Overview

Skinning and Leatherworking are a fully self-sufficient crafting loop: everything Leatherworking needs, Skinning provides. Void-Tempered Leather and Scales come directly from skinned creatures, and the Diffuser system in Skinning produces Motes that feed crafting across every profession. For Leather and Mail wearers this combination eliminates almost all Auction House dependency for armor, armor kits, and consumables like Drums.

This guide is written for a raider starting from zero in Midnight. Midnight uses only two quality tiers — Silver and Gold (Bronze is gone). Gold quality is the target; Silver is always better than nothing while you build KP.

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Part I — Skinning

Three trainers teach Midnight Skinning. Learn from whichever is convenient.

Trainer	Zone
Tyn	Silvermoon's Bazaar
Mathreyn	Silvermoon's Court of Blood
Kuvahn	Zul'Aman — Amani'zar Village

What Changed in Midnight

• Find High-Value Beasts tracking is now built directly into the skill — no talent or item required
• Skin refining has been removed; raw hides feed crafting directly
• Lures moved to Fishing — no longer a Skinning mechanic
• Two quality tiers only: Silver and Gold

Materials

Material	Source	Primary Use
Void-Tempered Leather	Standard beast skinning	Leatherworking armor, armor kits
Void-Tempered Scales	Scale-bearing creatures	Leatherworking mail armor
Fantastic Fur	Furred creatures	Leatherworking specialty recipes
Carving Canine	Fanged creatures	Leatherworking specialty recipes
Peerless Plumage	Flying creatures	Leatherworking specialty recipes
Majestic materials	Renowned Beasts	Profession gear crafting

High-Value Beasts (HVBs) are the most important farming targets. They appear as yellow knife icons on the minimap and display a sparkling visual. A single HVB can yield up to 10 materials versus a handful from standard creatures — always prioritise them on your farming routes.

Leveling

Skinning is the fastest profession to level in Midnight. Kill and skin whatever creatures are around you while questing; there is no dedicated leveling route needed.

• Skin everything that drops while questing through Midnight zones
• Prioritise High-Value Beasts for maximum material yield
• The Thorough Tanning spec tree unlocks Sharpen Your Knife, which guarantees a hide or scale on every skin — invest here early for consistent yields

Specialization Trees

Tree	Focus	Key Unlock
Thorough Tanning	Consistent hide/scale yield	Sharpen Your Knife — guarantees acquisition per skin; sub-specs for leather vs scale focus
Gainful Gathering	Species-specific materials + meat carving	Dedicated Diffuser sub-spec — craft 4 Diffuser types to farm Motes without cooldown restrictions
Talented Tracker	Renowned Beast hunting + lure crafting	Lures have no cooldown; require fish materials; enables Majestic material farming

Spend order for raiders:

1. Thorough Tanning — Sharpen Your Knife removes RNG from your hides and scales. This is your primary bottleneck and the single most impactful early KP investment.
2. Gainful Gathering / Dedicated Diffuser — Motes are needed across all crafting professions. The Diffuser system has no cooldown restriction, making this a strong passive income and crafting-reagent source.
3. Talented Tracker — invest here once your hide yield is stable and you want to pursue Majestic materials for profession gear.

Knowledge Points

Source	KP Gained
Weekly quest	+3
World treasures	+1 or +3
Purchasable Knowledge books	+10
Eight open-world Skinning treasures	+3 each

Hunt the eight open-world Skinning treasure locations early — they're one-time pickups worth +3 each and the fastest way to front-load your KP in week one.

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Part II — Leatherworking

Three trainers teach Midnight Leatherworking.

