Lockpicking
From WoWWiki
|  Lockpicking (Profession)
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|---|---|
| Proficiencies • Trainers |
The Pick Lock skill allows rogues to use [Thieves' Tools] to open locked doors, chests, and lockboxes. It is like a gathering skill, such as Fishing or Mining; the rogue must have it at or above a certain level to open certain types of locks. This skill typically doesn't advance quickly enough with casual use; rogues must occasionally go out on runs to improve their lockpicking. Fortunately, your rogue trainer can point you to areas which contain footlockers at your skill level. The basic formula for your maximum lockpicking skill at a particular level is (5 * level). Lockpicking can be learned from a rogue trainer at level 16.
Contents |
Strategy
1 to 170
Early on you might get some 
[Practice Locks] from an engineer to increase your lockpicking up to skill level 80. The quest to obtain Lockpicking will point you toward plenty of practice chests.
The best way for Alliance Rogues to get their lockpicking skill up at level 16-20 (after getting the Pick Lock skill) is Alther's Mill in the Redridge Mountains region. The quest 
[20] Alther's Mill requires lockpicking a chest in Alther's Mill for a quest item and is close to the practice lockboxes. These chests respawn quickly and may be practiced upon from 1-100 skill (though this is capped at 80 if the rogue goes there while still level 16). Horde Rogues can gain early levels from an equivalent quest on the ship off the Merchant Coast, south of Ratchet in the Barrens.
The Rogue poisons quests for Horde and Alliance provide the next opportunity for solid skill gains. The quest is gained at level 20 although it may be too difficult for many players at level 20. The item required to complete this quest is contained inside a locked chest that can be picked repeatedly up to 170. If you've already finished the quest, you can still use the chests to gain skill. The chests don't highlight when you mouse over them, so you have to activate your lockpicking skill first and then click the chest. The poison has Touch of Zanzil is applied every time the chest is lockpicked. The poisons can be dispelled if you have the Anti-Venom skill from the First Aid profession, or by the Dwarf racial Stoneform.
Also, level 1 Battered Footlockers can be pick pocketed from the mobs around Durnholde Keep in the Hillsbrad Foothills. Continuously make routes around Durnholde Keep, and pickpocket mobs for Junkboxes. Note again that these are level 1, so if you've already leveled up using the lock box in the rogue poisons quest, these will be grey and therefore useless for leveling your skill.
170 to 300
Once you get to 150-170, you can go to Angor Fortress in Badlands. Go to the upper parts, and again pickpocketing for junkboxes will help. Once you get to 175 you can open all of the boxes in the fortress. Another very good place to go is Sar'theris Strand in northwest Desolace. Underwater, there are plenty of [Waterlogged Footlockers], that will easy get you to 210. Highly recommended to bring an elixir of waterbreathing though.
Once at 205 or so, go to the Scarlet Monastery doors. Read below the doors section on what to do. Open each door, go into the instance and pickpocket 3 mobs. Come back out and open the doors and the timer will have reset for the skillups from the doors. Continuously do this until 225. At 225, go to Searing Gorge. Down into the slag pit are [Dented Footlockers]. You can open all of them, and again pickpocket for junkboxes. Stay here until 250.
The best place to raise your skill from 250 to 300 is in Blackrock Depths. Simply go in, turn to the left and unlock the Shadowforge Gate. Continue forward and take the first right, picking the next Shadowforge Gate. Pick the first door on the left, the East Garrison Door, and head forward staying on the bottom level. Pick the large wooden object sticking out of the ground below the giant gear, The Shadowforge Lock, and then head out of the instance and reset it before doing all four again. Note that you can only reset the instance 5 times before it disables you from entering, saying "You have entered too many instances recently". This is valid for the whole account and resets roughly an hour after you entered the first time.
Another place for 250-300 is Tyr's Hand in Eastern Plaguelands. Pickpocket the mobs and find all of the [Scarlet Footlockers]. In the time it takes to take a full circle of Tyr's Hand, the starting point will be pickpocketable and have boxes respawned. Do this until 300.
After 300
The best place at 70 is in Feralfen Village in Zangarmarsh. This is located south of Coilfang Reservoir and Twin Spire Ruins, west of the Lagoon and east of Quagg Ridge. There are three areas of buildings clumped together with a handful of wicker chests in each. They typically spawn inside and around the huts. The tower in the western section of the village has wicker chests on the first floor and on the top floor. You can also pickpocket the mobs (levels 61-63) with an 11% chance of getting a 
[Strong Junkbox] (requires Lockpicking 300).
