Lockpicking ( leveling ) " This article contains information about how players used to level Lockpicking . Since Patch 4 . 0 . 1 , Lockpicking no longer needs to be leveled up and scales with player level . " Lockpicking is a rogue class skill . The trained ability , ( learned at level 20 or above from any Rogue Trainer ) , allows rogue s to use Lockpicking to open locked door s , chest s , and lockbox es . Lockpicking operates like a profession ; the rogue begins with a minimal initial lockpicking skill , and must raise lockpicking skill through practice by picking locks . There are no profession - like proficiency levels to be trained ; rather lockpicking skill is capped at five times the rogue ' s current level . Like gathering skills ( such as Fishing , Herbalism , or Mining ) the rogue must have at or above a certain level to open locks of that level of difficulty , and only locks near the rogue ' s current skill level have a chance to provide a skillup . This skill typically doesn ' t advance quickly enough with casual use ; rogues must occasionally go out on runs to improve their lockpicking . Fortunately , your rogue trainer can point you to areas which contain footlocker s at your skill level . Strategy . Please note that while this guide covers the best ways to power - level your lockpicking , it is perfectly feasible to level the vast majority of your skill simply by choosing to work quests that involve humanoids that can be pickpocketed for lockboxes , which can then be picked to raise your skill , and which also will sometimes contain Rogue poisons , thus increasing the value of this approach . < br > Also having Glyph Of Pick Lock will speed up the leveling a lot . Especially when leveling from 1 to 100 . 1 to 170 . Early on you might get some from an engineer to increase your lockpicking up to skill level 80 . The quest to obtain Lockpicking will point you towards plenty of practice chests . The best way for Alliance rogue s to get their lockpicking skill up at level 16 - 20 ( after getting the Pick Lock skill ) is Alther ' s Mill in the Redridge Mountains region . The quest requires lockpicking a chest in Alther ' s Mill for a quest item and is close to the practice lockboxes . These chests respawn very quickly ( you can stand between a couple or three and alternate between them ) and may be practiced upon from 1 to over 100 skill . You do not have to be on the quest to pick these , so you can come back later to raise your skill when your level based skill cap is higher . If you do the quest at level 16 , you should probably return at least once when you are over level 20 . Horde rogues can similarly gain early levels from an equivalent quest on the ship off the Merchant Coast , south of Ratchet in the Barrens . Additionally , blood elf rogues may take the quest , in the Ghostlands at level 16 . This quest chain begins in Murder Row with Zelanis , the Rogue Trainer . Greed takes them to the Amani Catacombs where they may practice lockpicking up to 100 ( current level * 5 ) . In addition to training , these chests contain treasure . The rogue poisons quests for Horde and Alliance provide the next opportunity for solid skill gains . The quest can be picked up at level 20 , although it may be too difficult for many players at level 20 . The item required to complete this quest is contained inside a locked chest that can be picked repeatedly up to 170 . ( You are likely to hit your skill level cap first , if you are on the poison quest . ) If you ' ve already finished the quest , you can still use the chests to gain skill . " The chests don ' t highlight when you mouse over them after the first time ( when you obtain the quest item ) , so you have to activate your lockpicking skill first and then click the chest . " The chest will be empty if you already have the quest item , or unpickable if you have completed the quest . Be sure to close the empty loot window in order to speed along the chest respawning ( it is very quick if the loot window is not left open . ) The poison Touch of Zanzil is applied every time the chest is lockpicked . The poisons can be dispelled if you have the cure from the poison quest chain , Anti - Venom skill ( and Anti - Venom in your pack ) from the First Aid profession , or by the dwarf racial Stoneform . It has also been confirmed that Jungle Remedy also cures this poison but requires the user to be level 22 or higher . The boss guarding the chest will probably respawn a couple of times while you are leveling your lockpicking skill on this chest . ( It appears that either faction could use the opposite faction chest ; not tested . ) Level 1 Battered Footlocker s can be pickpocketed from the mobs around Durnholde Keep in the Hillsbrad Foothills . Note again that these are level 1 , so if you have already leveled up using the lockbox in the rogue poisons quest , these will be grey and therefore useless for leveling your skill . Inside Durnholde Keep there are footlockers scattered around the grounds that require a lockpicking skill of 100 to open which can help you level your skill . At Bluegill Marsh in the Wetlands , there are Battered Footlockers with varying skill level requirement of 90 , 100 , and 110 . 150 to 225 . If you are level 30 - 40 you can go to Desolace , bring 2 – 3 hours worth of water breathing potion s , and pick your way into the mid 200s . There are Waterlogged Footlockers around ( 37 , 21 ) off the northwest shore . There are level 33 mobs you will have to deal with while doing this . There are also Mossy Footlockers in the deeper areas that can get you to 225 . These can be found in a NE running trench near the big island off the coast , around ( 36 , 11 ) . Though they are few and far between here . A better place to find these is in the lake that surrounds the Sunken Temple in the Swamp of Sorrows . Alternate Path . If you don ' t like the water , you can head to Angor Fortress in the Badlands . There are two types of footlockers inside the fortress , Battered Footlockers and Dented Footlockers . The Battered Footlockers are located upstairs , and you will be able to open them immediately at 150 ; however , the Dented Footlockers will require a skill of 175 to open . 