Despite there being a demand for WoW Classic, it is by no means a perfect game. But just like how modding Skyrim brought it closer to perfection, so did modding World of Warcraft.
In this guide, we’ll cover twenty of the best WoW classic add-ons, macros, and mod sets. Some of these addons will help you with leveling while others are just quality of life improvement. Some will help you display hidden information while others will help you make the game look a little better.
A few of these additions make WoW classic more accessible to players with disabilities. In this guide we will overview these add-ons and more.
Best Addons, Mods, and Macros for WoW Classic
#1 Questie
Questie is a quest-helper and one of the most important addons for WoW Classic. It is very popular, particularly on private servers. If you use it just right, it can be one of the best add-ons for leveling.
Just like your typical MMO, World of Warcraft is a giant sandbox game. Keeping track of quests and important areas on your map can be a little difficult. This is where Questie comes in.
In essence, Questie helps you find quests and quest items easier by marking them on your map. This cuts time by helping you track quests and turn-ins.
However, it only shows you quests that are available to your current level. For instance, if you had the Questie add-on activated and you zoomed in on a section of the map, such as the Wetlands, you would see all the available turn-ins and quests in areas like Menethil Harbor.
Furthermore, once you accept a quest, Questie will mark quest goals on the map for you. For instance, where you need to go to kill the enemy to complete the quest. Questie marks kill quests on the map with a miniature sword.
It marks loot quests with a bag. This will show you that you need to loot certain items from a mob. For instance, the Lost Ingots from the Lightforge Ingot quest.
A great feature that Questie has is if you hover over a quest item on the map, through tooltip text, it will reveal more details about the quest. This information includes the name of the NPC (quest giver) you need to talk to as well as the level the quest requires.
It will also show waypoint lines (GTA-Style) to the quest giver. If you’re on a quest with a party, Questie will show you your team-mates’ progression through helpful pop-ups.
If this is your first foray into WoW Classic, we’d suggest you start playing the game without Questie – just to get a feel of the game. Once you get situated, you can decide if you need an addon like Questie.
#2 Details! Damage Meter
Details! Damage Meter is a DPS meter add-on. Okay, that may be an understatement. It is so much more than the name implies. The amount of data accessible to you and how easy it is for you to access it are only two of the many reasons this add-on has made its way to number two on our list.
The biggest con of using this add-on is the learning curve. You will have to sit with it for about 20-30 minutes to get acclimatized to it. Customization is a big aspect of the addon. If you set things up incorrectly, you can easily mess your in-game user interface.
Details! Damage Meter allows you to change the appearance of your meter bar in ways that can either be superficial or very useful to your playstyle. For instance, under options, you can choose to animate your damage meter bars (or not). It also allows you to dictate your mouse wheel-speed which will affect how fast you scroll through the DPS bars window.
Time Measure is one of Details! most important features because it affects the way the data is collected. This can impact the way you see it. You get two options for this meter; effective time and activity time.
Essentially, activity time starts recording when you start doing something and ends when you stop doing something. So, it measures it according to your activity. It can be a bit inaccurate.
Effective time will record entire battles. Details! is one of the only meter addons that allows you to toggle between effective time and activity time. For instance, Recount uses activity time measurement while Skada uses effective time management.
We would suggest that you keep Details! on Effective Time management. Details! also has native multi-window support that can be altered through Window Amount. This feature allows you to dictate the amount of DPS bar windows that can be shown on your screen.
You can also configure whether to erase data manually or automatically when you zone into a new instance. We advise that you leave this on automatic, but it also depends on your analytical needs. These are only just a few of Details! amazing features. Overall, it’s an amazing analytical tool for anyone who enjoys the pedantry of MMO data crunching.
#3 IceHUD
IceHUD is a heads up display addon that makes it easier to track data such as your health, enemy health, mana level, pet health, and much more. The addon is designed to help you focus on the action in the center of the screen by placing these meters next to your character.
It is highly customizable. For instance, you can change the appearance and shape of the meters. This includes positioning, scale, transparency, colors, and more. Positioning allows you to set the scale, the gap between bars, and horizontal and vertical alignment of your bars.
Under transparency settings, you can set your meter(s)’s opacity in and out of combat. Bar settings allow you to choose preset themes and textures for your bars. It also allows you to set the width of your bars and alter their proportions.
