How to Pick Locks in Starfield

Like any good Bethesda RPG, you can go places you aren’t supposed to and open up locked containers for special goodies in Starfield. Lockpicking works quite differently in Starfield, though, requiring you to find Digipicks, which you can loot off enemies and buy at stores. Digipicks let you pick the locks of various doors and crates. Some of these make quests much easier to accomplish, while others open you up to valuable items, weapons, and credits you wouldn’t be able to find otherwise. That is, if you can master the lockpicking minigame in Starfield and figure out how to pick locks.
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Here’s how to pick locks in the Starfield lockpicking minigame

When you use a Digipick to pick a lock in Starfield, you’ll see several circles layered on one another. For easier locks, you’ll probably only see one or two circles. But as you level up your Security skill and access Advanced, Expert, and Master locks, you could see three to even five circles.

Each circle has several open segments in it and keys you can use to try and open it. Your goal is to use the picks you have to line them up with the circles and fill the holes. It takes a bit of practice, but there is a trick to make this easier.

First, always count how many holes there are on your current circle. If there are five, for instance, you can look at your key options and know that the answer will likely be a mix of a two-segment key and a three-segment one. On the other hand, if there are seven slots, it might be a three-segment and four-segment or five-segment and two-segment combo.

This immediately narrows down your options. Once you narrow down to a few, the goal is to go through your options and rotate them around the circle to see how their pattern fits into the slots. Even if it fits though, never immediately slot it in. Leave it there and switch to the other options to see how they slot.

This is because some options will slot in fine on their own, but they don’t mix well with their necessary partner combo key. It is a bit of trial-and-error, but the more locks you pick, the more auto-picks you bank up. You can then use these to automatically pick a lock without having to go through the sometimes lengthy minigame.

Starfield is available for the Xbox Series X and PC.