High Level 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 what 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 or Mystic lava staff as these staves emulate the power of fire runes allowing the player to cast spells which normally require fire runes, without them.

High Level Alchemy is a popular way for appropriately leveled 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 longbows 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 only create profit. For Free Players, it is suggested that they cast the spell on adamant platebodies or Rune hatchets. For a list of commonly alchemised items, see the High Alchemy calculator.

It is profitable to consider casting High Alchemy on very cheap, common items like Fire runes. When bought and alchemised in bulk, you do forfeit money, but in return you A) save an inventory space by not carrying a giant stack of notes to cast Alchemy on, and B) can wield a weapon in the weapon slot instead of a fire staff. Depending on the person, these 2 spaces can be used to make much more than if you can't wield any weapon and lose an inventory space. Also, this is cosmetically more appealing.

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 78,000 xp/hr, although in practice many people cast a little less, due to lag and timing inconsistency. In the past, 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.

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.

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 is now a very popular place to alch because there is a lack of random events.

High (and Low) Alchemy can be cast on noted items, saving much withdrawal time from the bank, and simplifying the "click pattern". Also, it should be noted that High Alchemy always grants 65 experience, 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.

In practice, a player might prefer training magic with High Level Alchemy by buying items from other players, which 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.

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.

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

Casting High Level Alchemy inside a Dungeoneering dungeon grants 6.5 experience (10% of 65).

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. 

MouseKeys in XP/Vista/7 and Mac OS X
One option to reduce the effort when using High Alchemy on hundreds or thousands of items in a session is to enable an accessibility feature of Microsoft Windows called MouseKeys. This allows the '5' key on the number pad to be used as a substitute for clicking the left mouse button. To enable the feature on Windows XP (also works on Vista and Windows 7) hold down the Left Shift, Left Alt and Numlock keys simultaneously to show the MouseKeys dialogue and then click setting-setting in lower part select when numlock is off then click the OK button. Press the Left Shift, Left Alt, and Numlock again and then click ok. The cursor can then be controlled by moving the mouse device as normal, or by holding down the numbers around '5' on the number pad, and clicking can be performed by pressing '5' on the number pad.

Mac OS X users can do the same thing by using Universal Access in System Preferences. In Mac OS X's Universal Access window, select the Mouse & Trackpad pane and then turn on Mouse Keys. With Mouse Keys turned on, you can navigate around using the number keys on the number pad and mouse-click with the 5 key. If using a laptop make sure you turn on the key pad by using the function key and hitting number lock (unless you have a number lock key which is on the 17" notepads), then you can use the '5' key which is usually the 'I' button or in that general area.

A similar feature can be turned on in Linux (Gnome or KDE) by pressing Left-Shift and Num Lock at the same time.

By positioning the items to be alchemised (in note form) on the right hand side of the fourth inventory row it is possible to repeatedly cast High Alchemy on the items by doing nothing more than pressing the '5' key at the correct intervals. It is also possible to press the '+' key, which double clicks, meaning both the alchemy spell and the item are clicked, requiring fewer clicks and with no mouse movement required. This is against Runescape rules and you could be banned for use of bots.



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 short, constantly updating, list of profitable high alchemy items here. See also a list of suggested items to cast High Level Alchemy on here.

In Daemonheim, High Alchemy will always yield 1.5x shop price.

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.
 * The 'High Alchemy bug' can be done by using weakening on a monster and then quickly High Alching an Item. Unless you are talking doing the High Alchemy glitch without Weakening, this is probably caused by lag.
 * Upon reaching level 55 magic it would take approximately 197,967 High Alchemy casts to reach level 99. 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 jewelry.