Places to farm

This page is designed to help you gather hard-to-find materials that you may need for your chosen professions.


 * Note: this page is JUST for the hard-to-find items. Common items are not listed.

Essences and Reagents
Farming for reagents can be a time consuming affair, and many find it more cost efficient to just buy them off the Auction House. But as profit margins for blacksmiths are already meager at best, some still like to farm for these hard-to-get components. Be aware that many of the mobs suggested are also quest objectives, and are at peak hours hard to get at. All of these are also in contested zones, so keep an eye out for gankers if you are on a PvP server. Remember that an alchemist buddy with transmuting skills can be of great aid when you are looking for essences of different kinds.

Fire Reagents

 * Elemental Fire. Needed for Greater Fire Protection Potion and Robe of Power as well as several other recipes in many professions. Drops off almost any fire elemental in the game. A good place to get them with minimal effort would be the Burning Exiles in Arathi Highlands. Can also be transmuted by alchemists from Heart of Fire.
 * Heart of Fire. Needed for several Blacksmith plans. Drops off the Inferno Elemental or Blazing Elemental in the Searing Gorge, but not abundantly. Also drops off Living Blaze and Scorching Elemental at Fire Plume Ridge in Un'Goro Crater, probably at a higher rate than in the Searing Gorge.
 * Essence of Fire. Needed for Blazing Rapier, Fiery Plate Gauntlets, Sulfuron Hammer and the popular Fiery Weapon enchant. Drops off mobs in Blackrock Spire, Blackrock Depths, and Molten Core. Also drops off Living Blaze and Scorching Elemental at Fire Plume Ridge in Un'Goro Crater.
 * See item page

Earth Reagents

 * Elemental Earth. Needed for Glinting Steel Dagger, Elemental Sharpening Stone, Greater Nature Protection Potion, Earthen Leather Shoulders, Frost Leather Cloak, Robe of Power and Heavy Earthen Gloves to only name a few. A good place to farm would be the Desert Rumbler at Crystal Vale in Silithus. You may also find these in Arathi Highlands (very low, less than 3%, drop rate after Patch 4.0.1) and Badlands (also very low at less than 3% drop rate).
 * Core of Earth. Needed for The Shatterer and Runed Mithril Hammer. Drops off Land Rager in Tanaris, Greater Obsidian Elemental and Obsidian Elemental in the Burning Steppes, as well as Desert Rumbler in Silithus.
 * Essence of Earth. Used in several plans. Drops from Greater Obsidian Elemental and Obsidian Elemental in the Burning Steppes, Desert Rumbler in Silithus, Frostshard Rumblers in Winterspring, and elemental mobs in Molten Core.
 * See item page

Air Reagents

 * Elemental Air. Used in Edge of Winter and Robe of Power. Drops off almost any air elemental. Good drop rates from Thundering Exiles in Arathi Highlands, and Whirlwind Ripper and Whirlwind Stormwalker in Desolace.
 * Breath of Wind. Needed for Truesilver Champion and Phantom Blade. Drops off Gusting Vortex in Tanaris and Dust Stormer in Silithus.
 * Essence of Air. Used in many different plans. Slightly uncommon (drop rate was increased in 1.10). Normally drops from Air Elementals in Silithus.
 * Mote of Air. Cyclone elementals in Outland. (Nagrand/Shadowmoon Valley)

Water Reagents

 * Elemental Water. Used in Edge of Winter, Robe of Power, Greater Frost Protection Potion, Frost Leather Cloak as well as Azure Silk Belt. Drops from the water elemental. In Arathi Highlands (as of Patch 4.0.1) the Cresting Exile drops 1 out of every 15 that are killed at the Circle of East Binding. The Lesser Water Elemental in the Northern Stranglethorn islands drop 1 for every 10-12 that are killed.  The Sea Spray and Sea Elemental along the coast of Feralas are also thought to carry this Reagent.
 * Globe of Water. Needed for several plans and quests. Drops from many water elementals from level 45+.
 * Essence of Water. Needed for several plans. Drops from Scalding Springsurge in Winterspring and Purespring Elementals in Swamp of Sorrows.
 * Mote of Water. 10 of these will create you a Primal Water, needed for various healing enchants and other goods. These will drop off of water elementals in Outland (Nagrand/Shadowmoon Valley). Also can be fished from Pure Water nodes in Nagrand, which occur mostly in the Elemental Plateau.

