Ironman Mode

OS

"Ironman" redirects here. For the titles, see Ironman/Ironwoman and Hardcore Ironman/Ironwoman.

This article has a strategy guide. All information on mechanics, setups, and strategy are on the subpage.

Ironman Mode and Hardcore Ironman Mode are account-types that encourage the player to be entirely self-sufficient. Both types of Ironman mode are locked out of most forms of interactions with other players such as trading, the Grand Exchange, most group minigames, PvP, and almost all other group activities. The modes were released on 13 October 2014. They are accessible only via a dropdown menu on the character creation screen.

Once character creation is complete, these modes may only be turned off using in-game items such as the Jar of divine light and the Book of diplomacy, to turn off Hardcore and regular Ironman modes respectively. Both items are sold by Mr Ex, and neither action can be undone.

Hardcore players have the added challenge of only having one "life". As soon as they die, their account is permanently locked, unless they have purchased the Jar of divine light. If they have done so, the item will be activated upon death from either the player's bank or the inventory and will convert the account into a regular Ironman account. There is also an option to buy an extra life (divine coin) at total levels 1000 and 1600 for 100,000 and 10,000,000 coins respectively. This is so that people who have already progressed far into the game are able to avoid losing their accounts from lag, bugs, etc.

Hardcore Ironmen that have died may still access the in-game lobby, and death does not affect the Old School RuneScape game in any way.

Benefits

Ironmen 'benefits' are entirely cosmetic in nature, or otherwise don't impact gameplay directly. A few are quality-of-life focused.

Examining a tradeable item while in Ironman Mode will display the high alchemy price instead of its Grand Exchange value. The Price checker will also function this way, however loot beams are still based on Grand Exchange value.

Ironmen are identifiable by a dark grey dumbbell chat badge, and Hardcore Ironmen have a red skull chat badge. These cannot be disabled and the Premier club chat badge cannot be enabled.

Ironmen have access to the titles "Ironman [Name] / Ironwoman [Name]" and "[Name] the Ironman / [Name] the Ironwoman"; Hardcore Ironmen can used the titles "Hardcore Ironman [Name] / Hardcore Ironwoman [Name]" or "[Name] the Hardcore Ironman / [Name] the Hardcore Ironwoman". These can be changed to any other unlocked title, however.

Two separate hiscores exist, one for each of the two types of Ironman. When a Hardcore Ironman account gets deleted or downgraded, that account is not removed from the Hardcore hiscores, but their hiscores at the time of downgrading are kept, their name crossed through and a message displaying how they died.

A global announcement is issued whenever a hardcore ironman with a total level of at least 1000 dies.

Ironmen have access to Ironman Armour override, and hardcore ironmen to HC Ironman Armour override.

Hardcore deaths

"Safe" Deaths in Hardcore Mode

Deaths are non-permanent in hardcore mode if they are counted as "safe death" in the regular game. In general, if the player would keep all of their items as a non-hardcore account, the death is safe for hardcore ironmen.

Examples include:

• Any death in which a player is resurrected by a sign of life, sign of death, portent of life, or portent of death, or the Immortality ability
• Dying in a Player-owned house
• Dying inside a Dungeoneering floor
• Dying to the parasites on Tuska's back during the Tuska Comes world event
• Most combat-related minigames, e.g.:
  • Clan Wars white and purple portal
  • Any death within the Duel Arena, Castle Wars, Dominion Tower, etc
  • Dying in the TzHaar Fight Cave, Fight Kiln, or Fight Cauldron
  • Dying during Troll Invasion
• Some quest-specific deaths:
  • Falling off the pathway in Demon Slayer
  • Dying to Agoroth or a Crassian warrior during A Shadow over Ashdale
  • Dying to Dawn during The Death of Chivalry
  • Dying to Drakan during Lord of Vampyrium
  • Dying to Sharathteerk or Zemouregal during Dimension of Disaster: Curse of Arrav
  • Getting hit with a dragonkin fireball in Missing, Presumed Death or Ritual of the Mahjarrat
  • Dying in the mansion in Broken Home
  • Dying to the 4th stage of Koschei the deathless during The Fremennik Trials
  • Dying against TokHaar-Hok during The Brink of Extinction

Death announcements

If the Hardcore account has at least a total level of 1000, a description of their cause of death is globally broadcasted.

[NAME] just died in Hardcore Ironman mode with a skill total of [TOTAL LEVEL] [CAUSE OF DEATH].

