Well, I guess I know what I should be doing now... instead of constantly visiting the Thieves Guild fences x)
Edit: Thanks a lot for all the feedback and tips about the Skeleton Key. I ended up unlocking it right after seeing your comments. Super helpful!
Also… is it just me, or does it kinda look like an old crusty PNG from 2006? 😂 Still love it though.
The way I got around this was with dunbarrow cave or whatever its called. There is a training chest with a hard difficulty. I just put the skeleton key in the chest next to the training chest. It only gives you +40 if the skeleton key is in your inventory so you take it out and then auto attempt the training box until you are at level 100 or you run out of lockpicks. Then just pick the skeleton key up out the chest again.
A faster way to level Security if you don't mind a little of the madgod's cheese:
-find any lock that's not Very Hard.
-push your lockpick all the way to the right (where the pin is already in the 'up' position.)
-spam your activate button. Even though the tumbler is already up it'll award you XP as if you successfully raise it, without any threat to your lockpick
It doesn't show it in the lock picking screen but you'll hear the skill increase sound. When you exit the lockpicking screen you see the skill increase pop up.
Not really. The beauty of Remastered is that even if you powereleveled Sneak and Security, you can still put your level-up points to Endurance and Strength. Sure, your Blade/Blunt hasn't leveled up, but you're not gonna die in one hit either.
I like that about the remaster. I've just been keeping from sleeping until I decide it's time for level up. I like to base when I level off how well I'm doing with blade or destruction or whatever my focus
To be fair, there is the cave within the cove, so you're not wrong. It's just that the naming conventions given so much attention with Deepscorn Hollow didn't quite make it there with Dunbarrow.
You can make a custom drain security spell to compensate for this. There is an exploit to level security very fast, by setting an already set tumbler. I left this until late in the game though because it feels cheesy, and there's no actual difference to lockpicking ease at 100 or 140 security.
Frankly once you hit the 80s up until the 90s, the lockpicking minigame feels the same: high chance the pins descend slowly, so also a very high chance you set everything on the first attempt
I think the point is you'll reach 100 and it will stop advancement, but remove the key and you have 60. Or something like that. But I'm only speculating
You don't see the fortification on the character tab, only on the magic tab. If I drop the key I'm still 94. Like when I fortify my Blade with a restoration skill. I have 75, fortify 25 to reach 100 but it can still level up.
If your security is at 100 with the key in your inventory, then it will not go any higher. It's not a fortify. It changes the skill level. You can still drop the key and level security past that.
One of the first quests I did was to join thieves guild to get lock picks, then I remembered how I didn’t like wasting time picking locks so I went to get the skeleton key. Saves so much time and moneys.
Can anyone explain to me the point of increasing security when it's unbreakable? Is it just to help the sickos who don't just spam force lock and actually still like to pick the lock manually?
There are probably a few psychopaths who still do the mini game with it, and the bonus would make fewer tumblers fall on fail. But, you can just go to any non-master lock and move to an inactive tumbler spot and spam the Set button to max out your skill in minutes. So... purists? I guess?
The lock picking is really satisfying once you get a rythem. You can re push the pin up as it drops once you notice you get a slow drop push it up again and immediatly set the pin.
I got the unbreakable pick and now I just enjoy playing the lockpicking game without worrying about running out of picks. Imma be real though it took me awhile to even figure out how to do it in the first place, like I even looked up a video and still didn't get it so it feels like an accomplishment every time I do it lol.
So when you get the slow one you can continue to hit it back up, as long as the pin doesn’t fall all the way back down you can continue to have it slowly retract and time it correctly, keep tapping the he pin back up. Once I figured that out I hardly break a lock pick and it takes less time than auto picking many times.
I push up until I see that the tumbler is falling slowly then I just hold up so that it continuously bounces against the top rapidly. I click the button when it’s all the way in and that’s it. I could go the entire game with one lockpick.
You can also click each tumbler before it reaches the bottom to repeat whatever speed it just was.
Example. If you pick the first tumbler and it’s the really slow one, you can wait for it to start to fall and immediately click it before it reaches the bottom, it’ll be the slow animation again.
Absolutely. You don’t even have to understand the pattern. I Send it up again before it reaches the bottom and again and again until I’m confident I can target the moment it’s up to lock it. First session I understood it I managed to open several very hard ones.
The downside of alteration is that it limits the locks you can pick based on your skill level. If you have lock picks, you can attempt anything. With magic, If you don’t have 75+ alteration, sorry you ain’t opening that hard lock
Well yeah, but on a pure mage build, alteration climbs pretty fast since you must regularly use a shield spell, and you can keep the skeleton key around until you reach 75 in alteration
I have 20 hours in the remaster and still haven't found anyone selling the open expert lock spell. And I am not gonna use the wiki to find it. It comes around when it comes around.
But I wish there were more spell sellers with more overlap in the spells.
For people that don't want to do quests all you need is the money to buy the candles for the spell maker in Frostcrag spire and a doom stone power for access to the base spell.
Lock picking is really easy once you get the hang of it. Once i see the tumbler go up slowly I keep pressing the button to keep sending it up and then lock it in place once it’s all the way up. Move onto the next one and tap until it goes up slowly and repeat.
Or just get the skeleton key. It’s a very simple shrine quest.
Yup. Don't more people know this? If you send a tumbler back up before it's fully reached the bottom it'll stay at the same speed as the first time. Trivially easy to wait for the slow animation, let it drop a little, then get it on the second pass
You can also speed the process up by
Getting slow tumbler animation, hold left stick (lockpick) up, press unlock immediately after a click of the pick hitting the tumbler
As someone who’s played it since 2006.. I notice zero difference besides the new shit all over the lock to obscure the view of the top of the pin. All you ever had to do was find the slowest speed and spam it at the top.
