Best Addons For Wow
With how long World of Warcraft has been around; there’s an unfathomable amount of addons available for the game. But a question a lot of new (and long term) players often find them selves wondering what the best wow addons are? There’s just too many to browse through!
Everyone wan’ts to make their game-play experience more enjoyable. whether it’s by optimizing your damage, wining more arenas, making the most gold possible, or even just saving a few minutes avoiding menial tasks. Guess what… addons can definitely help you do all of these!
Popular Guides. Good solid list. The only change I would make would be to go with Skada instead of Recount. Skada takes less memory and allows multiple windows so you can track more than one thing at a time (I generally have one for heals and one for damage/dps). Also, Warcraft Instant Messenger is a great social addon.
To help you improve you World of Warcraft experience; I’ve put together a list of the best WoW addons I’ve tried over the past 10+ years. There’s a huge variety on this list; everything from things that run in the background, like Leatrix Plus, to total UI overhauls, such as ElvUI. But all of these addons have one thing in common… I can’t log in to World of Warcraft without them.
Here’s a summary of the best wow addons that every player should be using. We’ll go into more detail about each addon below.
- Details!
- Simulationcraft
- BigWigs
- WeakAuras 2
- Exorsus Raid Tools
- Angry Keystones
- Trade Skill Master
- Auctionator
- Gathermate 2
- Farmhud
- OneClickEnchantScroll
- ElvUI
- Dominos
- Quartz
- Leatrix Plus
- Bagnon
- Opie
- Addon Control Pannel
- Postal
- Azeroth Auto Pilot
- Gladius
- GladiatorlosSA2
Ok, I’ll admit, I’m an addon-aholic if there ever was one. When you’ve been playing wow for 10+ years you’re always excited to try something that will change up the formula.
But there’s just some addons that no matter how hard I try I just can’t live without.
Some of the addons that are on this list have been installed on my account for as long as I can remember; while others are new to recent expansions.
The only criteria I had when picking my list of the best wow addons was simple. If I log in and noticed them missing – I’d be offline in a heartbeat figuring out what was wrong.
All of these addons can be downloaded through the Twitch client with the exception of ElvUI – now let’s break down what’s so great the best wow addons you should be using.
Details!
Chances are, if you play WoW, you probably have a damage meter addon. If you don’t (or are looking for a better alternative to Recount) check out ‘Details!’. It’s your standard damage display meter for your group… on steroids. Details! can be as detailed (no pun intended) or as simple as you’d like. You can also do a lot of fun stuff with this addon; like changing your nickname to mess with the rest of your group or seeing a real-time graph of your parties effectiveness throughout an entire mythic+ dungeon. Overall, I think Details! is one of the best wow addons that I’ve switched to recently.
Simulationcraft
Simulationcraft is a must have addon for any player looking to do PvE content. The addon itself is very simple and doesn’t do a whole lot; but this is a great example of how something doesn’t have to be flashy to be one of the best wow addons. With the help of some external tools, Simulationcraft can help you figure out the optimal approach to every scenario WoW can throw at you. If you don’t know what simming is or why it’s important – you should definitely try to learn. It’s essential any player learns how to sim their character so they can gear and choose talents effectively. For a full guide on how to Sim your character check out our guide.
BigWigs (and LittleWigs)
You’ve probably heard of boss timer addons before. The most popular being DBM (Deadly Boss Mods), but once you try BigWigs you’ll never go back. BigWigs does essentially the same thing as DBM; gives you timer and UI notifications for when a boss is about to do certain abilities. This addon is one of the most light weight boss mods available (better PC performance); which may be a downside for some since it requires you to download an extra package (LittleWigs) for dungeon bosses. But despite this minor inconvenience; the UI is just overall better and easier to customize. If you’re not using any other addon for PvE; atleast get a boss mod.
WeakAuras 2
WeakAuras (2) is an awesome tool for creating custom UI elements for just about everything imaginable. Want to know when your trinket’s internal CD is off? Want to know when a boss targeted you with an ability? Want to know when your coffee is done brewing? Weakaurs 2 can do it all.
The interface for creating Weakauras is pretty intimidating; but don’t worry. There’s plenty of guides on how to create WAs. I’m probably not the best to teach you though. Because I just head on over to wago.io and download pre-made WAs. Weakauras is such an iconic and necessary addon for any hard core player that it earns my spot as the #1 best wow addon.
Exorsus Raid Tools
Exorsus Raid Tools is an addon created and maintained by one of the top World of Warcraft guilds, Exorsus. It provides a lot of utility that any organized group can use. I won’t go into detail on all of the functionality that Exorsus Raid Tools provides, but the main allure of this addon is it’s ability to allow raid leaders to coordinate their strategies visually in game. For example, you can see interrupt orders, group assignments, and other necessary strategies on your screen during the fight. For the addon to work to it’s fullest potential the entire group should have the addon installed.
Angry Keystones
It’s obvious that M+ is here to stay. With the resounding success of the Mythic+ Dungeon Invitational I expect blizzard to keep promoting this system till they beat it dead. If you’re on the Mythic+ grind train (and why wouldn’t you be – it’s awesome loot!) I highly suggest picking up angry keystones. It’s an overall improvement to the M+ UI and gives you a lot more detail about how your run is going. Another cool feature is that it will automatically insert a keystone into the slot at the beginning of the dungeon. Yep… I’m that lazy.
Trade Skill Master (Suite)
TSM is definitely one of the best wow addons I’ve ever used. It’s pretty complex and you can definitely tell it’s made by a software engineer.
There’s a few different modules involved with trade skill master but they’re all focused around crafting and gold making. You can set up operations to help you craft profitable items, snipe under priced items on the auction house, and implement plenty of other gold making strategies.
I suggest taking some time to read guides and watch videos on the addon before you start using it so you can avoid making critical mistakes that could loose you gold. That’s not what we’re here to do right!
Auctionator
Autionator is a redesign of the standard auction UI. It allows you browse, buy, and sell much more easily. It’s not totally perfect; addons like Trade Skill Master and Auctioneer can do way more. But auctionator is by far the most simple. I’ve made well over 5 million gold using this auction addon alone without the fancy tricks TSM offers. Personally, I would recommend using Autionator for your quick and easy posting/buying and TSM for your more complex operations… if that’s your sort of thing.
Gathermate 2
Gathermate is pretty simple. Whenever you collect a node (herb, ore, holiday item, etc.) it will make a mark on your map and mini map. This is great for multi-tasking while farming. I love throwing a movie on and making a few thousand gold with minimal effort. Another cool feature of Gathermate is that you can import other peoples maps to save yourself some time getting set up.
Farmhud
Farmhud works awesome when used along with Gathermate. Essentially, it turns your entire screen into a transparent version of your mini map which you can use to track gathering nodes. If you really want to take all of the thought out of your farming Gathermate + farmhud is the way to go.
Cool fact: at one point this addon was a default part of another addon on our list, SexyMap, before it was given it’s own download page.
OneClickEnchantScroll
If you’re an enchanter this one is a must. It adds a ‘enchant scroll’ button to your crafting window which will save you thousands of clicks over the course of an expansion. It’s one of the most simple yet best wow addons I’ve installed recently.
ElvUI
ElvUI is a total overhaul to the games interface and one of the best wow addons of all time. And when I say total overhaul – I mean you might not be able to tell that you’re playing the same game.
Not only does the addon re-skin every component of the games interface; but it allows you to configure them in any way imaginable. One of my favorite features is that you can move, disable, and resize every part of the games UI elements.
If you don’t feel like taking the time to build your own UI; you can download pre-configured strings to import. Check out your favorite YouTubers UI’s – I guarantee they have their ElvUI string available for their fans. There’s even a section of wago.io dedicated to ElvUI strings.