Message	Cause of death
to an unknown power	Default message, for any reason besides the ones listed below
burnt by dragonfire	From Gorvek's fire, being flambeed during Recipe for Disaster, fireballs on Mos Le'Harmless during Ritual of the Mahjarrat
by breaking the rules of Ironman mode	Killed by a Jagex Moderator for rule breaking
by failing at Agility	Killed by failing a regular agility course
by failing to swim	Killed by failing a water agility shortcut (e.g. stepping stones)
by insulting the elder god Jas	Killed after choosing one of Jas's dialogue choices during Sliske's Endgame
by playing with fireworks	Dying via Smoke Tendrils self-damage at training dummies in Lumbridge.
by provoking some bees	Bee hives near Seers' Village
by standing in the fire	Being caught in the flames during The World Wakes
by succumbing to poison	Killed by poison
by succumbing to the power of Yakamaru	Being reflected damage during the stun pool or triggering the attack when going out of combat during the fight.
falling victim to ghasts	Killed by damage from ghasts, by not having Druid pouches or an Ouroboros pouch.
fighting against: [NAME OF NPC]	Killed in combat by an NPC
in a PVP battle with [NAME OF KILLER]	Killed in the Wilderness by another player
in a train cart	Haunted Mine
playing with fire	Killed during Heart of Stone in the Ful chamber in Karamja Volcano.
setting off a trap	Killed by traps in Tirannwn, thieving traps (such as chests), etc.
succumbing to the heat of the desert	Killed by the desert heat effect
to skittering insects in the dark	Killed by having no light source in a dark location
via electrocution	Killed by a lightning strike on Freneskae
with their hand in someone else's pocket	Killed by failing a pickpocket

Hardcore death notification

High risk situations

Some areas or events prevent teleportation or the use of portents (sign of life, portent of life, etc.). The player must be aware of the risks involved in entering these areas or events.

• Araxxor's lair prevents teleportation. A player may only exit the area after completely finishing the boss.
• The boss, Lol, fought during The Mighty Fall prevents the use of armour, auras, pocket items and jewellery. Non-combat items are also forbidden. Teleportation runes however are allowed. The boss also has the potential to 1-hit the player with his special attack.
• When fighting Kamil during the Desert Treasure quest, stats are constantly drained by the freezing cold. As a result teleportation might not be available. In addition, Kamil's magic attacks can periodically stun the player, preventing both teleportation and consumption of food. It is recommended to have a one-click teleport handy such as an ectophial or teletabs.
• Glarial's Tomb has restrictions for armour, runes and several others. Low level players must be wary when entering this tomb. Advised is to bring a one click teleport such as the ectophial.
• Acheron mammoths have a mechanic called "dishonourable conduct", which on rare occasions can stack three times resulting in an instant-kill.

Restrictions

Both Ironman and Hardcore Ironman modes restrict player-to-player interaction in the following ways:

• Trading is disabled, with a few exceptions:
  • Bonds (can only receive bonds as ironman, not trade them away)
  • Heroes' Quest items:
    • Miscellaneous key
    • Pete's candlestick
• Items dropped by other players and the monsters they kill cannot be picked up, except special items such as:
  • Maul of Omens and its pieces
  • Planks at Yakamaru
  • Bounty emblem (t1) drop from a target kill in Bounty Hunter minigame
  • Bones from another player's death.
• The Grand Exchange can only be used to purchase bonds.
• Daemonheim cannot be entered with other players.
• Co-op Slayer is disabled.
• The assist system is disabled.
• Grouping system can only be used for the Liberation of Mazcab raid.
• Group buffs, such as clan avatars and or any such buffs from Treasure Hunter, are disabled.
• Ironmen cannot summon the clan avatar.
• Skilling in the Clan Citadel will only provide 25% of the experience normally earned.
• Training dummies and divine Locations owned by other players cannot be used. Buffs from others using the player's own divine location are also disabled.
• Elite training dummies and portable skilling stations placed by other players cannot be used (and, as Treasure Hunter exclusive items, cannot be earned) by ironmen.
• Features in other players' player-owned houses are disabled.
• Daily challenges will only provide rewards related to the challenge the player has just completed (e.g. the player will be rewarded with fishing related items for completing a fishing related challenge) and will reward the player with only half the value of the initial resources (e.g. turning in 30 magic logs will result in a mystery bag containing 15 magic logs).
• Vic the trader is disabled.
• Double XP Weekends are disabled.
• During events such as winter weekends, the double experience and reputation in Artisans Workshop is disabled.

Minigames

• Various minigames and D&Ds are completely disabled, including Blast Furnace, Demon Raids, Fishing Trawler, Fist of Guthix, Heist, Sinkholes, Trouble Brewing, and Wilderness Warbands.
  • Music for disabled minigames can be obtained by trying to enter the minigame.
• Several activities are otherwise limited, such as Clan Wars, Dominion Tower, and Vinesweeper.
  • Group rumble matches in the Tower are disabled.
• Experience rewards and certain item rewards are restricted or disabled in many minigames and D&Ds, such as Barbarian Assault, Clan Wars, Conquest, Mobilising Armies, Pest Control, Great Orb Project, Soul Wars, Stealing Creation, and the TzHaar Fight Pit.
  • Great Orb Project restrictions include only being able to purchase cosmetic items such as the Runecrafting outfit. Talismans, teleport tablets (except one Blood tablet for Morytania tasks), and essence cannot be purchased.
  • The zeal reward from Nomad's Requiem can be spent on experience.
  • The Artisan's outfit and Fletcher's outfit can be purchased within Stealing Creation, however all other rewards are disabled.
• Thaler can be obtained from minigames that are accessible to Ironmen, however it can only be spent on rewards that are otherwise available to Ironmen, with some exceptions.
  • All pieces of minigame hybrid armour can be bought.
  • Barbarian Assault armour is restricted.
  • Only pets can be bought in the Misc section.
  • Limited edition items cannot be bought.
• Both the Duel Arena and Conquest have staking disabled.
• Ironmen cannot purchase Annihilation, Decimation, or Obliteration weapons or the Amulet of the forsaken from the Bounty Hunter & Deathmatch Reward Shop

