Ultimate Guide for starting out as an ironman!

[Sumting Wong 3]

Sumting Wongs' guide to starting an ironman!

Table of contents:

1. Introduction

2. Starting skills

3. Gear

4. Minigames

5.  Random info

 

1. Introduction

Welcome to the start of your ironman. I consider the beginning usually the boring parts of starting an ironman however in this guide I will give you a complete list of the methods that seemed to help me the most when it came to playing on my ironman. At the start it's pretty straight forward but here's a brief explanation to get you through in case you need to know. Throughout the guide I will be trying to explain skills the best I can however, if a well detailed guide already exists. I will link that for you to read.

As you spawn in you will be brought to an interface asking you to select the experience mode you would like to continue as. Each one having there own benefit towards playing. From there you go to the mode selection and this is where you can choose the type of ironman that you would like to become. This choice is completely up to you and at this point I will point out that the guide you are about to read is strictly the most useful for Hardcore and Regular Ironmen. This guide might work for ultimate but I have no way to prove that since I haven't started out on one currently.

In this guide I will be trying to explain some of the most asked questions whilst online. Hopefully this helps and if you liked it. Please make sure to leave a response, as well if you feel there is anything I need to change. Thank you.

 

2. Starting skills

This section will list all of the skills useful to an ironman in ranking order from what I believe(This is not subject to everyone's opinion, this is just what I feel worked for me and could be helpful towards others.) I will try my best to include photos and gifs where necessary, but if there is a guide detailing a specific skill I will simply link that in the description after I give a brief explanation about it. All skills can be accessed through the skill bar teleport in your mage book. Like seen here 

1. Hunter.

Believe it or not hunter is actually amazing in the game. However the beginning of it can be rather boring it becomes very worthwhile once you get to 83. Below will show you all the areas and methods of getting to 83. Now the main reason I recommend hunter first is it will provide a ton of your supplies for various skills as well as providing decent armor in the higher tier imps. For instance the essence impling can drop Enchanted armor, tome of fire and mud staff. All decent upgrades until you get better. Dragons and ninjas are ideal as they drop grand crest pieces and various other items that make it easy for an ironman to progress. Along with the guide i've linked in the spoiler below the guide to a very well detailed f2p imp guide that someone has created.

In conclusion for hunter the main end game is obtaining the level to catch imps. From there on the rewards will be worth it. I've including a picture of my bank below showcasing just how much items i've obtained so far by doing hunter.

Spoiler

All of these can be accessed from the hunter menu on the skill teleport. As shown.

Additionally, you can place 1 trap up until 20, then 2 at 20, 3 at 40, 4 at 60 and lastly 5 traps at 80. For those who don't have it, the falconers glove is useful as it allows you to catch any prey at level 1 including black chins.

From level 1 to 19 you will want to catch crimson swifts.

At 19-63 you will catch the tropical wagtails.

63-73(or 83) is pretty obvious as you just catch red chins

73 on would be black chins. However you can catch red chins until 83 if you prefer not to be in the wilderness.

Here is wings guide for a detailed explanation of Imp catching 

And here is Kyrpas map for a detailed route for catching imps. 

 

 

 

2. Slayer.

At this point, once you have obtained some decent gear from doing implings the grind goes on. I would recommend at this point to start doing slayer. It's pretty straight forward and goes without saying that at first start on easy tasks and slowly make your way up.

Ideally you will want to save up your points to buy a Slayer Helm(i) at first. I would recommend buying the random items as needed(basically when you get a task) but if you don't need them then don't bother.

You can talk to the slayer guide at home and when you do you will be prompted with this menu.

Additionally you can cancel a task for either 5 slayer points or 100 runex points. I personally always cancel with runex points as I value my slayer points a bit higher. The bracelet of slaughter can be purchased as well and is not a bad purchase. However personally I am saving up for the helms to eventually obtain the fused slayer helm. The choice is for you to make.

Lastly on slayer I will say that in the beginning start at whatever task you can manage and then go from there. Once you get to the point where you can boss, i would recommend killing bosses on task for better experience.

3. Herblore.

Herblore is one of those tough stats as an ironman. However very vital and essential to pretty much everything. The ideal point would be to get to where you can make most potions. However some are more important then others.

I won't go into the details of how it all works as i'm going to link someone who has already done a very well done guide on the subject. I will simply explain what is necessary as an ironman.

The main potions you are going to want to be able to craft are Saradomin Brews, Anti-Venom, Antifire potions, and super combats. Others will come with the levels but these are all key to progressing and helping you through your journey into the end game which would ideally be bossing.

Spoiler

In this link is a very well detailed guide done by One of Herblore. 

 

4. Agility

I recommend agility for mostly two reasons, and the same reasons it ranks pretty high on my list. First main reason is that it comes in handy having access to tons of the shortcuts. Believe me they save time. And second it helps tremendously with run energy. Now I may be wrong and it does nothing but I can definitely notice a difference in my energy draining from level 1 up to level 99. Agility is pretty straight forward and basically just follow the skill teleport, however be wary of training in the wilderness as other players can attack you.

