Skinning is a gathering profession that lets you collect leather from beasts and a few other types of mobs. You can use the leather you get from skinning mobs to craft armor and kits via the leatherworking profession. In this guide, we’ll walk you through leveling your skinning profession, where to go for trainers, and cover some useful information related to the profession!
Skinning as a profession pairs well with:
- Leatherworking – All of the leatherworking recipes naturally require leather, which you’ll get via skinning. This means you can easily level both professions at once without spending gold buying materials.
- Tailoring – A significant number of tailoring recipes also require leather, making it a nice pairing with skinning since it will save you purchasing materials from the Auction House.
Important Info
There are a few things to keep in mind when beginning your Skinning journey:
- You can only skin mobs that have been completely looted
- A player must tag a mob before it dies to skin it — mobs killed purely by pet damage will not be skinnable
- You can skin mobs killed by other players, so long as they fully loot it
- You can only skin specific types of mobs: mainly beasts, but also some demon beasts, dragonkin, and occasionally humanoids.
- Not all beasts can be skinned — most birds, for example, are not skinnable; neither can crabs
- You cannot skin mobs in the starting areas (Valley of Trials in Durotar, for example)
- Higher level beasts require a higher Skinning skill level. If your Skinning is too low for a mob, you will be unable to skin it.
Additional useful info has been collected below, which should hopefully answer any questions you have outside of the leveling path!
Color Codes
The Skinnable tag on mobs when you hover them is color coded just like mob levels, and the meaning is similar as well. Here’s what each skinning color indicates:
- Grey: No chance of Skinning level up, very easy to skin
- Green: Low chance of Skinning level up, easy to skin
- Yellow: Moderate chance of Skinning level up, somewhat difficult to skin
- Orange: Very high chance of Skinning level up, very easy to skin
- Red: Impossible to skin
Skinning Level Required for Mobs
- Level 1-10 mobs – requires Skinning (1)
- Level 11-20 mobs – requires Skinning (10 x mob level)
- Level 21-73 mobs – requires Skinning (5 x mob level)
- WotLK Level 74-79 mobs- requires Skinning (+10 per mob level)
- Cataclysm Level 80-83 mobs – requires Skinning (+5 per mob level)
- Cataclysm Level 84-87 mobs – requires Skinning (+10 per mob level)
The 74-87 mobs can be confusing, so here’s a table with the formula:
Professions Leveling Table
Each rank of Skinning beyond the first requires both a minimum character level and a minimum skill level. Note that you can train the next rank before reaching the max skill level of that rank — the leveling sections of this guide will note when you should go to the trainer and train the next rank.
Rank | Skill Levels | Required Skill Level | Required Character Level |
Apprentice | 1-75 | N/A | 5 |
Journeyman | 75-150 | 50 | 10 |
Expert | 150-225 | 125 | 20 |
Artisan | 225-300 | 200 | 35 |
Master | 300-375 | 275 | 50 |
Grand Master | 375-450 | 350 | 65 |
Illustrious Grand Master | 450-525 | 425 | 75 |
Training and Equipment
Before you can start leveling Skinning, you’ll need to find a Skinning trainer and learn the Apprentice rank of the Skinning profession. You should also make sure you purchase a Skinning Knife, assuming you don’t have another item that can serve as a Skinning Knife. Here are a few other items that will allow you to skin mobs:
- Bladed Pickaxe
- Finkle’s Skinner
- Gnomish Army Knife
- Zulian Slasher
- Zulian Slicer
You should also look to acquire the Formula: Enchant Gloves – Skinning, as it will allow you to skin
Skinning Trainer Locations
The simplest way to find a trainer is to go to the most convenient capital city of your faction, and ask one of the city guards where the Skinning Trainer is. Doing so will put a red flag on your map that you can use to find the trainer. We’ve also listed all of the trainers below for your convenience, with capital cities listed in bold.
Important routing note: The sections below are organized by the level ranges of Skill Ranks (Apprentice, Journeyman, etc). However, the subsections will sometimes level you past the section’s stated Skill Ranks, simply because its the most convenient way to level — so don’t be surprised when the 151-225 section takes you all the way up to Skinning (265)! It’s intended.
1-75
If you aren’t on a fresh character, or if you don’t want to travel, you can start your Skinning journey in your race’s starting area. Otherwise, your best bet is to travel to Durotar (Horde) or Dun Morogh (Alliance). Depending on your character level, you may be able to head to the next area (the 76-125 locations) once you reach Skinning (60).
You can train Journeyman at level 50, but we suggest doing so when you decide to move on to the next section, or whenever it’s convenient.
Horde
Durotar is the best spot to find beasts at this level range, especially in the area indicated below.
However, it may not be convenient to reach on some new characters. With that in mind, we’ve listed the other starting areas as well:
- The Lost Isles (Goblin starting area)
- Eversong Woods (Blood Elf starting area)
- Mulgore (Tauren starting area)
- Tirisfale Glades (Undead starting area)
Alliance
Dun Morogh is ideal due to the high number of beasts, especially in the area indicated below.
