Talk:Black Lion Chest Key

Random Drop

Has anyone ever seen such a key as a random drop? I haven't so far. If they don't drop anymore the info should be changed. Irkm Desmet 09:45, 12 September 2012 (UTC)

Once... during the 3 day preview. Now i haven't even gotten one for a few primary chain things done. Its maybe a possible reward but the rate is much too low. I've got 9 locked boxes now and no keys at all in a while. Not gonna pay $1.57 to unlock each box. If i get to 15 and still no keys i'm probably going to STOP PLAYING. Really if they give u boxes everyday you should get at least ONE KEY easially EVERY DAY192.168.104.79 02:56, 14 September 2012 (UTC)

You can get gems with gold. Once you hit level 60, it isn't that much expensive. MithTalk 02:43, 18 September 2012 (UTC)

OK i had one drop for me from a random monster yesterday. So they still drop. Irkm Desmet 10:02, 18 September 2012 (UTC)

Good to know. It must be quite the rare drop. It probably has a chance to drop from any creature, but remember which monster? MithTalk 14:59, 19 September 2012 (UTC)

(Reset indent) It seems like these used to drop way more at the beginning of this game. I used to coincidentally have a key for each chest that dropped, and this was a few per day. Now, I don't think I've gotten more than one key in the last month. Maybe I was just lucky with the RNG before, but I suspect keys are just much rarer now. Xapheus 19:28, 24 November 2012 (UTC)

You were extremely lucky. I don't know anyone whose had close to the same number of keys as they did chests, even early on. I get the chests nearly ever time I go for the daily achievement, but I get about as few keys from daily/map completion/personal-story as I do from random drops. 75.36.180.174 20:40, 24 November 2012 (UTC)

One just dropped for me from a Bandit while filling a heart in Brisban Wildlands. — 16:48, 17 January 2013 (UTC)

I also got one key for each chest at the 3 day headstart. That worked for about 10 chests. Since then i didn't get a key from a mob drop anymore. They sure did drop way more back then. I should probably add that i was farming some mobs back then, for crafting mats (since the TP didn't work). 77.4.202.67 11:55, 9 February 2013 (UTC)

Just got a BLK from a low-level mob in Caledon Forest. Perhaps they are becoming more common.Separ (talk) 01:45, 11 July 2014 (UTC)

and the OTHER one?

"Black Lion Keys are one of the two ways of opening Black Lion Chests. Double click the chest to consume the key and open the chest. " - well, and neither on this page nor on the chest's is any mention about WHAT is the other way to open the friggin thing! Should be added to both, I think. 213.160.12.67 10:08, 11 October 2012 (UTC)

There is no other way. I'm removing the note - {{subst:User:Manassas/sig}} 10:25, 11 October 2012 (UTC)

It can drop from a Moa i got 1 from it --The preceding unsigned comment was added by 143.176.22.212 (talk).

Skritt seem to be the most likely carrier of these as twice my guardian (once in metrica at a low level and again at lv 80 in timberline falls) they dropped for her. So maybe we should put it as a possible drop for skritt on their wiki pages? 67.9.176.236 17:19, 20 February 2013 (UTC) Yumiko

Storyline

It says a key will be awarded for completing storyline mission on level 10, 30, 31 & 50. This should be changed to either 30 or 31. The Vigil have a level 30 quest, the other orders have a level 31 quest. Saga [TSD] (talk) 10:39, 30 June 2013 (UTC)

Black Lion Chest Drop

"Improvements, Black Lion Chest Keys are now a rare drop from the Black Lion Chest. " Per july-23-content-release-notes bottom paragraph. How is this an improvement? Out of 50 BLC's I usually get 1-3 Key's. Now I wont get any!!

Well, as guessed. I have noticed a major decrees in the number of keys awarded from the BLC. Out of 70 chest I only received 1 key. I did however receive 7 Claim Tickets (not the scraps), so that was cool. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by PelorsMace (talk • contribs).

Key Farming

As an extremely popular pastime, the wiki should probably have a detailed guide for this. For the moment, I'll list the key steps here and if there's enough interest, it could be expanding into an article with a link from the main article. (And as a reminder, Gaile Gray, among others, has said that farming keys is not an exploit.)

