There are currently 142 different types of keys in Old School RuneScape and with two exceptions you can acquire all of them by doing various activities. This means that there are 140 keys to be obtained, but not many of them will unlock a new entry in your collection log. Many types of keys are obtained during quests, but there are keys you can drop by killing monsters or other players or even by burning shade remains. Most of the time you will get one key at a time, but there are very rare occasions where you’ll get two keys in one drop.
Quest Keys
Many keys are obtained during quests and are rather useless afterwards. However, you will want to hold on to some of these keys because you will need them to return to specific areas, especially when solving clue scrolls later on. If you’re starting to get fed up with the large number of keys that’s filling up your bank then you must complete the quest called One Small Favour and get one of the best bank space saving items in game: the steel ring. You will be able to keep the keys you’ll need after quests on this ring and fill only one bank slot. You can use the keys directly from the ring so you won’t need to take them out afterwards. Just some of the keys will be useful after the quest since you might need to return to these areas:
- Battered key (you’ll need it for a clue step)
- Brass key (you’ll need it for an alternative entrance to Edgeville dungeon, close to Obor)
- Crystal mine key (you’ll need it for a clue step)
- Dusty key (you’ll need it until your agility level is 70)
- Weapon Store key (if you want to ever revisit the Pheonix gang weapon storage)
- Metal key (you’ll need it for a clue step)
- New key (to enter the mourner’s tunnel from West Ardougne)
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Boss Keys
There are also a few keys that give you access to bosses. Even though they do not have a value of their own they will allow you to access bosses which will then give you the loot.
· Brittle key
This one is dropped by the gargoyles and unlike all of the other boss keys it will give you permanent access to the Grotesque Guardians. The brittle key is a tertiary drop which means you’ll get it on top of your regular loot.
· Mossy key
This key is dropped by the moss giants as a tertiary drop and it will give you access to face the moss giant boss Bryophyta one single time. One key, one boss encounter. You can stack some up before facing this free to play entry level Boss.
· Giant Key
The giant key is dropped by hill giants and it gives you one time access to Obor, the hill giant’s boss. Similarly to the mossy key, the key works as a one key one boss encounter, but they are not a tertiary drop and this means you’ll get it instead of the regular loot.
· Ecumenical key
The ecumenical key can be dropped by any creature inside the Wilderness part of the God Wars dungeon and it offers access to any of the God Wars Dungeon bosses without the need to kill a certain amount of their respective followers:
- General Graardor,
- Kree’arra,
- Commander Zilyana,
- K’ril Tsutsaroth, and
- Nex
Valuable Keys
There are also some keys which can be obtained through various means and used to open chests containing loot.
· Shades of Mort’ton Keys
These keys are obtained by burning various types of shade remains. They come in five metal varieties (bronze, steel, black, silver, and gold) and five colours varieties (red, brown, crimson, black, and purple). You can obtain them by burning shade remains with pyre logs on funeral pyres around Morton. You can then use them inside the Shades catacombs to open chests and receive loot and the gold variety will give you a chance to obtain a Zealot’s outfit piece, which is the prayer outfit that works by giving you a chance to save bones.
· Brimstone Key
Brimstone keys are dropped by a large variety of slayer monster provided that you are doing a slayer task given by Konar. They are used to open the Brimstone chest located next to her which contains generally valuable loot and there’s also a small chance you’ll get the dusk version of one of the mystic robe pieces. They are a tertiary drop meaning that you will get them on top of the regular loot and you are slightly more likely to get them from monsters that have a slayer level requirement to kill.
· Larran’s Key
You can get a Larran’s key when you’re on a slayer task assigned by Krystilia. It represents a tertiary drop which means you will be able to get it besides other loot. With it you can unlock Larran’s big chest or Larran’s small to obtain loot, including a chance to get the Dagon’hai robes.
· Crystal Key
Formed by combining the loop and tooth halves of a key, the crystal key opens the crystal chest in Taverley, which rewards that are both varied and valuable. You also get a small chance to drop directly the key from a few bosses such as the kraken, the Alchemical hydra, the Grotesque guardians, the Deranged archaeologist, Kree’arra, or Sarachnis.
· Enchanted Crystal key
You can only craft an enchanted crystal key on a singing bowl in Prifdinas suing a regular crystal key and 10 crystal shards. This key will open the elven crystal chest in Prifdinas which contains even more valuable loot than the one in Taverley and the possible loot includes the onyx as well as the unique dragonstone armour.
· Dark Key
This is theoretically a valuable key, but you won’t get much from opening the dark chest since the average loot is around 25k. It is however a good way for ironman to obtain bones without involving combat and opening the chest will give you 1,5k thieving XP. You can obtain the key from the Island of Souls dungeon chest or as loot from the dark chest itself.
