Cataclysm Classic Skinning Profession and Leveling Guide

Skinning can be a very useful profession in Cataclysm as there are plenty of items and consumables that require leather to make. While leveling, it is very convenient to pick up gathering professions like skinning, since they do not require much time to train.

Skinning allows you to skin Beasts, Dragonkin, Silithids, and very rarely Humanoids such as Worgens, giving you rare leathers and fur depending on the type of creature you skinned. You can only skin a mob if the corpse has been completely looted and was engaged by you or your group first. Skinning works great when paired with Leatherworking as leather is the main material that Leatherworking needs.

In order to start Skinning, you will need to purchase a Skinning Knife from any Skinning trainer or General Goods vendor. You need this item in your inventory in order to skin a mob, but you do not need to wield it to skin.

Cataclysm brings 3 new Skinning materials for players to gather.

• Savage Leather — Has a small chance to be skinned from Cataclysm mobs.
• Blackened Dragonscale — Sometimes skinnned from Cataclysm Dragonkins.
• Deepsea Scale — Sometimes skinnned from Cataclysm water based enemies, such as crabs.

In Cataclysm, you no longer need to visit different trainers to learn new ranks of Skinning. Every trainer will now be able to each you all ranks in any major city.

Alliance	Horde
Maris Granger — Stormwind	Thuwd — Orgrimmar
Balthus Stoneflayer — Ironforge	Mooranta — Thunder Bluff
Eladriel — Darnassus	Killian Hagey — Undercity
Remere — Exodar	Tyn — Silvermoon

Cataclysm also adds profession trainers in each starting zone, allowing you to pick up a profession right away rather than needing to reach a major city first.

Alliance	Horde
Jack All-Trades Derrington — Gilneas	KTC Train-a-Tron Deluxe — The Lost Isles
Lien Farner — Elwynn Forest	Runda — Durotar
Wembil Taskwidget — Dun Morogh	Lalum Darkmane — Mulgore
Iranis Shadebloom — Teldrassil	Therisa Sallow — Tirisfal Glades
Valn — Azuremyst Isle	Saren — Eversong Woods

Skinning is very different from other gathering professions, since it requires you to kill a mob in order to interact with the skill. If you are behind in skill level, or want to power-level Skinning, then here are the best places to train Skinning at each skill level.

Look for Beasts in any of the starting zones as they will yield either Ruined Leather Scraps or Light Leather. Aim to kill and skin anything you have slain, or anything killed by others in the area. It is very common for people in starting areas to kill and not skin their own Beasts, offering you essentially free skill-ups.

Elwynn Forest

Durotar

Before continuing on to the next area, make sure to head to your local trainer and learn Journeyman Skinning, allowing you to reach 150 skill level. 150. Here you will need to start looking for higher level mobs that award Medium Leather and Heavy Leather.

Loch Modan

The Barrens

At level 150 Skinning you will need to visit a Skinning trainer to continue leveling it.

Ashenvale

Dustwallow Marsh

At level 225 Skinning you will need to visit a Skinning trainer to continue leveling it.

Tanaris

You can finish leveling your Azeroth skinning here before heading to Outland.

Un'Goro Crater

Hellfire Peninsula offers a multitude of lower-level Beasts, having plenty of boars and ravagers to skin all throughout the zone.

Hellfire Peninsula

After reaching 325 skill, you will head to Nagrand as you can now skin all of the mobs you will be killing. Head to the Northern side of Nagrand and proceed to kill and skin all Talbuks and Clefthoofs around you.

Nagrand

Borean Tundra has a ton of Rhinos and Mammoths to kill, allowing you to quickly level up Skinning in this zone. You can easily stay in this zone until level 400 as the beasts in this area are very clumped up and high in numbers.

Borean Tundra

Grizzly Hills is mostly full of beasts, with a large abundance of Bears and Stags available throughout the zone. Having so many beasts available in the area, you can choose to stay in this zone until level 425 if you are farming easily.

Grizzly Hills

Sholazar Basin is yet another zone almost entirely full of skinnable beasts. This zone features a large selection of Crocodiles, Mammoths, Lynxs, Gorillas, and more spread entirely through it. You can stay in this zone up to 450.

Sholazar Basin

Mount Hyjal has quite a few beasts spread out in the zone. This zone will be in different phases depending on how many quests you have completed. If the area marked below does not have beasts for you, either complete more quests to unlock it, or look around the nearby areas for other beasts to farm. You can farm all the way to 525 here if you do not want to move to another area.

Mount Hyjal

Both of these options will easily get you to max level Skinning. Pick whichever one is less contested and easier for you to farm.

Twilight Highlands

Tol'Barad

Skinning provides you with a unique buff Master of Anatomy, increasing your Critical Strike Rating based on your Skinning skill level.

Buff	Skill Required	Details
Master of Anatomy (Rank 1)	75	Increases Critical Strike Rating by 3.
Master of Anatomy (Rank 2)	150	Increases Critical Strike Rating by 6.
Master of Anatomy (Rank 3)	225	Increases Critical Strike Rating by 9.
Master of Anatomy (Rank 4)	300	Increases Critical Strike Rating by 12.
Master of Anatomy (Rank 5)	375	Increases Critical Strike Rating by 20.
Master of Anatomy (Rank 6)	450	Increases Critical Strike Rating by 40.
Master of Anatomy (Rank 7)	525	Increases Critical Strike Rating by 80.

Skinning is just one of the many professions you may choose to level in Cataclysm Classic. To learn more about the other options available, we recommend checking out our overviews of all professions and their unique bonuses below.