Torn Pickpocketing Guide: Every Mark, Ranked by Risk and Skill Gain
Pickpocketing is the most approachable crime in Crimes 2.0 and the easiest to play badly. All 22 marks are available from the moment you unlock it, with nothing stopping you from robbing a mobster at CS 5 except the consequences.
Those consequences are the whole crime. Skill gain and crime skill loss both scale with mark difficulty, and a critical failure costs roughly ten times what a success would have gained. Chase the high-value marks early and you will go backwards. This guide ranks every mark, explains how status and build shift your odds, and gives concrete skill levels for moving up a tier.
The vocabulary
Two terms are specific to this crime.
| Term | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Mark | Your target, the person being pickpocketed |
| Status | What the mark is currently doing, such as walking, running or on the phone |
| Build | The mark's body type: average, athletic, skinny, muscular or heavyset |
| CS | Crime Skill, shown at the top of the crime page |
What you need to start
Nothing, strictly. One item is worth chasing because several uniques cannot be obtained without it.
The Cut-Throat Razor
The enhancer for this crime: +5% CE and CS gains, extra outcomes, and it is required for multiple uniques rather than merely helpful. You can find it while shoplifting Bits 'n' Bobs, burgling the Barbershop, or pickpocketing the Thug.
If you plan to collect uniques here, get the razor before grinding, not after.
Marks are global and refresh constantly
New marks appear every few seconds and everyone sees the same pool. Pickpocketing a mark does not remove it for other players, and there are no restrictions on which marks you can see. If a good target is not available, wait a few seconds.
The six mark tiers
Marks group into tiers by difficulty. Skill gain is expressed relative to the safest tier at 100%. Success rates were measured around CS 20 to 30, so treat them as relative rather than absolute.
| Tier | Skill gain | Success rate | Marks |
|---|---|---|---|
| Safe | 100% | ~97.5% | Drunk Man, Drunk Woman, Homeless Person, Junkie, Elderly Man, Elderly Woman |
| Moderately unsafe | 150% | ~92.5% | Classy Lady, Laborer, Postal Worker, Young Man, Young Woman, Student |
| Unsafe | 200% | ~85% | Rich Kid, Sex Worker, Thug |
| Risky | 250% | ~75% | Jogger, Businessman, Businesswoman, Gang Member, Mobster |
| Dangerous | 300% | ~50% | Cyclist |
| Very dangerous | 350% | ~10% | Police Officer |
When to move up a tier
There is no hard gate, only risk. These thresholds come from practical experience rather than published numbers, and they err towards steady growth over gambling.
| Tier | Move up at | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Safe | From the start | Viable all the way to CS 100 if you want zero risk, but inefficient |
| Moderately unsafe | CS 10 to 20 | The workhorse tier. Best steady growth even accounting for failures |
| Unsafe | CS 40 | Only when the mark is distracted |
| Risky | CS 50 at the earliest, comfortable around CS 65 | Expect regular crits below that |
| Dangerous (Cyclist) | CS 80, or CS 85 to 90 to be safe | Sometimes drops Xanax, which helps justify the risk |
| Very dangerous (Police) | Avoid until maximum skill | Testing at CS 90 to 95 still advises against it |
Why the young folk tier is the right answer
If you only take one thing from this guide, take this. The moderately unsafe tier is where the crime is actually played.
Fifty percent more skill for a five percent drop in success
Moving from safe to moderately unsafe costs about five percentage points of success rate and gains half again as much crime skill. That is the best trade in the crime, and it is available from CS 10.
Young men and women appear constantly
They are among the most frequent marks in the pool and usually have their phones out, which is the best status in the game. High availability plus a favourable default status makes them the reliable choice.
The tier above demands attention
Unsafe and risky marks are viable, but only when you check status every time. If you want to click without thinking, stay in the moderately unsafe tier and accept the slower climb.
Status: the second biggest factor
After the mark itself, what they are doing matters most. Choosing the wrong status can cost 10% success or more, and some uniques require a specific status.
Oblivious is good
Targets on their phone or listening to music are the easiest. The less attention they can pay you, the better your odds. Avoid anything described as alert, watchful or focused.
Fast movement cuts both ways
Cyclists and joggers are easier when walking, because you can actually reach them. The thug is easier when running, because a running target is not watching their pockets. Ask whether you could realistically catch them while staying inconspicuous.
For athletic marks, a tired target after exercise is often a better mark than a stationary one.
Build matters, but less
Five builds exist: average, athletic, skinny, muscular and heavyset. Athletic is common on joggers, cyclists and thugs; skinny is more common on women; muscular on labourers and sex workers. The effect on success is real but smaller than status.
Critical failures
This is where careless mark selection gets expensive. Crits are possible on every mark, and severity scales with difficulty.
| Outcome | Observed range |
|---|---|
| Life lost | 9 to 1,672 |
| Jail | 37 minutes to 6 hours 11 minutes, averaging around 1h 20m |
| Hospital | 5h 28m to 11h 23m |
The real cost of a crit
The skill penalty is what should shape your choices, not the jail time.
You lose roughly ten times the expected gain
Because both gain and loss scale with mark difficulty, a crit on a police officer removes about three times as much crime skill as a crit on an elderly woman. Punching above your weight early does not merely slow you down, it actively reverses progress.
Severity varies by mark
Pickpocketing civilians produces shorter sentences than pickpocketing police. Logged hospitalisations come from cyclists at around 5 hours and thugs at around 11 hours.
If you actively want to self-hospitalise for a long stretch and do not care about crime skill, a thug crit is a reliable route.
The uniques
Twenty-two uniques, one per mark. Most are available immediately.
Two are locked to CS 100
The Cyclist's and the Mobster's uniques require maximum crime skill.
Several require the razor
The Cut-Throat Razor is not optional for unique hunting, it gates multiple uniques outright.
Some require a specific status
A number of uniques only appear when the mark is doing a particular thing, so unique hunting means watching status rather than clicking the first available target.
The two honor bars
One is routine, the other is among the harder bars in the game.
Pocketeer: reach CS 100
Standard progression. Working the moderately unsafe tier gets you there without drama.
Pig Rustler: take a running cop's badge
Requires successfully pickpocketing a police officer while they are running. At roughly 10% success and the largest crit penalty in the crime, attempting this at moderate skill is how people lose weeks of progress. Max your crime skill first, then try.
The police officer is the only mark worth ignoring entirely until CS 100.
How to play it
A simple progression that avoids the common traps.
Start safe, but not for long
Drunks, homeless people and the elderly are almost impossible to fail. Use them to CS 10 to 20, then move on. Staying here is safe and slow.
Live in the young-folk tier
Young men, young women and students carry you from CS 20 to CS 40 with steady returns and high availability. Check that they are on their phone and take the shot.
Add distracted unsafe marks around CS 40
Rich kids, sex workers and thugs become reasonable once you are only taking them while distracted. Skip any that are paying attention.
Save cyclists for CS 80 and police for last
The cyclist rarely appears in a safe status at all, and the police officer is a trap at any skill level below maximum. Neither is worth the skill loss until you are near the top.
Success rates and skill multipliers come from community testing at moderate crime skill with limited sample sizes, so treat them as relative guidance rather than exact figures. Crit ranges are logged observations and real values may fall outside them. Torn rebalances Crimes 2.0 regularly.