El's Extreme Anglin' - World of Warcraft Fishing Guide // Advanced Topics // Zone Base Fishing Skill

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  This topic answers the question, what fishing skill will I need to fish in a certain zone? On this page:

  • Summary
  • Preface
  • The Problem
  • Existing Sources
  • Trial and Error
  • A Simple Answer
  • Postscript: Outland
  • Postscript: Northrend
  • Learn More

Summary

The table below lists the effective fishing skill required to fish open water without catching junk. Read the text below for an explanation of how these values were discovered.

Preface

This research was conducted before Wrath of the Lich King. That made several changes:

1. Patch 3.0.2 introduced messages to tell anglers what skill was required to fish in an area. An angler with fishing skill 1 could therefore gain most of the information here simply by trying to cast. Easy!
2. Patch 3.1 changed the role of skill. Every area of water now requires just fishing skill 1 to cast. However, there is still a certain skill required to fish without catching junk items.
3. Patch 3.3 removed junk from pools, so that any pool can be fished with skill 1.

There are now no messages that tell anglers the "no-junk skill" of an area (the effective skill required to fish without catching junk). Research shows the no-junk skill is simply the former minimum (base) skill plus 95. So the "no-junk skill" is the same as the old "no get-away skill".

The original method and analysis is described below. Certain terms and methods are now out-dated. However the results are still accurate.

The Problem

What fishing skill will I need to fish in a certain zone is not an unreasonable question to want an answer to. But getting a straight answer to this seems to be remarkably difficult. There is general agreement that higher level zones require a higher fishing skill. To quote the book called WoWWiki, "Zones usually have a fishing level of 5 times the average level of monsters in them, but some zones vary considerably from this rule of thumb."

The problem with documenting what skill is needed is that there is only one reliable benchmark: Can I cast a line or not? If I can't, whatever skill I have is insufficient, but I have no way to know how insufficient: I might be one point short or a hundred points short. If I can cast a line, there is no reliable way to tell how much I exceed the base skill requirement by. A rough guess can be made from the proportion of fish that get away, but this is not normally accurate because while you are experimenting, your skill is improving.

Existing Sources

I started by comparing three separate lists of recommended fishing skills by zone. Note that the minimum "recommended" skill doesn't mean the base skill. The sources are: Draznar (archive), Deedoohangus ((in French)) and Razorfold. I have sorted the zones by level (taken from the official Flight Path Maps). Level is typically the level range of the monsters and quests in the zone.

Capital cities have been listed alongside their starting zones. However, the waters of the capital cities are widely regarded as more difficult to fish than starting zones. Moonglade is a Druid training ground covering all levels, but I have classed it alongside neighbouring Felwood. Zones with no recommended skill are not listed.

** No evidence of fishable water in the Badlands and Blasted Lands.

A few zones clearly break the relationship between level and fishing skill, and have a lower fishing skill requirement than predicted by their level: Desolace and Feralas in particular. Perhaps level is not such a useful guide?

Trial and Error

The method used to accurately determine the base fishing skills of zones is simple, but very time consuming: Travel round a series of zones. Attempt to fish in each zone you visit, but never catch anything (so skill never improves while you are travelling). After visiting all the zones, fish and gain some additional skill. Then go back round again. Several different attempts can be made at each location with the same personal fishing skill by using different lures and fishing poles.

I increased the skill level tested by five points at a time. This means that the results may be wrong up to 4 skill points. For example, I might have found that I could not fish with an effective skill of 50, but could fish with 55 skill. The base skill could be anywhere in the range 51-55, but I am assuming 55.

It is not practical to fish everywhere: Even with access to all the relevant flight paths, it would take days just to travel. I selected a range of zones that were relatively easy for the young dwarf I hired to reach. To reduce time spent travelling, the locations fished are close to flight masters.

Tests up to skill 205 areas were conducted by the dwarf I hired, using this method. The remaining 330 skill zones were check by me personally (with 300 personal fishing skill).

There are only five skill levels listed: <1, 55, 130, 205 and 330. However, the first (<1) is misleading. Some of these locations are a lot less than one (almost no "get-aways", even at around skill 1), and some are only slightly below one (possible to fish at skill 1, but with a very high proportion of "get-aways" at that skill). Gut feeling is that the base skill in the easiest zones is about -70, and in the harder zones is about -20. These are impossible to confirm, because there is no way to maintain constant fishing skill below 75.

A Simple Answer

In the Gazetteer topic I showed that fish catches in each zone match one of just six possible patterns. Surprisingly, when I grouped zones by base skill requirement, almost every single group fitted perfectly within one of the six groups created for fish catches. The only zone that did not fit the pattern was the Alterac Valley battleground ((fishing was later removed from Alterac Valley, by patch 2.1)). I'm almost certain that base skill requirement is directly related to the fish catches that are possible in the zone. So, even though I have not confirmed the base skill requirement of every single zone myself, I believe the table below can be used as an accurate summary of base fishing skill requirements. Prove me wrong...

To fish without catching junk, you will need to add 95 to the base skill requirement.

Postscript: Outland

The table below shows the minimum fishing skill required to fish in different areas of Outland.

Some of the named areas around the edges of Serpent Lake in Zangarmarsh have a base skill of 305, so it is possible to fish certain pools within the lake at this lower skill level. Blackwind Lake, Lake Ere'Noru, Lake Jorune and the Elemental Plateau can only be reached with a flying mount.

Isle of Quel'Danas ((not in Outland, but only available with The Burning Crusade)) has a base skill of 355.

Postscript: Northrend

The Frozen Sea is the deep sea that surrounds Northrend. It is not formally a zone. However it has different skill requirements and catches from nearby zones: It does not follow the old Azeroth pattern, where seas share the characteristics of the nearest zone. Icecrown, Storm Peaks and Zul'Drak do not contain any fish.

Learn More

• Wrath of the Lich King - Fishing changes in Wrath of the Lich King, the second expansion to World of Warcraft.
• The Burning Crusade - Fishing changes in the first expansion.
• Skill and Locations - Skill needed to avoid catching junk in each area, with a simple explanation of where different types of fish are found.
• The Role of Skill (Revised) - Considers the role skill plays in fishing, including how skill changes the proportion of junk items caught. Revised for patch 3.1.
• Gazetteer - This topic develops a simple gazetteer that shows which fish may be caught in which zones.

Comments about Zone Base Fishing Skill

Below are readers' comments about "Zone Base Fishing Skill":

Fishing skill req for great sea?

1. matty555, February 2008:

   Hi im level 12 and my fishing skill is 112 and im fishing at longshore at the moment next to the great sea and i was wondering at what skill level can i fidh there?

   Thanks.

2. el, February 2008:

   The skill required and fish caught from the seas are the same as the zone you are closest to (source). There was a long-standing bug with the ocean west of Silithus. Technically this has no coastal water, so no coastal fish. The ocean there contained freshwater fish.

   Oh, and so to answer the question: the area is like Westfall, so should require 75 skill to stop fish getting away.

3. matty555, February 2008:

   Oh so i need 75 skill to fish in the great sea? i now have 126 and i cant.

4. el, February 2008:

   That's interesting. Perhaps your part of the Great Sea is linked to Stranglethorn Vale to the south? Most of that area requires 130 to cast, 225 to stop get-aways. Gain a few points more of skill and let us know!

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