Introduction
Skinning is a gathering trade skill in New World Aeternum that allows players to gather raw hides and fur resources from skinning animals that will be used in crafting trade skills; Amoring, Weaponsmithing, Arcana, and Engineering. It will also be used in the leatherworking refining trade skill. We’ll cover all this and more in our New World Skinning Guide.
Skinning in New World
When first starting out you will need a flint skinning knife to start skinning animals. This requires engineering level 0 along with 1 flint and 1 green wood to craft it. You can pick up both the flint and green wood without the need of a gathering tool by walking up to the respective bush/flint and pressing your interact key (Default “E). Once all are obtained a tier 1 campfire or workshop is required to craft the flint skinning knife. Once crafted you will need to equip it and you can start gathering.
Higher character levels are able to use better tiers of Skinning Knives:
| Item | Level Range | Tier | Gathering Speed |
|---|---|---|---|
| Iron Skinning Knife | 5 | II | 200 – 350% |
| Steel Skinning Knife | 20 | III | 350 – 450% |
| Starmetal Skinning Knife | 40 | IV | 450 – 625% |
| Orichalcum Skinning Knife | 45 | V | 625 – 850% |
| Mythril Skinning Knife | 55 | V | 850 – 1100% |
It is advised to use the highest tier possible followed by the best gear score possible to best increase your gathering speed.
Skinning Thresholds
As you level your skinning you can skin creatures up to certain levels.
| Trade Skill Level | Animal Level |
|---|---|
| 0-49 | 0 – 30 |
| 50-99 | 31 – 45 |
| 100-149 | 45 – 60 |
| 150+ | 60 – 65 |
| 205 | 65 – 70 |
How to level Skinning
The information contained in this section will assist you in leveling your skinning trade skill. Leveling skinning is a straightforward process. The general rule of thumb is if you can skin it you should for the experience. You will find people leave dead animals all over, so between that and what you kill, if you have the skill required to skin it then do.
Rare Gathering Items
Rare items can be found when gathering. These items, when taken to a corresponding refining station, can be researched to give the player a substantial amount of gathering tradeskill XP. These items are currently available in 3 rarities for Mining, Harvesting, Skinning and Logging. The skinning variants consist of:
- Common – Strange Bone
- Found when skinning Predators that give Rawhide
- Uncommon – Abnormal Bone
- Found when skinning Predators that give Thick Hide
- Rare – Unusual Bone
- Found when skinning Predators that give Iron Hide
- Epic – Bizzare Bone
- Found when skinning Predators that give Dark Hide
- These Bones can be researched at a Tannery for a boost in Skinning Tradeskill XP
Level 1-250
The best way to level up Skinning is to skin everything you see and kill. While you progress through the zones in level the animals will also require a higher skill to harvest. As you level up and gain more gathering speed this of course will change the ratios.
You will find the four starting areas where you will be skinning everything until roughly level 70 in skinning. Wolves will be the most abundant at the caves in each starting zone, most people will just kill what they need for their quests leaving the carcass for you to skin for the experience so this part shouldn’t take too long.
From level 70 and beyond you will be working with the various animals in the next higher zones. There you would want to look for Lushhunt Pointer, for example, a level 34 demon-dog type creature. If you skin the animals while questing in the areas you will easily fill your bags between quests to make the trips back to town worthwhile.
There is an experience perk that you will want to seek out on your Knife called Tanner’s Discipline. This perk increases your Skinning experience based on the gear score value of the Knife. The perk is limited to only knives. Having this perk is a must if you are trying to power-level Skinning. At level 250 its great to have for pushing Aptitude Levels.
Finally, make sure your Dexterity Attribute is as high as possible while leveling Skinning.
