The early stages in RuneScape gold Ironman mode can be particularly harsh since you start without assistance. The goal is to quickly become self-sufficient while building strong skills and obtaining basic equipment.
Prioritize Questing and Rewards
Quests are a key resource in the early game, offering experience, essential items, and access to new content. Some early quests are especially helpful for Ironman accounts:
Cook's Assistant: Grants cooking experience and access to basic ingredients.
Doric's Quest: Provides early mining experience and access to Doric's Anvil for smithing.
The Restless Ghost: Offers early Prayer experience.
Imp Catcher: Unlocks runes for basic Magic training.
Rune Mysteries: Essential for unlocking Runecrafting, critical for creating your own runes.
Other quests unlock crucial areas or equipment, such as The Grand Tree (Tree Gnome Stronghold access) and Lost City (Dragon longsword and Dragon-related content).
Develop a Resource Gathering Strategy
Self-sufficiency requires careful planning of resource collection:
Woodcutting: Early wood is essential for Firemaking, Fletching, and Construction. A basic bronze or iron axe will suffice initially. Later, yew logs become important for advanced crafting.
Mining: Start with copper and tin, progressing to iron, coal, and mithril for smithing gear.
Fishing: Provides a reliable food source. Begin with shrimp and anchovies, eventually aiming for salmon, tuna, and lobsters.
Firemaking and Woodcutting: These skills complement each other. Cutting logs provides resources while training in Firemaking simultaneously.
Herblore: Growing and brewing basic potions early, such as strength, prayer, and combat potions, helps sustain survival during combat.
Train Combat with Low-Level Monsters
Combat training is essential for survival and equipment acquisition. Early targets include:
Chickens and Cows: Offer feathers and bones; bones help train Prayer, and cowhide is useful for crafting.
Goblins: Provide easy combat experience and occasionally drop low-level armor.
Stronghold of Security: Offers free combat experience and a monetary reward of 10,000 coins. It is a safe environment for low-level training.
Use Bones to Advance Prayer
Prayer enhances survivability in tougher fights. Gather bones from early monsters and use them to level Prayer. Training options include:
Burying bones for slow but steady gains.
Using a Gilded Altar in a player-owned house for more efficient training.
Early investment in Prayer opens up defensive options like Protect from Melee and Protect from Missiles, invaluable for later PvE and PvP encounters.
Unlock Key Resources Through Skilling
Ironman accounts require proficiency across many skills. Combat is important, but other skills are equally vital:
Crafting: Convert cowhides into RS gold leather items such as gloves, boots, and armor to save coins.