High Alching in Old School RuneScape is one of the easiest ways for players, specifically Ironman accounts, to make quick gp. The High Level Alchemy spell gives you 60% of an item’s value in gp while also giving you 65 Magic exp in the process.
But with so many items on the market, it can be tricky to decide which items to invest in and which ones to steer clear of.
Recommended Read: How to Get to Crandor in OSRS
Here, I’m going to detail which items you should high alch, as well as the reasoning behind why someone would high alch their items in OSRS.
If you’re looking for a general answer, it depends on what your purpose is. If you want to high alch in Old School RuneScape for gp, you should go for Rune items or a few low-level armour items. For those who want to do low-effort Magic training, you should high alch stacks of strung/unstrung bows. And for Ironman accounts, any duplicate items or slayer drops you will have free range to high alch.
Table of Contents
What is “High Alching”?
High alching is the process of repeatedly casting the “High Level Alchemy” spell on stacks of items for gp.
The spell requires 5 Fire runes and 1 Nature rune to cast, so most people just wield a Staff of Fire to save on the cost of Fire runes and an extra inventory space.
High Alching requires 55 Magic and provides a low-effort way for players to train their Magic level early on at a chance of making gp in the process.
There are various items in Old School RuneScape that are consistently sold on the Grand Exchange for a lower value than their High Alch return, thus players are constantly trying to buy stacks of said items to make an easy profit.
Of course, Ironman accounts cannot buy items from the Grand Exchange, but high alching still serves another purpose in that community.
Keep in mind that whenever you are high alching, you need to account for the cost of the Nature rune (and fire runes if you are using them) per cast to ensure you are actually making a profit.
Which Items Should You High Alch in Old School RuneScape?
The rule of thumb for high alching is any item that has a high alch value higher than its Grand Exchange price.
However, exceptions can be made with common Slayers drops, Ironman accounts, and if you just want a stack of a certain item for low-effort Magic training.
Disclaimer: The prices shown below are the current prices at the time this article was written (11th of September, 2023), as well as the price of a Nature rune being 86gp.
Low-Effort Magic Training (Cheap Items to Break Even on Profit)
For easy Magic experience, bows are usually the way to go.
Players can buy thousands of them at a time at the Grand Exchange thanks to its low cost while still being able to break even while casting High Alch.
Here are a list of bows, as well as general prices you can expect from them:
| Item | G.E. Value | High Alch Value | Price Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Maple longbow | 281 gp | 384 gp | 103 gp |
| Maple longbow (u) | 84 gp | 192 gp | 108 gp |
| Yew longbow | 577 gp | 768 gp | 191gp |
| Yew longbow (u) | 375 gp | 384 gp | 8 gp |
| Magic longbow | 1304 gp | 1536 gp | 232 gp |
| Magic longbow (u) | 1076 gp | 768 gp | -308 gp |
| Maple shortbow | 198 gp | 240 gp | 42 gp |
| Maple shortbow (u) | 86 gp | 120 gp | 34 gp |
| Yew shortbow | 385 gp | 480 gp | 95 gp |
| Yew shortbow (u) | 201 gp | 240 gp | 39 gp |
| Magic shortbow | 844 gp | 960 gp | 116 gp |
| Magic shortbow (u) | 745 gp | 480 gp | -265 gp |
Again, this does not take into account the cost of a Nature rune per cast, so be sure to look up current prices to make sure the price difference between an item’s G.E. value and High Alch value is enough to cover the cost.
Bows are still the most common type of item that people high alch, purely because of how many they are able to buy in a single day at lower prices than most other items.
High Alching for Moderate Profit/Ironman Accounts
Ironman accounts are a different story to the world of high alching. In Old School RuneScape, ironman accounts are unable to trade with other players, whether it be through one-on-one trades, the Grand Exchange, or any other avenue.
This means that they have no reason to fear market prices and are able to high alch any items they come across naturally since this is their main source of income.
That being said, regular OSRS players can still benefit from high alching these items.
Rune items (specifically Rune armour and weapon sets), are common drops from Slayer tasks that all accounts receive.
They also have good profit margins for OSRS players who want to high alch.
Aside from Rune items, there are other drops that can make good high alch profit as well.
| Item | G.E. Value | High Alch Value | Price Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Rune platebody | 38,530 gp | 39,000 gp | 470 gp |
| Rune platelegs | 37,887 gp | 38,400 gp | 513 gp |
| Rune plateskirt | 37,887 gp | 38,400 gp | 513 gp |
| Rune chainbody | 29,557 gp | 30,000 gp | 443 gp |
| Rune kiteshield | 31,541 gp | 32,640 gp | 1099 gp |
| Rune sq shield | 22,721 gp | 23,040 gp | 319 gp |
| Rune full helm | 20,572 gp | 21,120 gp | 548 gp |
| Adamant platebody | 9,407 gp | 9,984 gp | 577 gp |
| Green d’hide body | 4,185 gp | 4,680 gp | 495 gp |
| Black d’hide body | 6,905 gp | 8,088 gp | 1183 gp |
| Dragon plateskirt | 160,071 gp | 162,000 gp | 1929 gp |
| Dragon platelegs | 161,005 gp | 162,000 gp | 995 gp |
This list of items is handy because all OSRS players across all levels will come across them doing casual PvM content.
High Alching Items Purely for Profit
There are certain items in OSRS where the high alch value is so far ahead of its standard price that people buy them just to high alch for profit.
The problem is this will require a lot of upfront gp, as the items in question normally go for hundreds of thousands and sometimes millions of gp at a time.
But if you’re desperate for gp and you have a few million gp lying around, here are some items you can purchase:
| Item | G.E. Value | High Alch Value | Price Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Blessed spirit shield | 715,100 gp | 720,000 gp | 4,900 gp |
| Guthan’s platebody 0 | 166,799 gp | 168,000 gp | 1,201 gp |
| Verac’s brassard 0 | 166,675 gp | 168,000 gp | 1,325 gp |
| Verac’s plateskirt 0 | 163,784 gp | 165,000 gp | 1,216 gp |
As you can see, some of these items can profit you in the thousands if you’re able to get a stack of them, but their high values make it pretty unrealistic to get whole stacks of them to do so.
These items are also prone to major price changes, as some of them are used in high-level bossing. Thus, market prices tend to fluctuate whenever new PvM content is released into the game.
I hope you learned something when reading this guide and hopefully considered high alching some of the spare items you have in your bank!
High alching can appear daunting at first, but once you get a pulse on which items work for you, you’ll be getting easy Magic experience and profit in no time!
These are the items you should high alch in Old School RuneScape!
Have any input or suggestions for this guide? Let us know in the comment section below.
