High alch profit: what to alch and how to work it out
How High Level Alchemy profit works: alch value minus the item and a nature rune, why there is no GE tax, and the best items to alch right now.
Offerbook · Published · 4 min read
High Level Alchemy turns an item into coins. Every item has a fixed alch value, so when you can buy an item for less than that value, minus the cost of the spell, each cast is a small profit. It is slow, steady, and the only real risk is the price moving while you buy.
The spell
- It needs level 55 Magic and costs 5 fire runes and 1 nature rune per cast.
- A staff of fire (or any staff that gives fire runes) covers the fire runes, so the real cost is one nature rune.
- An item's alch value is 60% of its shop value, and it never changes with the market.
- You can cast it about 1,200 times an hour if you do nothing else.
The sum
Profit per cast is the alch value, minus what you paid for the item, minus one nature rune.
- Alch value
- 9,000 gp
- Item bought at
- − 8,700 gp
- Nature rune
- − 110 gp
- Profit per cast
- 190 gp
There is no GE tax here, because you never sell the item: the spell pays you directly. That is why alching works on margins that would vanish in a flip.
What is worth alching right now
The list below ranks items by gp per hour, which is profit per cast times how many casts you can really do. The buy limit is the usual cap: an item you can only buy 70 of every 4 hours can keep you casting for 70 casts, not 1,200.
| Item | Alch value | Buy | Per cast |
|---|---|---|---|
| Air battlestaff | 9,300 gp | 8,755 gp | 407 gp |
| Combat bracelet | 12,624 gp | 12,111 gp | 375 gp |
| Onyx bolts (e) | 9,000 gp | 8,489 gp | 373 gp |
| Water battlestaff | 9,300 gp | 8,795 gp | 367 gp |
| Fire battlestaff | 9,300 gp | 8,824 gp | 338 gp |
Per cast is alch value minus the insta-buy price minus a nature rune at 138 gp. gp/hr is capped by the buy limit and by volume.
Things to watch
- Buy at a patient price. The widget uses the insta-buy price, the price you can buy at right now. A buy offer a little lower makes more per cast but fills more slowly.
- Nature rune prices move. A rise of 30 gp in nature runes can wipe out a thin alch, so check it before buying in bulk.
- Spread across items. Several items with smaller limits add up to more casts per hour than one.
The full list, with a patient-buy column and every item that alchs for a profit, is on the high alch calculator. Other ways the GE pays are on the Strategies page.
Offerbook is gp only and has nothing to do with real-world trading. Prices move, so nothing here is a promise of profit. Every trade is one you make yourself in game.