Stranglethorn Vale Skinning Route: Tigers, Panthers and Raptors (30–45)

Stranglethorn Vale is the first zone where a skinning knife pays the bills on its own. Nearly every clearing between the camps in the north and the bay at the southern tip is patrolled by tigers, panthers and raptors, almost all of them skinnable, and the hunting quests that pull players into the jungle mean nobody looks twice at a character killing cats for an hour. This stranglethorn vale skinning route is a north-to-south loop for levels 30 to 45 on vanilla-era realms such as WoW Forever: it follows the cats and raptors through the trees, picks up Liferoot and Khadgar's Whisker where the ground is wet, stays clear of troll ruins and naga pools, and ends at a vendor and a neutral auction house so you can empty your bags and start again.

Where and what you need

The zone sits south of Duskwood and runs from roughly level 30 in the north to 45 at the southern tip. The northern third, around the two camps, is gentle: young cats and raptors in the low 30s. The middle, around the big lake and the Horde base camp on the west coast, is mid to high 30s. The south, around the stone arena and the gorilla valley, is high 30s to low 40s. Start the northern half at 32 or 33, run the whole loop at 37 or 38, and farm the southern end without constant resting from 40 upward.

Skinning is the point of the trip. The skill you need is roughly five times the level of the mob, so the young tigers near the camps want about 160, the panthers in the centre about 190, and the elder beasts and gorillas in the south 200 or more. Arrive with 150 and you will gain quickly; train Artisan Skinning as soon as you reach 200. Herbalism pairs well with the loop: Liferoot grows along every riverbank and lake shore, Khadgar's Whisker and Fadeleaf hide in the undergrowth, and Kingsblood and Goldthorn turn up in between. Mining works too, but bag space is the real limit here and leather fills it faster than ore.

Gear needs are modest: a solid weapon from a dungeon run and a stack or two of food. Bring the biggest bags you own; a lap fills four of them with leather, hides, vendor greys and the odd green. Both factions use the bay's neutral auction house at the southern tip, which is where most of your leather should go.

The route

The loop runs north to south and ends at the bay. Alliance start at the rebel camp just inside the zone border; Horde start at the base camp on the west coast and join at the second waypoint.

1. Rebel camp and the northern road. Follow the road south from the camp toward the hunters' expedition camp. The clearings on both sides hold young tigers and panthers in the low 30s: quick kills, easy skins and your first stacks of Medium Leather.
2. Tiger grove. West and south-west of the expedition camp the jungle thickens and the adult tigers roam. Work it in a wide figure of eight, and do not drift toward the north-west coast: the troll ruins there mean casters, friends called in and nothing to skin.
3. Raptor hills. Cross the road eastward and climb toward the big lake. Raptors prowl the slopes in the low to mid 30s, fast and often in pairs, so pull with a ranged ability and fight on the slope rather than in a hollow where a second one can join.
4. Lake shore. Follow the western and southern shore. Liferoot grows in the mud at the water's edge, and the crocolisks in the shallows skin into Heavy Leather. Give the goblin camp on the northern bank a wide berth.
5. Central jungle. South of the lake, between the river and the main road, the stealthed panthers take over: high 30s and the best Heavy Leather in the zone, with Khadgar's Whisker and Fadeleaf in the undergrowth. Horde can swing west to the base camp to sell.
6. Arena outskirts. Stay on the road until the stone arena shows above the trees. Elder tigers and panthers circle the ground around it. Keep off the arena floor, which hosts a free-for-all chest event that draws players looking for a fight, and ignore the troll ruins to the east.
7. Gorilla valley. South-west of the arena the land drops into a misty valley full of gorillas: Heavy Leather, and from the elders the first Thick Leather. They hit hard but die as safe single pulls. Do not follow the shore past the valley; the pools there belong to the naga, who travel in groups and skin into nothing.
8. Booty Bay. Finish at the bay on the southern tip. Repair, sell the greys, post the leather on the neutral auction house, pick up the flight path, then fly north or hearth and start over.

