OSRS Ironman: Ultimate P2P and F2P Guide

Old School Runescape is a pretty challenging affair already. Managing your items, leveling the game's 20+ skills, and doing the dozens of quests in your way can take you years to do. Not to mention all of those mean PK'ers scattered around the map. If you want an even bigger challenge, however, there are still a lot of ways to up the ante.

Way back in 2014, the developers of OSRS released Ironman Mode for the game. Since then, numerous players have done this challenge but not a lot have succeeded. It's at the pinnacle of all the challenges you can face in OSRS and getting through it is definitely one of the game's hardest achievements.

What is Ironman Mode OSRS

Released in October 2014, Ironman mode is an account type that forces you to be very self-sufficient in the game. This means relying purely on your know-how of OSRS. In most of the rulesets for this account type, you're locked out or at least restricted in most forms of interactions with other players.

You can start Ironman Mode at the end of Tutorial Island. All you need to do is to speak to the Iron Man tutors - Paul and Adam, right before being teleported by the Magic Instructor. You can change into Ironman Mode from a regular account but you cannot go back to Ironman Mode once you cancel it. However, you can change between Iron Man Mode difficulties.

As of 2018, all new accounts need to have a skill total level of 1,000 to be able to set permanent Ironman status.

Ironman Mode Rewards

You can get cosmetic-only items for participating in Ironman. Other than that, you'll also be rewarded with a strong sense of accomplishment for beating the toughest challenge that OSRS has to offer. For many, the bragging rights and the experience are rewards enough already.

Different Ironman Mode Distinctions

As of now, there are currently six types of Ironman accounts. These are standard Ironman, Hardcore Ironman, Ultimate Ironman, Hardcore group Ironman, and Unranked Group Ironman. Each of these distinctions is given its own special armor, as well as a chat badge to commemorate their status.

What Are OSRS Ironman Restrictions?

The Ironman modes in OSRS are different and a lot more difficult than the regular game mainly because of the restrictions put on your account. Each of the Ironman modes features different distinctions that make them harder than the other. Here's what those restrictions are.

Standard Ironman

1. You cannot trade with other players. There are exceptions for certain quest items from quests like Shield of Arrav and Heroes' Quest. You are also allowed to receive bonds.
2. You cannot use the Grand Exchange for any kind of transaction except for bonds. For bonds, you can only purchase these but you cannot sell them.
3. You cannot pick up any loot from the PVE and PVP kills of other players. If you want to loot from other players or monsters, you have to kill the monster yourself. If the player or monster was damaged by another player during the process of being killed, you won't get killed.
4. You cannot gain any XP from PVP encounters. However, the base Magic XP from casting spells during PVP is retained.
5. You cannot use the Accept Aid feature.
6. You cannot enter another player's owned house.
7. You cannot buy items from other players by way of overstocked shops. Simply put, you cannot take advantage of higher sell prices from any understocked shops.
8. You cannot receive items from balloons in the Party Room in Falador.
9. You cannot join group activities in the Nightmare Zone. You also cannot get any resource rewards from the reward chest, with the exemption of the scroll of redirection.

As you can see, there are huge limitations in even the standard version of Ironman. Just the fact that you cannot trade with other players and use the Grand Exchange will already provide you with a ton of challenges. Now, let's move on to the Hardcore Ironman restrictions.

Hardcore Ironman

Now, in Hardcore Ironman ALL of the restrictions from the standard Ironman will carry over. However, what's different this time is that you only have one life. If you die during your Hardcore Ironman run, you'll be brought back to a Standard Ironman account. Additionally, all of your XP and levels on the Hi Scores table will be locked in.

There are a few activities from which deaths are considered safe. Dying from these minigames and activities below won't revert you back to Standard Ironman.

