Guild Wars 2 How to Get Black Lion Keys
Key farming is the process of repeatedly completing the level 10 personal story in order to obtain the final reward, a Black Lion Chest Key. These keys open Black Lion Chests, which in turn drop rewards such as Black Lion Claim Tickets.
Since September 15, 2015, only one key a week can be obtained this way: completing a character's level 10 personal story will award a Black Lion Chest Key, but make the account ineligible to receive further keys from level 10 story completion until weekly reset on Monday 07:30. Further keys may be earned from other sources at any time. Prior to the September update, it was possible to obtain several keys an hour using this method; however, due to the added time-gating, the popularity of key farming has fallen.
Overview [edit]
Humans have the fastest personal story. The most commonly used professions are elementalist, guardian, warrior or revenant.
Leveling up [edit]
Characters must be level 10 to begin the first personal story chapter. To reach level 10, players must gain experience through normal gameplay (dynamic events, killing foes, or map completion), consumables, crafting, or a combination of each.
Consumables [edit]
Various consumable items can be earned on an account and saved for key farming by using them on the newly created character to quickly increase its level.
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Tome of Knowledge (+1 level) — earned from Login rewards, PvP Reward Tracks, PvP Rank rewards, Black Lion Chests, and other sources - Tome of Mentorship (+1 level) — earned from completing the personal story
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Tome of Mentorship (+1 level) — possible drop from Bag of Educational Supplies, purchased from the Karmic Converter after completing the Exotic Hunter achievement -
Experience Scroll (increase to level 20, 30, 40, 50, or 60) — earned from achievement rewards and character birthdays -
Writ of Experience (+5% of a level) — earned from PvE daily achievement rewards in Central Tyria and the Maguuma Wastes -
Scrap of Maguuma Mastery (+5% of a level) — autoconsumed from PvE daily achievement chests from Heart of Thorns and Living World Season 3 zones - Daily chests from Living World Season 3 zones each contain two Scraps of Maguuma Mastery, adding 10% of a level when consumed.
- Scrap of Desert Mastery (+5% of a level) — autoconsumed from PvE daily achievement chests from Path of Fire and Living World Season 4 zones
- Scrap of Icebrood Saga Mastery (+5% of a level) — autoconsumed from PvE daily achievement chests from Icebrood Saga zones
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Raptor Treat (+15% of a level; consumption limit 1 per account per day) — purchased from Priestess Karima after completing Reins of the Raptor -
Springer Treat (+15% of a level; consumption limit 1 per account per day) — purchased from Stablemaster Unja after completing Springer Backpacking -
Skimmer Treat (+15% of a level; consumption limit 1 per account per day) — purchased from Skimmer Trainer Ardra after completing Skimmer Search -
Jackal Treat (+15% of a level; consumption limit 1 per account per day) — purchased from Drojkor, Spirit Squall after completing Jackal Reconnaissance -
Roller Beetle Treat (+15% of a level; consumption limit 1 per account per day) — purchased from Kadir; unlike other mount treats, only one can be purchased per day -
Casino Coin (+0.25% of a level) — obtained from the Casino Blitz meta-event in Crystal Oasis -
Bundle of Loot (+0.25% of a level) — obtained during Participate in the treasure hunt! in the Labyrinthine Cliffs during Festival of the Four Winds
Note that when characters below level 80 consume items such as mount treats that give Mastery points, the experience bar at the bottom of the screen may fill up and reset without a level being gained. This does not actually affect level progression. Hovering over the bar will display a tooltip showing the actual amount of progress that has been gained.
Crafting [edit]
Increasing a crafting discipline level grants experience. Earning level 200 in a single crafting discipline will offer enough experience to reach level 10.
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Personal story [edit]
Commoner storyline 
— considered the quickest to complete.
- Skipping the tutorial
- General tips
- if you level up to lvl 11 instead of lvl 10 you can unlock and equip skills like signets which can make killing easier and faster directly from the start
- To reduce the amount of loadings screens, exit finished personal story instances by using waypoints which port you directly to your next location. To do this open the map and change the map layer until you see the waypoint you want to teleport to. You can change the map layer with shift + mouse wheel scrolling or by using the layer icons on the right side of the map.
Rewards [edit]
- Personal story rewards
- Level rewards
Characters will gain 2-3 levels in the process of completing their personal story up to level 10.
- Level 12
- Level 18 (if using an Experience Scroll)
Additional valuable rewards can be earned when continuing the story up to level 40 for a second key...
...And up to level 60 for a third.
Repeating the process [edit]
- Once the final level 10 story mission has been completed, the character may be deleted and a new one created to repeat the farm (the next week, due to the weekly key farming limit). Many players will choose to have a dedicated character slot for key farming.
- Be sure to clear the character's inventory (selling items to vendors, salvaging for materials, or moving items to the account vault) before deleting the character to recover some resources used.
- If you accidentally run the 10 level story twice during the same weekend, do not accept the rewards. When you open the story reward after the weekly reset, the key will be there again.
Recommended items [edit]
Equipment [edit]
Armor [edit]
- "Mighty" armor (level 10) — +24 power for a full set
- Shoulders are not obtainable at level 10; however, warriors and guardians may select a pair of shoulders during character creation for a minor armor bonus.
- Runes
- Any minor rune that grants power as its primary bonus; equip a different one to each piece of armor to maximize power
Weapons [edit]
- Sigils
Trinkets [edit]
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Other items [edit]
Additional keys [edit]
- A Black Lion Key is given for completing Setting the Stage in the Personal Story at level 40 and the level 60 story instance The Battle of Claw Island. These key rewards are not time gated.
- A Black Lion Key is rewarded at the end of Living Season 2 Episode 6 -- Tangled Paths -- which can be done by a new character if any character on the account has completed it before.
- A Black Lion Key is earned at the end of Heart of Thorns story step 11 -- Roots of Terror -- which requires each character to have completed the previous 10 steps.
- ~25% chance of a Black Lion Key as a reward for Map completion.
- Some easier maps to complete on a level 80 character are Bloodstone Fen, Dragonfall, Bjora Marches, Grothmar Valley and Drizzlewood Coast.
- Cities and Southsun Cove are an exception and will never give keys, only transmutation charges.
- Chance for a key from Living World Season 3 & 4 map rewards is limited to level 80 characters.[2]
References [edit]
- ^ Guide on Reddit
- ^ Game updates/2019-05-17
Guild Wars 2 How to Get Black Lion Keys
Source: https://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Key_farming#:~:text=A%20Black%20Lion%20Key%20is,rewards%20are%20not%20time%20gated.