OSRS Ironman Guide: Modes, Rules and Early Priorities

This OSRS Ironman guide covers the three decisions that shape an Ironman account: which of the six Ironman modes to pick, which rules you will live with, and what to prioritize in your first weeks. The short version is that a standard Ironman is the most forgiving start, quests and early Agility pay off more than anything else, and almost every early goal is about unlocking supplies you can no longer buy from other players. Everything below reflects the game as of November 2026, including the new Hardcore Worlds that launched on 4 November and are easy to confuse with Hardcore Ironman.

We checked this against the OSRS Wiki pages for Ironman Mode, Ultimate and Group Ironman, the wiki's Ironman guide, and Jagex's official news posts in November 2026.

Choosing Your Ironman Mode

Ironman is an official game mode you choose at the end of Tutorial Island by speaking to the Ironman tutor before the Magic Instructor teleports you to the mainland. There are six types, each with its own armour, chat badge and, for five of them, a dedicated HiScores table. The original Ironman and Ultimate Ironman modes both arrived on 13 October 2014, Hardcore Ironman followed on 10 November 2016, the two ranked group modes launched on 6 October 2021, and Unranked Group Ironman came on 26 May 2022.

Ironman modes in Old School RuneScape (OSRS Wiki, November 2026)

Mode	Released	Extra rule on top of Ironman
Ironman	13 October 2014	Base self-sufficiency rules
Ultimate Ironman	13 October 2014	Cannot use banks
Hardcore Ironman	10 November 2016	One life; an unsafe death converts it to a regular Ironman
Group Ironman	6 October 2021	2 to 5 players who can trade within the group
Hardcore Group Ironman	6 October 2021	Group shares one life per player
Unranked Group Ironman	26 May 2022	Group mode without its own HiScores

For a first Ironman, the regular mode is the sensible default. It keeps your bank, keeps you alive through mistakes, and still delivers the self-sufficient experience people play the mode for. Hardcore is best saved for a second account or for players who already know which deaths are dangerous. Ultimate Ironman is a specialist challenge built around inventory management, and Group Ironman is the right call only if you have friends committed to playing regularly, because group members share progress and storage.

What an Ironman Cannot Do

The core rule is self-sufficiency. Ironmen cannot trade with other players, apart from a few quest items from Shield of Arrav and Heroes' Quest, and bonds. They cannot use the Grand Exchange for anything except buying bonds through a special Ironman-only interface. Other players' kills are off limits: if another player has attacked a monster, an Ironman usually gets no loot at all from it, and Achievement Diary kill tasks do not count if someone helped.

The list goes further than most new players expect. Ironmen cannot enter another player's house, cannot use the Accept Aid setting, cannot benefit from overstocked or understocked shop prices created by others, and cannot pick up items from fallen players in PvP, except the bones that always drop. They also gain no experience from player-versus-player fights beyond base Magic experience for casting spells.

Some group content is allowed with special loot rules. The wiki lists raids, Nex, The Nightmare, the multicombat Wilderness bosses, Royal Titans, Yama and several skilling bosses as exceptions where Ironmen can still receive rewards when fighting alongside others. Everything else is designed so your bank only ever holds what you earned yourself.

Hardcore, Ultimate and Group Rules in Practice

A Hardcore Ironman has one life. Dying an unsafe death converts the account to a regular Ironman and locks its Hardcore HiScores entry, shown with a line through the name. Safe deaths do not count, and the wiki lists them, including the TzHaar Fight Cave, the Inferno, Pest Control, Nightmare Zone, Barbarian Assault, Castle Wars, Soul Wars, Last Man Standing and deaths inside a player-owned house.

Ultimate Ironmen cannot use banks at all. They cannot deposit, withdraw or note items, cannot use the seed vault, and cannot keep any items on death, even with Protect Item. Items dropped on death stay on the ground for an hour, and that timer pauses while logged out. Planning every trip around a single inventory is the whole puzzle of the mode.

Group Ironman allows 2 to 5 players to trade freely inside the group while keeping the normal restrictions toward everyone else. Members who join before the group is founded have prestige status; newer members face weekly trade caps on items and gold received from teammates. Hardcore Group Ironman shares one life per player across the whole group, and several activities that are safe for a solo Hardcore Ironman, such as the Fight Cave, the Inferno, Pest Control and Nightmare Zone, are unsafe for a hardcore group.

