Welcome to the ultimate guide for mastering the hunt in New World: Aeternum. Whether you want to craft legendary armor, cook hearty meals, or simply profit from rare hides, Tracking and Skinning is an essential Trade Skill. If you're looking to save time and buy New World Coins to gear up faster, that's a valid path—but this guide covers everything you need to do it yourself: from crafting your first knife to hunting endgame beasts for exotic materials.

1. Overview of Tracking and Skinning

Tracking and Skinning allows you to harvest valuable materials (hides, furs, teeth, claws, and rare animal parts) from defeated beasts. It is a core gathering Trade Skill that feeds directly into:

· Leatherworking – Turns raw hides into leather for armor.

· Cooking – Provides meat, fat, and special ingredients.

· Mastering this skill gives you a steady supply of resources for some of the most valuable armor and furniture items in the game.

2. Starting Your Tracking & Skinning Adventure

To begin, craft a Flint Skinning Knife at any campfire or workshop.

Once crafted, equip the knife. Now, whenever you kill a beast (wolf, boar, bear, lynx, etc.), approach the corpse and press the interact/skin prompt.

Pro Tip: Always skin what you kill. It’s the fastest way to level the skill.

3. Attribute Bonuses (Dexterity)

Tracking and Skinning scales directly with Dexterity. Even if you’re not a DEX-based build, you still benefit — but investing in DEX yields powerful perks.

Recommendation: Aim for 250 Dexterity for the yield bonus. If you can reach 350, the rare-item chance is game-changing.

4. Luck & Rare Resources

Luck is the most important stat for finding rare materials. Stack it on:

· Armor (Skinner set or random gear with Skinning Luck)

· Skinning knife

· Consumables (e.g., luck food)

· Trophies (see section 6)

Rare Resources & Where to Find Them

Scarhide and Smolderhide are used for high-end leathers like Runic Leather and Smolderleather.

5. Tracking & Skinning Trophies

You can own up to three houses. In each, place up to five trophies. Skinning trophies grant global luck for this Trade Skill, and they stack across houses.

To upgrade a trophy, use the Furnishing profession. The upgrade items drop from high-level beasts or can be bought on the Trading Post.

6. Best Perks for Your Skinning Knife

Your knife perks matter. Choose based on your goal:

Ideal endgame knife: Skinning Luck + Skinning Yield + Azoth Extraction.

7. Skinning Gear Set

The Skinner armor set (Hat, Shirt, Gloves, Pants, Shoes) can be found as random drops from open-world monsters and chests. Each piece can roll with Skinning Luck or other useful perks.

 Gloves are especially valuable – they can roll with Skinning Yield.

8. Best Bag Perks for Skinners

If you plan to farm hundreds of hides, Tanner’s Burden is a must. Pair with Extra Pockets for extended farming sessions.

9. Increasing Your Skinning Yield (Beyond Dexterity)

Yield bonuses stack multiplicatively. In addition to the +10% at 250 DEX:

· Powerful Proficiency Boost (Arcana craft) – up to +15% yield

· Skinning Yield perk on your knife – up to +10%

· Major Skinning Trophy – no direct yield, but luck increases rare drops (which feel like yield)

· Maximum theoretical yield can exceed +35% – perfect for raw hide farming.

10. Best Way to Level Tracking & Skinning

Leveling is straightforward: skin everything you kill. Higher-level enemies give more XP.

This is one of the easiest Trade Skills to max. Just don’t leave corpses unskinned.

11. Tracking – Using the Compass Radar

Your on-screen compass (top of screen) tracks nearby beasts once you reach certain Tracking & Skinning levels.

Use the radar actively while farming. The tracking circles update in real time – head toward white blips to find your next target.

Final Tips

· Always skin in a group? Yes – each player can skin the same corpse.

· Use luck food (e.g., Roasted Bananas or higher-tier luck meals) before farming rare hides.

· Don't ignore low-level zones – Pristine Boar Tusks drop from any boar, regardless of level.

· Store rare materials – Scarhide, Smolderhide, and Bizarre Bones are valuable for endgame crafting and sell well on the Trading Post. If you ever need extra currency quickly, you can buy New World Gold from trusted platforms like MMOEXP to skip the grind.

· Now go forth, hunter. May your knife be sharp and your luck be high. – MMOEXP has your back for all your New World needs.