Four rules for the first 40 hours
Quest before you grind
Early quests hand out enough XP to skip the slowest levels. Waterfall Quest alone takes Attack and Strength to about 30, so you never fight chickens for hours.
Unlock travel first
Every teleport you unlock early pays for itself many times over. Ardougne cloak 1, spirit trees, fairy rings and gnome gliders turn long walks into seconds.
Process everything
Turn ore into bars, bars into darts or nails, logs into planks. An Ironman who drops resources pays for it later.
Put lamps into Herblore
Herblore is the slowest Ironman skill because every potion needs herbs and secondaries you gather yourself. Most free XP lamps are best spent there once you have Druidic Ritual.
A route through the opening hours
- 1.
Lumbridge and Draynor (about 0–3 hours)
Finish Learning the Ropes, then the quick local quests: Cook's Assistant, Sheep Shearer, The Restless Ghost, Misthalin Mystery, X Marks the Spot and Witch's Potion. Do Client of Kourend and spend its lamps on Agility. Start Sailing with Pandemonium and keep its sawmill coupons for plank quests. Clear the first three floors of the Stronghold of Security for about 10,000 coins.
Needs: No requirements
- 2.
Varrock and Varlamore (about 3–6 hours)
Children of the Sun opens Varlamore: Gemstone Crab for AFK combat XP, extra farming patches and a rune shop. Build a house for Daddy's Home, do Natural History Quiz for easy Hunter and Slayer XP, Demon Slayer and Rune Mysteries, and start Enter the Abyss.
- 3.
Ardougne and the gnomes (about 6–12 hours)
Tree Gnome Village (spirit trees), Plague City and Biohazard, the easy Ardougne diary for the Ardougne cloak (unlimited monastery teleports), then Fight Arena, Waterfall Quest, Druidic Ritual, Witch's House, Dwarf Cannon and Holy Grail for a large chunk of Prayer XP. Steal cakes from the Ardougne bakery stall as early food.
- 4.
Broadening out (about 12–25 hours)
Priest in Peril and Nature Spirit open Morytania. The Ides of Milk unlocks Brutus, a beginner boss with double combat XP. Twilight's Promise, The Grand Tree, Mountain Daughter and the early Recipe for Disaster subquests fit here. Lost City gives a dragon dagger and, with Fairytale I, the fairy ring network (Fairytale II only needs starting).
- 5.
The big Ironman unlocks (about 25–40 hours)
Ghosts Ahoy (ectophial), Animal Magnetism (Ava's attractor at 30 Ranged), The Giant Dwarf (Blast Furnace), Bone Voyage (Fossil Island and birdhouses; start them straight away), Tai Bwo Wannai Trio (karambwans), Troll Stronghold, Eadgar's Ruse and My Arm's Big Adventure (safe herb patches), the Fremennik quests, Temple of the Eye (Guardians of the Rift), then Heroes' Quest into Throne of Miscellania for the kingdom.
Early training that also feeds your account
Wintertodt
Firemaking to high levels while earning logs, gems, ores, herbs and seeds. Build a house first: brazier repairs then give Construction XP too. Not safe to die in on a Hardcore.
Needs: 50 Firemaking
Tempoross
Fishing with rewards Ironmen want early: the fish barrel, tackle box, tome of water and a shot at the dragon harpoon.
Needs: 35 Fishing
Guardians of the Rift
Runecraft XP and your own supply of runes, plus the essence pouches and the raiments of the eye outfit (up to 60% more runes).
Needs: Temple of the Eye · 27 Runecraft
Birdhouse runs
Four houses on Fossil Island every 50 minutes or so. Easy Hunter XP and, more importantly, bird nests full of tree and fruit tree seeds.
Needs: Bone Voyage
Gemstone Crab
The best early AFK combat training: no food needed and it only moves every ten minutes. It can deal small hits, so Hardcores should still pay attention.
Needs: Children of the Sun
Mahogany Homes and Giants' Foundry
Cheaper Construction and Smithing than the traditional methods, which matters when you supply every plank and bar yourself.
Early Sailing
Courier tasks between Port Sarim and Pandemonium from level 4. At 15 Sailing a skiff with a salvaging hook turns shipwrecks into AFK seeds, planks and sawmill coupons.
Needs: Pandemonium
Early money
Ironmen still need coins for shops, runes and some unlocks. The Stronghold of Security gives about 10,000 coins once. After that, pickpocketing and Wintertodt loot carry you until High Level Alchemy at 55 Magic becomes the main income. Alch during farm runs, Agility laps and quest travel.
Raising kittens after Gertrude's Cat and selling cats in West Ardougne gives death runes. From 50 Agility the Agility Pyramid pays 10,000 coins per top, and with 50 Agility and Thieving Martin Thwait in the Rogues' Den buys items at their full high-alchemy value. Later, Varrock diary battlestaves from Zaff become a daily profit.
What to unlock first
- 1.
Travel
Ardougne cloak 1, spirit trees, fairy rings, gnome gliders and minigame teleports.
- 2.
Varlamore
Children of the Sun: Gemstone Crab, patches and shops.
- 3.
30+ Agility, then graceful
Run energy is everything on an Ironman. Graceful needs 260 marks of grace from rooftop courses.
- 4.
Recurring income
Birdhouses, herb runs, Tears of Guthix and the Kingdom of Miscellania.
- 5.
Supply minigames
Wintertodt, Tempoross and Guardians of the Rift.
Questions
- What should an OSRS Ironman do first?
- Quest. The early quests skip slow levels and unlock travel. Do the Lumbridge quests, Client of Kourend, Pandemonium and Children of the Sun, then head to Ardougne for Tree Gnome Village, Waterfall Quest and the easy Ardougne diary.
- Is Wintertodt worth it for Ironmen?
- Yes. It trains Firemaking and pays out supplies across many skills. Build a player-owned house first so repairs also give Construction XP. Hardcore Ironmen should be careful, because deaths there are not safe.
- When should an Ironman start birdhouse runs?
- As soon as Bone Voyage is done. They take a few minutes every 50 or so and are one of the most dependable sources of tree and fruit tree seeds.
See where you stand
Look yourself up to see which of these you can do now, and exactly what's missing for the rest.