Do not confuse any of this with Hardcore Worlds, which Jagex launched on 4 November 2026. Those are separate permanent worlds where a fresh character uses the Hardcore Group Ironman death rules, and after a death you choose to reset or transfer the character. Unlike Ironman, trading and the Grand Exchange are not restricted there.

Early Priorities That Pay Off

The wiki's Ironman guide calls quests the most efficient way to level early, naming Waterfall Quest and The Feud as examples. Quests also unlock the transport, shops and gear an Ironman cannot buy. Bone Voyage opens Fossil Island for birdhouses and ultracompost, Lost City opens Zanaris and the dragon dagger, and Recipe for Disaster leads to Barrows gloves, one of the classic early milestones.

Food is the first practical problem. The guide suggests buying jugs of wine from Fortunato in Draynor Village for 1 coin each, which heal 11 hitpoints, and stealing cakes from bakery stalls. Transportation is the second: it recommends training Agility early because run energy regeneration improves every 10 levels, and it notes the full Graceful outfit costs 260 marks of grace, usually gathered at 60+ Agility. Cheap teleports matter just as much: the guide points to the games necklace, the ring of dueling and the Ardougne cloak 1 from the easy Ardougne Diary, plus log canoes and Diango's chronicle before you can afford rune-based teleports. Our Agility training routes show which courses get you those marks fastest.

For skilling, the guide recommends Wintertodt early for Firemaking and supplies, aiming for 60 Woodcutting to use the Woodcutting Guild, which it notes lands around 88 to 90 Firemaking. Barbarian Fishing is suggested with stopping points such as 74 Fishing for 50 Agility and Strength, while Tempoross is available from 35 Fishing and is often preferred over it. Combine these with steady questing and Achievement Diary tiers, which our Achievement Diary guide ranks by how much they speed up an Ironman.

Money and Supplies Without Trading

Ironmen still need coins for shops, teleports and fees, but they cannot sell to other players. The wiki's Ironman guide lists blackjacking at 45 Thieving and stealing valuables at 50 Thieving as early options, and says High Level Alchemy becomes the main method once you reach 55 Magic. It also points to the Agility Pyramid, which pays 10,000 coins per pyramid top, and recommends about 60 Agility and the Graceful outfit before relying on it.

Much of the trading-based advice in our money making guide does not apply to you, but the recurring runs do. Herb runs and birdhouses work exactly the same for an Ironman, and they supply the herbs and seeds you cannot buy.

Bonds are the one tradeable exception. Ironmen can buy bonds on the Grand Exchange through their special interface, receive bonds as gifts, and, since 9 April 2025, give bonds to other players. That makes it possible to pay for membership with gold earned in-game. Keep a reserve for this once you rely on membership, because a gap in membership locks you out of the members' skills and areas your whole route depends on, and an Ironman cannot simply buy supplies back afterward.

Long-Term Goals and Leaving the Mode

Ironmen tend to set clear milestones because every upgrade is earned. Popular mid-game targets include the fire cape, Barrows gloves, Slayer progression and diary rewards. Later, the endgame opens up through bossing and Combat Achievements, and our Combat Achievements guide explains how those points unlock rewards that help an Ironman specifically, such as boosted clue chances. For the hardest solo goal, our Infernal cape guide covers the Inferno, which is a safe death even for a Hardcore Ironman.

You can leave the mode at any time by talking to the Ironman tutor in Lumbridge. Converting to a standard account, or from Hardcore or Ultimate down to a regular Ironman, is permanent and comes with a 7-day waiting period you can cancel. Since October 2024 the old permanent lock option has been replaced by an optional 90-day downgrade waiting period, which needs a total level of 1,000 to set. As of the 3 November 2026 update, the Lumbridge Ironman tutor is no longer visible to non-Ironmen.

Starting With an Established Account

Ironman progress is slow by design, and some players would rather begin with an account that already has levels or unlocks in place. Our Old School RuneScape page carries account listings, including Ironman accounts, and the selection changes daily.

Keep in mind what the official rules say about it: Jagex forbids handing an account over to someone else in any form, including lending or sharing, and states plainly that account sales are not something it permits. The whole point of Ironman is earning every item and level yourself, so the self-made route above remains the one the mode was built for, and the badge means more when it is yours from Tutorial Island onward.

Frequently Asked Questions