Trainer	Zone	Coordinates
Talmar	Silvermoon City	/way #15969 43.2, 55.8
Jan'zel	Zul'Aman — Amani'zar Village	/way #15947 45.2, 69.8
Zavahi	Witherbark Bluffs	/way #15947 38.6, 23.8

What Leatherworking Produces

Category	Products
Leather Armor	Endgame leather sets, leveling gear, PvP pieces
Mail Armor	Endgame mail sets, leveling gear, PvP pieces
Consumables	Void-Touched Drums (group Haste), Forest Hunter's Armor Kit
Profession Equipment	Tools and accessories for other crafters
Reagents	Basic crafting materials for other Leatherworkers
Housing Décor	Rugs, beds, chairs, wall shelves

Void-Touched Drums are the spec's most universally valuable product — they grant 15% Haste to the group for 2 minutes on a 2-minute cooldown. Any group missing a Shaman or Mage benefits from these on every pull.

Leveling

Leveling Midnight Leatherworking follows the same structure as The War Within. Trainer recipes carry you efficiently through the first two-thirds; the final push requires specialty recipes.

Skill Range	Method
1–67	Trainer recipes using Void-Tempered Leather and Scales
67–100	Specialty recipes from specialization trees, world drops, or vendors

Don't rush the 67–100 phase. You need KP to unlock specialty recipes — spend efficiently and let the skill come up naturally alongside your weekly profession quests.

Specialization Trees

Leatherworking has four specialization trees requiring 770 total KP to fully max.

Tree	KP Cost	Focus
Learned Leatherworker	120	Secondary skills: Ingenuity, Resourcefulness, Crafting Speed, Multicraft
Lasting Leather	250	Leather armor crafting by slot
Safeguarding Scales	250	Mail armor crafting by slot
Flawless Fortes	150	Profession equipment, armor kits, and reagents

Spend order for raiders (Leather wearers):

1. Flawless Fortes — unlocks Forest Hunter's Armor Kit and Void-Touched Drums. These are your most immediately valuable products for your own raiding and for sell orders. Get these running first.
2. Lasting Leather — unlocks and improves leather armor crafting. Once you can add Optional and Finishing Reagents, Gold-quality output becomes achievable. This is your path to crafted BiS armor.
3. Learned Leatherworker — secondary skill gains improve your crafting consistency and crafter throughput over time. Fill this for long-term efficiency.
4. Safeguarding Scales — invest here if you want to produce for Mail wearers (Hunters, Shamans, Evokers) or if your raid has demand for mail crafts.

Spend order for raiders (Mail wearers):

Swap steps 2 and 4 — prioritise Safeguarding Scales over Lasting Leather.

Tools & Profession Gear

Leatherworking tools are crafted by Blacksmiths. Three tiers per tool type, with a Legendary variant requiring Fused Vitality ×20.

Tool	Crafter	Tier
Thalassian Leatherworker's Knife	Blacksmithing	Entry
Sun-Blessed Leatherworker's Knife	Blacksmithing	Upgraded
Sunforged Leatherworker's Knife	Blacksmithing	Legendary
Thalassian Leatherworker's Toolset	Blacksmithing	Entry
Sun-Blessed Leatherworker's Toolset	Blacksmithing	Upgraded
Sunforged Leatherworker's Toolset	Blacksmithing	Legendary

Leatherworkers also craft their own accessories — wearable crafting gear that improves profession stats:

Accessory	Quality
Hideworker's Cover	Silver
Sin'dorei Leathershaper's Smock	Gold
Thalassian Hideshaper's Regalia	Legendary

Craft the Hideworker's Cover immediately — it is a self-sufficient upgrade that improves your crafting output without needing another crafter.

Enchant: Apply Enchant Tool — Haranir Multicrafting (Enchanting-crafted) to your Knife for multicraft procs on bulk leather and scale production.

Key Recipes

Recipe	Product	Notes
Void-Touched Drums	Group Haste consumable	15% Haste for 2 min; 2-min cooldown; universal group utility
Forest Hunter's Armor Kit	Agility + Stamina leg enhancement	Core raider consumable for Agility specs
Silvermoon Agent's Coat	Epic leather chest	Endgame leather armor
Row Walker's Insurance	Epic leather chest	Alternative endgame leather armor
Smuggler's Reinforced Gloves	Blue leather gloves	Leveling and early-progression piece

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How They Work Together

Skinning and Leatherworking have direct material synergy with zero Auction House dependency:

