The Complete Guide to Skinning in WoW: Dragonflight

Unlike in previous expansions, Skinning has all the chances to shine in the Dragonflight patch. The game’s developers have implemented vitally-important changes people asked about for so long. On top of that, the Dragon Isles are full of unique and rare mobs you can skin. Keeping in mind the fact that it is the early expansion’s launch, the prices for raw crafting materials are as high as ever.

Having Skinning and Leatherworking paired up is an excellent combination. You will need tons of skin, hides, and scales to create top-notch equipment pieces. Buying all these components from the Auction House is too expensive, especially now. Therefore, if you are planning to create various leather armor, make sure to learn Skinning beforehand.

All WoW Dragonflight professions, including Skinning, have gotten a major update. It is connected with the specialization system. The latter allows you to choose what field you want to focus on in your profession. This is what helps determine your playing style. As a skinner, you have three branches to choose from. Unlocking all of them is possible, but it requires much time and effort. Instead, focus on a specific branch that suits you better.

Depending on what talent tree you decide to specialize in, you will get increased skin yields and the ability to refine skinned products from a lower to a higher level. You can also go for creating fishing lures and learn how to loot extra meat while skinning a mob. Finally, the last branch allows you to tame rare pets. As you keep reading the article, we will describe all the specializations in detail.

Another important change brought into the game is the Item Quality system. Most of the materials you gather from defeated mobs can be of various quality levels. To put it simply, the higher quality your materials have, the more expensive they are. Besides, if you use them to create other items, they will provide better stats and be of a higher level.

You already know that crafting professions have received secondary stats. Luckily, those players who are more into gathering have not been deprived of this feature as well. Improving these stats grants you increased skinning speed and a higher chance of looting rare side gathers. As an extra bonus, you learn how to gather more leather and scale.

Another novelty you are going to enjoy is the special profession gear. Every time you perform a profession-related action (e.g. skin a mob), your character will automatically change its equipment to it. This type of gear does not take up additional space in your inventory and uses three separate slots instead. It not only adds a bit of realism to the game, but also increases your stats. Unfortunately, this equipment is not transmoggable, but it looks amazing by default. As a skinner, you are going to have a knife, a fur hat, and a backpack.

As you can see, Skinning looks quite promising in this patch. Further in our WoW Dragonflight Skinning leveling guide, we will describe all the newly-added features in detail. Additionally, we will share a few top locations for skin farming that you can use to maximize your yields.

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Dragonflight Patch 10.1 Skinning Changes

In Patch 10.1, there will not be any new skins or hides introduced. However, you will have the opportunity to hunt and skin some new Elusive creatures using Elusive Creature Bait. Among these creatures, there is a new Serpent model, although there are no exclusive recolors for Elusives. It is important to note that the non-Serpent Elusive creatures cannot be tamed.

Skinning Applications and Benefits

Starting with the biggest updates concerning how Skinning works in the Dragonflight patch, we have the following changes:

• The game’s developers have heard our prayers and made it possible for several skinners to skin the same defeated mob;
• However, this feature only works if other players specializing in Skinning have contributed to slaying a mob. This has been done to prevent ninja skinning and take away competition between skinners;
• If a skinnable mob has been slayed by a player who cannot skin mobs, it becomes available for skinning to any player who specializes in Skinning. This works even if this person has not contributed to slaying a mob.

Just like with any gathering profession, your raw materials cost a ton of gold at the early expansion’s launch. Skinning is not an exception, as leather is widely used among leatherworkers and other professions as well. You can use this to dominate the market, as everything you skin and sell will be vendored away in a blink of an eye.

You can also go another way and combine Skinning with Leatherworking yourself. Doing so allows you to have enough resources to sell and craft rare items on your own. As an extra source of income, you can create lures and baits.

Unlike with Mining and Herbalism, you do not gain extra XP when skinning mobs. However, you can easily compensate for this downside with farming mobs in one of the spots we will share further in this article. All of them are aimed at providing you with maximum XP boost and tons of raw materials you can use for crafting new things or selling.

