Key farming

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

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

Leveling up

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

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.

• Tome of Knowledge (+1 level) — earned from PvP Reward Tracks, PvP Rank rewards, Black Lion Chests, and other sources
• Tome of Mentorship (+1 level) — earned from completing the personal story
• Tome of Mentorship (+1 level) — possible drop from Bag of Educational Supplies, purchased from the Karmic Converter or Ley-Energy Matter Converter
• Experience Scroll (increase to level 20, 30, 40, 50, or 60) — earned from achievement rewards and character birthdays
• Writ of Experience (+5% of a level) — earned from PvE daily achievement rewards in Central Tyria and the Maguuma Wastes
• Scrap of Maguuma Mastery (+5% of a level) — autoconsumed from PvE daily achievement chests from Heart of Thorns and Living World Season 3 zones
  • Daily chests from Living World Season 3 zones each contain two Scraps of Maguuma Mastery, adding 10% of a level when consumed.
• Scrap of Desert Mastery (+5% of a level) — autoconsumed from PvE daily achievement chests from Path of Fire and Living World Season 4 zones
• Scrap of Icebrood Saga Mastery (+5% of a level) — autoconsumed from PvE daily achievement chests from Icebrood Saga zones
• Scrap of End of Dragons Mastery (+5% of a level) — autoconsumed from PvE daily achievement chests from End of Dragons zones
• Raptor Treat (+15% of a level; consumption limit 1 per account per day) — purchased from Priestess Karima after completing Reins of the Raptor
• Springer Treat (+15% of a level; consumption limit 1 per account per day) — purchased from Stablemaster Unja after completing Springer Backpacking
• Skimmer Treat (+15% of a level; consumption limit 1 per account per day) — purchased from Skimmer Trainer Ardra after completing Skimmer Search
• Jackal Treat (+15% of a level; consumption limit 1 per account per day) — purchased from Drojkor, Spirit Squall after completing Jackal Reconnaissance
• Roller Beetle Treat (+15% of a level; consumption limit 1 per account per day) — purchased from Kadir; unlike other mount treats, only one can be purchased per day
• Casino Coin (+0.25% of a level) — obtained from the Casino Blitz meta-event in Crystal Oasis
• Bundle of Loot (+0.25% of a level) — obtained during Participate in the treasure hunt! in the Labyrinthine Cliffs during Festival of the Four Winds

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

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

Chef recommendations
For recommendations based on current market prices see GW2Crafts.
Total base ingredients Jug of Water (75) Bag of Flour (112) Stick of Butter (112) Potato (35) Packet of Salt (60) Egg (25) Bag of Sugar (100) Packet of Baking Powder (25) Strawberry (38) Bag of Starch (25) Cherry (25) Grape (12) Lemon (12) Ball of Dough (62) 1 Bag of Flour 1 Stick of Butter 1 Jug of Water Cup of Potato Fries (35) (Discovery) 1 Potato 1 Packet of Salt Ball of Cookie Dough (25) 1 Bag of Flour 1 Stick of Butter 1 Egg 1 Bag of Sugar Bowl of Baker's Dry Ingredients (25) 1 Bag of Flour 1 Packet of Baking Powder 1 Packet of Salt 1 Bag of Sugar Strawberry Tart (25) (Discovery) 1 Stick of Butter 1 Bag of Sugar 1 Ball of Dough 1 Strawberry Bowl of Strawberry Pie Filling (13) 1 Bag of Sugar 1 Jug of Water 1 Strawberry 1 Bag of Starch Strawberry Pie (13) (Discovery) 1 Ball of Dough 1 Bowl of Strawberry Pie Filling Cherry Cookie (25) (Discovery) 1 Ball of Cookie Dough 1 Cherry Bowl of Grape Pie Filling (12) 1 Bag of Sugar 1 Lemon 1 Bag of Starch 1 Grape Grape Pie (12) (Discovery) 1 Ball of Dough 1 Bowl of Grape Pie Filling

Personal story

Commoner storyline — considered the quickest to complete.

