Content
In OSRS Ironman Mode is for those who want the ultimate challenge. It limits players from being able to trade with each other. That makes players self-sufficient, finding whatever they need or procuring it themselves. It has some additional restrictions, such as not being able to use the Grand Exchange, Accept Aid or receive help in defeating a monster.
There's a Group Ironman Mode now, with a shared inventory and its own set of restrictions, but that's a topic for another article. Ironmen are the epitome of lone wolves, self-sufficient by necessity. There are three 'difficulties' for the mode, Standard, Hardcore, and Ultimate. Hardcore adds a difficulty of having one life; death means they get bumped back into Standard mode. Ultimate raises the stakes by putting more restrictions on top of that.
Here you'll find everything you need to know about this mode to ensure smooth sailing on your run. Whether you're F2P or P2P, we'll cover both sides.
General Ironman Tips
Free-to-play players are restricted to a few skills and areas compared to paid members. If Ironman Mode wasn't already challenging, being F2P makes it even harder. Fortunately, it is still possible to achieve many things even without forking over cash.
The best thing a F2P player can do is keep at one skill until they're satisfied with the level. Multitasking can require traveling to various places, and that's not something a F2P player might be able to afford. Some of the best teleports and access to the Agility skill are only for paid members, and those are the ones that cut down travel time the most.
Focusing on leveling one skill cuts down on the traveling you must do. This comes with a caveat that you should have everything you need for leveling, especially for the crafting skills. This way, you must focus on skilling to level it up without worrying about supplies. Gathering them is the real problem.
Combat ones are easy to manage, except for Magic since you'll need runes. We'll get to the specifics of skilling later.
P2P players' primary focus should be unlocking the most convenient transportation methods and locations. With a broader variety of content available to them, they have access to more efficient ways of training F2P players don't have.
That means training Agility is one of the highest priorities. Doing quests that unlock these transportation methods is also a high priority. Many things are convenient with the player-owned house accessed by the member-only Construction skill. Along with the Fairy Rings and a few other teleport options, that's one of the biggest priorities for P2P Ironmen.
OSRS F2P Ironman Guide
Since experience rates are slower and there is a lack of content, even regular accounts are difficult to max out on F2P. Fortunately, players have found that a linear progression works for F2P members. Read further for some great OSRS Ironman tips.
Combat & Prayer & Range
Quests are limited for F2P players, so they only have the Vampire Slayer quest. That should give you a few levels for Attack. After that, low-level monsters like goblins, chickens, or cows (for hides) would be good places to start.
Big Bones are the meta for prayer training, and it will be prolonged for an Ironman. This makes killing Hill Giants an efficient method because you'll need every bone. In addition, you can get keys to the Obor fight, which drops gear upgrades and noted Big Bones.
For ranged, continue gathering bones by killing monsters that drop them. Ogresses are always an option since they drop both bones and valuable items.
Magic
Ironmen still have access to NPC shops, meaning that's where you'll get a majority of your runes. Training Magic using Fire Strike on Ogress Warriors can be quite profitable for your gold needs, letting you achieve two objectives simultaneously. Runecraft can also be a good source, depending on how you want to level up your skills.
When you have accumulated Nature Runes, you can use it for the High-Alchemy spell to train Magic and earn. You can AFK train Magic with enough money by splashing bolts or strike spells.
Crafting & Mining & Smithing
Mining and Smithing will go hand-in-hand, as you'll be mining the materials required for Smithing. You'll start mining copper and tin to make bronze equipment to start. Doric's Quest can give you a boost for mining.
Once silver bars are available to smelt, you can passively train Smithing while training Crafting by making tiaras. You can use the tiaras for training Runecraft or sell them at the general store for some gold.
You can choose to make iron bars, steel bars, and smith plate bodies until level 99. A good spot for mining coal and iron is the Skeleton Mine above Edgeville is usually empty, plus it's near a furnace.
Woodcutting & Firemaking
As there isn't a use for logs in F2P, it would be good to train Woodcutting & Firemaking together. If your smithing has progressed to smith rune axes, cutting and burning willow logs will be the primary method of training these skills.
