How to Get Keys: Copper, Silver, and Gold Key Locations

Keys are the three consumables that open the locked treasure chests scattered across Palpagos — Copper Key, Silver Key and Gold Key, each one matched to a lock of the same colour. This guide has every source for all three, the fastest farm for each colour, the fishing and salvage odds, and the two ways to pop a lock when you have no key at all.

Palworld Keys at a Glance

The three keys are pure consumables — no crafting recipe, no upgrade path, no use beyond the lock they match. They weigh 0.1 each and stack to 9,999, so there is never a reason to leave one behind or dump a spare, and their vendor prices are a joke: 1 Gold for Copper and Silver, 10 Gold for a Gold Key. Sell them and you have thrown away a chest. The colour ladder also tracks where the game expects you to be — Copper is Grasslands-tier, Silver covers the mid-game biomes, and Gold is a late-game currency tied to Snowfields, Sakurajima, Feybreak, Sunreach Isle and the World Tree.

Key	Rarity	Opens	Sells for	Weight	Stack	Skip it with
Copper Key	1	Copper-locked chests	1 Gold	0.1	9,999	Lockpicking Tool v1 — Lv. 16
Silver Key	2	Silver-locked chests	1 Gold	0.1	9,999	Lockpicking Tool v2 — Lv. 25
Gold Key	3	Gold-locked chests	10 Gold	0.1	9,999	Lockpicking Tool v3 — Lv. 53

Best Key Farming Routes

Most key sources are lottery rolls in the 20-30% band, which is fine as a trickle but terrible when you need six Gold Keys tonight. These six routes are the ones that either guarantee a key or stack enough rolls in one loop to feel like they do. The two merchant kills at the top are the outlier — a guaranteed Gold Key from a human who also carries five figures of gold, which is why the same targets headline how to farm gold fast.

Route	Key	Rate	Why it works
Kill Black Marketeers and Medal Merchants	Gold Key	100%	One key every single kill, plus 10,000-15,000 Gold on the same body — the best gold-per-key ratio in the game
Night sweep for Leezpunk around Duneshelter	Copper Key	100%	Guaranteed drop, and 124 of its 836 night spawn points sit in that one desert pocket
Fish the World Tree treasure spots and water-sealed chests	Gold Key	100%	Both World Tree pools are small enough that the Gold Key line always fires; the sealed chests pay 1-2 at a time
Clear the Sakurajima enemy camps	Gold Key	47.6%	The single richest camp-stash pool for Gold Keys, and camps respawn on a timer
Salvage rank-2 ocean wrecks	Gold Key	17.7%	Rolls 1-2 keys on a slot that always fires, so every haul is a real chance rather than a maybe
Sweep the Feybreak and Snowfields chest layers	Gold Key	28.6%	201 and 178 chest pins respectively — the two biggest Gold-tier chest fields on the map

Where Locked Chests Spawn

There are 1,450 treasure chest pins on the world map across twelve regional fields, plus 109 elemental-sealed chests, 56 oil rig crates and 48 enemy camps that stash loot of their own. Each region's chest pool pays exactly one key colour, and the chance below is per chest — so a Desert chest hands you a Silver Key a little over a quarter of the time. Caverns matter more than they look: several draw on the same pool as the surface chests above them, which packs a dozen rolls into one dungeon run instead of a cross-map hike. Open every chest layer at once on the interactive map and you can see the density difference immediately.

Chest field	Pins on the map	Key it pays	Chance per chest	Caverns on the same pool
Grasslands	177	Copper Key	21.1%	Hillside Cavern, Isolated Island Cavern, Ravine Grotto
Forest	247	Silver Key	29.4%	Mountain Stream Grotto
Desert	263	Silver Key	28.6%	Cavern of the Dunes
Mount Obsidian	137	Silver Key	28.6%	Volcanic Cavern
Snowfields	178	Gold Key	28.6%	Astral Mountains Cavern
Sakurajima	68	Gold Key	28.6%	Cherry Blossom Cave
Feybreak	201	Gold Key	28.6%	Feybreak Cavern
Sunreach Isle	76	Gold Key	28.6%	Sunreach Skies
World Tree	38	Gold Key	23.7%	—
Elemental-sealed	109	Silver Key / Gold Key	16.7-100%	Pays 1-2 at a time; the World Tree water-sealed chests are a guaranteed Gold Key

How to Get Keys in Palworld

Every colour has one standout source and a long tail of 1-3% rolls off human enemies. Work top-down through each table below — the first row of each is worth more of your time than the rest of the list put together.

