With the Dragonflight expansion came a grand overhaul of the Default UI and its functionality. This refreshment of the UI and HUD allowed players much more customization than ever before and since has been proven as an excellent Quality of Life improvement. However, it could not and had no intentions of replacing the functionality of the existing add-ons that provide unprecedented levels of in-depth customization.
Some add-ons and external instruments provide so much value that their usage alone can boost your experience in WoW to the next level – becoming familiar with them is a must for both the returning WoW players and the currently active base. Camera, action!
1. ElvUI
ElvUI is a popular all-in-one interface package that completely replaces all elements of the default UI and includes many additional user-friendly features, with options to customize any little detail you want. Sizes, colors, fonts, positions, and more – make it personal, share with people, or import existing profiles you found online or from your favorite content makers.
You can download the latest version from the official website or download and keep it updated with the WowUp Addon Client.
2. WeakAuras
One of the most helpful instruments at players’ disposal, allowing you to track and visualize crucial information, such as cooldowns, buffs, and debuffs. Most complex weak auras include fully customized warnings for group content, with added visual and audio cues for a quick and easy orientation.
While writing WeakAuras may seem too complicated, you should not worry about it – it is easy to import community-made weak auras, and you can find plenty on the Wago portal – navigate by the required category and find something that seems useful! Here are some of my recommendations for the Dragonflight:
- Customizable Class Weakauras by Luxthos – clean and very informative auras containing all important class cooldowns, abilities, and resources.
- Dragonriding UI by Darian – a more informative overhaul of the default Dragonriding UI, now showing you the current speed, acceleration meter, and easy-to-track breakpoints, making it much easier to control your dragon.
- M+ Dungeons Season 2 – a package of dungeon notifications to keep track of the boss and trash abilities with visual and, optionally, audio signals for action. Requires the SharedMedia_Causese installed for the custom sounds to work. Come to Wago when the New Season begins and find the new version with the updated dungeon roster!
- Crests and Fragments Tracker – displays available upgrade currencies and the current weekly cap values.
- Aberrus Raid WeakAuras – keep track of the events and abilities on each raid encounter and act accordingly. Requires the SharedMedia_Causese installed for the custom sounds to work.
Keep your WeakAuras up to date with the WeakAuras Companion App – all you need to do is fetch the updates, do a quick /reload, and install the updates in the game.
3. DMB / BigWigs and GTFO
Let’s unite these add-ons under the same category of helping you track the danger and stay out of it. While the DBM and BigWigs are more advanced at it, providing you with timers and real-time alerts and instructions for all events to happen during the raid encounter and helping you navigate through the fight, the sole purpose of the GTFO is easy to grasp – the addon will notice if you stand where you should not and tell you to move out of the danger zone with a loud and clear audio alert. These are indispensable tools for raiders, and if your primary focus is M+ dungeons, check out the dungeon versions of DBM and LittleWigs.
4. Raidbots + Simulationcraft
Simcrafting is one of the central elements in the character optimization process – for any player being remotely serious about the endgame and min-maxing your character, Raidbot becomes an essential instrument to rely on.
Use the Simulationcraft addon and the /simc command to export your character data from the game and export it for the various type of simulations. The simple and most valuable calculations are:
- Top Gear – use this tool to quickly compare the chosen items from your inventory or available options from the Weekly Great Vault. This calculation will show the best pieces of gear available based on the chosen scenario – in general, use the Patchwerk 5 minutes preset for the Raid single target DPS and the Dungeon Slice for the M+ simulations. You can check the calculation with different enchants and gems to see what’s best specifically for you.
- Droptimizer – a great tool to optimize gear farming and prioritize certain bosses or dungeons potentially providing the best upgrades. This tool is relevant to guilds’ loot council, allowing them to calculate how much of an upgrade value each item holds to the group members. And if you don’t know what to craft next – use this tool to find your best upgrade slot.
- Quick Sim is the most basic tool that provides no comparisons but shows the performance of your currently equipped gear and talents. What’s most interesting about this simulation is that it includes a sample of actions and abilities used in the situation and the damage breakdown, which helps analyze your performance and find ways to improve it.
Raidbots Premium – Is it Worth Investing?
