Leatherworking is one of the Refining Skills in Amazon's new MMO, New World.
There's no prerequisite to getting started with this skill, just take the raw hides you collect from Aeternum's many creatures to a Tanning Station in a Settlement and off you go.
Be mindful that you'll need a higher level Tanning Station to refine higher quality Leathers, so make sure you visit a Settlement which has leveled up its workstations.
Is Leatherworking for me?
Weaponsmithing and Armoring recipes in particular require a lot of different leathers, with Light and Medium Armor dependent on the resource. There are also Engineering and Arcana recipes that require leather, so Leatherworking becomes a refining skill of great importance.
It's a profession which has perfect synergy with the Tracking & Skinning gathering skill, being the primary provider of hides for refining.
Types of Leather
 Coarse Leather |
 Rugged Leather |
 Layered Leather |
 Infused Leather |
 Runic Leather |
How to get special resources to craft Runic Leather
A Tier 5 Epic-quality resource, Runic Leather is naturally the hardest resource to craft.
For a start, it requires a Leatherworking skill of Lv. 200 and a Tier 5 Tannery, something which requires a lot of grinding not just by you, but by the faction which controls a Settlement.
It requires Infused Leather, which in turn requires Iron Hides and Layered Leather. Be prepared to farm the likes of Timber Wolves, Bears, Elk and the various wild cats (Bobcat, Lynx, Primal Lion, Mountain Lion) significantly for both the Iron Hides and the Thick Hides, which refine into Layered Leather.
However, the biggest grind will be getting the Rare Resources needed. Smolderhide and Scarhide are Tier 5 rare hides dropped from the same creatures.
To increase your luck when skinning creatures for rare resources, consider the following buffs:
Craft this charm into a Skinning Knife to add the perk.
Skinning Luck
Gain 9.3% chance of finding rare items when Skinning.
Increases luck when skinning.
Placing one of these trophies in your house will grant an active buff to Skinning Luck.
Minor Trophy: 500 bonus to luck
Basic Trophy: 1000 bonus to luck
Major Trophy: 1500 bonus to luck
Increases luck when skinning.
Consuming Roasted Carrots or Herb-Roasted Carrots will increase your luck when skinning for a period of time:
Roasted Carrots: 1000 points / 20 minutes
Herb-Roasted Carrots: 1400 point / 25 minutes
Where to find resources for Leatherworking
- Rawhide -- mammals in Lv. 0-35 zones
- Thick Hide -- mammals in Lv. 35-45 zones
- Iron Hide -- mammals in Lv. 45-60 zones
You can obtain Tannin for refining Leather in Supply Crates. This is a bit of a lottery as to how much and how often it drops, but as long as you're checking all crates while exploring you should pick up plenty.
You could also purchase it from the Trading Post, although this can quickly become a money sink. Given how easily it can be found with a little time, we wouldn't recommend this if the price seems high.
Should you find yourself in a bind, you can purchase Material Converters from your Faction Store. This one-time-use machine can be used at a Tier 3 or higher Tannery, and is a reagent in a recipe that converts a stack of another refining material into Tannin.
- Common Material Converter: Used with 20 Tier 3 Refining Materials to create 15 Tannin. Requires Leatherworking Skill Lv. 50, Tannery Tier 3.
- Advanced Material Converter: Used with 20 Tier 4 Refining Materials to create 15 Rested Tannin. Requires Leatherworking Skill Lv. 100, Tannery Tier 4.
- Masterwork Material Converter: Used with 20 Tier 5 Refining Materials to create 15 Aged Tannin. Requires Leatherworking Skill Lv. 150, Tannery Tier 5.
A gathering skill that will help you hunt down Leather and other key resources, here's all you need to know about Tracking & Skinning in Amazon's New World.
Leveling up your Tanning Trade Skill
There's no real secret to leveling up refining trade skills -- you just need to keep refining your raw materials into leather.
Naturally, higher level refining will grant more Trade Skill XP past certain milestones, usually when the next recipe is unlocked. For example, it's better to refine Rugged Leather than Coarse Leather, once that becomes available.
Leveling is a a big part of any MMO, and New World doesn't make it easy with long quest chains and plentiful settlement tasks. We've put together this guide to help you reach max level quickly.