"Key" concepts

• Start a new character, choosing the human commoner options; none of the other choices matter.
• Head directly to the Garrison to complete the tutorial.
• Head to Shaemoor Fields to Help Diah tend her farm, and complete Renown and Events until you reach level 10.
• Complete personal story through level 10, using waypoints to cover ground more quickly.
• Collect key. Salvage soulbound loot and sell the rest on the TP.

Primary time savers

• Most players consider staff guardian or greatsword warrior to be the fastest — all professions offer some advantages, although Ranger and Necromancer are slowed in using WPs (since their "pets" can keep the player in combat longer).
• Use consumables to add health or (better) power, including Rice Ball, Moa Haunch, Grilled Steak, or Buttermilk Biscuit.
• If you are running more than a few, invest in an L0-1 set of gear with "mighty" prefix and an upgrade slot. For runes, choose four different minors that have "Power +10" as the first bonus. For weapons, the most popular add-ons are Minor Sigils of Bloodlust, Speed, and Justice. If you don't have the Golem Banker, you can choose a level 2 set of gear and collect it after the tutorial.
• Stand in Symbol of Swiftness (Guardian Staff -3) until you get all four pulses of swiftness; the time lost will be made up as you run.
• Collect the chat codes for the key waypoints and whisper them to yourself before you start; you can use this to avoid having to search the map.
• Many consider it worthwhile to spend time unlocking all the weapon skills (and some players even do it for two weapon sets).
• Remember to use the speed boost on Diah's bags of feed. This can be used to reduce the running time to the first bandit hideout.
• Consider old Queensdale Champ run to gain XP from Veterans and Events for faster leveling.

– Tennessee Ernie Ford (TEF) 19:58, 10 August 2014 (UTC)

– Edits PelorsMace (talk) 03:22, 10 September 2014 (UTC)

While it would be interesting, wouldn't/don't most people just go to dulfy's guides for all their walkthrough/guide needs? --Vaught (talk) 20:08, 10 August 2014 (UTC)

(1) Not necessarily. I'm not sure that there is a "most people." Dulfy.net gets more traffic than just about any GW2 site, but it's still a fraction of the community. Some people come first to the wiki; some never use Dulfy. (2) Dulfy runs her own site; the wiki is crowd-sourced. So as good as her guides might be (and they often are quite good), they are just one person's view. Guides posted on the wiki will get updated as things change, but Dulfy's guides tend to be static. (3) The chief advantage for Dulfy's site is that, in effect, it's her job to keep it going, whereas the wiki is an entirely volunteer effort. The chief disadvantage is: she's just one person. Having maintained my own guides for games that were considerably smaller in scope compared to GW2, I can tell you that it's simply not possible to maintain the same level of quality without a team of fellow contributors. (4) Even if none of the above were true, there's always value in presenting alternatives; each person learns differently.

tl;dr the existence of a quality Dulfy (or even Wooden Potatoes) guide doesn't mean there shouldn't be a parallel guide on the wiki; sometimes the existence of a dulfy guide will suggest that the wiki should have 1 or more articles covering the same topic. – Tennessee Ernie Ford (TEF) 20:24, 10 August 2014 (UTC)

An interesting view. If you're adamant about this, why not throw it in the page and let time work its ways? I'll gladly chip in if so. --Vaught (talk) 20:35, 10 August 2014 (UTC)

Create Key farming instead of putting a guide on this page.--Relyk ~ talk < 22:11, 10 August 2014 (UTC)

Of course it would go in a separate article, as suggested by my first two sentences. I didn't want to personally invest the effort to do so unless there seemed to be sufficient interest. The problem appears to be moot though, as there will be some change to key farming in a week. – Tennessee Ernie Ford (TEF) 15:43, 3 September 2014 (UTC)

Been farming Keys since I got off my hiatus of playing the game. Just starting today 9/23/2015 and recieving the story reward that would typically give you a key... I was not given one. Possible nerf in such rewards to boggle down key farming?

Pretty much: http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Game_updates/2015-09-15#Personal_Story --BramStoker (talk, contribs) 07:50, 24 September 2015 (UTC)

"Chance for a key from Living World Season 3 & 4 map rewards is limited to level 80 characters.[1]" This information seems false as I've just completed all LS3&4 maps on a level 80 thief and got no key. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 159.146.45.81 (talk) at 12:56, 6 July 2020 (UTC).