• Barbarian Assault
• Camelot training room
• Castle Wars
• Chambers of Xeric
• Clan Wars
• Dream World but only during Lunar Diplomacy
• Emir's Arena
• Fishing Trawler
• The Fremennik Trials but only 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
• Rogues' Den (maze)
• Zulrah - Resurrection reward from Elite Western Provinces Diary only

Hardcore Group Ironman

You don't need to tackle Ironman alone. In fact, players do it in a group as it's more fun to try and survive the perils of OSRS Ironman with a few friends. There are a few restrictions that are exclusive to Hardcore Group Ironman but the main limitations from the Standard Ironman and Hardcore Ironman apply here.

1. Each player in a Hardcore Group Ironman is given only one safe PVM death per player. All players will share a pooled number of lives which everyone will need to be mindful of. If there are three players in a Hardcore Group, then they all have three lives to use. Lives can be used by any player and a single player can use up multiple lives from the group. Once this is depleted, players will lose their Hardcore status.
2. In Hardcore Group Ironman, the safe deaths listed above are no longer considered as safe. That means dying from the minigames above will result in a lost life. The only exception here is the Fremennik Trials fight with Koschei the Deathless. With that in mind, Hardcore Group Ironman players need to be very mindful of their moves in minigames.
3. PVP minigames such as Castle Wars, Last Man Standing, and Clan Wars are considered as safe deaths for those in a Hardcore Group Ironman.
4. Lastly, Hardcore Group Ironmen cannot challenge members of the Nex outside their group. This is regardless of what Group Prestige you are in.

Ultimate Ironman

This is, of course, the penultimate challenge of OSRS. For starters, keep in mind that all of the restrictions you have in Hardcore and Standard Ironman modes apply here. Additionally, there are a lot of other restrictions to consider.

1. You cannot deposit, withdraw, or note items inside a bank. Banks are also not allowed to unnote any items.
2. You cannot create any item sets using the Grand Exchange.
3. You cannot receive any resources from Managing Miscellania or Bert who gives buckets of sand daily.
4. You cannot send items to banks using the following methods of transport: Coal Trucks, Dwarven Boatman, and Daeyalt essence.
5. You cannot send your Servant to any banks or the Sawmill.
6. You cannot put anything inside your seed vault.
7. You cannot store any duplicate items inside your POH Costume Room.
8. You cannot withdraw items before first depositing an entire set from which the item belongs to.
9. You cannot use the looting bag's mechanics on a PVP server that's outside of the Wilderness.
10. You cannot protect or safekeep your three most valuable items upon dying.
11. You cannot take advantage of the Protect Item ability in the Prayer skill line.
12. You cannot use graves. Items will drop directly to the ground instead.
13. Inside the God Wars Dungeon and Instances, items are still going to be inside graves and supplies are going to be on the floor.
14. All item retrieval services are the same except for the one at Zulrah.
15. Those in this difficulty can always get their items from Zul-Gwenwynig for free. They also don't have to use an interface to get their items from. This is as opposed to being given the item directly on a standard account.
16. Items that cannot be traded will be dropped upon the death of the player. In the Wilderness, most of the items you have will be turned into coins and given to the player who was able to kill you.

Moving Around in OSRS Ironman

Believe it or not, PK'ers and monsters aren't the biggest challenges in the Ironman mode. The real challenge lies in moving around the world. You're locked out of most modes of transportation. Without a sound strategy, you'll waste a lot of time and run energy just moving from one place to the other. Before we move forward with this guide, you'll first need to understand the best ways to get around OSRS.

One of the first things you need to do is to train your Agility. This gives you access to a variety of shortcuts that will make it easier to move around despite the limitations. As most Agility Courses in the game are free from danger other than the obstacles themselves, training Agility is actually relatively easy.

Aside from the shortcuts, you should also get these things to make moving around feel less restricted.

1. Ardougne Cloak 1 - This gives you unlimited teleports to the Ardougne Monastery. It also gives quick access to an altar and is in the proximity of a fairy ring, a bank, and even a spirit tree. You can also gain access to a ship that gives you access to Brimhaven or Rimmington
2. Teleport Jewelry - If you want one of the most useful teleports in the game, this is it. You might particularly want to keep an eye on the ring of dueling as it gives you direct access to the Castle Wars bank.
3. Fairy Ring - The Fairy Ring is undoubtedly one of the most important means of transportation available to you. This vast network of teleporters will get you to most of the areas you need when it comes to leveling.