The addon also comes with class-specific meters and information such as Holy Power monitoring, combo point counters, Warlock shard tracking, druid mana trackers, etc. These can be enabled or disabled under module settings.
For anyone who wants an easier way to efficiently track their meters and bars, IceHUD might be a less overwhelming alternative to Details! Damage Meter.
#4 Deadly Boss Mods – Classic
No WoW addon list is complete without Deadly Boss Mods (DBM). The Retail version is one of the most popular WoW addons of all time. The Vanilla WoW version is no different. It’s a necessity for raiders and PvE players.
This comes with a small suggestion on our part. If this is your first time playing the game or engaging in raids, we wouldn’t recommend installing and activating it until you’ve completed at least four dungeons and at least one raid.
Don’t get us wrong, DBM is a great add-on, but it makes raids insanely easy. Maybe, too easy. And of course, with WoW classic, some of the early boss mechanics are fairly limited. They can be easy enough to handle on your own (or with your party), without the help of an addon like DBM.
Removing the challenge out of these encounters can affect the enjoyment you experience from the game. Because of this, we suggest you go into raids without DBM activated for your first trial.
As soon as the game increases in intensity around phase 3 and you start raid-farming, then an addon like DBM can be useful. Ultimately, it is your choice. If you are already familiar with the game, you can gauge when and how you want to use this addon.
But what does DBM do? As with most WoW addons, DBM is a collection of modules that give your character abilities equivalent to Peter Parker’s ‘spider-sense’. The addon (most notably) allows you to anticipate or track boss enemy mechanics during dungeons, raids, and Brawler’s Guild.
These raid warnings are often unique to each boss encounter. Not only do they alert you of a boss mechanic but they also offer suggestions on how to respond accordingly. These prompts will usually reveal themselves as either pop-up text or sound cues.
If you are affected by a spell or debuff, DBM allows your character to relay this information (usually through sound cues) to your party members. This feature is normally accompanied by a countdown or target marker.
How warnings are displayed is situational. More severe mechanics and attacks require more striking cues and effects. For instance, louder sound prompts and screen flashing.
Some warnings are more nuanced than others. For instance, some alerts warn you to move away from fellow party members when you’re hit with a debuff so it doesn’t affect them and spoil the entire raid.
There are class-specific alerts too. They may notify a tank to taunt or a healer to dispel a debuff. With so much going on during raids, it’s easy to lose your focus or attention. These alerts and prompts act as reminders when you find yourself overwhelmed or lost in the game.
DBM also adds timer bars that help you anticipate certain boss mechanics. They’re usually sorted into small and large bars – with larger bars marking major events or actions.
In addition to this, DBM has some great customizability. Some of these customizations are purely aesthetic while others affect how the addon and its modules will work. Overall, it can be a great addon, especially for gamers who plan on taking advantage of the game’s PvE
#5 OmniCC
OmniCC adds close captions texts or number timers to spells and item cooldowns. It will essentially replace your analog cooldown meters with digital ones. This makes them easier to read and can assist you in making better in-game decisions.
A lot of people find the default analog cooldown hard to read, especially when you have a lot of spells on your bar. It can be hard to track them accurately.
In terms of configuration, you can modify OmniCC’s font size or scale it to fit within frames. You can choose whether to display the default spiral cooldowns or disable them.
You can also choose what effect you want the text to be displayed with. Whether it should pulse, shine, or just display normally. You can also dictate the minimum size of the frame where text is displayed and the minimum duration of time to display the text.
You can also modify the font style, colors, and scale. From the outline of the text to its body. You can also download additional textures and fonts. You can also choose where you want the text to be displayed through the positioning option.
The addon also allows you to create rules or a blacklist for situations where you don’t want the OmniCC addon to display text.
The addon has been around since 2006 (two years after WoW’s original release) and has gone through quite a few iterations over the years. It’s well maintained and consistently updated. The latest version should work with both the Retail and Classic versions of WoW.
It’s a very simple addon with a very simple concept. It efficiently delivers basic information. This can be useful in all situations of the game;’ whether you’re planning to play PvP or PvE. Not only is it one of the best addons for WoW Classic, but it’s arguably one of the best WoW addons of all time.