Mind you, it says "chance" for a key. Not that it's guaranteed. talk 13:06, 6 July 2020 (UTC)

I believe there may also be a timer involved from the time your character hits lvl 80; I do a weekly key farm of 10>30>60>LW2:TP>Maps, and found that I got 0 keys from maps 2 weeks in a row after the lvl 80 change (with the characters being less than 1 day old ofc), a less than 2% chance given the number of maps I run (assuming 25% chance at a key per map), so I'm wondering if they check if your character is lvl 80 at weekly reset. Once I started lagging the maps to 1 week after character creation, keys started dropping as expected.80.189.167.227 22:58, 7 July 2020 (UTC)

NPE changes

With the September 2014 Feature pack, story is now in 8 parts at levels 10 through 80 (i.e. there is no more "level 31 storyline mission"). Are keys still given in the equivalent part 1, 3, and 5 storyline missions? Hadsmiled (talk) 19:49, 14 September 2014 (UTC)

i didnt get a key at the end of my part 5 storyline mission earlier on an alt. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by ‎24.71.136.152 (talk • contribs).

I got my key upon completing 10 and 60 lvls, dont know how about 30.

Completed 30 yesterday. Nope. --Ventriloquist 13:58, 22 September 2014 (UTC)

I just got one at 40. — snograt 15:24, 22 September 2014 (UTC)

You actually get one at the end of Level 10 (the same place as before), the first mission of Level 40 (the mission after the old Level 30 reward was located), and the Battle of Claw Island (previously the level 50 reward, now the same mission in the middle of the Level 60 storyline). I've updated the page to reflect this. Entrea Sumatae [Talk] 01:42, 25 September 2014 (UTC)

You're undoubtably right and I'm probably confusing level rewards with story rewards. I should pay more attention ^_^ — snograt 03:34, 25 September 2014 (UTC)

Map Completion Acquisition

I completed 3 maps today and got 3 Black Lion Keys. Perhaps they drop more frequently than before for map completion. Separ (talk) 21:27, 24 April 2015 (UTC)

I noticed it too, hope it stays this way! — snograt 01:20, 25 April 2015 (UTC)

This sentence is a train wreck - "Low chance from the reward for map completion in core Tyria maps, except for city maps, Southsun Cove, and Living World Season 3 & 4 map key chances are limited to Level 80 characters." It's stating that some maps are excluded from key drops and some maps are limited to keys for lvl80 characters, but there's no way to be sure what the intended meaning is. It needs to be split into two sentences, but it's impossible to accurately split it unless you already know what it's trying to say. 47.201.71.16 11:19, 12 September 2019 (UTC)

The sentence was very confusing indeed, so I tried to improve it and clarify it more. Hopefully, now it is more clear. ~SimeTalk 12:29, 12 September 2019 (UTC)

Battle of Claw Island Rewards.

You do not get a BL Chest Key for completing Claw Island any more. Just completed it on my ele.

Interesting. Did you happen to record/take a screenshot of what you got? (Just 6 bags of loot?) -Chieftain Alex 16:50, 11 September 2015 (UTC)

I have found the above to be false, I just completed The Battle of Claw Island and received the Black Lion Chest Key as described. Perhaps the above user was confused with Retribution. -Chieftain Alex 19:24, 13 September 2015 (UTC)

Feedback 2015/09/15

As of 9/15-2015 update:

• Black Lion Chest Keys from the early personal story rewards have been limited to one per week accountwide --96.44.142.178 22:58, 15 September 2015 (UTC)
• The drop rate of Black Lion Chests and Black Lion Chest Keys increased throughout the world. Separ (talk) 16:40, 19 September 2015 (UTC)

The personal story reward restriction seems to be based on a standard weekly reset on Sunday morning. I got a key on two days in a row, Saturday and Sunday, but none on completion of the level 10 story today (Tuesday). - Alexis Toran (talk) 19:08, 22 September 2015 (UTC)

Feedback 2016/12/01

Completing level 60 Claw Island does not (any longer?) give a guaranteed key. At least I just now completed it and did not receive a key. --71.246.235.81 02:49, 2 December 2016 (UTC)

Completed today and got key correctly. BTW mission is "The Battle of Claw Island", not "Retribution" (last in mission chain) --85.253.68.22 15:44, 11 June 2017 (UTC)

I've found that if you complete personal story level 10 and get a key, you don't get a key from other personal story missions (i.e. level 40 or level 60); it might be a personal-story-wide limit of 1 per week? Note I'm pretty sure I did this a couple times on different characters (e.g. sylvari level 10 followed by charr level 60, and another time human level 40 followed by asura level 10) within a few days of each other (in same "week").