Training Agility

As we've mentioned a while back, you'll need Agility to gain access to most of the shortcuts in the game. The best way to train Agility is by completing the Agility Courses scattered throughout the map. Here's a list of all of them and the possible XP rewards you get from doing them.

How to Use This Optimal Ironman Guide

This Ironman guide will be divided into F2P and P2P segments. The P2P segment will then have three sub-segments - early game, mid-game, and late game. The goal is, of course, to last as long as possible in the Ironman challenge. There are going to be significant differences between both optimized guides so make sure to read through them properly.

Let's start things off with the F2P guide.

OSRS Ironman F2P Guide

We're going to be upfront - F2P Ironman is very tough. As much as possible, you should go through this challenge with a group. It's a lot easier to have people to work with but then again, not everyone has a group to play with. What's great with this guide below is that it can work for both group and solo Ironman challengers.

Quest Leveling Progression Guide

This first part of the OSRS Ironman F2P guide tackles the leveling you should do throughout the challenge. For starters, you'd want to do a few quests. Most of these are easy but the rewards are a good amount of XP, as well as good starter items. The early game is often the most challenging for Ironman modes.

Here are some free-to-play quests that you should focus on doing first.

• X Marks the Spot - Antique lamp for 300 experience
• Cook's Assistant - 300 Cooking experience
• Doric's Quest- 1,300 Mining experience
  • Kill monsters for iron ores or 15 Mining
• Sheep Shearer - 150 Crafting experience
• Goblin Diplomacy - 200 Crafting experience
• Misthalin Mystery - 600 Crafting experience
• Witch's Potion - 325 Magic experience
  
• Imp Catcher - 875 Magic experience
• Vampyre Slayer - 4,825 Attack experience
• The Restless Ghost - 25 Prayer experience
• The Knight's Sword- 12,725 Smithing experience
  • You can kill dwarves or get the Wilderness item spawn for iron bars, or 15 Mining and 15 Smithing
• Dragon Slayer I ( 32 Quest points required) - 18,650 Strength and 18,650 Defence experience

Completing these quests will allow you to have a headstart when it comes to equipment as well. As you can see, it helps increase your Smithing and Mining skills significantly. This boost is detrimental to how you'll progress throughout your Ironman journey.

OSRS F2P Ironman Combat Training Guide

Your combat skills are going to be very important for Ironman. With a F2P account however, you're limited in how you can progress through your combat trees easily. Here's a look at how you should train for each aspect of combat.

Melee

You'll definitely want to put a lot of points into training your melee skills. These are primarily affected by your Attack and Strength kills. While you're doing melee training, it's highly likely that you're going to be increasing your Defense and Hitpoints skill as well. To be more specific, focus on improving your Strength first and then attack second. Defense will be your last priority. Now, here's how you can begin training.

1. Level 1-15 Cows & Chickens: At this early stage, you'll want to avoid fighting creatures that can turn hostile and attack you back. As such, focus on killing Cows and Chickens first. You should also start collecting cowhides and feathers which are used for Crafting and Fishing respectively. To help increase your Prayer stat, bury all the bones as well.
   
2. Level 15-30 Minatours: At this time, you should be strong enough to start taking on minotaurs. While there are other easy and less dangerous options, fighting minotaurs can net you iron arrows that you'll need for Ranged training. You can also collect a ton of bronze full helms which you can sell for a hefty profit in the Barbarian Village. This is one of the best means of making money early on.
   
3. Level 15-50 Giant Frogs: You can shift towards giant frogs or big frogs. These have low defense and high hitpoints. As such is the case, you can net a ton of XP from them per hour. Unfortunately, you can't get any decent drops from these frogs other than bones. You can use bones to start progressing your Prayer skill as well.
4. Level 30-99 Hill Giants: If you have decent equipment already, you should move towards fighting hill giants next. If you're able to get giant keys from them, you should make sure to get them as it will allow you to challenge Obor. This is one of your ways to get a rune kiteshield and other runic equipment in this route. Hill giants also drop big bones which help a great deal when it comes to leveling your Prayer again.
   
