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What opens the ship’s secret vault?
You need a Vault Key and the yellow metal door inside The $.$. Rocky. Equip the key to display its golden guiding trail, follow it through the ship, then interact with the reader beside the door when “Use Vault Key” appears. The waterfall cave’s emote trick does not open this vault.
- Find key
- Equip key
- Follow golden trail
- Yellow door reader
- Loot room
The ship sits at The $.$. Rocky on the eastern side of Crossbones Isle, north of Busy Bay. Locate it on the interactive island map. Inside, use the dance floor, large speaker stacks, square service openings, and pipe corridors as landmarks.
Prepare before going below deck
- Make one inventory slot available. The key is an inventory item. The pickup example initially shows “Backpack Full,” so you may need to swap or drop something.
- Bring a usable weapon and shields. Pipe passages have limited sightlines and other players can meet you inside. Equip your weapon if you hear an opponent; the key can be selected again when it is safe.
- Check the storm before searching the ship. This is a multi-level interior route. A good vault is not worth being trapped below deck outside the safe zone.
- Use the key’s trail for navigation. Its guidance is more useful than memorizing an arbitrary left-right sequence from a moving camera.
Part 1: pick up the key and reveal the route
Look for the Vault Key under the staircase
Search the ship’s accessible loot spaces and inspect the floor around opened chests. The demonstrated key is under a dark metal staircase, beside an open gold chest and scattered loot. Aim at the blue key-shaped item to confirm the label Vault Key · Rare ×1 before collecting it.
If your backpack is full, free a slot and pick it up. Do not confuse a visible blue weapon or consumable with the key. If this spot is empty, search other nearby loot or use a different chest route; repeatedly checking the same cleared floor will not produce the key shown here.
Select the key to display the golden trail
Switch to the Vault Key in your inventory. With it equipped, a gold particle trail curves ahead through the ship. Begin following that trail, pausing at corners so you can see which opening it points toward.
The route passes the colorful speaker and performance area. Use those speaker stacks as your first orientation point. You may pass more chests on the way, but collecting every optional item is not required to unlock the door.
Part 2: navigate the ship’s service passages
Follow the trail to a square opening below the deck stairs
Continue past the performance area toward the outside deck stairs. The demonstrated path goes down those stairs and into a square service opening in the gray wall. Crouch when you reach the low opening, then enter the narrow passage.
Look for the small square opening shown below, rather than a full-height cabin door. Red valve wheels and gray-and-yellow pipes become the next landmarks once you are inside.
Use the pipe corridors and climb back toward the dance floor
Follow the guiding trail through the service spaces. Crouch beneath the low pipes and move around the large pipe elbows; stand or mantle when the next opening is above your character. Re-select the key whenever you lose track of the trail after changing equipment.
A large round ventilation fan is visible during the run, followed by backtracking. Treat that fan as a warning that you may have followed a side passage: the demonstrated route continues via an upper opening near the pipework and returns toward the interior bar and dance floor.
Near the colored dance floor and purple bar stools, pass through the small square opening in the adjacent gray wall. Follow the nearby stairs/railed landing to the corridor with the yellow vault door. If you reach a familiar room again, pause and use the key to get your bearings before making another loop.
Part 3: use the key at the yellow vault door
Interact with the reader on the right of the door
Find the bright yellow metal door with a small viewing window. A square reader sits on the wall immediately to its right. Stand within interaction range and look at that reader until the prompt says Use Vault Key.
Press your own interaction key or button. The example shows the keyboard binding F, but your binding may differ. After using the reader, wait for the door to open and walk into the treasure room. Simply carrying the key or emoting at the door is not the demonstrated unlock action.
Search the chest positions around the treasure room
The opened room visibly contains four blue rare chests and one decorated gold sprite chest in the demonstrated run. Several sit on gold piles or barrels, so look around the full room before deciding it is clear.
Work around the perimeter in one direction. Open each closed chest, pick up the items you need, then check the next barrel or gold pile. This is a compact room: one player can search while a teammate watches the entrance instead of everyone blocking the same chest.
Keep a weapon accessible while looting and check your remaining rotation time. Return through the yellow doorway to the corridor when you are ready to leave, then retrace the route toward the ship’s open deck.
If the route does not work in your match
The key is not under the staircase.
The key was already on the floor when this walkthrough began. The footage does not prove a fixed drop source, a guaranteed staircase spawn, or a boss requirement. Search other available loot safely, take a key your squad has found, or switch to a route without a key requirement.
I have the key but cannot see the trail.
Select the Vault Key inventory slot so the character holds it. Stop moving briefly to look for the golden guidance. If you switched to a weapon during a fight, select the key again after the area is safe. Check that the item’s name is actually Vault Key.
I reached the round fan and cannot continue.
The fan is a side landmark in the demonstrated run, not the vault door. Backtrack toward the pipe intersection and look for an upper opening that takes you back toward the interior dance-floor level. Use the equipped key’s trail rather than repeatedly trying to walk through the fan.
The yellow door has no use-key prompt.
Aim at the square reader on the right of the door and move close enough to interact. Confirm the key is still in your inventory. If the door is already open, check whether the chests are still unopened. This guide does not establish a way to reset a looted vault.
Are five chests or a shop token guaranteed?
The five-chest layout is visible in the demonstrated run; your match may differ or have been looted. No token drop is demonstrated here. Rare chests and a locked room do not establish a higher token drop rate. Keep using ordinary chest routes too if the token is your main objective.
In-match vault checklist
The checklist resets when you reload this page.
No key available? Try the Fortune’s Fort outdoor loop and waterfall cave, where an emote opens the hidden wall.