Time is Money: Farming for Nerubian Chitins
by Amanda Miller 
Jun 2nd 2009 at 4:00PM
Nerubian Chitins are gathered by Skinners and used by Leatherworkers, and although they show up on a number of mobs, there are only a handful of areas that are actually worth farming.
They sell for around 5g a piece, and Leatherworkers consume them in bunches from one up to 40! In fact, for several levels, the chitins provide some of the best and cheapest leveling options. On the low end, they are used for leg armor enhancement kits, and on the high end, epic gear.
Azjol-Nerub
If you can get a group to run Azjol-Nerub with you a few times, with you as the only Skinner, you'll make quite the profit. The skinnable mobs there have an average drop rate of about 25%.
In Icecrown, before you start questing...
Upon entering Icecrown, your first stop will likely be the Argent Vanguard, a mid-size outpost with several quests available to you. Before you begin these quests, or at least, before you hand in A Cold Front Approaches, start farming the mobs around the camp. Once you hand in that quest, you phase out permanently, and all of those spiders will be gone.
You will also notice that you can kite groups of mobs to the town guards for quicker killing. Just make sure to use some AoE to tag each one, or you won't be able to loot and then skin them!
Another good spot is a little further north, around Scourgeholme. Both of these spots have high respawn rates, making them ideal.
Zul'Drak
Many of the mobs around Kolramas have a chance to drop chitins when skinned as well.
Borean Tundra
Just outside of Warsong Hold, you will find plenty of skinnable mobs with high respawn rates, that are frequently being killed by the questing Horde. This is a great place to level your Skinning, pick up some leather, and although the drop rate isn't high, the chitins do indeed drop.
Stay tuned for more tips to help you make piles of gold on Time is Money. Kebina Trudough is dishing the dirt on coveted gold-making secrets, and you won't want to miss it! Check out my guide to choosing lucrative quest rewards for resale to a vendor, tips for disenchanters, or a list of addons to help you sell your loot. Finally, check out my tips to using the Auction House to make the most gold!Filed under: Skinning, Making money, Features, Expansions, Economy, How-tos, Tips, Analysis / Opinion, Items, Leatherworking, Time Is Money
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Quidamtyra Jun 2nd 2009 4:09PM
My main is a Rogue LW/Alch, so I don't get to gather anything. But my alt is a Skinner/Miner, and I haven't yet started the Icecrown quests!
I use chitin on my main a lot, as they are the only material required for my leg enchant and I donate whatever I can to the gbank for leg armors. This will help, thanks!
Quidamtyra Jun 2nd 2009 4:17PM
p.s. the plural for chitin, is chitin
it's a polysaccharide, so it's a compound, not really an "item"
=)
Ttam Jun 2nd 2009 4:17PM
A little tip about farming the mobs in Azul Nerub. During the boss fights you can find a number of skinnable mobs, the first one especially. The trick is that these mobs despawn after you kill them. If you are quick about it you can skin these mobs while they are still doing their Death animation and before they despawn. You pretty much need to click them as soon as they die. I've found these mobs, especially in Heroic AN, to be a very good source of Chitins.
JohnC Jun 2nd 2009 4:28PM
would be nice if you could list some of these craftable items using chitins that are the best option to level leatherworking please. im currently on 421 and as i see it the easiest pieces to craft dont use any chitins. the only possiblity is the leg enchants, but you can craft the leg enchants with icy dragonscales instead which i find alot easier to get due to VH + everybody wants the icy dragonsacle enchant on my server as opposed to the chitin one.
Quidamtyra Jun 2nd 2009 5:21PM
All you have to do is search "Nerubian Chitin" on wowhead and it will give you a tab for "Reagent for"
which will give you all the items that take chitin, how many, and what LW skill level they are orange, yellow, green and gray.
http://www.wowhead.com/?item=38558#reagent-for
outdps Jun 2nd 2009 4:34PM
Quick note on farming. You can usually see what's most profitable to farm by checking the stats on wowhead. The higher their count of "skinned from" (or looted from or disenchanted from etc), the more popular that item is for people who farm. Assume that the blind hand of the market is better at finding deals than you, and make sure you're not seeing a false positive generated by a quest or something.
Micah Jun 2nd 2009 4:37PM
The place I usually go to farm chitin on my rogue is near Gundrak actually. The raptors around there, oddly enough, have a really high skin rate for them. I was able to get enough in about a half hour to an hour to make a guildmate the Durable Nerubhide Cloak, and they're pretty easy to kill.
MadMac10 Jun 2nd 2009 4:38PM
I have found that the best place to farm chitin is in Scourgeholme-- I also double up on it with the Argent Tournament Daily (forget the name of the quest, but it is the one where you kill 15 scourge.) I go there and try to kill only Nerubians, and pick up a few chitins to boot. It may seem like a pittance, but after a week of it, I can farm up double-digits.
Firestride Jun 2nd 2009 6:10PM
Yeah, these usually don't even sell on my AH. They sure were nice to farm around Christmas, though.
kia Jun 2nd 2009 6:19PM
Exactly. These kinds of columns are good general information, but you really need to find out the specific demand for the item on your server before you think you're going to be making bank. Many farmed crafting ingredients are next to useless on some servers, and are basically vendor trash.
Gadoren Jun 2nd 2009 7:17PM
people always say to not complete the first part of the argent crusade chains, that it phases out the spiders. this is true, but it in no wise limits your chitin farming.
I've done the chain on my skinner, and now i fly to scourgeholme and farm them there. No limit, no phasing to remove those spiders, and i get 5 or so from 1 circuit. the ziggurats in scourgeholme are full of high priests, and spiders pat all around the paths there.
Go ahead and complete the chains, they give decent quest rewards for that level. And it won't limit your farming