How to Get the Iron Gate Key in Escape From Tarkov

There are hundreds of keys to collect in Escape from Tarkov. Some are underpriced, some wildly overpriced, and some perfectly priced based on the return on the loot behind the door they unlock. The Iron Gate Key, a key to a specific area on the new Streets of Tarkov map, is relatively expensive, but not prohibitively so, and the doors it opens offer some high-tier loot — if you’re lucky. Here’s how to get the Iron Gate Key in Escape from Tarkov.

Where to Find the Iron Gate Key in Escape From Tarkov

Like almost every key in Escape from Tarkov, getting your hands on the Iron Gate Key is almost entirely random. While it’s possible to up your chances of finding it in the wild, and you can buy it wholesale off of the Flea Market after reaching level 15, unless you want to spend your hard-earned money on one, you’ll need to up your loot game.

Beyond the Flea Market, where the Iron Gate Key runs for about 300,000-400,000 roubles (or the equivalent), there are only three places to get it. The most common are either the various hanging or folded jackets scattered around all the maps, or from filing cabinets. 

Filing cabinets are overall a better way to search for the Iron Gate Key, as you get four bites at the apple before you need to move on, and the cabinet loot pool also includes technical items, electronics, info, and energy items, and more. Granted, the key loot pool for filing cabinets is hundreds of possible drops, but there are dozens of cabinets on maps like Streets.

The biggest hazard with looting cabinets is how long it takes and how noisy it is. Jackets are quieter but much fewer in number. Bear in mind that the Iron Gate Key can also spawn in the pockets and backpacks of Scavs — either those you kill as a PMC or ones you play on a Scav run. Heck, I’ve seen images of player Scavs who spawn in with a Violet Labs keycard worth 40 million roubles, so anything is possible.

Now You Have the Key, Here’s Where to Use it

To use the Iron Gate Key, you need to be on the third floor of the Chekannaya 15 building on Streets of Tarkov. If you’re coming from the north, you enter via a silver door near a blue hatchback.

Coming from the south, nearest the Lexos dealership and the USEC camp, you enter Chek 15 via a hole in the brickwork.

In both cases, you’ll need to travel through the kitchen and up the stairs to the third floor. The door directly across from where you enter the cell block where you use the Iron Gate Key is open, but all but one of the other doors require the key to unlock.

Behind the doors are valuable and medical spawns, two dead Scavs with a huge potential loot pool, plus food and drink, including Sugar, Moonshine, and more. Provided you can survive a Streets run, it’s possible to make back your initial investment several times over.

And that’s how to get and use the Iron Gate Key in Escape from Tarkov.