Keys in Escape From Tarkov can make or break a successful raid. Accessing certain locked rooms can unveil treasures like high-tier armor, meta weapon builds, and the most valuable items in the game. That's why having the right keys for the best loot rooms is so critical.
The 3-story dorms building on Customs is a hotspot for PVP action, but also contains some of the most valuable keys for the map. Let's start with the safe room keys: 105, 110, 114, 214, 204, and Director's Office. These all provide access to safes that can contain loot like diaries, veritas guitar picks, cash, and other valuables like Bitcoin and rollers. It's highly recommended to carry these keys in a keytool or sick case. Bring a docs case as well to quickly transfer your safe loot for extracting. Safes can also spawn quest items needed for missions like Private Clinic.
A couple other Customs keys deserve a spot in your SICC case. 104 opens up a 2-jacket room, useful for finding keys and quest items like the Customs office documents. 206 can be skipped since you can jump through the windows, but provides nominal filing cabinet and duffel bag loot. Factory Key mainly provides an exit to Factory shortcut, without amazing loot spawns beyond one cabinet.
Now onto the 3-story dorm rooms. Many of these can spawn rare keycards which sell for millions of rubles, along with decent weapon crates and loot spawns. The notable ones are:
Make sure to get all of these into your SICC case to maximize your dorms runs. Hit all the rooms even after wiping the lobby to collect PVP loot. The high scav population means you can drop off gear and keep looting to hit the best rooms.
While Shoreline has some safe keys, they aren't nearly as essential as on Customs. Let's jump right into the best Shoreline Resort keys.
112 East wing and 104 West wing can spawn very rare blue keycards, making them very worthwhile. They don't have other spawns beyond quest items and a safe. 203/205 West wing provides access to the same room with potential red keycard spawns along with weapon crates and medical supplies. 301 West wing is arguably S-tier, with LedX spawns, loose medical loot, computers for graphics cards, and overall great density.
For the East wing, the pantry-style 306 room and 310 at the end are your top choices, with 110 also having consistent LedX spawns on the ground. Don't sleep on the Hex key either, with 3 weapn crates and an intelligence folder spawn. Check every floor and the roof for rare keycard spawns.
Prioritize keys for the main resort building to find the best that Shoreline has to offer. The north and south wings contain some medical supplies and weapon crates, but far less value than the main wings. Villas like the one opened by Sanitar's house key have also been nerfed over time.
Woods only has a couple stand-out keys, but they provide both loot and extraction value.
ZB-014 is needed for a Jaeger quest, frequently spawns 60-round AK mags, and opens up a bunker extract. This well-rounded utility makes it a must-have Woods key.
ZB-016 "Stash" provides access to an underground bunker that can rarely contain extremely valuable loot like red keycards, weapon cases, and high-tier armor. It's always worth hitting after taking out Shturman, but know when to extract versus getting third partied.
Interchange is all about the KIBA firearms store. This high-traffic area requires both the KSM backdoor key and KIBA front door key, but is 100% worth the investment. You'll frequently find top-tier attachments, guns like meta M4s and HK416s, grenade cases, and other loot to easily profit over 1 million roubles per raid.
The other key category are the extract keys. 11SR is arguably S-tier, providing the safest extract on the map plus weapons crates and rare loot spawns like Bitcoin and graphics cards. 21WS requires power but opens a room with military tech spawns, attachments, and class 5 armor.
Don't ignore the extract keys on Interchange. For example, 11SR can pay for itself in 10 uses if you loot it systematically after extracting. 21WS is a nice side stop if you're already doing a stashes run and power is on. Use these keys to make money on the way to extracting.
Reserve has keys with dynamic value due to quest requirements, but the current S-tier keys are the bunker keys. PS81, PS82, PSP1, and PSP2 open rooms full of tech loot like VPX cards and essential quest items like flash drives. There are also highly buffed supply crates full of fuel cans, food, and other valuables. With the right Tri-Zip or Blackjack backpack, you can extract a small fortune from the bunkers.
The marked room and RB-SMP keys are extremely inflated right now due to quests, but the actual loot is mediocre. Focus on the bunker keys for consistent Reserve money runs.
Labs keys have the highest individual value, but are also highly dynamic based on loot table balances. At the moment, the best bang for your buck comes from the Weapons Testing room key. For just 40-50K rubles, you can access loot like Bitcoin, Tetriz, intelligence folders, Virtex, and other tech spawns. It's an S-tier room for the price point.
Make sure to research the current highest value keycards like Violet, Black, or Yellow and invest if you plan on playing Labs. You can make 10X returns on a good card. Just don't waste money on lackluster keys like Blue or Red at the moment unless you need them for a quest. Their time will come again once loot balances change.
The newest map Lighthouse has two stand-out villa keys: House and Marin. These provide access to locked rooms and stashes with loot including Bitcoin, RFID, prokill medallions, military tech, and other high-tier items. They are fantastic long term investments if found early for around 3 million roubles.
The convenience store key also provides stable food and drink spawns if you're struggling on Lighthouse. Check the community center as well for Intel spawns up on the desk.
Getting access to the best loot rooms in Escape from Tarkov requires the right keys. Now that you know which keys provide the highest value on each map, put together your "A-team" key set to take on your raids. Customize based on your map priorities and favorite loot runs. The S-tier keys discussed in this post will help you earn millions of rubles and the best gear that Tarkov has to offer. Happy looting and get those SICC cases packed!