Bone Crossbow vs Magic Shortbow for Ironmen: 1–70 Ranged Training Guide

Game screenshots and facts are cited from the Old School RuneScape Wiki (strategy, equipment, drops, and related pages). Writing is original editorial, not a copy of the wiki article.

Ranged training on an ironman is a battle of logistics before it is a battle of DPS. On a main account, you can buy tens of thousands of broad bolts or rune arrows and never look back. On an ironman, every arrow is a crafting project, every bolt a shop run, and the wrong weapon choice can leave you stuck at sand crabs with an empty quiver. The classic early-game dilemma is whether to stick with the humble Dorgeshuun bone crossbow—with its cheap, NPC-sold bone bolts—or to rush a magic shortbow and feed it a scarce supply of rune arrows.

This guide walks through the 1–70 Ranged journey for ironmen, compares the two weapon paths, and shows you where to spend your time, your coins, and your patience. We use rates and requirements from the official OSRS Wiki Ironman Guide/Ranged, Hitpoints, and Defence pages, and flag anything you should double-check in-game.

Who This Guide Is For / Requirements

This guide is aimed at ironmen who want to reach 70 Ranged without wasting days on painfully slow or unsustainable methods. Both main accounts and ironmen can use the bone crossbow, but the magic shortbow comparison matters most for ironmen because they cannot simply buy rune arrows from the Grand Exchange. You will need to complete a few quests, unlock access to a good training spot, and make an honest decision about your ammo supply. The table below summarises the baseline requirements for each path.

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Early Ranged Training: Quests to Skip the Grind

Before you even pick a weapon, quest rewards can carry you past the slowest levels. The OSRS Wiki Ironman Guide recommends using the 10,000 combat experience reward from Shadow of the Storm to jump straight to level 27 Ranged. Completing Death to the Dorgeshuun and Horror from the Deep together grants 6,663 Ranged experience—enough to reach level 32 from zero. That is a huge head start, and it gets you into the bone crossbow's sweet spot almost immediately.

Below are the most attainable quests mentioned in the wiki guide. Requirements are listed beside each one so you can plan your path.

• Death to the Dorgeshuun — Requires The Lost Tribe, 23 Thieving, 23 Agility. Rewards 2,000 Ranged XP.
• Horror from the Deep — Requires 35 Agility. Rewards 4,663 Ranged XP.
• Heroes' Quest — Requires many quests, 55 Quest Points, 53 Cooking, 53 Fishing, 25 Herblore, 50 Mining. Rewards 2,075 Ranged XP.
• Temple of Ikov — Requires 40 Ranged (skippable), 42 Thieving. Rewards 10,500 Ranged XP.
• Zogre Flesh Eaters — Requires Big Chompy Bird Hunting, Jungle Potion, 30 Ranged, 4 Smithing, 8 Herblore. Rewards 2,000 Ranged XP.

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Bone Crossbow Setup and Ammo

The Dorgeshuun bone crossbow is the workhorse of early ironman Ranged. You unlock access to it by completing The Lost Tribe, then buy both the crossbow and bone bolts from Nardok's Bone Weapons in the Dorgesh-Kaan mine. The wiki explicitly calls it a good early-game weapon because of its low requirements and the affordability of bone bolts. Unlike most ironman ammo, bone bolts are sold by an NPC for a fixed coin price, which means your supply is limited only by your cash stack.

The best low-defence training targets for this setup are crabs, particularly gemstone crabs. The Ironman Guide/Ranged page lists gemstone crabs as awarding between 14,500 and 27,000 Ranged experience per hour with the bone crossbow. At those rates, you can go from level 28 to level 55 in roughly 7 hours. That is an excellent pace for an ironman with no ammo stress.

You can also use the bone crossbow on low-level Slayer monsters or other low-defence creatures, but crabs are the easiest to set up and largely AFK. Bring a few thousand bone bolts, food if your Defence is low, and a ranged armour setup with as much Ranged attack bonus as you can reasonably obtain.

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Magic Shortbow with Rune Arrows: The Ammo Problem

The magic shortbow becomes a tempting upgrade once you hit 50 Ranged. With rune arrows, it delivers noticeably higher damage per hit than bone bolts. However, the wiki's ironman Ranged guide does not recommend the magic shortbow over the bone crossbow for early levels, because the real barrier is not the bow—it is the arrows. Rune arrows require 40 Ranged to use, but on an ironman, obtaining them in bulk is a long project involving multiple skills.

Bone bolts are sold by an NPC; rune arrows are not. They must be fletched from rune arrowtips and headless arrows, smithed from rune bars, or collected from monster drops and clue scrolls. Each of those methods competes with other ironman priorities, and the time spent gathering rune arrows is time not spent training Ranged. The magic shortbow itself also has an ironman acquisition bottleneck—commonly from hard clue scrolls or fletching, but not guaranteed early.

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Head-to-Head: Bone Crossbow vs Magic Shortbow

The choice between bone crossbow and magic shortbow is not about raw damage per second—it is about sustainability. On paper, the magic shortbow with rune arrows will always beat bone bolts in damage. In practice, an ironman who runs out of rune arrows will be forced back to the bone crossbow anyway. The table below summarises the key differences for early- to mid-level ironmen.

