Complete Manarion Ironman Mode Guide 2025

Ironman mode in Manarion is the ultimate solo challenge—a test of self-sufficiency, strategic planning, and resource management. With no player trading, solo guilds, and significantly slower progression, Ironman mode strips away the conveniences of Standard mode and forces you to master every aspect of the game. This comprehensive guide covers everything you need to know about creating, playing, and succeeding as an Ironman character.

What Is Ironman Mode?

Ironman mode is a restricted game mode added to Manarion on November 6, 2025. It’s designed for experienced players who want a solo, self-sufficient challenge without the marketplace economy or guild support systems available in Standard mode.

Core Ironman Principles

Complete Self-Sufficiency:

• No buying equipment from other players
• No buying resources from other players
• No borrowing Heirlooms from guild armories
• All progression comes from your own drops and efforts

Solo Guild System:

• You create a guild where you’re the only member
• Must fund all guild buildings yourself
• Still receive guild building bonuses
• Can complete guild dungeons solo for rewards

Separate Competition:

• Separate leaderboards from Standard mode
• Separate Elemental Rift instances
• Compete only against other Ironman players
• Different meta and strategies emerge

The Challenge:

• 3-5x slower progression than Standard mode
• Every resource decision matters critically
• Requires a deep understanding of all game systems

Ironman mode is permanent. Once you create an Ironman character, it cannot be converted to Standard. However, you can have both a Standard character and an Ironman character on the same account and switch between them freely.

Who Is Ironman Mode For?

Ironman mode is NOT for new players. It’s designed for experienced PBBG players and Manarion veterans who want additional challenge.

You Should Play Ironman If:

1. You Have Manarion Experience

• You’ve played Standard mode for a while now
• You understand combat mechanics, gathering, equipment, and guilds
• You know what mistakes to avoid
• You’ve experienced the full game loop

2. You Enjoy Self-Sufficiency

• You like the satisfaction of earning everything yourself
• You prefer avoiding market economics and trading
• You enjoy solo progression and independence
• You don’t want to rely on others for resources

3. You Want a Long-Term Challenge

• You’re committed to playing for months or years
• You enjoy slow, methodical progression
• You like planning resource allocation carefully
• You appreciate incremental improvements

4. You Like Strategic Optimization

• You enjoy theorycrafting and planning
• You want to master every system in the game
• You like balancing combat AND gathering
• You appreciate resource scarcity, forcing tough choices

You Should NOT Play Ironman If:

1. You’re New to Manarion

• Ironman assumes you know the game already
• Learning while restricted is frustrating
• Standard mode teaches mechanics better
• You can create Ironman later once experienced

2. You Want Fast Progression

• Ironman is 3-5x slower than Standard
• Reaching level 3,000 takes longer
• Equipment upgrades are rare and valuable
• Patience is required

3. You Enjoy Trading and Markets

• No player marketplace access
• Only merchant NPC at 80% conversion rate
• The market economy doesn’t exist for you
• Can’t participate in trading communities

4. You Want Guild Community

• Solo guilds only—no teammates
• No guild chat with others (you can still use the ironman chat)
• No shared armory or enchanters
• Entirely self-reliant progression

Recommendation

Play Standard mode first. Get to level 1,000+, understand all systems, learn from mistakes, then create an Ironman character with that knowledge. Many successful Ironman players maintain both characters, using Standard for quick progression and Ironman for the long-term challenge.

Creating Your Ironman Character

Creating an Ironman character is simple, but understanding the process helps you avoid mistakes.

Step-by-Step Creation

1. Access Account Settings

• Log in to Manarion
• Click Settings (top-right)
• Click the Account tab

2. Create Ironman Character

• Click “Create Ironman Character”
• Choose character name (changeable later with Crystallized Mana)
• Confirm creation

3. Switching Between Characters

• Settings > Account > Switch Character
• Your Standard and Ironman characters exist on the same account
• Switch freely anytime (no cooldown)
• Progress is saved separately

Important Notes

No Deletion: Once created, Ironman characters cannot be deleted or converted to Standard. They’re permanent.

Shared Account Resources: Your Standard character can wire Crystallized Mana to your Ironman for QoL subscription, name changes, or cosmetics. This is the ONLY trading allowed.

