Leatherworking

Leatherworking is a primary profession that uses the leather gathered through Skinning to make cloaks, bags, leather and mail armor, and armor kits, the patches and stitching that improve an armor's defence. Its armor is mostly useful to the leather and mail wearers: the Druid, Hunter, Shaman, Monk and Rogue.

Most leatherworking can be done anywhere if you have the materials, and the source notes it needs no special tool or workplace. Crafters can outfit themselves and friends or sell rare pieces. See Equipment, Armor Types and Stats for armor types.

Since patch 8.0.1 (2018) every expansion has its own skill bar with a small cap, instead of one long bar that covered all expansions together. Classic runs from 1 to 300; the newer bars are much shorter:

Trainers around the world grant the Apprentice rank and the first patterns. You level by crafting, and patterns turn from orange to yellow, green and gray as you improve, so you keep learning higher ones from trainers, vendors, loot or the Auction House; some need reputation.

Skinning is the key partner, since most recipes use leather from skinnable creatures (see Gathering Professions). Leatherworking also feeds Enchanting, because its gear can be disenchanted.

Leatherworkers can turn lower grades of leather into higher ones, needing more of the lower grade at each step. Conversions only work inside one expansion's materials. Some examples:

• Knothide Leather (Outland): 5 scraps make 1 leather, and 5 leather make 1 heavy leather.
• Borean Leather (Northrend): 5 scraps make 1 leather, 6 leather make 1 heavy leather, and Braeg Stoutbeard in Dalaran trades 1 Arctic Fur for 10 heavy leather.
• Savage Leather (Cataclysm): 5 scraps make 1 leather, 5 leather make 1 heavy leather, and many leatherworking supply vendors trade 1 Pristine Hide for 10 heavy leather.
• Exotic scales from several expansions: 10 fragments make 1 scale (fragments were added in patch 6.0.2).
• Daily crafts: Burnished Leather once a day from 20 Raw Beast Hide and 10 Gorgrond Flytrap (at least 8 leather), and Magnificent Hide once a day from 20 Mist-Touched Leather or 20 Prismatic Scale.

• Specializations: before patch 4.0.1 there were Elemental (agility leather), Tribal (intellect leather) and Dragonscale (intellect mail) Leatherworking. Their patterns were opened to everyone or removed.
• Personal perks: leatherworkers could add Fur Lining to their own bracers and Leg Reinforcements to their own leg armor, which needed at least 400 skill and bound the gear. These were removed in patch 6.0.2.
• Patch 7.0.3 added new mail patterns for levels 8 to 35 to fit the armor change for mail classes such as Hunters and Shamans.