Factor	Dorgeshuun Bone Crossbow	Magic Shortbow + Rune Arrows
Ranged level to use	Low requirement (verify exact on wiki)	50 for bow, 40 for arrows
Ammo acquisition	Buy bone bolts from Nardok's Bone Weapons	Fletch/smith/monster drops—multiple skills needed
Ammo cost	Fixed coin cost per bolt; easy to sustain	Opportunity cost of gathering rune arrows; scarce
Best low-def targets	Gemstone crabs, low-level Slayer	Same targets but higher damage per hit
XP/hr at gemstone crabs	14,500–27,000 (wiki range)	Not directly listed in wiki; test your own rate
Overall sustainability	Excellent—ammo is NPC-bought	Poor without a large pre-made arrow stockpile
Best use case	1–55, and up to 70 if you value AFK	55+ if you already have a large rune arrow surplus

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Training Methods from 1-70

Here is a step-by-step route that uses quest rewards, the bone crossbow, and only switches to other methods when they are clearly better. The wiki's fastest experience section suggests chinchompas at 55+, but that is a separate decision—one we cover after the main comparison.

Step 1: Quest to 32 Ranged

• Use Shadow of the Storm for the 10,000 combat XP reward to hit 27 Ranged.
• Complete Death to the Dorgeshuun and Horror from the Deep for 6,663 Ranged XP, reaching 32.
• Do Animal Magnetism for Ava's device.

Step 2: Bone Crossbow at Gemstone Crabs (28–55)

• Buy a Dorgeshuun crossbow and a few thousand bone bolts from Nardok.
• Head to gemstone crabs and train. Expect 14,500–27,000 XP/hr.
• Level 28 to 55 takes roughly 7 hours with this method.

Step 3: Level 55 Decision

• If you have a large surplus of rune arrows and a magic shortbow, you can switch for faster kills, but ammo will drain quickly.
• If you want the fastest XP at this stage, the wiki recommends chinchompas at maniacal monkeys in Kruk's Dungeon on Ape Atoll. This method requires hunting chinchompas first, but it outperforms single-target Ranged.
• If you prefer AFK or cannot hunt chinchompas efficiently, continue with the bone crossbow at ammonite crabs or another low-defence monster until 70.

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Common Mistakes and How to Avoid Them

Ironmen often sabotage their Ranged grind by making a few predictable errors. Here are the top ones to avoid, based on the wiki guide's recommendations and the realities of ammo supply.

• Switching to magic shortbow too early: Without a rune arrow stockpile, you will waste time running back to a bank or skilling for arrows. Stick with bone crossbow until you have at least several thousand rune arrows ready.
• Skipping Animal Magnetism: Ava's devices are not a luxury. Losing ammunition on an ironman is pure waste, and the quest is easy at 30 Ranged.
• Using bone crossbow on high-defence targets: The weapon excels against low defence. Against armoured enemies or bosses, damage falls off sharply. Use a different weapon for those situations.
• Ignoring chinchompas after 55: The wiki lists chinchompas as the fastest experience from 55 onward. If you care about speed, learn to hunt and stack them at maniacal monkeys.
• Overstocking bone bolts before knowing your XP/hr: Bone bolts are cheap, but buying 50,000 when you need 20,000 ties up coins that could be used for other supplies. Buy in smaller batches and re-stock as needed.

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Time and Cost Tradeoffs

Time is the real currency on an ironman. The bone crossbow path is slower in raw DPS but nearly zero effort to sustain, while the magic shortbow path is faster only if you have already invested hours into ammo production. Consider the following tradeoffs before you commit.

• Bone crossbow to 70: 28–55 takes ~7 hours at gemstone crabs. 55–70 will take longer because the same XP/hr applies, but you can be almost entirely AFK and spend almost no time gathering ammo.
• Magic shortbow to 70: Potentially faster kills per hour, but you must first acquire the bow and enough rune arrows. The wiki guide does not list an XP/hr for MSB at crabs, so you will need to test it yourself. The ammo-gathering time could easily exceed the time saved.
• Chinchompas: The fastest overall method from 55+, but it requires Hunter levels, quest unlocks for better hunting grounds, and active play. It is not comparable to AFK bone crossbow.

If you are a main account, you can short-circuit the ammo problem by buying gold and then purchasing bone bolts or rune arrows from the Grand Exchange. For ironmen, that option does not exist. The only honest shortcut for an ironman is a leveling service or account boost, which trades real-world money for your time. We are not affiliated with Jagex, and you should always follow the game's rules. But if you value your time more than the grind itself, a service can be a legitimate choice.

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Practical Next Steps

Here is a checklist to get you moving today:

1. Complete The Lost Tribe and Death to the Dorgeshuun.
2. Do Shadow of the Storm for the 10,000 combat XP reward.
3. Finish Horror from the Deep, then Animal Magnetism at 30 Ranged.
4. Buy a Dorgeshuun crossbow and 2,000–3,000 bone bolts from Nardok.
5. Train at gemstone crabs from 28 to 55, using Ava's device.
6. At 55, decide whether to continue AFKing with bone crossbow or switch to chinchompas for speed.
7. If you plan to use a magic shortbow, start stockpiling rune arrows now—do not switch until you have a large surplus.
8. Track your XP/hr at each stage and adjust your plan based on your actual rates.

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Sources

• Ironman Guide/Ranged
• Ironman Guide/Hitpoints
• Ironman Guide/Defence