5. Level 40-60 Flesh Crawlers: If you want an AFK way to train your combat skills, go after flash crawlers next. They have only a few drops but you can at least make amulets and bottom of scepters with what they give. These are both going to help with your Runecraft training.
   
6. Level 45-99 Moss Giants: Moss giants are a good alternative to hill giants. If you're having trouble picking between the two, just go to the ones that have the least amount of people so that you don't have others to contend with. The only good drops from these are big bones for Prayer XP and mossy keys which you can use to fight Bryophyta. Besting her will get you a staff and a rune square shield but both of these drop by chance.
7. Level 50-99 Body Golem: This is one of the fastest leveling routes for melee training. However, it's only easy to do if you have a barronite mace with you. This will help deal accurate and high damage to golems so you can train faster. These monsters drop noted essence and body core drops that can also help with Runecraft training. If you want to train Smithing, you can get iron ore drops from these monsters too.
   
8. Level 60-99 Giant Spider: Great for farming because they're very aggressive. Unfortunately, they can't drop anything useful other than beginner clue scrolls. What's great about this method is that you can get to 99 with minimal effort. The problem is that there's not a lot else you can gain from this.
9. Level 60-99 Ankous: Ankou are pretty tough to beat but they can drop law runes, adamant arrows, mithril ores, left skull halves, and noted essence. They also give decent enough XP to get you to 99 quickly. If you want something more profitable, stick to fighting giants.
   
10. Level 80-99 Greater Demons: Killing greater demons in the Demonic Ruins is a great way to train as you will never run out of prayer points. This is huge for F2P players since there are not that many prayer restoration methods. Equip the best prayer bonus giving gear you can and enjoy AFKing.

Ranged

After you're done with Melee training, it's time to move towards Ranged training. You should have a ton of iron arrows from your minotaur run. If you're running out of arrows, head to Lowe's Archery Emporium located in Varrock.

1. Level 1-10 Cows & Chickens: Same with melee training, this is one of the best and safest ways to train your ranged skills early. Make sure you get the cowhides and feathers again.
2. Level 10-30 Dark Wizards: After you're done with livestock hunting, head to Draynor and start hunting dark wizards. While generally easy, you'll need to get the best-ranged armor possible as they can hurl magic quite effectively. Pick up and nature and law runes they drop.
3. Level 15-30 Minatours: Again, hunt minotaurs at this level. Make sure you're at a safer distance compared to melee training. You'll get a ton of iron arrows here and there's a chance that you might break even.
4. Level 30-50/99 Giant Spiders: Same benefits as with melee training. The strategy will be different though as you want to avoid engaging with them directly. Avoid getting overwhelmed by moving around.
5. Level 40-99 Giants: At this level, you should try killing moss giants or ice giants. Drops are good but if you want to level up your Prayer faster, stick to hill giant farming.
6. Level 50-99 Ankous: You can get to 99 from 50 by fighting Ankous. They have amazing drops but you should focus on getting noted essence. This is one of the best sources of it on the Ironman modes.
7. Level 50-99 Ogress: Last but not least, you can also get to 99 against the ogress shamans and ogress warriors. They have excellent drops including iron, steel, and even mithril arrows.

Magic

Last but not least for your combative skills, it's time to hone your magic skills. When honing your magic skills, never use defensive casting so that your Defense skill goes up. You should also never forget to visit the magic combat tutor in Lumbridge every 30 minutes as he provides you with 30 air runes and 30 mind runes for doing so.

