Dead Island 2: How to Open All the Lockboxes

There are 51 lockboxes found throughout the ten maps that make up Dead Island 2‘s zombie-plagued Los Angeles. You’ll find them in all sorts of places as you hack and smash your way through the game, but you can’t open them until you’ve got their respective keys. In this guide we’ll go through everything you need to know about these treasure troves, including how to open lockboxes and why you might want to bother.

Safe Crackin’ – How to Find All Lockbox Keys in Dead Island 2

Lockboxes are distinguished from other locked objects throughout the game by an icon that appears on your in-game map whenever you’ve found one (below).

Image by GameSkinny

If you’ve found a weird locked box/safe/crate and it doesn’t have the lockbox map icon, then it opens in some other way. Typically, it’s part of a side quest.

A typical lockbox contains a randomly-generated weapon that matches your current level, and is usually rare quality or better. Several specific lockboxes also contain additional loot, such as unique weapons or blueprints for advanced weapon mods or weapon perks.

Opening lockboxes counts towards the Exploration Challenge Safe Cracker, which rewards you with bonus cash at every stage of completion.

Screenshot by GameSkinny

Rank 4 of Safe Cracker only requires you to open a total of 35 lockboxes, so there’s no reason to get more after that unless you’re a truly manic completionist.

Getting Rank 1 of Safe Cracker is part of the requirements for the Smorgasbord trophy/achievement. You also get the Jumbo Keyring trophy/achievement for opening any 10 lockboxes.

I’m Gonna Have to Take Your Keys: How to Find Lockbox Keys

Screenshot by GameSkinny

To open 49 out of the 51 lockboxes, you’ll need to track down a named, unique zombie that appears somewhere relatively close by.

Those named zombies are always in the same zone as the lockbox, and many of them are or will be within 100 meters of it. However, they may not spawn until much later in the game; may be in an unusual, hidden, or unrelated location; and/or may be an Apex Infected, such as a Crusher, Butcher, or Screamer.

Expect a named zombie to be significantly tougher than its generic equivalent, with inflated health and damage. Named Mutators in particular are some of the toughest fights in Dead Island 2.

It isn’t immediately obvious what determines when and where a named zombie will spawn. Some are available the second you reach a given map, others only appear during the day or night. Some may just take a long time to show up. Our current hypotheses are:

• Certain zombies spawn as Apex Infected, which means they won’t appear until you’ve reached the point in the story where those Apex have been introduced. For example, Butchers don’t show up in Hell-A until you clear “Boardwalking Dead,” so named Butchers won’t either.
• The trigger for a named zombie spawn may be overruled by any other main or side quests happening in or around their spawn point. The Military Courier spawns in the Halperin Hotel’s lobby, but not if you’re on “The Rav-Ages of Caustic X” side quest that’s set in the ballroom; once you finish that quest, the Military Courier frequently appears right afterward.

If you kill a named zombie but leave the map before picking up its key, that zombie will reappear in roughly the same place on your next visit. If it’s killed a second time, it’ll drop its key again.

Key Loot

The following lockboxes contain something other than a random weapon, which makes them higher-priority than the rest.

• Burger ‘66 Employee Locker, Venice Beach:
  • Unique mace Gastric Bypass
• Construction Team’s Safe, Beverly Hills:
  • Superior Melee Impactor blueprint
• Electrician’s Toolbox, Ocean Avenue:
  • Superior Ranged Mutilator blueprint
• Eschaton Staff Safe, Hollywood Boulevard:
  • Superior Ranged Electrocutor blueprint
• Fancy Leather Trunk, Halperin Hotel:
  • Tenacious blueprint
• Guest’s Keepsake Box, Ocean Avenue:
  • Energized blueprint
• Lifeguard HQ Box, the Pier:
  • Superior Melee Cremator blueprint
• Lt. Land’s Chest, Venice Beach:
  • Destructive blueprint
• Nikki’s Bounty Box, Beverly Hills:
  • Superior Ranged Liquidator blueprint, unique revolver Extinction Event
• Randgate Secure Case, Ocean Avenue:
  • Vengeful blueprint
• Rose’s Storage Box, Venice Beach:
  • Unique bat Black Magic
• Secure Bio Container, Beverly Hills:
  • Acid Rain blueprint
• Serling Reception Safe, Ocean Avenue:
  • Superior Melee Mutilator blueprint
• Theater Box Office Safe, Hollywood Boulevard:
  • Superior Ranged Puncturator blueprint

By the Numbers: Lockbox Keys by Zone

Check out the following mini-guides for breakdowns of where to find each lockbox and the zombie that matches it.

• Bel-Air & Halperin Hotel: 11
• Beverly Hills & Monarch Studios: 10
• Brentwood Sewers & Venice Beach: 12
• The Pier & Ocean Avenue: 10
• The Metro & Hollywood Boulevard: 8

For more tips, tricks, and guides, check out our dedicated Dead Island 2 game hub.

Featured image by GameSkinny