Variety is the spice of life, and while Henry is a blacksmith by trade (even though he spends more time playing the knight these days), he’s more than willing to dabble in various other endeavors, like archery, skullduggery, alchemy and dice. Complete one of each of the game’s seven minigames and you’ll earn the Jack of All Trades achievement in Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2, and this guide will cover what those minigames are and how you can complete them.

Page Breakdown¶

All Jack of All Trades Minigames¶

There are seven main minigames in Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2 that take Henry’re performance out of the realm of abstract skill checks (at least in part) and test the player’s competence in order to complete a task. These are dice, alchemy, blacksmithing, grindstone sharpening, archery competitions, lockpicking and pickpocketing. Complete all seven of these minigames and you’ll pop the achievement Jack of All Trades.

Note that all of these minigames are repeatable, although most of them have some sort of cost - however trivial - involved with them. Herbs are needed to brew potions, materials are required to blacksmith, a weapon must be on-hand to sharpen, groschen are bet during dice and archery contests, lockpicks are required to pick locks and your very reputation is at stake when you’re picking locks and pockets. You will complete most of these during various quests, but you can seek many of them out freely (or ignore them during said quests, in some cases). Finally, while you need to “complete” each minigame - and that probably connotates “succeeding” at said minigame - you’re not really required to show any special proficiency or skill at them. Brewing a potion poorly should still count, as will picking the easiest of locks or winning archery competitions against the least experienced competitors.

That said, you’ll be properly incentivized to complete most of these minigames many times over and learn how to do so well, as some of the most useful potions and weapons are created by Henry himself, not purchased, and sometimes you’ll just have to play a round of dice or do some thieving to get the best quest outcomes. With all that aside, here’s how you can complete each minigame:

Dice¶

The first minigame you’ll encounter, you’ll get a chance to play dice in the prologue, during the quest Easy Riders. Failing that, dice are widely played throughout the game - just about every inn and tavern will have a dice table outside, and you’ll optionally get the chance to play dice during the quests Labratores Wedding Crashers and Miri Fajta, just to name a few. You can save-scum your way to victory, but if you want to crush your opponents, you can always just refrain from dice until you can get some loaded cubes of your own. Don’t feel bad, the NPCs use various… shall we say, non-standard dice themselves, and getting some better dice will just even the odds. Or tip them in your favor. They started cheating first. In any event, check out the page Best Dice - Winning Every Dice Game for more information on what dice to look out for and where to get them.

Alchemy¶

The second minigame you’ll encounter, and unlike most of the others, you will have to complete the alchemy minigame to progress the story during Fortuna. That’s not saying much, because you are highly incentivized to complete other minigames during various side quests and main quests, and you will almost certainly feel compelled to brew again to complete objectives in other quests. Not only that, Alchemy is just an excellent skill, allowing you to brew potions you can sell for money or to create all kinds of useful effects, like boosting various stats and skills, recovering health, granting Henry night vision, and so on. All you need are herbs and an alchemy bench - herbs grow everywhere, but you’ll encounter your first at Bozhena’s hut in the prologue. Once you brew your first potion, this requirement should be satisfied, but you’ll find another alchemy bench in Troskowitz, and you’ll almost certainly want to continue brewing throughout the game. Check out our Perfect Potions Guide to get a hang of this minigame, although as far as this achievement is concerned, the quality of the potions you brew isn’t really important.

Blacksmithing¶

Henry’s dad was a blacksmith, and Henry learned a bit from his old man. Suffice to say, he can’t be kept away from the forge for long, and if you go to the blacksmith in Tachov for the side quest The Blacksmith’s Son you’ll have to do some smithing as part of the quest.You don’t have to do this side quest, but it’s highly recommended; even if you don’t, just interact with any forge you come across (there’s one in Tachov and in Castle Trosky, in the Trosky region alone) and as long as you have the materials and recipe (both usually purchasable from blacksmiths) you can forge something and earn this achievement. Even mundane horseshoes should suffice.

Grindstone Sharpening¶

Sharpening grindstones are usually (but not always) found near forges, and if you have a bladed weapon (axes and swords) in your inventory with sufficiently reduced durability, you should be able to use a grindstone to sharpen it. There’s an optional side objective during the quest For Whom the Bell Tolls that’ll require you to sharpen something, but otherwise this minigame is oddly neglected compared to the others. Still, find a bandit, kill them, take their sword, and sharpen it. Voila, another minigame down.

Archery Competitions¶

Another minigame largely neglected by quests (at least, early on), you can nonetheless knock off this minigame almost as soon as you’re off the pillory in Troskowitz. West of Tachov is an archery range, and if you talk to the huntsman’s son Vitek near the range he’ll set up archery competitions for you. It doesn’t matter what type of bow you use or what difficulty you select (lower difficulty competitions are cheaper to attempt and easier to win), compete and win to complete this minigame. Bow are dropped by bandits, can be purchased from Vitek, or you can just get a starter bow for free at the Target on a Tree point of interest along the road between Tachov and Troskowitz. There’s also an archery range south of Castle Trosky, if you prefer.

Lockpicking¶

All you need to attempt this minigame is a lockpick, some privacy and a victim lock to pick. That said, you’re best introduced to the thievery skills during the side quest Materia Prima at the Lower Semine Mill. You’ll be given some great starting resources, including numerous lockpicks and direct tutorials, as well as some sneaky starting clothes (if you complete an optional objective). We’re not sure if the lockpicking tutorial counts, but at the very least you’ll be able to pick the tutorial lock (very easy) numerous times to level up Thievery a bit, which will make actual lockpicking a bit easier.

To lockpick outside of the confines of the tutorials at the Lower Semine Mill, just wait until nightfall, put on whatever gear you have that has the lowest noise and visibility scores, quaff a Nighthawk potion so you can see in the dark, then go scouring for locked doors (very easy). Pick one without getting caught and you’re golden. This is also the ideal way to level up Theivery, mind you, and a few runs through Troskowitz will serve you well.

Pickpocketing¶

The bratty younger brother minigame in the Thievery family, you can get your bearings on picking pockets the same was as lockpicking - completing the tutorials at the Lower Semine Mill during Materia Prima. We’re not sure if these tutorial pickpocketing attempts count or not, but if they don’t you may want to level Thievery a bit by sneaking around towns and picking every lock you can manage before attempting to pickpocket NPCs in a serious capacity.

Picking pockets is inherently more risky than picking locks, as pockets tend to be worn by some sentient creature who will get cross with you if they catch you. Doors are generally more forgiving about being poked and prodded, in our experience. This being the case, you will need to isolate your target, sneak well enough so said target and distant onlookers don’t catch you, then successfully complete the pickpocketing minigame. What you steal doesn’t matter, just as long as you get in, select an item, and get out before time expires. There’s another rub, however - people typically won’t get fussy with you when you pick locks unless they actually catch you doing it, but if you’re spotted sneaking around town and somebody’s purse ends up empty, they may put two and two together, and you may end up with a bounty even if you’re not directly caught stealing. Picking pockets is just more difficult and riskier than picking locks, but leveling your Thievery, picking your target(s) well (it’s safer to rob people while they’re sleeping) and save-scumming should suffice to see you through.