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Making Profit with Skinning

Other gathering professions have received new material types and Skinning is not an exception. As a skinner, you can loot the following basic skin types:

1. Resilient Leather is available when you skin non-Dragon and non-Scalehide beasts;
2. Adamant Scales can be received from Dragon and Scalehide beasts;
3. Dense Hide is a rarer find, which you can loot from regular beasts;
4. Lustrous Scaled Hide can be skinned from Dragons and Scalehides.

However, framing these resources will not make you a fortune. They are necessary for basic crafts and are popular among beginners. Refining them to a higher quality level will add a bit of value on top, but you need to look for a more precious drop. If you are wondering about how to level Skinning fast in WoW Dragonflight, we have prepared a special table down below. By slaying the mentioned mobs, you will not only gather rare skins, but also boost your profession quickly.

Material	Range of Use	Source
Cacophonous Thunderscale	This type of scale is widely used in Decayed, Bestial, and standard Leatherworking recipes	Thunder Lizards (Scalehides)
Crystalspine Fur	This type of leather is widely used in Bestial and standard Leatherworking recipes	Crystalspines (Rodents)
Fire-Infused Hide	This type of leather is widely used in Bestial Leatherworking recipes	Fiery Beasts (e.g. Magmammoth)
Pristine Vorquin Horn	This reagent is sometimes used in standard Leatherworking recipes	Vorquins (Dragonkin)
Rockfang Leather	This type of leather is widely used for Dragonriding mount transmogs created by scribes. It is also necessary for a few standard Leatherworking recipes	Rockfangs (Cats)
Salamanther Scales	This type of scale is widely used in Bestial Leatherworking recipes	Salamanthers (Lizards)
Windsong Plumage	This reagent is sometimes used in Bestial and standard Leatherworking recipes	Ohuna (Birds of Prey)

As you can see, there is a decent range of raw materials you can hunt for. Considering it is the early launch, the demand for them is as high as ever. This is your chance to make enough gold for the rest of the entire expansion.

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The Auction House Basics

In this part of our WoW Skinning guide, we want to talk about the Auction House and how you can use it to gain more money. Remember, everything you skin from slayed mobs, you can use for either crafting stuff or selling it to other players. As the expansion is in its early launch stage, the prices are exorbitant. Use it for your own benefit, as the cost of raw materials will not be that high forever.

It does not matter if you are focusing on a crafting or gathering profession, knowing how the Auction House works will bring a lot of value for you. Besides, a crafter can also rely on the newly-implemented Crafting Orders system. At the same time, you cannot do this, as you less often create something and usually sell raw materials instead. This is what a basic trading session looks like:

1. Finding and clicking the Auction House tab plunges you into the world of goods available. The most important thing here is not to get lost, as prices may vary significantly. It happens because all players wish to get the maximum profit and hope that someone will eventually buy their stuff. Your goal is to pick the right moment and vendor away everything you have skinned;
2. Combining Skinning and Leatherworking can bring even more value than you imagine. To create high-rank gear available with the Leatherworking profession, you need tons of leather and other materials dropping from mobs. Having these two professions paired up absolves you from the necessity to buy resources from the market;
3. The following trick is more for venturesome players, as it requires a bit of luck and additional attention. Since most of the rare items have highly-volatile prices, you can buy one or two of them and wait for their cost goes up. When it happens, do not lose your time and sell it right away. The price difference is your profit. Just do not miss the opportunity and do not be too greedy. It is better to earn a few pennies than to wait for too long and lose your money.

We highly recommend combining Skinning and Leatherworking because this will bring a good profit throughout the entire expansion. If you can craft top-rank equipment, you can help gear up your friends and guild members. After all, selling it is what always brings a ton of gold.

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The Sources of Knowledge Points

This paragraph of our Dragonflight Skinning leveling overview is devoted to what methods you can use to get the maximum Knowledge Points. The latter is what you need to progress further in your specializations chosen. Make sure you spread these points wisely, as they cannot be refunded. Once you click the Apply Changes button, your points will stay like this even if you decide to learn another profession in the future.

