Sometimes we can’t see the wood for the trees

Picking locks, while often necessary to find all in-game items, can be a tedious task in games such as Skyrim.

The number of times I’ve broken several lockpicks trying to open a chest in Skyrim doesn’t bear thinking about.

All that lost loot…

Turns out, there’s a simple way to improve your lockpicking skills in Bethesda’s RPG. It would have been nice to know about this sooner, but ah well.

User -nemo-no-one- shared their technique on r/skyrim, and it’s a surprisingly simple one. To the point that you’ll kick yourselves for having not noticed it sooner.

“If you pay attention to the clicks of a lock you’re picking you can figure out the ‘sweet spot’ to unlock it. The vibration of the sweet spot ‘click’ is discernibly different from the others,” they revealed.

They continued, “After slowing down and really paying attention, I basically never break a lockpick […] Using this method makes the skeleton key basically obsolete, I think.”

As if this wasn’t a big enough revelation, there are other tricks to help improve your lockpicking game.

Redditor Own_Gap1383 said, “I’ve always used the scratches around the lock to visually adjust where I’m picking at. Choose a random spot, slightly rotate just to see if you have wiggle room or not.

“If you don’t, choose a totally different spot. If you do, adjust slightly left or right and tap to rotate again.”

The next time you come up against a lock you think you’ll never open, refer back to this and you should never be blocked by a locked chest again.

Having conquered locks, you’re now ready to face a new horrifying quest. Perhaps. You’re probably not, but it’s an addition you’ll want to check out if you’re feeling brave.

Even if you don’t survive, at least any locked treasures shouldn’t be a problem anymore.