High Level Alchemy

High Level Alchemy
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Released	24 May 2001 (Update)
Members	No
Level	55
Spellbook	Standard
Type	Utility
Experience	65
Runes	5 1
Casting speed	5 ticks
Description	Converts an item into more gold
Animation
Sound effect
	File:High Level Alchemy.ogg

This article has a calculator here.

Calculators determine experience and costs based on real-time prices from the Grand Exchange Market Watch.

High Level Alchemy (also known as high alch, hi alch, or HA) is a utility spell available in the standard spellbook. It requires level 55 Magic to cast, and grants 65 Magic experience per cast.

When cast on an item in the player's inventory, the item is converted into a number of coins equivalent to 60% of the item's value (not the item's Grand Exchange price). This is a 50% higher yield than Low Level Alchemy.

Casting High Level Alchemy (commonly known as "alching") is a popular way for players to train Magic, either by itself or in tandem with other skills (such as Agility). Players who train this way can break even on the cost of runes, or even turn a profit, by buying items on the Grand Exchange for a lower cost than the item's High Alchemy value (see below).

Cost

The Explorer's ring 4 can be used to cast High Level Alchemy up to 30 times per day without requiring any runes. Players will not gain any experience when casting High Level Alchemy this way.

Standing near the Fountain of Rune in the Wilderness allows players to cast High Level Alchemy without requiring any runes. Players will not gain any experience when casting High Level Alchemy this way. This method can be used to turn a greater profit when alching by removing the cost of runes, but comes with significant risk, as the Fountain of Rune is a hotspot for player killers.

Spell cost
Input	Cost
⁵ ¹	132
Combo runes
¹ ⁵	202
¹ ⁵	342
¹ ⁵	682
Main-hands
¹ _Alt	107
⁵ ^0.93	124
Main and off-hands
¹	107
^0.93	100

Break even Point


Staff	Tome	Equipment Cost	Rune	Saved GP	Break even Point
Nothing	Nothing	0	⁵ ¹	0	0
Staff of fire	Nothing	1,346	¹	25	54
Nothing	Tome of fire (empty) + Burnt page	625,665	¹	25	25,027
Bryophyta's staff	Tome of fire (empty) + Burnt page	11,688,820	^0.93	32.13	363,760
Bryophyta's staff	Tome of fire (empty) + Burnt page	11,688,820	¹	25	^{[d 1]}467,553
Bryophyta's staff	Nothing	11,063,155	⁵ ^0.93	7.13	1,550,910
Bryophyta's staff	Tome of fire (empty) + Burnt page	11,688,820	⁵ ^0.93	7.13	^{[d 2]}1,638,620

^ Not selling Bryophyta's staff and buying Tome of fire to save the 5 Fire runes.
^ Buying Bryophyta's staff and Tome of fire to "only" save 1/15 of the Nature rune because saving the Fire runes is a lot cheaper with the Staff of fire.

Money making

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Usage

Casting High Alchemy is done by first clicking the icon in the spell book and then clicking the item to cast it on in the inventory. The inventory screen will pop up automatically after clicking the spell icon.

High (and Low) Alchemy can be cast on noted items, saving much withdrawal time from the bank, and simplifying the "click pattern", i.e. the player can place the stack of notes in the same position in their inventory that the alchemy spell is in the spellbook, so that they do not have to move their mouse much to repeatedly cast the spell. Casting alchemy spells on stackable items will only alchemise one at a time. As High Level Alchemy can recast every 5 ticks (3.0 seconds), it is possible to alch around 1,200 items per hour (one item every three seconds) for a total of 78,000 Magic experience.

By using Auto Retaliate, a player can use the spell after their attack (typically by checking for an XP drop), but before getting hit, to alch while training combat skills. If done correctly, the player can maintain combat by re-aggroing from the hit landing after the spell is cast. This can be inefficient against NPCs with slow attack speeds, while being difficult to time correctly against NPCs with high attack speeds.

If the player attempts to cast an alchemy spell on a valuable item, the player will receive a warning message as explained below.