The way you use these points is especially important since you do not have too many sources of them as a skinner. For example, players focusing on Mining or Herbalism get points just for gathering a new type of ore/herb. Choosing the Skinning profession does not give you this kind of bonus.

The specialization system unlocks once you achieve level 25 in your profession. Until this moment, you can think of what field you want to become an artisan in. Further in this article, we will describe all the specializations to make it easier for you to decide. As for now, let us focus on the Knowledge Point sources you can use as a gatherer:

1. As we have mentioned, you do not get Knowledge Points for first-time gathers as a skinner. Instead, you should try to level up and reach level 68 as quickly as possible. Once you do this, you unlock World/Trainer Quests. Until this moment, you can partly rely on getting those points from rare side gathers and various quests scattered around the Dragon Isles. Finally, you can discover one-time treasures to receive these points as well.
2. After hitting level 25 in Skinning, you can safely make your way to Zenzi who is located in the Waking Shores. She will be waiting for you on the shoreline, east of Ruby Life Pools. Talking to her grants you +10 Knowledge Points and x50 Artisan’s Mettle. If you try to find her before you reach the stated level, she will not be there.
3. Returning to rare side gathers, look for Saturated Bone to gain one Knowledge Point every time you use this. There are no limits concerning how many times you can use it. On top of that, look for Large Sample of Curious Hide that you can discover only once a week. It provides you with +3 Knowledge Points. There is also a smaller alternative of this item called Curious Hide Scraps that grants only one Knowledge Point.
4. Completing a questline with Khadin who is located in Ohn’ahran Plains unlocks you the opportunity to return Dragon Shard of Knowledge. Doing so grants you +3 Knowledge Points and x50 Artisan’s Mettle each time.
5. As a skinner, you can get +5 Knowledge Points and +10 Knowledge Points by reaching Renown 14 and 24 respectively with the Maruuk Centaur and Iskaara Tuskarr. This bonus procs with each faction.
6. Once you find yourself in Valdrakken, the major Dragon Isles town, head to Rabul. This NPC is not just the Artisan’s Consortium quartermaster. You can also buy Dusty Skinner’s Notes from him. To make this purchase, you need quite a bunch of Artisan’s Mettle. In fact, you can buy it up to three times, each grants +15 Knowledge Points and will be more expensive than the previous one.
   
   - You get access to the first-time purchase when you have x100 Artisan’s Mettle and at least level 25 in your profession. You get this mettle for mastering your profession as a whole.
   
   - You get access to the second-time purchase when you have x200 Artisan’s Mettle. On top of it, you need to establish a valued reputation with the Artisan’s Consortium. If at least one condition does not comply, you cannot get access to the second purchase.
   
   - You get access to the third-time purchase when you have x300 Artisan’s Mettle. Besides, you need to establish an esteemed reputation with the Artisan’s Consortium. If at least one condition does not comply, you cannot get access to the second purchase.
7. Completing the main campaign unlocks you World and Profession Quests. To make this happen, you need to be level 68 and get the Waking Hope, Ohn’a’Roll, Azure Spanner, and Just Don’t Ask Me to Spell It achievements. To take weekly quests from your profession trainer, you should visit Valdrakken. Completing it grants +3 Knowledge Points. Before you can do this, make sure you have reached level 50 in Skinning.
8. Visit Darkmoon Faire provides you with +3 Knowledge Points and x15 Artisan’s Mettle. Unfortunately, this source is only available once per month.
9. One of the easiest yet most expensive ways to get extra points is to use Draconic Treatise on Skinning. This item is created by scribes only and costs quite a lot. You can only get it with the newly-implemented Crafting Orders feature. However, keep monitoring the prices to pick the right moment to buy it at its lowest price.

As you can see, you have quite a list of sources you can resort to in order to get extra Knowledge Points. As a skinner, you need to think carefully about what talent tree is worth these points. To understand it better, monitor the market’s needs and see what you can offer to get the maximum profit.

