Lockpicking (Skyrim)

"The art of Lockpicking is used to open locked doors and containers faster and with fewer broken lockpicks."

- In-game description

"Go fiddling with any locks around here and we're going to have a real problem."

- Guard

Lockpicking is a skill in and is one of the six skills that falls under The Thief play-style. The lockpicking mechanic is more similar to the Fallout 3 system than the Security skill from, except that a player can unlock a lock of any difficulty regardless of their skill level. To open locks, one must feel for the correct tumbler position with a lockpick while turning a tension wrench clockwise in the lock. Caution should be used, as the lockpick will break if too much pressure is applied while it is in the wrong position. The higher the level of the lock, the less pressure allowed before the pick breaks. Taking certain perks in this skill will widen the correct tumbler position for picks, making locks easier to open.
 * Governing Guardian Stone: The Thief

Skill books
Books that, when read, increase the lockpicking skill. Skill books only grant a skill boost once per game. For a list of locations, see Skill Books (Skyrim).
 * Advances in Lockpicking
 * The Wolf Queen, v1
 * Proper Lock Design
 * The Locked Room
 * Surfeit of Thieves

Quest rewards
The following quests increase the Lockpicking Skill:
 * Retrieve the Amulet for Shahvee. She resides in Windhelm's Argonian Assemblage. This quest also increases Light Armor.
 * Find Finn's Lute for Inge Six Fingers at the Bards College in Solitude. Sneak, Alchemy, Pickpocket, and Speech are also increased.
 * Obtaining the Oghma Infinium and choosing the path of the Thief will increase Lockpicking by five points, including Sneak, Alchemy, Light Armor, and Pickpocket.

Trainers

 * Ma'jhad (Expert): Khajiit Caravans (Wandering)
 * Vex (Master): Thieves Guild in Riften

Perks
The following are the perks that become available to select as the skill is leveled up

Lockpicks
Lockpicks are easily obtained, as almost all merchants carry at least one of them. Some of the easier ways are:
 * The Thieves Guild fence Tonilia carries around 30 picks for sale.
 * The Khajiit Caravans have 30 or more picks for sale.
 * Babette in the Dark Brotherhood usually sells between 15 and 20 picks.
 * General goods traders such as Belethor often carry 5 to 10 picks.
 * Checking chests, bags and other storage units.
 * Killing or pickpocketing bandits or humanoid monsters.
 * The Skeleton Key. This lockpick is unique in that it will never break. The animation for the pick "breaking" will still occur if too much pressure is applied while in the wrong position, but the pick itself remains in the inventory, and can be used an infinite number of times. Unlike with ordinary lockpicks, "breaking" the Skeleton Key does not raise the lockpicking skill.

Lock difficulties

 * Novice
 * Apprentice
 * Adept
 * Expert
 * Master

Console commands
Console commands only function on PC versions of the game.
 * Add code for lockpicks is "player.additem 0000000a amount". Codes can be shortened by excluding the zeros. For example, to add 5 lockpicks, type
 * Enter the console. Click on the chest/door to be unlocked, and type "unlock". The chest/door will unlock.

Trivia

 * Followers can open any chests they come across, including locked chests with a master lockpick rating, if given a lockpick. Each time the companion opens the chest, a lockpick is destroyed.
 * Lockpicks are more common than in some of the older games in the franchise.
 * No matter what skill level the player is, any lock may be picked. Essentially, one could never put a skill point into the tree for lock picking and would still pick every master lock in the game. At lower lockpicking scores this can be difficult without booster items or perks however.
 * Saving prior to a lockpicking attempt can reduce the number of lockpicks broken. After finding the 'sweet spot', the save can be reloaded, and the 'sweet spot' will be in the same position. Depending on lockpicking skill, perks, and lock level, this technique can save a significant number of lockpicks.
 * Sometimes the 'sweet spot' will change everytime the Lockpicking screen is exited and then re-entered.
 * Equipping items which fortify lockpicking will stack for a significant advantage, 100 in the skill and the maximum number of booster items removes all need for any perks in the skill tree as even "Master" locks become easy to open.
 * The Skeleton Key is one of the most useful tools for a thief in the land of Skyrim. It is a Daedric Artifact obtained via the Thieves' Guild. At the end of the quest the player is asked to return it to the Twilight Sepulcher, and this is required to finish the Thieves' Guild quest line. However, it is beneficial to keep it, at least for a while. The Skeleton Key acts as a lockpick that never breaks, and continues to power up the player's skill in lockpicking.
 * If looking for locks to pick, the player can pick all the locks in a city, wait one in-game day, and then return to the city. All locks will have been relocked, and this process can be repeated indefinitely.
 * The Heist Job from Vex is also good for leveling lockpicking. In every Heist mission, there is at least one (often high-level) lockbox and often a few high-level doors to be picked.
 * Once the Dwemer Museum is discovered, the player can significantly increase their lockpicking level by lockpicking the holding cases; most of which are Adept and Expert locks.
 * Another good place to level up the lockpicking skill is in the training room of the Thieves Guild, there is one chest to each lock difficulty, Apprentice, Novice, Adept, Expert and Master. The locks re-lock after 30 in game days.
 * At the beginning of the game, a lockpicking skill point can be gained by opening the three cells in the torture room and the two others in the following chamber.
 * Decreasing "look sensitivity" in the system settings can make lockpicking easier.
 * With practice, lockpicking can become fairly easy without any perks. Simply obtain the Skeleton Key, find a chest, and practice. Since the Skeleton Key never breaks, it is an excellent way to practice lockpicking.
 * The Treasure Hunter perk is useful in Dwemer ruins, that are filled with chests that will have more treasures like enchanted gear with this perk.
 * Lockpicking can be initiated on horseback if the situation arises. There will be no indication to pick the lock but pressing the action button will start the lockpicking process.

Bugs

 * On occasion there is a glitch where the lockpicking screen will close each time a lockpick breaks. One way to fix this is by exiting the lockpicking screen, waiting an hour, and retrying. Re-loading a save will also work.