The following is a compilation of Lock picking information that I have modified and updated but was gathered
by Laenis, Tyknee, and the Rogues on the World of Warcraft forums.
Q&A
Q. How do I get the skill lock picking?
A rogue trainer (a major city one) will give you a quest at level 16 that gets you thief tools (for free)
and teaches you the skill.
Q. Okay, I have the quest, but my skill is super low I can't complete the quest, what now?
In the same area as your lock picking quest, there should be some chests you can level up on. These
chests are orange at skill level 1 (see below for color explanation) and don't go grey until about 100.
Also, see down below for a 1-300 skill up guide.
Q. What do these colors mean? Red? Orange? Grey? I'm colorblind!
Every lock you pick has a 'skill level'. Just like with trade skill items, they are color coded.
| Color |
Description |
| Red |
Can't pick the lock at your skill level |
| Orange |
Guaranteed skill up |
| Yellow |
Good chance for skill up |
| Green |
Low chance for skill up |
| Grey |
No chance for skill up |
Note:
There are lists down below for commonly found items and their minimum skill level.
Q. Do I have to visit a trainer to get journeyman/artisan/safecracker rank in Lock picking?
You don't. Your skill scales with level: every level you gain as a rogue translates into 5 extra points
to your lock picking cap.
Lock picking Guide from 1-300
1-100 - Keep picking the instant respawn chests near the lock picking quest.
100-175 - You can pick the Polly quest chest (Horde LP Quest chest), OR you can use either of the
chests in the Poison quests (Alliance OR Horde) you get at later levels. You will have to click on your lock
picking skill first before clicking on the chest.
For the Polly/Poison Tower chests: You NEED to activate (CLICK) your lock picking skill icon first, then
(CLICK) on the chest as your cursor will NOT change automatically like it did during the quest or
before it.
175-225 - Pickpocket mobs for Sturdy Junk boxes. Several mobs drop them, check thottbot and pick the
best location for you. I recommend mobs in instances, that way you can pick it clean, reset the instance,
and then go to town again. You can also pick doors in instances at this range. I personally picked the door
in the Scarlet Monastery cathedral from 180-225 in a single day by repeatedly resetting the instance.
225-280 - There is no real easy way that I've found to skill this range other than to keep doing junk
boxes. You can use the gates in the NE corner of Searing Gorge, but there is no reliable way to reset them
(see notes below for more information). Also opening lockboxes in your faction's major city will get you
skill ups.
280-300 - There are 3 doors in Blackrock Depths that are very close to the zone in that you can use
to skill up this.
Items to lockpick
Stuff from pick pocketing
Dropped Lockboxes
These are extremely random, so don't try to camp them.
Doors
Doors in the normal world (not in instances) are usually on some sort of timer. In other words, you can't
repeatedly pick the same door over and over again for skill ups. The mechanism of the timers is not well
known. Some people say if you pick something else (anything else) in-between attempts that it will reset
some timers. Others say that if you pickpocket a mob, or kill a mob, or so something else, that this will
reset the timers. It may be different for every door. Suffice to say that reset an instance always (to my
knowledge) resets any doors inside, so use that method when you can. I am leaning towards the pickpocket
theory for now.
| Door/Instance |
Minimum Skill Level |
| The Deadmines |
1 |
| Gnomeregan Workshop Door |
150 |
| Scarlet Monastery Doors |
175 |
| The Searing Gorge Gate |
225 |
| Blackrock Depths Doors |
250 |
| Scholomance Door |
280 |
| Stratholme Gates |
300 |
| Dire Maul Doors |
300 |
From Fishing
Footlockers
A number of areas in the world have footlockers in them. These areas are in place for rogues to visit to
increase their lock picking skills. The contents of these footlockers are only token amounts of treasure,
but they should allow for a more interesting experience while increasing lock picking skill. The difficulty
of the locks in the area corresponds to the level of the zone, so if your lock picking skill is around 110,
you would go to Durnholde Keep in Hillsbrad. But if your skill is 250, you might head to Tyr's Hand in
Eastern Plaguelands.
