Lockpicking

Lockpicking is the skill of unlocking special chests. These locked chests can be found all over Celador and contain a variety of goodies inside. Players may find chests in towns, dungeons, and in treasure hunts. A master lockpick can open any locked chest and obtain the valuables inside.

To pick locks, a player must first obtain lockpicks. Lockpicks can be bought from Tinkerer shops in most towns. Lockpicks may also be crafted by (or obtained from) blacksmiths. As long as the locked chests are not part of a player's plot, any chest marked as "Locked" in red text can be unlocked.

Once a player has obtained some lockpicks, players can begin lockpicking by activating the lockpicks item in their inventory and then clicking on a locked chest. The player character will then perform an interruptible lockpicking animation with an accompanying timer. Movement next to the chest will cancel the timer. At the end of the timer, a check to see if the character successfully picked the lock will be made. If the character succeeded, the chest will open and can be freely looted. If the character fails, the player must attempt to pick the lock again. If the player character is not skilled enough for the chest, the game will notify the player with a message saying "No chance to pick this lock." Lockpicking skill points are earned whenever the player attempts to pick a lock. "Skill ups" occur regardless of whether the player character was successful in picking the lock. Lockpicks have a durability of 10 and will eventually wear out after extended use.

Loot
Locked chests nearly always contain gold coins, usually between 10 and 50. Occasionally, an unlocked chest will be completely empty, but it is rare.

In addition to gold coins, they commonly contain a bandage, and may also contain a tool (Hunting Knife, Cooking Pot, or Shovel) and/or a reagent (Ginseng, Lemon Grass, Moss, or Mushroom). Dungeon chests often contain additional items.

Exceptions
Treasure chests at small bandit camps cannot be picked. Attempting to pick the lock results in a "Cannot pick that lock" message. One of the bandits will be carrying a single-use key to unlock the chest.
 * Small Bandit camps

It currently does not appear that carpentry crafted "Lockbox" will be part of lockpicking. Players may lock them but when attempting to pick them from within the backpack a player receives a message "cannot reach that." When placed on the ground or locked down in a house they still do not work "you can't pick that."
 * Player Crafted Lockboxes

Chest Locations in Towns
Below is a list of locked chests found towns and outposts. These chests are generally in safe locations and allow for skill training opportunities which will not put a character in danger. The chests in Oasis and Black Forest Outpost are safe, but the path between the mage tower and town does require a trek through the Wilderness.
 * Note: Keep in mind that locked chests will "respawn" every 10 - 30 minutes. These chests can, however, get stuck and stop "respawning". With this respawn timer and the possibility of breaking a chest in mind, it's better to travel around town and from town to town than to stick to one chest.

Tips

 * Keep in mind you can also skill up off the appropriate level Sunken Treasure Chest from fishing maps. This is particularly useful at 60-70 range.
 * If you pick a chest that you "barely have a chance of picking" (only having a few decimal skill points above the skill guidelines, i.e. 50.1 for a Journeyman chest) then you can get multiple skill gains from a single chest. This is due to the fact that skill points are awarded by action and not just by success.
 * If you can gain from a chest while treasure hunting, attempt to lure the spawn away and come back to pick the chest before killing the spawn. When the last guardian dies, the chest automatically unlocks and you can no longer attempt to pick it.

NPC Trainers
The following NPCs can train your lockpicking skill to 30 for :
 * Wallace (Black Forest Outpost)
 * Wallace (Eldeir Village)
 * Wallace (Pyros Landing)