Ironman Mode

The RuneScape Wiki also has an article on: rsw:Ironman Mode

For information on training Ironmen accounts, see Free-to-play Ironman guide or Pay-to-play Ironman guide.

Ironman Mode is an account type, released on 13 October 2014, that requires the player to be 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, most group minigames, and almost all other group activities.

The Ironman setup interface

Ironman Mode can only be enabled at the end of Tutorial Island by speaking to the Iron Man 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 Iron Man tutor in Lumbridge. Since these restrictions cannot be removed in-game, one must contact Customer Support to have it removed. 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 October 13, 2014. Hardcore ironman was later released on November 10, 2016.

Distinctions

There are three types of ironmen accounts: A standard ironman, a hardcore ironman, and an ultimate 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

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

Restrictions

Standard

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)
• Pick up drops from other players' kills, including PvP
  • No loot will drop whatsoever if another player has dealt damage to that monster. Even one point 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.
• 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, or have other players enter theirs
• 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
• Stake in the Duel Arena
• Group activities in Nightmare Zone, and resource rewards from the reward chest (excluding scroll of redirection)

Hardcore

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 highscore 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
• Camelot training room
• Castle Wars
• Chambers of Xeric
• Clan Wars
• Dream World during Lunar Diplomacy
• Duel Arena
• Fishing Trawler
• The Fremennik Trials - 4th phase of the duel with Koschei the Deathless
• Inferno
• Last Man Standing
• Magic Training Arena
• Nightmare Zone
• Pest Control
• Death within a player-owned house
• PvM Arena
• Soul Wars
• TzHaar Fight Cave
• TzHaar Fight Pit
• Random Event Areas
• Rogues' Den (maze)
• 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 Iron Man, your Hardcore status has been revoked."

Ultimate

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

Ultimate Ironman players 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 however.
• 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 or POH Spice rack.
• 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, and will only appear on the world the player died in.
• Ultimate Ironmen may always retrieve items 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

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.

Changes

Date	Changes
14 April 2021 (update)	For Ironmen, certain slayer monsters' loot and XP will be discredited if a player hits a 0. This is to discourage the use of alternate accounts to speed up the efficiency of certain tasks.
11 January 2018 (update)	Ironman accounts must now be 1,000 total level to remove the ability to revert to a standard account.
15 January 2015 (update)	Standard Iron Men can now use the Item Sets feature of the Trading Post. Ultimate Iron Men cannot. Some more shops have been split so that Iron Men access different stock to normal players.
18 December 2014 (update)	Some more shops have been separated for iron men to prevent players helping them. We have removed the iron man status from some accounts that abused this to a large extent.
6 November 2014 (update)	Fixed an issue preventing Ironmen from picking up drops if another player had the same drop on the same tile. Ironmen should once again receive drops from monsters when some damage is dealt by other NPCs and recoil. When creating an ultimate iron man account, IronNoBank is now credited.

Trivia

• 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.
• Downgrading your account from any Ironman selection will result in your Ironman exclusive armour being removed from your account. You can only obtain the armour appropriate to your Ironman selection.
• As of February 2017, 6.68% of active players were either ironmen, hardcore ironmen, or ultimate ironmen.