Nature Reagents

 * Living Essence. Needed for several plans and enchants, such as those with +healing and Nature Resist attributes. Un'Goro Crater tar pits. Also off Frostleaf Treants and Wintervine Lashers in northern Winterspring.
 * Mote of Life. Drops from Bog Lords and Fungal Giants in Zangarmarsh. They drop more commonly in the Deadmire but also reasonably well just to the east of Spawning Glen

Other Reagents

 * Lava Core and Fiery Core. Needed for several high-level plans. Only drops off elementals inside Molten Core. This has led the AH prices on some servers to be extremely high (up towards 300 Gold). Best bet to get these is to join a guild that raids Molten Core regularly.
 * Blood of the Mountain. Needed for several high-level plans. These can be mined from Dark Iron Deposits inside Molten Core and Blackrock Depths. Also drops off Molten Destroyer inside Molten Core.
 * Ichor of Undeath. Needed for Blight (polearm), and for water breathing potions. Drops off undead in Eastern Plaguelands, Highborne in Winterspring, and most undead mobs in Stratholme, Dire Maul, and Scholomance.
 * Essence of Undeath. Needed for Annihilator and Corruption (sword). Drops from undead mobs inside Stratholme.

A good place to get Core of Earth and Breath of Wind is across the southern Abyssal Sands in Tanaris. From The Noxious Lair in the west, head east staying north of the Dunemaul Compound until you are south of Broken Pillar. Then head southeast to the area immediately north of The Gaping Chasm. If you criss-cross a bit in said areas you should run into several Land Ragers and Gusting Vortexes on each round.

Fire Plume Ridge in Un'Goro Crater is a good spot to farm for Heart of Fire and Essence of Fire, as the elementals there drop both kinds. It's about the only place to get Essence of Fire outside of Blackrock Mountain, so you should be prepared for some competition.

Alchemy
Almost everything used here comes from Herbalism. See down this page for things that can be farmed.

Vials of the various kinds are purchased at Alchemy vendors and Trade vendors. There is a vendor for the basic vials in almost every civilized area.

Mining
Copper and Tin: Loch Modan is a zone abundantly filled with both metals; tin is mainly found in the east half of the zone, with some concentrations to the northeast by the elite Ogre camp. The rather low number of mobs and their predictable behaviour makes this an excellent zone to farm Copper and Tin or level up your mining skill. This is an Alliance zone, but higher level Horde players can conveniently access it via the Badlands.

Longshore in Westfall.

Hilly terrain in Silverpine Forest is a good place to mine copper and tin for Horde characters.

Yeti Cave in Hillsbrad Foothills (be careful not to get ganked while in the Yeti Cave on PvP servers).

Iron: Running a loop around the edge of the Western Plaguelands, Feralas, or the hills of The Cape of Stranglethorn is one of the best ways to farm Iron Ore.

Mithril: Running a loop around the northern area of the Eastern Plaguelands or Tanaris is one of the best ways to farm Mithril Ore. All of the Badlands has been mentioned as a good place to farm Mithril, however, for 80s, the area is so small that the four or five nodes you will find will not have respawned until long after you found the fifth.

Gems are also found from Mining.

Mining

 * Incendicite Ore is used in the quest Incendicite Ore (quest), starting with Dunlor Marblebeard in Slabchisel's Survey. The ore is found in caves in the south central part of Wetlands.

See the Mining proficiencies page for a list by skill level of what to get and where the popular gathering areas are.

Small Flame Sacs

 * Lvl. 37-38: Sprite Darters in Feralas drop these about 1 in 5.
 * Lvl. 41+: The Eldreth Darters in Dire Maul West drop them. They range from Lvl. 41-42.
 * These are also used in Alchemy and Tailoring professions.