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Profession Stats Explained

No matter if you choose to focus on a crafting or gathering profession, you will have profession stats. As a skinner, you have Deftness, Finesse, and Perception. Our Skinning leveling guide also covers information on what these stats influence:

• Deftness influences how fast you can skin mobs;
• Finesse increases your chance of skinning more leather and scale;
• Perception increases your chance of discovering rare side gathers.

You can get those stats by learning a particular profession spec.

Skinning Specs: Everything You Need to Know

This is the most expected feature of the entire expansion. The specialization system becomes available once you hit level 25 in Skinning. This is where you need to think carefully about how you are going to distribute your precious Knowledge Points. Mastering a branch or two makes you a true artisan in a chosen field.

Considering how slowly you gain Knowledge Points as a skinner, you really do not want to distribute them in all three talent trees simultaneously. Instead, see what branch suits your playing style more and start creating your build accordingly. Finally, the current market’s state can also influence what branch you are going to master first.

Tanning Specialization

The first spec is all about becoming a more proficient skinner. It increases your overall profession stats. Mastering it provides you with tons of additional Deftness, Finesse, and Perception.

• Tanning (you can spend up to 40 points mastering it) is where your learning path begins. Spending one of those rare points we discussed above grants you an additional score of Skill every time. Learning this spec, you get access to all sub-specs available in this branch. It also improves your overall profession stats making you understand the art of Skinning better and providing you with +10 Deftness, +10 Finesse, and +10 Perception. As an extra bonus, you learn how to improve low-quality hides to better ones.
• Leather Mastery (you can spend up to 40 points mastering it) is devoted to becoming better at skinning leather. To unlock it, you need to have 5 or more points spent in the main spec. It also grants you an additional score of Skill for each point invested. Mastering it to the cap grants you +15 Deftness, +30 Finesse, +15 Perception, and + 20 Skill. As an extra bonus, you learn how to improve low-quality leather to better one.
• Scale Mastery (you can spend up to 40 points mastering it) is devoted to becoming better at skinning leather. To unlock it, you need to have 5 or more points spent in the main spec. It also grants you an additional score of Skill for each point invested. Mastering it to the cap grants you +15 Deftness, +30 Finesse, +15 Perception, and + 20 Skill. As an extra bonus, you learn how to improve low-quality scales to better ones.

Harvesting Specialization

The second spec is all about looting unique materials from creatures you skin. It can be morsels for fishing lures, meat that you can use for cooking delicious food, and other rare materials required for crafting. Also, mastering it provides you with tons of additional Deftness, Finesse, and Perception.

• Harvesting (you can spend up to 40 points mastering it) is where you start. Spending one of those rare points we discussed above grants you an additional score of Deftness every time. Learning this spec, you get access to all sub-specs available in this branch. It also improves your overall profession stats providing you with +5 Deftness, +10 Finesse, and +10 Perception. On top of that, your damage against dragonkin and beasts is increased. As an extra bonus, you have a chance of discovering Curiously-Shaped Stomach when skinning a slayed creature.
• Lure Crafter (you can spend up to 40 points mastering it) increases your chance of discovering morsels that can be used to create lures. To unlock it, you need to have 5 or more points spent in the main spec. Mastering it to the cap grants you +15 Deftness, +10 Finesse, and +10 Perception. As an extra bonus, you learn the recipe for Thousandbite Piranha Lure and Cerulean Spinefish Lure. They are used to increase your chance of catching the specific fish you want. On top of that, your chance of gathering Bite-Sized Morsel and Exceptional Morsel significantly increases.
• Meat Carver (you can spend up to 40 points mastering it) increases your chance of finding meat when skinning slayed creatures. To unlock it, you need to have 5 or more points spent in the main spec. Mastering it to the cap grants you +15 Deftness and +20 Finesse. On top of that, progressing further in this spec, significantly increases your chance of finding extra meat pieces.
• Trophy Collector (you can spend up to 40 points mastering it) is devoted to teaching you how to gather additional unique reagents when skinning slayed creatures. To unlock it, you need to have 5 or more points spent in the main spec. It also grants you an additional score of Perception for each point invested. Mastering it to the cap grants you +25 Deftness, +20 Finesse, and +15 Perception. As an extra bonus, the chance of gathering rare reagents increases significantly.