| Footlocker |
Location |
Faction |
Skill Level Range |
| Buccaneer's Strongbox |
South of Ratchet Pirate Ship in The Barrens |
Horde |
1-70 |
| Practice Lockbox |
Lake Everstill Mill in Redridge Mountains |
Alliance |
1-70 |
| Waterlogged Footlocker |
Zoram Strand in Ashenvale Forest |
Horde |
70-110 |
| Waterlogged Footlocker |
Lake Everstill in Redridge Mountains |
Alliance |
70-110 |
| Battered Footlocker |
Windshear Crag in Stonetalon Mountains |
Both |
70-110 |
| Battered Footlocker |
Southern Windshear Crag in Stonetalon Mountains |
Both |
110-150 |
| Battered Footlocker |
Durnholde Keep in Hillsbrad Foothills |
Both |
110-150 |
| Battered Footlocker |
Murloc Camps in Wetlands |
Both |
110-150 |
| Waterlogged Footlockers |
Sar'theris Strand in Desolace |
Both |
150-200 |
| Mossy Footlocker |
Pool of Tears in Swamp of Sorrows |
Both |
150-200 |
| Battered Footlocker |
Upstairs Angor Fortress in Badlands |
Both |
150-175 |
| Dented Footlocker |
Downstairs Angor Fortress in Badlands |
Both |
175-200 |
| Dented Footlocker |
The Slag Pit in Searing Gorge |
Both |
200-250 |
| Mossy Footlocker |
Bay of Storms in Azshara |
Both |
200-250 |
| Dented Footlocker |
Lost Rigger Cove in Tanaris |
Both |
200-250 |
| Scarlet Footlocker |
Tyr's Hand in Eastern Plaguelands |
Both |
250-280 |
| Blackrock Footlocker |
Blackrock Depths in Blackrock Mountain |
Both |
280-300 |
From Quests
Most of the following are chests used in quests that you can pick after you complete the quest.
(See note
below for all of the following.)
| Item/Chest |
Notes |
Minimum Skill Level |
| Lock Picking Quests |
Instant respawn chests from respective lock picking quests |
1 |
| Engineered Practice Locks |
You can only pick these ONCE, so they are WORTHLESS |
1 |
| Poison quest chest |
|
90 |
| Polly chest |
*See note below |
90 |
| Cozzle's Footlocker |
Found in house by the Venture Co. STV, it's on a ~20m timer |
160 |
Links for lock picking quests with respective instant respawn chests:
Alliance:
Alther's Mill
Horde:
Plundering the Plunderers
List of items that increase Lock picking
Dark Leather Gloves (+5 LP)
Lockpicking Notes
- You will probably need to activate your picking skill first, then click on the item as your cursor will not change automatically like it did during the quest or before it.
- South of Ratchet along the coast a short way is a beached pirate ship. No pirates around ship, they are camped south of it. It's a bit tricky getting the jump up onto the prow of the ship so you can get onboard, but can try repeatedly with no hassles. The chest is by itself downstairs in the back. Just keep opening it until you hit 175. No fuss, no muss and NO FIGHTS! (This is the location of the Horde lock picking quest and is in Horde controlled territory. Not recommended for Alliance characters on a PvP server).
-
You can skill up eight times on the doors to SM, there are four doors, two inside the instances and two outside. They are on timers which can be reset. (See confirmed information above)
- Library: Chest in a cubby before the Gallery of Treasures, guarded by 3 mobs. Another chest that spawns in one of the hallways close to Doan himself, guarded by typically 2 mobs + one roamer.
- Armory: Chest either in the Training Grounds (guarded by 2 mobs + 1 roamer) or inside the first part of the armory (guarded by 2 mobs + 1 roamer). Location of other chest is unknown.
- Cathedral: Chest on either the left or right side of the fountain. Another chest that spawns either by the monk guarding Fairbanks' hiding spot, or spawns on the other side of the cathedral (guarded by 3 mobs + 2 that roam close and may agro).
Note: Only about half of the above mentioned chests can be picked and are trivial at 175.
-
Alliance rogues using the Klaven's Tower (Poison quest) chest: I just did this at 39, go to Westfall to where the poison quest is at, top floor, Klaven can take me down to half health at 39 if I don't dual-ambush so he kind of hurts. Hopefully you can also be outside his agro range to practice. To do this just go behind his table (after he spawns he walks around the top of the tower, wait until he is done and ends up a bit away from you), there should be two chairs, jump over the chair closest to the chest and from behind the chair pick the lock. Don't worry about Touch of Zanzil: a death or Jungle Remedy from STV or cure poison from a high enough player should make it all good.
Note: You must be of a high enough level not to agro Klaven!
Thanks to : The original contributors to this guide!
