If you’ve spent any time running interception, void intercept, or resource farming runs in The First Descendant, you’ve probably stumbled on locked metal boxes that don’t open with regular interaction. Many new players spend weeks asking where are encrypted vaults in The First Descendant, and why they can’t open the ones they do find even after clearing an entire mission. I’ve put in over 120 hours of playtime across main story, endgame runs, and co-op missions, so I’ve mapped every common vault spawn and tested every trick to unlock them without wasting rare access keys. This guide breaks down exactly where to find them, what’s inside, and how to avoid the most common mistakes new players make with these loot caches.
Where Are Encrypted Vaults in The First Descendant: Common Spawn Locations
Encrypted vaults don’t spawn in every mission, and they never appear on your mini-map, so you have to know which locations to check to find them consistently. They only show up in missions that are level 12 or higher, so you won’t run into them during your first few hours of beginner story content. The most reliable spawn spots are tied to specific mission types and map regions, and I’ve tested these spawns across more than 70 runs to confirm their consistency.
- In Vespers Ruins interception missions: Check the back corner of the third capture point, behind the broken concrete barrier overlooking the river valley. 80% of my runs here have a vault spawn in this spot, even on low-level difficulty runs.
- In Glacier Resource Farming runs: Look inside the abandoned research outpost on the west edge of the map, under the staircase leading to the second floor server room. This spot almost always has a vault if the mission level is 20 or higher.
- In Void Intercept beta difficulty runs: Spawns are random but most often found in the loot room that unlocks after you defeat the second mid-boss of the mission. I’ve found vaults here in 60% of my beta difficulty Void Intercept runs.
You won’t find encrypted vaults in story mode missions or any beginner difficulty content under level 12, so don’t waste time searching for them when you’re first starting out. For example, I did a Vespers Ruins interception run last week with three random co-op partners, and we found two vaults in the same run: one at the third capture point, and another near the extraction zone after we finished all objectives. If you’re trying to farm vaults specifically, stick to the mission types listed above to save time.
What You Need to Open Encrypted Vaults Safely
Finding an encrypted vault is only half the battle, you also need a matching tier Encrypted Vault Access Key to open it. These keys are not sold in the in-game shop, so you have to earn them through regular gameplay. You can get keys from daily login rewards, defeating named elite enemies with a yellow health bar, completing weekly co-op challenges, or opening rare regular chests in endgame missions. Keys come in four tiers: common, rare, epic, and legendary, and the tier of key you use determines the quality of loot you get, not the mission difficulty.
Never use a common tier access key on a vault you find in endgame difficulty content, because you’ll get low-tier loot that’s not worth the key you spent. I made this mistake when I first started playing, I used a common key on a level 30 vault and only got grey rarity crafting materials that I could have gotten from regular chests in 2 minutes. So if you’re running with a full party, have the player with the highest tier key be the one to open it, everyone gets the same high-tier loot, and you don’t waste multiple keys on the same vault.
You also have 60 seconds after interacting with the vault to insert the key, otherwise it locks permanently for that run. Don’t interact with the vault until you have your key ready and all nearby enemies are cleared, or you might lose your chance to open it entirely.
Loot Rewards You Can Expect From Encrypted Vaults
The loot you get from encrypted vaults is far better than any regular chest in the game, even when you use a common tier key. Common keys will get you uncommon to rare crafting materials, basic weapon mods, and uncommon gear pieces that you can use for early game upgrades. Rare and epic keys give you legendary weapon blueprints, descendant upgrade modules, premium currency fragments, and rare cosmetic items that you can’t get anywhere else.
The only guaranteed way to get the rare Frost Warden descendant cosmetic skin is from endgame encrypted vaults opened with legendary tier keys. I’ve opened over 40 encrypted vaults so far, and I got the Frost Warden skin on my 32nd try, using a legendary key I earned from a weekly Void Intercept challenge. There’s also a 15% chance to get a void boss access token from any vault, which lets you skip the first two mid-bosses in Void Intercept runs, saving you 10 to 15 minutes per run.
You will get duplicate rewards sometimes, so opening a vault doesn’t always mean you’ll get something new, but the odds of high-tier loot are at least 3x higher than regular chests. Even if you get duplicates, you can dismantle them for high-tier crafting materials that are hard to farm elsewhere.
Common Mistakes to Avoid With Encrypted Vaults
Most new players make avoidable mistakes with encrypted vaults that waste their keys and make them miss out on valuable loot. The first mistake is wasting high-tier keys on low level vaults. If you find a vault in a level 15 mission, just leave it, save your rare and epic keys for level 30+ endgame runs, where the loot you get will actually be useful for your endgame builds. But if you’re farming for specific lower-tier upgrade materials, low level vaults can be worth opening if you have extra common keys you don’t plan to use for endgame content.
The second mistake is leaving the vault area before you collect all your loot. I’ve seen co-op partners trigger the vault, run off to fight a random elite enemy, and the loot despawns after 90 seconds, so they lose everything they earned from the vault. Always clear all nearby enemies before you interact with an encrypted vault, so you don’t get interrupted and lose your key or your loot.
The third mistake is rushing to extract as soon as you complete a mission objective. Most players hit extract the second they finish the final mission task, but vaults often spawn right next to the extraction point after the final objective is complete. I’ve found 12 vaults this year just waiting 30 seconds before hitting extract, so it’s always worth a quick look around before you leave. You don’t need to complete the full mission to keep vault loot, if you open a vault and extract immediately, you still keep all the items you got from it, no penalties apply.
If you’ve been searching for extra high-tier loot to upgrade your main descendant and weapons, knowing where are encrypted vaults in The First Descendant can cut your farming time in half. I’ve used these tips to collect 4 legendary weapon blueprints in the last month alone, without spending extra time grinding useless low-tier missions. Start by checking the spawn spots listed above on your next few runs, and you’ll find your first vault faster than you expect. If you have a favorite spawn spot I didn’t mention, drop it in the comments below to help other players.