Tasks

Several tasks are replaced with ironman-only versions, as they involve content that ironmen cannot access:

• Ardougne Tasks:
  • Gone Fishing: instead of boarding the fishing trawler, ironmen need only attempt to board
  • Catching Some Rays: instead of catching a manta ray, ironmen have to successfully cook a rocktail on Witchaven docks (a significant increase in skills required)
• Daemonheim Tasks:
  • It's Dangerous to go Alone: instead of doing a dungeon of 2 or more players, ironmen must complete a medium dungeon in complexity 6
  • Kitchen Aid: Instead of feeding a teammate, ironmen must attempt to feed a familiar
  • Sinking Fast: instead of completing a sinkhole, ironmen must simply click on the entrance of one
  • Totem Pole Position: instead of handing in 20 items in a sinkhole, ironmen must enter 6 resource dungeons of level 35 and below in 6 minutes
• Wilderness Tasks:
  • Camping is in Tents: instead of looting supplies from a warband, an ironman needs to just attempt to loot supplies

Combat and bosses

• Any NPCs killed will award experience depending on how much damage the player has done to it, not the full experience set on the monster.
• Ironmen have to deal over 50% damage to regular monsters or they won't get the drops.
• All PvP activities will neither award experience nor loot, except tier 1 emblem drops in Bounty Hunter.
• Ironmen can only use custom encounters for bosses (instances set in the "Standard" spawn speed are free despite the requirements section stating otherwise, however instances with the "Fast" and "Fastest" spawn speeds are still paid for) except for Araxxor.
• Only ironmen can join ironman instances.
• LootShare and CoinShare can only be used inside boss instances with other ironmen. It is immediately turned off if a non-boss monster is killed (boss minions don't count).
• Amount of players allowed in boss instances is limited further than regular accounts. It is 5 for most bosses, exceptions are:
  • Kalphite King: 10
  • Vorago: 10
    • Vorago Hardmode: 15
• Group bosses (Barrows - Rise of the Six, the Kalphite King, Raids, and Vorago) can be fought only with other ironmen.
• "Group" and "Other" spells (e.g. cure-, tele-, heal-, and vengeance other) as well as boost potion share don't work when used on an ironman.
• Ironmen can only benefit from the Ice Asylum ability if they used it themselves.
• Group Seren spells and prayers are disabled including prisms, excluding Shield Dome and Prism of Dowsing.
• Ironman players are unable to hit the WildyWyrm.

Microtransactions

• Treasure Hunter is completely disabled.
  • This includes non-cosmetic items (such as silverhawk boots) which are sometimes obtainable outside Treasure Hunter (like in the Thaler shop or Advent calendar).
  • Many Treasure Hunter promotions with free aspects are partially completable by ironmen, for example Attack of the Zombie Sprouts allowed ironmen to do the 200 daily fatigue (for experience and to unlock one set of wings) but they could not obtain the additional sprays needed fully complete the promotion
• Wicked pouches, challenge gems and clan citadel boosters cannot be purchased (or used) from Solomon's General Store.
• Some Legendary pet features cannot be used: life saver, slayer finisher, repair and fertiliser.
• Recruit a Friend does not provide any bonuses to Ironmen (however, those recruited will still get their bonus).
• Dwarven instinct aura rewards are reduced.
• Mahjarrat aura's 50% monthly boost cannot be used.
• Some Desert pantheon aura effects cannot be used: Scabaras, Apmeken. Hardcore ironmen cannot use Icthlarin.
• VIP chat badge cannot be toggled on.

First to achievements

Main article: List of Ironman firsts

Global announcements are broadcast for various firsts, including the first hardcore death, the first to achieve a total level of 500 and 1000, the first to reach level 99 in a skill, and the first to complete various quests. Players can check some of these achievements at the Ironman plaque in Edgeville.

Beta

On 30 September 2014, around 130 players were selected to participate in the Ironman Mode Beta after receiving a message on 26 September, while others were also selected from certain competitions.

These accounts have usernames in the format "irontrial###" ranging from 1 to 130; however, all players were allowed to change their name.

When Ironman Mode was officially released, the beta accounts could still be played, but they would not appear on the Hiscores.

Trivia

• There is currently a glitch where the armour dropped by Revenants (such as Corrupt dragon equipment and Ancient Warriors' equipment), when degraded, will refund the player with the Grand Exchange price instead of the High Level Alchemy price.
• It is currently possible for Ironman and Hardcore Ironman accounts to receive a 5 year and 10 year veteran cape, but only if the character creation process was never completed.
• In September patch notes, quick chat messages for "I am a (Hardcore) Ironman" and "I am a (Hardcore) Ironman btw" were added. Latter referring to the ironman community often noting their achievements as more worthy due to their Ironman mode status.