1. Level 1-30 Cows & Chickens: If you want fast and cheap levels using the runes you get from the magic tutor, you can kill cows, chickens, minotaur and goblins. If you want extra arrows, focus on minotaurs and then fight chickens and cows if you want crafting items.
2. Level 13-99 Greater Demons: This is a Wilderness-only leveling method so it's a bit risky, however, it's the most rewarding as you can get rune full helms and even vile ashes for Prayer training. This is very dangerous so make sure to keep your distance from the demons as they can deal intense damage up close. Wear your best armor if possible.
3. Level 13-99 Ice Giants: If you want a safer way to get to 99 go for ice giants. They can also drop big bones for extra Prayer XP. If you're being overwhelmed by ice warriors, kite the ice giant so that they get blocked by it. You can go and fight hill giants too as an alternative.
4. Level 13-99 Lesser Demons: If you can't handle greater demons but want to level up your Prayer fast, then go for lesser demons instead as they can still drop vile ashes.
5. Level 19-99 Splashing: One of the challenges with leveling is that you might not have the resources to support it. The cheapest way to get to 99 is by curse splashing. Get a full plate armor and green dragonhide vambraces first. Then get an elemental staff. Head to the boneyard and cast curse again and again.
6. Level 39-99 Ankous: Ankous are generally tough but when you're leveling magic skills, then they're a lot easier. All you need is Crumble Undead and you can deal a lot of damage to Ankous very quickly. This is a click-intensive method though so brace yourself.
7. Level 59-99 Ogress: The best way to deal with ogress warriors and ogress shamans is with fire. You can get death runes from the warriors which is good as you can use it against them. This is an excellent way to maximize your alchemy level at the same time.

OSRS F2P Ironman Gathering/Crafting Training Guide

Combat is just one part of the Ironman mode that's hard. You also have to train your other skills on the field as well. This will be your main source of all of your needs since your interactions with the Grand Exchange will be fairly limited.

Fishing/Cooking

You can hit two birds with one stone by cooking everything that you catch with Fishing. If you're in need of supplies, head to Gerrant's Fishy Business in Port Sarim regularly to start stocking up on goods.

1. Level 1-5/20 Shrimps: Use a small fishing net to get raw shrimps. Once you're at level 15 fishing, you can move towards catching raw anchovies instead. The best location for this is in Draynor Village. If you can't handle the dark wizards there, go to the south of Lumbridge, near the Fishing tutor instead.
2. Level 5-20 Bait Fishing: Alternatively, you can go and catch raw sardines or raw herring to get to level 20. This will require a fishing rod and fishing baits. However, there are better XP rates once you reach level 5 fishing compared to just catching anchovies. The location of the best fishing spot for this is the same as above.
3. Level 20-99 Fly Fishing: For this method, you'll need a fly fishing rod and some feathers. In terms of F2P XP for fishing. You should first start by fly fishing for raw trout and then at level 30, move towards fishing for raw salmon. The best location for this is near the Barbarian Village by way of the Edgeville bank.

Mining

Mining is relatively easy to progress through since you need it for Crafting, Smithing, and Runecraft. Still, here's a quick guide to get you started on Mining training.

1. Level 1-10 Doric's Quest: For this early stage, you'll want to do Doric's Quest. You'll need to kill a few dwarves, guards, white knights, and flesh crawlers in exchange for iron ore.
2. Level 1/10-15 Tin & Copper: If you don't want to risk fighting all those creatures in Doric's Quest, then what you can do is go for rune essence mining instead. It's slower than tin or copper rocks but the good news is that it can help you train Runecraft at the same time.
3. Level 15-99 Iron Ore: The fastest and safest way to get to level 99 mining on a F2P Ironman account is by focusing on iron rocks. The downside to this method is that you'll be solely focused on your Mining skill so you'll have to spend more time leveling up your other skills.
4. Level 15-99 All Ores: If you want to get more than just your Mining done, move towards farming other ores like iron, silver, gold, and even rune essence. This will help you increase your Smithing level if you create equipment out of them. You can also level your Crafting by creating silver and gold bars. Rune essence gives your Runecrafting XP.

Crafting

Crafting is important for many reasons. One, you're going to have to be self-sufficient in your Ironman run, and crafting gives you access to many items that will be helpful for all stages of the game. It's also going to be your best source of money. The good news is that getting this to 99 is a lot easier compared to other skills because it can level passively with other skills. Still, if you're lacking a few levels to get this to a certain point, you can check out this guide for help.

1. Level 1-16/40+ Pottery: Pottery skills aren't exactly necessary in Ironman but if you want to level it alongside Crafting, you can do pottery instead. It can help get you to level 40 Crafting and more.
2. Level 16-50 Ruby Amulets: Crafting and Smithing go a long way. You can start leveling both of these by focusing on Ruby Amulets. You can go a step further and level up your Magic by enchanting the amulets as well.
3. Level 16-70 Diamond Amulets: Crafting diamond amulets is the same as above but this method is going to be more costly. Same with ruby amulets, you can enchant the amulets too for Magic XP.
4. Level 23-99 Tiaras: The cheapest way to get to 99 is by Crafting tiaras. Of course, you're still going to spend a lot of money on this but it's a lot more affordable compared to other methods.

Runecraft

If you've been following this guide, then your Runecraft should already have a few levels on it already. The best way to start leveling this is by mining for rune essences after completing Rune Mysteries. You can increase your Mining level along the way with this guide.

1. Level 1-9 Air Runes: To begin with, you're going to want to start making air runes. These are useful and an effective way to level up because the Air Altar is pretty close to the bank.
2. Level 9-14 Earth Runes: At level 9, you should go ahead and start creating ultimate earth runes next. You can get these from earth wizards or Al-Kharid warriors. You can use this method as an easy way to get to 99 because it's the closest altar to a rune mine.
3. Level 14-20 Fire Runes: To get to level 20, your next step should be Fire Runes. You can get these from fire wizards or dark wizards. You can partner this part of the training with Mining training inside the Al-Kharid mine if you want to save more time.
4. Level 20-99 Body Runes: For any Ironman run, the best way to get to 99 is to get Body Runes. You can get the talismans from hill giants and guards which you should face plenty of during combat training.

Smithing

You're going to want to level up your Smithing so that you get better equipment for your Ironman run too. This can be particularly hard to train because it's expensive and very click-intensive. Still, getting to 99 means you'll have excellent gear for the latter parts of the game. Before anything else, make sure to know where the Edgeville furnace is as this is the closest F2P furnace to a bank in the game.

1. Level 1-29 Knight's Sword: For the early levels of the Smithing skills, focus on doing the Knight's Sword quest first. Finishing this gets you to level 29 Smithing, alongside a few other rewards that are going to be very helpful later on. You can also get a few XP for other skills such as your combat skills and your Mining skill.
2. Level 14 Barronite: If you've finished the Below Ice Mountain quest, you can work on barronite deposits to increase your Smithing instead. You can mine the deposit in the Ruins of Camdozaal and then smith them over the nearby Barronite Crusher. The crusher is just a few steps away from the deposit so this should be relatively easy.
3. Level 15-99 Iron Bars: The fastest way to get to 99 Smithing is by making iron bars. Unfortunately, this is less rewarding too as you only get to increase your mining skill along with this if you chose his route. If you have rings of forging, this method is going to be easier as you'll require less ore.
4. Level 20+ Silver Bars: You can make tiaras using silver bars at this stage. The XP rewards you get should be more than enough to get you through a few more levels before you can move towards other materials for training.
5. Level 30+ Steel Bars: At this level, it's time to move to using steel bars next. A quick way to level up is by superheating steel bars at the Dwarven Mine or in the Edgeville Dungeon mine. Afterward, make steel equipment out of them for even more XP.
6. Level 40+ Gold Bars: At level 40, you can move to gold bars. This is a good money making stage of the process. It's great that you're also able to get decent Crafting experience while doing this too.
7. Level 50+ Superheating: From level 50 onwards, it's time to use superheating next. At this stage, you should use mithril equipment, adamant equipment, or even rune equipment if you want to make a decent profit and training is just secondary. Getting to 99 is best done with superheating as it offers the most efficient XP for the skill.

