OSRS HCIM Safe Ranged: Blue Dragons vs TzHaar Cannon

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.

For a Hardcore Ironman, every hour of Ranged training is a test of patience, planning, and nerve. The meta may push you toward aggressive cannon spots or chinchompa stacks, but one death ends the account. That's why the debate between safe spotting blue dragons with a Dorgeshuun crossbow and safe spotting TzHaar with a dwarf multicannon matters so much. Both offer ranged experience without standing in melee distance, but they could not be further apart in risk, cost, and attention.

This guide compares the two methods for HCIM specifically. We'll break down requirements, safe spot setup, XP expectations, common mistakes, and the moment when buying gold or a boost stops being a cheat and starts being a time trade.

Requirements and Unlocks for Both Methods

Before you start either grind, you need a few unlocks. The blue dragon route is lighter on quests but heavier on weapon access; the TzHaar route asks for a cannon and a willingness to feed it steel bars.

Safe Spotting Blue Dragons with a Bone Crossbow

The Dorgeshuun crossbow is beloved by ironmen because bone bolts are practically free and the weapon has no ammo retrieval penalty if you don't use Ava's device. Against blue dragons, you'll stand outside their melee range and fire away, picking up dragon bones and blue dragonhide between kills. The defining trait of this method is safety: as long as your safe spot is correct and you don't disconnect, death is almost impossible. The trade-off is XP. Blue dragons have significantly higher Ranged defence than the crabs or low-level Slayer monsters where the bone crossbow shines, so your experience per hour will be a fraction of the 14,500–27,000 range you could get at gemstone crabs. Expect a slow, steady grind that works well as a second-screen activity.

Because the crossbow is two-handed, you cannot use a shield, but that rarely matters. Wear the best dragonhide you can, keep a teleport tab in your inventory, and avoid the temptation to AFK for more than a minute or two. HCIM disconnects are the silent killer.

Safe Spotting TzHaar with a Dwarf Multicannon

A dwarf multicannon changes the math. It can hit up to 30 with regular steel cannonballs regardless of your Ranged level, and it fires even while you stand in a safe spot. The key is finding a location among the TzHaar where the cannon can hit multiple monsters without them pathing to you. This usually means placing the cannon behind an obstacle and standing somewhere that blocks melee, but TzHaar have several attack styles, including mage and ranged variants, so a "safe spot" is not always completely safe. One unlucky spawn or a wander can end a HCIM.

The cannon's accuracy is tied to your current attack style's accuracy, so using an accurate ranged weapon or even a melee setup with high attack bonus can improve cannon hit chance. However, TzHaar are not the low-defence ogres east of Castle Wars that give around 40,000 XP/hr from the cannon alone. Their higher combat stats mean lower cannon accuracy and less XP, but it can still beat bone crossbow at blue dragons if you can stay alive and afford the cannonballs. For an ironman, smelting steel bars into cannonballs is one of the slowest skilling loops in the game, so this method is far more painful for self-sufficient accounts.

If you do attempt this on a hardcore, bring an emergency teleport, prayer potions if you plan to use Protect from Missiles, and never let your hitpoints drop below one-shot range from a TzHaar-Ket's melee hit. Some players use a ring of life as a final safety net, but on a HCIM, relying on a ring of life is already too late if a double hit lands.

Risk Analysis: HCIM Death Potential and Supply Cost

Let's be blunt. Blue dragons are one of the safest ranged training methods in the game. The safe spot is simple, the monsters are single-combat, and their attacks are entirely melee if you stay out of line of sight. Your biggest risk is a disconnect, and even then, the dragon will probably stop attacking once you log out if you haven't already been hit to zero. TzHaar are the opposite. Mor Ul Rek is multi-combat in several areas, TzHaar-Ket hit hard, and the mixed attack styles mean there is no single protection prayer that covers everything. A lag spike at the wrong moment can cost you hundreds of hours.

Supply cost is equally lopsided. Bone bolts cost almost nothing and can be bought in bulk from Nardok. Cannonballs require steel bars and a long smelting cycle. Even if you buy the ores from shops, the time spent making cannonballs is time not training Ranged. Mains can simply buy steel bars or cannonballs, which flips the economic argument completely — but that's not available to an ironman.

