disaster, a quest with pretty high requirements.
(4:12) Barrows gloves are not a huge upgrade over blessed d'hide vambraces for Ranged, offering only +1 ranged attack and some defensive stats.
(4:12) Gnomonkey says Barrows gloves are great for all setups and that he would rush them on any account he makes.

Opinion: Ranged gear upgrade order

(4:46) Gnomonkey's basic Ranged setup: full black d'hide, archer helm (needs the Fremennik Isles quest), accumulator or assembler, glory, blessing, mithril or adamant darts, black d'hide shield, snakeskin boots, black d'hide vambraces or Barrows gloves, and no ring.
(5:12) Gnomonkey says the first upgrade to get is a Toxic blowpipe, which he calls kind of a noob trap since even with adamant darts it costs about 450k gp an hour to use, but says it is so overpowered everywhere that you realistically should use it for any Ranged content.
(5:43) Gnomonkey's next upgrade is blessed d'hide boots, which are +4 ranged attack and +1 prayer over snakeskin boots at about 850k a pair, a bigger upgrade than either a fury or an Archer's ring would be.
(6:16) For Slayer Ranged, Gnomonkey says to get an imbued black mask or Slayer helmet, giving a 15% ranged accuracy and strength bonus on task for about 800k gp.
(6:16) Gnomonkey then buys an Archer's ring; if you can imbue it at the Nightmare Zone, its ranged attack bonus doubles from 4 to 8, a significant DPS upgrade.
(6:49) Gnomonkey next swaps black d'hide for blessed d'hide, buying chaps first then the body and typically the cheapest variant, a straight upgrade giving +1 prayer per piece for about 500k total, saving many prayer potions.
(6:49) Gnomonkey buys the amulet of fury last in the basic setup because it is not a DPS upgrade, but it gives +2 prayer and some defensive stats and is a great hybrid amulet, which he would buy earlier if also working on a melee setup.
(7:44) After the basic setup, Gnomonkey says the next upgrade to shoot for is Rigour; he suggests buying a Necklace of anguish then selling it back so you can afford Rigour while you work your way up.
(9:15) After unlocking Rigour, Gnomonkey says to buy back the Necklace of anguish, then says upgrades beyond that point are incredibly marginal and sticking with this setup is not a bad plan.
(9:45) Gnomonkey considers Karil's armour more of a side grade to d'hide (worse melee defence but better magic and ranged defence), a straight downgrade from Armadyl armour, and rarely worth using because it degrades, perhaps at Zulrah or certain Slayer tasks.
(10:11) Gnomonkey's next realistic upgrade after Rigour and anguish is Pegasian boots, which give +5 ranged attack over blessed d'hide boots at the cost of the prayer bonus.
(10:44) Gnomonkey's final equipment upgrade is Armadyl armour, which he describes as one of the last upgrades he would get, incredibly expensive and a really small upgrade.

Rigour

(7:44) Rigour provides a 20% ranged attack bonus, 23% damage bonus and 25% defence bonus, versus the next best option Eagle Eye, which only boosts Ranged level by 15%.
(7:44) Gnomonkey says Rigour is such a massive upgrade it is worth rushing, and shows a graphic where a Near Naked setup using Rigour has equal DPS against Zulrah to an Armadyl setup using Eagle Eye.
(8:18) Against a target with lower defence, or a Slayer monster on task, Rigour is an even bigger DPS boost than against Zulrah, which has fairly high ranged defence.
(8:18) Rigour is unlocked by reading a Dexterous prayer scroll, which could be bought on the Grand Exchange for about 35M at the time and crumbles to dust after reading.
(8:46) Gnomonkey says he regrets waiting to unlock Rigour on his account when it cost about 70M because it cannot be sold back, and says that at current prices it is a no brainer.

Necklace of anguish

(9:15) The Necklace of anguish is a +5 ranged attack and ranged strength upgrade over the amulet of fury, losing the defensive bonuses and 3 prayer bonus.
(9:15) Gnomonkey calls the Necklace of anguish a very large DPS upgrade and one of the few equipment pieces that affects max hit as well as accuracy.

Pegasian boots

(10:11) Pegasian boots give +5 ranged attack over blessed d'hide boots, dropping the prayer bonus and gaining slightly more defence.
(10:11) Pegasian boots can be worn on task or with Void, unlike Armadyl pieces, because you can always wear boots with those.
(10:11) Pegasian boots give only about 0.5% more DPS for a massive price difference, but are best in slot.

Armadyl armour

(10:44) Armadyl armour costs about 83M for the whole set, and the full armour gives usually only about 0.5% more DPS over blessed d'hide.
(10:44) The Armadyl helmet is rarely useful because a Slayer helmet is used when wearing Armadyl, but it gives a +5 ranged attack bonus over the archer helm, e.g. maybe when fighting Kree'arra.
(11:18) Armadyl armour provides a bit more magic defence and slightly better defence across the board than blessed d'hide while maintaining the prayer bonus.

Armadyl crossbow

(11:50) The Armadyl crossbow costs about 27M and is the best crossbow in the game on paper, but still has worse DPS than a blowpipe; players bring a blowpipe as well to solo Zilyana for killing the minions.
(11:50) Because of its long range the Armadyl crossbow is good for solo Zilyana, where you need to keep a large distance, and it is the best main Ranged weapon before the Twisted bow in the Inferno.

Dragon hunter crossbow

(11:50) The Dragon hunter crossbow is significantly better against any dragon-based enemy.
(12:22) The Dragon hunter crossbow has 95 ranged attack bonus versus the Armadyl crossbow's 100, losing the special attack and prayer bonus, but gets a 30% ranged attack and strength bonus against dragons.
(12:51) The Dragon hunter crossbow is useful at Vorkath, the Chambers of Xeric and any chromatic dragon, including brutal black dragons.
(12:51) Gnomonkey says the Dragon hunter crossbow is worth buying on any account eventually, and before Armadyl armour if you want to farm Vorkath for money.

Toxic blowpipe

(5:12) Even with only adamant darts the Toxic blowpipe costs about 450k gp an hour to use, more if you leave the darts on the ground.
(5:43) The Toxic blowpipe is one of the few weapons giving both ranged strength and accuracy, and it does not reduce attack speed from darts, still two ticks on rapid.
(5:43) Gnomonkey calls the Toxic blowpipe overpowered for such a cheap ranged weapon.
(11:18) Gnomonkey says the blowpipe has the highest DPS of any ranged weapon other than the Twisted bow, or the Dragon hunter crossbow in specific situations.

Twisted bow

(12:51) The Twisted bow cost about 1.3 billion at the time and has a relatively low 70 ranged attack bonus, +4 prayer bonus and +20 ranged strength.
(13:19) The Twisted bow's damage scales with the enemy's magic level, capped at level 250 in the main game or 350 inside the Chambers of Xeric, giving up to a 140% accuracy boost and 215% damage boost outside raids or up to 248% inside.
(13:52) Gnomonkey says the Twisted bow is best in slot for so many bosses, including Giant Mole, Zilyana, Kree'arra, Zamorak, King Black Dragon, the Dagannoth Kings, Chambers of Xeric, Zulrah, Abyssal Sire, Cerberus, Alchemical Hydra and brutal black dragons, and that Bandos' magic level had to be reduced because it was too overpowered there when the bow came out.
(13:52) Gnomonkey says people liquidate their whole bank to buy a Twisted bow and then rebuild their bank afterwards.