Warrior Quest Lockpicks: How to Open Locked Chests Safely

How Locked Chests and Lockpicks Work

Some chests in this game are locked, practically daring you to try your luck. Warrior Quest lockpicks are your clean way into those boxes. Get careless with a lock and you can wreck the loot you came for. In a roguelike where every potion and coin counts, knowing how the lock system works is worth a few minutes before your next delve.

When you reach a locked chest, the game brings up a roll card instead of opening it right away. Like the rest of the game's checks, it runs on a d20. As of Demo Update 1.11, that card shows three things at a glance:

• The method you chose for getting in
• The difficulty of the check
• How many lockpicks you have left

Before you commit, there is a lockpick checkbox on the card. Update 1.10 made that checkbox easier to see, so you are less likely to miss it and fall back on brute force by accident.

Update	Release date	What changed for locks and chests
Demo Update 1.10	October 16, 2026	Lockpick checkbox made more visible; trapped chests no longer spawn right beside other traps
Demo Update 1.11	October 18, 2026	Locked-chest cards show chosen method, difficulty, and remaining lockpicks; clearer dice-roll cards for traps and chests

Picking vs. Smashing

If you skip the picks, you can still force your way in, but there is a cost. Smashing a locked chest open damages what's inside. You'll still get through the lid, but some of the reward can be ruined in the process.

Image: Steam / Wizard of the North

That trade-off is the whole point of carrying lockpicks:

• Pick the lock when you want the contents intact and you have picks to spare.
• Smash it only when you're out of picks and would rather have damaged loot than none at all.

Check the remaining-lockpicks count on the card every time. Running dry halfway through a dungeon means every later chest becomes a smash-or-skip decision. Once a chest is open, hover over loot names to preview their descriptions and stats before deciding what to keep, a feature added in Update 1.4.

Use Rerolls on Failed Lock Checks

Locked chests use the same dice-roll cards as conversations, traps, and road encounters. That means the reroll system added in Major Update 1.6 applies here too. If a roll fails, you can spend a reroll to try again:

Image: Steam / Wizard of the North

• Click Reroll or press Backspace to roll again.
• Accepting the result keeps your reroll banked for later.
• The reroll card tracks how many you have.

Earn rerolls by listening to rumors at the Ample Dwarf tavern. You get one reroll for every five rumors, and an attribute increase for every ten. Save your rerolls for chests whose contents you really want rather than burning them on a trivial check.

Watch for Trapped Chests

Not every chest is just locked. Some are trapped, and the game gives traps and chests their own clear roll cards. To lower the risk:

Image: Steam / Wizard of the North

• Switch to Investigative mode from the Mode button under Special. It helps you spot traps, though each step takes more time.
• Use Stealth mode if you'd rather slip past the creatures guarding a treasure room. It automatically tries to sneak past them, again at the cost of extra time per step.

Pair Investigative mode with a healthy stack of lockpicks whenever you explore unfamiliar rooms. Since Update 1.10, a trapped chest also won't sit directly beside another trap, so clearing one hazard doesn't mean a second one is waiting right next to the lid.

Try It in the Free Demo

You can practice all of this right now. The free demo covers Act I of the full game, runs about an hour, and your save carries over to the full release on November 13, 2026. Grab it on the Warrior Quest Steam page. It's available for Windows, macOS, and Linux.