Every time I try to switch to a different UI addon I’m right back to ElvUI within a week. (It’s the UI used for this Image’s post FYI)
Best Addons For Wow 2019
Dominos
Dominos is a great addon for interface enhancement. It replaces the blizzard default action bars with a full suite of customizable bars. It also makes it much easier to change your keybindings than the default action bars. One of my favorite features with this addon is that you can hide action bars while still having keybindable abilities on them. Another option if you don’t like Dominos is Bartender, which does essentially the same thing but with a slightly more complex UI.
Quartz
Quartz is an awesome little addon that lets you customize your cast bars in more ways than you could ever imagine. From simple resizing and moving, to adjusting the display of your ping, this addon is essential for anyone playing a caster. Even if you’re a melee you can benefit from this addon’s improved visuals to enemy and focus target cast bars. It also does a great job of showing if you can interrupt an ability or not.
SexyMap
If any addon on this list is on here just for the fact that I like the way it looks… it has to be this one. SexyMap tries to improve the default mini map; and in some ways it does. You can do some cool customization to the looks like adding glowing rune effects or hiding your mini map buttons but all in all it really doesn’t enhance the game all that much. But my goodness is it sexy.
Leatrix Plus
Leatrix Plus is the ultimate quality of life addon. There’s tons of minor enhancements it can make to your game-play experience and the devs are constantly adding to the list. Here’s a few of my favorites:
- Faster looting
- Auto quest accept / turn in
- Auto sell / repair
- Block pet battles
Bagnon
Bagnon is pretty simple. It just reorganizes your default bag (and bank) layout to a simple 1 page grid. It also gives you some additional features like auto organizing your bags. Nothing fancy – but it’s still one of the best wow addons because it solves the age old problem of poor bag design.
Another cool addon to try in the bag-space is Adibags which gives you a totally different bag UI that automatically places your items into categories. I wasn’t a huge fan of it but I have some friends that swear by it.
Opie
Opie is probably the most unique addon on this list. It’s (sort of) an action bar addon with a unique twist. Opie allows you to open a radial button menu by holding down or pressing a key. You can nest menu’s within one another and do some cool stuff with this addon. I don’t recommend using it for combat abilities due to the extra few seconds it would take to use them; but it’s great for consumables, extra mounts, and other non-combat abilities you should have ready to use at a moments notice.
Addon Control Panel
Another simple addon here but I can’t live without it. ACP (addon control panel) allows you to enable and disable addons without logging out of your character. You will still have to log out of your account completely for newly downloaded addons to show up but it’s a nice quality of life addition not having to log out every time you want to turn on or off another addon.
Postal
Postal is an overhaul to the default mailbox UI. If you’re using the auction house a lot or sending things between alts frequently I’d recommend checking this one out.
Azeroth Auto Pilot
Chances are you’ve already hit max level on one of your characters. If you haven’t, and wan’t to finish up quick, or are looking to level an alt and take out the little bit of brain power required. AAP is a great way to speed things up or multitask with a movie. AAP tells you exactly where to go while questing and what order to do things in. It will even tell you when to use specific items like a goblin glider or bloodlust. Additionally, it will give you certain options to speed up the process like automating quest pickups/hand ins and skipping cut scenes. AAP is definitely one of the best wow addons when it comes to questing.
Disclaimer: I’m not much of a PvPer. I’ve messed around and got close to 2k rating before; but it’s just not my specialty. For this section I had my friend and incredible PvP healer Reverbz give me his advice on what addons he won’t jump into an arena without.
Go give Reverbz some love on Twitch – he just got Gladiator this season so tell him grats.
Gladius
Gladius is a must for any arena player no matter how serious. It’s an enhancement to the default enemy arena frames. It tells you the class, spec, remaining DR (diminishing return) and other useful information about your opposing team.
GladiatorlosSA2
GladiatorlosSA2 is a pretty neat addon and one of the only few on the list that actually uses audio to do it’s job. The basic idea of the addon is simple; alert you of important things happening in the arena. But the way the addon works in game just seems so smooth. If you get tunnel vision trying to burn down a dps you might hear a ‘DRINKING’ audio alert to snap out of it and take care of that pesky healer. Overall I think this is one of the coolest pvp addons available.