1-450 Skinning Guide | Skinning Trainers

WoW Skinning Guide

Skinning – In the Company of Beasts

Skinning is considered to be one of the fastest professions when it comes to levelling. If you choose this profession as one of your primary professions you need to find a Skinning trainer in order to learn it and train it.

Skinning trainers are found in all capital cities as well as in many major cities all across the map.

This profession will allow you to gather leather, scales and hides by skinning particular types of mobs. You will not be able to skin all mobs and mostly mobs that could be skinned are beasts and dragonkin. Even though birds are beasts they cannot be skinned. 

How will I know if I can skin a mob?

When you kill a certain mob first things to do is loot him. Once you are done with looting you should be able to see a skinning pointer on a mob if that mob could be skinned. Depending on the level of a mob your skill in Skinning will go up. Lower level mobs will not give you a skill point while the higher ones will.

What tools do I need to be able to skin?

There isn’t much you will need if you are starting this profession. The main tool for a skinner is a skinning knife. This knife can be purchased at most of the general goods traders or at profession related traders which are usually found near a Skinning trainer himself.

Other useful skinning equipment you can obtain through game are special skinning knives that give bonus on your skill. Finkle's Skinner is a knife that drops in the Upper Blackrock Spire from the Beast and Zulian Slicer that drops in Zul'Gurub from the High Priest Thekal.

Another easy way to improve your Skinning is to enchant gloves with +5 Skinning: Enchant Gloves – Skinning formula and +10 Skinning.

Leatherworking and Skinning

Leatherworking is a profession that requires Skinning products such as hides and scales. Without these it will be impossible to level it. Even though you can buy stacks of leather on the Auction House, it will be a lot cheaper to have Leatherworking paired with Skinning.

Leather is not only used for crafting Leatherworking items. It is also used for some Blacksmithing, Tailoring and Engineering patterns.

Skinning - Profitable or not?

We can say with certainty that Skinning is profitable simply because skins are easy to get. Mobs you can skin are found anywhere and you can even sell low level leathers on the Auction House. If you have a high level char then it will be really easy for you to grind any type of Leather.

Classes that go for Skinning

As with any other profession, a player can choose a profession he likes, even though most classes that take Skinning and Leatherworking are the ones who can wear leather, for example, Rogues and Druids. You can also see many Hunters with these two professions simply because this class is the best class for grinding leather.

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Master of Anatomy

With WOTLK expansion Skinners got a special ability - Master of Anatomy. If you are a Skinner your critical strike rating will increase with this ability as you skillup Skinning. The maximum that you can get is +40 on the critical strike rating when your Skinning is at 450 skill level. 

WoW Skinning Guide Trainers:

Alliance Skinning Trainers:

• Balthus Stoneflayer (Ironforge)
• Eladriel (Darnassus)
• Maris Granger (Stormwind City)
• Mathreyn (Eversong Woods)
• Radnaal Maneweaver (Teldrassil)
• Remere (The Exodar)
• Jelena Nightsky (Hellfire Peninsula)
• Trapper Jack (Borean Tundra)
• Frederic Burrhus (Howling Fjord)

Horde Skinning Trainers:

• Killian Hagey (The Undercity)
• Kulleg Stonehorn (Feralas)
• Mathreyn (Silvermoon City)
• Mooranta (Thunder Bluff)
• Thuwd (Orgrimmar)
• Tyn(Silvermoon City)
• Moorutu (Hellfire Peninsula)
• Tiponi Stormwhisper (Borean Tundra)
• Roberta Jacks (Howling Fjord)

WoW Skinning Guide

Alliance WoW Skinning Guide Level 1-75

For Alliance, the best place to skin is where a ton of wolves are which are by Ironforge. If you are a lower level, you can simply skin as you quest. Elwynn Forest outside of Stormwind is also a great place to skin animals. You should probably invest in some extra bag space so that you can skin for longer and maybe use it later to make yourself some leather armor.

Horde WoW Skinning Guide Level 1-75

Horde skinning for the first 75 levels is best found in the troll starting area. Mulgar and Durotar have many boars and scorpids to skin to quickly level up.

Level 75 – 150 WoW Skinning Guide

For Alliance, you can still stay in your zone by farming the Loch Modan area. Run up and down the Thelsamar area while skinning bears and wolves. This area is best especially since the following area in the wetlands can be used next to get you to 150.  

For Horde, you can skin from north barrens down to south barrens. If you are a lower level, you can easily get to 150 while skinning and questing. The Barrens is full of mostly beasts. It will also bring you to 150. Don’t forget to train when you hit 150.

Level 150-225 WoW Skinning Guide

Now start skinning with PVP involved. Arathi Highlands has plenty of dinosaurs and wolf mobs to skin, but beware since this area has plenty of PVP. The area is large with plenty of places around the Alliance camp to farm. Thousand Needles is also a great place to level skinning at this level, but it is primarily Horde controlled. Thousand Needles is a less likely area to run into PVP, so Horde may have a better time farming.

Level 225-300 WoW Skinning Guide

Head to Feralas and this area will get you to about 260. When skinning in Feralas, if you are not a high level make sure to stay away from the level 60 dungeon area in the center of the zone. After this area becomes green, head to Un’Goro which is a level 50-55 area that will eventually bring you to 300.

Level 300-375 WoW Skinning Guide

From here your skinning will decrease the level up frequency. Southern Hellfire Peninsula has plenty of mobs to increase your skill until about 310 or 315. Once you skin these mobs, head to Nagrand and Terokkar Forest. These three areas will quickly get you to 375.

Level 375-450 WoW Skinning Guide

This level brings you to the next expansion pack for WOTLK. To start leveling after 375 skin in Howling Fjord or Borean Tundra. Anything in Sholazar Basin will finally bring you to 450.

Hopefully this WoW Skinning guide helps you reach level 450 and maybe even level up your character a bit. To make the most out of Skinning it is recommended that you choose Leatherworking as a profession as well. Check out this WoW Leatherworking Guide.