1-300 Lockpicking Guide for Vanilla World of Warcraft / WoW Classic

Blizzard luckily made leveling lockpicking 1-300 a relatively painless process in Vanilla World of Warcraft. Here’s the least headache inducing method for leveling your lockpicking:

1-75 – Redridge Mountains (Alliance)

Pick the lockboxes located inside the mill in eastern Redridge Mountains. There should be little-to-no mobs to impede your progress.

1-75 – The Barrens (Horde)

Head to the ship anchored off The Merchant Coast in The Barrens. You’ll need to hop on the front in order to board it. Once you do, head to the “Captain’s Room” downstairs to find a bunch of lockboxes.

75-150 – Westfall (Alliance)

While completing the level 20 poison quest, keep repeatedly picking the chest containing the quest item. You’ll need to delete the quest item each time you loot it, which is certainly annoying, but this is by far the fastest way to level lockpicking at this level. Edit: Using the poison quest like this does not appear to be viable in Classic, since destroying the item abandons the quest. It is best to use the footlockers below:

If you have already done this quest, or don’t want to wait to complete it, you can alternatively use the following options. Pick the highest one you can (based on your skill):

Item	Required Skill	Location
Waterlogged Footlocker	70	Redridge Mountains [map]
Battered Footlocker	70	Stonetalon Mountains [map]
Battered Footlocker	110	Stonetalon Mountains [map]
Battered Footlocker	110	Durnholde Keep, Hillsbrad Foothills [map]

75-150 – The Barrens (Horde)

While completing the level 20 poison quest, keep repeatedly picking the chest containing the quest item. You’ll need to delete the quest item each time you loot it, which is certainly annoying, but this is by far the fastest way to level lockpicking at this level. Edit: Using the poison quest like this does not appear to be viable in Classic, since destroying the item abandons the quest. It is best to use the footlockers below:

If you have already done this quest, or don’t want to wait to complete it, you can alternatively use the following options. Pick the highest one you can (based on your skill):

Item	Required Skill	Location
Waterlogged Footlocker	70	In the lake, Redridge Mountains [map]
Battered Footlocker	70	Windshear Mine, Stonetalon Mountains [map]
Battered Footlocker	110	Windshear Crag, Stonetalon Mountains [map]
Battered Footlocker	110	Durnholde Keep, Hillsbrad Foothills [map]

150-175 – Footlockers

For this level range you’ll need to rely on footlockers or picking the Workshop Door (backdoor) in Gnomeregan, Footlockers tend to be less annoying than the Workshop Door, due to its long respawn time.

Item	Required Skill	Location
Waterlogged Footlocker	150	Desolace, in the water off the northwest coast (Sar’theris Strand) [map]
Battered Footlocker	165	Angor Fortress, Badlands – upstairs level [map]
Workshop Door	150	Backdoor entrance to Gnomeregan [guide]

175-200 – Scarlet Monastery Doors

Now is a good time to put on a movie. The Scarlet Monastery is a dungeon located in north-east Tirisfal Glades. Although the Scarlet Monastery doors are consistent, they are slow. Here’s the best method:

1. Pick the Armory Door.
2. Pick the Cathedral Door.
3. Enter the Cathedral and stealth to the actual big Cathedral door (northern side of the courtyard) and pick it.
4. Run outside and reset instances (right click on portrait > Reset All Instances).

200-250 – Searing Gorge (The Slag Pit)

Jump down into the caves in The Slag Pit and stealth around looking for the small black lockboxes. They are all located within the area with the miners and the upstairs area near the elites. A good route is to check by the Dark Iron miners first, head upstairs and check the hallway, and then jump down from the elite platform back to the area with the miners. Rinse and repeat.

250-300 – Blackrock Depths Gates

Now would be a good time to finish the movie you started at Scarlet Monastery. Head to Blackrock Depths (dungeon within Blackrock Mountain between Searching Gorge and Burning Steppes) and follow this route:

1. Enter Blackrock Depths and immediately pick the gate on your left.
2. Be careful of the patrolling mob and pick the second gate on your right.
3. Pick the next door on your left and enter the room.
4. Pick The Shadowforge Lock (gate mechanism). It’s possible to stand very carefully between the two mobs and not pull aggro at level 60. Make sure you stand as far away from the mechanism as possible and err a little bit toward the right.
5. Run outside and reset instances (right click on portrait > Reset All Instances).

Here’s the positioning for The Shadowforge Lock: