Best WoW addons

An addon earns a slot when it answers a question during a pull. Everything else is decoration. Check names and versions before you install. Patches rename and break these.

The ones that change a fight

• Details, or another damage meter, tells you whether your casts are going out. It does not tell you whether you played well. Use it to spot a dead button, not to posture.
• Deadly Boss Mods or BigWigs tells you a mechanic is coming. Pick one boss-mod family and learn its sounds. Two of them talking at once is worse than one.
• WeakAuras is for a specific reminder you cannot see in the default UI. A bar for your main cooldown is useful. A screen of other people’s auras is not.
• Plater, or another nameplate addon, makes enemy casts readable. If you cannot see casts, the rest of your UI does not matter.

The ones that only save time

A bag addon and a bar addon are fine once combat is readable. Add them after the four above, not before. A pretty bar will not call a mechanic.

Patch day

Disable extra addons before the patch hits if you can. After the patch, update boss mods and nameplates first. Enter a city, then a trivial fight, before you queue anything you care about. If the UI errors, remove the last addon you updated.

What not to install

Do not install an addon because a video’s screen looked busy. Each addon is something that can break. Keep a list of what you added and why. If you cannot remember why, turn it off.

Common questions

Where should I download addons?

Use CurseForge or Wago, and the project page for that addon. Random repacks are how accounts get put at risk.

Why did my UI break after a patch?

Addons lag behind patches. Disable them, update the ones you need, and turn the rest on one at a time.