Bait Crafter Specialization

The third and last spec is all about creating baits. Learning it teaches you to use these baits to lure out elusive creatures. The latter can drop rare resources when skinned. Also, mastering it provides you with tons of additional Deftness, Finesse, and Perception.

• Bait Crafter (you can spend up to 40 points mastering it) is where you begin. Spending one of those rare points we discussed above grants you an additional score of Deftness every time. Learning this spec, you get access to all sub-specs available in this branch. It also improves your overall profession stats providing you with +15 Deftness and +20 Finesse. On top of that, you learn the recipe for Elusive Creature Bait and Bottled Pheromones. As an extra bonus, the cooldown of your Elusive Creature Bait refreshes twice as fast when you skin Rare and Elite mobs.
• Mastery (you can spend up to 40 points mastering it) is devoted to teaching you how to attract rarer creatures. To unlock it, you need to have 5 or more points spent in the main spec. It also grants you an additional score of Deftness for each point invested. Mastering it to the cap grants you +10 Finesse and +10 Perception. As an extra bonus, your Elusive Creature Bait cooldown decreases significantly. On top of that, you learn how to attract unique creatures and skin them for top-rank rewards.
• Elemental Infusion (you can spend up to 40 points mastering it) is devoted to creating elementally empowered baits. To unlock it, you need to have 5 or more points spent in the main spec. It also grants you an additional score of Perception for each point invested. Mastering it to the cap grants you +25 Finesse and +10 Perception. The biggest bonus here is that you learn the recipe for Infusion: Frost, Infusion: Earth, and Infusion: Titan. To create each of them, Elemental Essences are required. As an extra bonus, your Elusive Creature Bait cooldown decreases slightly.

As you can see, playing as a skinner allows you to determine what your playing style will look like. You have a lot of opportunities to develop your craftsmanship. Finally, with so many newly-implemented species living around the Dragon Isles, you will never be bored exploring the continent and skinning every creature you encounter.

Skinning and Dragonriding

Learning to use the Dragonriding feature effectively is your key to the best way to level Skinning in WoW. In fact, this advice concerns all gathering professions since moving around the continent is not as easy as it looks at first sight.

The first and biggest difference you notice between Dragonriding and other flying mounts we used to know is that you now have elevation and inertness mechanics. Once on a dragon players can also notice the energy points called Vigor.

They are required to ascend higher or increase your flying speed. By default, it takes an immense amount of time to recharge at least one Vigor point. On top of that, you can only do this while grounded. Once you learn a certain talent, you can start recovering energy while flying. When you only begin mastering Dragonriding, try to use the energy efficiently, especially if your primary goal is to explore the continent.

Luckily, it is not always necessary to use your precious Vigor to achieve higher speed. You can do this by choosing the right angle. If it is steep enough, your character gains momentum.

Once you get to the Dragon Isles, it will take you around 30 minutes to get your first dragon. In the future, you can create or purchase various skins to customize its look. Learning the essentials of Dragonriding is a key to gathering the maximum amount of raw materials when playing as a gatherer.

The Best Dragonriding Build for a Skinner

In this part of our Dragonflight Skinning overview, you will learn why it is important to learn specific Dragonriding talents and how they can help you increase yields. While exploring the continent, you will undoubtedly encounter Dragonriding glyphs. They are used to unlock new talents to make your Dragonriding more efficient.

The biggest bonus you can get is additional Vigor points or their quicker regeneration. Other talents are less important and should be learned on a second-priority basis.

By learning the Drake and Rider Training talent, you will get another Vigor point making it four of them in total. This provides you with a noticeable boost of energy, as you can soar in the skies much longer.