Enchanting

 * Farm any mob which drops green or better quality items. Named elite mobs are particularly good for this.
 * Run instances that are below your level over and over again. Instances have far more uncommon and rare drops than in the world.
 * The building skills (Tailor, Blacksmith, Leatherworker) can make green and above items.
 * People make lots of these items to raise their skill and then vendor them.
 * Make a deal with one/some of these people to give/sell/trade these items to you to melt down for enchanting raw materials.
 * For example, send cloth to a tailor. They can use it to gain skill and send you the greens they made for you to disenchant.
 * Take up Tailoring and make your own greens to disenchant. Black Mageweave gear commonly drops Dream Dust and uncommonly drops Nether Essences. If you're lucky, you may be able to buy crafted gear from other tailors for a cheap price, since lower-level tailored gear doesn't sell very well.

Flasks of Oil

 * The Harvest Reapers of Westfall
 * Various slimes in the Wetlands
 * Venture Co. mobs at the Boulder Lode Mine in Northern Barrens

Fused Wiring

 * Venture Co. Shredders in Northern Stranglethorn
 * Elite Mobs in Gnomeregan
 * Schematic: Fused Wiring at skill level 275.
 * Also, see Random parts below

Random parts
After your Target Dummy is destroyed ALWAYS check the remains. You will find random engineering pieces and possibly the Fused Wiring.

First Aid

 * Bandages - See the Tailoring section below for where to get the various cloth types.
 * Antivenom - Venom sacs for lower level antivenom drop off of venomous spiders located throughout the world.

Deviate Fish

 * Forgotten Pools in the Northern Barrens.
 * Lushwater Oasis in the Northern Barrens.
 * Stagnant Oasis in the Northern Barrens.
 * Any water in the Wailing Caverns, inside or outside of the instance.

Nightfin Snapper
This is a nocturnal fish, hence the name.


 * Blasted Lands, at The Tainted Forest
 * Feralas, just south of Dire Maul
 * Eastern Plaguelands, in the pools.
 * Moonglade, in the land-locked lake near the flight points.

Firefin Snapper

 * Alliance:
 * The docks at Menethil Harbor in the Wetlands.
 * The docks at Theramore Isle in Dustwallow Marsh.
 * The docks and coastal shoreline in Northern Stranglethorn.


 * Horde:
 * Coastline near Southshore in Hillsbrad Foothills.
 * Zoram'Gar Outpost in Ashenvale.

Oily Blackmouth

 * Alliance:
 * The docks at Menethil Harbor in Wetlands.
 * The docks at Booty Bay and along the southeast shore of The Cape of Stranglethorn.
 * The western coast of mainland Feralas..
 * The coast of Darkshore.
 * The coast of Westfall, look for schools.


 * Horde:
 * The docks around Ratchet in Northern Barrens. Can get with fishing level 10 and shiny bauble.
 * The coastline at Zoram'Gar in Ashenvale.
 * The coastline of Silverpine Forest.
 * The docks at Bilgewater Harbor in Azshara.
 * The docks and coastal shoreline of Ruins of Southshore in the Hillsbrad Foothills.

Stonescale Eel
The Stonescale Eel is Nocturnal.


 * Fizzle and Pozzik's Speedbarge in Thousand Needles
 * Gadgetzan in Tanaris
 * The coastlines all over the Swamp of Sorrows
 * The coastlines all over the Blasted Lands

Herbalism
The Gatherer add-on is particularly useful for recording where you've encountered herbs in the wild.

Bloodvine
Bloodvine was the rarest herb in the game. It dropped in Zul'Gurub when herbs were harvested by someone with a Blood Scythe in their bags, and sometimes from mobs. It was removed in Patch 4.0.3a.

Black Lotus
Black Lotus used to be the most valuable herb in the game found outside of instances, though they are largely supplanted by Frost Lotus now. Find it in places such as Winterspring and Blasted Lands. It was required to create flask consumables until the advent of the Burning Crusade. They have a long respawn timer and are often heavily farmed.

Frost Lotus
Frost Lotus is the currently needed Lotus for Lich King endgame flasks. They have a chance to drop off *any* Lich King Herb, but do so with greater frequency with the higher level herbs, I.E. Lichbloom, Adder's Tongue, or Talandra's Rose. Auction prices are relatively stable on most realms between 20-40g per Lotus. Note: They are NOT millable by scribes, so are primarily useful to Alchemists.

