Kingdom Come Deliverance 2: How does lockpicking work?

How does lockpicking work in Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2? Players returning to Henry's story from the first game will be very familiar with the art of lockpicking, but if you're just starting at Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2, then lockpicking can be a bit of a mystery the first time you try it. Even so-called "Very Easy" locks will prove a challenge if you're unsure of exactly what you're meant to do to pick the lock.

In this guide, we'll go over everything you need to know about how to lockpick in Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2. We'll explain the lockpicking minigame and how it works, as well as the different lockpick difficulty levels, how to get more lockpicks, and various Perks that will help you when attempt to stick your nose (or thieving fingers) where they don't belong.

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Kingdom Come Deliverance 2 lockpicking explained

When you encounter a locked door or chest in Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2, you can move up to it and hold the interact button (E by default) to attempt to pick the lock. For this, you'll need at least one lockpick in your inventory - preferably several, because lockpicks can break quite often while attempting harder lockpicking tasks.

When you start lockpicking, you'll see a screen with a large circular representation of the lock in the centre. There are two parts to the lockpicking minigame in Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2:

1. First, move the cursor around to find the correct starting position.
2. Second, rotate the lock and keep the cursor in the right position all the way around the circle.

Let's break this down. The first step is to find the correct starting position. As you move your cursor around, you'll see that the circle of your cursor gets larger or smaller. The larger it is, the closer you are to the correct position. When you find the correct position, the cursor will turn gold.

Once your cursor is gold, the second phase begins. You must hold D (or LT on controller) to rotate the lock. The outer line of the lock has a gap somewhere along its circumference, and to succeed at the lockpicking attempt, you need to get that gap to the very top, where the locking pin is.

The hard part is that as you're rotating the lock, you need to move the cursor so that it stays in exactly the same position relative to the lock. This means you need to move your cursor in a circular motion to keep it in the right place. Otherwise, the lock will start to jam as you're rotating it, and the risk of your lockpick breaking increases.

If it helps, imagine there's an invisible hole right where your gold cursor is. The hole is only just larger than the golden circle of your cursor. And as you rotate the lock, the hole will rotate with it, so you need to move the cursor to keep it within the hole.

This is made harder by the fact that there's some automatic jitter in your cursor, so the movement won't be entirely smooth. However, the higher your Thievery Skill, the smoother the movement will become, making it easier to pick more difficult locks.

Lockpicking difficulty levels

There are five difficulty levels of locks that you can attempt to lockpick: Very Easy, Easy, Medium, Hard, and Very Hard. As the difficulty increases, two things happen:

• The visuals of the lock change, giving you fewer reference points to help you keep the cursor in the right spot.
• The margin of error for keeping the cursor in the correct position decreases; the "invisible hole" becomes smaller.

In addition, you're only able to even attempt to lockpick certain locks if your Thievery Skill is high enough. So at the beginning of the game, you won't be able to open Hard or Very Hard locks until you level up your Thievery Skill. For more information on this, check out our guide on how to open hard locks in Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2.

Check your surroundings before lockpicking

Lockpicking makes noise every time you get snagged, even momentarily, in the lock. And if you happen to break a lockpick, that sound travels even further. If anyone in the vicinity hears you, they will come and investigate, so you should try to make sure that no one is nearby when you try to pick a lock.

There is a Perk you can unlock to help in this regard. Once you hit Thievery Level 6, you can unlock the "Silent Fiddler" Perk, which makes you much quieter when lockpicking, and reduces the sound of a lockpick breaking by 75%.

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How to get lockpicks in Kingdom Come Deliverance 2

Lockpicks are fairly easy to come by in Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2, which is good because if you're attempting a very difficult lock, you'll likely break several lockpicks before succeeding.

Lockpicks can be purchased from a variety of vendors, most commonly Blacksmiths. You can easily purchase them from Blacksmith Radovan in Tachov early on in the game. Otherwise, lockpicks are often found as loot inside chests, particularly in bandit or poacher camps.

If you return periodically to the practice chest in Lower Semine Mill that Kreyzl suggests you practice on, you'll find it refills with a small handful of lockpicks, giving you a limitless supply, albeit dripfed over time.

You cannot directly forge lockpicks via blacksmithing. However, there are two Perks you can unlock to get you more lockpicks:

• Tool Master (Thievery) - Your lockpicks will be more durable and last 15% longer before breaking. If you still manage to break a lockpick, once you've successfully overcome the lock, a lockpick will be returned to your inventory.
• Locksmith (Craftsmanship) - When picking locks, your Thievery skill will count as 3 higher, so it'll be a lot easier. Plus, you can also make use of scrap iron, so you'll get an extra 1-3 lockpicks for each item you successfully forge.

This second Perk is particularly useful, because it means you'll get extra lockpicks as an added bonus every time you forge any item at a smithy. Once you've unlocked this Perk, you should find that you're never short of lockpicks when you need them.

That's wrap on our guide to lockpicking in Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2. If you need more help with your adventures in Bohemia, we've got you covered. Check out our guides on how to get a horse, how to get money fast and how to fast travel. We've also got pages on the best Kingdom Come Deliverance 2 class and the game's main quests.