225 to 300 . At 225 , go to Searing Gorge . Down in the Slag Pit are . You can open all of them , and again pickpocket for junkboxes . Additionally , you can travel to the Swamp of Sorrows . A water - breathing potion makes circling the deep water around the Sunken Temple much easier , as spawn throughout the area . Stay in either of these locations until 250 - 255 . The best place to raise your skill from 250 to 300 is in Blackrock Depths . Simply go in , turn to the left and unlock the Shadowforge Gate . Continue forward and take the first right , picking the next Shadowforge Gate . Pick the first door on the left , the East Garrison Door , and then head through the door , staying on the bottom level . If you are level 60 or above , pick the large wooden object sticking out of the ground below the giant gear , The Shadowforge Lock ; lower levels can aggro the mobs around it ( although you may be able to pick the lock then Vanish if you have the Glyph of Pick Lock ; confirmed that this works with a level 57 ) . Pickpocket the 10 humanoid mobs in the room and you should average either 1 Sturdy Junkbox or 1 Heavy Junkbox each run . You can also lockpick cell doors if you are able to solo small groups before them . Then head out of the instance and reset it before doing all four again . Note that you can only reset the instance 4 times before it disables you from entering , saying " You have entered too many instances recently " . This will yield 5 runs . This is valid for the whole account and resets roughly an hour after you entered the first time . Keep in mind that a number of mobs will be able to see through stealth , regardless of your level , so be prepared . Another place for 250 - 300 is Tyr ' s Hand in Eastern Plaguelands . Pickpocket the mobs and find all of the . In the time it takes to take a full circle of Tyr ' s Hand , the starting point will be pickpocketable and have boxes respawned . Do this until 300 . Yet another location to level lockpicking from 250 to 300 , particularly for those above level 60 is in the mines below Honor Hold in Hellfire Peninsula . The Gan ' arg Sapper s can be pickpocketed for . As most have their back to the center of the mine they can all easily be robbed clean with little problem , and the only other NPCs capable of interrupting the Rogue are the patrolling Succubi , but they can be easily avoided . Another spot at Searing Gorge is the Stonewrought Pass . You can pick the doors on either side at around 225 , however the Loch Modan side has an Alliance guard so Horde may find it easier to simply level on the Searing Gorge side . The door quickly closes after being opened , so you can continuously pick the door until it is grey . ( " Trying this on 9 / 1 / 09 produced 1 skill - up from each gate , with difficulty Orange . It appears there is a CD on the skill - up of at least 15 mins . " ) 300 to 375 . The best place at 70 is in Feralfen Village in Zangarmarsh . This is located south of Coilfang Reservoir and Twin Spire Ruins , west of the Lagoon and east of Quagg Ridge . There are three areas of buildings clumped together with a handful of wicker chests in each . They typically spawn inside and around the huts . The tower in the western section of the village has wicker chests on the first floor and on the top floor . You can also pickpocket the mobs ( levels 61 - 63 ) with an 11 % chance of getting a ( requires Lockpicking 300 ) . Another location for leveling lockpicking between 300 and 350 is outside of Black Temple in Shadowmoon Valley ( very east side , hunk of land sticking out ) . Stay near the blood elves that are paladins / warriors ( not by name ) , not the demon hunters . Pickpocket these and kill them to have them respawn . As many know , there is an thrown weapon that can be taken out of the that come out of Outland , . Formerly a popular item , it was nerfed with patch 2 . 3 . If you are feeling somewhat more adventurous , you can work your way up to the top of the plateau mentioned above . Easy at level 72 , so long as you avoid the stealth detectors . Then , when you reach the top , Jump down 3 ledges to an unpaved walkway . Go through these and work your way back to the bottom of the first ramp . Doing this , you can continually pickpocket without having to kill a single mob . Because by the time you get back to the beginning , you can pickpocket them again . However , if you ' re wishing to level your lockpicking in Northrend , a great location to do so is southwestern Borean Tundra . The Kvaldir Mist Lord have a 36 % of getting a , and a Kvaldir Mistweaver has an impressive 38 % rate . Note : I have attempted to pickpocket the from both the Kvaldir Mist Lord and the Kvaldir Mistweaver , moving up and down the shore pickpocketing the entire population twice , I only received 6 . As I pick - pocketed approximately 104 combined mobs , the total comes to about 16 % , less then half the above noted . 350 and beyond . With the amount of humanoid mobs you ' ll be killing , if you make it a habit to pick all of their pockets before stabbing you ' ll wind up with more than you ' ll know what to do with . This should allow you to easily skill Lockpicking up to 400 . Another option to consider is the Violet Hold door in Dalaran , which can be picked at 365 . It is unknown what the timer is before picking the door will again reward a skillup . The Feralfen Village in Outland is still a viable place to level your lockpicking , for 380 + . The doors to Karazhan , Shadow Labyrinth , Shattered Halls , and the Arcatraz will all offer easy skill points as well , as all are orange at 350 — simply leave your keys to these instances in your bank . Stratholme doors also remain green until 400 ; they are less likely to give a skill point , but offer multiple attempts in a single area with no travel time . If you are level 77 or above , one of the most amazing places to get is The Avalanche in Scholozar Basin . There are hundreds of zombies which can be pickpocketed for the lock boxes . In fact , there are so many that by the time you finish pickpocketing the last one the first few will magically find a new lock box for you to steal from them all over again . Just be careful of the 1 or 2 elites that wander the area . Well worth the time for a level 80 . Skill gains on doors not inside an instance are on a timer . They cannot be picked repeatedly for skill . A certain amount of time ( about 5 min ) must elapse before skill gains may be realized again . As of 5 August 2008 , doors within instances must also be given time to cool down before getting another skill point , even if you reset the instance Pickable locks . As of 16 December 2007 , there seems to be a 50 / 50 chance that picking a junkbox will reset the skill gain timer on either or both Scarlet Monastery doors . Zoning into any of the four instances and pickpocketing at least three mobs also seems to give a 50 / 50 chance of reseting the SM door timer on both doors . See also Door section of Lockpicking .