Palworld 1.0 Lockpicking Guide: Stop Hoarding Your Keys
Before you start hoarding hundreds of copper keys, you need to realize that Palworld's lockpicks are completely indestructible.
I didn't even look at the lockpicking tech tree during my first run. I saw the ten ingots and a handful of nails required for the V1 tool and figured it'd snap in half the second I hit a tough lock. I couldn't have been more wrong. Pocketpair made these things indestructible. They're permanent Key Items, they weigh absolutely nothing, and they offer infinite uses.
The Skyrim Minigame You Know And Love
If you've ever touched Fallout 3 or Skyrim, you already know exactly how this works. You walk up to a chest, and you can either hit 'F' to burn a key for an instant open, or you can press 'V' to trigger the minigame. It drops you into a familiar screen where you rotate a pick to find the hidden sweet spot before turning the cylinder.
The best part is there's zero penalty for messing up. If you jam the pick into the wrong spot and push too hard, it doesn't snap. The lock just resets and you try again. You've got unlimited attempts to pry the chest open, meaning it only costs you a few seconds of your time.
The Three Lockpick Tiers
You can't just craft one master key and call it a day. The game gates your thievery behind three distinct tiers on the technology tree. You only ever need to craft one of each, but the material costs scale up pretty heavily as you push into the endgame.
I highly recommend grabbing these unlocks the second you hit their required levels. Leaving a silver or gold chest behind because you ran out of keys is a miserable feeling, especially since they can drop legendary weapon schematics.
Ditch Your Keys (Mostly)
Once you craft all three lockpicks, keys become almost entirely obsolete.
Lockpicks don't take up any slots in your main inventory because they go straight into your Key Items tab. Keys just sit in your normal inventory and clutter up your bags. Since you've got a permanent tool that opens every chest for free, you can confidently take all those copper, silver, and gold keys and sell them to a Wandering Merchant for extra cash.
The One Exception To The Rule
I do keep a small stack of keys on me for one specific scenario. High combat zones. The lockpicking minigame doesn't pause the world. If you're raiding the Oil Rig or running through a crowded dungeon, standing still to fiddle with a lock is a great way to get shot in the back. Pressing 'F' to instantly pop a chest open with a key is much safer when you're under heavy fire.
The Mimog Skeleton Key
If you absolutely hate the lockpicking minigame and refuse to carry keys, you still have a fantastic third option. You just need to catch a Mimog.
This weird treasure dog acts as a living skeleton key. In the past, a Mimog could only open chests up to the level of its partner skill. The 1.0 update completely overhauled the system. Now, any Mimog can open any chest in the game regardless of its condensation level. It just takes a bit of time for the Pal to pry the lid open.
If you want to speed the process up, you can condense your Mimog. Thanks to the updated condensation requirements, you only need to sacrifice 48 duplicates to reach a four-star rank. A fully condensed Mimog opens chests significantly faster, acting as the ultimate utility companion for dedicated loot runs. Pairing a leveled Mimog with a completely broken early game Pal exploit means you can dive into high-level zones and crack gold chests way before you hit level 53.