You definitely do, as I key farm 3 keys per week (story levels 10/40/60), and had no trouble picking all 3 of them in a single day. —Ventriloquist 12:49, 19 October 2017 (UTC)

Map completion of bloodstone fen : no keys ?

I recently did Map completion of bloodstone fen on 10 characters, and I received no keys. Was this an unlucky run or was bloodstone fen set as a "no Key" Map like southsun cove ?

Just very unlucky run, I got key from BF last week. Sime (talk) 13:26, 15 March 2018 (UTC)

Ok thanks. That's what I thought, but I had a tiny doubt 80.12.34.198 13:57, 15 March 2018 (UTC)

Ninja price hike?

Just looked at the gemstore - Friday, 01 June 2018 @ 09:50 EDT - and the keys are on sale, but the slashed through price for 5 is now 625 and for 25 it's now 3,125. I don't remember reading about this in any set of patch notes :| —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 68.101.71.8 (talk) at 01:50, 2 June 2018‎ (UTC).

EDIT: I'm seeing some tweets that indicate it's a recurring bug with the key prices when they're discounted, though I can't say I've ever seen it before. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 68.101.71.8 (talk) at 01:58, 2 June 2018‎ (UTC).

Yep - I've definitely seen this bug before :( --Imry ☎ 02:00, 2 June 2018 (UTC)

Feedback 2021/05/28

--Sabimaro (talk) 23:42, 27 May 2021 (UTC)

price of 25 black lion chest keys is 2,100 gem.

Good catch. I corrected the costs. Nightsky (talk) 00:05, 28 May 2021 (UTC)

Loot Level

What level is the best to open Black Lion Chests? I have heard that a certain level is best to open loot bags and wondered if it is the same for chests. I cannot find any info on this but have heard people say it in game. --KatieBoom (☎) 15:31, 9 September 2021 (UTC)

Does not matter what level you open it, the unlocks are cosmetic and consumable. Dak393 (talk) 17:24, 9 September 2021 (UTC)

Reward not listed under storyline

You get a black lion key and nothing else for the Story Setting the Stage in Chapter 4. I'm unsure how to add that to the Black lion Key page Atticus Swan 05:05, October, 19, 2022 (UTC)

It's there, it doesn't need to be added. See the site notice at the top of the wiki for details. To fix it you'd need to purge the story pages. But with the ongoing issues they revert back eventually. --Dak393 (talk) 05:15, 19 October 2022 (UTC)

I thought that might be the case. Thanks for the reply --Atticus Swan (talk) 12:07, 19 October 2022 (UTC)

List of maps

The list of maps is missing some LS3 maps and has no expansion maps from PoF (but does from LS4). Rather than updating this every time something comes out, would it not be better to just list the ones that don't have a chance, and also have a note to say that level 80 maps require a level 80 character for a chance? Who knows how long it could become in another 10 years time.~Mrs Lana (talk) 07:41, 18 March 2023 (UTC)

That is an auto-generated list. The reason some maps are missing from it is because they don't have completion rewards documented on their page. I agree that listing every map here is probably unnecessary, but it can't be changed. --BuffsEverywhere (talk) 08:05, 18 March 2023 (UTC)

Also the notes are already under "other". We could make the sections collapsible though, that would help with them getting too large. --Dak393 (talk) 08:12, 18 March 2023 (UTC)

I know the note is already there, I'm saying that instead of both, one would suffice, especially when the list takes up such a large section.~Mrs Lana (talk) 05:48, 20 March 2023 (UTC)

Inner nayos map does not guarantee a black lion key. --98.62.182.205 02:34, 31 July 2024 (UTC)