Separate Everything: Leaderboards, Elemental Rift instances, and competition are completely separate between Standard and Ironman.

Ironman Restrictions and Benefits

Understanding exactly what Ironman mode restricts and what benefits it provides is crucial.

Restrictions

1. No Player Trading

• Cannot buy equipment from the Equipment Market
• Cannot buy resources from other players
• Cannot sell items to other players
• Merchant NPC only—trades at 80% rate

2. No Premium Shop

• Cannot buy Crystallized Mana from the premium shop
• Must wire Crystallized Mana from a Standard character or another player
• Can only use Crystallized Mana for QoL, name changes, and cosmetics
• No merchant upgrades available

3. Solo Guilds Only

• Can only create guilds where you’re the sole member
• Cannot join other players’ guilds
• Must fund all guild buildings yourself
• No shared armory or guild enchanters

4. No Referral Rewards

• The referral system doesn’t work for Ironman
• Cannot earn or give referral bonuses

Benefits

1. Triple Base Actions with QoL

• Standard with QoL: 3,600 base actions (3 hours)
• Ironman with QoL: 10,800 base actions (9 hours)
• This is massive—9 hours means no downtime overnight
• Most valuable benefit for active players

2. Separate Leaderboards

• Compete only against other Ironman players
• Fair competition (everyone has the same restrictions)
• Different meta-strategies emerge
• Achievements feel more meaningful

3. Separate Elemental Rift Instances

• Not competing against Standard players
• More reasonable competition for event points
• Top rankings are more achievable if you plan accordingly

4. Bragging Rights

• Ironman accomplishments are highly respected
• The community recognizes the challenge
• Special sense of achievement

The QoL Decision

Should You Get QoL for Ironman?

YES, absolutely. Here’s why:

• 10,800 base actions = 9 hours of playtime
• Covers overnight (8 hours sleep + buffer)
• No downtime = maximum efficiency
• Auto-join events (critical for Elemental Rift)
• Auto-collect farm (saves manual checking)

How to Get QoL:

1. Play the Standard character briefly
2. Farm enough Mana Dust to buy 5 Crystallized Mana
3. Wire Crystallized Mana to your Ironman character
4. Purchase QoL subscription (5 Crystallized Mana per month)

Cost: a few hours of Standard play per month to fund Ironman QoL. Worth it.

The Critical First Decision: Combat or Gathering

In Standard mode, you can specialize in either combat or gathering. In Ironman mode, you need both.

Why Ironman Requires Both Paths

Guild Dungeons Need Both:

• Resource nodes (Iron/Wood/Fish) scale with trade skill levels
• Elemental Knights scale with combat mastery and battle level
• Guild dungeons are critical for Codex and Orb of Perfection
• Balanced skills = faster dungeon completion = better rewards

Resource Conversion Requires Diversification:

• You need Fish, Wood, AND Iron for guild buildings
• Merchant converts at an 80% rate (trade 1,251 to get 1,000)
• If you only have one skill, conversion is expensive
• Three balanced skills = more efficient resource gathering

Equipment Needs Both Paths:

• You’ll need combat stats for fighting
• You’ll need to gather stats for resources
• Can’t buy either from the market
• Must farm both yourself

Starting Path Recommendation

Despite needing both eventually, start with combat for these reasons:

1. Faster Early Shards

• Combat generates shards more consistently early game
• Shards unlock Base Resource Amount research
• Base Resource Amount makes gathering more efficient

2. Faster Quest Progression

• Combat levels faster initially
• Faster quests = more Codex early
• Codex investment compounds

3. Better Pet Start

• Combat pets (Resurrect, Damage) unlock early
• More Elemental Rift participation = more eggs
• Egg Drop pet accelerates everything

Early Game Plan (First Week):

1. Combat to level 20-30 (invest shards in combat stats)
2. Invest a few levels in Base Resource Amount
3. Switch to your primary gathering skill
4. Level all three gathering skills gradually
5. Maintain combat for Elemental Rift events

Ironman Early Game Strategy (Levels 1-100)

Your first 100 levels set the foundation for your entire Ironman journey.

