You get Light Hide in World of Warcraft: Forever by skinning low-level beasts, roughly levels 10 to 20: it comes now and then as an extra alongside the Light Leather you normally get, so it takes a lot of skinning to collect a stack. No vendor sells it, so if you do not skin, the Auction House is the other way to get it.
Leatherworkers want it because it becomes Cured Light Hide, which a long list of Forever’s leather recipes need, including several that did not exist in the original game. Below are the best beasts and zones to farm, the Skinning skill each needs, how to raise your odds, and what Light Hide is used for. Everything is as of November 7, three days after launch.
How Light Hide Drops
Light Hide is a skinning result, not a loot drop. You kill a beast, loot it, then skin the empty corpse, and most of the time you get Light Leather. Every so often the skin gives Light Hide as well. That is why players searching for it after an hour of skinning have only one or two: it is the uncommon result, and the only fix is volume.
You need the Skinning profession and a Skinning Knife in your bags to skin at all. Our guide to where to get a Skinning Knife covers the vendor and the trainer, and the same guide explains the skill rule: beasts up to level 10 need 1 Skinning, each level from 11 to 20 adds 10 to the requirement, and from level 20 on it is five times the beast’s level.
Where to Farm Light Hide
These beasts have given Light Hide when skinned in Forever. All of them come in packs or wide spawns, which matters more than anything else for a slow drop.
| Beast | Zone | Level | Skinning needed |
|---|---|---|---|
| Greater Plainstrider | The Barrens | 11 to 12 | 20 |
| Oasis Snapjaw | The Barrens (around the oases) | 15 to 16 | 60 |
| Great Goretusk | Westfall and Redridge Mountains | 16 to 17 | 70 |
| Starving Dire Wolf | Duskwood | about 20 | about 100 |
| Rabid Dire Wolf | Duskwood | 21 | 105 |
Horde: the Barrens is the obvious choice. Plainstriders are everywhere on the open grassland and Snapjaws crowd the oases, and both zones sit on the leveling path anyway.
Alliance: Westfall’s Great Goretusks are the closest, and you will be killing them for quests in that level range. Duskwood’s wolves are the next step up once your Skinning is near 100.
Any skinnable beast in this level band can give Light Hide, not only the ones above; these are simply dense, easy targets. Skin everything you kill while you quest and the hides add up without a dedicated farm.
How to Get More Light Hide Faster
- Skin every corpse, including other players’ kills. Once its killer has looted a beast, anyone can skin it, and each corpse can be skinned once.
- Farm where the beasts respawn quickly. Packs near quest hubs come back fast while other players are clearing them.
- Keep your Skinning a little above the zone. A higher skill does not change the odds of Light Hide, but it means you never skip a corpse because it is too high for you.
- Check the Auction House. Skinners who do not leatherwork sell their hides. It is often cheaper than an evening of farming. Our guide to the best professions for each class covers why Skinning pairs so well with Leatherworking.
What Light Hide Is Used For
The main use is Cured Light Hide, a Leatherworking recipe you can learn at skill 30. Check the recipe in your Professions window (press K) for the other materials it needs. Cured Light Hide then goes into a long list of leather items, including:
- Classic recipes: Fine Leather Gloves, Fine Leather Tunic, Hillman’s Leather Vest, Toughened Leather Armor, Embossed Leather Pants, Light Leather Pants, Moonglow Vest, Murloc Scale Breastplate, Black Whelp Tunic and the Deviate Scale Cloak.
- New in Forever: whole leather sets such as Brawler’s, Defender’s, Stormrider’s, Totemic, Trapper’s and Wisdom’s Leather (armor, belt, boots, gloves and pants), the Light Leather Reagent Bag, and new pieces such as the Azure and Cloudy Gustwoven Harness and Windraveled Jerkin.
The new sets use two to four Cured Light Hide per piece, so a leatherworker making a full set can burn through a stack quickly. Blizzard’s deep dive panel recap says Forever adds “over 600 new recipes across professions and level ranges,” which is why demand for a humble early hide is higher than it was in the original game.
Skinning and Leatherworking Together
If you are farming Light Hide for your own Leatherworking, you are already on the classic pairing, and it pays off beyond the hides. Leatherworking’s Camp Tent grants rested experience at a campsite and Skinning’s Camp Chair adds critical strike chance, so the two professions bring two camp features between them; our guide to how camping works lists every feature. Leatherworking also counts toward Legacy progress: our Legacy Points guide lists the crafting milestones. Every other guide is on our World of Warcraft hub.
Frequently Asked Questions
How do you get Light Hide in WoW Forever? By skinning low-level beasts, roughly levels 10 to 20. It comes now and then alongside Light Leather.
Where is the best place to farm Light Hide? The Barrens for Horde, with its Plainstriders and oasis Snapjaws, and Westfall’s Great Goretusks for Alliance.
Can you buy Light Hide from a vendor? No. Vendors do not sell it, but other players list it on the Auction House.
What is Light Hide used for? Leatherworkers turn it into Cured Light Hide at skill 30, which many leather armor recipes need, including Forever’s new leather sets.
Why am I not getting Light Hide when skinning? It is an uncommon result. Most skins give Light Leather, so it takes a lot of corpses to build up a stack.