Another location for leveling lockpicking between 300 and 350 is outside of Black Temple in Shadowmoon Valley (very east side, hunk of land sticking out). Stay near the blood elves that are paladins/warriors (not by name), not the demon hunters. Pickpocket these and kill them to have them respawn. As many know, there is an epic thrown weapon that can be taken out of the [Strong Junkboxes] that come out of Outland, 
[Spinesever], however it was recently nerfed.
Either way, from 350 you can open any door that can be picked, any box, and any chest. Good luck!
Gear
[Dark Leather Gloves], created through Leatherworking, increase lockpicking skill by 5. They reduce the chance of a lockpicking attempt failing and also can be used to pick locks slightly out of your skill range.
Pickable Locks
Locked Items
| τJunkboxes (from Pickpocket) | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Item Level | Item | Mob Level | Orange | Yellow | Green | Grey |
| 20 | [Battered Junkbox] | 22-32 | 1 | 30 | 75 | 105 |
| 30 | [Worn Junkbox] | 32-42 | 75 | 100 | 120 | 170 |
| 40 | [Sturdy Junkbox] | 42-52 | 175 | 200 | 225 | 275 |
| 50 | [Heavy Junkbox] | 52-60 | 250 | 275 | 300 | ? |
| 60 | [Strong Junkbox] * | 61-70+ | 300 | 325 | 350 | ? |
*  Only looted from mobs in Outland and Isle of Quel'Danas
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| τLockboxes (Mob Drops) | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Item Level | Item | Orange | Yellow | Green | Grey |
| 20 | [Ornate Bronze Lockbox] | N/A | 1 | ? < 86 | 105 |
| 25 | [Heavy Bronze Lockbox] | 25 | 50 | 75 | 125 |
| 30 | [Iron Lockbox] | 70 | 95 | 120 | 170 |
| 35 | [Strong Iron Lockbox] | 125 | 150 | 175 | 225 |
| 40 | [Steel Lockbox] | 175 | 205 | 225 | ? |
| 45 | [Reinforced Steel Lockbox] | 225 | 250 | 280 | 325 |
| 50 | [Mithril Lockbox] | 225 | 250 | 280 | 325 |
| 55 | [Thorium Lockbox] | 225 | 250 | 280 | 325 |
| 60 | [Eternium Lockbox] | 225 | 265 | 320 | 325 |
| 68 | [Khorium Lockbox] | 325 | 350 | ? | ? |
| τLocked Chests (from Fishing) | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Item Level | Item | Orange | Yellow | Green | Grey |
| 20 | [Small Locked Chest] | 1 | ? | ? | ? |
| 30 | [Sturdy Locked Chest] | 70 | ? | ? | ? |
| 45 | [Ironbound Locked Chest] | 175 | ? | ? | ? |
| 55 | [Reinforced Locked Chest] | 250 | ? | 300 | <300 |
Footlockers
Typically, unguarded footlockers have a lower skill range than guarded ones. When lockpicking, nearby mobs may also become hostile when they are otherwise outside your aggro range.
Locked Treasure Chests
| τCommon Loot-containing locked chests | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Name | Orange | Yellow | Green | Grey | Location(s) |
| [Large Iron Bound Chest] | 25 | ? | ? | ? | Blackfathom Deeps, Gnomeregan, Razorfen Downs, Razorfen Kraul, Scarlet Monastery, Shadowfang Keep and The Stockade |
| [Large Mithril Bound Chest] | 175 | ? | ? | ? | Uldaman |
| [Large Mithril Bound Chest] | 250 | ? | ? | ? | Blackrock Spire, Dire Maul and Stratholme |
| [Bound Fel Iron Chest] | 300 | ? | ? | ? | Hellfire Ramparts, Mana-Tombs, The Blood Furnace, The Slave Pens and The Underbog
|
| [Bound Adamantite Chest] | 325 | ? | ? | ? | Auchenai Crypts, Hellfire Ramparts, Mana-Tombs, Sethekk Halls, Shadow Labyrinth, The Blood Furnace, The Botanica, The Mechanar, The Shattered Halls, The Slave Pens, The Steamvault and The Underbog
|
| [Bound Adamantite Chest] | 350 | ? | ? | ? | Hellfire Ramparts, The Blood Furnace, The Botanica, The Mechanar, The Shattered Halls, The Slave Pens, The Steamvault and The Underbog
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Doors
| Doors | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Location | Door | Orange | Yellow | Green | Grey | Note | |
| The Deadmines | Gate | 1 | ? | ? | ? | Can also be opened with Defias Gunpowder | |
| Gnomeregan | Workshop Door | 150 | 175 | ? | ? | Can also be opened with Workshop Key | |
| Scarlet Monastery | Armory and Cathedral Doors | 175 | 200 | 225 | 275 | Can also be opened with Scarlet Key | |
| Searing Gorge | Searing Gorge Gate | 225 | 250 | 275 | ? | Can also be opened with Key to Searing Gorge | |
| Blackrock Depths | East Garrison Door | 250 | 275 | 300 | ? | Can also be opened with Shadowforge Key | |
