- Conan Exiles Elevator Guide - October 14, 2022
- Conan Exiles Drawbridge Guide - October 9, 2022
- Conan Exiles Bleeding Guide - August 12, 2022
- TL:DR: Let It Be Thick
- How to Build a Tannery and Tanner's Table
- How to Make Thick Leather
- How to Farm Thick Hide
- How to Farm Bark
- The Benefits of a Tanner Thrall
- What to Use Your Thick Leather For
- The Armorer's Bench and An Armorer Thrall
- So Slap on Your Thick Leather Chaps and Let's Have an Adventure
- Thick Leather FAQ
There is definitive evidence that humans began wearing animal hide an estimated 170,000 years ago, but we have been processing hide for almost 800,000 years. This length of time is pretty difficult to even wrap our minds around, but it paints a helpful picture of how important leather and leatherworking were for our species and survival. For thousands of generations before our own, humans have relied on animal hide and their expertise in working with it to protect them from the elements and their enemies. Metal armor was only in use for a couple of thousand years and still relied on leather components to function. Metal armor may ignite our imaginations and curiosity, but leather armor and clothing were a long-standing aspect of our survival and the success and evolution of our species.
Conan’s world is full of the fantastical, but its mechanisms are based on a gritty reality. You will find very few fully metal sets, and even those will require expertly crafted leather components. Your character will rely on their ability to turn hide into leather, and then turn better hide into better leather, for the entire game. This particular survival game is not based on high fantasy and shiny armor, but rather a realistic approach to what a stranded camp of individuals might be able to throw together with the materials available to them. Conan Exiles Thick leather is a required component for any heavy armor and many sets of epic gear.
TL:DR: Let It Be Thick
You may already have a pretty big leather operation going at your base, but if not you’ll need at least a tannery to make thick leather. Thick hide is used to make thick leather at the tannery, but you’ll also need bark to fuel the station.
The best way to farm bark is by hitting dead trees with a pick, but you can grab bark from any tree with a pick. The best place to farm thick hide is the savannah biome in G7. You will be bringing down rhinos and elephants, which should be a challenging task, but doable with a full set of medium armor and some iron weapons. Rhinos and elephants can be skinned with a skinning knife for thick hide, and also for rhino hide and elephant hide. You will need a tanner’s bench to turn these species-specific hides into more thick hide (and subsequently thick leather) back at your base.
Capturing a tanner thrall will speed up the process of converting thick hide to thick leather by stationing them at the tannery. Capturing an armorer thrall is how to get the most out of your thick leather at the armorer’s bench. Armorer thralls improve the quality of the gear you can make with thick leather.
How to Build a Tannery and Tanner’s Table
You may already have a long list of crafting stations that you need to put together, but if you want to make thick leather, you’ll want both of these. You’ll only need to be level 10 to learn the tanner feat, which will teach you both the tannery and the tanner’s table. To craft a tannery you’ll need 200 stone, 100 wood, and 50 bark. The tannery can take hide and turn it into leather if you provide it with fuel. The most efficient fuel for a tannery is bark, which can be gathered from trees using a pick or pickaxe.
You may not have crafted a tanner’s table when all you needed was leather, but you’ll want to craft one now that you’re making big trips for thick leather. The tanner’s table can be crafted with only 100 wood, making it a cheap addition to your setup. When you bring down your first rhino and use a skinning knife to process the corpse, you’ll notice that you don’t only end up with thick hide, but also rhino hide. You cannot turn rhino hide into thick leather directly but must use the tanner’s table to turn the rhino hide into thick hide. After that, the thick hide can be turned into thick leather at your tannery.
How to Make Thick Leather
Once you have your tannery and tanner’s table set up, all you’ll need to do is place your thick hide, along with some bark for fuel, in your tannery. Adding a tanner thrall to the tannery will decrease the amount of time it takes to craft thick leather, and subsequently the amount of bark you’ll need to fuel the station.
