The dark bow is a ranged weapon that requires level 60 in Ranged to wield. It is only received as a drop from Dark beasts. It is the slowest weapon in the game, with an attack speed of 1 (5.4 seconds). Its speed on rapid mode is 4.8 seconds. It shoots two arrows per attack. The dark bow has an attack range of 10. Longrange does not increase attack range.
Assuming that both weapons are set to the Rapid attack style, the dark bow has a firing time of 2.4 seconds per arrow, whereas a shortbow such as the magic shortbow (i) takes only 1.8. Because of this, the dark bow is only fairly popular for Player killing. It has the highest max hit of any weapons in the game by means of special attack (although Twisted bow and Dharok's greataxe can hit harder with regular attacks and Dragon 2h sword is able to deal more total damage with its special attack).
10 tiles is the maximum distance for any attack in RuneScape. The dark bow's attack range on Accurate and Rapid is 10, therefore Long Range can have no effect on this.
Special attack
The dark bow has a unique special attack comprised of two different attacks, both of which consume 55% of the player's special attack energy.
A player performing one of the dark bow's special attacks, Descent of Dragons.
The 1st special attack, Descent of Darkness, deals up to 30% more damage with a minimum of 5 damage per arrow. The Descent of Darkness special attack animation shows the arrow shafts surrounded in a black shroud being fired at the target.
The 2nd special attack, Descent of Dragons, can only be used if the player has dragon arrows equipped. This attack deals up to 50% more damage with a minimum of 8 damage per arrow, while capping the max hit at 48 damage per arrow[1]. The Descent of Dragons special attack animation shows black dragon heads being fired at the target.
Colouring
On 18 September 2014, dark bows could be recoloured using a special paint obtained from Bounty Hunter. The colouring will make the bow untradeable; however, to remove the colouring, simply use a cleaning cloth and the bow will return to its regular state. Buying a colour paint for the dark bow costs 500,000 points.
Offers a special attack where the player can hit any target in a 3x3 area, while in a multicombat area, making it one of three range weapons that can hit multiple targets. This costs 60% of special attack bar.
It is considerably cheaper than the armadyl and dragon hunter crossbows.
Dark bow
60
+95
Offers the third highest Ranged attack bonus in the game, behind the Heavy ballista, which offers +125 ranged attack, and the crystal bow and armadyl crossbow, both offering +100 ranged attack.
It is the slowest weapon in the game, offering only an attack speed of 2.
Offers a powerful special attack, where if used with dragon arrows, it increases damage dealt by 50% with a minimum hit of 8 (30% with any other arrow with a minimum hit of 5). Costs 55% special attack energy.
It is the only shortbow to offer a special attack. The special attack fires 2 shots, but with reduced accuracy in rapid succession. Costs 55% special attack energy.
The bow can be imbued by using a magic shortbow scroll on a normal magic shortbow. The imbued version increases accuracy to +75 and lowers the special attack cost to 50%.
It is the only one of three ranged weapons that offers the ability to hit more than one opponent at a time (similar to burst or barrage ancient spells), the others being the special attack of the dragon crossbow, with a similar attack, and Rune thrownaxe, with a ricochet type attack.
Regarded to be the best way of training Ranged at the cost of it being expensive.
If a player dies with chinchompas equipped or in their inventory, they will disappear as they are live animals. Dying with black chinchompas to a player in the wilderness does not make them disappear.