Leather

Leather can mean a couple of things in World of Warcraft:

1. A type of skin ingredient item usually gathered with the Skinning profession from a skinnable corpse resource. These items can usually be used directly by the Leatherworking profession without prior processing or treatment.
2. A type of armor used by less fragile, more agile character classes, as compared cloth wearers. Generally better than Cloth armor for defense.
   See Weapons & Armor.

Leather skin

In this sense, leather is collected by skinning beasts. These items can usually be used directly by the Leatherworking profession without prior processing or treatment. The type of leather is usually directly related to the level of animal being skinned.

Leatherworkers can also combine lighter leathers into heavier ones, even combining ruined leather scraps into usable leathers.

Leather is closely related to Hides, although Hides are rarer and must often be prepared for use.

Basic leather

This section concerns content that is out-of-date. Reason: Needs update for Cataclysm and beyond.

It seems the lowest level mob which can be skinned may now be level 5. This needs verification, though experience shows it may be true.

•  [Ruined Leather Scraps] (lvl 1-17 mobs)
•  [Light Leather] (lvl 1-27 mobs) (with recipe, made from 3 Ruined Leather Scraps)
•  [Medium Leather] (lvl 15-38 mobs) (with recipe, made from 4 Light Leathers)
•  [Heavy Leather] (lvl 26-46 mobs) (with recipe, made from 5 Medium Leathers)
•  [Thick Leather] (lvl 35-58 mobs) (with recipe, made from 6 Heavy Leathers)
•  [Rugged Leather] (lvl 45-60 mobs) (with recipe, made from 6 Thick Leathers)
•  [Knothide Leather Scraps] (lvl 58+ mobs, in Outland)
•  [Knothide Leather] (lvl 58+ mobs, in Outland) (with recipe, made from 5 Knothide Leather Scraps)
•  [Heavy Knothide Leather] (with recipe, made from 5 Knothide Leathers)
•  [Borean Leather] (lvl 73+ mobs, in Northrend) (made from 5 Borean Leather Scraps)
•  [Heavy Borean Leather] (with recipe, made from 6 Borean Leathers)
•  [Savage Leather]
•  [Heavy Savage Leather]

Crafted leather

This section concerns content that is out-of-date. Reason: Needs update for Burning Crusade and beyond.

•  [Enchanted Leather] - Created by Enchanters from Rugged Leather

Special leather

This section concerns content that is out-of-date. Reason: Needs update for Wrath and beyond.

•  [Thin Kodo Leather] - From Kodos
•  [Devilsaur Leather] - From Devilsaurs
•  [Warbear Leather] - From high-level Bears
•  [Primal Bat Leather] - obtained from bats in Zul'Gurub.
•  [Primal Tiger Leather] - obtained from tigers in Zul'Gurub.
•  [Core Leather] - obtained from Ancient Core Hounds in the Molten Core. Requires 310 Skinning.
•  [Crystal Infused Leather] - from basilisks and ravagers.
•  [Thick Clefthoof Leather] - from clefthooves and Elekk Demolishers

The Ruined Leather Scraps which you get when skinning low level mobs are vendor sell items unless you also have Leatherworking, in which case 3 of them can be made into light leather. The frequency of getting these drops off rapidly around 10th level mobs and you will not see anymore of them at all once you are skinning 17th level and above mobs. Note: As of Patch 3.0.3 you do not need the Leatherworking skill to convert 5x Borean Leather Scraps to 1x Borean Leather.

Leather conversion

This section concerns content that is out-of-date. Reason: Needs update for Mists of Pandaria and beyond.

Leatherworkers can assemble low-level leathers into higher-level leather.

#	Ingredients	Product		Skill
3	Ruined Leather Scraps	→	Light Leather	1
4	Light Leather	→	Medium Leather	100
5	Medium Leather	→	Heavy Leather	150
6	Heavy Leather	→	Thick Leather	200
6	Thick Leather	→	Rugged Leather	250
5	Knothide Leather Scraps	→	Knothide Leather	300
5	Knothide Leather	→	Heavy Knothide Leather	325
5	Borean Leather Scraps	→	Borean Leather	0
6	Borean Leather	→	Heavy Borean Leather	375
5	Savage Leather Scraps	→	Savage Leather	425
5	Savage Leather	→	Heavy Savage Leather	425

Removed leathers

This section concerns content that is out-of-date. Reason: Needs update for Cataclysm and beyond.

•  [Zhevra Leather] - Drops off of Zhevras; Patch 2.3.0 (13-Nov-2007): was removed as an ingredient
  
•  [Frostsaber Leather] - From Frostsabers; Patch 3.1.0 (14-Apr-2009): was removed as an ingredient
  
•  [Chimera Leather] - From Chimaeras; Patch 3.1.0 (14-Apr-2009): was removed as an ingredient
  

Leather armor

See Leather armor.