Key

This article is about keys to chests. For access keys that activate products on your Guild Wars account, see Access key.

A key is an item that can be used to unlock a chest. With the exception of Lockpicks, keys can be used only once to open chests with a matching name. They can be purchased from merchants, obtained as loot, or (in some cases) obtained from reward trophy collectors (e.g. Equipment Requisitions).

The costs of keys, and the value of the loot they unlock, varies with the difficulty of the region in which they are used. However, the merchant value of chest contents is almost always less than that of the key itself.

Each use of a key costing at least 600 contributes one point to the Treasure Hunter title. Luxon and Kurzick Keys which are bought from Faction merchants also count towards the title.

Keys by campaign

Legend

1. Keys for chests drop from foes in the associated explorable areas and missions in normal mode; they can be purchased from merchants in associated outposts.
2. Faction merchants offer discounts on Luxon and Kurzick keys (480) and Lockpicks (1Platinum 200).
3. Kurzick Keys and Luxon Keys can also drop from the Echovald Forest foes and the Jade Sea foes, respectively, that spawn in Pongmei Valley, even though only Canthan Chests spawn in Pongmei Valley.
4. Anomaly.Chests do not spawn in Nightfall Cooperative Missions or Riverside Province.
5. Anomaly.Forbidden Keys also drop from Shiro'ken regardless of where they spawn.

Prophecies keys

Icon	Name	Cost	Used in (Region or location)1
File:Ascalonian Key.png	Ascalonian	50	Ascalon
File:Steel Key.png	Steel	80	Northern Shiverpeaks
File:Krytan Key.png	Krytan	200	Kryta4
File:Maguuma Key.png	Maguuma	300	Maguuma Jungle
File:Elonian Key.png	Elonian	450	Crystal Desert
File:Shiverpeak Key.png	Shiverpeak	600	Southern Shiverpeaks (except: Sorrow's Furnace)
File:Darkstone Key.png	Darkstone	600	Ring of Fire Island Chain
File:Miner's Key.png	Miner's	750	Sorrow's Furnace

Factions keys

Icon	Name	Cost	Used in (Region or location)1
File:Shing Jea Key.png	Shing Jea	80	Shing Jea Island
File:Canthan Key.png	Canthan	450	Kaineng City (except: Raisu Palace mission and explorable area)
File:Kurzick Key.png	Kurzick2, 3	600	Echovald Forest (except: Urgoz's Warren)
File:Stoneroot Key.png	Stoneroot	1Platinum 250	Urgoz's Warren
File:Luxon Key.png	Luxon2, 3	600	The Jade Sea (except: The Deep)
File:Deep Jade Key.png	Deep Jade	1Platinum 250	The Deep
File:Forbidden Key.png	Forbidden5	600	Raisu Palace Raisu Palace (explorable area)

Nightfall keys

Icon	Name	Cost	Used in (Region or location)1, 4
File:Istani Key.png	Istani	80	Istan
File:Kournan Key.png	Kournan	450	Kourna
File:Vabbian Key.png	Vabbian	600	Vabbi
File:Ancient Elonian Key.png	Ancient Elonian	600	The Desolation
File:Margonite Key.png	Margonite	750	Realm of Torment (except: Domain of Anguish)
File:Demonic Key.png	Demonic	1Platinum 250	Domain of Anguish

Core keys

Icon	Name	Cost	Used in (Region or location)1
File:Phantom Key.png	Phantom	750	The Underworld Scarred Earth The Courtyard The Hall of Heroes
File:Obsidian Key.png	Obsidian	1Platinum 250	The Fissure of Woe
File:Lockpick.png	Lockpick2	1Platinum 500	Charr Homelands Depths of Tyria Far Shiverpeaks Tarnished Coast
			All regions in hard mode
	Zaishen Key	5,000 Balthazar faction or 5 Tournament Reward Points or 1 Gold Zaishen Coin Gold Zaishen Coin and 100	The Battle Isles

Notes

• Droknar's Key is the storyline reward for completing Eye of the North and is used to obtain a unique item. Despite the name, it is a reward trophy collected by the reward NPCs in the Epilogue explorable area.
• In normal mode in the main campaigns, you can choose to open a chest with the corresponding key or a Lockpick. In Eye of the North, all of the chests are Locked Chests, but there is a greater chance of breaking the picks in hard mode.
• In hard mode, you need a Lockpick to open a chest, as all regular chests are replaced by Locked Chests.
• Using Zaishen Keys does not give points towards the Treasure Hunter title.
• Chests do not spawn in certain instances that can only be entered via quests, such as mini-missions and repeatable Eye of the North primary quests (see also: Quest explorable areas).

Trivia

• Locked chests and keys were added to Guild Wars in the September 7, 2005 update to reduce chest farming. Prior to that update, chests could be opened for free and had a fixed spawning location. The update did not change Hidden Stashes, Wreckages, Wrecked Catapults, and Chests in the Fissure of Woe and the Underworld, which are the only non-quest item chests that continued to not require keys to open.

See also

• Treasure