Skinning is one of the main professions of Wotlk Classic, but it is “auxiliary” to other professions. As the name implies, skinners can skin animals, but you can use this skin mostly in Leatherworking, also in Engineering, and Tailoring. In addition, Skinning gives a buff to critical damage, but it is a minor plus.
In our Wotlk Skinning Guide, you will learn more about how to quickly level Skinning.
WotLK Classic Skinning Bonuses and Benefits
As already mentioned, Skinning allows you to take a hide and use it in other professions. Skinning is the main resource for creating any leather or chainmail item in Leatherworking. The rarer items can have quite a high value in the eyes of players and this can serve as a gold earner, especially if you know the areas to farm. Apart from that, it’s usually not possible to pump Leatherworking without Skinning, unless you have a lot of money and can buy all the ingredients in advance.
In addition to this, Skinning gives additional Critical Strike points to you:
- Master of Anatomy: From 3 (at 1 skinning skill) to 40 Critical Strike rating at max Skinning skill.
About Skinning in Wrath of the Lich King Classic
Skinning involves killing mobs that can be taken down, especially beasts, dragons, and some undead. Once dead and completely looted, they can be skinned for valuable materials. This also applies to mobs killed by other players, as long as they are completely looted. You needed Skinning Knife to have in inventory in order to skin, or Zulian Slicer, knife from Zul’Gurub that gives you additional Skinning skill.
Best End-Game Skinning Items
Arctic Fur & Heavy Borean Leather are extremely important because you can exchange these items for recipes at Braeg Stoutbeard in Dalaran.
Best Professions to Pair with Skinning
Actually, Skinning is best with Leatherworking because 90%+ ingredients for tannery training – hides and skins of animals that you can get in large quantities only with Skinning.
Also, check out our Wotlk Leatherworking Guide to know more.
Best Races and Classes to Learn Skinning
As for races, the only race with a potential advantage is trolls with the racial ability “Beast Slaying” – but it only gives them extra damage on beasts and does not necessarily affect the Skinning profession.
As for classes, the Hunter has access to the “Track Beasts” and “Track Dragonkin” abilities, which makes farming a bit easier.
The Druid can comfortably skin mobs while being in Travel Form and Flight Form.
New Skinning Items in Wrath of the Lich King Classic
The formula for calculating the Skinning skills is the same as in the previous extensions. Multiply a mob’s level by five to get the Skinning skill needed to skin that mob. For example, a level 70 mob requires 350 Skinning skill, a level 71 mob requires 355 Skinning skill, and so on. Most Northrend mobs should be skinnable with a level 400 skinning skill, although some special mobs may require a higher skinning skill.
Now, let’s check new WotLK Skinning items.
| Skins | Other leather goods |
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New skinning bag
Trapper’s Traveling Pack is a 28-seat leather bag made with Leatherworking crafting skills at level 415. The recipe, Pattern: Trapper’s Traveling Pack, is a reputation reward from The Kalu’ak group when you reach Revered status.
WotLK Classic Skinning Trainers
Old World
Like most professions, Blizzard made trainers in any capital city able to teach you Apprentice through Artisan Skinning. All you need to do is ask a guard and follow their directions.
Outland
Once you pass through the Dark Portal, your master trainer will find himself in the first mission area. The Horde will talk to Moorutu in Thrallmar and the Alliance will talk to Jelena Nightsky in Honor Hold. If you have access to Shattrath, any player can find Seymour in Lower Town as well. However, since skinning depends on the level of the scarecrow killed, using a neutral trainer is clearly not advantageous.
Below are the locations of the trainers for Skinning in Wrath of the Lich King Classic Grandmaster, which is divided into Alliance, Horde, and Neutral trainers.
Northrend
| Alliance trainers | Horde trainers | Neutral trainers |
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WotLK Classic Skinning Leveling
Old World
In Vanilla, leveling up skins is a fairly time-consuming process. As with other gathering professions, materials appear in level-appropriate zones, but since skins come from mobs, you’ll need to go to zones where creatures of a certain level are found to increase your skills.
Apprentice Skinning 1 – 75
At first, just leave the capital and kill beasts in the surrounding area, regardless of faction or continent. They should all drop Ruined Leather Scraps or Light Leather.
When you reach 65, return to the trainer and learn the skinner’s trade.
Journeyman Skinner 75 – 150
Medium Leather is taken from level 15 to 30 monsters. Although they can be found in all areas of this level range, these areas are particularly rich in beasts:
Heavy Leather is taken from beasts between levels 30 and 45 and can be farmed:
Once you have skinned enough heavy hides to reach 150, you should learn Expert Skinning.
Expert Skinning 150 – 225
Continue picking up Heavy Leather until you reach about 175 or 180. You can continue in the same areas as above.
