Skinning!

I had this profession many moons ago on my hunter but when trundling around Westfall, skinning for light leather I just though ‘why am I doing this?’ went back to Stormwind and then took up Inscription and Herbalism. I didn’t think about guides or walkthroughs for levelling it so my attention span was low to say the least. Having taken it up again and worked through the pain of skinning coyotes in Westfall I’ve made a little guide to finding all those places to skin to your hearts content! This is a work in progress, so I’ve got as far as my Leatherworking is up to. More will be added as I get to it.

Light Leather:
For this I went to Elwynn Forest and found the packs of wolves that make their dens around the rocks, I was able to gather them all up and then aoe them. The spawn quite fast so I could just do a loop around the area.

Medium Leather:
For this I went to Wetlands. Just down from Greenwatch Grove there is a battle going on between two sets of mobs. The lizard things are skinnable and there is a point on a path near an over turned trailer and next to a fence where the mobs actually spawn. Really really quickly. You get an endless supply of leather as once you’ve killed and skinned four of them another four are in their place. Only annoying part is the humanoids that come down to join them, you end up looting a lot of crap to get your leather but… every copper counts!

Heavy Leather:
Rage Scar Hold, a cave full of Yetis that respawn fast is the place to go for this. Took me ages to actually find the damn cave but once in I was there for ages! There were a lot of low level Horde killing these things for a quest line and most of them actually looted everything off the corpses so all I had to do was follow behind them (get those dirty dogs to do all of the work) they drop cloth as well which is always handy to use/sell later on.

Thick Leather:
One of the mysteries from WoW, how heavy leather is actually any different from thick leather is beyond me but the Blizzard Gods have made it so and thus, I will show you where to get it from. Benhind New Kargath is a ton of tiny whelps just ripe for killing. There is also a huge drake flapping around that attracts the attention of Horde and Alliance alike. You might need to use a flying mount to get up to the ones on rocky outcrops but its not too troublesome, well, it is marginally annoying. The stupid whelps also shoot flames at you so they don’t follow you around that much, I ended up single targeting them/waiting for somebody on a quest to kill them and then wandered around skinning them. I have to say I was more than happy to get past the point of needing this leather.

Rugged Leather:
Have some fun around the Dark Portal! The plus side of this one is that you can portal there and then once you’re done, go into the Dark Portal and then use your factions portal back to the major city. I actually got ganked here while skinning. I don’t know if someone though their friends were at peril from my boar killing ways but they dispatched me mid-running around like a headless chicken while trying to find mobs. Again there were plenty of people killing mobs for quests and kindly, they were looting them completely so I could sheepishly follow them around and skin the corpses.

Knothide Leather:
The Burning Crusade level yay! If you made it this far, grats. The good bit about this one is that you can either go thorough the Dark Portal and on to the mountain range between Hellfire Peninsula and Terrokar Forest. You will need a flying mount to get to these lvl 70 Razorthorn Ravagers as they are on top of the mountains. not the lvl 61 ones in Hellfire itself. Although, if you’re max level who has picked up Skinning then the best place to go is Karazahn. As you don’t need to kill a boss to get to them, the Felhounds and the Bats are the easiest way to get your leather. Just turn right once your in the instance and then zerg through them all. Once they are all skinned, run back out of the instance and then reset it!

Borean Leather:
WotLK time! If Sholazar Basin could get any busier… Here come the Skinners! Unlike the joys of herb farming, which was literally all over the zone, skinners have a slightly easier time by just needing to stay in one area. The gorillas are the most concentrated and there are quite a few of them going about their business. Perfect for killing.

Savage Leather:
Cata stuff so be prepared for it to be a little more challenging. Possibly can’t gather a group of 50 mobs around you without it hurting a bit! Like for Embersilk Cloth farming, your best bet is Tol Barad daily area again. This time you want to head into the Darkwood. You’re only over the bridge from the Restless Front so if you wanted to get the cloth as well it would be a good time to do it! Only in WoW would you ever imagine you could get leather from spiders… Have fun with them!

Exotic Leather:
You need a flying mount for the best place to do this. Skyrange in Valley of the Four Winds. There are the goats that roam around in pack of six and also you can get some lovely ribs for cooking with! Just watch out for the monkey hunters who ca spring up when you don’t need them to. Pretty much you can get exotic leather anywhere are the amount of mobs that drop it is large, this place is the best if you need a load in a hurry and unless someone is doing the dailies or farming the Ghost Iron then you won’t get much trouble. Just don’t get knocked off the mountain by the goats when they charge!