#6 Bartender4
Bartender4 is probably the most creatively named WoW Classic addon. We all know how WoW Classic’s action bars can be an eyesore. That’s where Bartender4 comes in. It’s an add-on for key-binding and organizing your bars.
Once you install Bartender4, it will add a tiny icon next to your map. As soon as you want to re-organize your bars, all you need to do is click on the icon. You’ll then see a dialog near the top of your screen and Bartender 4 will allow you to move your bars by simply dragging them and snapping them into place. Once you’re done reorganizing your bars, you can then click on the lock button to save your changes.
It is really that easy to use. If you want more customization options, all you need to do is right-click on the Bartender4 icon. This will bring up Bartender4’s settings screen. From here, you can customize each bar’s appearance individually.
You can disable and enable them. You can dictate their positioning, transparency, size, and in more detailed ways.
You can add additional action bars such as the Pet Bar, Stance Bar, Vehicle Bar, Reputation Bar, Blizzard Art Bar, XP bar, and an Extra Action Bar.
The addon also allows you to add character-specific key-binds for spells, buffs, and other actions. For instance, if you are playing as a Hunter, you can bind Wing Clip to one of your F-Keys. Make your bars look like they’re from your favorite fighting game or make them look more manageable.
It’s all possible with Bartender 4.
#7 Auctionator
Like any other world or country, Azeroth has its own economy. However, it doesn’t necessarily revolve around its economy. And yet, it’s still an important part of the game. Especially for those with professions or players who just want to dress and gear their characters up.
For instance, if you play as a hunter, you’ll need 100 gold for your mount at level 40. What’s a better way to make that gold than selling gear you don’t need? WoW’s auction house allows you to do this. It also gives you a chance to purchase rare items that are nearly impossible to farm.
Auctionator adds additional functionality to WoW Classic’s auction house. After you install the addon, it will affix three new tabs at the bottom of the interface. These tabs are Buy, Sell, and More….
Buy allows you to search for items to buy, while Sell allows you to search for items to sell. When searching for raw material through Auctionator, it will return a set of search results, not only containing the material you were querying but items that may be composed of the material too.
In addition to this, Auctionator will also show you the lowest prices you can purchase your materials or items for. If you click on an item, it will expand and display all the listings for that item.
Auctionator also allows you to create and store shopping lists. It has an auto-scan feature that scans for items in the background while you have the auction house open.
Overall, Auctionator makes acquiring items in WoW even easier. If you plan to visit Vanilla WoW’s auction house regularly, this has the potential to be one of the most useful addons for you.
#8 Leatrix Plus (Classic)
Who remembers multicarts? These were game cartridges that packed a multitude of games on a single cartridge. Most notably, the 110 in 1 cartridge for the SNES. Leatrix Plus is an add-on comparable to that.
It is a collection of mods that adds what the developers describe as “quality of life improvements to enhance the default user interface”.
One of the biggest features of the addon is automation. You can automate the selection and acceptance of quests. You can create an exception for quests that require gold. You can set macros and keybinds for gossip.
The addon also allows you to accept summons and resurrects automatically. In addition to this Leatrix Plus (Classic) makes it easier for you to manage your items. You can automatically repair armor and sell-off junk.
The addon has translations for English, Portuguese (Brazilian), Korean, Chinese, Spanish, French, and Russian. You can also use Leatrix to block certain interactions. For instance duels from people who you’re not familiar with, party invites, and friend requests.
The addon also allows you to make changes to the WoW’s chat screen. For instance, you can alter it by hiding the chat buttons, hiding the combat log, detaching the chat frame as well as resizing it completely.
Leatrix Plus also allows you to make changes to some of the chat screen’s core mechanics. You can increase the chat history size, enable the use of arrow keys, stop chat text from fading, etc.
Leatrix Plus also gives you a media player where you can listen to all the game’s music and watch all its playable cutscenes or cinematic videos. With this addon, you can enhance some of Vanilla WoW’s sound, graphics, and interface.
It’s hard to summarize all the capabilities of Leatrix Plus. If you want more information on the addon and its features, you can visit the Leatrix Plus website.
#9 AtlasLootClassic
AtlasLootClassic is a mod pack that allows you to see the loot-ables for dungeons, raids, and world bosses. It also allows you to see faction rewards, crafting recipes, and other items. Each loot-type is separated into loot tables.
