Ironman mode denies access to the Grand Exchange as well as trading with other players. This means many of the skilling supplies used have to be obtained by bossing or gathering. However, gold is still needed to cover instance fees, deposit money into the coffer for Managing Miscellania, purchase spirit shards for summoning, convert logs into planks, etc. It is recommended to unlock High Level Alchemy as quick as possible, and to unlock the ability to enter the nature altar as early as possible. Although the main source of money comes from high alching, many items such as rune arrows or rune javelins have a lower alch value. It is recommended to sell items like these to a general store.
A lot of the strategies in this guide are not useful in terms of account progression for a normal account, but instead catered to Ironman/Hardcore Ironman accounts. Quests play a big part in the early game, as many of experience rewards allow the player to jump multiple levels at a time. A lot of items that can be bought on regular accounts are locked behind a quest requirement. It is important to do quests as soon as possible so that many of the early levels are skipped.
A plethora of rewards, including Sunshine, 8 experience lamps, and additional experience rewards, with more rewards if all the recommended quests are completed.
Made through Invention. Converts alchable drops from monsters into raw materials which are sent directly to the player's bank. As the raw materials are usually high level (e.g. Runite ore) the spring cleaner is primarily useful for players with high Smithing and Crafting levels.
Early money making[]
Skills such as Summoning and Construction require money to level efficiently. Other things, such as boss instances and Miscellania will also come in handy for the future. Some of the no-requirement money-making methods are going to be used here, as ironmen cannot access the Grand Exchange.
Opening all of the chests in the Stronghold of Security for the first time gives 10,000 coins.
Corrupted Scarabs in Menaphos offer great rewards with very few requirements, particularly for Ironmen. One needs only a decent supply of food appropriate for their Constitution level and to complete the Jack of Spades quest. Scarab swarms are fairly uncommon and brief, so using an active Friends chat is suggested, while also having something to do during downtime. Depending on luck and skill (see the 'Tips' section in the relevant article), one can expect to make between 10K-250K per swarm alongside excellent reputation and Slayer experience.
Killing level 1 trolls in the Abandoned Burthorpe mine. These monsters drop a drape, which sells for 75 coins in the store, along with bronze 2h swords, and chainbodies. This is a good place to start training, as you can kill the trolls fast, along with getting a cape with designated stats.
Pickpocketing the Gullible tourist in the southern part of the Port district of Menaphos gives 30 coins and 29.5 exp per pickpocket, and has no Thieving requirement. Pickpocketing from her also occasionally rewards small Menaphite gift offerings, which always rewards between 26,000 and 74,800 coins and a plethora of other rewards.
Mid-level money making[]
Slayer contracts are an excellent source of money and a small amount of slayer exp.
Gargoyles are a fantastic moneymaker, with many alchables, averaging 30,000 coins and over, along with noted bars, providing a good source of smithing experience, but requiring 75 slayer.
Aberrant spectres are a great source of seeds, herbs, and alchables.
Turoth are a fast slayer task, consisting of adamant alchables, herbs, seeds, and uncut gems. Killing these with Seedicide can be a very good source of Farming experience.
Mountain trolls are a good source of nature runes for high alching, along with seeds, and occasionally a granite shield.
Aquanites are a good, constant source of medium to high level seeds, herbs, water battlestaves and occasionally sirenic scales. Killing these with Seedicide can be a very good source of Farming experience.
Super restore (4) and Summoning potion (4) - Mazcab Emergency Merchants 3 x stock of super restores, 1 stock of summoning potions. restocking one potion every 2 minutes.
Complete Throne of Miscellania and Royal Trouble as early as possible, putting 10 subjects into hardwood. Mahogany logs are more construction exp per day, but cost a lot more. If money is not an issue, it is highly suggested to pick mahogany. Converting mahogany logs into planks costs 155,500 more than teaks, but grant 1,470 more experience. After 114 Invention, mahogany logs can be converted to planks at a very small cost of divine charges, making mahogany logs a very viable option for every ironman that will get 114 Invention before 99 Construction.
Grow any herb seeds you get, prioritising herbs used in overload potions
Herblore[]
Herblore is generally considered to be the most difficult skill to train on ironman, because gathering large amounts of herbs can be difficult and takes time. Thus, many ironmen decide to put as much extra experience into herblore as possible, including quest rewards and Jack of trades aura. For tips on how to gather herbs and secondary ingredients, see the Seeds and Herbs section below.
Invention[]
Due to the high requirements for invention, most ironmen have high skill levels and many resources to disassemble by the time invention is unlocked.
Levels 5-120 Dissassemble melee, ranged or magic sunspears. Sunspears are tier 78 weapons unlocked by the River of Blood quest. They are augmentable and can be disassembled for 523,800 invention experience once they reach level 10. After disassembling, they can be rebought for 600,000. Many ironmen choose to do this all the way until level 120 as it eliminates the need for Equipment siphons which can be difficult to obtain in mass quantities on an ironman.