How to Get Copper Keys

Leezpunk is the whole answer. It drops a Copper Key on 100% of kills and captures, it is a Dark-type that anyone can beat by level 25, and it has 836 night-time spawn points against only 158 during the day — so this is a night farm. The densest cluster is Duneshelter with 124 points (14.8% of all of them), followed by Desert Backbone at 86 and PIDF Tower Entrance at 85, which makes the desert the place to run the loop despite Leezpunk's reputation as a volcano Pal. Two traps to avoid: Leezpunk Ignis drops no Copper Key at all, and neither does an alpha Leezpunk — both trade the guaranteed Copper for a 2% shot at Silver. Track its spawns with the Leezpunk layer on the interactive map.

Source	Chance	Amount	Notes
Leezpunk — wild, non-alpha	100%	1	Every kill or capture. Levels 21-40, nocturnal, densest at Duneshelter
Junk hauls while fishing in the Grasslands	36.0%	1	The floating junk box, not a shadow — no bait needed
Grasslands treasure chests	21.1%	1	177 surface pins plus three caverns on the same pool
Fishing the Grasslands	7.1%	1	Rides along on a normal catch
Small fishing shadows	6.3%	1-2	Celaray, Croajiro, Fuack, Jelliette, Jellroy, Kelpsea, Pengullet and Turtacle
Syndicate rank and file, PIDF Riflemen, Free Pal Alliance Believers	1%	1	Filler — see the human drop table below

How to Get Silver Keys

Silver has no guaranteed source, so it comes down to volume, and the mid-game chest fields carry it: Forest at 29.4% per chest across 247 pins, Desert at 28.6% across 263, Mount Obsidian at 28.6% across 137. The best single roll is a Sakurajima elemental-sealed chest at 33.3% for 1-2 keys, and the best repeatable one is rank-1 ocean salvage at 12.9% for 1-2 on a slot that fires every haul. If you are already killing humans, the Moonflower ninjas, Feybreak raiders and Genetic Research Unit Executioners all carry Silver at 2-3%, which adds up fast in a camp clear.

Source	Chance	Amount	Notes
Sakurajima elemental-sealed chests	33.3%	1-2	Electric, Fire and Water seals all pay the same
Forest treasure chests	29.4%	1	247 pins — the biggest Silver field
Desert and Mount Obsidian chests	28.6%	1	263 and 137 pins; Cavern of the Dunes and Volcanic Cavern share the pools
Mount Obsidian and Snowfields enemy camp stashes	28.6%	1	Camps respawn — 48 camp pins plus 10 sea base camps
Junk hauls while fishing the Forest, Desert or Mount Obsidian	20.0%	1	No bait, no tug of war
Salvaging rank-1 ocean wrecks	12.9%	1-2	Needs a Fishing Magnet — 10 per Ingot
Medium fishing shadows	6.5-6.6%	1-2	Dumud, Gloopie, Finsider, Surfent and friends
PAL Genetic Research Unit Executioner	3%	1	The laser-rifle and launcher scientists
Moonflower Genin / Jonin, Feybreak Warrior / Berserker, Azure Covenant Enforcer	2%	1	Also alpha Leezpunk and Leezpunk Ignis at 2%

How to Get Gold Keys

Gold is the only colour with a guaranteed human source, and there are two of them: the Black Marketeer and the Medal Merchant both drop a Gold Key on every kill along with 10,000-15,000 Gold. Ram, the bounty target built on the same model, does the same thing and adds five Successful Bounty Tokens on top. After that it is the late-game islands: Sakurajima camp stashes at 47.6% are the best non-guaranteed roll anywhere, and the World Tree is a special case where both the treasure fishing spots and the water-sealed chests hand over a Gold Key every time. Full details on the merchant kills live in how to catch and sell humans.