5. Mining and Smithing.

Mining and smithing are important to keep your ammo stock up. Now you will obtain a fair amount of supplies from earth implings to do the skill however just in case mining a few extra things never hurts. Which is why I have included both of these stats here. The key part is crafting the tips to make your ammo. I have included below a well detailed guide for Smithing and Mining.

Spoiler

 

6. Fishing and Cooking.

I have put these together as they are both pretty basic enough to understand. These are both vital for obvious reasons. If you haven't already obtained enough food from the Gourmet implings these will be your extra income essentially. In the spoiler below is a list of cooking fish and at what level they will be not burning. Keep in mind the list could be off since the game adds an extra item that adds to a bonus of not burning things. Also ignore the fish that aren't currently in the game. Also I believe that the Sea Turtle and Manta take place of Angler and Dark Crab. Don't hold me too that.

Lastly for fishing and cooking, these are added because they are essential and really easy should you need some extra supplies after doing hunter.

Spoiler

Food Item	Fire	Cooking range?	Lumbridge Castle range?	Cooking gauntlets?	Cooking gauntlets+ Hosidius Kitchen?	Hosidius Kitchen without Cooking Gauntlets	Experience	Members only?
Dark crab	99	99	99	99		99	215	Yes
Anglerfish	99	99	99	98	93	99	230	Yes
Shark	99	99	99	94	89	99	210	Yes
Monkfish	92	90	90	90	82	86	150	Yes
Swordfish	86	86	86	81	76	82	140	No
Bass	80	80	80	80	75		130	Yes
Curry	74	74	74	74			280	Yes
Lobster	74	74	74	64	61	70	120	No
Plain pizza	N/A	68	68		59		143	No
Rainbow fish	63	63	63	63			110	Yes
Cooked karambwan	99	99	99	99	93	94	190	Yes
Poison karambwan	99	99	99	99			80	Yes
Tuna	64	63	63	63	59	62	100	No
Salmon	58	58	55	58		54	90	No
Slimy eel	58	58	58	58			95	Yes
Pike	64	64	64	65			80	No
Cod	52	52	52	52			75	Yes
Trout	50	49	47	49	46	46	70	No
Mackerel	45	45	45	45			60	Yes
Anchovies	34	34	30	28			30	No
Herring	41	41	41	41			50	No
Sardine	35	35	35	35			40	No
Shrimps	34	34	30	28			30	No
Cooked chicken	34	31	31	31			30	No
Cooked meat	31	31	31	31			30	No

7. Farming

Farming is another one of those that assuming you didn't get all too lucky with nature implings it is nice to have for some extra supplies. There really isn't too much to explain on this but it is helpful for herblore obviously. I will include a very well detailed farming guide made by Jhenry in the spoiler below.

Spoiler

 

8. Combat.

At this point you've come to the point where training combat is pretty important. Even though slayer is up at the number 2 spot, which means you should already be slightly training it. I recommend kicking it into overdrive at this point. However I don't recommend training combat outside of slayer as it is a very tedious skill and useful as well.

 

3. Gear.

So at this point we are ready to start looking for a decent setup. Assuming you've already completed the imps and obtained some decent starter items I recommend venturing out and starting to look for upgrades.

Key upgrades would include void which can be purchased via Runex points as seen in this picture. 

Some other upgrades I would recommend working too, depending on your RNG, is the master wand from battle mages and the book of infinity. Getting slayer high enough to obtain a Whip via Abby demons and a trident via Kraken, even a kraken tentacle. Completing Ankous dailies and the achievement to obtain an Ibans staff is another decent starter upgrade then purchasing the Enchanted ibans staff at the Imbue wizard near the runecoin exchanger which costs 7.5k runex points and the Iban Staff. 

Various bosses are also ones that I recommend killing are(and don't sue me for butchering names): 

General Graardor, Kree'ara, Commander Zilyana, Zulrah, Kril Tsuroth, Lava Dragons(in wild), Kraken, Barrows(will be given a bit more detail in minigames section), and plenty more. All the ones listed are ones that are easier to kill in welfare gear. Again each have there own respective reason for being worth it. Bosses can be reached via the Boss teleport in the mage book as shown.

 

4. Minigames.

Minigames will contribute to a lot and I will be using some peoples guides as links to a more detailed description of how to do the actual minigame I talk about.

All minigames can be accessed via the minigame teleport in the mage book as shown. 

1. Barrows.

I've listed barrows as number one as it is a great area to start out since it is very easy to do and provides some very decent armor to upgrade with.

Some key items to obtain would be Ahrims and Karils, other sets such as Dharok and Guthans are not bad either. Keep in mind however this can be a tedious grind as a piece is only guaranteed once a day from the moneymaking daily.

I've linked Fab's barrows guide to give a complete detailed description on how to properly do the minigame.

Spoiler

 

2. Fight Cave and Infernal Cave

Both of these are useful, however tedious, as they provide you with really strong capes to start out. I've included guides for both. Again these are not necessary, but recommended as both capes provide good bonuses. The firecape being good bonuses to start and the infernal being the best for late game.

Spoiler

Fight cave guide by Woox

 

And the infernal guide by Asuna 

 

3. Nardah

Nardah is unique in the sense that the only way to get here is via a scroll that can be obtained from various monsters, or completing the thieving daily.

