Escape From Tarkov Keys to Riches

The most important keys you’ll need for big hauls

Maps in Escape From Tarkov are filled with locked things. These locked rooms can contain valuable loot from rooms to safes (and even a car trunk). Of course, they’ll need keys so you can get the goodies within. However, the rarer the key, the better the loot. That also makes the keys more expensive on the Escape From Tarkov market.

There are many keys, but not all of them will open something. Only a few can be genuinely called valuable to a player among those who do. You’ll need those few crucial keys for better loot in your runs, by location. Most of these can be found in jackets or Scav inventories. If spawn locations aren’t specified, assume that you can obtain the key in that way. Other spawns will be noted in their section.

Factory

• Factory Exit Key – You can find this in Customs or Factory. It’s also valuable for both of those maps. The key unlocks an extra room and three additional extraction points for Factory. In Customs, it can unlock the doors to the guard building near the crane yard and another point of escape. More than that, it can open truck doors in Interchange and Shoreline. You can do so many things with this key. It has 50 uses. Make them count.

Customs

• Marked Key (Room 314) – A slightly ominous key that gives access to the strange marked door in Customs. It’s popular with players since the room contains valuable loot, such as rare items and weapons. You can find the key in Reshala’s pockets. Marked Keys for Room 314 have 25 uses.
• Room 110, 114, 105 – Grouped because of their similar sources, and the rooms they’re for are close together. The rooms contain essential items. Some of the possible loot are Safes, a Medkit, and various rare stuff. These keys have 100 uses each.
• Room 204 and 214 – These unlock rooms with safes like the keys above. It’s excellent when hurting for cash. The 204 key can also be found in drawers. Take note that you can only have two 214 keys in your PMC inventory at a time.
• Factory Exit Key – Explained in the Factory section.
• Gas Station Storage Key and Cabinet Key – These keys have locks. They unlock weapons and potentially meds. There is also a safe in the Gas Station Storage room, perfect for safe farming runs. A spawn for the storage key may be found in the drawers of the Gas Station Office if you have the key for it.

Interchange

• ULTRA Medical Storage Key – This 100-use key opens up a room next to the Techlight store in the Interchange Pharmacy. Inside you’ll find various medical supplies, some ammo, and currency.
• KIBA Store Key and KIBA Grate Key – These two have to be used together, as having only one does not give access to the loot. The store holds weapons, currency, and loose loot. While the store key may be found randomly in the maps, the grate key is a quest reward. That’s its only source. Both keys have a hundred uses.
• Object #21WS Keycard – This keycard may be found on the bodies of various bosses (and one Cultist Priest). It may even appear under the “Giving Tree” or in Scav Cases, Wallets, Rigs, and Backpacks. It opens a container lot in Interchange. You stand to find weapon mods, a submachine gun, and weapon boxes.
• NecrusPharm Pharmacy Key has a reliable spawn in Shoreline, on the desk in West Wing Room 101. Unlocks the pharmacy in the ULTRA shopping mall. Medical loot and other rarer ones may spawn in the room. However, the LEDX Skin Transilluminator has a low chance of appearing.

Woods

• Shturman Key (KSH) – A single-use key that you can find from Shtruman. Gives access to his stash filled with cash. Suitable for those who need the money. You may only have two at a time.
• ZB-014 – It has a reliable spawn on a desk in Dorm Room 220 in Customs. Opens a bunker in the Woods containing ammo, currency, weapons, and an extraction point. The escape method may be unavailable at times. Look for the green smoke or light to check.

Reserve

• Marked Keys (RB-BK and RB-VO) – These keys are grouped because they’re both fragile and marked with blood. The rooms they unlock are filled with valuables.
• RB-AM – Can be found in the Reserve, on a desk before the D-2 extraction. Opens a room in the Black Bishop building filled with tools, weapon mods, building materials, possible folders, firesteel, and a filter.
• RB-RLSSA (RLSA) – This key opens up a room in the White Queen building. It’s filled with mods, ammo, military tech, and loot containers.
• RB-PSP1, RB-PSP2, RB-PS81, RB-PS82 – These four have a similar source and locks to open. They give access to all kinds of supplies. Foot traffic can be thick around those areas, so take caution.
• RB-TB – It can spawn in Reserve, near a sleeping bag on the train station’s lower roof. Opens a barracks in the basement of the Black Pawn building. Find weapons and weapon supplies (mods, ammo) in the barracks.
• RB-ST – Unlocks more weapon supplies and weapons in a Repair Warehouse on Reserve. You may also get military batteries, shells, phased array elements, a gyrotachometer, a military cable, and a brick of TNT.
• RB-SMP – You might find this key in Sturman’s stash and the usual methods. It unlocks a room on the second floor of the White Bishop building. It’s filled with medical supplies and Ophthalmoscope spawns.

