Skinning Overview: Perks, Tools, & Equipment

The Skinning profession provides players with the means to harvest leather, hide, and other materials from defeated creatures around the world. This gathering skill provides the necessary materials for crafting with the Leatherworking profession. Its products are occasionally used in other professions as well, including Blacksmithing, Engineering, and Tailoring.

What You Get From Skinning

The main perk that you get for Skinning is Master of Anatomy, a passive buff that increases your Critical Strike by 480.

Beyond that, the profession is focused on gathering materials from corpses, primarily Beasts.

Leather & Hide

There are four new types of leather and hide to obtain in Mists of Pandaria via Skinning.

• Sha-Touched Leather are scraps that are skinned from the lowest level mobs in Pandaria and can be combined into Mist-Touched Leather.
• Mist-Touched Leather is the standard leather type in Pandaria and can be skinned directly from most level 85-90 mobs, or made by combining 5 pieces of Sha-Touched Leather.
• Prismatic Scale is the lone type of scale that can be skinned in Pandaria. It is obtained from various types of reptiles, including turtles.
• Magnificent Hide is Pandaria’s rare hide. It can be skinned rarely fromBeasts in Pandaria or crafted by Leatherworkers.

There is also Hardened Magnificent Hide, but this material is crafted via Leatherworking and can’t be obtained through Skinning.

Other Materials

In Cataclysm zones, you can sometimes get a Strange Bloated Stomach by skinning which has a chance to contain valuable Volatile elements. There is a similar item in Pandaria, Plump Intestines, but these contain only junk items that can be sold to vendors for a few gold at most.

Skinning Tools

You can carry either a Skinning Knife or Gnomish Army Knife in your bags for a +10 skill increase. These two bonuses do not stack, so there is no need to carry both. A Skinning Knife can be purchased from many Trade Goods vendors. Gnomish Army Knife can be crafted with Engineering and requires at least 350 Engineering skill to use its ability, but its gathering bonuses will work even for non-engineers.

Equipment

There are a couple pieces of equipment that can be worn to boost your skinning capabilities:

• Forager’s Gloves: Reduce the time it takes to skin each mob. They are dropped by Korda Torros in Kun-Lai Summit.
• Electrostatic Condenser: Gives you a chance to collect Volatile Air while Skinning from Cataclysm mobs. Requires Engineering.

There are also three weapons that can improve your Skinning skill, but only if they are equipped. These weapons can also act as a Skinning Knife:

• Pip’s Skinner: Drops from The Beast in the Blackrock Spire dungeon.
• Zulian Slicer: Drops from High Priest Thekal in the Zul’Gurub dungeon.
• Zulian Slasher: Drops from Zanzil in the Zul’Gurub dungeon.

Glove Enchants

There are two glove enchants that grant increased Skinning skill, and which can stack with the above items:

• Enchant Gloves – Skinning: Formula drops from Witherbark trolls in Arathi Highlands.
• Enchant Gloves – Gatherer: Formula taught by Enchanting Trainers.

Leatherworking Bags

Leatherworking Bags can be useful for Skinning. These bags can only hold leather, hides, and other Leatherworking materials, but they are larger than other bags of similar levels.

• “Carriage – Meeya” Leather Bag: Sold by Dawn Radue, the Bag Merchant in Stormwind City.
• Leatherworker’s Satchel: Made with Leatherworking. Pattern taught by any Leatherworking Trainer.
• Bag of Many Hides: Made with Leatherworking. Pattern drops from Gordunni ogres in Terokkar Forest.
• Trapper’s Traveling Pack: Made with Leatherworking. Pattern available from Kalu’ak quartermasters at Revered reputation.
• Magnificent Hide Pack: Made with Leatherworking. Pattern drops from mobs across Pandaria beginning in Phase 2.

Racial Bonuses

The Worgen racial Flayer is also helpful for Skinning, offering +15 skill and faster gathering.