World of Warcraft: Forever opens its servers on November 4 at 3:00 p.m. PST, and the leather that runs short first won’t be Rugged. This WoW Forever leather farming guide names the best farm for every leather tier, with seven maps drawn from real beast spawns: Darkshore for Light Leather, Ashenvale for Medium, Dustwallow Marsh for Heavy, Tanaris for Thick and scales, and the Eastern Plaguelands, Silithus and Winterspring for Rugged.
We also counted what the crafting routes eat. One Leatherworker going from 1 to 300 on our route needs about 210 Light, 270 Medium, 210 Heavy, 300 Thick and 670 Rugged Leather. The Rugged figure is about 50% above a Classic route, because Forever’s Leatherworking recipes go grey 25 points earlier, and roughly 25 times what a skinner collects while leveling Skinning to 300.
How solid this is: WoW Forever keeps Classic’s beast spawns in the original zones, so every farm spot below holds in Forever. The positions come from classicdb and the cmangos Classic database, placed on Forever’s maps with the beta client’s map bounds. What Forever changes: faster respawns in Hillsbrad Foothills, Ashenvale, the Wetlands, Duskwood and Thousand Needles (October 1 notes) and zone borders redrawn for the new zones; beasts in the new zones are unknown. Beast levels, leather per skin and hide and scale chances are Classic data, because Forever’s skinning tables aren’t public, and the beta, which ended October 23, stopped at level 30. Leather demand comes from our profession guides, built on SeeMeta’s beta recipe data and the beta client (build 1.60.1.70374, October 13). We will check the drop chances against the live game in launch week.
WoW Forever Leather Farming Spots at a Glance
The best leather farming spots in WoW Forever are zones where one family of beasts at the right level spawns close together and drops your leather on most skins:
| Leather | Best farm | Beast level | Leather per skin (Classic data) | Skins for one Leatherworker’s 1-300 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Light | Darkshore (Alliance), northern Barrens (Horde), Ashenvale’s Wild Bucks (both) | 16-20 | 1.1, plus 0.2 Medium | about 195 |
| Medium | Ashenvale, Raynewood Retreat to Splintertree Post | 25-28 | 0.66, plus 0.15 Heavy | about 410 |
| Heavy | Dustwallow Marsh, Drywallow crocolisks and Noxious spiders | 35-41 | 0.75, plus 0.18 Thick | about 280 |
| Thick | South-west Tanaris, Rabid Blisterpaws and Glasshide Petrifiers | 47-49 | 0.76, plus 0.21 Rugged | about 400 |
| Rugged | Northern Eastern Plaguelands, Frenzied Plaguehounds and Monstrous Plaguebats | 56-58 | 0.81 | about 840 |
| Rugged and Rugged Hide | Silithus, Dredge Strikers and Crushers | 55-58 | 0.8, plus 0.2 Rugged Hide | about 840 |
“Per skin” is the average leather one skin gives, stack sizes included, weighted by how many of each beast spawn there. At 120 skins an hour (our assumption, one beast at a time), one Leatherworker’s Light Leather takes under two hours and the Rugged about seven. Our WoW Forever skinning leveling guide covers the skill side: which beast level each skill needs and the 1-300 route.
How Much Leather Leatherworking Needs in WoW Forever
A WoW Forever Leatherworker needs about 1,760 leather from 1 to 300 on our route, and 38% of it is Rugged. The numbers come from our WoW Forever leatherworking leveling guide, compared there with a standard Classic route. Tailoring and Engineering add their own demand:
| Leather | Leatherworking 1-300 (our Forever route) | Leatherworking 1-300 (Classic route) | Other crafts’ routes | One-off uses |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ruined Leather Scraps | 95 | |||
| Light Leather | 211 | 218 | Camp Tent 5; Light Leather Reagent Bag 8 each | |
| Medium Leather | 271 | 40 | Engineering 15 | Tanning Rack 5; Blacksmithing Anvil 2 |
| Heavy Leather | 208 | 258 | Silk Reagent Bag 2 each | |
| Thick Leather | 302 | 408 | Leather Tourniquet 2 each | |
| Rugged Leather | 673 | 447 | Tailoring 143 (235-290) | Runecloth Reagent Bag 2, Sewing Machine 5, Master Forge 2, Enchanted Leather 1 each |
| Light / Medium / Heavy Hide | 26 / 25 / 44 | 75 in total |
Three things stand out. Rugged demand is about 50% higher than in Classic, because Rugged recipes start at 225 instead of 250; 606 of the 673 sit on patterns whose Forever source nobody has found yet. Medium demand depends on the route: ours and WoW-Professions’ beta-tested route both use Hillman’s Leather Gloves around 140 and need 270 to 310 Medium, against about 40 on the old Classic path. Thick demand drops by a quarter, because Forever squeezes the Thick stretch into 195-225.
