How lockpicking works in Starfield
If the Digipick's concentric circles have got you in a spin, here's what you need to do!
Space is full of things to take and places you shouldn’t be. One way of accessing these enticing treasures in Starfield is by using Digipicks to break open locks on doors, computers and safes.
As well as extra loot, Digipicks can be used to unlock alternative paths in quests, revealing side paths to an objective through ceiling vents or a new item tucked away inside a storeroom.
Whether you want to try your hand at lockpicking to walk the road less travelled or just to line your pockets, it’s a vital skill in Starfield that you need to get to grips with quickly.
If you’re too lax with your movements, it’s really easy to burn through your entire stock of Digipicks without even realising it. Every time you undo an action during the Digipick lockpicking minigame, it costs you another Digipick from your inventory.
Here’s how to use Digipicks to break locks quickly, efficiently and easily in Starfield, so you never have to be stopped by a locked door ever again.
How to pick locks in Starfield
Unlike many skills in Starfield, you can lockpick novice locks without having to invest in the Security skill.
But while this lets you test the minigame out and break into a few things, you quickly encounter advanced, expert and even master difficulty locks.
The ultimate goal of the Digipick minigame is to use the lines on the right-hand side of your screen to fill in the holes in the circles on the left-hand side.
When you first start, there will only be the right amount of lines to complete the puzzle, so you have to plan ahead and not waste lines that can fit in multiple slots.
A good trick is to count the number of holes you need to fill in each circle. This can help you to work out which lines to use and which to save for later. For example, if there are 7 holes to fill in your current circle and you have 4 sets of lines with 4, 4, 3 and 2 pegs, then you’re definitely going to use one of the 4s and the 3 and can discount the 2 as needing to be used later.
Then because you know the 3 must be used, you can then work out where that fits in relation to the two 4s. When you've seen which of the 4s fills in all of the holes when combined with the 3, you're all set!
If you’re really struggling with lockpicking, consider investing in rank 1 of the Security skill. This makes the circles in the Digipick turn blue when the selected lines can fit in the hole. However, this doesn’t mean that they are necessarily correct, just that they actually fit in the holes. This way you can discount the lines that don’t fit and just focus on thinking about the ones that do.
That's it for our guide on how lockpicking works in Starfield. If you need more help with Bethesda's latest open-world epic, then check out our guides for the Starfield Red Mile and the Breaking the Bank quest. For help with character and ship building, head to our pages for the best Starfield armor, best ship upgrades and best weapons.