Day 1: Critical First Steps

Hour 1: Character Setup

1. Create an Iron Man character
2. Start battling immediately
3. Complete first 50-100 quests

Hour 2-3: Quest Grinding

• Focus only on quests
• Don’t worry about equipment yet
• Equip whatever drops (Rare/Epic)

Hour 4: First Guild Creation

• You’ll need 1,000 Fish, 1,000 Wood, 1,000 Iron
• DON’T try to farm all three yet
• Save this for Day 2-5
• Focus on combat and shards first

Week 1 Priorities

Priority 1: Combat to Level 100

• Battle enemies across the first 2 zones
• Earn Elemental Shards from combat
• Collect equipment drops (equip the best you find)

Priority 2: Shard Investment

• Damage: Level 10-20
• Health: Level 10-20
• Your Mastery: based on how many tomes you get
• Base Resource Amount: Level 20-30 (critical for future gathering)

Priority 3: Codex Spending

• Base Experience: All Bound Codex here at first
• After that, start spending a bit on Mana Dust, Drop Boost, and Base Resource
• If you haven’t invested many codex, you may consider resetting when swapping to Gathering

Priority 4: Equipment

• Equip the best Rare/Epic that drops
• Focus on Intellect and Damage stats
• Don’t use orbs yet (save them)
• Disenchant extras for shards and dust

Priority 5: Elemental Rift Participation

• Join every Elemental Rift event
• Earn eggs for pets
• First pet: Egg Drop (accelerates everything)
• Second pet: Resurrect or Damage (combat power)

Creating Your Guild (Days 3-5)

Resource Gathering Strategy:

You need 1,000 Fish, 1,000 Wood, and 1,000 Iron. Here’s the efficient method:

Step 1: Shard Investment

• Invest 20-30 levels in Base Resource Amount (from combat shards)
• Invest 20-30 levels in Woodcutting, for example (primary gathering skill)

Step 2: Farm Primary Resource

• Switch to Woodcutting
• Farm 3,502 Wood total

Step 3: Merchant Conversion

• Trade 1,251 Wood → 1,000 Fish (80% merchant rate)
• Trade 1,251 Wood → 1,000 Iron (80% merchant rate)
• Keep 1,000 Wood
• Result: 1,000 of each resource

This is FAR more efficient than trying to level all three gathering skills equally.

Step 4: Create Guild

• Use resources to create a guild
• Start with a solo guild (you’re the only member)
• Begin working on guild events

Resource Management: The 80% Merchant Rule

The merchant NPC is your only trading option in Ironman mode, and understanding the 80% conversion rate is critical.

How Merchant Trading Works

Conversion Rate: 80%

To receive 1,000 of a resource, you must trade 1,251 of another item.

Math:

• 1,251 × 0.80 = 1,000.8 (rounds to 1,000)

Example Conversions:

• 1,251 Wood → 1,000 Fish
• 1,251 Fish → 1,000 Iron

This 20% loss makes every conversion expensive, so minimize unnecessary trading. This also works for guild resources or elemental tomes.

Efficient Resource Strategy

Prioritize One Resource:

• Choose one primary gathering skill (Woodcutting, Fishing, or Mining)
• Level that skill heavily
• Farm that resource efficiently
• Convert to other resources only when needed

Minimize Conversions:

• Plan guild building upgrades carefully
• Farm resources before you need them
• Don’t convert back and forth (each conversion loses 20%)
• Build up stockpiles when possible

Example: Bad Strategy

• Farm 1,000 Wood
• Convert to 800 Fish
• Realize you need Wood
• Convert back to 640 Wood
• Lost 360 Wood (36%) through unnecessary conversions

Example: Good Strategy

• Plan: “Study Room needs 500 Wood, 300 Fish, 200 Iron”
• Farm 1,500 Wood total
• Convert: 375 Wood → 300 Fish, 251 Wood → 200 Iron
• Keep 874 Wood
• Result: All resources ready, minimal conversion loss

What to Convert, What to Farm

Always Farm Directly:

• Your primary resource (Woodcutting/Fishing/Mining)
• Resources needed in large quantities
• Resources for immediate use

Convert Only When:

• Small amounts needed (converting 100-200 is acceptable loss)
• Time-sensitive upgrades required
• Resource is vastly more expensive to farm than convert

Solo Guild Strategy

Solo guilds are one of Ironman mode’s biggest challenges and most rewarding systems.

