Ironman: the base rules
No trading or Grand Exchange
You can't trade other players (a few quest items and bonds are the exceptions) and can only use the Grand Exchange to buy bonds. Since April 2025 you can give bonds to other players.
Your kills only
If another player damages a monster you're fighting, you get no drop. You can't pick up other players' loot or PvP drops.
Separate shop stock
Ironmen see their own shop stock, so you can't profit from overstocked or understocked shops other players create.
Group content that still pays out
Raids, Nex, the Nightmare, Wintertodt, Tempoross, Zalcano, the Hueycoatl, Moons of Peril, Royal Titans, Yama and the multi-combat Wilderness bosses all give Ironmen loot when they group up.
Hardcore Ironman (HCIM)
All the Ironman rules plus one life. An unsafe death turns the account into a regular Ironman and freezes its entry on the Hardcore hiscores. That is how this site detects a former Hardcore: their Hardcore entry stops moving while their Ironman entry keeps going.
Many activities are safe deaths: the Fight Cave, the Inferno, Chambers of Xeric, Barbarian Assault, Pest Control, Nightmare Zone, Castle Wars, Soul Wars, Last Man Standing and a few others. Zulrah is only safe through the once-a-day resurrection from the elite Western Provinces diary.
- Barbarian Assault
- Camelot training room
- Castle Wars
- Chambers of Xeric
- Clan Wars
- Dream World (Lunar Diplomacy)
- Emir's Arena
- Fishing Trawler
- The Fremennik Trials (Koschei)
- Inferno
- Last Man Standing
- Magic Training Arena
- Nightmare Zone
- Pest Control
- Player-owned house
- PvM Arena
- Galvek and Glough replays
- Soul Wars
- TzHaar Fight Cave
- TzHaar Fight Pit
- Random events
- Rogues' Den maze
- Zulrah (only with the Western Provinces elite diary resurrection)
Ultimate Ironman (UIM)
All the Ironman rules and no bank. You can't deposit or withdraw, though you can still un-note items at a bank. Several services that send items to a bank don't work either: Miscellania, Bert's daily sand, coal trucks and the seed vault.
On death an Ultimate keeps nothing and gets no grave: items drop on the floor for an hour. Players store gear with tricks such as STASH units, the looting bag and death piles, which is what makes the mode a puzzle.
Group Ironman (GIM)
Two to five fresh accounts
Members trade freely with each other and share a group storage that grows from 80 to 200 slots as the group completes milestones.
New-member limits
Players who join later can only receive a capped value from the group for their first five weeks, and some boss uniques need a personal kill first.
Prestige
A cosmetic star for groups that never took in new members or did group bossing with outsiders.
Hardcore Group
The group shares one life per member. Many activities that are safe for a solo Hardcore are not safe for a Hardcore group, including the Fight Cave, Inferno and Chambers of Xeric.
Unranked Group
No hiscores and no trade caps. Any Ironman can convert to it, one way.
Leaving Ironman mode
Talk to the Ironman tutor in Lumbridge. Hardcore and Ultimate players can step down to regular Ironman, and any Ironman can become a normal account. Changes wait seven days so you can cancel. The old permanent lock was removed in October 2024 and replaced with an optional 90-day delay (needs 1,000 total level to set).
Which mode should you pick?
First Ironman
Regular Ironman. You get the self-sufficiency without the stress of one life.
You like risk
Hardcore. Most deaths early come from Wilderness trips and careless bossing; the safe-death list is your friend.
You like puzzles
Ultimate. Inventory management becomes the game.
You have friends
Group Ironman. You split the grind and trade inside the group, and raids become far more practical.
Questions
- Can you change an account to Ironman later?
- No. The mode is chosen at the end of the tutorial. You can only step down (Hardcore or Ultimate to Ironman, or Ironman to a normal account).
- What happens when a Hardcore Ironman dies?
- An unsafe death turns the account into a regular Ironman. Its Hardcore hiscores entry is frozen at the moment of death.
- Do Ironmen get loot in raids?
- Yes. Chambers of Xeric, Theatre of Blood and Tombs of Amascut all give Ironmen their own loot in groups, as do Nex, the Nightmare, Royal Titans, Yama and several other group bosses.
See where you stand
Look yourself up to see which of these you can do now, and exactly what's missing for the rest.