Lockpicking

Lockpicking is a valuable skill for criminals. With a Lockpick, purchased from a Merchant or found inside containers, an NPC’s locked door or Safebox can be opened through a short mini-game. The difficulty of the lock is shown next to the Unlock command.

Five pins are presented inside the lock mechanism, with your movable Lockpick just above. A timer counts down below the lock, which must be successfully cracked before the timer reaches zero. The difficulty of the lock determines the time limit, as well as how quick the tumblers move. If the lockpicking attempt fails, a short cooldown counts down before another attempt may be made.

The only Trivial locks exist during the two tutorials.

Move left and right to select a tumbler, and hold the Interact button to depress the pin. Listen for a rattling sound or look for the tumbler to vibrate, quickly releasing the button to set the tumbler in place. If you’re not quick enough, the tumbler resets to its original position. If this happens, return to the point where the vibrating begins and release. The higher the difficulty, the more precise you must be in the positioning.

Higher difficulties do not give much time, so stay on the move, quickly locking each tumbler in place. Once all five are set, the door or box is opened—moving you inside or displaying the contents of the Safebox.

A Force Lock option is always available during a lockpicking by pressing the button shown at the bottom of the screen. Besides the lone Trivial lock, there is a small chance of success shown in our table; this can be improved with the Legerdemain Locksmith Passive Ability.

There are three things to remember when attempting a Force Lock:

• The Lockpick is always broken, whether successful or not.
• There is a cooldown period before the lock can be attempted again.
• No Experience is gained when the lock is forced open.

Note that you are vulnerable while picking a lock, so be sure enemies are cleared out before attempting. Also, a Bounty is placed on your head if you are seen picking the lock to a house or Safebox. Crouching when accessing the lock informs you whether you’re hidden or not.

Lock Difficulty