Warning system

High Alchemy 'Valuable Drop Warning' is set to automatically prompt when trying to cast it on an untradeable item or on an item worth 1,000 coins or more. This helps to prevent casting it accidentally on items that are hard to obtain. The threshold value for which the warning is displayed can be altered, and the warning for untradeable items can be disabled, by right clicking (PC) or pressing and holding (Mobile) on the icon in the spell book. A drop-down menu will appear, giving the options to "Cast High Level Alchemy" or "Warnings High Level Alchemy." Clicking on "Warnings High Level Alchemy will give the options to 'Set Value Threshold," or "Disable Untradeable Item Warning."

"Set Value Threshold" changes the value at which a warning appears on screen. Setting this to a very high value will ensure the warning is never triggered.

"Disable Untradeable Item" disables warning when attempting to cast High Level Alchemy on untradeable items with a value lower than the threshold.

It should be noted that the valuable item warning depends upon the item's Grand Exchange value, not its High Alchemy value, even if the alchemy value is higher. This is useful to avoid accidentally alchemising very expensive items with a relatively low high alchemy value, such as Ranger boots, which have a Grand Exchange value of 31,205,999 coins compared to their High Alchemy value of 120 coins. As long as the warning threshold value is set below its Grand Exchange value, accidental alching of the item should not happen if the player is paying attention.

High Alchemy profit/loss on some items

Generally, using High Alchemy will not produce as much GP per hour as other, much better methods, however because it can be done so easily at a profit while levelling Magic it is still used. While Grand Exchange buy limits may present a limiting factor, with a large enough starting amount of GP, a player with 55 Magic can net several hundred thousand GP every few hours buying and alchemizing a combination of the following items in the table below while standing around the Grand Exchange. High Level Alchemy can also be done while training other skills such as Agility, allowing players to train Magic at the same time. Here is a list of commonly crafted items players may wish to alchemise and their calculated possible profit/loss. Prices assume a source of unlimited fire runes is used, such as a Staff of fire.

Item + High Alchemy

	Item Cost (GE)	Nature Rune Cost	High Alch Return	Profit/Loss	Limit 4 hrs	Total Profit/Loss	Member
Steel kiteshield	299	107	510	104	125	13,000	0
Adamant mace	672	107	864	85	125	10,625	0
Steel platebody	915	107	1,200	178	125	22,250	0
Mithril platebody	2,757	107	3,120	256	125	32,000	0
Green d'hide body	4,308	107	4,680	265	125	33,125	0
Adamant platebody	9,557	107	9,984	320	125	40,000	0
Rune mace	8,078	107	8,640	455	70	31,850	0
Rune med helm	10,994	107	11,520	419	70	29,330	0
Rune scimitar	14,940	107	15,360	313	70	21,910	0
Rune longsword	18,666	107	19,200	427	70	29,890	0
Rune sq shield	22,551	107	23,040	382	70	26,740	0
Rune full helm	20,533	107	21,120	480	70	33,600	0
Rune battleaxe	24,300	107	24,960	553	70	38,710	0
Rune chainbody	29,547	107	30,000	346	70	24,220	0
Rune kiteshield	32,131	107	32,640	402	70	28,140	0
Rune 2h sword	37,885	107	38,400	408	70	28,560	0
Rune platelegs	37,847	107	38,400	446	70	31,220	0
Rune plateskirt	38,000	107	38,400	293	70	20,510	0
Rune platebody	38,507	107	39,000	386	70	27,020	0
Rune halberd	37,754	107	38,400	539	70	37,730	1
Blue d'hide body	5,120	107	5,616	389	125	48,625	1
Red d'hide body	6,123	107	6,738	508	70	35,560	1
Dragon med helm	59,006	107	60,000	887	8	7,096	1
Black d'hide body	7,405	107	8,088	576	70	40,320	1

Crafting/Smithing + High Alchemy

This is typically NOT the best way to profit from High Alchemy unless the player creates the items themselves. However, casting High Alchemy on platebodies typically results in less financial loss as opposed to simply buying the materials, smithing the armour, and selling the finished armour back. As such, this is primarily done by players who wish to train Magic along with other skills such as Crafting or Smithing through buying materials directly from the Grand Exchange. The table below does not include the price of the mould for items which require one to craft, as molds are not consumed. The materials cost includes the price of High Alchemy assuming use of fire staff + nature rune.