However, it may not be convenient to reach, especially on new characters. With that in mind, we’ve included other starting areas as well:
- Elwynn Forest (Human starting area)
- Azuremyst Isle (Draenei starting area)
- Ruins of Gilneas (Worgen starting area)
- Teldrassil (Night Elf Starting area)
75-150
Don’t forget to train your next Journeyman Skinning before heading to the next area! As with the previous section, you can — and should — move on earlier than 150. Depending on your character level, you’ll likely be able to head to the next area between Skinning level 110-130.
Horde
Northern Barrens, like Durotar, is full of beasts. Heading from Crossroads south to Ratchet, and then up the coast, is a good route.
There are plenty of other places to farm as well for players who’ve ended up far from Orgrimmar:
- Silverpine Forest (Undead continuation)
- Ghostlands (Bloodelves continuation)
- Azshara (Goblin/Orc/Troll/Tauren continuation)
Alliance
If you started in Dun Morogh, Loch Modan is where you want to head next. The eastern side of the lake is the densest pocket of skinnable mobs.
If you started in another area, you may want to instead head to a more convenient location:
- Westfall (Human continuation)
- You can go to Redridge Mountains at Skinning (100) to speed up leveling
- Darkshore (Worgen/Night Elf continuation)
- Bloodmyst Isle (Draenei continuation)
150-225
This section is broken into 2 parts, as you’ll need to head to a new zone not once, but twice, on your way to 225.
110-185
Horde
Ashenvale is the best place to level Skinning from 110-185. Starting at Splinter Tree post, going up the river and following the ridge, then continuing to follow the river before heading north towards Raynewood Retreat, is the best route to find beasts you can skin. Note that you will have to return to your trainer when you reach Skinning (150), so plan accordingly.
Alliance
The Wetlands will see you through 110-185 skinning — the area west of Whelgar’s Retreat works up to 150 — at which point you’ll need to go train Expert and then you can head east and do a loop east of Greenwarden’s Grove.
185-205
Horde
The area east of Blackhoof Village in Dustwallow Marsh will see you to Skinning (205). It’s worth noting that you could head to Thousand Needles around 200 if your character level is getting too high for these zones, but some mobs in Thousand Needles will be unskinabble until you reach 205. In either case, visit the trainer before continuing to the next zone.
Alliance
Head to the Hinterlands, and farm beasts in between Aerie Peak and Hiri’watha Research Station. Keep in mind that you could head to Thousand Needles around 200 if your character level is getting too high for these zones, but some mobs in Thousand Needles will be unskinabble until you reach 205. In either case, visit the trainer before continuing to the next zone.
205-265
Horde/Alliance
Both factions should go to Thousand Needles at this point, and farm beasts on the coasts northwest and west of Fizzle and Pozzik’s Speedbarge. You’ll stay here until Skinning (265), then head to Un’Goro as indicated in the next section.
225-300
Horde/Alliance
You’ll want to remain in Thousand Needles until you reach 265. At that point, head to Un’Goro Crater, and farm beasts in the pond-filled area east of Fire Plume Ridge.
You can level Master training in Thrallmar/Honor Hold, so don’t worry about doing so before heading to Hellfire Peninsula.
300-375
300-330
Head to Hellfire Peninsula, and farm the Starving Helboars north and west of Zeth’gor to Skinning (305). At that point, head west and farm the Derenged Helboards south-southwest of Honor Hold to Skinning (310). Finally, you can farm Razorfang mobs on the path that leads to Terokkar up to (330).
330-350
Nagrand has Clefthoofs and Talbuks you can skin south and west of Garadar until you reach Skinning (350).
You’ll now need to train Grand Master Skinning before starting on the next bit of farming in Borean Tundra, since you’ll stay there through Skinning (375) up to (395). You can find trainers in Howling Fjord (Roberta Jacks/Frederic Burrhus) and in Borean Tundra, where you’re headed anyway (Tiponi Stormwhisper/Trapper Jack).
350-395
Head to Borean Tundra, and farm near Warsong Hold — the Wooly mobs that can be found to the north and south are skinnable, and likely offer very warm fur.
375-450
After reaching Skinning (395) in Borean Tundra, go to Sholazar Basin and farm the Hardnuckle Foragers and Chargers near Frenzyheart Hill all the way to (450).
Before farming in Mount Hyjal, you’ll need to train Illustrious Grand Master Skinning at any trainer.
450-525
Make your way to Mount Hyjal, and from there to Sethria’s Roost, where you can farm moobs throughout the area. If you’ve done all the quests in the zone, you’ll instead need to farm the Young Twilight Drakes at Sulfuron Spire, or else go to the Shimmering Expanse and farm the mobs on the cliffs immediately south of Nespirah.
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