You can use the Raidbots as a free instrument and never pay a dollar for its primary functions. But if you wish to make the experience even better, for as little as a 2,5 to 3 dollars first tier monthly subscription, you can access advanced functionality worth every penny:
- 2M Top Gear Iterations – noticeable upgrade from 300K on the free version, allowing you to sim more variations of gear, gems, and enchants at once;
- Skip the Line – straightforward feature allows you to instantly proceed to the simulation instead of waiting in a queue, which can reach thousands of users during peak hours, especially when you open the Weekly Vault, and everyone tries to sim their upgrades.
- Premium Droptimizer – instead of checking each dungeon individually for potential upgrades, sim all the dungeons at once and get the bigger picture. It’s incredible how much faster and more convenient it is for someone who spends much time min-maxing characters for various scenarios.
Once you have parsed all the dungeons together, the gear priority becomes straightforward – try and complete the dungeons with the highest item upgrades. If, at some point, you consider getting a dungeon boost, this tool can help you get the maximum value per single run. Ask specifically for the dungeon that drops your BiS items, and ask for the item traders – professional service providers like Kingboost.net often include free loot traders, significantly increasing your chances of getting the items you want.
If you plan on using this instrument frequently, then there is no doubt about such an investment’s cost to convenience value – give it a try and see for yourself.
5. Premade Groups Filter
Group Filter is an excellent instrument to navigate LFG and find the groups that meet your criteria. Limit the groups to fit you and your friends, and filter the difficulty and availability of the roles in the group. Most helpful to navigate through the constantly refreshing pool of M+ groups and narrow it down to your preference.
6. Raider.IO
Download the addon from Curse or use the Raider.IO client to download and automatically keep the addon up to date.
The Raider.IO keeps track of your Mythic+ and Raid progress and assigns the score based on the difficulty of the dungeons completed. All you need is to regularly update the addon to see the relevant scores in LFG, players’ scores from the previous season, and even the best score on the main character to quickly evaluate the alts.
Check out the site and navigate the Leaderboards to see the best-performing weekly comps and what talents are commonly picked for specific dungeon runs. Here you will also find the optimal Weekly Dungeon Routes and advanced recommendations to make the runs as smooth as possible.
7. Litemount
With even more diversity of mounts added in the Dragonflight, the Litemount makes the mounting automated – setup it up once, and forget about having different key binds for different zones. It will automatically pick a ground, flying, aquatic, or dragonriding mount relevant to the surroundings. Mark the ones you wish to use more often, set up the key binding, and travel without worries! And here is the more advanced guide on setup and extra options from the developer.
8. Talent Loadout Ex
The add-on provides the workaround solution to the ten slots limitation on talent builds. Make and save as many talent combinations as you wish – cover the little tweaks for all kinds of situations, such as different M+ dungeons requiring various CC or mobility talents, extra cleave, or survivability. Load up the necessary loadout and get to work!
9. World Quests List
The WQL makes outdoor navigation much easier with the compact list of available quests with the option to sort them out by rewards, factions, zone, and the remaining timer. Plan your route with ease!
10. HandyNotes
Remember to download and install the Dragonfligh Plugin! Another improvement to the outdoor experience – shows the locations of the rare spawns and collectibles on the map with the noted instructions on how to get them. Explore the Dragon Isles and gather all the rewards you stumble upon!
Honorary Mentions
With so many good add-ons out there, the list can go on for a while, but we’ll remain focused on the most important ones. However, there are a few worth-mentioning addons on my list:
- Mythic Dungeon Tools – create, share, or import routes for the M+ dungeons so the entire group knows the action plan
- Details! – the most accurate damage meter with advanced settings and graphical meters, using the same calculations as Warcraft Logs. Keep track of the group performance, buffs uptime, and other combat details.
- Nameplate Scrolling Combat Text – epic upgrade from the default combat text with added spell icons, smoothened animations, and customization options.
- Hekili Priority Helper – this addon provides the rotation recommendations for a few steps ahead, a great tool to explore and learn new unfamiliar classes and get used to the rotation. Even for more experienced players, having the tips in the center of focus helps with split-second decisions in the middle of a complicated fight.
- MinimapButton – collect and hide all your minimap addon buttons under a single one. Easy as it cleans up the UI and avoids overlapping map buttons.