Key farming

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Key farming is the process of repeatedly completing the level 10 personal story in order to obtain the final reward, a Black Lion Chest Key. These keys open Black Lion Chests, which in turn drop rewards such as Black Lion Claim Tickets.

Since September 15, 2015, only one key a week can be obtained this way: completing a character's level 10 personal story will award a Black Lion Chest Key, but make the account ineligible to receive further keys from level 10 story completion until weekly reset on Monday 07:30. Further keys may be earned from other sources at any time. Prior to the September update, it was possible to obtain several keys an hour using this method; however, due to the added time-gating, the popularity of key farming has fallen.

Overview[edit]

Humans have the fastest personal story. The most commonly used professions are elementalist, guardian, warrior or revenant.

Leveling up[edit]

Characters must be level 10 to begin the first personal story chapter. To reach level 10, players must gain experience through normal gameplay (dynamic events, killing foes, or map completion), consumables, crafting, or a combination of each.

Consumables[edit]

Various consumable items can be earned on an account and saved for key farming by using them on the newly created character to quickly increase its level.

Note that when characters below level 80 consume items such as mount treats that give Mastery points, the experience bar at the bottom of the screen may fill up and reset without a level being gained. This does not actually affect level progression. Hovering over the bar will display a tooltip showing the actual amount of progress that has been gained.

Crafting[edit]

Increasing a crafting discipline level grants experience. Earning level 200 in a single crafting discipline will offer enough experience to reach level 10.

Personal story[edit]

Biography Commoner.png Commoner storyline Human tango icon 20px.png — considered the quickest to complete.

Skipping the tutorial
  • You can skip the tutorial instance by using a Tome of Knowledge to level up to lvl 2 and use Shaemoor Waypoint to leave the tutorial instance. To do this place the tome of knowledge in a shared inventory slot before creating the key farm character.
  • If you do not want to spend a Tome of Knowledge, you can use Home Portal Stone from shared inventory slot to teleport to Salma District (home instance). Exit through the gate to Divinity's Reach, unlock Waypoint (map icon).png Salma Waypoint — [&BC4DAAA=] and Waypoint (map icon).png Palace Waypoint — [&BCkDAAA=] (which you can use later for fast travel to progress your personal story) on your way to the bank near Waypoint (map icon).png Ministers Waypoint — [&BP4EAAA=] where you can access all the items prepared for your farm character. Then return to Queensdale to get credit for completing the tutorial.
  • It is also possible to skip the tutorial by using Lounge pass to teleport to the lounge hub but considering additional loading screens the method with Home Portal Stone seems to be faster.
    • Originally usable by all characters, the minimum level for the item was increased to 2 to prevent starting characters from skipping the introductory mission.
General tips
  • if you level up to lvl 11 instead of lvl 10 you can unlock and equip skills like signets which can make killing easier and faster directly from the start
  • To reduce the amount of loadings screens, exit finished personal story instances by using waypoints which port you directly to your next location. To do this open the map and change the map layer until you see the waypoint you want to teleport to. You can change the map layer with shift + mouse wheel scrolling or by using the layer icons on the right side of the map.

Rewards[edit]

Personal story rewards
  • Black Lion Chest Key.pngBlack Lion Chest Key
  • Gauntlet Chance.pngBag of Loot (11) — can be opened on other characters for higher level items
  • Embroidered Coin Purse.png Champion Loot Bag — can be opened on other characters for higher level items
Level rewards

Characters will gain 2-3 levels in the process of completing their personal story up to level 10.

Additional valuable rewards can be earned when continuing the story up to level 40 for a second key...

...And up to level 60 for a third.

Repeating the process[edit]

  • Once the final level 10 story mission has been completed, the character may be deleted and a new one created to repeat the farm (the next week, due to the weekly key farming limit). Many players will choose to have a dedicated character slot for key farming.
  • Be sure to clear the character's inventory (selling items to vendors, salvaging for materials, or moving items to the account vault) before deleting the character to recover some resources used.
  • If you accidentally run the 10 level story twice during the same week, do not accept the rewards. When you open the story reward after the weekly reset, the key will be there again.

Recommended items[edit]

Equipment[edit]

Armor[edit]

  • "Mighty" armor (level 10) — +24 power for a full set
  • Shoulders are not obtainable at level 10; however, warriors and guardians may select a pair of shoulders during character creation for a minor armor bonus.
Runes

Weapons[edit]

Sigils

Trinkets[edit]

or
or
or

Other items[edit]

Notes[edit]

  • If you are interested in completing all personal story choices with your key farming characters use the Personal_story#Chart to determine which ones you have not completed.
    • Deleting the key farming character will erase their personal story progression from the chart.

Additional keys[edit]

  • A Black Lion Key is given for completing Setting the Stage in the Personal Story at level 40 and the level 60 story instance The Battle of Claw Island. These key rewards are not time gated.
  • A Black Lion Key is rewarded at the end of Living Season 2 Episode 6 -- Tangled Paths -- which can be done by a new character if any character on the account has completed it before.
  • A Black Lion Key is earned at the end of Heart of Thorns story step 11 -- Roots of Terror -- which requires each character to have completed the previous 10 steps.
  • ~30% chance of a Black Lion Key as a reward for map completion.

References[edit]