How Solo Guilds Work

You’re the Only Member:

• Create guild (costs 1,000 Fish/Wood/Iron)
• No one can join
• No shared armory (but you can store items there)
• You have guild chat, but you’re alone so you can test 7tv emotes or leave notes.

You Still Get:

• All guild building bonuses
• Study Room, Nexus Crystal, Mana Conduit benefits
• Guild dungeon access for guild resources and orb of perfection farming
• Full guild system functionality

The Challenge:

• Must fund all building upgrades yourself
• No tax contributions from other teammates
• Building progression is 30x slower (30 members vs 1)
• Every resource matters critically

Guild Building Priority for Ironman

With limited resources, prioritize buildings carefully:

Priority 1: Study Room (Levels 1-50)

• +1% base experience per level
• Accelerates ALL progression
• Compounds with Codex Base Experience
• First 50 levels: ~10,000 Wood/Fish/Iron total

Priority 2: Nexus Crystal (Levels 1-50)

• +1% shard effectiveness per level
• Makes every shard investment stronger
• Critical for combat and gathering power
• Compounds over time

Priority 3: Magical Accounting (Levels 1-100)

• Increases guild tax efficiency
• You’re taxing yourself, so this multiplies resources
• At level 100, every resource you tax gives guild 200% total
• Accelerates building progression

Lower Priority:

• Mana Conduit (nice for combat, not essential early)
• Sleeping Quarters (QoL gives 9 hours, sufficient)
• Cloakroom (200 base slots sufficient for one player)

Guild Dungeon Mastery

Guild dungeons are critical for Ironman progression, providing Codex, shards, resources, and rare Orb of Perfection drops.

How Solo Guild Dungeons Work

12 Events Per Dungeon:

• 2 Fire Knight events
• 2 Water Knight events
• 2 Nature Knight events
• 2 Iron Node events
• 2 Wood Node events
• 2 Fish Node events

Event Health: 150,000 HP (based on your dungeon level)

Damage Scaling:

Resource Nodes (Iron/Wood/Fish):

• Damage = Your trade skill level
• Higher Woodcutting = more damage to Wood nodes
• Higher Mining = more damage to Iron nodes
• Higher Fishing = more damage to Fish nodes

Elemental Knights:

• Damage = Your highest mastery determines damage
• Follow Elemental Advantage System

Example: Battle Level 30, Masteries: Fire 10.66%, Water 14.74% (highest), Nature 11.84%

Your Damage:

• Fire Knights: 30 damage (Water counters Fire)
• Water Knights: 15 damage (half, not countered)
• Nature Knights: 15 damage (half, not countered)

Optimizing Dungeon Completion

Balanced Investment Strategy:

To complete dungeons efficiently, you need ALL skills:

Combat Skills:

• Battle Level (determines base knight damage)
• Your highest mastery (determines which knight you counter)
• All three masteries eventually (to counter all knights efficiently)

Gathering Skills:

• Woodcutting (Wood node damage)
• Fishing (Fish node damage)
• Mining (Iron node damage)

Example Progression:

• Battle Level 250
• Nature Mastery 150%, Water Mastery 80%, Fire Mastery 50%
• Woodcutting 150, Fishing 100, Mining 50

Damage Output:

• Water Knights: 250 damage (Nature counters Water)
• Fire/Nature Knights: 125 damage each
• Wood Nodes: 150 damage
• Fish Nodes: 100 damage
• Iron Nodes: 50 damage

150,000 HP Event Completion:

• Water Knights: 600 actions (30 minutes)
• Fire/Nature Knights: 1,200 actions (60 minutes)
• Wood Nodes: 1,000 actions (50 minutes)
• Fish Nodes: 1,500 actions (75 minutes)
• Iron Nodes: 3,000 actions (150 minutes)

Total Dungeon: ~7-10 hours to complete all 12 events

Using the Dungeon Time Calculator

The Manarion Dungeon Time Calculator helps you plan dungeon progression:

Input Your Levels:

• Battle level
• Fire/Water/Nature mastery percentages
• Woodcutting/Fishing/Mining levels
• Current dungeon level

Calculator Shows:

• Exact actions needed per event
• Time to complete each event
• Total dungeon completion time
• Which skills to prioritize for faster completion