Mining[]
Levels 10-50/99 can be achieved from the Shooting Star D&D.
At 45 Mining, granite can be mined, and should be banked (5kg only), as granite is required to make granite lobsters, which are used for Summoning. Around 30,000 granite (500g) is required, if done only through granite lobsters.
Levels 60-70 can be done with mithril burial armour. Mithril ore can be transmuted from coal requiring 63 Divination, 2 vibrant energy and 3 coal. Transmuting is preferential for ironman as coal can be obtained in mass quantities from Managing Miscellania, whereas other ores may be in short supply.
Furnace 3. Although perfect juju mining potion can be difficult to obtain on an ironman, it is extremely beneficial because a fair amount of what you mine will be banked as opposed to simply dropped on the ground.
Buying every potion from the shop costs 1,601,250 an hour
This can be up to 600 papaya fruits an hour.
This can be done at the same time as training other skills. It is recommended to dismantle, fletch, or create unfinished potions while casting Fruitfall.
Cutting teak logs[]
Cutting a teak tree
Deadliest Catch and Monkey Madness quest required, as well as 35 Woodcutting. It is highly recommended to have the highest tiered hatchet available to you.
Alternative to Deadliest Catch, the Evil Tree Distraction and Diversion log-banking bonus can be used instead.
Bring a hatchet, preferably an augmented crystal hatchet with Refined and Polishing perks
After a full inventory, run to the bank chest and deposit the logs. The area running back to the trees is a straightway allowing full surge capability.
There is a small chance that you will cut a special teak log. Two of these special teak logs can be exchanged to a sawmill operator (bring noted) along with 27 normal teak logs for 27 teak planks, for free.
A teak tree grants 85 Woodcutting and 90 Construction experience per log cut.
Killing vyres[]
Possible locations of stray vyres marked in red.
Vyres are essential to an ironman account, as it is a great supply of Herblore supplies and money, as well as combat, Prayer, Firemaking, Farming (with seedicide), and Invention experience.
Stand on the tile north-west of the tree as pictured (this is so all 6 vyres can reach you).
Prioritise AoE's such as corruption blast or hurricane.
It is recommended to enable auto-retaliate and area looting.
It is important to not move from the square. In order to pick up loot, drop an item below you and area loot your item back, along with surrounding loot.
This method is around 320,000 Prayer experience an hour.
Recommended Equipment[]
Augmented Sunspear - Cheap, hybrid, augmentable, easily replaceable and the highest tier weapon for vyres make this a popular choice for Invention training and mid-level slayer.
Berserk blood essence - good pocket slot item for boosting offensive stats, used before overloads.
Holy wrench - main pocket slot item while slaying, for preserving prayer and super restore potions.
Morytania Elite Tasks - 50%+ increase in Prayer experience
Corruption, salvation, and harmony auras - Every 500 prayer experience gained, 3-10% (depending on tier) of prayer points are restored.
Fire and Nature runes in rune pouch for high alchemy
Creating decorated urns[]
Urns can be a great way of augmenting skilling experience per hour, and a recent update to the IthellVoice of Seren allowed the soft clay rock to never deplete, allowing quick soft clay gathering. Additional items and bonus's such as Bracelet of clay, Varrock armour 4, and Perfect juju mining potion allow even greater yield to soft clay. The potion has a 10% chance of spawning a stone spirit, and when spawned, automatically sends the soft clay to the bank for the next 30 seconds. An additional ore is sent to the bank, ranging from copper to runite, runite being the rarest. On top of banking for 30 seconds and an extra ore, charges for the bracelet of clay are not consumed. It is recommended to bring 10 bracelets with you, and dropping any soft clay you get with your action bar, only keeping the soft clay that has been sent to the bank.
This can be up to 4000 soft clay an hour, and depletes about 10 bracelets of clay.
After the soft clay has been gathered, it is now time to create urns. Down below is a calculator, which will tell you approximately how many urns you need to create for the inputted goal level (automatically set to 99). The calculator does not take into account any bonus experience you may have, such as a skilling outfit or the wise perk.
It is highly recommended to make Cooking, Fishing, Runecrafting, Farming and Woodcutting urns first before any other urns.
Urn calculator[]
template = Urn calculator
form = urncalcin
result = urncalcout
param = current|Current Level/XP|1|int|0-200000000
param = goal|Goal Level/XP|99|int|0-200000000
The calculator form will appear here soon. You will need Javascript enabled and cannot be using the mobile version of the Wiki.
If you are on a mobile device, you can load the full version of the site by clicking here.
The result will appear here when you submit the form.
Type in any skill level and you will see a list of all the highest tiered urns and the amount needed to achieve your goal level.
