The Best Spots For Gathering Professions

No matter how strange and dangerous a place may be, enterprising gatherers can always find many useful things across its landscape. The otherworldly realms known as the Shadowlands are no exception. Its death-touched flora, fauna, and minerals may be eerie, but their mystical nature makes them very valuable indeed.

Members of the gathering professions – herbalists, miners, skinners, and fishers – have a huge part to play in the expansion’s economy. From Legendary Crafting to scrumptious meals and powerful potions, their spoils are guaranteed to find plenty of use – if not with the gatherers and their friends, then from eager buyers in the Auction House. However, making the most of those new opportunities requires careful planning, both to level up quickly and to harvest resources efficiently. As is often the case, the key thing to keep in mind is location, since some spots and routes are simply much more optimal for specific gathering activities. Many factors can affect that, including not only the availability of gathering sources but also the ease of access and the absence of dangerous hostile mobs.

Skinning

Desolate Leathers, Callous Hides, and all other raw materials acquired by Skinning can drop from any skinnable creatures in any part of the Shadowlands. Since there are no zone-exclusive leathers, it is possible to get good results from focusing on just the most convenient realms. Both Bastion and Ardenweald can be a skinner’s paradise due to their high density of skinnable creatures, many of which are not hostile until attacked. Kala’s Den near the center and the route between The Eternal Forge and Hero’s Rest in the north are the best options for leather farming in the Bastion. In the Ardenweald, you may wish to go south of the Dreamsong Fenn or into the Gormhive in the southeast. The other two realms are less welcoming, but if story quests or Covenant affiliations lead you to spend a lot of time there, you may find some good opportunities in either. Maldraxxus has a good bug farming area directly to the south of the Theater of Pain, while the south of Revendreth has many skinnable beasts lurking around Darkhaven and Wanecrypt Hill.

Herbalism

The spoils of Herbalism depend on the zones. Death Blossoms can spawn in all four realms, while Nightshades can grow even in the Maw. However, farming the end-game zone for herbs is unlikely to be efficient, given its many dangers. The smarter option would be to harvest those herbs alongside the ones that are exclusive to particular zones. The ideal route for harvesting Rising Glory would take you around the center of Bastion, setting out eastwards from the Temple of Courage and looping around Hero’s Rest. The enchanted forests of Ardenweald are unsurprisingly rich with herbs, so any path that will not take you to any monsters is likely to pay off. However, Glitterfall Basin, Hibernal Hollow, and Dreamsong Fenn can be especially rewarding for seekers of Vigil’s Torch. Widowbloom can be harvested efficiently in the south of Revendreth, particularly along the road from Sinfall to Darkhaven. Going around Maldraxxus’ Theater of Pain presents the best chance to gather a lot of Marrowroot, though encounters with at least low-level mobs are practically unavoidable no matter where you go.

Mining​​​​​​​

Mining can produce Laestrite and Elethium Ores and useful Stones in all zones. As with Herbalism, there are also exclusive resources that you can only obtain in specific realms. Once again, it makes the most sense to look for the universal resources alongside the specific ones. More so than in some other parts of the World of Warcraft universe, the deposits in those realms are concentrated in rocky, mountainous locations and among the hills. The Bastion, with its plentiful soaring mountains and largely friendly wildlife, maybe the best area for leveling up Mining. The stretch between the Temple of Humility and Purity’s Pinnacle is especially good for gathering the celestial domain’s Solenium Ore, along with other mineral riches. Phaedrum Ore and Twilight Bark are concentrated in the central regions of Ardenweald, especially around the Hibernal Hollow. Miners looking for Revendreth’s Sinvyr Ore should travel to the area directly south of Sinfall, which is densely packed with deposits. Maldraxxus is perhaps the least mining-friendly realm, with few accessible nodes and many interfering monsters, but it still offers some good opportunities in the mountains to the north of the Theater of Pain.