High Level Alchemy

For the table of profit from alchemy, see Grand Exchange Market Watch/Alchemy.

High Level Alchemy (high alch, or alching) is a non-combat Magic spell used to convert items into coins at the best price a player could sell them for at a specialty store. The amount of coins generated is normally 50% more than the general store or Low Alchemy gives.

High level alchemy costs coins to cast but is reduced to  coins to cast with a Staff of fire, Fire battlestaff, Mystic fire staff, Steam battlestaff, Mystic steam staff, Lava battlestaff, Mystic lava staff, any skeletal/necromancer versions of the above, Mindspike (fire) or a Dragon staff, as these staves supply unlimited fire runes. Alternatively, the Explorer's ring 4 and Radiant alchemist's amulet provides 15 rune free casts of High level alchemy a day, which still grants full XP.

High Level Alchemy is a popular way for mages to train their Magic level, by buying or making valuable items and nature runes, then casting the spell on the items. For example, a player might buy or make yew shieldbows to cast High Level Alchemy on them. Buying them would create profit or loss depending on the item's market price, while making them from scratch would usually create profit. In practice, smartly buying items in bulk from other players usually results in more coins being created than paid for the converted item. This is widely regarded as a major cause of inflation in the game. The wealth gained by the alchemising party is not relevant; the issue is that more currency is being created in player's hands than is being used.

After the Evolution of Combat, training magic with combat is now much cheaper and faster, and the popularity of High Level Alchemy has fallen greatly. However, this seems to have lead to a small drop in the price of commonly alchemised items, allowing a decent amount of profit for some items. For a list of such items, see the alchemy market watch.

Efficient casting
High (and Low) Alchemy can be cast on noted items, saving much withdrawal time from the bank, simplifying the "click pattern", and allowing the spell to be used in almost any location. Also, it should be noted that High Alchemy always grants 65 experience (6.5 in Dungeoneering), regardless of the rarity or expensiveness of the item you are alchemising. For example, high-alchemising a Rune bar grants no more experience than high-alchemising a Bronze bar.

High Level Alchemy takes 5 game ticks, or 3 seconds, to cast. It can be cast up to exactly 1200 times in one hour which adds up to exactly 78,000 xp/hr, although in practice many people cast a little less, due to lag and timing inconsistency.

It is possible to use High Level Alchemy without disrupting other tasks, such as using battle spells or skill tasks like woodcutting or running. If the alchemy spell is cast any time after 5 game ticks since the last alchemy cast, you can cast alchemy as low as every 6th tick without it disrupting the combat/task in any way, and continue battle as normal. If you click any time BEFORE 5 ticks since the previous alchemy cast, then it WILL disrupt your task. You can still cast alchemy and continue combat fluently, and have alchemy cast every 5th tick, but you will have to issue the combat command again in order to keep casting the battle spell or melee/ranged attack fluently. Auto retaliation can be effectively used to do this.

Coins gained from High Alchemy
All items in RuneScape have a fixed amount of coins that the High Level Alchemy spell yields (with the exception of quest items that cannot be alchemised). Some can turn a profit, but most will provide much less money than if they were sold to another player. There is a constantly updated list of profitable high alchemy items here.

In Daemonheim, High Alchemy will always yield 2x shop price (twice what the smuggler will buy for).

History
Casting alchemy spells on stackable items will only alchemise one at a time; in RuneScape Classic, the entire stack becomes alchemised.

Originally, users had to time this spell casting so that they could maximize the number of alchs/hour (similar to burying bones at double speed). However, Jagex implemented a spell-cast queue for this spell, so players can choose the cast option while the previous animation runs, so the character will automatically queue another cast. Note that the queue will only hold a single cast, and clicking the interface more than once every 3 seconds will simply cause some clicks to be discarded.

In the past, Castle Wars was a favourite location for casting this spell because the 20 minute time limit provided a reasonable amount of measurement. It was also enjoyable for the players to watch others fight. Due to player complaints about other players free-loading this way, this spell can no longer be cast inside a Castle Wars activity. However, people still go along the walls of Castle Wars and cast alchemy spells, as you can still get somewhat of a show as you do it. Soul Wars was a very popular place to alch because there was a lack of random events.

During the week of 4 April 2008, Jagex altered the way High Level Alchemy and Low Level Alchemy function so as to render them inoperable while standing inside the Barrows crypt areas.

On 19 May 2009, Jagex updated low and high alchemy so that if a person clicks too early, the early click will not disrupt the alchemy process. 

Some items, such as rares, are worth far more on the street than in the store. Prior to the 9th November 2009 update, it was inadvisable for players to carry such items in their inventory, as accidentally alchemising them would cause a major loss for the player. A warning message now appears if the player tries to cast high level alchemy on an item with a market value of 500k or more.

The items that you keep when you are killed used to be based on the amount of money the item alchemies for. You would keep the items with the highest alchemy value. There were many items which have higher alchemy values than items that are more expensive on the Grand Exchange, and you will keep the lower valued item because it has a higher alchemy value. This led to quite some controversy. Some players used this system of item-keeping to scam other players, such as luring them into the Wilderness and giving them or dropping for a player to pick up, an item which has a large alchemy value but a low G.E. value, such as a dragon battleaxes. A dragon battleaxe has an alchemy value of 120,000 coins, while the (formerly) very expensive abyssal whip has an alchemy value of 72,000 coins. If a player dies and has 4 dragon battleaxes and an abyssal whip in his or her inventory, even with the Protect Item prayer, he or she would keep the dragon battleaxes over the abyssal whip. As of 19 April 2011, this scam no longer works, and items kept on death depend on their Grand Exchange guide price instead.

Upon the release of Solomon's General Store on 17 July 2012, players can purchase an alternative animation for alchemy that replaces the current animation. This animation costs 176 runecoins.

Trivia

 * In issue 14 of The God Letters, Saradomin mentions that casting the High Level Alchemy spell is a serious crime, as only the coins minted by the Fief are legal tender, so high alchemy is tantamount to forgery.
 * Upon reaching level 55 magic it would take approximately 197,967 High Alchemy casts to reach level 99.  This would take 6 days and 21 hours if a player were casting High Alchemy without stopping. Depending on current market prices and the items that are alched, one can lose or make millions.
 * If one chooses to alchemize gold pieces, the action will be denied, since the object is "already made from gold." However, one can still alchemize gold jewellery.
 * If you click the Alchemy spell in the magic book and then right click on a player, there will be no "walk here" option.
 * You cannot use the Alchemy spell on a Member's Object while on a F2p world.
 * You cannot use the Alchemy spell in the minigames: Duel arena, Soul Wars, Pest Control, Fist of Guthix, Castle Wars and Fishing Trawler.