Stranglekelp
Stranglekelp can be reliably farmed in Baradin Bay, near Menethil Harbor, the coast around Ratchet in Northern Barrens; and in the waters surrounding the Zoram Strand on the coast between Darkshore and Ashenvale. A few plants have been seen regularly along the coast of Northern Stranglethorn near the Vile Reef. Another very reliable place to farm for this herb is all along the coast of Westfall.

You can also get Stranglekelp without being an herbalist, by fishing: small quantities of it turn up regularly in schools of fish and pools of floating wreckage.

Swiftthistle
Swiftthistle is a rareish drop found in Briarthorn and Mageroyal and a few drops from plant-type creatures such as Deviate Shambler in Wailing Caverns and Thistleshrub Dew Collectors in the far southwest of Tanaris near the entrance to Un'Goro Crater.

Wildvine
Wildvine is a rare drop next to Purple Lotus.

Blindweed
Blindweed is a scarce high level herb that can be found in Feralas, Western Plaguelands, Zangarmarsh, The Hinterlands, and Un'Goro Crater. Feralas is an excellent location for farming Blindweed because it has a very high drop rate and it is relatively out of the way.

Ghost Mushroom
Ghost Mushroom is a scarce mid-level herb (245) that is found in many caves throughout the upper level zones (level 45+) of Kalimdor and Eastern Kingdoms. Further, many caves in Outland and Northrend do contain a few of these herb nodes. They *are* millable by scribes, but due to the relatively scarce nature, they are not a great way of attaining pigment. Primarily used by Alchemists to make Ghost Dye which is needed for pre-BC relative endgame craftable tailoring items. Note that each node only gives 1 mushroom.

Netherbloom
Netherbloom was previously used in mana potions and is rare enough to present a high AH price. It requires a Herbalism skill of 360 and can be found all over Netherstorm.

Leatherworking
Light Leather can be farmed pretty easily at the Maclure Vineyards and Stonefield Farm in Elwynn Forest for beginning Leatherworkers. It can also be obtained at the Raptor Ground in the Barrens.

A wide variety of low- to mid-level leather drops can be gotten at Whelgar's Excavation Site in the Wetlands. Go with a group for the quests there and you can easily fill your packs by the time you finish them.

The raptors in Whelgar's Excavation Site drop Light Leather, Medium Leather, Light Hides, and Medium Hides. Most drops are in the medium range but approximately 25-50% will be a combination of light and medium leather.

Also the crocolisk island (the southernmost island in the Loch Modan) has a pretty fast spawn rate and every mob is skinnable for leather, which is mostly of the light variety.

The abundance of wolves (level 30+) in the Hinterlands provide both medium and heavy leather. They respawn quickly. It's rare to not find a wolf right outside of Aerie Peak.

Black Dragonscale

 * Lvl. 58+: Upper Blackrock Spire. The dragonkin here drop scales from skinning at about a 10-15 percent drop rate. Also, scales of any color can be skinned off the chromatic dragonkin.  Chromatics are found in the Rend encounter and at the end boss, General Drakkisath.

Blue Dragonscale

 * Lvl. 58+: Upper Blackrock Spire. The chromatic dragonkin here drop scales from skinning at about a 10-15 percent drop rate. Also, scales of any color can be skinned off them.  Chromatics are found in the Rend encounter and at the end boss, General Drakkisath.

Cobra Scales
Lvl 70+ - Skinned off Coilskar Cobras in Coilskar Point in shadowmoon valley or Twilight Serpents west of Forge Camp Hate in Nagrand. These are used to craft and sell about 20g a pop in the Auction House.

Core Leather

 * Lvl. 62 Elite: Get it by skinning the ancient core hounds in Molten Core, To do so requires you to have a skinning skill of 310, which before The Burning Crusade required you to have, which is only dropped by The Beast . You can also progress to Zul'Gurub to get the off High Priest Thekal, which also raises skinning by 10.

Crystal Infused Leather

 * Lvl. 62-63: The Quillfang Ravager at Dustquill Ravine in Hellfire Peninsula have 5% drop rate.
 * Lvl. 62-63: The Thornfang Ravager and the Thornfang Venomspitter at Thornfang Hill in Hellfire Peninsula both drop this. The Thornfang Venomspitter is less likely to drop Crystal Infused Leather than the Thornfang Ravager.  The Thornfang Ravager has a drop rate of about 7%.  The Thornfang Venomspitter drops at about 4%.

