Group Ironman Strategy Guide

  Group ironman is right around the corner, and you know what that means! Time to gather your friends and start making grandiose plans that you definitely won’t follow through with...or maybe that’s just me. Anyway, today I’m going to be going over some tips that will help you get through the early game content as quickly and painlessly as possible. In this blog I’ll be going over some important roles, but keep in mind that depending on how many group members you have, you may need to assign multiple roles to people. Keep in mind that this blog is tailored to the Members game experience, if your group is F2P, most of this will not apply to you, and you’re also masochists. Okay enough chatter, let’s get into the meat and potatoes!

Uhhh what the heck is that ironman on the right doing?

The meat and potatoes person

Speaking of meat and potatoes, let’s discuss the poorly named “meat and potatoes” person role. This person will be in charge of pumping up their Fishing and Cooking levels early on, in order to provide food for the group. This will put their individual progress on hold for a bit, but will be greatly beneficial to the group in the long-run. Having access to powerful food items early on makes most quests, early-mid game monsters, and even some bosses basically trivial. Even if this person were to only train up to 50-60 fishing/cooking at first, the early supply of tuna, lobsters and swordfish will be a blessing to the rest of the group. Be sure to thank your meat and potatoes person by calling them “Garçon” while demanding food from them, they’ll love it, trust me.

They’re basically a gnome waiter with real feelings that you can hurt

The Potionmaster

This one has a way cooler name than the fishing person. And that’s because they ARE cooler. Rather than demanding things from them, they demand things from YOU! Oh how the tables have turned! The person that your group designates as the Potionmaster should be fed all of the herbs and secondary ingredients that your group gets. This will allow them to pump up their Herblore level quickly, giving your group early access to important potions such as prayer potions, combat boosting potions, and eventually super restores and saradomin brews. The quicker your Potionmaster unlocks sara brews and super restores, the sooner your group can begin taking on high level content. As an added bonus, this person can demand that everyone refer to them as “Professor Snape”. Just remind them that Professor Snape was a terrible person despite his tragic backstory (I will die on this hill, fuck Snape, wanna fight about it?) if you need to knock them down a peg or two.

Man you’re named after some grass, you ain’t special

Bobby the building guy (GL you copyright lawyers)

Bobby the building guy should be fed all of the logs and most of the cash your group attains early game. This is so they can pump up their Construction level quickly. That way they can throw the sickest house parties on the block. There are also other benefits to high level houses besides parties, such as a portal room, jewelry box, fairy ring and spirit tree for fast transportation, and an altar or rejuvenation pool to restore your stats. Jagex has stated however that they don’t currently plan on allowing group ironmen to use the houses of their group mates while they’re offline (engine work blah blah blah), so be sure to choose the sweatiest member of your group to have the house, so they’re always online to ensure you can use it.

Be sure to get them this fit ASAP for maximum cosplay efficiency

The Craftsman

Ahh, to be the lucky soul chosen to make and blow molten glass for 100 hours. If you’re generous enough to assign this role to another group member, be sure to help them gather seaweed and soda ash. That way they can pump up their crafting quickly, allowing your team to eventually make onyx and even zenyte jewelry. Be sure to also feed them any gems and gold you may pick up along the way, as they can also make your group important early-mid game jewelry such as games necklaces, dueling rings, and glories (glories can also be obtained through hunter, catching implings). 

Medieval torture device: 2021, colorized

Pay-to-Slay

Everybody in your group should do slayer of course, it’s the best way to level up combat while getting great drops and unlocking high level content. However, somebody in your group should probably be dedicated to pumping up their slayer level as fast as possible, getting fed food, supplies and equipment to level up as quickly as possible. They are then capable of getting drops such as good starter gear for the rest of the group, along with alchables that can help establish a decent cash stack for the group. You can then use the items obtained from this player to boost everyone else up more easily later on. This is the role that you and your group will likely have to play some rock paper scissors to select, since it’s a ton of fun. So I’ve come up with a handy rock paper scissors guide to help you get the edge over your other team members: pick paper, they never see it coming.

If you already sent them this blog, choose scissors, they’ll never see it coming

Roles that everybody should do

Though it’s a good idea to split the workload at first, there are some things that everybody should be doing to ensure maximum efficiency. Also keep in mind that everyone will eventually have to train all of their skills, for diaries and quests and such. The funnelling/roles are only for early-mid game efficiency’s sake.

• Questing
• Farming
• Diaries

Why should we all quest?

I know, questing sucks. I hate it, you  hate it, that weird kid down the street loves it for some reason. However, quests unlock important areas and content in the game. Most late-game content is locked behind at least a few quests. Some quests also unlock gear that is very useful for mid game content, and even end game content. Quests are also a great way to earn some quick experience! Here are some quests that are vital for all/most of your group members early on.

• Monkey Madness quest line for dragon scimitar/spirit tree access along with a bunch of experience
• Waterfall quest to skip early game melee grinding
• Priest in peril quest line for Morytania access
• Gertrude’s Cat, Plague City, and easy Ardougne diaries for Ardy cape and the ability to sell your cats for 200 death runes in West Ardougne
•  Recipe for Disaster line for RFD gloves
• Lost City, Fairy Tale I and at least partial Fairy Tale II for fairy ring access along with dragon dagger and easy puro puro access
• Many others. Check https://oldschool.runescape.wiki/w/Optimal_quest_guide/Ironman for a list of other important quests and their unlocks.

Why should we all farm?

Think about all those herbs! Farming is a skill that takes time and is afk, so you don’t really need to funnel all of your seeds to 1 person, as you can all train it at the same time. This will ensure your Potionmaster has a hefty supply of herbs. Be sure to consider the Miscellania kingdom for each player as well once you have some spare cash laying around, this can also bring in a considerable amount of supplies for your group. Besides, group farm runs are a bonding experience that will strengthen your group for when it needs it - Barbarian Assault. That minigame shatters more friendships than Monopoly and Uno combined.

Why should we all do diaries?

As stated above, everybody will eventually need to train all of their skills for diaries. Diaries provide many useful buffs and items that your group can take advantage of. Once the early game grind is done, consider pooling your supplies and knocking these out. Just try not to knock out your buddies while you’re running the wilderness diaries...or do! I’m not your manager.

That’s about all I have for you, be sure to comment any other tips or ideas you have for group ironman, along with what you most (or least) look forward to about group ironman!