You're sitting there, staring at a screen full of loot, and the realization hits. You have no idea how to actually get the stuff inside. It’s frustrating. In the fast-paced, deck-building auto-battler world of The Bazaar, created by Tempo Storm and led by the well-known Reynad (Andrey Yanyuk), the mechanics aren't always spelled out in a manual. You're expected to learn by doing. But when it comes to The Bazaar how to open chests, the game plays a bit of a trick on new players because "opening" isn't always a button press. It's a strategic choice.
The game is currently in a state of constant evolution. If you’re coming from Hearthstone or Teamfight Tactics, you might expect a standard inventory system. Forget that. Everything in this game revolves around your "Day" cycle and your specific hero's economy.
Understanding the Chest Mechanics in The Bazaar
Basically, chests aren't just rewards you click at the end of a match. They are often part of the encounter rewards or specific shop events. To open them, you usually need a specific resource: Keys.
But here is where people trip up. Keys aren't just sitting in your pocket from the start of the run. You have to earn them through combat encounters or buy them from the merchant. Sometimes, you'll face a "locked" encounter where the game asks if you want to spend your hard-earned gold or a literal key item to see what's inside. If you don't have the key, that chest stays shut. Period. It's a brutal economy. You have to decide if that chest is worth more than the potential upgrade you could buy at the next shop.
Honestly, the most common way players interact with chests is through the Pre-Combat and Post-Combat reward screens. In the current build of the game, chests often act as a "discovery" mechanic. You click the chest icon, and it presents you with three items. You pick one. That’s the "opening" process. It’s simple, yet the weight of that choice dictates whether your build survives the next boss or collapses into a heap of useless junk.
Why Your Strategy for The Bazaar How to Open Chests Matters
There’s a nuance here that most people ignore until they’ve lost five runs in a row. Not all chests are created equal. You have Bronze, Silver, and Gold variants—though the game likes to flavor these based on the hero you’re playing, like Vanessa or Pygmalion.
If you are hunting for a specific build—say, a heavy "Burn" deck or a "Shield" stack—opening every chest you see is actually a bad move. Why? Because every time you open a chest and take an item, you're diluting your deck. Sometimes the best way to "open" a chest is to look at the contents and walk away. Or, if the game allows for a "skip" reward (which often gives you a small amount of gold instead), take the cash.
The Key Economy
In the mid-game, you’ll start seeing the Skeleton Key or specific character abilities that bypass the need for traditional keys. Vanessa, for instance, has a lot of "thievery" flavor. For her, the question of The Bazaar how to open chests often involves using her specific kit to generate value without spending the gold that other heroes have to cough up.
Think about it this way:
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- Gold vs. Keys: If a chest costs 10 gold to open but a Key costs 8 gold in the shop, you’re losing efficiency by not planning ahead.
- The Rarity Check: Gold chests almost always require a specialized key or a significant gold sink. Don't waste your only key on a Bronze chest early in the run unless you are desperate for a weapon.
- The Merchant Factor: Sometimes the Merchant sells "Mystery Chests." These are a gamble. You're paying for the chance at a legendary item.
Common Mistakes When Dealing With Loot
Most players treat chests like a dopamine hit. They see a chest, they want to open it. But in The Bazaar, the environment is your biggest enemy. If you spend all your resources on opening chests in the first three days, you’ll reach the first major boss encounter with a bag full of Tier 1 items and no way to upgrade them.
You have to be cold-blooded.
I’ve watched high-level players skip three chests in a single run because they were saving for a specific "Large" slot item that they knew would appear in the late-game shops. The chest is a trap if it doesn't fit your scaling. The game uses a "Small," "Medium," and "Large" slot system for your board. If your Large slots are full of mediocre items from early chests, you literally cannot play the game-winning items you find later without selling your soul for a fraction of the cost.
The Role of RNG and "The Roll"
When you finally do open that chest, the items you see are influenced by your current level. This is a huge detail. If you open a high-level chest while your character is still level 3, you aren't going to see level 10 items. The loot pool scales. Therefore, if you have a way to "hold" a chest reward or delay a specific encounter, it is almost always better to level up first.
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Wait.
That one word changes everything. If you can wait until you've hit a level milestone to trigger a reward, the quality of what's inside that chest jumps significantly. This is the "pro" way to handle the mechanic. It’s not about how to click the button; it’s about when the button is clicked.
Advanced Tactics: Breaking the Chest System
There are certain items in the game that actually trigger when you open a chest. For example, some passives might give you +2 Max Health every time you gain an item from a chest. If you have those passives, your priority shifts. Now, you want to open everything. You want the quantity over the quality because the act of opening is providing the scaling, not the item itself.
This is the beauty of the game's design. The "how" is mechanical—you click, you pay, you receive. The "why" is where the strategy lives.
Specific Hero Interactions
- Vanessa: Look for the "Pickpocket" style traits. These often turn chest encounters into pure profit.
- Pygmalion: His economy is weird. He often builds things. For him, a chest might contain "scraps" or components rather than finished weapons. Understanding his "opening" mechanic means knowing how those components fit into your crafting grid.
- Dooley: Usually, he just wants big, heavy hitting things. For Dooley, opening chests is a search for the "Core" items that define his mech's power.
Practical Steps for Your Next Run
To master the art of the chest in The Bazaar, stop treating them as gifts. Treat them as transactions. You are trading your future potential (gold/keys) for immediate power.
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- Check your slots before clicking. If you don't have a Medium slot open, opening a Medium chest is a waste of resources unless you're prepared to sell something.
- Monitor the "Day" counter. Late-game chests are infinitely more valuable. If you have a choice between a shop and a chest early on, take the shop. You need the consistency of the shop more than the randomness of a chest in the early game.
- Learn the icons. Before you even enter an encounter, look at the map. If the path leads to a locked chest icon, make sure you have at least 15-20 gold. There is nothing worse than reaching a Gold chest and realizing you’re 2 gold short of the "unlock" fee.
- Prioritize Keys in the Shop. If a Key appears for a low price, buy it and hold it. It’s an investment. Having a key ready means you don't have to spend your "Day" actions or extra gold when a surprise chest appears in an event.
The Bazaar is a game of thin margins. Opening a chest isn't just about getting a new sword; it's about managing the "opportunity cost" of everything else you could have done with those resources. Keep your eyes on your gold count, understand your hero's specific loot table, and stop opening every wooden box you see just because it's there. Mastery of the chest system is mastery of the game's economy.
Next time you see that glimmering box on your path, ask yourself: "Does this item win me the fight on Day 10, or is it just taking up space?" If you can't answer that, leave the chest alone.
Actionable Next Steps:
- Analyze your current board before entering a "Chest" node to identify which slot size (Small, Medium, Large) you actually need to fill.
- Save at least 15 gold before crossing into a new map sector to ensure you can afford "Pay to Open" chest events.
- Track your level ups and try to trigger chest rewards immediately after hitting a new level to pull from a higher-quality loot pool.
- Review the Merchant's inventory for keys specifically, as buying a key is usually 20% cheaper than paying the "Emergency Unlock" fee during a random encounter.