Ranged Attack

Ranged attacks are made by players with Skill Archery or Skill Throwing or certain NPCs such as many aqua goblins. These attacks are distinct from the range-limited Melee Attack and magical spells.

Ranged attacks, like melee attacks, require no casting time and require the player to face their target before use, as well as be within a certain range (as in the item's description). When a player uses the Range Attack, their character will be rotated to precisely face the enemy's direction.

A brief, but significant, server-side delay is present between firing the skill and the target receiving damage. This feature is commonly exploited as a pull tactic in Plane of Sky to aggro enemies while using Rez spells to warp back to another island. This has been disabled.

Ranged attacks fire a single time every time the Range Attack skill is used, although Rangers received an /autofire command in later expansions to repeat the skill. Ranged attacks always consume arrows or thrown weapons when used in classic EverQuest.

Ranged attacks, like bolt spells, may impact an unintended NPC instead if that NPC stands between the target and the player.

Strategy

In classic EverQuest, ranged attacks are generally weak compared to sustained melee DPS or the burst damage of nukes and other spells. Even Rangers, which specialize in this attack, largely forego the use of bows as general DPS in groups. Ranged attacks are very useful for pulling and kiting however. They generate less aggro than spells and are very quick to use. The extra space granted by a ranged attack compared to melee attack can reduce a puller's exposure to being stunned by enemy melee or bashes, and may give them enough room to avoid enemy spells as well.