Introduction

In this guide I will cover the basics of starting off as a F2P ironman, as it's unlikely one would start as an ironman I will assume some of the basics of OSRS are at least known a bit and focus more on the challenges facing ironman accounts. I will cover some of the differences between each mode; and give general tips to make your adventure more enjoyable.

If you aren't already an iroman and haven't started or finished tutorial island then you will need to confirm you wish to become an ironman with the magic tutor in the very final part of tutorial island, just after you cast your spell on the chicken. Very early on a regular ironman is similar to new account in OSRS in that you can't trade other players or use the grand exchange, this restriction will of course not go away so you should focus your first few hours in OSRS on resource accumulation and progressing skill levels that will be most beneficial to you. Ironman accounts can still trade with NPC shop/ shop owners, so making money is still important.

Hardcore ironmans are the same as regular just with a 1 life mechanic, when you die your account will revert to a regular ironman, so aside from being more careful in combat and choosing slower/ less risky training methods there aren't many distinct differences to regular accounts. Ultimate ironman accounts have many more restrictions like the inability to bank so are very hard to use in F2P although still possible, I will cover some of the methods here but mainly focus on regular ironman mode.

Questing

Questing early on as an ironman is important to give you easier xp and open up training options further down the line. You should do all the F2P quests, doing Sheep Shearer, Witches Potion, Vampire Slayer and the Restless Ghost early will give you decent xp boosts in crafting, magic, attack and prayer. Vampire Slayer is hard to complete with a low combat level, however after witches potion you will have 4 magic, training that to level 9 will unlock earth strike making the vampire relatively easy to defeat. You should work towards completion of the Knight's Sword quest which has a 10 mining requirement as well as some higher level enemies whose attacks you must withstand (do not need to defeat them). The Romeo and Juliet quest is a good quest to quickly make 5 quest points. When you have 12 quest points you can do Black Knights Fortress which gives 2500 gp as a reward. Whilst not a quest, the best one time money maker is Stronghold of Security which after passing 4 floors of increasingly dangerous monsters and answering questions related to account security you will be rewarded with 10'000 gp osrs. As ultimate ironman accounts can't retrieve items on death you may wish to wait and use the 10k gp from Stronghold of Security to cover rebuilding costs. As ultimate ironman can't use banks certain quests that involve multiple items should be completed before moving onto other quests or back to skilling as inventory management is more important.

Skilling

Starting with melee the following progression is optimal. Defence has slightly higher importance compared to a regular account where health restores such as food are less easily obtainable. To start train your attack and strength to 20 each. In the eastern house in Rimmington there is bronze scimitar on the second floor which is useful for training early levels. From levels 1-15 (depending on questing already done you may start higher), start with the chickens then move to cows, both near the Lumbridge start area just over the bridge. Feathers are useful for fishing and cowhides are useful for crafting so collect both and bank, also pray any bones as prayer isn't easy to train on F2P even as a normal account. From level 15-30 train on the minotaurs in the Stronghold of Security, you can also collect their iron arrows drops which is good for training ranged xp later on. A less risky alternative to training on minotaurs are the giant/ big frogs in lumbridge swamp, they have high hp and low defence but only drop bones so only good for training prayer/ melee. The frogs can be trained to level 50 if you like. From level 30 the hill giants are probably the best to train on, they also have low hp and defence and can be found roaming the southern most part of Edgeville dungeon, they drop big bones so good to pray and also have some other good drops such as iron and steel arrows, many runes and a steel longsword amongst others. You can train here to 99 if you wish. Others to train at to reach 99 are the ankou in the stronghold of security and ogress warriors, which are a good way to obtain rune battleaxes and rune full helms, they also have good rune and arrow drops.

