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RuneScape

High and Low Alchemy: rune costs, profit and Magic XP

4 minute readOld School RuneScapeRuneScape

High Level Alchemy needs Magic level 55, one nature rune and five fire runes. Each ordinary cast on the standard spellbook takes 5 ticks and gives 65 Magic experience. The spell pays the item’s alchemy value. It does not pay the Grand Exchange price, and those coins are not taxed.

Low Level Alchemy needs Magic level 21, one nature rune and three fire runes. An ordinary cast takes 3 ticks and gives 31 Magic experience. In the Alchemist’s Playground the low spell takes longer; that slower cast is not included here. Daemonheim’s lower experience, explorer’s ring charges and alchemy machines are separate as well.

Ten high alchemy casts

A rune scimitar’s high alchemy value is 15,360 coins. Ten casts return 153,600 coins, take 30 seconds before banking, and give 650 Magic experience.

These recorded Old School trades are a planning reference from 21 September 2026, not a promise of the next offer:

  • Rune scimitar last high trade 14,760 coins at 03:39 UTC, last low trade 14,650 coins at 03:39 UTC
  • Nature rune last high trade 140 coins
  • Fire rune last high trade 6 coins

Buying ten scimitars and the runes costs 147,600 coins for the items plus 1,700 coins for 10 nature runes and 50 fire runes. Net profit is 4,300 coins, or 430 coins each. The rune cost is part of that result.

A staff of fire removes only the fire runes. The nature runes stay. The same ten casts then cost 1,400 coins in runes and profit 4,600 coins. Clearing the staff puts the fire runes back.

Setting the scimitar price to 0 treats the items as already owned and excludes their purchase value from this calculation. The extra coins spent are the 1,700 coins of runes, and the cash received after buying those runes is 151,900 coins. That figure is not profit after the value of the owned items. That 0 is an assumption you save. It is not what the item is worth. Selling the ten scimitars at the last low trade still brings 143,570 coins after tax. Those sale coins are the opportunity you give up, and they stay separate from the runes you have to buy.

Selling the same items

Grand Exchange tax applies to a sale. It does not reduce alchemy coins. At 14,650 coins each, the tax is 293 coins each, 2,930 coins for ten, so the sale pays 143,570 coins. After the 1,700 coins of runes, alchemy is 8,330 coins ahead of that sale. The price paid for the scimitars is in both choices, so it is not part of the 8,330. A staff of fire removes 300 coins of fire runes, and alchemy is then 8,630 coins ahead of the same sale. Old School tax on one item stops at 5,000,000 coins. RuneScape uses the same 2% rate and does not use that cap.

A RuneScape rune scimitar is a different item. Its high alchemy value is 1,000 coins. A retained guide price of 19,595 coins is taxed 391 coins, leaving 19,204 coins from a sale. The spell still pays 1,000 coins. The guide price is not turned into a high and low trade.

A missing price

If the nature rune, the fire rune you still have to bring, or the item has no price, the profit is left blank. An empty price is not zero. Zero counts only when you enter 0. A later recorded price does not replace a price you already entered.

The Grand Exchange buy limit for an Old School rune scimitar is 70 every four hours. Ten casts fit in one allowance. A larger quantity needs another four-hour window, or scimitars you already hold. Another offer in the same window does not raise the allowance.

Where to go next

Use the experience field on this plan when you want a Magic goal. 650 experience is 10 high alchemy casts of this spell. The training planner’s recipe methods do not calculate this cast.

The Old School rune scimitar names a crafting plan. Plan how to make ten. An item with no crafting plan has no crafting link.

Spell references

The spell values and ordinary casting requirements follow Old School High Level Alchemy, Old School Low Level Alchemy, and the separate RuneScape High Level Alchemy and Low Level Alchemy descriptions. Special free-cast charges and alchemy machines require their own rules.