Take your rhino, bear, and elephant hides to your tanner’s bench to turn them into more thick hide, which can in turn be used to make more thick leather. If you have an abundance of regular hide and don’t need any more leather, you can even turn 4 hide and 1 twine into thick hide, which can then be processed into thick leather. This is a helpful feature of the tanner’s table for when you’re not quite ready to take down an elephant, rhino, or bear. You can use your pieced-together thick leather to make enough armor to survive the encounter with animals that drop thick hide directly.
How to Farm Thick Hide
If you want a lot of thick leather, you’ll need to farm some thick hide. Collect thick hide the same way you collected hide: with your skinning knife. You’ll need a good skinning knife to make the most out of your thick hide trip. The better your skinning knife is, the more thick hide you will collect and the more thick leather you will be able to craft. Animals that drop thick hide are dangerous! If you haven’t upgraded your skinning knife yet, now is the time to do it. If you cannot upgrade your skinning knife, consider applying a tool upgrade kit for far fewer resources.
Several creatures drop thick hide when their corpse is processed with a skinning knife, but the requirements for a good farming location are how densely they are grouped. The best place to farm thick hide is in the savannah biome in G7. You’ll be hunting its rhinoceroses and elephants, which love to stun-lock the area with their big stomps and charge attacks. You’ll also need to deal with the absolute swarm of tigers that inhabits the area.
The best way to farm this area when you’re still in medium armor is to skirt along the edges. The cliff that surrounds the savannah biome is full of tigers, it’s best to clear yourself a safe spot to operate from so that you don’t end up overwhelmed. You can also use the tigers to your advantage. They are constantly picking fights with the pachyderms, and with a little patience, you should be able to find one to fight with only half health left.
If you are looking for even more thick hide for your time, and you have the levels and gear to support you, consider running the midnight grove. The midnight grove is famous for shadebloom but drops quite a lot of thick hide if you use your skinning knife for processing.
How to Farm Bark
All you need to do to get bark is to hit a tree with a pick, but if you have a large order of thick leather in your future, consider making a trip specifically to fill your inventory with bark. There are two options for the most efficient bark farming. You can either specifically aim for trees that provide the most bark, or you can head to an area with a dense pack of trees.
Dead trees provide the most bark of any tree in Conan Exiles. The are several groves of dead trees between Swagger Rock and the Black Galleon in H7 and there are not any enemies more difficult than hyenas to deal with to get to them (if you avoid the Dogs of the Desert camps). If you’re a little higher level, or your base is stationed further north, consider heading to the hinterlands for a bark run. The trees here drop slightly more bark than the ones in lower-level areas, and they are very densely packed. You will have to contend with wolves and bears, but bears will drop the thick hide you’re looking for to make thick leather.
Additionally, the better your pick is the more bark you will collect per node. A hardened steel pick will fill your inventory much faster than a stone pick will. If you cannot afford to craft a whole new pick, consider outfitting your current one with a tool upgrade kit before you make the run. There is no negative to using a pickaxe to collect bark. A pickaxe is a multitool that will collect both what a pick would and what a hatchet would from a resource. You may have to shed wood out of your inventory as you go, but you’ll be collecting the same amount of bark as the same tier pick.
The Benefits of a Tanner Thrall
The best way to make thick leather is to have someone else do it for you. Capturing an expert tanner and stationing them at your tannery will increase its productivity and decrease the amount of bark you’ll have to gather to fuel the station. A T1 tanner adds +25% crafting speed, a T2 tanner adds +50% crafting speed, a T3 tanner adds +75% crafting speed, and a T4 or named tanner adds 100% crafting speed or halves the amount of time it takes to turn one piece of thick hide into thick leather.
If you’ve got time to spare, you can station your T4 tanner at an artisan’s bench to unlock a recipe that turns 10 grub into silk. Silk will also be required for some of your armor ventures, and hunting spiders for it can be very time-consuming. Building a couple of compost heaps and keeping at least one compost in them will produce an endless amount of grubs passively for your named tanner thrall to turn into silk.