• Every hide and scale you skin feeds directly into Leatherworking — Void-Tempered Leather and Scales are the primary inputs for all armor recipes. A Skinner-Leatherworker never needs to buy these materials.
• Thorough Tanning + Sharpen Your Knife eliminates RNG on material acquisition. With this unlocked, every skin produces a guaranteed output — your crafting supply is predictable and consistent.
• Dedicated Diffuser Motes sell across professions — even professions that don't use leather need Motes. Your Skinning produces a resource with universal demand, which means surplus materials beyond your own crafting needs convert cleanly to gold.
• Self-crafted armor kits and Drums — Forest Hunter's Armor Kit and Void-Touched Drums are consumables every raid uses every week. With Leatherworking, your consumable cost is zero beyond the farming time.
• Craft your own Hideworker's Cover first — unlike Tailoring (which needs external tools from Blacksmiths and Engineers) or Enchanting (which needs Jewelcrafting rods), Leatherworking can bootstrap its own profession accessories. Self-crafting your smock before upgrading anything else is more efficient than buying from the AH.

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Weekly Checklist

Skinning:

• Complete the Skinning weekly quest (+3 KP)
• Farm High-Value Beast routes for hide and scale stockpile
• Run Diffusers if Mote supply is needed for crafting or gold
• Check open-world Skinning treasure locations (one-time, +3 KP each)

Leatherworking:

• Complete the Leatherworking weekly quest (+2 KP)
• Craft one Gold-quality item (+2 KP)
• Restock Void-Touched Drums for raid night
• Restock Forest Hunter's Armor Kits for raid night
• Check the crafting order board for sell opportunities

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Two-Week Plan

Week 1 — Foundation

Days 1–3: Level both professions. Skinning to 50 while questing — skin every creature you kill. Start Leatherworking immediately and work through trainer recipes with your farmed Void-Tempered Leather. Invest first KP into Thorough Tanning (Skinning) and Flawless Fortes (Leatherworking) to unlock Drums and Armor Kits.

Days 4–7: Push Leatherworking to 67 via trainer recipes. Complete both weekly profession quests. Farm High-Value Beasts specifically for material stockpile. Craft your Hideworker's Cover as soon as it's available.

Week 2 — Raid Ready

Days 8–10: Reach skill 100 in both professions. With Flawless Fortes unlocked, you can now produce Void-Touched Drums and Forest Hunter's Armor Kits consistently. You are consumable-independent for raid night.

Days 11–14: Invest KP into Lasting Leather (or Safeguarding Scales for mail wearers). Craft your first Gold-quality armor pieces with Concentration. With Thorough Tanning generating consistent hide supply and your specialty tree unlocked, Gold output becomes achievable by the end of week two.

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Tips & Common Mistakes

• Prioritise High-Value Beasts from day one — a standard creature yields 1–2 materials; an HVB yields up to 10. Your entire material economy scales on how many HVBs you're clearing. Learn their spawn locations in your primary farming zone.
• Craft Drums before your first raid — Void-Touched Drums require Flawless Fortes investment but the recipe is not gated behind high skill. Push KP into this tree early so you're contributing Haste to your group from the first lockout.
• Don't vendor failed Leatherworking crafts — Silver-quality armor pieces can be traded or sold via the crafting order system. They are worth more than their vendor price to players gearing through normal or heroic content.
• Sharpen Your Knife is your most important talent — guaranteed hide/scale per skin removes the randomness from your supply chain. It directly determines how many crafts you can produce per farming session. Invest in Thorough Tanning before anything else in Skinning.
• Your accessories are self-crafted — unlike most professions that need a Blacksmith or Engineer for their tools, Leatherworking crafts its own smock and regalia. Craft the Hideworker's Cover on day one; don't wait until you have Gold-quality materials.
• Diffusers have no cooldown — the Gainful Gathering / Dedicated Diffuser tree is genuinely strong for passive income. Motes are consumed by every crafting profession. Running Diffusers alongside your normal HVB farming costs nothing and produces a broadly demanded reagent.