Strategic Use:

• Identify your weakest areas (longest completion times)
• Invest in those skills to balance dungeon speed
• Plan when you can complete full dungeons
• Optimize resource allocation

Guild Dungeon Rewards

Per Dungeon Completion:

• Codex (scales with dungeon level)
• Elemental Shards (scales with dungeon level)
• Resources (Fish/Wood/Iron)
• Small chance for Orb of Perfection (extremely rare and valuable)

Why Dungeons Matter:

• Deterministic source of Codex for the guild
• Valuable resources that complement your resource donations
• Orb of Perfection is an endgame equipment perfection tool

Equipment Progression Without Trading

Ironman equipment progression is fundamentally different from Standard mode.

No Heirloom Borrowing

Standard Mode:

• Borrow level 7,000+ Heirlooms from guild armory
• Use until level 3,000+
• Free power spike

Ironman Mode:

• No guild armory sharing (solo guild)
• Must craft your own gear
• Heirlooms are also useless in this mode
• Better to use full-power Legendary items directly

Ironman Equipment Path:

• Levels 1-100: Rare and Epic drops
• Levels 100-3,000: Legendary drops
• Levels 3,000+: Mythic crafting

Early Game Equipment (Levels 1-100)

Equip What Drops:

• Rare (Blue) items are common
• Epic (Purple) items drop occasionally
• Legendary (Orange) items are rare

Don’t Use Orbs unless the item is worth it:

• Orb of Power: You will get plenty along the way so you can use them if you don’t want to wait for a Rift of Power
• Orb of Chaos: Use them for rerolling gathering skill on tools or mastery on weapons
• Orb of Divinity: Use it on high-level epic drops, ideally weapons with good stats
• Orb of Perfection: You won’t need them for a while. Make sure to flex them in Ironman chat
• Orb of Legacy: Not relevant in this game mode, you can’t delete them so might as well collect them

Mid-Game and Endgame Equipment

We will revisit this section as soon as more players advance in this mode. At the time we wrote this guide, the highest level battler was level 230, and the highest level TS-er was 114. There’s a lot we can learn together in this mode, so feel free to hop on and share your ideas and drops in Ironman chat.

Pet System for Ironman

Pets are critical for Ironman progression, and pet priorities differ significantly from Standard mode.

Pet Acquisition

How to Get Eggs:

• Participate in Elemental Rift events (1 egg per participation)
• Egg Drop pet (chance to drop eggs from normal actions)

Egg Costs:

• First pet: 1 egg
• Second pet: 2 eggs
• Third pet: 3 eggs
• Cost is increased by 1 for each pet acquired

Pet Slot System

3 Combat Pet Slots:

• Used while battling
• Gain full experience during combat
• Gain half the experience during gathering

2 Gathering Pet Slots:

• Used while gathering
• Gain full experience during gathering
• Gain half experience during combat

2 Utility Pet Slots:

• Always active
• Gain full experience during all activities
• Universal benefits

Ironman Pet Priority

First Pet: Egg Drop (Utility)

• Drops eggs from normal actions
• Accelerates entire pet acquisition
• Most important first purchase
• Keep active permanently

Second Pet: Resurrect (Combat)

• Restores full health after fatal damage
• Prevents combat deaths
• Essential for pushing higher enemies
• Keep active while battling

Third Pet: Main Gathering Skill

• Helps with extra experience in your main skill
• Which results in more resources
• A higher woodcutting level allows you to equip other higher fishing/mining equipment

Pet Rotation Strategy

While Battling:

• Active Combat Pets: Resurrect, Damage, Haste (or Ward)
• Active Gathering Pets: Main TS Pet, the lowest-level gathering skill pet
• Active Utility Pets: Egg Drop – use this until you get all the pets, or swap it for the event pet

Gathering pets gain half experience while battling, so equip your lowest-level ones to level them passively.

While Gathering:

• Active Combat Pets: Lowest-level combat pets (to level them passively)
• Active Gathering Pets: Versatility, your current gathering skill pet
• Active Utility Pets: Egg Drop, Pet EXP

Combat pets gain half experience while gathering, so rotate them to distribute experience evenly.

