WoW Classic Best Addons and Macros Guide (2024)

Before we get started on addons and macros, we would like to present you ourIcy Veins' class-specific guides.

Addons are an important part of WoW Classic, but are not intuitive to install.If you want to download and install an addon, follow the steps listed below.

1. First, download the addon that you want. Once it is done downloading, open thedownloaded folder. You should have a folder with the addon's name on it, suchas "Questie."
2. Copy the folder.
3. Go to the directory where World of Warcraft is installed on your computer. Usuallyit will be in Program Files (x86) unless you downloaded it somewhere else.
4. Open your World of Warcraft folder, then open the classic folder inside.
5. From there, go to Interface and then to AddOns.
6. Inside the AddOns folder, paste in the folder of the addon that you should havecopied, or drag it in from wherever you downloaded it.
7. Restart your WoW client, and the addon should be installed. In the bottom-leftof your character select screen, there should be a button that says AddOns. Youwill want to click on that to check and make sure your new addon is there and loaded.
8. Start up the game, and your new addon should be there. Every addon has differentways to change or configure things, so you will need to check out that addon'sinstructions on the page you downloaded it from for more information.

Alternatively, you can use the Twitch Desktop Appto install addons that are available on curseforge.comand automatically update them. A drawback of this method is that it only works withaddons available on Curseforge.

Questie

Quest helper addons like Questieare a must have and will make your leveling experience much smoother. Over theyears, Blizzard has reworked WoW's questing interface to make it more userfriendly and to present more information. In Classic, that was not the case.Quests were not readily displayed on the map, enemies did not have text toindicate you should kill them for a quest you had, and items did not have theglowing lines or sparkles around them to let you know that you should interactwith them for a quest.

Weak Auras

Weak Auras is a very popular addon in modern WoW that allows you to create and customizestrackers for different auras such as your damage cooldowns or debuffs you might getfrom raid bosses. This addon givesyou lots of customization and will let you track whatever you want, howeveryou want. It is an absolute must have for anyone looking to raid.

Details

Being able to track and compare your damage with other people's is a valuabletool and does not exist in the default UI. Detailsis the most popular damage meter in modern WoW, and has been ported over to Classic.If you are looking to improve, being able to track your own numbers and comparethem is a vital first step.

Deadly Boss Mods

If you plan to raid, having a Boss Mod addon, such as Deadly Boss Mods is a must.It will help you track important raid abilities and giveyou important messages from fight to fight. Most importantly, it will give youwarnings and notifications if you are targeted by something or if an importantmechanic is happening. Most raiding guilds require this addon because of how usefulit is in raids.

Classic Threat Meter

If you have done any sort of dungeon in WoW Classic, then you know how easy itcan be for a tank to lose aggro on an enemy. On the default UI, you really have noway of knowing when an enemy will start attacking you until it goes to attack you.Having a threat meter like Classic Threat Metercan make a world of difference since it gives you a way to track threat, and willshow you when you are in danger of pulling threat. This is another incrediblyimportant addon for raids, where pulling aggro off a tank can mean a wipe on somebosses.

Classic Cast Bars

By default, you cannot see enemy cast bars below their name plates like you canin modern WoW. Classic Cast Bars fixes this, and will show you enemy cast bars.

Classic Aura Durations

By default, you cannot see the duration of debuffs when you target an enemy,even your own DoT effects. Classic Aura Durations puts a timer on the debuffs tohow you how long is left, making it look closer to how it does in modern WoW.

Vendor Price

In WoW Classic, items do not have their vendor price on the tooltip normally.Early on, every copper counts, and the decision to delete items if you are outquesting and your bags are full can often come down to what will vendor for theleast amount. Vendor Price just adds the vendor sell price of an item onto it'stooltip, allowing you to see ahead of time what it is worth.

Atlas Loot Classic

By installing Atlas Loot,you become able to browse loot from various sources (PvP, Raids, Dungeons, Crafting, etc.)inside the game, without the need to visit third party websites.

While most macros are class specific, you can make macros to do lots of things.This is a short guide on how to write macros to do some basic stuff, which canbe adapted to your own personal needs. To look at more class specific macros,check out our class addon and macro guides.

This is the most common line found at the start of lots of macros. This is sowhen you mouse over the tooltip of the macro while it is on your bar, it will showthe tooltip of the specified spell. For instance, if you had #showtooltip Fireballit would show the Fireball tooltip when you moused over the macro. If youdo not specify a spell, it will default to showing the tooltip of the first item or spell usedin the macro.