Nardah has several good rewards and i've linked a very detailed guide down below. The reason i've listed this is because the rewards from it are pretty decent. From the supplies to the actual items you can obtain. It can be tricky to learn so it's best to follow a guide and practice over time.

Spoiler

 

4. Kharazi

This is a minigame that as of right now I haven't experimented much with, however still very useful for upgrades. I've again included a guide for a detailed description on how to do it.

Spoiler

 

5. Random Info.

1. Runex Points

A common question is people always asking what to spend Runex points on first. I recommend saving up points as much as you can. The best thing to purchase first would be the Ibans Staff as a quick boost for your mage setup, for range the Magic Shortbow I can also be purchased, and tome of fire i. After that I recommend saving up until you can afford full Void set. From then on saving to purchase random oddities you might need. Demonic Totem, Chaotics, etc.

2. Runecoins

This is a unique thing specific to Runex. Runecoins are obtained from certain items after trading them into the runecoin exchanger. Some things I recommend buying are the skilling backpack, ring of greed, Catalytic Rune pouch, and saving up some for various enchantments like Elite Void.

3.  Donation

Assuming that you want to donate, a lot of people question what to buy from the dono shop with there tickets, I recommend buying the Pet Mystery boxes, but the choice is completely yours.

4. Achievements

This is a huge part of the game as it is the easiest way to obtain some free items. I recommend completing as many of these as soon as possible as the rewards from each of them greatly increase as you go along. Some big ones to look out for are the Money Monsoon, Skill expert, Land ihabitant and a lot of the bosses.

5. Skilling tasks

This is a unique thing that works a lot like slayer. Basically you will talk to the guy next to the slayer master and he will give you a skilling task at/around your level. Completing it grants you skilling points which can be spent on unique items that help skilling. I highly recommend grabbing this.

6. Achievement points

These are nice because they can be returned if you're not using them for full point value. Items that are highly recommended is any of the books, Varrock Armor, and barrows gloves.

7. Task Scrolls

I recommend starting out on easy tasks, for as a regular ironman the items can be particularly hard to obtain outside of the easy tasks.

8. Money Making activities

These are huge and help greatly. I recommend doing as many as I can but to start out, thieving, rock crabs, experiments, basically all the easy ones are a good starting point. From there work towards some of the bigger ones like Barrows, Lava/Frost Dragons, Task scrolls, ankous and so on!

9. Blood Money

Starting out you should only be invested in one thing. That is obtaining a corrupted blade and getting 50k blood money to transfer it into a Cursed blade. So at the start purchase as many cursed caskets as you can until you obtain it. You can either purchase caskets for 1.5k blood money at the man in the cursed cavern(map in spoilers below) or 2.5k at edgeville in between the shops and the altars.

Spoiler

 

10. Vote Tickets

A good use for vote tickets would definitely be the Luck Tokens, although they may not be super useful at the start of your ironman, stacking up as many as you can right away will put you in good standings later on. Other good seconds would be either the skiller tokens or catalyst tokens.

11. Lava Feathers

I learned this one a little later then I wish I had. However lava feathers are obtained from cursed caskets or catching lava wagtails in the lava maze. These I recommend at the beginning saving up to get 5 King Lava Dragon teleports. Currently it costs 750 feathers for one teleport. The reason you need 5 is you need to kill 5 king lava dragons in order to gain access to metal dragons. I recommend not turning in a ton of lava feathers at one time because it does announce to the server when you grab them. Best of luck! 

That completes my ironman guide. I will add more as I think of them, but for the meantime. Thanks for reading, if you see anything that should be changed or adjusted, by all means let me know. Any feedback is greatly appreciated!

Edited February 2, 2019 by Sumting Wong

[Humpy 111]

I'll be honest, i didn't read it since i'm not an ironman but by the looks of it, how much time and energy you put into this. +1111111 to you.

When i tried playing an ironman, agility 99 and hunter 99 were the first things i rushed for too.

[Agreed 1]

I read all of this and I'll push @Ryantowards this to pin it because this IS the most complete ironman guide. 

This guide has pretty much everything you need to know about an Ironman before you even create it. You could add the voting rewards and when to use them etc. But this is the most well rounded topic I've seen in a while and it's done professionally. +1 from the RuneX community.

[a Supreme 3]

This guide helped me on my Iron man thanks alot for your time

[Death Fury 20]

What a great guide. Love the amount of detail. Definitely going to help me with me hcim. 

[twitch 92]

Very nice guide, please update it as you continue to play. People will make a guide but not update it when stuff changes or new stuff comes out.

[What Bank 3]

Thanks for taking the time to put together your guide - a lot of good content included.

Will definitely be an asset to members who are playing ironman gamemode for the first time.

[Sumting Wong 3]

Thanks for all the feedback guys! Added a new skill to the list of must do skills and a little more information to the random info tab. Again thanks guys! Appreciate the feedback!

[bepis 41]

Sound guide this mush, when you progress more add more endgame if you can 

xo

[Balerion 4]

Excellent guide, will be personally using this as I just started my ironman!