Tools · Lock Helper
Lockpick Solver
Crack any chest without snapping a pick
Tell the solver how many plates your lock has, where each one sits, and how they pull on one another. It works out the exact notches to turn so every pin lands in the centre at the same time. No guessing, no wasted picks.
How many plates does your lock have?
Count the stacked rows in the lock window. Bigger chests have more.
Where does each plate sit right now?
Plate 1 is the bottom row, like the game. Leave at 0 if it is already centred.
Teach the solver how the plates are linked
Read each row as: when I move this plate, what happens to that plate? Click a cell to cycle No effect, Same way, Opposite way.
| move ↓ affects → | P5 | P4 | P3 | P2 | P1 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Move P5 | |||||
| Move P4 | |||||
| Move P3 | |||||
| Move P2 | |||||
| Move P1 |
Independent plates? Leave their row on No effect.
A worked example
Say you nudge plate 2 one notch and watch plate 4 slide the same way while plate 1 slides the other way. In the row Move P2 you would set the P4 cell to Same way and the P1 cell to Opposite way. Every other cell in that row stays on No effect.
How to test one link
In the lock, tap a single plate one notch and look at the rest. Any pin that shifted is linked to the one you touched. Note which way it went, undo by tapping back the other way, then fill in that plate's row here. Work through one plate at a time and the whole map falls into place.
Your solution
Pick what you want the fewest of, then read the moves off in order.
Fill in the steps above, then press Solve the lock.
How the lock works
Reading the lock puzzle
A locked chest or door shows a stack of plates, and each plate holds a single pin that can rest in one of seven holes. The lock opens the moment every pin sits in its centre hole at the same time. On this page the centre hole is written as 0, with the holes to either side counted out to minus three and plus three.
The catch is that the plates are tied to one another. Turn one and others may shift, some the same way and some the opposite way. That is what turns a simple slide into a puzzle, because a move that fixes one pin can knock another out of place. The trick is to map those links first, then turn the plates in an order that lands them all on centre together.
One thing worth knowing at the lock itself: a pin cannot roll off the end of its row, and forcing it past the last hole strains your pick. The plan this solver gives you never asks a single plate to travel more than three notches, so no pin is ever pushed off its edge. If a linked plate is close to an edge, simply do that plate's turns before the ones that would shove it further, and the run stays safe.
Questions
Common questions
- How do I use the lockpick solver?
- Work through the four steps. First pick how many plates your lock has. Then set where each plate sits right now using the small dial, leaving any centred plate at 0. Next teach the solver how the plates pull on each other by clicking the grid cells. Finally press Solve and read the list of moves in order. Each line tells you which plate to turn, which way, and how many notches.
- What do Same way and Opposite way mean?
- Plates in this lock are wired together, so turning one can drag others along. Same way means the linked plate slides in the same direction as the plate you turned. Opposite way means it slides the other direction. No effect means that plate does not move at all when you turn the first one. You find this out in the lock by turning a single plate one notch and watching which other pins shift.
- What does a line like Plate 3 Right x3 mean?
- It means grab plate 3 and turn it to the right three notches. The number after the cross is how many single notches to make in that direction. Do each line fully before moving to the next, and the lock will end with every pin centred.
- What is the difference between the two solve modes?
- Fewest plate switches finds an answer that touches as few plates as possible, which is handy when you want to keep things simple. Fewest moves finds the answer with the smallest total number of notches, even if it means touching one more plate. When a lock has only one possible answer, both modes give the same result. They only differ when the way the plates are linked leaves more than one valid solution.
- Why does the count never go above three?
- Each plate has seven holes and the centre is the middle one, so the farthest any pin can be from the centre is three notches in either direction. The solver always picks the shorter way around, so it never asks you to turn a single plate more than three notches and never drives a pin off the end of its track.
- What if the solver says the lock cannot be solved?
- That nearly always means one link was read the wrong way round. Go back to the linking step, turn the connected plates one notch each again, and double check whether each one moves the same way or the opposite way to the plate you turned. Fix the cell and solve again. A correctly described lock can always be opened.
- Is this an official tool?
- No. This is a free fan-made helper built by the wiki to make the lock puzzle less fiddly. It is not made by or connected to the developer or publisher of the game.