| Blackrock Depths | Prison Cells | ? | 250 | 300 | ? | Can also be opened with Prison Cell Key | |
| Blackrock Depths | Shadowforge Gates | 250 | 275 | 300 | ? | Can also be opened with Shadowforge Key | |
| Blackrock Depths | Shadowforge Mechanism | 250 | 275 | 300 | ? | Can also be opened with Shadowforge Key | |
| Scholomance | Scholomance Door | 280 | 323-336 | 341 | ? | Can also be opened with Skeleton Key | |
| Stratholme | Stratholme Gates | 300 | ? | ?-334 | ? | Can also be opened with Key to the City | |
| Dire Maul | Crescent Door | 300 | ? | ?-334 | ? | Can also be opened with Crescent Key | |
| Shattered Halls | Shattered Halls Door | 350 | ? | ? | ? | Can also be opened with Shattered Halls Key | |
| Shadow Labyrinth | Shadow Labyrinth Gate | 350 | ? | ? | ? | Can also be opened with Shadow Labyrinth Key | |
| The Arcatraz | Arcatraz Door | 350 | ? | ? | ? | Can also be opened with Key to the Arcatraz | |
| Karazhan | Karazhan Door | 350 | ? | ? | ? | Can also be opened with The Master's Key | |
Skill gains on doors not inside an instance are on a timer. They cannot be picked repeatedly for skill. A certain amount of time (about 5 min) must elapse before skill gains may be realized again.
As of 12-16-07, there seems to be a 50/50 chance that picking a junkbox will reset the skill gain timer on either or both Scarlet Monastery doors. Zoning into any of the four instances and pickpocketing at least three mobs always resets the SM door timer on both doors.
Alternatives to Lockpicking
If a rogue is unavailable, there are several alternatives.
Locks can be opened by various Skeleton keys made by Blacksmiths. There are four types of skeleton key recipes, all of which can be learned from Blacksmithing trainers. Each recipe creates two keys, which are used up on a successful pick.
Additionally Engineers can use Seaforium Charges to open locked doors and chests.
| Skeleton keys (from Blacksmithing) | ||
|---|---|---|
| Item Level | Item | Unlocks |
| 20 | [Silver Skeleton Key] | 25 |
| 30 | [Golden Skeleton Key] | 125 |
| 40 | [Truesilver Skeleton Key] | 200 |
| 55 | [Arcanite Skeleton Key] | 300 |
| Seaforium Charges (from Engineering) | ||
|---|---|---|
| Item Level | Item | Unlocks |
| 20 | [Small Seaforium Charge] | 150 |
| 40 | [Large Seaforium Charge] | 250 |
| 55 | [Powerful Seaforium Charge] | 300 |
| 70 | [Elemental Seaforium Charge] | 350 |
Beta
In the early closed beta, mages had a spell called Khadgar's Unlocking which could unlock lockboxes and doors by consuming a reagent, but this spell was removed in Patch 0.9.
Lockpicking Etiquette
There is very little consensus on what standard policies for lockpicking are; Rogue expectations can vary wildly from server to server. Some expect a tip, and some gladly open locks for free. Common assumptions can be:
- If the Rogue is not sending messages via Trade, General chat or by yelling, then it is never acceptable to open a trade with a Rogue without first asking him/her if he can open a certain box. Among other things, it can disrupt a mail composition, an auction house scan, or a profession crafting, and can be very irritating. Many Rogues will automatically ignore people who open trade windows unsolicited. HOWEVER, if the Rogue is clearly stating that he/she is opening lockboxes, it can be considered even more irritating to the Rogue who then has to deal with floods of PMs coming in, so simply open trade.
- Rogues will generally offer their service for free, it is generally expected to offer a tip if you can afford it.
- If a Rogue expects a fee for lockpicking, he should negotiate it ahead of time. Otherwise, gracious players often tip anywhere between 2
and 5 to the opening Rogue, based on the type of lockbox opened. Most locks under Thorium Lockboxes, are usually worth tipping the Rogue 50
and Thorium and above is worth about 1 based on most servers. A generally good guideline to follow would be one silver for every skill on the lockbox (ex. Thorium Lockboxes would be 2 50 .
- If you ask a Rogue before opening, usually he/she will open it for free.
External links
WoW-professions.com Lockpicking leveling Guide 1-350
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