Deviate Scale

 * Lvl. 18+: Wailing Caverns in the Barrens. Deviate Scales can be skinned and found as drops from raptors and vipers inside and outside of the instance. They can (rarely) be skinned for Perfect Deviate Scales as well.

Devilsaur Leather

 * Lvl. 54+: The Un'Goro Crater. Huge Devilsaurs stalking around the area. Pathing Map

Fel Scales

 * Lvl. 62-63: skinning the Thornfang Ravager and the Thornfang Venomspitter; found on Thornfang Hill in Hellfire Peninsula. The Thornfang Ravager drop rate is approximately 3-4% higher than the Thornfang Venomspitter.  The Thornfang Venomspitter has a drop rate of about 20%.  They respawn relatively quickly.
 * Lvl. 70+: skinning Shard-Hide Boars at The Crystalspine or Ogri'la in Blade's Edge Mountains.

Fel Hides

 * Lvl. 64+: Fel Hides may be found by skinning the Artifact Seeker at Arklon Ruins in Netherstorm

Green Dragonscale

 * Lvl. 50+: Temple of Atal'Hakkar (a.k.a. Sunken Temple). There are many elite Green Dragonkin that can drop scales here.

Green Whelp Scale

 * Lvl. 35: The Noxious Whelps drop these in Feralas.

Heavy Leather

 * Lvl. 30-35: Jaguero Isle in The Cape of Stranglethorn.
 * Lvl. 35-40: Dustwallow Marsh along the eastern coastline. Mudrock Tortoise range from 36-38.
 * Lvl. 35-40: Western Plaguelands. Best drop rates from the foxes and bears.
 * Lvl. 35-40: Dustwallow Marsh, around Bloodfen Burrow in the southwest (coordinates approx. 31, 65). Raptors have very good drop rate. Good farming spot due to quick respawn and many mobs in a confined area.
 * Lvl. 35-40: Feralas, the yetis at Feral Scar Vale. Drop rate is VERY high (depending on skinning level).

Heavy Scorpid Scale

 * Lvl. 50+: Silithus. Scorpok's in the high 50's

Knothide Leather

 * Lvl. 64+: Nagrand. The Talbuk Thorngrazers around Garadar drop mostly Knothide Leather (65%; about 35% of the time they drop 1-3 scraps) and go down fairly quick, while dealing low damage
 * Lvl. 61+: Hellfire Peninsula. The Deranged Hellboar around Honor Hold, Thrallmar and To the south of Hellfire Citadel do drop Knothide Leather, around 60% of the time they drop 1 maybe 2 scraps and the rest of the time, approximately 40% chance for 1 Knothide Leather.  At level, the Talbuk Thorngrazers can do a lot of damage.
 * Lvl. 62-63: Hellfire Peninsula. The Quillfang Ravager in Dustquill Ravine drops at about a 10% drop rate.

Knothide Leather Scraps

 * Lvl. 62-63: Hellfire Peninsula -- The Thornfang Ravager, Thornfang Venomspitter and Quillfang Ravagers will typically drop Knothide Leather Scraps and a small amount (about 2% drop rate) of [Knothide Leather]]. These Ravagers are found at Dustquill Ravine and Thornfang Hill in Hellfire Peninsula.

Larval Acid

 * Lvl 60+ some grubs in AQ20

Pristine Hide of the Beast

 * Lvl. 60+: You get it by skinning The Beast in Blackrock Spire. To do so requires you to have a skinning skill of 310, which before The Burning Crusade required you to have, which is only dropped by The Beast. You can also progress to Zul'Gurub to get the off High Priest Thekal, which also raises skinning by 10.

Raptor Hide
Note: Raptor Hide is a drop, and not skinned
 * Lvl. 25-30: Arathi Highlands. Raptors. Highland Strider, Highland Thrasher, and Highland Fleshstalkers.  Most roam the zone, the fleshstalkers are found west of Boulderfist Hall.
 * Lvl. 25-30: The Northern Stranglethorn Raptors. There are a large number of Raptors north of and around Grom'Gol Base Camp.
 * Lvl. 35-40: Dustwallow Marsh, around Bloodfen Burrow in the southwest (coordinates approx. 31, 65.) Probably safer than STV if on a PvP server.