Woodcutting/Firemaking

Both are only secondary skills but they're still necessary if you want to boost your overall level. It's also technically helpful for you as high Woodcutting will let you create a log canoe that makes traveling in certain areas a lot easier. It's great that you can level up both skills at the same time and with minimal effort. After cutting the tree, you'll need to burn it to begin raising your Firemaking.

1. Level 1-15 Trees: At this level, there's nothing else that you can cut effectively for XP other than normal trees.
2. Level 15-40 Oak Trees: At level 15, move towards cutting oak trees next. The best spot for this is by northern Lumbridge but you can also get to the east and west of Varrock. Oak trees are abundant in OSRS anyway so this shouldn't be hard to farm.
3. Level 40-99 Willow Trees: From 40 onwards, one of the best options is by chopping willow trees. These are located in Draynor Village, Champions Guild, and around north of the Seth Groats farm. The best ax to use this is the mithril ax for maximum XP.
4. Level 45-99 Maple Trees: Alternatively, you can go ahead and cut down maple trees instead. These are only found in the Corsair Cove Resource Area which you can unlock by finishing the Corsair Curse and Dragon Slayer 1 quests. It offers less XP compared to willows but it requires less work.
5. Level 60-99 Yew Trees: In F2P, the trees that require less work to farm are yew trees but the XP they give is lackluster compared to other trees. If you want to do less while training your Woodcutting and Firemaking skills, go for yew logs instead.

OSRS F2P Ironman Tips

1. Create a route

Whether you're solo or in a group, you should plan your training systematically. It should be done in a way that's the most efficient and comfortable for you. If you want to focus on one skill at a time, then so be it. If you want to level up more than one skill at a time, then plan more carefully.

2. Never pack too much stuff

It can be tiring but you'll need to constantly get rid of the stuff that you craft, smith, mine, or gather. Your inventory should be as organized and as empty as possible so that you have optimized run speeds at all times. Money-making can be hard at the beginning but once you start making the goods, you'll have a constant stream of coins waiting for you.

3. Do group runs

Even the standard Ironman challenge is difficult already. If you want to get a feel of just how hard it is, you should first at least try doing a group Ironman run. Hard as it may be, it's still a lot easier compared to going at it solo from the get-go.

4. Be agile!

Although we didn't put too much emphasis on the Agility skill, it's arguably one of the most important skills to master in OSRS. A lot of the usual modes of transport you use on a regular account won't be present in Ironman mode. With the shortcuts in the game, you'll find it easier to traverse the entire world.

5. Use boosting items

Make sure to get as many temporary boosts from items as you can. This will help you progress through skill leveling much quicker, as well as give you access to more important stuff later on. These might be expensive or time-consuming to get but the rewards after are all well worth it.

OSRS Ironman P2P Guide

P2P Ironman is a lot tougher compared to playing while on a subscription. You have access to more skills to level up but at the same time, you have access to more leveling methods as well. This part of the Ironman P2P guide will be segmented into early game, mid-game, and late game so you have a better understanding of what you need to do.

Early Game

A typical OSRS Ironman P2P run mainly consists of doing quests and training all of your skills to at least level 60-70. Once you reach this level, you can already get a decent amount of gear for your character as well. We'll discuss the things you'll need to do one-by-one.

Questing

Since you're a P2P player, you have access to all of the quests in OSRS. This is a good way to level up your skills and get amazing rewards along the way. Not to mention the fact that you can also get access to new areas, skilling methods, and other important things for Ironmen. There are obviously way too many quests to mention in this guide. As such, here are a few quests that you should focus on doing first.

1. Bone Voyage - Completing this quest unlocks Fossil Island. There are a lot of opportunities for training your skills and for gathering raw materials in this location. Aside from that, it also unlocks bird house trapping for Hunter training, ultra compost for Farm training, and even Ammonite Crabs which are a great way to level up your combat.
   