With the benefit of the arrows you should have gained training ranged is now much easier, if you need to buy more and have enough osrs gold then Lowe's Archery Emporium in Varrock will supply them. As before train at cows and chickens but only to level 10. From levels 10-30 train at the dark wizards in Draynor Village behind the bank as they drop nature and law runes which are very valuable. Just like Melee back at the minotaurs is a good training option, starting at 15 also. Once again at minotaurs you can accumulate a large amount of arrows, and from level 30 you will gain more arrows than you use although you still should move to better techniques. 30 to 50 you should transition to hill giants, once again giving good prayer xp. At 40 onwards moss giants and ice giants are safespottable and a great way to train, similarly ankour and ogress warriors can also be trained at but you should start there from level 50.

Because of the cost of training magic you shouldn't train defensive casting as this can be trained for free with melee. Worth noting is every 30 minutes the mage tutor by Lumbridge can give you 30 air runes and 30 mind runes. Assuming you haven't trained any with questing start with airstrikes on cows, chickens and goblins up to level 13, just keep replenishing at the mage tutor, these levels should go quickly. Ice giants for 13 onwards, they are safe-spottable, weak to firestrike and safespottable. Other alternatives are lesser demons, hill giants and greater demons (which must be safespotted). Splashing curse is a cheap method from level 19 onwards it should be done in the boneyard of the wilderness whilst getting prayer xp.

Training is runecrafting is always laborious and no less so as a F2P ironman. You will need to complete the rune mysteries quest in order to mine rune essence at the rune essence mine. You may wish to train this before magic if you haven't gained many runes from the previous combat training. From 1-9 you should just train air runes, and you will 194 rune essence for it, the air talisman is dropped by goblins. Then train earth to 14 (or 99 if you are an ultimate ironman as the earth altar is closest to the essence mine) the earth talisman is dropped by the earth wizard, men and Al-Kharid warriors. Train 14-20 at fire runes, the fire wizard or dark wizard will drop this talisman. Finally you can train the rest with body runes, that talisman is available from the hill giants and guards.

Crafting is a good F2P skill as it's a good source of income. Sheep Shearer and Misthalin Mystery will bring you to level 8 crafting. Using a needle and thread (purchasable from Dommik's Crafting Store in Al-Kharid), you should buy multiple thread). If you are training combat at cows you should get to 16 crafting experience. From 16 crafting you can train with pottery. You should mine clay in south-west Varrock mine then water it in Varrock central fountain, craft it in Barbarian Village then take the canoe or run down to Varrock west and restart. The fastest method, possible from level 23 is crafting tiaras, this also trains smithing as you must smith silver ore into bars at a furnace then using a tiara mould (also purchasable from Dommik's Crafting Store in Al-Kharid) with the silver bar craft a tiara, you should use this method until 99.

Mining and smithing has already been partialy covered, leveling these skills are important as they are good for resource building. From 1-15 mining you can either choose tin/copper or rune essence (or a mixture of both depending on how training other skills is going). You can go from 15-18 with Dorics Quest which is very fast to complete. Then 18+ with iron rocks. Mining will be mostly trained after this point when needed for smithing, crafting and runecrafting. After completion of the Knight's Sword quest you will have 29 smithing, then train silver until 30 you can then superheat steel bars in the Edgeville Dungeon Mine. At 40 smithing you can smith gold bars onwards. Smithing can be a slow process of ultimates so should planned out alongside mining to maximise inventory management efficiency.

Fishing and cooking should be trained together. There are cooking ranges in Al Kharid, Edgeville, Falador and one in Lumbridge castle (requires completion of the Cook's Assistant quest). Train both skills as closely together as possible. 1-5 netting shrimps, 5-20 using a fishing rod and bait (purchasable for Gerrant's Fishy Business in Port Sarim) fish for Sardine and then from 20-99 you can trout with fly fishing using the feathers obtained from chickens.

Finally the last 2 F2P skills woodcutting and firemaking. Woodcutting is useful for utilising the canoe travel system. Firemaking doesn't have many uses in F2P even as an ironman, but should be trained anyway to increase total level. Do both skills in the following order: 1-15 regular trees, 15-40 oak trees, 40-99 willows or alternatively 45-99 maple trees.