Named thralls are mostly random spawns in Conan Exiles. There will be a chance for a named thrall at different locations, but nothing to guarantee they will be a tanner. The black galleon in . has the highest density of named thrall spawns, and is a great place to go looking for a T4 named tanner.
What to Use Your Thick Leather For
Thick leather is crucial in the construction of mid- to late-game armor. First, you’ll use it in heavy padding to craft your last set of basic armor. It will then be required for many epic sets, whether as a base ingredient or as part of the overall process. Thick leather can also be combined with oil and alchemical base to create hardened leather, for even more valuable sets.
You’ll need quite a bit of thick leather for stat-boosting saddles at the saddle-making table. Take some to your carpenter’s bench as well for crafting high-end bows. You’ll find you even need thick leather to wrap the handle of some daggers and swords at your blacksmith’s bench. Thick leather is a core component in almost all of your gear from the time you graduate from standard leather until the end of your journeys in the Exiled Lands.
The Armorer’s Bench and An Armorer Thrall
You can help get the most out of your thick leather by stationing an armorer thrall at your armorer’s bench. Armorer thralls increase the overall stats of the armor produced there, from durability to weight reduction. If you’re looking to decrease the crafting time of your bench, thralls no longer have any effect. You’ll need to upgrade the bench itself.
You will find named T4 armorer thralls in three different varieties: the scoutwright, the shieldwright, and the temperwright. To get the most out of your thick leather, it’s best to know which does what. A scoutwright armorer thrall makes the armor with the highest weight reduction bonus. A shieldwright armorer thrall makes armor with the highest armor bonus. A temperwright armorer thrall makes armor with the highest durability bonus.
So Slap on Your Thick Leather Chaps and Let’s Have an Adventure
Once you get the hang of the savannah biome, it is pleasant enough to farm thick hide. Hunting elephants and rhinos will become part of your weekly routine and their big stomp effects will become second nature to bob and weave. You’ll quickly fill your inventory, as well as your follower’s inventory, with enough thick hide to meet your immediate thick leather needs. While you’re in the area, it also doesn’t hurt to take a look at the Black Galleon for a tanner or armorer thrall to make your thick leather operation even more efficient.
It’s a tough world out there, but you’re about to have the armor to deal with it. Armor made from thick leather will make your toughest fights seem much easier. Not only that, but when you learn how to farm it, you’ll be able to work on any high-end armor recipes you find immediately. It’s a great idea to keep a chest or your crafting stations stocked with thick leather, you never know when you may need it to either repair your gear or craft something new. Our real-world ancestors relied on leather and hide to survive their enemies and the elements, and they will have to suffice for your exile as well.
Thick Leather FAQ
Question: What gives you thick leather in Conan?
Answer: You must add thick hide to your tannery to create thick leather in Conan Exiles. Many creatures drop thick leather when processed with a skinning knife, but the beasts most often farmed for their thick hide are elephants, rhinoceroses, and bears.
Question: How do you harvest thick leather in Conan?
Answer: You do not harvest thick leather, rather thick hide and then turn it into thick leather at your tannery. Use a skinning knife on beasts that drop thick hide such as the elephant, rhino, or bear.
Question: Where is the best place to farm for thick leather in Conan Exiles?
Answer: Skin elephant and rhinoceros with a skinning knife after hunting them in the savannah biome. You’ll find this densely packed habitat in G7.
Question: What should I use thick leather for in Conan Exiles?
Answer: The first project to use your thick leather for is a set of heavy armor. You’ll need thick leather for the heavy padding. After that, you can use it for epic armor recipes and advanced saddles. You can also combine it with alchemical base to make hardened leather.
Question: How do I make the best armor with thick leather in Conan Exiles?
Answer: You will need to find recipes for better armor sets in Conan, but you can also capture an armorer thrall and station them at your armorer’s bench to raise the base stats of any set. Named T4 armorer thralls give huge bonuses to your thick leather sets.
Recommended Reads: