Addons are useful additions to the default World of Warcraft UI that assist gameplay. Addons come in all shapes and sizes from the large boss mod type packages to the tiny addons that help you align your UI elements. This post will focus on the ones useful for healing classes, with some explanation of what each one does.
First of all, you don’t need any addons to be a good healer. I’ve played with people who play with the default UI and have kept up with people with completely customised UIs. That said, healing addons can make your time healing less frustrating by making mundane actions like buffing semi-automated or at the very least, make it easier to see situations that require your attention.
Raid/party frames:
Raid and party frames are addons designed to make viewing your party or raid easier. Whilst the default UI offers this functionality, dedicated frame addons usually add extra features that come in handy for healers in particular.
XPerl – XPerl is a multifunctional unit frame system that includes support for raid frames, caster monitoring, CTRA/oRA support and other things. You can set it up to show health deficits as well as incoming heals, targets with your HoTs up etc.
Grid – Grid is a modular raid frame that is arguably the most flexible raid frames due to the amount of plugins available. It can however be a little daunting for the beginner which brings me onto..
Vuhdo – Vuhdo! Vuhdo is very similar to Grid and Healbot. Unlike Grid, Vuhdo comes preset with displays for healers that can be customised for more advanced healers.
Healbot Continued – Healbot is another similar addon to Grid and Vuhdo that gives you healer specific raid frames and built in mouseover/click casting capability. It is very flexible and comes automatically set up for basic healers and allows further customisation for advanced healers.
Click casting addons:
Click casting addons are addons that allow you to click a raid/target/player frame with a certain mouse combination and cast a specific spell/ability.
Clique – Clique is quite simple to set up and allows a lot of customisation including using macros, specific ranks of spell and different profiles that automatically swap depending on talent build for dual spec players.
Click2Cast – Click2Cast is an older addon that is similar in function to Clique. It seems a little bit out of date and I can’t see a reason to use this over Clique.
Buff monitors:
These handy addons make buffing considerably easier. They will either semi-automate or alert you to missing buffs that you can cast, or in some cases allow you to see who needs to eat food, drink flasks etc.
ZOMGBuffs – ZOMGBuffs is a buff management addon that monitors group buffs such as Gift of the Wild and can semi-automatically buff players. It can also interface with PallyPower users for blessing assignments. It can also monitor weapon imbues and poisons, and track temporary buffs like Earth Shield and Sacred Shield.
SmartBuff – This is another similar buff addon to ZOMGBuffs. Although this addon doesn’t provide as much additional functionality as ZOMGBuffs, it is still a very useful addon.
PallyPower – PallyPower is a near mandatory addon mainly for paladins and raid leaders that helps organise the awkwardness that are paladin blessings. PallyPower works with other paladins using the addon in your raid/group and assigns each paladin specific blessing duties and prevents overlaps.
Miscellaneous:
PowerAuras Classic – PowerAuras is an addon that adds customisable icons and auras to your UI that alert you to various situations and buffs. PowerAuras is not strictly a healer addon, as all classes can make some use of it, however it can come in useful if you want to time a large heal with a trinket proc for instance.
Decursive – Decursive is an addon designed to make removing various afflictions easier. Decursive automatically detects your abilities and creates boxes that highlight afflictions that you can click on to quickly remove. Whilst this functionality can be set up in Grid or one of the other raid frame addons, Decursive sets this up automatically and is easier to use.
BigWigs / Deadly Boss Mods – Whilst not limited to healers alone, these addons will most certainly alert you to situations that you need to deal with ASAP during boss fights and in some cases even trash. These mods often come with plugins for special situations not covered by the core package.
oRA 2 / oRA 3 / CTRA – Again, whilst not strictly only for healers, these addons work in the background, supporting other mods and providing information such as cooldown timers for things like Rebirth, Divine Intervention and other things like tank status. They even give raid leaders and assistants information about resistance, durability status etc. A very useful mod indeed.
Links:
Curse Gaming – Very large database of addons covering all specs and purposes, news articles and more.
WoWInterface – Another large database of addons with forums.
WoWUI – Another addon database and forum.
In conclusion, these are just some of the addons you could use to help you heal. They are far from necessary, but they help out a lot. I have come to rely on a few of these addons and would have difficulty coping without them! I hope this short guide has been useful.
Just to add to that list I find MendWatch handy for seeing who’s got my Prayer of Mending and what ping it’s on – whilst healbot can do this by putting an icon on the bar that can mean that the bars get very full of stuff and I prefer to have something like that where I can see it easily.