Runecrafting
Due to Ironman Mode's restrictions, runecraft is a slow skill to train. You'll have to farm and gather the Rune Essence you'll need for it. Making tiaras can also help, but only a little. That method also requires you to collect talismans, so it's only an option if you have those in hand. Once you get access to crafting Body Runes, it's the best one to craft up until level 99.
Fishing & Cooking
Starting in fishing is straightforward. Just net and bait shrimp until catching trout becomes available. You can use the Evil Bob random event to gain a slight boost if you're lucky. In the end, the meta will be fly fishing in Barbarian Village and cooking fish in a fire when your inventory is complete.
OSRS P2P Ironman Guide
P2P players have a pick of content to do more than F2P players. That makes the leveling experience more dynamic and less of a routine chore. Since that opens way too many methods, here are some of the most effective ones.
Combat & Slayer
First, get your melee stats up by doing some quests. The most recommended ones are:
- Vampire Slayer
- Witch's House
- Waterfall Quest
- Tree Gnome Village
- Fight Arena
- Dragon Slayer
Those should give you enough XP to use Rune and Adamantite equipment.
For more efficiency, train melee by grinding Slayer XP. This method can let you max out both skills at around the same time. It can give you gear upgrades and even enough gold for training other skills.
Ranged
Ranged may also be trained alongside Slayer or bossing or low-level content. Near the start, use bows or the Dorgeshuun crossbow. At about level 70+, you can use Chinchompas from the Hunter skill. Grind levels in the caverns you encountered in Monkey Madness I or II. This is one of the best ways to train the skill until level 99.
Magic
Start out using Fire Strike on Hill Giants or dragons. You'll get bones to start training Prayer as well as train magic. Later, you can multitask High-Alching while training Agility or some other activity. Once you reach the higher levels, you can use the Ice Burst spell for some Slayer tasks and use the Trident of the Seas for bosses.
Prayer
As for Prayer, you should begin with getting the lower levels out of the way through quests. As you go around leveling combat skills, keep the bones you get, especially Dragon Bones and Ensouled Heads.
Once you get your POH altar, you can use its bones for the prayer experience. The alternative is to use them on the Ectofuntus in Morytania. The Ensouled Heads are best used with reanimation spells at the Dark Altar.
Fletching
Fletching is slow at the start. Creating shafts and headless arrows don't precisely have a reasonable XP rate. Once it becomes available, making Broad Arrows is the best way to get to 99 Fletching. It's also best done when in-between activities. With enough gold and the requisite Slayer reward, you can stand to get 450,000 XP per hour (actual rates may vary in practice).
Firemaking
Many recommend doing the Wintertodt minigame to train Firemaking. In the process of leveling this, you'll also get some for woodcutting and fletching. Wintertodt is a good way because of the reward crates it gives. Keep them if you're still at a low level because the items inside will scale to your level when you open the crate, not when you got them. These crates will help in all kinds of skilling activities. Burn some logs until you get to the required levels for the minigame.
Fishing
There are a lot of paths to take with fishing training in P2P. You may skip the low-level content by completing the Sea Slug quest and doing some Evil Bob random events.
Technically speaking, doing Barbarian Fishing is the best route to 99 fishing as you will gain lots of Agility and Strength levels along the way. If you choose to cut the fish, you will gain a marginal amount of cooking experience.
Cooking
There are many ways to start cooking, depending on where you are in the game. If you don't have any fish to cook, you may purchase and cook items from the Culinaromancer's Chest or Rufus' meat shop in Canafis. Once you unlock wines, the grind will go even faster.
Once you get 65 Cooking, make pineapple pizzas at the Hosidius Mess Hall. This also requires 45% Hosidius favor, which is relatively easy to achieve.
Crafting
You may get low-level crafting out of the way through questing, making jewelry, and bowstrings. When you unlock creating molten glass, switch to making that. Focus on that because it's the way to level 99.
Buckets of sand may be obtained in three ways, mining sandstone and grinding it at the Sandstorm Grinder, buying from charter ships, or gathering them in Yanille. Grab Giant Seaweed from underwater farming patches in Fossil Island, or purchase regular seaweed from charter ships.