Dungeoneering Crafting[]
Up to 100k Crafting experience an hour along with 100k Dungeoneering experience (rates for 99+ dungeoneering), with some experience in a multitude of skills such as Woodcutting, Fishing, Fletching, Summoning and combat. It is recommended to buy the Scroll of dexterity as early as possible to save hides while doing this method.
Start a complexity 6 small floor and complete the dungeon while picking up drops, cutting trees, fishing, opening the chests, and infusing/high alching summoning pouches. Cookie-cutter: F1-30 c6 small and 30+ c6 med.
Purchase some thread and Protomastyx hide. Craft Protoleather bodies and sell them to the Smuggler. Repeat until you no longer have enough rusty coins to continue crafting. Alternatively, High Level Alchemy can be used to get more rusty coins per body than selling to the Smuggler, but this is a much slower process than selling a full inventory at once and requires having nature runes.
Upgrade your ring of kinship into the artisan variant, which gives a chance of saving resources while skilling, with gatherer, which gives a chance of gaining resources as a secondary.
Training dungeoneering as an ironman is different than a main, because as an ironman you want to maximise free experience gain
The hide can be keybound to the ability bar speeding up the process of crafting a large quantity of hides at a time.
Equipment[]
Armour
Pathfinder equipment, obtained from following the Path. Potentially the best gear you'll have for many levels.
Tuska warpriest, obtained from the Tuska Comes minigame. This is hybrid armour and can, once having the matching defence level, be changed from level 25 armour, to level 50 and 75. The minigame also gives some nice experience to a variety of skills.
Warpriest armour is also a hybrid armour dropped by monsters in the God Wars Dungeon. It also acts as a god item, protecting a player from the aligned faction in the dungeon.
Ghost hunter equipment, this is a hybrid armour dropped by ghosts (list here) It scales with level up to level 70.
Superior Fremennik armour from deathmatch, a tier-65 d2d variant of Fremennik armour, excellent for higher tier monsters like generals in the God Wars Dungeon.
God Wars Dungeon armour (Armadyl equipment, for example). This armour is almost best in slot for most purposes. It's the highest level power armour that doesn't degrade.
(Tier 60) God staves - Obtained from the Mage Arena in the Wilderness. Guthix staff is recommended because its special attack is extremely useful even at the toughest bosses in the game.
(Tier 70) Barrows equipment - Alternatively, at a significantly lower overall skill requirement, the Barrows brothers can be killed for their weapons.
(Tier 75) Greater runic staff - At 90 Runecrafting this staff can be purchased with 25,000 points at Runespan. One ironman strategy is to rush 90 Runecrafting immediately, as it unlocks Player-owned port. So to some ironmen this is a great option.
(Tier 78) Sunspear (magic) - This is a great weapon to have, but it has a heavy skill requirement. The weapon is obtained from River of Blood quest, and can switch between all combat styles.
(Tier 80) Chaotic staff - Requiring 80 Dungeoneering, these can be bought with 200,000 dungeoneering tokens.
This is a brief list of viable options for ironmen. For a full list see Weapon/Melee weapons.
The beginning tier of weapons can be skipped after completing Waterfall Quest, which rewards enough experience to level your Attack and Strength to level 30 if done at level 1.
(Tier 78) Sunspear (melee) - This is a great weapon to have, but it has a heavy skill requirement. The weapon is obtained from River of Blood, and the best part about it, is it can switch from a melee weapon, to a magic/ranged weapon on the fly.
(Tier 80) Chaotic weaponry - Requiring 80 Dungeoneering, these can be bought with 200,000 dungeoneering tokens.
(Tier 85) Dragon Rider lance - Dropped from the boss Vindicta in the Heart of Gielinor. This weapon has the damage of a Tier 80 weapon, but the accuracy of a Tier 90 weapon.
(Tier 85) Tetsu equipment - As an alternative, these weapons can be made in your Player-owned port. The downside is it requires significant progress in the minigame.
(Tier 70) Barrows equipment - Alternatively, at a significantly lower overall skill requirement, the Barrows brothers can be killed for their weapons.
(Tier 78) Sunspear (ranged) - This is a great weapon to have, but it has a heavy skill requirement. The weapon is obtained from River of Blood, and the best part about it, is it can switch from a ranged weapon, to a melee/magic weapon on the fly.
(Tier 80) Chaotic crossbows - Requiring 80 Dungeoneering, these can be bought with 300,000 dungeoneering tokens.
(Tier 85) Shadow glaives - Dropped from the boss Gregorovic in the Heart of Gielinor. This weapon has the damage of a Tier 80 weapon, but the accuracy of a Tier 90 weapon.
(Tier 85) Death Lotus dart - As an alternative, these weapons can be made in your Player-owned port. The downside is it requires significant progress in the minigame.
(Tier 90) Noxious longbow - Parts to build this weapon are dropped from the solo boss Araxxi.