(* If using silver ore instead of silver bars add 42 to the Profit / Loss)

Item		Materials Needed	Materials Cost (GE)	High Alch Return	Profit/Loss
	Iron platebody	x5	1,202	336	−866
	Steel platebody	x5	2,712	1,200	−1,512
	Mithril platebody	x5	3,362	3,120	−242
	Adamant platebody	x5	9,712	9,984	272
	Rune platebody	x5	62,442	39,000	−23,442
	Rune 2h sword	x3	37,508	38,400	892
	Gold ring		223	210	−13
	Gold necklace		223	270	47
	Gold bracelet		223	330	107
	Gold amulet (u)		223	210	−13
	Gold amulet		271	210	−61
	Opal ring *		820	630	−190
	Opal necklace *		820	630	−190
	Opal bracelet *		820	690	−130
	Jade ring *		456	765	309
	Jade necklace *		456	765	309
	Jade bracelet *		456	780	324
	Emerald necklace		661	855	194
	Emerald bracelet		661	915	254
	Ruby necklace		1,084	1,305	221
	Ruby bracelet		1,084	1,395	311
	Diamond necklace		1,986	2,205	219
	Diamond amulet (u)		1,986	2,115	129
	Diamond bracelet		1,986	2,295	309
File:Abyssal bracelet.png	Abyssal bracelet		2,092	2,520	428
File:Abyssal bracelet.png	Abyssal bracelet		2,268	2,520	252
	Dragonstone bracelet		11,803	11,475	−328
	Combat bracelet		11,909	12,624	715
	Combat bracelet		12,063	12,624	561
	Green d'hide body		4,735	4,680	−55
	Blue d'hide body		6,277	5,616	−661
	Red d'hide body		9,652	6,738	−2,914
	Black d'hide body		16,828	8,088	−8,740

Special cases

Some specialty shops may offer a higher price for certain items than the amount High Level Alchemy gives. For example, High Level Alchemy converts a gold necklace into 270 coins, but Grum's Gold Exchange in Port Sarim offers 315 if there are no gold necklace in the shop's stock. The price decreases 9 coins for each additional necklace in the shop inventory until it reaches a low limit of 45 coins when there are 30 or more necklaces. Some players sell up to about 11 items and then world switch to find another shop which has a low inventory.

There are also some general stores which buy initially for item's 60% value:

Bandit Duty Free shop in the Bandit Camp, mid Wilderness.
Martin Thwait's Lost and Found. in the Rogues' Den, level 50 Thieving and Agility required.
Karamja General Store buys at 40% item value, or 60% when a pair of Karamja gloves 3 or above are equipped.

Then there are some other stores which buy for 55%:

And some more stores which buy for 55% but lose their value quickly:

Animation override

*Leagues IV - Trailblazer reloaded* High Level Alchemy animation

An animation override is available for High Level Alchemy, unlockable via the Trailblazer reloaded alchemy scroll. Players can apply and revert the animation override at any time via the "Animation" menu option on the spell's icon.

Alchemy-restricted zones

Alchemy is inaccessible in random events (as the interface is limited) and disabled in the following minigames for teamplay:

