How to Get & Use the Lock Breaker in Red Dead Redemption 2

You can open many of the lootable containers in Red Dead Redemption 2 without much trouble. Some of the best loot in the game, however, is guarded by thick locks that resist standard methods of cracking. To open these, you need the Lock Breaker, a somewhat hidden and expensive item that makes cracking even the toughest locks silent and efficient.

How to Get the Lock Breaker in RDR2

The Lock Breaker is available from any fence merchant in Red Dead Redemption 2. It’s not quest-locked, either, meaning you can get one as soon as the prologue is over. However, because it is fairly expensive, with a hefty $25.00 price tag, you’ll want to play a bit and sell any treasures you find in the game’s early sections.

Probably the easiest place to get to and buy a Lock Breaker in Red Dead Redemption 2 without completing any quests is the fence north of Rhodes. Rhodes is a little way southwest of Valentine and about a ten-minute ride or so from Horseshoe Overlook. The fence operates out of a small shack owned by a group of ne’er-do-wells just north of Rhodes. You’ll see his icon on the map for an exact location.

If you have valuables to sell, either from killing and looting enemies or doing a good old-fashioned robbery, you can sell as much as you’re comfortable parting with and then purchase the Lock Breaker straight from the fence. If you’re looking for a small discount on the Lock Breaker, it is possible to get one.

What Mission Unlocks the Fence in RDR2?

Unlike the other standard fences in Red Dead Redemption 2, Seamus at Emerald Ranch is locked behind the main story quest. Midway through the Chapter 2 quest chain in and around Valentine is a quest called “Spines of America,” which you get from Hosea. Completing it improves your rapport with Seamus enough that he gives a 10% discount on all his sold items, making the Lock Breaker a cool $22.50.

If you completed “Spines of America” and don’t see Seamus as a fence vendor, leave Emerald Ranch and return a few days later. He’ll be in business out of the Ranch’s barn. You can even bring him stage coaches you steal for additional rewards.

How to Use the Lock Breaker in RDR2

Using the Lock Breaker is pretty simple, but you need to find a lock that actually requires it for the item to be useful. In my first 100 hours of play, I encountered maybe two or three locks that called for a Lock Breaker, and I thought I was pretty thorough about my looting.

In any event, if you do come across a Lock Breaker lock in Read Dead Redemption 2, you’ll be prompted to use it when you approach the locked container in question. Press Square on PlayStation, X on Xbox, or whatever your Use key binding is on PC (default to E).

Most locks you can use the Lock Breaker on can also be bypassed the way most outlaws would have actually done it: With a gun. The Lock Breaker is just there to save you some ammo or a stick of dynamite, should you want to be extremely violent about it.

Is the Lock Breaker Worth It in RDR2?

In the long run, the Lock Breaker’s $25.00 price is a very small sum to pay for easier access to any locked chest you find in Red Dead Redemption 2. Sure, you aren’t going to find too many, but they are helpful in one specific situation: When you need to open a lock silently. There’s one activity where that’s definitely the case, and those are the stagecoach robberies you unlock in the mid-game.

One of the quests you can do in Chapter 3, “Friends in Very Low Places,” sees you going after a stagecoach for the money in its strongbox. Finishing the mission unlocks two corrupt Postmasters — Alden in Rhodes and Hector in Strawberry — who will give you a tip on additional stagecoaches to stop, swindle, and rob. You can, of course, simply kill the guards on each stagecoach and blast the lock open, but that risks damaging some of the contents of the strongbox. A lockbreaker lets you not only safeguard your loot but also give no hint of your illicit activities if you’re using a distraction.

That’s all you need to know about how to get and how to use the lock breaker in Red Dead Redemption 2. For other tips and tricks for the Wild West epic, head over to our RDR2 guides page.