Leather also buys Merchant’s Favor. Forever’s Textiles Waylaid Crates take 20 leather of one tier (Light, Medium, Heavy, then Thick or Rugged at Artisan), and Fabrics crates take two Cured Hides, per Zockify’s beta data and the crate items in the beta client.
Which Leather Sells Best at Launch (Our Estimate)
Pristine Leather, then Heavy and Thick Leather, are the skinning items most likely to sell high in WoW Forever’s first weeks, with Rugged taking over once players reach level 50. That ranking is our estimate from the demand above, our skinning guide’s yield numbers and when characters reach each tier:
- Pristine Leather. 80 Leatherworking, 30 Blacksmithing and 16 Tailoring recipes in SeeMeta’s beta data use it, mostly new rare leveling gear, and no farm guarantees it.
- Heavy and Thick Leather in the first two weeks. Leatherworkers reach the Heavy steps (155-195) and Thick steps (195-225) at character level 20 to 35, but Heavy drops from level 30 beasts and Thick from 40. One skinner’s 1-300 run yields about 40 Heavy and 50 Thick against 208 and 302 per Leatherworker.
- Rugged Leather from the first level 50 skinners on. 673 per Leatherworker and 143 per Tailor, plus Enchanted Leather, Master Forges and reagent bags. The market starts late and stays hungry.
- Medium Leather, if crafters follow the published Forever routes: about 6 times what a leveling skinner collects.
- Light Leather and scraps last: demand is only twice what leveling skinners gather, and everyone skins in the starting zones. Sell it in the first days.
If you skin while leveling, keep Heavy and Thick Leather instead of vendoring it. Our WoW Forever professions guide explains why Skinning pairs well with Leatherworking.
Light Leather Farming: Darkshore, the Barrens and Ashenvale
Darkshore is the Alliance Light Leather farm: Classic data counts about 375 thistle bears, Foreststriders and Moonstalkers (level 11-16) along the coast at 0.9 Light Leather per skin. The level 16-20 beasts at the northern and southern ends, mostly Giant Foreststriders, give 1.1 Light plus 0.2 Medium, because beasts from level 16 drop Light Leather in stacks of up to two. The bears drop Bear Meat on about 45% of kills, for the Alliance Cooking step Smoked Bear Meat.
Horde players get the same rate from the level 16-18 plainstriders, Sunscale raptors and zhevras of the northern Barrens, mapped in our skinning guide. Both factions can use Ashenvale’s 103 Wild Bucks and Ghostpaw Runners (level 18-20) north-west of Astranaar, green on the next map.
Medium Leather Farming: Ashenvale
Ashenvale is WoW Forever’s best Medium Leather farm for both factions. The Elder Shadowhorn Stags, Ghostpaw Alphas and Elder Ashenvale Bears (level 25-28) between Raynewood Retreat and Splintertree Post give 0.66 Medium plus 0.15 Heavy per skin, and the bears and stags around Astranaar (21-24) half a Medium and two thirds of a Light. Blizzard’s October 1 beta notes “increased the respawn rate across many different creatures and objects” in Ashenvale. The stags’ Stag Meat goes into Forever’s new Savory Stag Sliders and Steaming Stag Steak.
Thousand Needles’ Pesterhide Hyenas and Needles Cougars (26-29) give slightly more (0.73 Medium) and got the same respawn increase. Our Medium Leather farming guide adds the Wetlands raptors and Stonetalon Mountains.
Heavy Leather Farming: Dustwallow Marsh
Dustwallow Marsh is the densest Heavy Leather farm in WoW Forever and Classic: 273 Drywallow crocolisks and Noxious spiders (level 35-41) between Brackenwall Village and the Wyrmbog, at 0.75 Heavy and 0.18 Thick per skin, with flight paths at Theramore and Brackenwall. The Mudrock Spikeshells on the north coast add Turtle Scale on a quarter of their skins, and the Firemane dragonkin in the Wyrmbog (41-44) give 0.66 Thick plus 0.48 Heavy, the most leather per skin of any common beast in this level range.
