This is the Ironman/ Hardcore Ironman Defence Guide, the guide for regular players is found Here.

Defence is one of the primary combat skills that grants players protection in all forms of combat. Many pures avoid training Defence as they want to get a lower Combat level than usual, while focusing all attention on increasing their max hit.

The higher your Defence level, the fewer successful blows an opponent will land against the player, this applies to all combat styles used against the player. Defence is thus a vital skill for enduring attacks for long periods of time, and can be extremely helpful against opponents with high Attack, Ranged, or Magic. Defence does not affect the amount of damage taken when a successful attack is landed on the player.

A higher Defence level also allows a player to equip stronger equipment, as most pieces of armour have a Defence level requirement.

Defence Training Styles

Melee weapons vary in their attack styles. Some have four options, with a controlled option, while others have only three options.

Numbers in brackets represent Hardcore Ironman experience

Defencive

The Defencive combat style is usually the bottom right option if there are 4 options, or the bottom left option if there are 3 options. When using the defencive style for every point of damage a player deals, you gain 200(85) experience in Defence and 50(21) experience in Hitpoints. Using the Defencive style provides an invisible +3 boost to your Defence level.

Controlled

The Controlled combat style is usually the bottom left option if there are 4 options, or the top right option if there are 3. When using the controlled style for every point of damage a player deals, they gain 66(28) experience in Attack, Strength, and Defence and 50(21) experience in Hitpoints. Using the controlled style provides an invisible +1 boost to your Attack, Strength and Defence levels. This attack style is only available in some melee weapons

Getting Weapons

As Ironmen have limited access to stores, obtaining weapons is far more difficult than a normal account. However, there are a lot of ways to obtain decent weapons.

Smithing

Most weapons will have to be made by yourself in the beginning of your accounts life. These can be made using the Smithing Skill.

Dragon Weapons

If you have 65 Slayer, you can kill Dust Devils. These NPC's drop both Dragon Daggers and Dragon Scimitars.

Where to Train

Rock Crab

The best place to start training any combat skill at a low level is at Rock Crabs.

To get here click on the world map icon, beside the minimap.

Then select "Combat Training" for the category, and then "Rock Crabs Area"

Here you will find the Rock crabs that can be killed in order to start leveling up your combat stats. Start killing these until you feel you have a high enough Attack level to move on to killing other monsters such as Hill Giants, in Edgeville Dungeon or Yaks on Neitiznot (South).

Bandits

For players with higher levels, the best place train would be at the Bandits Camp, in the desert.

To get here click on the world map icon, beside the minimap.

Then select "Combat Training" for the category, and then "Bandits Camp"

Here you will find a large amount of Bandits that will automatically attack anyone who is wearing Saradomin or Zamorak equipment, allowing for easy AFK experience.
An easy god item to obtain are the god capes from the mage bank. To get these simply teleport to the mage bank, in the 'Player Killing' category, when you arive, enter the pool and then follow the path north. Pray at one of the three statues, if you got the Guthix cape, choose another statue.
Once you have a Zamorak/Saradomin item, simply wear it and the bandits will attack you.

It is recommended to bring a bunyip summoning, as they heal you between 1-10 hp every 15 seconds.

Slayer

If you are planning on training all your skills, it might help to do slayer at the same time as training combat. You can find a Slayer guide Here.

Defence Boosts

Items that you may use to increase the Defence skill:

Picture	Item	Benefits
	Defence potion	Increase your Defence level by 1-13.
	Super Defence	Increase your Defence level by 1-19.
	Extreme Defence	Increase your Defence level by 1-25.
	Saradomin brew	Increase your Defence level by 1-19.
	Overload	Increase your Defence level 5 + 15% of your Defence level (Deals 50 damage over time)

Useful Items and Boosts

Picture	Item/Boost	Effect	How to Obtain
	Knowledge Effect	All experience gained will be increased by: 75% for 10 minutes for normal donators 100% for 20 minutes for super donators 110% for 40 minutes for extreme donators	Go to the Donator Zone, in the building to the west of the bank and click on the Defence Totem (Knowledge effect).
N/A	Bonus Experience	All experience gained will be multiplied by 3 until the bonus experience runs out.	Logging in every day grants 200k Bonus Exp. Every 10th vote streak rewards you with 500k Bonus Exp.
N/A	Monthly Bonus	All experience gained is multiplied by 1.25	Play during the 1st to the 5th of every month.
N/A	Double Exp Weekend	All combat experience is doubled.	Play during the weekend (Saturday/Sunday).
	Double XP ring	Doubles all combat experience.	Bought from the agility ticket shop.

The Skill Cape

If you reach level 99 in Defence, you can talk to the Wise Old Man at home to obtain the Skill cape. He is located at home, in the building north of the bank.

The 99 cape costs 120K Gp and comes with a matching hood. Both the Defence cape and hood give +9 bonus to all defense stats.

For HCIM, this cape will cost only 300 gp.

If you reach 200m experience in the Defence skill you will also unlock the ability to buy the Master Defence Cape. It is exactly the same as the normal Skill cape. However, you can adjust the trim colour to whatever you like. This cape costs 2.5m Gp.