WotLK Skinning Guide (1-450)

WotLK Skinning Guide (1-450)

Wrath Skinning Guide

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This Wrath of the Lich King Classic Skinning guide will show you the fastest and easiest way to level your Skinning skill from 1 to 450 in Wotlk! First we are going to discuss who would pick skinning as a primary profession and then we will talk about how to start and how to get to 450!

Skinning creates two main types of items: Leather and Scales. Leathers get used to produce all sorts of things using Leatherworking. Scales can also be used by Leatherworkers to produce mail armor. This makes skinning useful for those who wear Leather and Mail.

Skill Overview

Skinning actually has the least amount of secondary professions out of all 3 gathering professions. Mining and Herbalism both gather materials for multiple other professions but Skinning only provides leather and hides for Leatherworking. Due to this, you should only level skinning if you are leveling leatherworking or just want to sell the hides.

Skinnable corpses have a color code on the word “Skinnable” when you hover over them. The word “Skinnable” will be one of the following colors which will tell you how difficult it will be to skin that monster.

Skinnable color chart

  • Red: You cannot skin this.
  • Orange: Difficult; 100% chance of getting a Skinning level.
  • Yellow: Somewhat Difficult; Decent chance of getting a Skinning level.
  • Green: Easy; low chance of getting a Skinning level.
  • Gray: Very easy; no chance of getting a Skinning level.

Which races and Classes should Learn Skinning

Skinning is very appealing profession for Rogues, Druids, Hunters and Shamans since they frequently pick up Leatherworking. These classes use either leather or mail and benefit greatly from Leatherworking. Skinning compliments this very well because you can skin to gather leather and scales to be used for Leatherworking.

Trolls have Beast Slaying Which gives them a slight damage bonus while killing beasts, which help them kill and skin a tiny bit faster.

Skinning also boasts a nice critical strike profession bonus with Master of Anatomy. So if you need critical strike rating, skinning is the profession for you!

Leather Information

Below are the general level range of mobs for each leather type, just to give you a general idea. I also listed how many scraps make each leather.

How to start skinning

To start leveling skinning, you will need to visit a Skinning Trainer and learn Apprentice Skinning. You will also need a Skinning Knife in your inventory. You can usually find a vendor selling a Skinning Knife right next to a skinning trainer. Keep in mind that you can skin beasts killed by other players. This can speed the leveling process up tremendously!

Classic World

Just like with other professions, you will be able to find a skinning trainer in any major city who can teach you Apprentice all the way up to Artisan skinning. If you aren’t sure where the trainer is, just ask a guard!

Outlands

Once you cross through the dark portal, you are going to need to go to the first town that you will be questing in. Horde will head to Thrallmar and speak with Moorutu. Alliance will be heading to Honor Hold and talking to Jelena Nightsky. If you can get to Shattrath, you will be able to talk to Seymour who is hanging out in the Lower City.

Northrend

After you have made it to Northrend, Alliance can speak with Trapper Jack who is located in Valiance Keep. Horde on the other hand will need to speak with Tiponi Stormwhisper who is located in Taunka’le Village northwest of Warsong Hold, next to the Sholazar Basin entrance. If you are also leveling Leatherworking, your leatherworking trainer Awan Iceborn can be found in Taunka’le Village as well.

Finally, if you have access to Dalaran, you can all the way up to to Grand Master Skinning from Derik Marks. This is probably the trainer you will use the most.

Leveling Skinning Area by Area

It’s time to begin the journey to 450! Follow these steps and you will be 450 skinning in no time! Our Journey starts in Azeroth on either Eastern Kingdoms for Alliance or Kalimdor for Horde.

With Skinning, you are killing mobs and skinning them, so you want to be higher level than the mobs in the zones you will be skinning in. Below I’m going to list each zone, their level range and a map that you can follow to complete a loop while killing skinnable mobs.

Levels 1-60

To start out, all you really need to do is pick up skinning from a trainer and head outside any major city to kill beasts. Regardless of the area, this should give you Ruined Leather Scraps and Light Leather. If you have Leatherworking, you can turn the Ruined Leather Scraps into Light Leather at a rate of 3 to 1.

Dun Morogh – Alliance

If you are not just starting out and are alliance, I would recommend Dun Morogh. This area is full of skinnable mobs and just makes for a great place to start skinning.

Durotar – Horde

If you are playing on the Horde side and not just starting out, I would recommend starting your skinning journey in Durotar. This area is packed full of skinnable mobs and is a great place to start.

Levels 60-110

Once you hit level 60 skinning, it is time to talk to your trainer. After you have raised your skinning to Apprentice Skinning, it’s time to head to either Loch Modan or The Barrens depending on your faction. You will be hanging out in these zones until you hit level 110. These mobs are going to give you Light Leather.

Loch Modan – Alliance

Alliance should travel to Loch Modan for levels 60 through 110. The spot on the right side of the lake is really good for beasts. There are crocodiles, bears etc. there than all can be skinned. Honestly the only thing over there that can’t be skinned are the Troggs.

Barrens – Horde

For horde, the Barrens is a great place to level Skinning from 60 to level 125. Horde need to actually go to 125 here instead of stopping at 110. This allows you to skin the wolves in Ashenvale. You can also hit your trainer before going to Ashenvale, which is nice. So use this top spot to get to 110 and then the bottom spot to get to 125.