Once you get to Tier 4, your choice should undoubtedly fall on Dragonrider’s Initiative. It is a useful tool to damage all mobs around your landing point. This also helps to provoke more creatures to slay all of them at once and then skin them.

As a skinner, you do not gain any value from learning Dragonrider’s Cultivation at Tier 8. It only works for players specializing in Mining and Herbalism. Instead, you should go for Dragonrider’s Hunt, as it will help you restore Vigor quicker by slaying mobs.

Hitting Tier 9 lies a challenge at your feet, as you need to choose from three top-rank talents. As a skinner, you want to go for Yearning for the Sky first, as you will inevitably land on the ground to slay a few mobs and then continue flying further. You will open all other talents as you keep playing further. They are also nice to have, but do not provide such an impressive bonus.

The Most Profitable Skinning Locations

There are dozens of skinnable mobs you can find while exploring the Dragon Isles continent. However, we have prepared a few locations you should visit first if you are hunting for rare materials and want to level up the profession quicker.

The Ohn’ahran Plains Spots

When you find yourself in Ohn’ahran Plains, make sure to visit the following marked area. There, you will always find at least 3 or more Ravenous Rockfang. Even though it is not a great number, they respawn nearly instantly. Additionally, you can encounter a quest mob that you can try to kill if you are strong enough.

Take your time before leaving Ohn’ahran Plains, as you can also hunt for Grazing Bruffalon, Bruffalon Calf, Bruffalon Bull, and Suntuft Bakar if you make your way to the area shown on the map below.

The Azure Span Spot

Hunting for Wildwater Ottuk and Wild Crystalspine is extremely profitable and takes no serious effort. Both of these mobs are easy to kill. Wandering around the marked area, you can also encounter various bears, goats, and mammoths. Do not hesitate and slay them right away, as they are all skinnable.

The Waking Shores Spot

This place is sort of unique, as a lot of players complete their quests here. It means you can often find slain mobs and skin them without contributing to a kill. You will be interested in Primal Proto-Drake spawning in this area, as it has a fast respawn time and is relatively easy to kill.

All these spots are great in terms of finding rare materials and leveling up the profession in general. Everything you skin from the mobs living around these areas costs quite a lot on the market and can be sold in a blink of an eye.

Skinning Trainers in Dragonflight

Progressing further in any profession, including Skinning, is impossible without visiting your profession trainers. They are your key to learning new recipes and creating top-rank items. Do not forget to drop in on them to sharpen the skills and abilities you have already learned. Here are the spots where you can find all Skinning trainers in the Dragon Isles:

• Toinaar is located in Wingrest Embassy in the Waking Shores; 

• Makhul is located in Timberstep Outpost in Ohn’ahran Plains;

• Basan is located in Pinewood Post in Ohn’ahran Plains;

• Ralathor the Rugged is located in the market of Valdrakken in Thaldraszus;

Visiting these NPCs will make you a true artisan in Skinning. Doing this will help you reach the profession’s leveling cap and know everything about it.

Final Words

This is the end of our Dragonflight Skinning guide. We hope you had a great time while reading this article. You surely have learned a lot about Skinning and how to use it to gain maximum profit. Stay with us, as we will keep updating this guide when any changes occur.

F.A.Q.

How do I level up Skinning in Dragonflight?

You just want to slay any mob you encounter and then skin it. If you also wish to get rare material while doing that, focus on skinning Rare and Elite mobs.

What can you make with Skinning in Dragonflight?

As a skinner, you can skin various creatures and loot leather, scales, or hides. Your raw materials are primarily used in Leatherworking and sometimes in other professions as well.

How do I make money with Skinning in Dragonflight?

Everything you skin can be easily sold on the market. Considering it is an early expansion launch, the prices for raw materials are exorbitant. Do not miss your opportunity to make tons of gold.

Is Skinning profitable in Dragonflight?

Just like all other gathering professions, it is. You just need to invest a lot of time in skinning hundreds of mobs and then vendor everything you have gathered for a great amount of gold.