Welcome to our Lockpicking guide for WoW Classic! Lockpicking is exclusive to the rogue class and allows the ability to open locked chests, boxes, and doors. All of these can be opened with various keys, but a rogue will let you open the box with their own toolkit, eliminating the need for a key altogether! Fortunately, Lockpicking is an easy skill to level.
All you need to do is open the wide variety of footlockers and junkboxes you find across Azeroth. While it isn’t difficult, raising your Lockpicking skill to 300 will definitely take you some time. Between waiting for chest respawn timers, navigating between locations, and hoping for junkbox drops, there’s certainly a lot of work required to max out your Lockpicking. Considering how useful the skill is, taking the time to level Lockpicking is well worth it!
Tips
- Your skill cap level for Lockpicking will your character’s level multiplied by five. If you are level 30, this means you can reach 150 skill level in Lockpicking.
- Whenever you are stealthing between lockbox locations in a zone, try to Pick Pocket any humanoids you see. This will give you junkboxes, which you can open to gain easy skill points.
- Get yourself a pair of Dark Leather Gloves! These will increase your Lockpicking skill by 5, which can be extremely helpful for allowing you to move to a new area when you don’t quite meet the requirement yet.
- To successfully pick locks, you will need your Thieves’ Tools. You will acquire them during your Lockpicking quest. Keep them on you at all times so you can actually pick locks.
- Lockpicking is a fantastic way of making friends and allies if you open boxes for other players. Sometimes you can charge for your services, but many players will freely offer you a tip.
- Make use of Distract and Sap to make pickpocketing much easier and to avoid entering combat. Don’t forget that you can always use Vanish if you do get caught.
Raising Skill Level
1-110
Rogue Lockpicking Quest (Level 16)
Alliance
Redridge Mountains
You can find Practice Lockboxes to pick inside the mill here. Then when you’ve gotten your skill high enough, right around 70 or so, move down into Lake Everstill and pick the locks on the Waterlogged Footlocker found there.
Pick the Waterlogged Footlockers until they turn gray to you and offer no more skill increase. You should be at 110 Lockpicking at this point.
Horde
The Barrens/Ashenvale Forest
Enter the ship by the frontside. Head below deck to find the room with Buccaneer’s Strongboxes in it. Pick the strongboxes until you are around skill 70 or so, then head over to the Zoram Strand in Ashenvale and look for Waterlogged Footlockers.
Pick these lockboxes until they no longer increase your skill and turn gray, at which point you should be right around 110.
Neutral
Stonetalon Mountains
Alternatively, after you have reached 70 Lockpicking, you could head to Stonetalon Mountains and look for the Battered Footlocker within Windshear Crag. These are roughly the same skill level as either of the factions other locations for that skill level and will take you from about 70 to 110.
110-150
Stonetalon Mountains
If you chose to practice your Lockpicking in the Stonetalon Mountains in Windshear Crag, you’ll have the shortest trek to your next tier of training. Just to the southeast of the Crag proper is Windshear Mine. The Battered Footlockers here are actually of a higher skill level than the ones outside in the crag.
Hillsbrad Foothills
In both the upper and lower levels of Durnholde Keep you can find the higher level Battered Footlocker as well.
The Wetlands
In the murloc camps just northeast of Menethil Harbor you will find many Battered Footlockers, which will require a Lockpicking of 110. For this level of training, be sure to focus on the ones INSIDE the camps and not on the outskirts, as those are of a lower skill level and will increase your Lockpicking skill more slowly than the ones within the camps.
Continue to pick the locks of the Battered Footlockers at these three locations until doing so no longer gives experience to you. At this point, you should be somewhere around 150.
150-200
Desolace
In the waters of the Sar’theris Strand, on the coast of the Veiled Sea, you will find many Waterlogged Footlockers beneath the waves. You must be careful, as there are mobs AND, being beneath the water, you must worry about drowning, but this is the best location to get skill increases for Lockpicking at this skill level. You should stay here and pick locks until you are at least over 170 in skill, but if you stay here until the boxes are only green or gray to you, you will likely be well over 200 in Lockpicking.
The Temple of Atal’Hakkar Swamp of Sorrows
Alternatively, once you reach 175 Lockpicking kill, you could head over to the Temple of Atal’Hakkar and pick the locks on Mossy Footlockers. They will take you the rest of the way to 200.
Angor Fortress, Badlands
A far more convenient, but sometimes less fruitful option is to head to Angor Fortress in Badlands.
From 150-175 Lockpicking, head upstairs and open the Battered Footlockers. Once you hit 175 though, go back down and open Dented Footlockers to reach 200 Lockpicking. These lockboxes sometimes don’t give skillpoints for picking them, but they are so close together, most players tend to come here at this stage, just for the convenience.
200-250
The Slag Pits, Searing Gorge
Run all around inside The Slag Pits to find Dented Footlockers. While you’re looking for them, pickpocket whenever you can to collect Sturdy Junkboxes too. Avoid the upper levels until you are at least 225 Lockpicking so you will actually be able to open the boxes you find up there. Repeat this until you reach 250 Lockpicking.
Azshara
Alternatively to the second half of the above, once you’ve reached 225 in Lockpicking, you can go to Azshara where there are Mossy Footlockers all over the shoreline areas that will take you the rest of the way to 250. This is less convenient than the Slag Pits and so is less recommended for those simply wishing to raise their Lockpicking skill quickly.
Tanaris
Also alternatively, you could head over to the shore east of the Caverns of Time and pick the Dented Footlockers there, which are basically the same as the ones in the gorge, so this is also not recommended for those seeking efficiency and speed. If you are over 225 in Lockpicking and find yourself in Tanaris though, this could be much easier for you.
250-280
Tyr’s Hand, Eastern Plaguelands
Look for Scarlet Footlockers in Tyr’s Hand. Make sure to pickpocket while you move between box locations. Once you reach 280 Lockpicking, you can start opening your boxes from earlier to gain some easy points.
280-300
Blackrock Depths
The last part is very easy. Simply head into the dungeon Blackrock Depths and go left. Pick the lock on the door you see here. At your first chance to go right, open the door you see there too. Now head left and unlock the first door you find. Leave the dungeon the way you came once all three doors are open. Reset it and repeat, although you will likely need to take a break after doing it five times to let your instance counter reset.
