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Hardcore Ironman

This article is compiled from the videos of GnomonkeyRS. It records what Gnomonkey said, with sources, not verified game fact. See About.

Hardcore Ironman

Hardcore Ironman
Type Account type
Group variant Group Hardcore Ironman12
Gnomonkey's accounts Three Hardcore Ironmen levelled; the Twisted bow account ended in death34
Notable death 6thBrother's HCIM, October 202554
Videos 7 (first 2025-01-19, latest 2026-05-27)
Main source RIP HCIM 6THBROTHER - OFFSTREAM DEATH - (OSRS)

A Hardcore Ironman (HCIM) is an Ironman account that loses its hardcore status on a dangerous death. Gnomonkey played the mode mainly to try the game mode and never cared about the prestige of doing everything himself4. He has levelled three Hardcore Ironmen and had never died on one before 6thBrother; Hedron has never died on one4. He does not particularly like Ironman, finds getting things himself a waste of time with content he does not enjoy, and has his wife do boring grinds off-stream on Hardcore accounts6.

Contents

Rules and death

  • Dying in the Inferno is a safe death on a regular hardcore ironman and does not lose hardcore status, whereas on a group hardcore ironman it does1. Gnomonkey would prefer Inferno to be a dangerous death because it would be more fun, but says hardcore was made with these rules and should stay that way, which is why group hardcore was made different7.
  • Activities like the Nightmare Zone and Pest Control are dangerous on hardcore, and group hardcore is more dangerous despite having more lives8.
  • Group hardcore is locked to prestige. A solo group hardcore would lock him out of raids like the Theatre of Blood or Nex, so he can only get items by soloing2.
  • The Colosseum is very dangerous for a regular hardcore account9. The Corrupted Gauntlet is incredibly dangerous but a necessary grind for the Bow of Faerdhinen; tier 3 armour with a fast escape crystal makes it basically safe10, and tier 3 prep protects against disconnecting during tornadoes11.
  • He warns that large areas of the sea in Sailing are multi-combat, so a boat can be attacked by many sources. If the boat dies the player washes up at the port on 1 HP, and since poison is possible at sea, they could die the instant they return to shore1212. He thinks it silly to touch Sailing on day one because of the dangers and expected bugs, and does not think Jagex will return hardcore status on anything. He plans to attempt it only after a week or two1313.

Escape crystals

Escape crystals detect if a player disconnects and teleport them the next time they take damage, with a configurable timer. They cost 75k because they are the same as the crystals for the Theatre of Blood14. Early on they are unaffordable, and a player probably only has the money around a total level of about 40015. The wizard who sells them gives a new Hardcore Ironman a free bundle of three the first time, and the mysterious stranger outside the Theatre of Blood gives another three as a bonus for reaching it16.

Gnomonkey's accounts

  • January 2025: he streams on a hardcore ironman account with a low level range and a level 92 prayer17.
  • March 2025: the Twisted bow arrives on the HCIM at 115 kill count, with the Colosseum planned next with gold body paint18. A raid is run on Hedron's backup HCIM to celebrate its Fire cape18. He calls Chambers of Xeric a really good group raid as an Ironman, which could not be better if Jagex tried19. The account now has the Twisted bow and the golden quiver20, and reaches rank 19 for Colosseum glory on the hardcore high scores21.
  • October 2025: the account dies. He was close to Grandmaster combat achievements and says he would never kill an account on purpose for content3. Remaining grinds were dangerous: Nightmare Grandmaster needs roughly full Ink potentially plus the scythe, meaning the Phosani's Nightmare grind he hates, and many God Wars and Desert Treasure 2 combat achievements22. He was nervous about being dry at Doom of Mokhaiotl, seeing people post 2000 deep delve collection logs without boots, and would not have made it to 1000 Doom kills5. 6thBrother had a six-hour session at Doom without success, and Gnomonkey never got to Theatre of Blood on the account5. He was somewhat relieved to be free of the dangerous grinds, and does not like combat achievements22. He calls it a pretty good run for what is technically his third Hardcore Ironman, since the other two did not get as far4. Getting Grandmaster on some account would be great, but the plan was always to play a Hardcore Ironman23. Getting everything spooned made him skip big chunks of the game, so he expects a more natural progression on the backup account to be nicer and different24.

Hardcore Main

Gnomonkey says players who constantly make Hardcore after Hardcore and push dangerous content, such as Hardcore Grandmasters, would be the audience for a Hardcore Main mode without Ironman grinds25.