Skipping the tutorial

• You can skip the tutorial instance by using a Tome of Knowledge to level up to 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 Salma Waypoint — [&BC4DAAA=] and Palace Waypoint — [&BCkDAAA=] (which you can use later for fast travel to progress your personal story) on your way to the bank near 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 no longer possible to use a lounge pass to skip the tutorial, as passes now have a minimum level requirement of 2.

General tips

• If you level up to 11 instead of 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

Personal story rewards

• Black Lion Chest Key
• Bag of Loot (11) — can be opened on other characters for higher level items
• 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.

• Level 12
  • Copper Doubloon — …
  • Garnet Pebble — …
  • Malachite Pebble — …
  • Crude Salvage Kit — useful for salvaging story rewards
• Level 18 (if using an Experience Scroll)
  • The dyes can be salvaged for pigment:
  • Pastel Lemon Dye — … → 1-5 Pouch of Yellow Pigment — …
  • Rose Ice Dye — … → 1-5 Pouch of Red Pigment — …
  • Olive Tint Dye — … → 1-5 Pouch of Green Pigment — …

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

• 25 : Tiny Crafting Bag
• 32 : Unidentified Dye — …
• 36 : Small Crafting Bag
• 38 : Karma Booster (1 of 3 choices)

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

• 41 : Light Crafting Bag
• 48 : Light Crafting Bag
• 53 : Light Crafting Bag
• 54 : Item Booster (1 of 3 choices)
• 57 : Light Crafting Bag
• 60 : WXP Mini-Booster
• 62 : Unidentified Dye
• 64 : Superior Sigil of Nullification — …

Repeating the process

• 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.
  • Character Slot Expansion — 800 
• 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

Equipment

Armor

• "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

• Any minor rune that grants power as its primary bonus; equip a different one to each piece of armor to maximize power

Weapons

• Mighty Bronze Greatsword (level 10) — +16 power
• Mighty Green Wood Staff (level 10) — +16 power

Sigils

• Minor Sigil of Speed — gain swiftness on killing a foe
• Minor Sigil of Bloodlust — gain a charge of +2 power on killing a foe (stacks up to 25 times)
• Minor Sigil of Justice — +3% damage vs. outlaws
  • In case swiftness isn't needed

Trinkets

• Garnet Copper Ring (level 10 version) — +6 power
  • Garnet Pebble (default upgrade component) — +3 power
  • Adorned Garnet Jewel (requires replacing the default) — +4 power
• Garnet Copper Stud (level 10 version) — +5 power
  • Garnet Pebble (default upgrade component) — +3 power
  • Adorned Garnet Jewel (requires replacing the default) — +4 power

or

• Polla (level 0) — +1 power, +1 Precision, +1 Toughness, +1 Vitality
  • Adorned Garnet Jewel — +4 power
• Simple Crafter's Backpack — a back item with an upgrade slot

or

• Mad Memoires — a back item with an upgrade slot with higher stats.
  • Adorned Garnet Jewel — +4 power

or

• Astral Ward Cloak — a level 80 back item with an upgrade slot and no level requirements.
  • Adorned Garnet Jewel — +4 power

Other items

• Golem Banker (mailed to new characters, requires Digital Deluxe Edition) — access to leveling consumables or equipment in your account vault
• Weak Potion of Outlaw Slaying — +3% damage to outlaws
• Moa Haunch — +40 power for 30s after killing an enemy
• Chef's Tasting Platter — +80 power for 30s after killing an enemy, +50 precision, +50 condition damage. Account Bound.
• Home Portal Stone placed in Shared Inventory Slot (obtained via the Gem Store) — to skip the tutorial at character level 1

Notes

• 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.
• If one of the Wizard's Vault weekly objectives is to defeat Inquest, Nightmare Court, Bandits, or Sons of Svanir, foes of that type defeated during key farming (including within an instance) will count toward the objective.

Additional keys

• Black Lion Keys are rewarded for completing Setting the Stage in the Personal Story at level 40 and The Battle of Claw Island at level 60. 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 rewarded 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.
  • Some easier maps to complete on a level 80 character are Bloodstone Fen, Dragonfall, Bjora Marches, Grothmar Valley and Drizzlewood Coast.
  • Cities and Southsun Cove are an exception and will never give keys, only transmutation charges.
  • Chance for a key from level 80 map rewards is limited to level 80 characters.