Ironman Mode (2024)

Ironman Mode is an account type, released on 13 October 2014, that requires the player to be almost entirely self-sufficient. Ironmen are locked out of or restricted in most forms of interactions with other players such as trading, the Grand Exchange, PvP, and almost all other group activities. Attempting to trade with a Ironman will yield the chatbox message "[Player name] is an Ironman. He/She/They stands^[sic] alone."

Ironman Mode can only be enabled at the end of Tutorial Island by speaking to the Ironman tutor before being teleported by the Magic Instructor. There will be an option to convert it to a standard account (or to a regular Ironman in the case of a Hardcore or Ultimate Ironman) at any point after the tutorial by talking to the tutors in Lumbridge, but this conversion is permanent, and an account cannot be remade an Ironman. After confirming to toggle Ironman Mode off, there will be a 7-day waiting period before the toggle will take effect, during which time the player may cancel the change if they change their mind or if their account had been hijacked; the change is also cancelled if a Hardcore Ironman dies during the waiting period to become a standard account.

Players may also choose to permanently stay an Ironman by talking to the Ironman tutor in Lumbridge. After the update of 11 January 2018, new accounts must have a skill total level of 1,000 to set permanent Ironman status.

Standard ironman and Ultimate ironman were both released on 13 October 2014.

Hardcore ironman was later released on 10 November 2016.

Group ironman and Hardcore group ironman were both released on 6 October 2021.

Unranked group ironman was released on 26 May 2022.

Distinctions[edit | edit source]

There are six types of ironmen accounts: A standard ironman, a hardcore ironman, an ultimate ironman, a group ironman, a hardcore group ironman and unranked group ironman. Each type has their own armour (equivalent to iron equipment) and a chat badge to denote their status:

Chat badge	Armour
Standard ironman	Ironman armour
Hardcore ironman	Hardcore ironman armour
Ultimate ironman	Ultimate ironman armour
Group ironman	Group ironman armour
Hardcore group ironman	Hardcore group ironman armour
Unranked group ironman	Unranked group ironman armour

There are also five HiScores for Ironman Mode: One each for normal, hardcore, ultimate and group and hardcore group ironman accounts.

Restrictions[edit | edit source]

Standard[edit | edit source]

Ironman players are NOT able to do the following:

• Trade with other players (except certain quest items from Shield of Arrav and Heroes' Quest, as well as receiving bonds).
• Use the Grand Exchange to buy or sell any item except for bonds, which are purchasable (but not sellable) via a unique ironman-only interface.
• Pick up drops from other players' kills.
  • No loot will drop whatsoever if another player has attacked that monster. Even zero points of damage dealt by another player will prevent the ironman from getting any loot. This does not apply if that monster was weakened by other monsters. In addition, if the monster attacks other players too much, the ironman will not get loot to prevent tanking.
  • Achievement Diary tasks involving monster kills cannot be earned if assisted by another player, e.g. having another player assist in killing the Giant Mole for the Falador Hard Diary.
• Pick up fallen players' items from PvP.
  • The guaranteed bones drop is an exception.
  • Loot dropped on the ground will not be able to be picked up. Other non-iron players may pick it up.
  • Loot within a loot key will not be able to be collected from a loot chest, however unopened loot keys may be transferred to non-iron players via a separate player-versus-player death.
• Gain experience from player-versus-player encounters (base Magic experience from casting spells is still gained, however).
• Use the Accept Aid feature.
• Enter another player's player-owned house.
• Buy items from other players through overstocked shops or take advantage of higher sell prices of understocked shops.
• Receive items via balloons in the Falador Party Room.
• Group activities in Nightmare Zone, and resource rewards from the reward chest (excluding scroll of redirection).
• Receive rewards from group bosses when fought alongside other players, excluding the following exceptions:
  • The skilling bosses Tempoross, Wintertodt, and Zalcano.
  • The multicombat wilderness bosses Callisto, Venenatis, and Vet'ion.
  • The raids Chambers of Xeric, Theatre of Blood, and Tombs of Amascut.
  • Moons of Peril
  • Nex
  • Nightmare
  • The Forinthy Surge buff from Revenant maledictus

Hardcore[edit | edit source]

For a list of first Hardcore Ironman Accomplishments, see Ironman Mode/Hardcore ironman firsts.

Hardcore Ironman players will only have one life, in addition to the standard restrictions given to all ironmen. If a Hardcore Ironman dies, they will be converted to a standard ironman. In addition, their experience and total level on the Hardcore Ironman HiScores table will be locked, with their name slashed across like this.