Revision history

Date Video Change
2026-05-27 Summer Sweep up WISH-LIST (OSRS) Added escape crystals details and acquisition.
2026-02-07 Tier 3 Corrupted Gauntlet Guide for HCIM (OSRS) Added Corrupted Gauntlet danger and tier 3 prep advice.
2025-11-04 SAILING PREP BLOG (OSRS) Added Sailing dangers and plan to delay it.
2025-10-29 RIP HCIM 6THBROTHER - OFFSTREAM DEATH - (OSRS) Added the October 2025 account death and reflections.
2025-03-21 GOLDEN GNOME vs SOL HEREDIT (OSRS) Added golden quiver and Colosseum glory rank.
2025-03-20 HCIM SCUFFED = STUFFED TBOW (OSRS) Added the Twisted bow HCIM and Hedron's backup account.
2025-01-19 LOW LEVEL HCIM INFERNO (OSRS) Page created: Inferno death rules and group hardcore.
## See also

References

  1. LOW LEVEL HCIM INFERNO (OSRS), 2025-01-19. ▶ 12:15 ↩↩

  2. LOW LEVEL HCIM INFERNO (OSRS), 2025-01-19. ▶ 26:50 ↩↩

  3. RIP HCIM 6THBROTHER - OFFSTREAM DEATH - (OSRS), 2025-10-29. ▶ 4:58 ↩↩

  4. RIP HCIM 6THBROTHER - OFFSTREAM DEATH - (OSRS), 2025-10-29. ▶ 8:41 ↩↩↩↩↩

  5. RIP HCIM 6THBROTHER - OFFSTREAM DEATH - (OSRS), 2025-10-29. ▶ 5:08 ↩↩↩

  6. Summer Sweep up WISH-LIST (OSRS), 2026-05-27. ▶ 1:00:39 ↩

  7. LOW LEVEL HCIM INFERNO (OSRS), 2025-01-19. ▶ 23:47 ↩

  8. LOW LEVEL HCIM INFERNO (OSRS), 2025-01-19. ▶ 13:15 ↩

  9. GOLDEN GNOME vs SOL HEREDIT (OSRS), 2025-03-21. ▶ 6:52 ↩

  10. Tier 3 Corrupted Gauntlet Guide for HCIM (OSRS), 2026-02-07. ▶ 0:00 ↩

  11. Tier 3 Corrupted Gauntlet Guide for HCIM (OSRS), 2026-02-07. ▶ 0:33 ↩

  12. SAILING PREP BLOG (OSRS), 2025-11-04. ▶ 12:20 ↩↩

  13. SAILING PREP BLOG (OSRS), 2025-11-04. ▶ 12:47 ↩↩

  14. Summer Sweep up WISH-LIST (OSRS), 2026-05-27. ▶ 12:02 ↩

  15. Summer Sweep up WISH-LIST (OSRS), 2026-05-27. ▶ 12:32 ↩

  16. Summer Sweep up WISH-LIST (OSRS), 2026-05-27. ▶ 13:01 ↩

  17. LOW LEVEL HCIM INFERNO (OSRS), 2025-01-19. ▶ 0:02 ↩

  18. HCIM SCUFFED = STUFFED TBOW (OSRS), 2025-03-20. ▶ 0:00 ↩↩

  19. HCIM SCUFFED = STUFFED TBOW (OSRS), 2025-03-20. ▶ 24:04 ↩

  20. GOLDEN GNOME vs SOL HEREDIT (OSRS), 2025-03-21. ▶ 0:00 ↩

  21. GOLDEN GNOME vs SOL HEREDIT (OSRS), 2025-03-21. ▶ 34:36 ↩

  22. RIP HCIM 6THBROTHER - OFFSTREAM DEATH - (OSRS), 2025-10-29. ▶ 5:39 ↩↩

  23. RIP HCIM 6THBROTHER - OFFSTREAM DEATH - (OSRS), 2025-10-29. ▶ 12:35 ↩

  24. RIP HCIM 6THBROTHER - OFFSTREAM DEATH - (OSRS), 2025-10-29. ▶ 12:01 ↩

  25. Summer Sweep up WISH-LIST (OSRS), 2026-05-27. ▶ 1:01:11 ↩

Accounts

Hardcore Ironman • Bronzeman Mode • Gnome and Monkey locked Ironman • Ironman Mode • 6thBrother death • RuneScape 3 ironman series • 6thBrother collection log • Backup Hardcore Ironman • Hardcore main • Unbound Bronzeman • Group Hardcore Ironman

Category: Accounts