As you explore Sanctuary in Diablo 4, you will stumble upon a shopkeeper selling the Whispering Key. These keys can open certain chests that you find throughout your exploration. This guide will walk you through the process of acquiring these keys, and the unique currency with which to purchase them.
What is a Whispering Key in Diablo 4?
In short, Whispering Keys are keys that can open Silent Chests, chests that are bound shut by chains of gold and a large lock. To be prepared for any chests that you come across, it’s best to keep a few keys in your inventory when possible.
The Purveyor of Curiosities will sell you a Whispering Key for 20 Murmuring Obols. This vendor is found in settlements and is indicated on the map with the icon of a bag and question mark. The item is at the very bottom of the list of goods sold by the Purveyor, so scroll all the way down. Once purchased they will appear in the Consumables section of your inventory. Whispering Keys are used automatically when you attempt to open a Silent Chest.
How to Farm Murmuring Obols to Get Whispering Key
Murmuring Obols are earned from certain quests, as well as a number of random open world activities including World Events, Zone Events, and cleansing the rare Cursed Chest or Shrine. Being a currency, your current Obol count is located to the farthest right of the Gold counter in the inventory. Note that there is, at least initially, a cap of 500 Obols in your inventory, so be sure to spend them when possible. In order of reliability as a source for Obols:
Complete World Events
Easily spotted on the minimap by the orange halo encircling an area, these open world quests are usually multi-part and end with a combat stage against an onslaught of enemies. Radiance Field Cemetery, south of Kyovashad, appears to have World Events with some regularity. You can farm this by participating in an event, finishing it, town-portalling, and then returning, which should put you into a new shard or instance where the event may be ongoing or even starting up again. If you’re in a party, everyone must leave the Event location, or split that party apart, in order to avoid being anchored to that shard where the Event was just completed.
As a matter of fact, a full party can coordinate Event farming best by splitting up into different shards when searching for Event opportunities, and when someone finds one, they invite everyone back into a new party.
Complete Zone Events
Zone Events occur randomly at fixed locations around the map, just like World Boss Events. However, there will be no global announcement, so you will have to manually check the map every now and then, in order to spot a fluorescent orange icon indicating an impending Zone Event. It is entirely possible to join an ongoing Zone Event midway, but you should avoid town-portalling during the quest or you may not be able to rejoin it. This is also a multi-stage task, and ends with a boss fight with distinct drops from both it and the Reward Chest. It is the latter that gives you Murmuring Obols.
The Event search method mentioned above for World Events should work here as well.
Quests: How to Get Obols to Buy a Whispering Key
While Murmuring Obols are a guaranteed drop from the Murmuring Caches that are these quests’ reward, they can only be done once obviously, and so are not really a farming method. Even so, there are three side quests that will give you some Murmuring Obols:
- “The Cleansing Flame”
- Zone: Fractured Peaks
- Quest Location: Margrave
- Quest Giver and Location: Priest Matvey, in Menestad’s town center
- “Cries of Innocence”
- Zone: Fractured Peaks
- Quest Location: Black Asylum dungeon
- Quest Giver and Location: Vendral Trost, north of Kyovashad’s East Gate
- “The Woodsman of Nevesk”
- Zone: Fractured Peaks
- Quest Location: Nevesk
- Quest Giver and Location: Magdalena, near the chapel in Nevesk
Cursed Chests and Cursed Shrines
Of all the Chests and Shrines to be found in Sanctuary, you will occasionally come across some that are cursed. The enemy hordes that spawn will have to be defeated for the Shrine to be cleansed, with a Radiant Chest as a reward, containing Murmuring Obols.
That was everything to know about Silent Chests, the Whispering Key, and Murmuring Obols in Diablo 4.
