Ironman mode in Old School RuneScape (OSRS) offers a unique and challenging twist to the classic MMORPG experience. For players who want to test their mettle and enjoy a more solitary adventure, Ironman mode provides the ultimate challenge. In this mode, you’re entirely self-sufficient, meaning you can't trade, use the Grand Exchange, or rely on others for resources or items. Everything you need to progress, you must gather, craft, and conquer yourself.

In this article, we’ll cover the essential tips, tricks, and strategies you need to succeed in OSRS gold Ironman mode, especially focusing on the critical early game stages.

1. Understanding the Ironman Modes
Before diving into specific tips and strategies, it’s essential to understand the different types of Ironman modes available in OSRS:

Ironman: The standard mode where you can’t trade or use the Grand Exchange.

Ultimate Ironman (UIM): Even more challenging, you can’t use a bank at all. All your items must be carried in your inventory or stored in your house.

Hardcore Ironman (HCIM): If you die in Hardcore Ironman mode, your account is permanently converted to a regular Ironman. The risk is high, but the rewards are substantial if you survive.

For this guide, we will focus primarily on Ironman mode but will briefly touch on Hardcore and Ultimate Ironman at certain points, as these modes require even more specialized strategies.

2. Early Game Survival: The Key to Success
The early game in Ironman mode can be brutal, as you're starting without any help or resources from other players. Your primary goal is to get self-sufficient as quickly as possible while building a solid foundation of skills and equipment.

Here are the critical early-game survival tips for Ironman mode:

Focus on Questing and Key Rewards
Questing is your best friend early on. It provides essential experience for various skills and unlocks critical game content like better equipment, access to new areas, and useful rewards. Some quests are especially beneficial for Ironman accounts:

Cook's Assistant: A simple quest that unlocks access to cooking ingredients and provides some early experience.

Doric’s Quest: Grants free experience in mining and unlocks Doric's Anvil, a great place to smelt and smith early.

The Restless Ghost: Completes early prayer training and grants experience.

Imp Catcher: Provides access to air, water, earth, and fire runes, which are essential for your magic training.

Rune Mysteries: Unlocks Runecrafting, a critical skill for an Ironman since rune crafting is required to create your own runes.

Additionally, certain quests unlock new areas that are essential for progression, such as The Grand Tree (which grants access to the Tree Gnome Stronghold) and Lost City (to access the Dragon longsword and other Dragon-related content).

Make a Sustainable Resource Gathering Plan
You can’t rely on other players to provide resources, so you’ll need to gather everything. Prioritize essential resources early on:

Woodcutting: Woodcutting is an excellent early-game skill for gathering logs, which are useful for Firemaking, Fletching, and Construction. A bronze or iron axe is sufficient initially, and your goal is to quickly access yew logs for future crafting needs.

Mining: Mining allows you to gather ores for smithing, which is essential for gear upgrades. Copper and tin are the first ores you’ll mine, and you’ll eventually move on to iron, coal, and mithril.

Fishing: Fishing is a reliable source of food, and early access to shrimp and anchovies can get you through the initial stages of combat. Eventually, aim for salmon, tuna, and lobsters as you progress.

Woodcutting and Firemaking: These two skills are perfect early-game activities. You’ll need logs for both skills, and Firemaking can be trained while you cut logs, making it a natural combo.

Herblore: While this can be a grind later, early on, herb farming and the creation of basic potions such as strength, prayer, and combat potions will help you survive longer in combat scenarios.

Start with Easy Monsters for Combat Experience
In the early game, you’ll need to train combat skills to unlock better equipment and increase your survivability. Start by targeting lower-level monsters, such as:

Chickens and Cows: These creatures drop feathers and bones. Chicken bones can be used to train Prayer, while cowhide is a valuable resource for crafting.

Goblins: Easy to kill and drop low-level armor like iron or steel that will be useful for your defense.

The Stronghold of Security: This is a must-do as it gives you access to free combat experience as well as a reward of 10,000 coins. It’s also a safe area to kill creatures for low-level experience.

Make Sure to Gather and Use Bones for Prayer
Prayer is one of the most important skills for surviving tougher combat in OSRS. As an Ironman, you need to gather bones from every monster you kill. Start with easy monsters like chickens, goblins, and cows, and then use the bones to train Prayer. Protect from Melee and Protect from Missiles are some of the most essential Prayer abilities, and leveling up Prayer as soon as possible will help you immensely in later PvE and PvP situations.

To make training Prayer more efficient, you can:

Train Prayer by burying bones.

Use a Gilded Altar at a player-owned house for efficient Prayer training.

3. Unlocking Key Resources: The Importance of Skilling
As an Ironman, you’ll need to be skilled in many areas. While combat will naturally be your primary focus, skilling is just as important. Here are some essential tips for unlocking key resources in various skills:

Crafting: Make sure to gather cowhides and turn them into leather for crafting, which will allow you to make leather gloves, boots, and armor. This will help you save coins and avoid needing high-level gear early on.
Smithing: While you can mine ores and smelt them to create your own armor and weapons, it’s a good idea to level up Smithing early on by creating simple items like bronze, iron, or steel equipment.
Cooking: As an Ironman, you won’t be able to rely on others for food. Cooking is critical, so fish or hunt for your food, and cook it to improve your cooking level. This will give you access to better food for combat and restore your health faster.
Agility: Agility is often overlooked but is incredibly useful, particularly for navigating through the Wilderness and avoiding dangerous scenarios. Use Agility shortcuts and practice your agility skills on agility courses to boost your ability to escape dangerous situations.
4. Creating Efficient Training Routes
Ironman mode requires you to be as efficient as possible, so it’s important to create training routes for your combat and skilling activities. These routes should minimize downtime and maximize experience gains.

Focus on Training Multiple Skills at Once: Combine training activities such as woodcutting and firemaking or fishing and cooking to maximize efficiency. This will save time and effort.

Make Use of the Best Locations: As you advance, you’ll unlock areas with better monsters to kill and better resources to gather. The Stronghold of Security or the Taverley Dungeon is great for training.

Use the Right Tools: Always upgrade your gear when possible. This means using better axes, pickaxes, and fishing rods to speed up gathering resources.

5. Planning for the Mid-Game and Beyond
While this guide focuses on early-game strategies, it’s important to note that the skills and strategies you develop early on will impact your success in the mid-game. Some goals to work towards in the early stages include:

Unlocking Barrows: This is a critical goal for Ironman accounts, as Barrows gear provides some of the best mid-game equipment.

Slayer: The Slayer skill is crucial for obtaining high-level gear and experience. Start on low-level Slayer tasks to train combat while gathering useful items.

Conclusion
OSRS Ironman mode is a rewarding but challenging experience, requiring a great deal of self-sufficiency, preparation, and skill. The early game can be brutal, but with proper planning, questing, skilling, and efficient use of resources, you can set the foundation for a successful Ironman adventure. By focusing on essential skills, combat preparation, and gathering resources, you’ll soon be well on your way to buy RuneScape gold conquering the game entirely on your own.