XP Rates and Time-to-Goal Comparison

The table below summarises the two methods against the better-known cannon ogres and the bone crossbow at crabs. Use it as a decision matrix, not a promise. Your actual rates will change with gear, Ranged level, and safe spot quality. Note that the wiki's ironman guide lists gemstone crabs at 14,500–27,000 XP/hr for levels 28–55, and the pay-to-play guide lists ogres east of Castle Wars at around 40,000 XP/hr from the cannon alone.

Time-to-goal depends on your target. If you just want 55 Ranged for chinchompas, the bone crossbow at crabs is the efficient choice, but blue dragons are a viable side-grade if you want Prayer and Crafting banked. If you're aiming for 70 or beyond, cannoning TzHaar might shave hours but at a real risk to your account. The honest answer: for HCIM, the safer XP is usually the better XP.

AFK vs Efficient Attention Requirements

Attention matters more than raw XP when you cannot die. Blue dragons with a bone crossbow are semi-AFK: you click a dragon, wait for the kill, pick up drops, and repeat. You can look away for a minute or two without panic. TzHaar cannon safe spotting demands constant awareness. The cannon holds 30 cannonballs and fires quickly, so you'll be reloading every 20–30 seconds. You also need to watch for TzHaar-Hur or TzHaar-Xil wandering into your safe spot and hitting you from range. This is not a method you can do while watching a movie; it's active even though you're technically "safe spotting."

For players who value multitasking, blue dragons win. For players who want to push through ranged levels as quickly as possible on a non-HCIM, the cannon is the standard answer. But on a hardcore, the risk-adjusted XP/hr of blue dragons is far higher than the thermometer suggests.

Common Mistakes and How to Avoid Them

• Forgetting Ava's device. Complete Animal Magnetism at 30 Ranged. It costs an hour and saves thousands of bolts over time. Check whether bone bolts qualify for retrieval before relying on it.
• Using the wrong attack style. Always use rapid for the highest damage output, as recommended in the training guide. Longrange only if you're training Defence.
• Assuming a TzHaar safe spot is 100% safe. Test it on a main first. TzHaar can shoot back, and multi-combat zones can pile you.
• Underestimating cannonball costs. On an ironman, making 10,000 cannonballs takes many hours of smelting; that's time you could have spent at blue dragons.
• Not carrying a teleport. A one-click teleport is mandatory on HCIM. If you have to run, you've already lost.
• Ignoring your hitpoints at blue dragons. Safe spot or not, a disconnect can leave you tanking hits. Keep hitpoints above 70% as a buffer.

When Buying Gold or a Service Is the Honest Shortcut

If you're playing a normal account, the entire comparison flips. Buying OSRS gold to fund cannonballs turns the biggest downside of TzHaar cannoning — cost — into a non-issue. Instead of spending six hours smelting steel bars, you buy the cannonballs and spend that time training. That is not cheating; it's outsourcing the boring part. The same logic applies to buying dragon bones for Prayer or better gear. However, Hardcore Ironmen cannot trade, so buying gold does nothing for them. What they can do is buy a ranged training service? That would require account sharing, which violates Jagex rules and risks the account. We cannot recommend that. The honest shortcut for a HCIM is selection: pick the method that respects your account's life and your real-life time. If you're not a HCIM and want the fastest 99, the cannon route with purchased supplies is the time-efficient choice, but you still need to learn the safe spot.

If you're a main and want to skip the grind, see current gold rates. If you want to improve your early ranged training on an ironman, read our comparison of bone crossbow vs magic shortbow here. For a main account deciding between darts at sand crabs, this guide breaks down cost per XP.

Final Verdict: Which Method Fits Your HCIM?

For a Hardcore Ironman, the answer is almost always blue dragons with a bone crossbow. It's not flashy, it won't set records, but it keeps your account alive while banking useful resources. TzHaar cannon safe spotting is a high-variance gamble that only makes sense if you have deep knowledge of the area, a stable connection, and a tolerance for losing everything. Even then, the XP per hour advantage isn't as large as the risk suggests, because TzHaar defence eats into cannon accuracy.

If you're playing a normal account, use the cannon and buy the supplies — the time saved is worth the gold. If you're on a HCIM, embrace the slow grind. Your future self at 99 Ranged will thank you for not becoming a death screenshot.

Sources

• Ironman Guide/Ranged
• Pay-to-play Ranged training