Levels 110-185

Now that you have hit level 110 skinning, it is time to talk about visiting your trainer again. You can’t visit your trainer until level 125 but if you don’t visit a trainer before 150, you will still be able to skin monsters but you won’t get skill levels for doing it. So at level 125, you will need to run back to town and train Expert Skinning At the first spot, we will still be getting Light Leather and a little bit of Medium Leather. Towards the end, around levels 175-180 you will start getting Medium Leather.

wetlands – Alliance

After upgrading our skinning to Expert Skinning, it’s time to head over to the Wetlands. First we are going to be starting out on the west side of Wetlands for levels 110-150. After that, we will be heading over to the right side for 150-185. The raptors and such make for great skins!

Ashenvale – Horde

On the horde side of things, we head over to Ashenvale! you want to do a figure eight by the Splintertree post. This route will take you from 125 all the way to 185. You should start at the bottom and work your way up. You want to start on the lower level wolves at the bottom and then move to the higher level area up top.

Levels 185-225

Expert Skinning will still take us all the way to 225, so we don’t have to visit our trainer yet. At this point you will be getting mostly Heavy Leather with the occasional Thick Leather. If you have Leatherworking, you can combine 6 Heavy Leather to make Thick Leather.

Dustwallow Marsh

For Horde and Alliance, you want to head over to Dustwallow Marsh. It’s pretty easy to get to for both factions, Horde can fly in from Brackenwall and Alliance can come from Thheramore Isle. The whole zone is full of beasts but I like this spot at the top that is full of raptors!

Levels 225-265

Expert Skinning caps out at 225, so you will need to visit your trainer before starting the journey from 225-265. On the way to Thousand Needles, I would talk to my trainer to learn Artisan Skinning and then head out to peel more hides! You will begin getting mostly Thick Leather at this point!

Tanaris

At this point, the Horde and Alliance paths have crossed again and we are both headed to Tanaris! This isn’t going to cause any unnecessary PVP ..never.. lol
Here we will be running around the outskirts of Gadgetzan.

Levels 265-300

Here we will begin seeing Rugged Leather. Leatherworkers can also turn 6 Thick Leather into 1 Rugged Leather. You should already have Artisan Skinning and not need to visit your trainer again. With that in mind, it’s time to head to our next zone.

Un’Goro Crater

Un’Goro Crater has soo many beasts it’s crazy. Almost everything in this zone is skinnable… Which makes it a GREAT place to level from 265-300. This route should get you to 300, which will finally get us out of the old classic zones! If you are looking for Rugged Leather, focus on mobs that are level 52 or higher.

Un'Goro Skinning map

Levels 300-330

We made it to Outland! Congratulations! Now it’s time to get down to business. First we will need to learn Master Skinning. You can learn this in Dalaran from Derik Marks or Alliance can stop by Honor Hold and speak to Jelena Nightsky. Horde can travel to Thrallmar and speak with Moorutu. Once you have Master Skinning under your belt, it’s time to get to 330!

Hellfire Peninsula

First we will drop by hellfire, I prefer this route on the south eastern side by Zeth’Gor. There are so many skinnable mobs (especially the boars) running around, that getting to 330 shouldn’t be a very difficult task. At this point we will be getting a lot of Knothide Leather Scraps that can be turned into Knothide Leather. You will require 5 scraps to make each Knothide Leather.

Hellfire Peninsula skinning guide's map

Levels 330-360

Master Skinning will take us all the way to 375, so we don’t need to visit our trainer this time. We will start picking up less scraps and more Knothide Leather.

Nagrand

This is a great route to peel some Clefthooves. When skinning Clefthooves, you will receive Knothide Leather and also https://wowhead.com/wotlk/item=25708 Which was very valuable during TBC. This may still hold some value in Wotlk. This route should help you maximize your Clefthoof killing. Go forth and make Hemet Nesingwary proud!

Nagrand skinning guide's map

Levels 360-395

Northrend! We are finally on the home stretch! From here we need to train Grand Master Skinning. You can learn this from Derik Marks in Dalaran. Horde can learn it from Roberta Jacks in Howling Fjord or Tiponi Stormwhisper in Borean Tundra. Alliance can learn it from Trapper Jack in Borean Tundra or Frederic Burrhus in the Howling Fjord. Once that has been learned, it’s time to get to it!

Borean Tundra

Personally, I would recommend Borean Tundra but obviously you can level your skinning in Howling Fjord as well. These two spots are really good and can take you from 350-395 without a problem. The bottom spot is closer to Valiance keep, so I would do that if I were Alliance and do the top spot by Warsong Hold if I were horde but with flying mounts, it’s not a huge deal either way. I would also add that you will start getting Borean Leather which can be pretty valuable in Wrath!

Borean Tundra map

Levels 395-450

We finally made it to the end game! Sholazar Basin is the new home of Hemet Nesingwary and as a skinner, it’s your new home as well! This is the place with the beasts and the best place to farm for Heavy Borean Leather which is very useful for leatherworking! You can make Heavy Borean Leather using leatherworking at a rate of 6 Borean Leather per Heavy Borean Leather.

Sholazar Basin

sholazar basin map

Recipes

After you get 450 skinning, you will make most of your money farming Heavy Borean Leather and Artic Fur. Braeg Stoutbeard in Dalaran sells epic Leatherworking patterns and he requires either Heavy Borean Leather or Artic Fur to buy his patterns. The gear that these patterns make is very useful and means that these materials will be very valuable.

In exchange for 3 Heavy Borean Leather he will sell:

In exchange for 2 Artic Fur he will sell:

Summary

Congratulations on getting to 450 Skinning! It was a crazy journey but will be well worth it. This skill can be a good money maker and isn’t that bad to level up. If you haven’t already picked up Leatherworking, I would encourage you to and check out our Leatherworking Guide over here!