Resources by Tier
| Creature Level | Tier | Resources |
|---|---|---|
| 1 to 35 | 1-3 | Rawhide, Ragehide, Fur, Scaly Hide, Shadowfur |
| 36 to 55 | 4 | Thick Hide, Thick Fur, Brightscale Hide, Shifthide |
| 56 and 62 | 5 | Iron Hide, Infused Fur, Infused Rawhide, Smolderhide, Scarhide |
| 62 and Above | 5 | Dark Hide, Infused Fur, Smolderhide, Scarhide |
Along with the above resources you will get various meats and special resources from the animals you skin. For example, you will get feathers from skinning a Turkey.
Enhancing your Skinning
Buffs and perks are the 2 main ways to enhance your harvesting. Below is a chart for the sickle perks and their associated perk labels. You can not have 2 perks with the same perk label on your item.
| Tool | Perk Label | Perk Name |
|---|---|---|
| All Tools | Azoth Gain | Azoth Extraction |
| All Tools | GatheringProc | Gathering Recovery |
| All Tools | GatheringProc | Gathering Alacrity |
| All Tools | 5th Perk, Motes | Fire Alignment |
| All Tools | 5th Perk, Motes | Earth Alignment |
| All Tools | 5th Perk, Motes | Air Alignment |
| All Tools | 5th Perk, Motes | Water Alignment |
| All Tools | 5th Perk, Motes | Spirit Alignment |
| All Tools | 5th Perk, Motes | Life Alignment |
| All Tools | 5th Perk, Motes | Death Alignment |
| Skinning Knife | Bonus | Tanner’s Discipline |
| Skinning Knife | Bonus | Skinning Efficiency |
| Skinning Knife | Luck | Skinning Luck |
| Skinning Knife | Yield | Skinning Yield |
Buffs can stack if they come from different sources. For example, you can stack yield increase buff from a proficiency potion and territory control. If you attempt to stack buffs from the same source it will just refresh your buff timer.
There is a skinner armor set that is ideal for players to use while skinning as it should always come with dexterity and reinforced skinning luck. Players should encounter these items around level 19+ monsters as a rare drop and supply chests.
Other Skinning Perks & Buffs
| Type | Name |
|---|---|
| Armor Perk | Reinforced Skinning Luck |
| Amulet Perk | Adored Skinning Luck |
| Bag Perk | Tanner’s Burden |
| Bag Perk | Extra Pockets |
| Potion | Proficiency Booster |
| Food | Skinning Luck Food |
| Trophy | Skinning Trophy |
Dexterity Bonus
- 25 Points +10% skinning Speed
- 50 Points 20% haste for 3s after skinning
- 100 Points +50 encumbrance
- 150 Points -10% weight reduction for skinned items
- 200 Points +20% skinning speed
- 250 Points +10% yield when skinning
- 300 Points Gain 20% haste for 5s after killing a prey
- 350 Points +10% chance of finding rare items while skinning
Territory Buffs:
- Cutlass Key Fort +10% to global gathering luck
- Monarch’s Bluff Fort +5% Increase to all experience gains
- Territory Control +10% Yield while gathering
- Farmer’s Harvest +20% Yield while Skinning for 3 days. (Settlement Quality of Life Buff)
- Territory Bonus [5-37]% Gathering Speed – Varies based on how many points. Bonus decays at 86.5% per point
PvP:
- While Flagged +3% Gathering Luck
Music Buffs:
You can check our Music guide for a full breakdown of the music trade skill.
- Decidedly Dexterous: Gathering speed increases by 75% for 30-90min.
- Fortune’s Favor: Gathering yield increases by 3%-10% for 30-90min.
- Luck’s Labor: Gathering luck increases by 2% – 5% for 30-90min.
Skinning Luck
Luck is important for Skinning is because it will increase the odds of you obtaining a rare Skinning item and an increase to items gathered. Some thresholds must be reached to obtain the rare items. These thresholds can be obtained by just level Skinning but can be reached sooner with the help of the resources.
New World Skinning Guide Conclusion
That completes our New World Skinning Guide. For all the locations of all the Animals that you can skin in New World Aeternum, Check out our Interactive New World Map. For more New World Aeternum guides be sure to check our comprehensive guide library!