Rugged Leather

 * Lvl. 50-55+: The Winterspring Yetis. The Yeti cave South-East of Everlook (Ice Thistle Yeti) gives a low percentage of Rugged Leather.
 * Lvl. 55-60+: In The Blasted Lands the skinnable beasts in the Tainted Forest will drop Rugged Leather and Thick Leather. Overall drop rate is more Rugged Leather than Thick Leather.

Scorpid Scale

 * Lvl. 45+: All of Tanaris. The lowest-level scorpids are closest to Gadgetzan, and range from Lvl 45-46.

Silithid Chitin

 * Lvl 57+ Silithid in Silithus. It can also be farmed by killing the Tortured Druids and Sentinels around Southwind Village, who will summon up to three Hive'Ashi Drones upon death.  This can be risky and/or lethal, but easier than the slow farming of Elites. (Note: Since patch (1.12?), these undead Elves only summon one drone upon death - which have a fairly high droprate of the Chitins.)

Thick Leather

 * Lvl. 45-46: The neutral Billy Goats in Badlands have a good drop rate. The dragonkin in this area are also a good mobs to grind on.
 * Lvl. 48+: Southeast to east of Un'Goro Crater. The raptors range from levels 48-51.
 * Lvl. 49-50: The hyenas and basilisks of Tanaris drop thick leather roughly 60% of the time and Rugged Leather roughly 40% of the time.

Thick Clefthoof Leather

 * Lvl. 65: Nagrand. Clefthoof Bulls outside Garadar.

Turtle Scale

 * Lvl. 35+: Northeast coast of Dustwallow Marsh, extending Northwest from Theramore Isle. The turtles range from Lvl. 36-38.
 * Lvl. 45+: East coast of Tanaris. The turtles along the northern part of the coast are levels 45-46 and usually drop 1 scale at a time. Turtles along the southern coast are levels 47-48 and often drop 1-2 scales.  Be mindful of level 50-51 elite giants mixed among the turtles on the southern coast. The southernmost beach in Tanaris, Land's End Beach is loaded with the same 48-50 turtles, and no elite giants. Probably the best and loneliest place to farm Turtle Scales.
 * Lvl. 50+: East coast of Swamp of Sorrows. The turtles are level 49-51. These Turtles normally drop 1-3 scales.

Worn Dragonscale

 * Lvl. 41+: Eldreth Darters in Dire Maul West.
 * Lvl. 52+: All of the dragonkin in Sunken Temple drop them.
 * Lvl. 55+: Blackrock Spire. Worn Scales can drop off any dragonkin here.

Borean Leather

 * Lvl. 70+: This leather along with Nerubian Chitin and even Arctic Fur can be farmed in the Azjol-Nerub instance in Dragonblight.

Tailoring

 * Cloth is dropped by humanoids. Higher levels mean better cloth.
 * Murlocs have very low cloth drop rates (if they actually drop any at all) so don't farm them for cloth.
 * Skinnable Humanoid mobs also drop little (or probably no) cloth at all either. (Yeti, Worgen, Wendigo etc).
 * The 'Scarlet' mobs in Tirisfal Glades around and in the Scarlet Monastery have higher than normal rates for cloth drops in general.
 * This is also good for players doing the Cloth Quartermaster quests for Faction reputation.

Netherweave Cloth
Netherweave Cloth Can be found at Tuurem, there, Tuurem Scavenger , Tuurem Hunter , Wrekt Seer and Wrekt Warrior Drop Netherweave Cloth and have 55% drop rate so pretty common drop, But be advised, it is much better to take them on one by one, and flying mount is advised lvl 63+.

For details on places to farm cloth, please visit the items' pages:

Farming tips &amp; additional resources

 * For Farming locations relevant to WOTLK check out Just My Two Copper. Also included are auction house guides for what you can do with all those farmed materials.
 * If you're having a hard time finding something, and you're willing to spend the money, the Auction Houses are often an excellent option.
 * For a useful tailoring guide, see JahBreeze's Guide to Levelling a Tailor to 220 Cheaply
 * Voodex.com: Item Farming
 * wowhead.com
 * thottbot.com