Source	Chance	Amount	Notes
Black Marketeer and Medal Merchant	100%	1	Plus 10,000-15,000 Gold each. They are around level 50 and will try to run
World Tree treasure fishing spots and water-sealed chests	100%	1-2	The sealed chests pay double; ordinary World Tree chests sit at 23.7%
Ram (bounty target)	100%	1	Adds 5 Successful Bounty Tokens — see all bounty targets
Sakurajima enemy camp stashes	47.6%	1	The best camp pool in the game for Gold
Snowfields, Sakurajima, Feybreak and Sunreach Isle chests	28.6%	1	523 chest pins between them
Enemy camps in the Desert, Forest, Mount Obsidian, Snowfields	26.7%	1	Sunreach camps sit slightly higher at 28.6%
Sunreach Isle and World Tree elemental-sealed chests	25.0%	1-2	World Tree water seals are the 100% exception
Salvaging rank-2 ocean wrecks	17.7%	1-2	Needs the Powerful Fishing Magnet
Oil rig crates	13.9-15.6%	1	56 crate pins; the large rig pays the higher rate
Large fishing shadows	7.0-30.8%	1-2	Skutlass, Solmora, Whalaska and the rest of the deep-water roster
Phantom	10%	1	The desert-people boss

Fishing for Keys: Shadow Size Sets the Colour

Every fish you land pays an item roll on top of the Pal, and the shadow you cast at decides which key can come out of it — small shadows lean Copper, medium shadows lean Silver, and large shadows only ever pay Gold. The base rates all hover around 6-7%, with one big exception: the deep-water table shared by Gloopie Primo, Skutlass Ignis, Solmora Lux and Whalaska Ignis pays a Gold Key 30.8% of the time, which is the highest key rate of any fishing table in the game. There are 367 fishing spots plus 102 rare ones on the main map and another 77 at the World Tree, so this is a farm you can run almost anywhere — open the fishing spot layers and start with the rare ones. The full rod, bait and catch breakdown is in the Palworld fishing guide.

Shadow	Catch table	Key	Chance	Amount
Small	Celaray, Croajiro, Fuack, Jelliette, Jellroy, Kelpsea, Pengullet, Turtacle	Copper Key	6.3%	1-2
Small	Azurobe, Killamari, Penking	Silver Key	6.6%	1-2
Medium	Dumud, Fuack Ignis, Gloopie, Kelpsea Ignis and others	Silver Key	6.5%	1-2
Medium	Munchill, Polapup	Gold Key	6.0%	1-2
Large	Croajiro Noct, Dumud Gild, Ghangler, Penking Lux	Gold Key	7.0%	1-2
Large	Skutlass, Solmora	Gold Key	17.4%	1
Large	Gloopie Primo, Skutlass Ignis, Solmora Lux, Whalaska Ignis	Gold Key	30.8%	1

Salvaging Wrecks with a Fishing Magnet

Ocean wreck spots are the other half of a fishing rod. Instead of a shadow you get a floating junk box, there is no bait and no tug of war, and the haul pays a fixed list of items — Gold, Pal Souls, spheres, manuals and a key. The key line sits on a slot that fires on every single haul, which is why 12.9% and 17.7% here are worth more than a 28% chest you have to walk to. The Fishing Magnet is the cheap one and handles rank-1 wrecks; the Powerful Fishing Magnet is a level 62 unlock and is what rank-2 wrecks are built around. Both craft ten at a time, so one batch lasts a long session.