• #showtooltip Fireball

When you want to cast a spell in a macro, you start the line with /cast,followed by the name of the spell that you want to cast. For instance, you couldmake it /cast Fireball which would cast the spell Fireball. If you donot specify a spell rank, such as /cast Fireball(rank 4), then it will defaultto casting the highest possible rank. The same thing works for items, except insteadof doing /cast, you do /use, such as /use Major Healing Potion.

Example of a Fireball macro:

• #showtooltip Fireball
• /cast Fireball

Example of a Major Healing Potion macro:

• #showtooltip Major Healing Potion
• /use Major Healing Potion

There are several options for ways you can start and stop attacks and casts in a macro.Each of the commands listed below can be added to any macroin its own line to add the command to the macro. Remember that macros can do multiplethings at once, so adding multiple commands is alright.

• /attack makes you start auto attacking the target.
• /stopattack makes you stop auto attacking the target.
• /petattack commands your pet to attack the target, which includes running atthe target if it is not near.
• /petpassive commands your pet to stop attacking, which will make it run backto your side.
• /stopcasting stops your current cast, regardless of how close it is to finishing.

Example of a /attack and Mortal Strike macro:

• #showtooltip Mortal Strike
• /attack
• /cast Mortal Strike

Example of a /attack, /petattack, and Serpent Sting macro:

• #showtooltip Serpent Sting
• /attack
• /petattack
• /cast Serpent Sting

Example of a /stopcasting and Hammer of Justice macro:

• #showtooltip Hammer of Justice
• /stopcasting
• /cast Hammer of Justice

By default, when you cast a spell or start an attack in a macro, it will beagainst your current target. If you want to change that, you can add some textinto the line that will specify the target. For instance, if you wanted to casta Polymorph at a specific player named John, you could change the lineto say /cast [@John] Polymorph. Just change "John" to any name that you want,either enemy for damage spells or friendly for healing spells.

• [@john] targets a specific target named "john".
• [@player] targets yourself.
• [@targettarget] targets your target's target.
• [@mouseover] targets your the player or enemy under yourmouse cursor. This is commonly used in healing macros.

Example of a macro to cast Polymorph on John:

• #showtooltip Polymorph
• /cast [@john] Polymorph

Example of a macro to cast Holy Light on yourself:

• #showtooltip Holy Light
• /cast [@player] Holy Light

Example of a macro to cast Smite on your target's target:

• #showtooltip Smite
• /cast [@targettarget] Smite

Example of a macro to cast Blind on your mouseover target:

• #showtooltip Blind
• /cast [@mouseover] Blind

While the macros above specify how you want to target someone, this can sometimesbe a bit limiting. For instance, look at the Smite macro:

• #showtooltip Smite
• /cast [@targettarget] Smite

This is great if you are targeting a tank and do not want to have to targetsomething new just to cast Smite, but what if you are targeting anenemy player instead? You probably do not want to be Smiting their target, youwould rather be Smiting them. We can resolve this by adding various conditionsto our macros. In the case of the Smite macro, we could add the condition harmin one or two ways:

• #showtooltip Smite
• /cast [harm][@targettarget] Smite

or:

• #showtooltip Smite
• /cast [@targettarget, harm] Smite

These are generally the two ways you can add conditions onto macros. In both cases,we have added the "harm" condition onto the macro, but they do very different thingsbased on how we added them. The first macro uses [harm][@targettarget], whichspecifies that if you are targeting an enemy (harmful) player, you want to castSmite. If not, then you want to cast Smite at your target's target. The secondone uses [@targettarget, harm] which specifies that you want to cast Smite atyour target's target, but only if it is an enemy target. There are several conditionslike this, the most popular of which are listed below.

• [harm] specifies to only target enemies.
• [help] specifies to only target friendlies.
• [exists] will only attempt to cast if your targetexists, which if you are using a mouseover healing macro on raid frames, is generallyrequired for it to work.
• [dead] or [nodead] specifies to only target eitherdead or alive targets.
• [stealth] or [nostealth] mainly used by Rogues and Druids,this specifies to only cast a spell either while stealthed or not stealthed.

With this in mind, we can now create new macros. This macro casts Smiteat your target if it is an enemy or at your target's target otherwise:

• #showtooltip Smite
• /cast [harm][@targettarget] Smite

This macro casts Regrowth on your mouseover target, if it exists and is friendly. Otherwise,it casts it on you.

• #showtooltip Regrowth
• /cast [@mouseover,exists,help][@player] Regrowth

This macro casts Rake if you are not stealthed and Pounce if you are stealthed.

• #showtooltip
• /cast [nostealth] Rake; [stealth] Pounce