2. Lost City - Gives you access to Zanaris. This helps unlock fairy rings, Chaeldar the Slayer master, the Cosmic Altar, and the dragon dagger.
3. In Aid of the Myreque - Makes Temple Trekking accessible which is great for leveling multiple skills at once. Easily one of the best quests you can do to help maximize your skills in a short amount of time.

As we've said, there are lots of other quests that you can do in-game. You should focus on ones that give you bonus XP rewards for the skills you want to master. Just make sure to get to these three as soon as you can as their rewards open up more opportunities for training in the future.

Skill Leveling

The most important part of the early game is this. You can get a huge boost to it by doing a few specific quests first. Here are the best XP rewarding quests for each skill.

Agility

Attack

Construction

Cooking

Crafting

Defence

Farming

Firemaking

Fishing

Fletching

Herblore

Hitpoint

Hunter

Magic

Mining

Prayer

Ranged

Runecraft

Slayer

Smithing

Strength

Thieving

Woodcutting

Bear in mind that most of these quests will require a few things as well such as Quest Points and levels in some skills. As such, make sure to do thorough research about what you need before going through some of them.

Leveling can be a very hard process in Ironman mode. Each skill will take considerably longer to master. You can follow the steps from the OSRS F2P leveling guide for a better look at how you should progress through each skill. Of course, since you have access to more farming routes and methods, you should upgrade the steps above too.

The goal for now is to maximize your combat skills so that you'll find it easier to level your other skills later on. After that, make sure to work on your Agility skill will help you traverse the world easier. Considering that many modes of transport are unavailable, it's vital that you can pass through shortcuts without worry.

Mid-game

At the mid - game, you'll now have access to higher skill levels. There are only a few things you need to focus on next because most of the prep work has been done in the early game.

Money - Making

Money - making is very different in an Ironman account. Since you cannot use the Grand Exchange, you'll have to rely on other methods to get rich.

In this case, one of the most common methods to earn money fast is to use High Level Alchemy to turn items into coins. You'll still earn a lot more if you could sell on the Grand Exchange but that's one of the major challenges in Ironman after all.

If you're going with this route, you should use the skill on your items while doing other activities that can be done using a normal spellbook. Your inventory shouldn't be full and there should be downtimes between the casting of each spell. Some of these activities include training Agility, Hunter, and combat skills.

In truth, money isn't really that necessary when you're doing an Ironman run. Most of the money you earn will be used to buy supplies for Construction, Smithing, Crafting, and Magic. The rest of your equipment is going to come by way of rewards and the ones you make through your skills.

Getting The Quest Point Cape

This is one of the challenges that will take you the longest to beat. Getting the Quest Point Cape means completing all of the quests in the game. This isn't a purely cosmetic item too. The Quest Point Cape makes it easy for you to move around due to the fact that it gives unlimited Teleports to the wearer.

Beating all quests in the game is obviously tough work. However, getting this done means finishing nearly all of what the game has to offer.

Slayer Training

Leveling the Slayer skill in OSRS Ironman usually happens at the mid-game stage instead of the early game stage. This is due to the fact that you're relatively weak in the early game so it's risky to train this.

In the mid-game stage of your Ironman run, Slayer training is worth doing because it provides various benefits such as combat experience, gold, supplies, and more.

Endgame

At this stage in the game, your goal is to not get 99 on all of your skills. Aside from making the rest of the game generally easier, getting 99 on everything also nets you the prestigious max cape.

It can be tempting to take on the game's toughest dungeons and raids at this point in the game, but remember, you're in Ironman mode. Everything is way tougher. Ensure you're well-prepared whenever you plan on taking on these challenges. The goal of Ironman is to have your character survive for as long as possible. That said, any mistake can be costly and could result in you losing all of your hard work in just a few seconds.

Have Fun in OSRS Ironman!

OSRS' Ironman mode is the game's biggest challenge. It doesn't matter whether you complete standard or hardcore Ironman, just getting through it is an achievement enough already. The game is going to be a lot tougher and more stressful once you shift to this mode. Even when that happens, don't ever forget the most important thing in Old-School Runescape - have fun!