Changes

Date	Changes
[[{{#explode:4 January 2018\| \|0}} {{#explode:4 January 2018\| \|1}}]] [[{{#explode:4 January 2018\| \|2}}]] (update)	An optional extra warning can be enabled for alching untradeable items. Right-click the alchemy spells in the spellbook if you wish to enable this.
[[{{#explode:21 April 2016\| \|0}} {{#explode:21 April 2016\| \|1}}]] [[{{#explode:21 April 2016\| \|2}}]] (update)	It is now possible to use the alchemy spells whilst in most instances.
[[{{#explode:23 April 2015\| \|0}} {{#explode:23 April 2015\| \|1}}]] [[{{#explode:23 April 2015\| \|2}}]] (update \| poll)	Warnings when trying to use high alchemy on valuable items will now appear based on the Grand Exchange value of items rather than the alchemy value.
[[{{#explode:5 March 2015\| \|0}} {{#explode:5 March 2015\| \|1}}]] [[{{#explode:5 March 2015\| \|2}}]] (update \| poll)	You can now cast high level alchemy 30 times per day (no rune cost, no experience) with the Explorer's ring 4.
[[{{#explode:16 May 2013\| \|0}} {{#explode:16 May 2013\| \|1}}]] [[{{#explode:16 May 2013\| \|2}}]] (update)	The alchemy spells will no longer try to run on sliding puzzle pieces.
[[{{#explode:11 April 2013\| \|0}} {{#explode:11 April 2013\| \|1}}]] [[{{#explode:11 April 2013\| \|2}}]] (update)	For the benefit of players with certain medical conditions, flashing effects have been toned down in the Killerwatts' realm and for High Level Alchemy animation.
[[{{#explode:11 April 2013\| \|0}} {{#explode:11 April 2013\| \|1}}]] [[{{#explode:11 April 2013\| \|2}}]] (update \| poll)	If you cast a second alchemy spell before your last one finishes, it's now queued up.

Gallery (historical)


–11 April 2013	11 April 2013 – present

Trivia

An attempt was made to implement a magic tablet for the High Level Alchemy spell in the lead-up to the Construction update, which ultimately proved unsuccessful due to limitations in the way item interactions were handled.^[1] Players would have been required to use a High Alchemy tablet on another item in order to alchemise it, which would run into problems when that item already had use-item-on-item code defined. For example, if one were to have used a High Alchemy tablet on a rune spear, the weapon would execute the item interaction code associated with using weapon poison on it instead, frustrating the attempt to run the alchemisation code defined on the magic tablet.
According to an issue of the Postbag from the Hedge, a portion of the alchemised gold is "waylaid" by Santa Claus whenever someone uses High Level Alchemy on an item, as a means to fund Christmas present production.^[2] Presumably, the percentage of gold siphoned off to Lapland is equal to 40% of an item's value, that is to say the share not received by the player.

References

^ Jagex. Mod Ash's Twitter account. 21 January 2020. Archived from the original on 30 April 2020. Mod Ash: "[Ever thought about adding high alchemy tablets to the game? (...)] Yes. The dev who wrote POH even tried, but he ran into problems with all the items that have their own use-item-on-item code. We could maybe do it by letting the tablet open a different side-interface, though. One that's allowed during combat."
^ Santa. Postbag 14: "The woeful tale of the bunny ears.". letter 1. RuneScape Postbags from the Hedge. Jagex. "It does not cost me much to make so many presents, as we have a deal that I cannot completely reveal to you. All I can say is that when you 'High-Alch', as you call it, some of the material gets a little 'waylaid'."

[ONLYFIRE-1] Not selling Bryophyta's staff and buying Tome of fire to save the 5 Fire runes.

[ONLYNATURE-2] Buying Bryophyta's staff and Tome of fire to "only" save 1/15 of the Nature rune because saving the Fire runes is a lot cheaper with the Staff of fire.

[3] Jagex. Mod Ash's Twitter account. 21 January 2020. Archived from the original on 30 April 2020. Mod Ash: "[Ever thought about adding high alchemy tablets to the game? (...)] Yes. The dev who wrote POH even tried, but he ran into problems with all the items that have their own use-item-on-item code. We could maybe do it by letting the tablet open a different side-interface, though. One that's allowed during combat."

[4] Santa. Postbag 14: "The woeful tale of the bunny ears.". letter 1. RuneScape Postbags from the Hedge. Jagex. "It does not cost me much to make so many presents, as we have a deal that I cannot completely reveal to you. All I can say is that when you 'High-Alch', as you call it, some of the material gets a little 'waylaid'."

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