The profession of Skinning is a primary trade skill in the World of Warcraft. When choosing Skinning as a primary skill, make sure you really want it, as you may only have two skills at one. You are able to unlearn trade skills but if you do this, you will lose all your skill points in it. If you were to start Skinning again you would have to start from the bottom, not at your last skill level.

Who uses Skinning?

Characters that also choose leatherworking, usually choose skinning as well as they won’t have to buy there materials. Skinning, coupled with another gathering profession like mining, is often chosen by players that want to make money quickly. It is easier to make money by supplying the raw materials rather than the finished goods.

What other skills go well with Skinning?

Usually Skinning is used as a second skill to go along with leatherworking. Skinning can also be used with a second gathering skill as a way to make money, teamed up with mining or herbalism.

Can I make anything with Skinning?

No the only product of skinning are pieces of leather from the beasts you skin.

Why can’t I skin a Devilsaur ? Or a Tauren?

You can only skin beasts that you have enough skill points to handle. This number is found by dividing your skinning skill by 5. If you have 100 points in skinning you’ll be able to skin level 20 beasts. As for skinning Tauren, while it may fit on pvp servers, you are only allowed to skin beasts not humanoids.

How do I increase my Skinning skill?

Your increase your skill by Skinning progressively more difficult beasts to skin.

Why didn’t my skill increase 50 points when I skinned 50 great bears?

Your skill only increases if you mine progressively harder ores. All beasts are color coded for difficulty.

What are the difficulty ratings for beasts?

From easiest to hardest the colors are grey, green, yellow, orange and red. Mobs that are red can not be skinned by your character yet. Orange mobs will always increase your skill, yellow mobs sometimes increase your skill, green mobs will rarely increase your skill, and grey mobs will never increase your skill. Please note these colors are for the “skinnable” description in the text box, over a corpse. You may not get any experience from a grey mob to you, but if you have just started skinning, you will receive skinning points.

Where are the Skinning trainers found?

All major cities and most towns have Skinning trainers.. To train as a journeyman you need 50 skill points in Skinning and at least level 10. To train as an expert Skinner you must have 125 skill points in Skinning, be at least level 20. Lastly to become an Artisan in Skinning you must first get to 200 skill points and level 35. All Skinning trainers are able to teach all levels of skill. The main trainers however are in Ironforge and Stormwind for the Alliance and the Undercity, Ogrimmar and Thunder Bluff for the Horde.

Are there Quests for Skinning?

No, there are currently no Skinning quests.

Do I need any equipment to Skin??

Yes, you need to have Skinning knife. You can purchase one from general trade supply vendors. You don’t need to have a skinning knife in your hand just in our backpack.

How do I skin beasts?

After killing and looting a beast, by moving your cursor over the corpse, it will change to a skinning icon. Click once to skin the animal. To collect your leather, you’ll have to to loot the corpse.

What levels of mobs drop what types of leather?

Below is a table of which level of beast drops what type of leather

Type of leather Level Range of mobs
Ruined leather 1-11
Light Leather 7-25
Medium Leather 13-34
Heavy Leather 30-40
Thick Leather 36-50
Rugged Leather 50-60

Is that all there is to Skinning?

Besides Skinning for leather, there is no other use for skinning.

Skinning Etiquette

You can skin any dead beasts that you come across. Skinning the beasts you kill while soloing is expected. When coming across a beast’s corpse that you didn’t kill, it’s tempting to just skin it and move on. This however can lead to hard feelings if the person who killed the beast hasn’t yet skinned it. If you see a skinnable corpse and no one with in 10 yards of it, go ahead and skin it. Leave it alone if you are not sure if the person who killed it is a skinner or not. This only applies to players of your faction. The other faction’s kills are free game.

Another situation where skinning can become a problem is in groups. Any problems can be easily solved by setting up a rotation for skinning, that way every one who is a skinner can have a chance to collect leather.

Where can I find official Blizzard info on Skinning?

Professions: http://www.worldofwarcraft.com/info/professions/
Skinning: http://www.worldofwarcraft.com/info/professions/skinning.html
Where can I find info from other WoW players?

Draznar’s Tradeskill Guide: http://forums.worldofwarcraft.com/thread.aspx?fn=wow-professions&t=40&p=1&tmp=1#post40
Zarzz’s Skinning FAQ http://wow.toshimo.com/viewtopic.php?t=283
Where can I contribute to this guide?

You can visit our forums and post comments on this or any other guide. To post comments on this guide please go to our Trade skill forum, located here.