Shoreline

• Key with Blue Tape (East Wing Room 110) – Sanitary might have this key on him. As the name suggests, it opens room 110 in the East Wing of the Health Resort. The room is also called an office. It’s filled with medical supplies, loose loot, a suitcase, a GPU, and multiple spawns of LEDX in the bathroom. Hurry because this is a popular destination for those who have the key.
• East Wing Room 222 or 226 Key – Due to sharing the same balcony, you’ll only need either the Room 222 or 226 key to access both. 222 contains mostly weapon spawns and one physical bitcoin spawn. 226 has more weapon stuff, LEDX spawns, food, and currency. You might find a Room 222 key on the first floor of the power station. Two hundred twenty-six keys can appear on a key rack in the east wing of the resort and Room 218 on a knocked-over shelf.
• Key to HEP Station Storage – You’ll only get this key from Scavs, never in jackets. You might also receive it as a reward from the quest “Nostalgia.” Unlocks the second floor of the power station. The room is filled with weapon boxes, some folders, and mods.
• East Wing Room 310 Key – Despite being for a room in Shoreline, you can find spawns of this key in Customs. One is inside a bus in the trailer park, and the other in a blue van at the crossroads extraction point. Room 310 is filled with loose loot and two sports bags.
• West Wing Room 301 – Find this key in a yellow bus near the collapsed tunnel in Shoreline. Like rooms 222 and 226, 301 is connected to 304 via a shared balcony. Gives access to loose loot, graphics card, and LEDX in 301. 304 contains a weapon box, two PCs, 2 Graphics cards, a weapon, two more LEDX, and loose computer parts, meds, and currency.
• West Wing Room 216 Key – Has a spawn on a second-floor desk in the theater of the Health Resort. Room 216 contains weapon boxes, a grenade box, a weapon, some computer parts, magazines, and a LEDX.
• Cottage Back Entrance Key and Cottage Safe Key – The back door key can be found on water barrels in the cottage’s backyard. You can get a safe key from the bus near the village tank or on a crate in the beached ship. You can only access the safe if you can unlock the back door. The house has a PC, a gun cabinet, two safes, a jacket, and loose currency.

Lighthouse

• Merin Car Trunk Key – As its name suggests, it’s a key to the trunk of a car on the map. Specifically, it’s the red one parked in a lot to the west of the lighthouse. The car trunk holds some electronics, stimulants, currency, and valuables.
• USEC First and Second Safe Key – Unlocks a pair of safes in a second-floor bedroom of a blue chalet. Best used together for efficiency and more jewelry to get.
• Rogue USEC Stash Key and Workshop Key – These unlock a cabin near the water treatment plant but on opposing sides. The workshop is on the east, while the stash is on the west. You can get tools, weapon mods, a jacket, and a possible military battery from the workshop. The stash contains weapons, mods, and other loot.

Labs

• Red Keycard – You can’t get the Red Keycard Tarkov from jackets, but it has a lot of other spawns to make up for it. Specific bosses may drop it, such as Glukhar, Killa, Shturman, Reshala, and the Cultist Priest Zhrec. It also can spawn in Shoreline, in various locations in the resort. It unlocks the security arsenal on the second level of The Lab. Multiple weapon drops and antiques are in the room. Take note that the door auto-locks when shut. You can only keep two in your PMC inventory at a time.
• Key. Manager Office – You can get this key from some desks in the lab, with one spawn in the parking lot. Unlocks the Laboratory manager’s office on the second level. Find a PC, some rare loot, a weapon box, a safe, and an Intelligence folder in the office. There’s also a searchable drawer.

Additional Information

You might find some keys that are unusable or have no purpose. Well, an update might give a lock to the latter. It would be nice to hold on to those, but the regular wipes don’t allow that. You should know which keys fall under these categories, so you don’t have to fill your cases and inventories with useless items.

There are so many other keys out there, but sometimes, the loot they lead to isn’t worth it. Planning out routes and sticking to them is a better way of raiding. Going through each locked room can take too long, and some would make you go out of your way. Taking too long on a raid is an increased risk as well.

If all else fails, some of these keys can be found on the Escape From Tarkov market. RNG can be stingy, or other players keep getting the jump on the spawns, so getting a specific key can take a while.

Keep on enjoying Escape from Tarkov!