Certain elements of the open-world RPG game Wartales can be difficult to understand like how to lockpick. While you likely won’t come across too many chests that can be picked, it doesn’t hurt to know how. This can be a useful way to get some extra loot, food, or even new equipment worth using.
While this lockpicking minigame may seem similar to the one in Skyrim, it’s not as reliant on sound. That’s why I’ve put together this guide on everything there is to know about lockpicking in Wartales. Especially since it’s not the only confusing profession you can assign to your companions. Learning how to fish can be just as mind-boggling if you don’t know where to start.
How to Lockpick in Wartales
Getting the Thief Profession
Unlocking the Thief profession in Wartales is one of the easier ones since you mainly need to find a shop.
Before you can pick a lock for some loot, you’ll need to learn the Thief profession. Due to how Wartales works, most professions require discovering a relevant activity first. Fortunately, this is one of the simpler ones to learn since you just need to open the “Steal” menu. You can find this button while speaking with a vendor or looting a container someone owns.
Don’t worry, clicking the Steal button won’t commit any crimes quite yet. So you don’t need to freak out that you’re going to immediately steal something or raise your suspicion. All this does is give you a chance to pick your Thief and then see how much suspicion you get from each item. Regardless, we’re here to talk about how to lockpick, so moving on!
How the Lockpick Minigame Works
You can only pick the lock of chests that specifically say “Locked” in red. Containers that require an Ornate Key or Gold Key are often related to missions.
Make sure you’ve found a locked chest that says you can use a Lockpick to open it. If you come across a chest or container that requires an Ornate Key or Gold Key, this won’t work. Those containers require that key specifically to open them. And if you don’t have a Lockpick yet, you can craft one at the Workshop in your Camp.
It only requires 1 Iron Ore to craft, which can be found around the Wartales map. But, you will need to assign the Tinkerer role to one of your companions to craft it. While you can purchase Lockpicks from random merchants, I probably wouldn’t bother. Especially with how valuable Krowns are.
Finding the sweet spot can be difficult during this minigame since sound doesn’t seem to help.
Unlike Skyrim, the lockpicking minigame in Wartales doesn’t seem to rely on sound. If you move the lockpick quick, you’ll hear a lot of noise. While if you move it slowly, you won’t hear anything at all. This is because the lockpicking process seems more reliant on trial and error to get started.
Depending on how many bolts are visible on the left side of the screen, you’ll need to pick each bolt. Your goal is to find the sweet spot and then hold left-click until the lockpick fits into the lock. This will pop the bolt open, moving onto the next bolt until you’ve completely unlocked the container. I’ve come across chests with two bolts and some with three.
But How Do You Find the Sweet Spot?
This Wartales screenshot shows how the lockpick will look once it’s all the way in, picking a bolt.
Now that you know the basics of how the lockpicking minigame works, here’s the rest. You’ll want to tap left-click at a few spots and hold it for a tiny amount of time to see if the lockpick moves inward. If it doesn’t move inward and is blocked, you should stop immediately. This is because this isn’t the right spot and if you keep trying to force the lockpick, it’ll break.
Instead, you need to find a spot that starts to give and then continue working your way left or right to make progress. If the lockpick is only starting to give and you know the correct direction to move is left, then move a decent amount. Whereas if the lockpick is practically done already, you can make tiny adjustments to find the sweet spot.
That’s all there really is to know about how to lockpick in Wartales. If there are any audio cues during the minigame, I definitely haven’t noticed them. If you do, feel free to let me know in the comments and I’ll update this guide. Otherwise, here’s one more tip worth mentioning to find locked containers.
Anytime you enter a new building or room, you can hold the Alt key to highlight interactable objects and people. This highlight is still difficult to notice, so I like to tap the Alt key on and off to see more easily. This is a useful feature since there are often tons of barrels and boxes that aren’t interactable.
If you have any other Wartales questions for us, feel free to ask in the comments below. Keep an eye out for more guides like our how to fish one in case you’re having trouble getting food.
Jeff is a journalist with over 10 years of experience writing, streaming, and making content about video games. With an associate degree in journalism, he’s a sucker for RPGs, survival games, roguelikes, and more.