This add-on can be used to gauge whether a raid or dungeon invite is worth accepting simply by looking at what loot drops are available.
AtlasLootClassic gives you simple information about each loot item.
In addition to this, it will show you whether a piece of loot you’re looking at is best suited to your character.
The addon also has a feature called ‘Favourites’ where you can create wish lists. The Favourites list can be used as an informal checklist where you can compare items you’ve always wanted with items you find.
AtlasLootClassic can be a gamechanger for in-game WoW entrepreneurs and loot hunters. It will forever remain as one of the best WoW classic addons of all time.
#10 GatherMate 2
For gamers whose characters are in professions that rely on gathering herbs or mining, GatherMate 2 can be crucial for maximizing your income in World of Warcraft. It will show you all the spawn points for gas clouds, herbs, mines, fishing spots, archaeological dig sites, and treasure chests.
Even if you’re not in a profession that requires you to track herbs or mine for ore, you can still benefit from using GatherMate 2 to find treasure chests. GatherMate 2 will mark all the available spawn points on your map.
Under GatherMate 2’s interface options, you can control how it behaves or displays its features on the world map and minimap. You can also change how tracking nodes appear on the maps. For instance, the tracking color for mineral veins, herb bushes, fishing spots, etc
Since certain spawns or gathering points may be irrelevant to your profession, you’ll probably want to filter them out. GatherMate 2 allows you to do this. In fact, you can filter out specific items. For instance, certain fish or herbs.
This will cut out distractions and help you hunt for the most expensive items for your profession. This is what makes it one of the best addons for WoW classic.
#11 SexyMap
If you don’t like the way Vanilla WoW’s map looks and behaves, you can alter it with SexyMap. It’s a feature-rich open-source add-on that allows you to customize both the mini-map and world map. You can scale them, change their positioning, change their shape, and add more details to them.
To make customization quick and easy for you, SexyMap comes with a list of default preset settings for your minimap. There is a simple square, stargate, parchment, burning sun, etc. These will all change the shape of your mini-map and its overall style and appearance.
If you have trouble distinguishing your mini-map from the rest of the game, especially if you’re in the heat of battle, you can ratify this by customizing the map’s borders through SexyMap. You can change the border color or texture. You can also change its edge size.
In addition to this, SexyMap allows you to change the appearance of buttons, your clock, movers, ping, and zone text. You can keep a more organized and cleaner map. For instance, you can instruct SexyMap to hide some of your nodes and icons until you hover over them or only display themselves when you’re in a boss fight. This gives you a smoother and more seamless looking map.
#12 Bagnon
Last, but nowhere near least, comes Bagnon. You can call Classic WoW’s inventory system a lot of things but you certainly can’t call it well designed. It’s a common complaint for most WoW gamers. By default, WoW classic separates and stores items into different bags. This makes storing and searching through your items very inefficient.
Bagnon fixes this issue by unifying your bags. Creating an easy to access inventory system that makes item management a whole lot easier. It does something similar to your bank vault and inventory. It will sort and organize items in the same way it organizes your bag. This gives WoW Classic’s inventory system a look and feel of a more conventional RPG.
Bagnon will also color your items based on quality. For instance, (by default) green is for uncommon quality while blue is for rare. You can change how Bagnon colors and display items or bag slots in its settings. You can also decide if you want to color empty item slots, highlight unusable items, and/or highlight quest items.
In addition to this, Bagnon allows you to sort your bank items in order of quality. Hovering over items or bag slots will give you tooltip text with more details about the item(s). Each slot also has item counts.
Another noteworthy function is Bagnon’s automatic display feature that allows you to reveal your inventory as soon as you walk into the bank, visit an auction house, socket items, craft, or visit the guild bank. You can also choose to automatically close your inventory when you leave a vendor, engage in combat, or enter a vehicle.
Bagnon also has an intelligent item search function you can use to find your gear and material quickly. Overall, Bagnon is one of the most useful addons for WoW classic. It comes highly recommended by us.
Final Thoughts
If you’ve reached this point in this guide, we hope that you’ve discovered at least a handful of WoW Classic addons you’d like to try. If not, then we’ve failed horribly. Either way, we tried to include what we felt were the best World of Warcraft Classes based on popularity, utility, and of course our own opinions. We hope that you’ve enjoyed reading through this guide. As always, thank you for reading and beware the burning sky!