Capitalism may not have been invented yet in 15th century Bohemia, but that doesn’t mean people didn’t have a concept of private property. More than that, they also have opinions about the distribution of wealth that doesn’t exactly align with the teachings of a certain messiah they all claim to follow. Suffice to say, to keep the filthy poors from going where they shouldn’t and taking what’s not there, locks abound, and sometimes Henry just can’t afford to abide these restrictions. There’s generally a correlation between the difficulty of a lock and the importance of what it secures, and if in-game incentive isn’t enough reason to hone your lockpicking skills, the Nimble Fingers achievement may be. Pick the hardest sort of locks in the game to get this achievement - this guide will cover how to do so in Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2.

Page Breakdown¶

Picking Very Hard Locks¶

To earn this achievement you must pick the hardest lock, which means any (very hard) lock you come across. These are rare, but not so rare you need to fuss over them - some of the rathaus doors in Troskowitz are locked by (very hard) locks, as are the chests of some merchants - the tailor in Troskowitz will stash his wares in such a locked chest when he closes up shop for the night. This is an ideal target as the rewards for picking the lock are enticing enough, there’s not a lot of traffic nearby and the door to the shop is locked (hard) - so if you’re having trouble picking that lock, you should know better than to bother with the chest beyond it. Of course, any (very hard) lock will do.

To pick locks you’ll need a lockpick, and you must remain undetected for the duration of the minigame that will begin when you interact with a locked door or chest. It’s not wise to attempt to pick a lock in a crowded area or in the daylight, and the longer you take and the more you struggle with a lock, the more you’ll risk detection - in the former case by somebody happening to come across you and in the latter case because of the noise your fumblings make. Having a high Stealth skill score and clothes that have low noise and visibility values are both useful for picking locks.

If this sounds like a chore, don’t worry - the side quest Materia Prima will give you a tutorial about lockpicking, quite a few lockpicks, and a bonus objective to go steal some decent clothes for clandestine activities. You can also pick the tutorial chest (very easy) repeatedly to level up your Thievery score somewhat… but more on that later. Simply put, head to the Lower Semine Mill early to get started with Thievery skills, it provides everything you need.

Leveling Thievery¶

As for the minigame itself, it takes place within a circular lock graphic, but the only two parts you need to pay any attention to are the “ball” you can move around in the interior of the lock and the inner ring of the lock. The ball is the important part, as it determines whether you can make progress towards defeating the lock; move the ball around and watch it - it’ll grow bigger as you near the “hit zone” and when you’re in the right spot it’ll glow golden. Once you’ve found the hit zone, you can rotate the lock, but the hit zone moves with the lock, and you’ll need to move the ball in unison with the lock as the latter rotates. Rotate the lock all the way around and you’ll unlock the target. The rotating inner ring of the lock only serves as a landmark of sorts - the easier the lock, the more marks and blemishes there will be, which you can use to remember where the ball should remain, making it easier to rotate the ball with the lock.

There are five levels of lock: very easy, easy, medium, hard, and very hard, and the harder the lock, the more Spartan the inner lock ring will be and the smaller the hit zone for the ball. To moderate this, the higher your Thievery score is, the larger the hit zone. With a mouse and keyboard you’ve got a lot more control of the ball’s location, as a mouse just has a much finer control than the analog sticks on a controller. Your own skill will moderate things somewhat - it’s not unrealistic to believe somebody who is very good at this minigame will be able to pick (very hard) locks earlier, but the table below is, in our experience, a rough ballpark for when you should be able to expect to pick certain locks based on your Thievery skill:

Lockpick Difficulty by Thievery Score¶

Again, if you’re particularly skilled or using a mouse, you may be able to pick more difficult locks at a lower skill score - these aren’t hard rules, just rough ballparks based on our experience as to when players are best capable of picking locks without too much difficulty.

Most players will want to level up Thievery before attempting (very hard) locks, and fortunately Thievery isn’t a hard skill to level. Assuming you get the low noise/visibility clothes and lockpicks during Materia Prima you should be almost all set - brewing some Nighthawk potions will help you sneak around at night by giving you nightvision, but it’s not strictly mandatory. Head to Troskowitz, sleep until night (22:00 or later), wait for most of the peasants to go to bed, then go around the city picking every (very easy) and (easy) lock you can find. Do not actually steal anything, however - if you’re spotted sneaking around, thefts will be pinned on you even if you’re not caught actually stealing, but if you just pick locks, nobody will care unless they catch you in the act. There are many, many such locks to pick in the city, and while harder locks give more EXP if you pick them, it’s not enough more to justify going out of your way to pick them. You quantity over quality in this case. Once you’ve picked everything you can/care to, go to sleep and repeat the process the next night - doors and chests will relock regularly and you may have to return several nights to level up your Thievery skill to where you want it to be, but it shouldn’t take too long to reach a Thievery skill score of 20+. Obviously using the odd Saviour Schnapps to make hard saves in case something goes awry is a good idea.

Once you’re ready, pick the door to the tailor’s shop (hard) and if this goes smoothly, try the chest inside (very hard). This should earn you the Nimble Fingers achievement.