Hardcore Ironman

Ironman mode is an official game mode that players can choose to assign themselves. There are currently six types of ironmen, each with their own set of rules, armour (equivalent to iron equipment) and chat badge to denote their status (displayed in the table below.) There are also five separate HiScores for ironmen, one for each of the modes (excluding Unranked Group Ironman mode.)

These restrictions can be applied at the end of Tutorial Island by speaking to the Ironman tutor before being teleported by the Magic Instructor. At any point after Tutorial Island, players will have the option to convert their account to a standard unrestricted account ("main"), or to a regular Ironman in the case of a Hardcore or Ultimate Ironman, by talking to the other Ironman tutor in Lumbridge. However, this conversion is permanent and these restrictions cannot be retroactively imposed. After confirming to toggle a 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.

Ironman mode 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 an Ironman will yield the chatbox message "[Player name] is an Ironman. [He/She/They] stands^[sic] alone."

Players may also choose to downgrade an Ironman with a 90-day waiting period by talking to the Ironman tutor in Lumbridge. This requires a skill total level of 1,000 to set, and a warning will appear upon login to remind players should they wish to reverse the process.

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 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. For some monsters, 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.
  • No loot will drop whatsoever if another player has used a goading potion to draw aggressiveness from monsters.
• Pick up fallen players' items from PvP.
  • Except the guaranteed bones drop.
  • 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, but they may be destroyed (or 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.
• Receive one specific medium clue step.
• Group activities in Nightmare Zone, and resource rewards from the reward chest (excluding scroll of redirection).
• Iron accounts receive group-boss rewards when fighting with others, with the following exceptions to the standard loot rules:
  • 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.
  • The Hueycoatl
  • Moons of Peril
  • Nex
  • The Nightmare
  • The Forinthry Surge buff from Revenant maledictus
  • Royal Titans
  • Yama

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, and can give bonds to other players by using the item on them. Ironmen are able to buy bonds from the Grand Exchange, which disallows them from buying or selling any other item via a unique interface.

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

Ultimate Ironmen have a number of extra restrictions in addition to those of an Ironman, all centred around the inability to store items in a bank. Ultimate ironmen also have a large number of unique mechanics around item storage and death that distinguish them from normal ironmen accounts.

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 Ironmen. If a Hardcore Ironman dies an unsafe death, they will be converted to an 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 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 - duel with Koschei the Deathless^{[h 1]}
• 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 the Galvek fight
• 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

Outside of these activities, 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]

Group Ironman, Hardcore Group Ironman, and Unranked Group Ironman are modes that allow 2 to 5 players to group up together with most of the normal Ironman Mode restrictions, but without restrictions between members of the group. They also have some additional restrictions if prestiged, such as not being able to participate in high-level group content with players outside of their group. Hardcore Groups have their hardcore status tied to prestige, and will not be able to enter into such fights with other players without losing status and converting the group into a normal group ironman.

• 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.
• Ironmen can only obtain the armour appropriate to their specific mode; for instance, Hardcore Ironmen can only obtain the Hardcore Ironman armour. Similarly, players who downgrade their account from one mode to another will have their armour replaced with the corresponding type, and players who become unrestricted (de-iron) will simply lose the armour altogether.