Then you can start collecting Thick Leather, which is usually dropped by monsters between 45 and 52. Most areas at higher levels should have pups or other beasts, but these areas are especially easy to farm:
Once you reach 225, it’s time to train as a craftsman and start packing vanilla content.
Artisan Skinning 225 – 300
Until you reach 235 – 240, you should continue to grow Thick Leather in the areas above.
Then it’s time to find Rugged Leather. It shoots 52 – 60 mobs and the easiest areas to farm are:
Once you have obtained enough skins to reach at least 275, you can move to the Outland and become a master. If you want to stay in the Old World content until you reach 300 to avoid some of the TBC mobs, that’s also quite possible.
Outland
In Outland, it’s much easier to increase your power level while skinning. You only need to collect two different materials: Knothide Leather and Fel Scales. Below are a few different places where you can farm.
Master 300 – 375
Hellfire Peninsula – On the road to Terokkar.
Netherstorm – Creating tours in the Midrealm Ecodome
Nagrand – On the plain between Halaa and Garadar, southwest of the Throne of Elements, farm Talbuk Thorngrazer.
Once you reach 375, it’s time to take the airship to Northrend and finish leveling up.
Skin Leveling and Popular Farm Locations in Northrend
As mentioned above, the skill needed to skin a monster can be determined by multiplying the monster’s level by 5. Using the example of a level 67 beast, players can gain skill points at the following breakpoints: 335, 360, and 385 – at a skinning skill of 435, skill points would no longer be awarded.
With this in mind, skinning is relatively simple and can be done almost anywhere in Northrend with beasts, dragonmen, and some undead. However, there are a number of hotspots on this continent that speed up the leveling process and also provide a medium to high yield of materials. These are categorized by area, with a rough range of skill levels based on the level of mobs that can be butchered, and you’re aiming for the orange and yellow difficulties. However, it’s entirely possible to get 450 Skinning from any monster level 70 or higher.
If there are any notable farming/leveling locations missing from this list, feel free to leave a detailed comment below and I’ll look to add them.
Keep in mind that there are beasts almost everywhere in every area – not every place is worth mentioning. The easiest way to level up is to kill all the beasts you see and butcher them or butcher the monsters other players kill.
| Borean Tundra | Rhinos Borean Tundra (Mammoth Calf, Wooly Mammoth, and Wooly Mammoth Bull) produce a good amount of waste Borean Leather Scraps, Borean Leather and sometimes Arctic Fur. |
| Howling Fjord | The shovels in Howling Fjord (Shoveltusk, Shoveltusk Calf, and Shoveltusk Stag) provide a good amount of Borean Leather Scraps, Borean Leather and sometimes Arctic Fur remains. |
| Dragonblight | Dragonblight’s Jormungar Worms (Ice Heart Jormungar Feeder, Ice Heart Jormungar Spawn, and Jormungar Tunneler) provide a good amount of Borean Leather Scraps, Borean Leather, Jormungar Scale, and sometimes Arctic Fur. |
| Grizzly Hills | The western half of the Grizzly Hills (from the western boundary of the area to Grizzlemaw) has a large number of Tallhorn Stag, which provide a good amount of Borean Leather Scraps , Borean Leather, and sometimes Arctic Fur. |
| Zul’Drak | Zul’Drak bats and spiders (Zul’Drak Bat and Trapdoor Crawler) provide a good amount of Borean Leather and sometimes Arctic Fur.
Zul’Drake’s Hath’ar Skimmer provide a good amount of Borean Leather, Nerubian Chitin, and sometimes Arctic Fur. |
| Sholazar Basin | The gorillas of the Sholazar Basin (Hardknuckle Charger, Hardknuckle Forager, and Hardknuckle Matriarch) provide a good amount of Borean Leather and sometimes Arctic Fur.
Mammoths from the Sholazar Basin (Shattertusk mammoth, Shattertusk calf and Shattertusk bull) provide a good amount of boreal leather and sometimes Arctic fur. They can be found in other places. |
| Storm Peaks | The mammoths of The Storm Peaks (Ironwool Mammoth, Plains Mammoth, and Stoic Mammoth) provide a lot of Borean Leather and sometimes Arctic Fur.
The Ravenous Jormungar of Storm Peaks provide a good amount of Borean Leather Scraps, Borean Leather, Jormungar Scale, and sometimes Arctic Fur |
| Crystalsong Forest | Although not much to fear, the azure dragon trees in the Crystalsong Forest (Azure Spellweaver and Azure Scalebane) provide a good amount of Borean Leather, Icy Dragonscale, and sometimes Arctic Fur |
It’s all you should know about this profession before leveling. Good luck in mastering your Skinning level, and don’t forget to give us feedback if our guide was useful for you.
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