The crocolisks drop Tender Crocolisk Meat on about 60% of kills (Heavy Crocolisk Stew) and the Bloodfen raptors Raptor Flesh on half, which our WoW Forever cooking leveling guide needs for Roast Raptor from 175 to 225. Two oddities: Arathi’s Giant Plains Creepers (35-36) and the Badlands’ Giant Buzzards (39-41) drop Heavy Leather on every skin. Our Heavy Leather farming guide covers the Badlands, the Swamp of Sorrows and Stranglethorn.
Thick Leather Farming: Tanaris
Tanaris is the best Thick Leather farm in WoW Forever, with about 920 skinnable beasts. The Rabid Blisterpaws and Glasshide Petrifiers (level 47-49) in the south-west give 0.76 Thick plus 0.21 Rugged per skin. The coastal Surf Gliders (48-50) give 0.77 Thick plus 0.75 Turtle Scale. The hyenas, basilisks and scorpids around Gadgetzan (40-47) give about half a Thick, and the scorpids add Scorpid Scale.
Cooks want the hyenas’ Tender Wolf Meat (120 for Tender Wolf Steak, Cooking 225-300) and Red Wolf Meat (Flank au Poivre), and the turtles’ Turtle Meat (Savory Turtle Stew). In the Eastern Kingdoms, the Hinterlands’ Silvermane Stalkers and Saltwater Snapjaws (47-50) give 0.71 to 0.77 Thick. Our Thick Leather farming guide covers the Stranglethorn gorillas and the Feralas yetis.
Where to Farm Rugged Leather in WoW Forever
Farm Rugged Leather in the northern Eastern Plaguelands for the best rate, in Silithus if you also want Rugged Hide and Heavy Scorpid Scale, and in Winterspring for Warbear, Frostsaber and Chimera Leather. All three are level 55 to 60 zones.
Eastern Plaguelands: 130 Frenzied Plaguehounds and Monstrous Plaguebats (level 56-58) across the north give 0.81 Rugged per skin, tied with Silithus for the best rate on a common beast. The bats and hounds further south (53-56) give 0.5 Rugged and 0.43 Thick, and the hounds drop Tender Wolf Meat on half their kills. Light’s Hope Chapel has a flight path for both factions.
Silithus: the Dredge Strikers and Crushers (level 55-58) give 0.8 Rugged plus 0.2 Rugged Hide per skin, the best Rugged Hide source in Classic data. The Stonelash scorpids give about 0.6 Heavy Scorpid Scale plus 0.45 Rugged; Heavy Scorpid Scale goes into 34 Leatherworking recipes in SeeMeta’s beta data. Cenarion Hold’s flight path serves both factions.
Winterspring: lower Rugged rates (0.47 to 0.64 per skin), but Elder and Rabid Shardtooths give Warbear Leather on about 20% of skins, Frostsabers Frostsaber Leather on 35% and Chillwind chimaeras Chimera Leather on 40%. Our Rugged Leather farming guide has more detail; Un’Goro Crater is on our skinning guide’s maps.
Hides, Scales and Special Leathers
Hides, scales and special leathers in WoW Forever come from specific beasts. Sources and chances are Classic data; recipe counts are from SeeMeta’s Forever beta data.