Magnet	Unlock	Materials	Makes	Wreck rank	Key payoff
Fishing Magnet	Available early	1 Ingot	10	Rank 1	Silver Key — 12.9%, 1-2
Powerful Fishing Magnet	Lv. 62 · 3 Technology Points	1 Hexolite + 1 Cryogenic Coolant + 1 Bio Battery	10	Rank 2	Gold Key — 17.7%, 1-2

Humans Who Drop Keys

Nearly every hostile human on the map carries a key at some rate, which turns any camp clear or oil rig raid into a passive key farm. The two merchants at the top are the only guaranteed drops in the list and are worth going out of your way for; everything below them is filler you collect while doing something else. Note the oil rig split — the same Syndicate uniforms pay a better colour out there than they do on land, so a rig run is quietly one of the better Gold and Silver sources in the mid-late game. If you want the level ranges and weapon loadouts, the Syndicate thug breakdown covers the whole faction.

Human	Key	Chance	Where you meet them
Black Marketeer	Gold Key	100%	Fixed spots across the islands, and they respawn
Medal Merchant	Gold Key	100%	Same model as the Marketeer, same guaranteed key
Ram	Gold Key	100%	Bounty target — also drops 5 Successful Bounty Tokens
Phantom	Gold Key	10%	Named desert-people boss
Syndicate Crusher — oil rigs only	Gold Key	1%	The gatling-gun heavies on all three rigs
PAL Genetic Research Unit Executioner	Silver Key	3%	Laser rifle, flamethrower and launcher scientists
Moonflower Genin and Jonin	Silver Key	2%	Sakurajima
Feybreak Warrior and Berserker	Silver Key	2%	Feybreak
Azure Covenant Enforcer	Silver Key	2%	Azure Covenant territory and sea bases
Syndicate Cleaner, Elite, Interceptor — oil rigs only	Silver Key	1%	Flamethrower, rocket and missile troops on the rigs
Syndicate Thug, Gunner, Hunter and the rest	Copper Key	1%	Every land camp, plus quest and invader variants
Free Pal Alliance Believers and PIDF Riflemen	Copper Key	1%	Base invaders and tower guards

Opening Locked Chests Without a Key

Two things get you past a lock with an empty pocket. The first is the Lockpicking Tool line, three separate unlocks that each cover exactly one lock colour — v1 for Copper, v2 for Silver, v3 for Gold. They cost Ancient Technology Points rather than ordinary ones, six in total across the three tiers, which is a real price when you are also saving for the best ancient technology. The second is Mimog, whose partner skill Master of Unlocking is the no-key answer that never runs out.

Method	Unlock	Cost	Opens
Lockpicking Tool v1	Level 16	1 Ancient Technology Point	Copper-locked chests
Lockpicking Tool v2	Level 25 — needs v1 first	2 Ancient Technology Points	Silver-locked chests
Lockpicking Tool v3	Level 53 — needs v2 first	3 Ancient Technology Points	Gold-locked chests
Mimog — Master of Unlocking	Catch one	A Pal slot	Locked chests, no key spent

Catching Mimog is its own project. It never wanders — it sits still disguised as an ordinary treasure chest and only drops the act when you interact with it, which means all 5,302 of its spawn spots are chests that may or may not be the real thing. The moment it reveals itself it bolts at a sprint speed of 2,000, the same class as the fastest flying mounts, so a chase on foot is already lost. Box it in with foundations and walls before you open it, or open it and immediately stun it at your own feet with an Electric or Ice Grenade. Its 130 Defense is the highest tier in the game, so bring something that actually hurts, and throw your best sphere on the first opening. Once you have one, Mimog breeds true — Mimog × Mimog is the only pairing that makes another.

Summary

If you only remember three things: Leezpunk hands you a Copper Key every single time and swarms the desert at night, Silver comes from volume across the Forest, Desert and Mount Obsidian chest fields, and Gold is guaranteed off Black Marketeers, Medal Merchants and the World Tree's fishing and water-sealed chests. Everything else — camps, oil rigs, wrecks, fishing shadows — is a 1-30% trickle you pick up while playing. And if you would rather stop farming keys entirely, six Ancient Technology Points across the three Lockpicking Tool tiers retires the whole item.

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