What you get

Source	Drops and nodes	Why it sells
Young tigers and panthers (north, low 30s)	Medium Leather, Medium Hide, grey claws and fangs	Medium Leather feeds leatherworkers between skill 100 and 150, and the greys vendor for solid silver
Adult tigers and raptors (mid 30s)	Medium and Heavy Leather, Raptor Hide	Heavy Leather is the workhorse leather from 150 to 225, and raptor hides go into a few popular patterns
Panthers and crocolisks (high 30s)	Heavy Leather, Heavy Hide	Heavy Hide is needed for several mid-level recipes and rarely sits long on the auction house
Elder cats and gorillas (low 40s)	Heavy and Thick Leather, Thick Hide now and then	Thick Leather opens the 200-plus crafting band and prices climb with it
Riverbanks and the lake shore	Liferoot, Kingsblood, some Goldthorn	Liferoot is an alchemy staple for healing and mana potions at this level
Jungle undergrowth	Khadgar's Whisker, Fadeleaf	Both go into mid-level potions and elixirs that higher-level players keep buying
Every mob in the zone	Grey junk, green world drops	Greys add up fast and greens are the lottery ticket

Gold per hour

Be realistic about the numbers. Working the northern half alone at 33 to 36, skinning everything and vendoring the greys, expect roughly 8 to 15 gold an hour, most of it Medium Leather and trash. Running the full loop at 38 to 42, with Heavy Leather, hides and a few greens, roughly 15 to 30 gold an hour is typical on a populated realm, and Herbalism adds a few more if you actually stop for the Liferoot.

What moves those figures most is the auction price of Heavy Leather, which swings with how many leatherworkers are levelling on your realm that week. Competition matters too: during busy hours players on the hunting quests kill the same cats, but many of them do not skin, which leaves free corpses for you. Fighting mobs five levels above you means more resting and more deaths, and a tight loop with one sale at the end beats a sprawling one with two trips to town.

Tips

• Skin other people's leftovers. The hunting quests send everyone after the same cats and raptors, and a looted corpse is still yours to skin once they walk away.
• Loot before you skin, every time. A skinned corpse vanishes with whatever was still inside it.
• If "skill too low" shows up more than once in a while, stay north a few levels longer instead of pushing south; failed skins are time wasted twice.
• Fight on open ground and on the road. Panthers stealth and raptors pair up, and a fight in deep brush is how a safe pull turns into three.
• Treat every troll ruin as off limits. Even if you can take one troll, they call friends, they drop no leather, and the detour never pays.
• Sell leather in full stacks on the neutral auction house and undercut gently; dumping it at a vendor leaves most of your hour on the table.

Running it with ForeverBot

The whole loop fits the Farming section as it is. Walk it once with Record loop to lay down the waypoints, then fill the Targets list with the beasts you want: tigers, panthers, raptors, crocolisks and gorillas. Leave trolls, naga and goblins off the list and the Target key will never pick them, even when they wander into range. Turn on Auto loot, Sell gray items and Go to a vendor when bags are full, and keep Repair at vendors and Buy food and water ticked so a long session does not end with a broken weapon and an empty food stack. The status panel shows kills, gold and gold per hour as you go, which is the honest number to compare with the estimates above.

Skinning itself lives under Professions, where the Skinning meter tracks your progress, Skip nodes above your skill stops the bot from attempting skins it cannot finish, and Remember nodes keeps the Liferoot and Khadgar's Whisker spots by the lake in the loop for the next lap. In Settings, set the Navigator's Route mode to safest so the arrow walks around the troll ruins rather than through them, and give the Arrival radius some slack for the slopes near the lake. The Eat below HP and Drink below mana sliders in the Leveling section's Combat and rest panel apply here too. Plans and the one-month option are on the pricing page.

FAQ

What skinning skill do I need for Stranglethorn Vale?

Roughly five times the level of the mob: about 160 for the young cats in the north, 190 for the panthers in the centre, and 200 to 225 for the elder beasts and gorillas in the south. Come in with 150 and the zone carries you to the Expert cap; just train Artisan Skinning at 200.

Is this better than farming Un'Goro Crater for leather?

Up to the low 40s, yes: the mobs here die faster and the bay is close. Past 45 the devilsaurs and other giants of Un'Goro move you onto Rugged Leather and Devilsaur Leather, which is a different kind of money. See the Un'Goro Crater devilsaur leather farm when you get there.

Can I run this loop at level 30?

You can start the northern half at 30 if your gear is decent and your skinning is at least 150, but everything south of the lake will be slow and risky until 35 or so. If you are under-geared, finish the Duskwood farming loop at Raven Hill first; it is safer money and the walk south is short.