Ironmen can't purchase most of their equipment so they may kill bosses outside of the recommended stats and gear. To make up for this, different strategies are sometimes used.
To start a Dagannoth Kings instance, it's recommended to use the fastest spawn speed as only one of the Kings is to be killed. Upon entering the instance, quickly move to spot 1, surging along the way. Attack Dagannoth Rex when he spawns with Combust, and move back into spot 1, wait, and use Resonance to heal off his first, and hopefully only successful hit. Move into spot 2 once Rex is in range, indicated by his hitting the player. Kill him without worry, as the other Kings won't come into attack range. Once Rex is dead, collect the loot and either wait in the complete safety of spot 2 for around 10 seconds then move to spot 1, or move directly into spot 1. Either way, before Rex spawns again, use Regenerate to convert your remaining adrenaline into health, or stall your adrenaline for the next kill by killing the minions in the water or using Anticipation, Freedom, and Preparation. If done right you shouldn't end up using any food besides the occasional agro by one of the other two Kings. If that does happen, it's advised to quickly exit via the entrance while using protect from ranged, or protect from magic if the more damaging, Dagannoth Prime happens to attack on the way out.
Kiting Bosses[]
A player kiting Durzag
Kiting is when you run away from a melee-based opponent being out of reach of the target, resulting in them being unable to attack you. This is most effective when used at bosses that only melee, but still can be used on bosses that attack with multiple styles. An under-geared Ironman would want to do this because it allows them to continue to kill a boss for extended periods of time with minimal supply use, albeit slower kills due to the inability to take full advantage of abilities such as Sunshine or Asphyxiate.
Popular bosses to kite as a low level Ironman are:
Beastmaster Durzag's primary method of attacking is by throwing melee punches and slams, increasing enrage to the aggression holder if multiple hits are dealt. He can also send range attacks to many of the players in the arena, including to the person holding aggression if the beastmaster can't hit them, but these attacks do not increase enrage. A player can take advantage of this by running around the arena to substantially decrease the enrage stack gain. If the player has not been hit by a melee attack for more than 15 seconds, the enrage resets back to 0. This allows a single player to tank Beastmaster Durzag for a long period of time without the need of a backup tank.
Nature talisman
Ring of life, 
Sign of life
Bonecrusher, 
Twisted bird skull necklace
Dragon hatchet
Scroll of cleansing
Charming imp
Warpriest of Tuska armour
Greater runic staff
Chaotic equipment (staff recommended)
Seedicide
Spring cleaner
Cake - Thieving stall south of Catherby bank.
Antipoison (3) - Jiminua's Jungle Store 10 stock
Premade gnome food - Up to 1500 healing food from Gnome Waiter. 10 stock of each food.
Antipoison++ Dropped 40 at a time from Corporeal Beast
- Cooked tuna and swordfish can be obtained from Managing Miscellania
Super potion set (1) - Can be obtained from thieving Iorwerth and Cadarn clans in Prifddinas.
Desert sole, Catfish, and Beltfish - heal 1450, 1500, and 1650 respectively.
Super potion set (4) - Bought from Mazcab Emergency Merchants 1 x stock of each, restocking once every 2 minutes.
Cooked eeligator - 1850 healing food from Mazcab Emergency Merchants for 3750 coins each.
Super restore (4) and Summoning potion (4) - Mazcab Emergency Merchants 3 x stock of super restores, 1 stock of summoning potions. restocking one potion every 2 minutes.
Tuna potato - Potato with butter from Rorarius, grow sweetcorn (seeds from Taverley Farming tutor), tuna from Managing Miscellania.
Saradomin brew - Dropped from Nex in a 30:10 or 10:30 ratio in conjunction with super restores. Queen Black Dragon and Mature grotworms drop (2) dose Saradomin brews. Araxxi drops up to 18 Saradomin brew flask a kill.
Rocktail - Dropped up to 10 at a time from Queen Black Dragon
Overload flask - Can be obtained as a drop from Araxxi after the player has at least 90 herblore.
Daily Challenges Extended Herblore > Construction > Dungeoneering > Smithing > Runecrafting > Crafting.
155,500 more than teaks, but grant 1,470 more experience. After 114 Invention, mahogany logs can be converted to planks at a very small cost of divine charges, making mahogany logs a very viable option for every ironman that will get 114 Invention before 99 Construction.
Avantoe seed
Cadantine seed
Dwarf weed seed
Fellstalk seed
Irit seed
Kwuarm seed
Lantadyme seed
Ranarr seed
Snapdragon seed
Toadflax seed
Torstol seed
Grimy avantoe
Grimy cadantine
Grimy dwarf weed
Grimy fellstalk
Grimy irit
Grimy kwuarm
Grimy lantadyme
Grimy ranarr
Grimy snapdragon
Grimy toadflax
Grimy torstol
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