I've been tracking what I got from Gorgoroth Steel-Bound Lootboxes since the Update 21.2 (the contents were different before then). To date, I've opened 120 lootboxes. (I don't buy keys, but get them doing the dailies on Michaleo, Nodread and Wrytune.)
A major reason to open the lootboxes is to get Ashes of Gorgoroth that can be bartered for gear. Here is what I got:
Ashes |
Count |
Percent |
Total Ashes
|
20 |
70 |
58% |
1400 |
40 |
38 |
32% |
1520 |
100 |
5 |
4% |
500 |
200 |
6 |
5% |
1200 |
400 |
1 |
1% |
400 |
Total |
120 |
|
5020 |
This gives an average of 42 ashes per lootbox. But wait, there's more. The lootboxes can contain a cosmetic item Replica of Something that can be turned into 80 ashes. I got 15 Replicas (13% of lootboxes) for another 1200 ashes, raising the average to 52 ashes per lootbox.
Lootboxes also contain items that may or may not be useful. Here is what I've seen:
Count |
Percent |
Item |
15 |
13% |
Replicas (80 Ashes) |
14 |
12% |
Pet Tomes |
37 |
31% |
Shadowed Essence |
2 |
2% |
Empowered Shadow Essence |
2 |
2% |
Glowing Essence of Light |
3 |
3% |
Silver Signet of the Armsmaster |
9 |
8% |
Teal Item Level 330-332 usable item |
38 |
32% |
Purple Item Level 330-334 |
Most of the essences were not useful to me, since Empowered Shadow essences can easily be crafted and are the best essences for level 115 gear at the moment.
A Silver Signet of the Armsmaster can be bartered for a purple Item Level 330 shield or offhand weapon. Unfortunately, they are bound to character, so they may not be useful to the character that gets them.
Since I was planning to upgrade to teal Item Level 330 ash or allegiance gear, the purple items were not useful in the long run. However, those 38 items did produce another 760 ashes.
The teal items were equal to or better than what I would have bartered ashes or allegiance rep for, so they saved the cost of those items. If I really couldn't use a teal item, it could be turned into 80 ashes.
Of course, the contents are generated randomly, so your results may be different. But this should give you a rough idea of what to expect.
Gorgoroth Steel-bound Lootboxes drop pretty frequently and generally be obtained for a few gold if you don't get enough. Black Steel Keys have been selling for over 200g. If you don't need ashes for gear, you may want to see what else you could buy with that much gold.