· Grubby Key
The grubby key is dropped by all of the creatures in the Forthos Dungeon and you can use it to open the grubby chest located in the same dungeon. It represents a great way to obtain consumables, especially for ironman. The grubby key is a tertiary drop, so you’ll be able to obtain it on top of the regular loot.
· HAM key
There are four varieties of HAM keys which you can obtain by pickpocketing HAM guards inside the HAM storage room: bronze, iron, silver, and steel. The value of the items you’ll get by opening their respective chests inside the same area is low, but great for low level ironman for the jewellery.
· Muddy Key
This is a drop you can get in the wilderness from the chaos dwarfs or the crazy archaeologist. If you’re done with your Wilderness diary task that involves it, it’s better to just sell the key the key since you’ll waste GP on opening the muddy chest.
· Ogre coffin key
You can obtain the ogre coffin key from Zogres or via the GE and use it to open the chests around the Zogre camp for valuable loot including various types of valuable Zogre bones.
· Sinister Key
The sinister key represents a steady moneymaker since you’ll always get the same loot from it, including valuable Ranarr weed. You can obtain it from magpie implings, salarin the twisted, or the chaos fanatic, as regular loot.
· PvP Loot keys
These ones drop from the players you killed in the Wilderness if you paid one mill to Skully in ferox enclave and you can have maximum 5 loot keys at a time. If you’re planning on Pking the loot keys will save you a lot of inventory space.
Getting Two Keys in One Drop
Getting two keys in one drop is very unlikely but possible if you consider you can get a key as a regular drop and one as a tertiary drop, or two keys as a tertiary drop.
Crystal key and brimstone key
This can happen only if you’re on a task from Konar killing the following bosses:
- Grotesque Guardians with a chance of 1 in 1188
- Alchemical Hydra with a chance of 1 in 4040.
- Sarachnis with a chance of 1 in 5700.
- Thermy with a chance of 1 in 5136.
- Kree’arra with a chance of 1 in 6350.
- Kraken with a chance of 1 in 6272.
Grubby key and brimstone key
This can only happen when Konar gives you either a Sarachnis task or a red dragon in the Forthos dungeon task:
- Sarachnis 1 in 855.
- Red dragons 1 in 4500.
- Baby red dragons 1 in 51,200.
Larran’s Key and Mossy Key
This combo can only be obtained while on a slayer task in the Wilderness, given by Krystellia with a chance of 1 in 31,980 for this to actually occur.
Brimstone key and muddy key
This can only happen while killing the crazy archaeologist in the wilderness while on a task from Konar and the chance of receiving both drops at the same time is 1 in 2,560.
Brimstone key and sinister key
Receiving both of this keys in one drop can only happen when you’re on a Chaos fanatic task from Konar with a chance of 1 in 2,560.
Larran’s key and Giant key
You can only obtain these two keys in one drop when you’re on a hill giant task from Kristillia with a chance of 1 in 58,304.
Larran’s key and ecumenical key
- Aviansies
Since both the Larran’s key and the ecumenical key drop rates can vary there is a chance between 1 in 3,520 and 1 in 8160 to get the two keys in one drop depending on the combat levels of the aviansies you kill and on the tiers of the combat achievements you have completed.
- Bloodveld
Since the ecumenical key drop rate is related to the combat achievements you’ve completed you’ll have a chance between 1 in 3280 and 1 in 4920 to drop both of the keys at the same time.
- Spiritual mage with a chance between 1 in 3000 and 1 in 4,500
- Spiritual ranger with a chance between 1 in 3,040 and 1 in 5,400
- Spiritual warrior with a chance between 1 in 3,040 and 1 in 5,340
Three keys in one drop
Based on the current drop tables in Old School RuneScape Sarachnis is the only monster that can give you the chance of dropping three keys at once: a brimstone key, a grubby key, and a crystal key. However, for this to occur you will need to be on a Sarachnis task from Konar, which already has a pretty low likelihood to happen since you’ll first roll the boss task, and then you have another 1 in 30 chances to roll a Sarachnis task.
- Brimstone Key chance: 1 in 57
- Crystal Key chance: 1 in 100
- Grubby Key 3 chance: 1 in 15
So, there’s a 1 in 85,500 chance of getting all three keys simultaneously, and that’s almost 3 times less likely than a 3rd age pickaxe… considering you need to be on a Konar Sarachnis task, it is incredibly unlikely to happen. But you still have a fair chance to get two keys in one drop from multiple monsters.
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