Safe deaths, such as those in minigames, will not cause the player to become a standard ironman. The following activities are deemed safe:

• Barbarian Assault^{[h 1]}
• Camelot training room^{[h 1]}
• Castle Wars
• Chambers of Xeric^{[h 1]}
• Clan Wars
• Dream World during Lunar Diplomacy^{[h 1]}
• Emir's Arena
• Fishing Trawler^{[h 1]}
• The Fremennik Trials - 4th phase of the duel with Koschei the Deathless
• Inferno^{[h 1]}
• Last Man Standing
• Magic Training Arena^{[h 1]}
• Nightmare Zone^{[h 1]}
• Pest Control^{[h 1]}
• Death within a player-owned house^{[h 1]}
• PvM Arena^{[h 1]}
• Replay of Glough boss fight
• Soul Wars
• TzHaar Fight Cave^{[h 1]}
• TzHaar Fight Pit
• Random Event^{[h 1]}
• Rogues' Den (maze)^{[h 1]}
• Zulrah - Resurrection reward from Elite Western Provinces Diary only

When a Hardcore Ironman dies, the following message appears in their chatbox: You have fallen as a Hardcore Ironman, your Hardcore status has been revoked.^[sic]

Hardcore Group Ironman[edit | edit source]

For hardcore group ironman only, there are no safe PvM deaths. The group has a shared pool of one life per player; for example, a group of 3 players shares 3 lives between them and will lose Hardcore status after losing the third life. Lives can be lost by any player, and multiple lives can be lost by a single player.

Deaths that would normally be considered "safe" for solo hardcore ironmen are NOT safe for group hardcore ironmen. This means that each death in minigames such as Barbarian Assault, TzHaar Fight Cave, or Chambers of Xeric will result in a loss of a life for the group. The only exception to this is the Fremennik Trials fight with Koschei the Deathless (4th phase). Hardcore group ironmen should take extra care to use the exit potion when leaving the Nightmare Zone, since dying will result in the loss of a life for the group. They should also use extra caution in minigames such as Pest Control as other players can provoke monsters such as splatters and cause them to detonate close to you.

PvP minigames such as Last Man Standing, Clan Wars, Castle Wars and any type of death in Soul Wars are still safe deaths for hardcore group ironmen.

Furthermore, hardcore group ironmen are unable to challenge Nex with members outside of their group, regardless of Group Prestige.

Ultimate[edit | edit source]

See the Ultimate Ironman Guide for guides and more information concerning this gamemode.

Ultimate Ironmen have the following restrictions, in addition to the standard restrictions given to all ironmen:

Storage:

• Cannot withdraw, deposit or note items at a bank. They are still able to unnote items at banks.
• Cannot create item sets using the Grand Exchange.
• Cannot receive resources from Managing Miscellania or daily buckets of sand from Bert.
• Cannot send items with Coal Trucks, the Dwarven Boatman or Daeyalt essence to the bank.
• Cannot send their Servant to the bank or the Sawmill.
• Cannot store anything in the seed vault.
• Cannot store duplicate items in the POH Costume Room, or withdraw items before first depositing the entire set an item belongs to.
• Cannot utilise the looting bag's mechanics on a PvP world outside of the Wilderness.

Death:

• Cannot protect their 3 most valuable items on death.
• Cannot take advantage of the Protect Item prayer.
• Cannot utilise graves, instead, their items will drop directly to the ground. Inside instances and the God Wars Dungeon items will still be put outside, with supplies dropped on the floor. Item retrieval services work as normal, with the exception of at Zulrah.
• Items dropped on death will remain where they are for an hour after death until despawning. This timer pauses when logged out.
• Ultimate Ironmen may always retrieve items for free from Zul-Gwenwynig, and do not have an interface to reclaim their items from. Instead being given directly into the inventory when reclaimed.
• Untradeable items are always dropped on death, if killed in the Wilderness most items are converted into coins and dropped for the player who killed the Ultimate Ironman.

Ironmen and bonds[edit | edit source]

Ironmen can get bonds as gifts from other players or through the official Old School website. They can also turn untradeable bonds into tradeable bonds, but ironmen cannot use bonds on any other players. Ironmen are able to buy bonds from the Grand Exchange, which disallows them from buying or selling any other item via a unique interface.

Changes[edit | edit source]

Trivia[edit | edit source]

• Prior to the introduction of Ironman Mode, players who played without trading any other players, with the exception of Shield of Arrav and Heroes' Quest, were called purists or self-sufficient accounts, or were said to be playing a "DIY" (Do It Yourself) style.
• Players in Ironman mode can only obtain the armour appropriate to their chosen Ironman selection; for instance, Hardcore Ironmen can only obtain the Hardcore Ironman armour. Similarly, players who downgrade their account from one type of Ironman to another will have their armour replaced with the corresponding type, and players who have their Ironman status removed will simply lose the armour altogether.