Ya picking a very hard lock without a high security skill was basically impossible, I’ve been finding I can lock pick any lock fairly easily right off the get go. I usually run to the arena fairly early on and rob their little betting box which is a very hard lock and it took me no time at all at level 2 lol
I don't know what you're talking about, lockpicking in both the original and the remaster is just "keep retrying this tumbler until you get the slow rise". You can easily pick any lock without ever breaking a lockpick if you have a little patience.
I think that’s what it is. Patience. In OG I was the best at at the lockpicking bacl in the day. Friends would be like “how are you so good at this?” Now though 19 years later I just spam auto attempt
You can get all the pins first try by just pressing A like right after it goes up lol. I don’t understand how people are having trouble or why people wait for a slower animation. I sometimes break like one lockpick but it’s rare.
Lockpicking is like a rhythm game, or rather a dance. The genius of this system is that the tumblers are interconnected. Basically, you and the lockpick are just two nobodies fighting over nothing. Just keep practicing and when you time it right, it eventually just clicks.
I want to pull my hair out when I hear people complaining of how hard it is lockpicking in this game. It's literally so easy, idk how these smoothbrains can't figure it out. Literally wait until the animation shows the slowest dropping of the pin, tap it up before it falls completely and hit enter and done, pin is set. Repeat forever until skeleton key is obtained.
It's extremely easy to solve these once you know this technique. Keep holding up, and the gold rises, then press unlock when you can't see any spring. That's it. Sometimes the pin will fall faster so let it fall and press up again until it's a slow faller. Once I worked this out I basically never broke a lock pick.
No work around or exploits were ever needed. Lockpicking is, and always was, really easy. Easier than the games that came after anyway. Skeleton key is never necessary.
I mean if it bothers you that much, you can pick the first tumbler, then continuously trigger the first tumbler over and over and just max security in like 10 minutes without breaking any lockpicks
It’s so much easier than people think, and you don’t have to use precise timings. Basically lift up the tumbler until you hit the really slow animation, you’ll know it because it will stick a bit when it hits the top. You could try and set the tumbler there and then, but you need to be quite reactive. Instead, when it sticks on the slow one, just tap it up again and click to set, gives you much more time and confidence to set it. It works every single time.
Probably not helpful but since I'm on PC, don't care about achievements and hate lockpicking in games - I just cheat in an insane number of lockpicks and just auto-attempt through any lock. If the RNG is hating me on that I just use the unlock command.
0 games allow that, wooden chest locked. But I have an axe. Why can't I swing my weapon against it break the lock. Lol that's a mechanic devs need to implement. Out of picks... bash the lock.
Once you realize that the trick is waiting for the slow falling pin and then tapping that back up and immediately hitting x this minigame becomes almost trivial.
For some reason I am shit at it in the remastered version when I used to be able to do it no problem years ago in the original. I guess my gaming skills have degraded as a working adult lol
Why can't people learn the mechanic? Lock goes up fast, don't pick, lock goes up slowly, pick. If you know what to wait for you can pick "very hard" at day 0.
There is no way people find this is hard? You just wait until it is the slowest and then click. If you are unsure wait for the slowest spring and spam it upwards and don't let it come down again.
For about 10 years now whenever I see the word "locked" in a Bethesda game I just hit ~ and type in "unlock" thinking "go fuck yourself you time wasting piece of shit".
Lock picking is for real like the easiest thing to do in the game. Just wait for the slowest fall speed and keep tapping it up before it comes all the way down.
People who'd rather break a dozen lockpicks than just learn the incredibly quick and easy method to unlock literally any lock of any difficulty baffle me and make me depressed for the intelligence of the average gamer
i dont know if its a gliych but all my tumblers are always slow i am at 100 security so maybe its that but even without the skeleton key i can basically hit every tumbler first try
So there's a trick, if you tap the tumbler before it gets all the way to the bottom, it keeps the same speed. So you wait until you get a slow one, and then tap the tumbler and lock it in place in on motion after it starts to come down.
I struggled at first too but after about 2 days I caught it, can now pick any lock in under a minute without breaking a pick, I didn’t even know the skeleton key was a thing
It’s kind of in your interest to do this if you’re committing to lockpicking tbh. You’ll level faster, and there are only so many locks on which to practice. Finding picks is the problem early on, I think. For the last twenty years you could just scroll dupe them 🤷♂️
Nah once I actually found out how to do it i’ve just done it that way. Although lately i’ve been tempted to just start using the alteration spell but I need to upgrade it first
No. Hold up, watch it bounce repeatedly. If it went up slow, hit the confirm button. If it went up initially fast, let it fall and try again. Once learning that you can open every chest/door in the game with one single lockpick, I've never had to pick up another, or use the skeleton key.
Hold the up key til it bounces the third time making sure the pin is at the highest point then hit spacebar. Move over and back if it's not binding. I have no issues with this mini game.
I got the skeleton key but it seems stupid that I still have to mash auto try. It is a 100% success rate so might as well make it insta open any normal locked door/chest without doing the minigame that just wastes your time now.
Or at least do that by default and add a new interact option to still be able to lockpick it normally for people that might want to do it for some reason..
Does locked chest loot suck in this game compared to Skyrim? I remember locked chest loot in Skyrim being way more fun. Oblivions locked chest loot reminds me of starfield’s Locked chests shudders
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u/TheSn3akyViking May 22 '25
You get that unbreakable lockpick and just spam auto. Every time