Long-Term Pet Goals

Essential Pets for Ironman:

• Egg Drop (utility)
• Resurrect (combat)
• Damage (combat)
• Ward or Haste (combat)
• Versatility (gathering)
• All three gathering skill pets (Woodcutting, Fishing, Mining)
• Multistat (utility)
• Pet EXP (utility)
• Drop Boost (utility)

Less Critical:

• Immunity (Resurrect is better for most Ironman situations)
• Curse (nice but not essential)
• Harvesting (random drops, inconsistent value)

Pet Experience Strategy:

• Always keep Egg Drop until you get all the pets
• Rotate combat and gathering pets to level all of them

Ironman vs Standard: Direct Comparison

Understanding the differences helps set realistic expectations.

Progression Speed

To Level 1,000:

• Standard: 2-3 weeks (with guild support, Heirlooms, trading)
• Ironman: 6-12 weeks (solo guild, self-found equipment, 80% merchant)

Ironman is 3-5x slower. This is expected and intentional.

Resource Availability

Standard:

• Buy anything from the market
• Borrow Heirlooms
• Trade freely
• Instant solutions to resource needs

Ironman:

• Everything self-found
• 80% merchant conversion (20% loss)
• No borrowing
• Plan ahead for resource needs

Guild Benefits

Standard:

• Join the guild with level 450 buildings immediately
• Instant +450% XP, +400% shard effectiveness
• Shared armory, enchanters
• 30-member tax contributions

Ironman:

• Must build a guild from level 1
• Buildings progress 30x slower (1 member vs 30)
• All costs paid by you alone

Equipment Progression

Standard:

• Borrow level 7,000 Heirlooms day 1
• Use until level 3,000
• Buy Mythics from the market if cheaper
• Orbs available from the market

Ironman:

• Self-found Rare/Epic until level 1,000
• Legendary until level 3,000
• Craft all Mythics yourself
• Use orbs wisely, they are limited

Strategic Depth

Standard:

• Focus on one path (combat OR gathering)
• Specialize
• Trade for resources you don’t farm
• The market solves most problems

Ironman:

• Must do BOTH combat AND gathering
• Balance six skills (battle + 3 gathering + 2 elements)
• Every resource decision matters
• Can’t trade away mistakes

Advanced Ironman Strategies

For experienced Ironman players looking to optimize.

Dual-Path Optimization

The Challenge: Balancing combat and gathering efficiently

Strategy:

• 6 hours battling, 4-6 hours gathering (rotating schedule)
• Combat cycles: Farm shards, enchanting materials, equipment
• Gathering cycles: Farm resources for guild buildings and farm
• Maintain balance, don’t neglect either

Pet Rotation:

• Combat cycles: Resurrect, Damage, Haste active + lowest gathering pets (half exp)
• Gathering cycles: Versatility, primary skill active + lowest combat pets (half exp)
• All pets level evenly over time

Elemental Rift Maximization

Goal: Max eggs for pet acquisition

Strategy:

• Participate in EVERY Elemental Rift event
• Use QoL auto-join (don’t miss events overnight)
• Equip Vitality Sigil during events if battling (Distillation doesn’t work in events)
• Focus on event points for sigil progression

Conclusion

Ironman mode in Manarion is a marathon, not a sprint. It requires patience, planning, and a deep understanding of the system. But for players who enjoy self-sufficient gameplay, strategic resource management, and long-term challenges, Ironman mode offers the most rewarding Manarion experience.

Ironman mode isn’t for everyone. It’s slower, harder, and more restrictive. But for those who commit to it, the sense of achievement from 100% self-found progression is unmatched. Every item you drop, every guild building you upgrade, every pet you level—you earned it entirely yourself.

Welcome to Ironman mode. Your solo journey begins now.

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Related Guides:

• Manarion Beginner’s Guide – Learn Standard mode first
• Guild System Complete Guide – Solo guild strategies
• Complete Equipment Guide – Mythic crafting and orb usage
• Battling vs Gathering Guide – Which path to prioritize

External Resources:

• Manarion Discord – Ironman community and strategies
• Manarion Dungeon Time Calculator – Essential for solo guild dungeons
• Manarion Helper Userscript – Quality-of-life improvements

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Last Updated: 17th November 2025 – Manarion is actively developed, so some details may change. Check the Manarion Discord for the latest information.