Mining
Most low-level content can be skipped through quests, and then you may power mine iron ore until you unlock higher-level content. The Rune Pickaxe will be suitable for grinders as it is sold by many NPCs and is even dropped by some monsters.
If going for sand for crafting, you will get tons of mining experience at the Sandstorm. Alternatively, the Motherlode Mine provides a relaxing environment for mining ores for the Smithing grind.
Smithing
It's possible to train smithing passively with ores obtained from mining and monster drops. Specifically, turn steel bars into cannonballs to help your Slayer tasks and grind.
With enough gold, you can buy enough supplies to get to 99 through the Blast Furnace. Otherwise, if you have the Goldsmith Gauntlets, you can buy gold ore and smith them into bars. The last alternative is to create other metal bars and turn those into items at nearby anvils.
Agility
Skip the lower levels by doing quests such as the Tourist Trap. You can also train Agility by fishing through Barbarian Fishing. This method will be enough to get a reasonably high level. From there, you can do the highest rooftop course you can. You can also do High-Alchemy in-between steps for more GP or Magic XP.
Thieving
Thieving is a repetitive yet fast skill that you can start in your Ironman journey. Start with pickpocketing Men and then thieve Cake stalls for some starter food to use with quests. Pickpocket Warrior Women and then Master Farmers until you reach level 45. Blackjacking bandits are the recommended route to go until Level 99.
Herblore
Herblore may be considered the slowest skill to get Level 99 as you need to obtain all materials from scratch. If you have a Herb Sack, you should fill up your inventory as you train Slayer. Aside from that, most of your herbs will likely come from Farming and your kingdom in Miscellania.
Farming
Farming is a skill that will be gained passively as you progress in your Slayer training. Gather any seeds you can get from monsters or birds' nests via Birdhouses. At the very least, you should regularly grow herbs, limpwurt roots, snape grass, and berries, so you have enough materials to get 99 Herblore.
Hunter
The Varrock Museum minigame will help you get through the lower levels of Hunter. It's a faster way since those levels can be a slow grind. You can start doing birdhouse runs at level nine, which will be your primary way of getting hunter XP. Once you unlock Chinchompas, you can keep on collecting them for your Ranged training.
Runecrafting
Runecrafting can be slow, so most players don't like leveling it. You can skip some levels by doing quests such as The Eyes of Glouphrie or Lunar Diplomacy. Experience lamps can also help. Once you have access to the Lunar Spellbook and the Ourania Altar, you may choose to grind all the way to Level 99. Otherwise, crafting Nature Runes at the Abyss is also possible.
Construction
This is a skill that should be progressed slowly as you make money from Slayer and Thieving. You can still get started with meager savings by picking up regular planks at the Barbarian Outpost and constructing chairs or shelves.
The way everybody does train construction is to cut oak logs and have the butler run to the sawmill. The logs are then used to make Oak Larders or Oak Dungeon Doors to 99.
Money Making
Since Ironmen can't use the Grand Exchange, they have to rely on other money-making methods. Usually, players can get an item and sell it for a higher price than what High Alch suggests. Ironmen have to rely on Alch instead.
The simplest and easiest way is to use High Alch on all the crafted things you've made and won't use. That could mean all the rings from smithing, though any food from cooking should be spared. Near the start of the run for P2P players, they can also steal some silk off the merchant and sell it back after 5 minutes. This could be a quick way to fund your house, depending on your priorities.
Then again, Ironmen have less use for gold than regular players. You'll need it for skilling supplies and repairs and pet insurance. Past those things, you don't need gold.
Good Luck, and Always Remember to Have Fun!
In the end, guides are just that, guides. They suggest the most efficient methods of getting somewhere or something, but you, the player, have the final say. You're the one playing the game. You call the shots and choose whether you follow a guide or give the suggestions your take on them.
Anything goes as long as you're having fun. The fun usually doesn't come when sticking to a guide to the letter. It's in discovering little things and doing what you enjoy. Don't let guides railroad you into routine and chore-like actions. Do what feels right for you, whether following the guide or not.
The Ironman challenge can be daunting, even more with its Hardcore and Ultimate versions. With this guide, things can get a little more bearable and you'll be able to survive. Have fun!