| Material | Best source (Classic data) | Chance per skin | Forever recipes using it |
|---|---|---|---|
| Rugged Hide | Dredge Strikers and Crushers, Silithus (55-58) | 20% | Cured Rugged Hide: 72 Leatherworking recipes, grey at 295 to 340 |
| Thick Hide | Most level 40-50 beasts | 3-5% | Cured Thick Hide: 42 recipes |
| Scorpid Scale | Scorpid Dunestalkers, Tanaris (46-47) | 61% | 7 Tough Scorpid recipes |
| Heavy Scorpid Scale | Stonelash scorpids, Silithus (54-58) | about 60% | 34 recipes |
| Turtle Scale | Surf Gliders, Tanaris; Saltwater Snapjaws, Hinterlands (48-50) | 75% | 6 Turtle Scale recipes |
| Devilsaur Leather | Devilsaurs, Un’Goro Crater (elite, 54-56) | 100% | 2 Leatherworking, 1 Blacksmithing |
| Warbear Leather | Elder and Rabid Shardtooths, Winterspring | about 20% | 3 Warbear recipes |
| Frostsaber Leather | Frostsabers, Winterspring (55-60) | 35% | 4 Frostsaber recipes |
| Chimera Leather | Chillwind chimaeras, Winterspring (55-59) | about 40% | 4 Chimeric recipes |
| Black Dragonscale | Elite black dragonkin, Burning Steppes | 15-26% | 7 recipes, 30 to 60 scales each |
| Enchanted Leather | Enchanting craft: Rugged Leather and Lesser Eternal Essence | 41 Leatherworking, 15 Blacksmithing, 11 Tailoring, 6 Engineering | |
| Core Leather, Primal Bat and Tiger Leather | Molten Core and Zul’Gurub in Classic | In the data, no announced source | |
| Fel Leather, Fel Hide | Unknown | 20 and 8 Leatherworking recipes, all skill 300 |
Our Devilsaur Leather farming guide has a route map for the Devilsaurs. Core Leather and the Primal leathers came from raids Forever hasn’t announced: Blizzard’s What’s Next panel recap lists Barrow Deeps, Hyjal Summit and Onyxia’s Lair for December 9. Fel Leather and Fel Hide are new item level 60 materials in the beta client; Warcraft Tavern lists them as skinning materials, but where they drop is unknown.
Pristine Leather, Hide and Scale
Pristine Leather, Pristine Hide and Pristine Scale are WoW Forever’s Scarce skinning materials: uncommon extras any skin can give, with no beast of their own. Icy Veins reported Pristine Leather from skinning in the beta on September 29 and found no specific source creature. Their item levels in the beta client (25, 45 and 60) suggest low, mid and high level beasts; that is our reading, and nobody has published drop chances.
In SeeMeta’s beta data, Pristine Hide goes into 43 Leatherworking recipes (2 to 10 each) and Pristine Scale into 12, mostly skill 300 pieces; Tailoring’s 20-slot Bottomless Reagent Bag takes 5 of each. The Bountiful Harvest Legacy perk raises Scarce finds by 20% per rank, up to 100% at rank 5, per Warcraft Tavern and our WoW Forever Legacy System guide.
What WoW Forever Changes for Leather Farmers
- One skin per corpse. Blizzard’s October 1 notes: “Creatures can once again only be skinned a single time before disappearing.” Two skinners in a group compete for corpses, so farm solo or with a partner who doesn’t skin.
- Faster respawns in five zones: Hillsbrad, Ashenvale, the Wetlands, Duskwood and Thousand Needles, per the same notes.
- Track Beasts for everyone. Skinning’s Field Guide camp object (skill 140, Blueprint) teaches Track Beasts, per the beta client’s data.
- Bountiful Harvest (5 Legacy points) doubles Pristine finds at rank 5; Blizzard’s systems panel recap names it as the gatherer’s Legacy perk.
Forever’s new Riverglades zone covers levels 35 to 45, the Heavy and Thick Leather range, but which beasts live there isn’t public yet. For the rest of the series, start at our WoW Forever hub; Tailors find their Rugged Leather counts in our WoW Forever tailoring leveling guide.
Skinning pairs well with a second gathering profession: our WoW Forever herb farming guide and WoW Forever ore farming guide list the best zones for every herb and ore.
FAQ
Where is the best place to farm Rugged Leather in WoW Forever?
The northern Eastern Plaguelands: Frenzied Plaguehounds and Monstrous Plaguebats (level 56-58) give 0.81 Rugged Leather per skin in Classic data. Silithus matches the rate and adds Rugged Hide.
Where do you farm Thick Leather in WoW Forever?
South-west Tanaris, where Rabid Blisterpaws and Glasshide Petrifiers (level 47-49) give 0.76 Thick Leather per skin in Classic data. The Surf Gliders on the coast add Turtle Scale.
Does Bountiful Harvest give more leather?
No. Bountiful Harvest raises Scarce materials only, which for Skinning means Pristine Leather, Hide and Scale. Normal leather drops are unchanged.
Sources: Blizzard’s beta development notes (October 1 and 8), Blizzard’s BlizzCon systems panel recap and What’s Next panel recap. Beta data from SeeMeta, Zockify, Icy Veins and Warcraft Tavern and the beta client’s game data (build 1.60.1.70374, read via wago.tools); demand from our leatherworking, tailoring, engineering and skinning guides; Classic beast spawns, levels, skinning and loot chances from classicdb and the cmangos Classic database. Maps: Blizzard Entertainment, from Warcraft Wiki’s map files.