
Yesterday (Oct 6th) marked the launch of Old School Runescape’s Group Ironman mode, a new co-op game mode allowing players to team up in groups of two to five, battling monsters and journeying on grand adventures in the realm of Gielinor. The game mode is similar to the regular ironman mode with the addition of a dedicated group meetup area, The Node. It will take place on the regular world servers, with irons and non-irons playing side by side.

Groups will compete on a new highscore leaderboard broken down by the size of your group. This means there’ll be a separate leaderboard for 2 players, one for 3 players and so on, up to the maximum of 5. Groups will also be able to trade items between members of the group, which allows for more specialisations. For example one team member skills herblore while another focuses on runecrafting.
Jagex has made it very straightforward to get started playing with your buddies. You can make a group ironman character by first creating a regular account, then speaking to the ironman tutors on Tutorial Island. In the setup select the group modes tab, then once you’ve done this, finish tutorial island as you normally would and take the boat to visit The Node. Once there you’ll be able to find other players to form a group with- Jagex have set up dedicated group finding worlds to make it easier.

Hardcore Ironman mode is also available for those seeking to prove themselves with an even greater challenge. Groups engaging in hardcore ironman mode will be allocated a number of total lives equal to the number of players in the group on formation. When a player in the group dies, a life is subtracted from that total. If the number of lives reaches zero the group will remain intact but have it’s hardcore status revoked. Not all ways of dying will count as a lost life.
Understandably it won’t be possible to transfer your existing ironman; every player who wishes to participate is required to create a new ironman account, therefore giving everyone a fair chance on the leaderboard.
Watch the launch trailer for Group Ironman below.
I’d recommend reading the full details about Group Ironman on the official Jagex website. There’s even an official Group Finder available through Discord.
Before you head off on your journey, be sure to share your tips and tricks for other adventurers in the comments below!
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