Classic Guide to Shamans' Best Addons
Welcome to our Addons guide for Shamans where you will find out what the best addons are for your Shaman in WoW Classic.
Classic Shaman Addons and Auras
As a healing-capable class, Shamans want to have good party / raid frames in order to never let anyone die, be it as main or as off-healer. These, if properly configured, will also help you understand when you should use some of your defensive totems. If you see poison debuffs being applied on your frames, use Poison Cleansing Totem immediately, for example!
Also, note that WoW Classic has a lot of busy work tasks:
- Accepting and turning in quests;
- Repairing your gear;
- Selling gray items.
We list PvE / PvP addons in the next sections that automate this sort of tasks for you, so that you can focus on being as efficient with your playtime as much as possible.
If you are looking for an addon / functionality that we did not list here, check this spreadsheet for an exhaustive list of WoW Classic addons.
Best Addons for Classic Shamans
We recommend always using the following addons on your character, as they either bring very useful functionalities which cannot be easily passed on or represent significant quality of life increases for your WoW Classic life.
Complete UI replacement: ElvUI Classic
ElvUI Classic, just like its retail counterpart, allows you to replace most elements of the default UI with a customizable, modern set of action bars, unit frames and most other conveniences you can think of. By using ElvUI you can avoid using a lot of other, narrower, addons.
Alternatively, TukUI lacks some of ElvUI's functionalities but is even cleaner, if you prefer a minimalistic UI.
Menial Task Automation: Leatrix Plus
Annoyed by the slow scrolling quest text? Struggling to kill enemies of your level due to having red gear because of forgetting to repair? Getting carpal tunnel syndrome due to all the spam clicking to sell your gray items? Or maybe you simply want to know the value of items on your inventory?
Leatrix Plus Classic automates these tasks for you and more, such as automatically accepting summons or releasing. All configurable in case you do not want certain things to be automated.
WeaponSwingTimer
WeaponSwingTimer creates a bar on your screen that tracks the time left until your next auto-attack and that of your target. Because swing timers can vary immensely depending on your weapon's speed and that of your target, it is often advantageous to run in, get a hit, and run out until your swing timer is ready again!
WeakAuras 2 for Classic Shamans
Weak Auras 2 allows you to configure all types of warnings for yourself with a simple user interface.
Due to its large user base, there is a huge library of auras already created for you to import at the Wago classic Shaman section, make sure to check it out before starting your adventure!
There are also many general weak auras available, such as:
- Combat Time shows a timer when you are in combat, useful to instantly know when you are in / out of combat;
- Max Camera automatically sets the maximum amount you can zoom out with your camera higher than the UI normally allows, which would require you to type a / command every time you logged in, otherwise.
Details Damage / Healing Meter
You can get the latest version of Details here. This addon serves as a damage meter, healing meter, dispel meter and death log, all in one! While it is not as complete as a Warcraft Logs parse, it is the closest thing to it.
ItemRack
ItemRack allows you to configure and quickly swap between different sets of gear. This is incredibly useful for easy swapping between PvP and PvE gear, or between Healing and DPS gear!
DejaClassicStats
DejaClassicStats displays detailed stats on your character pane, allowing you to know exactly how much (Spell) Hit rating you have at any moment, for example, which is great to avoid going over the cap accidentally.
Questie Classic
Questie Classic marks level-appropriate quests you can pick up and quest objectives you can turn in on your world map and minimap. Use it for efficiency, or don't use it for the real Vanilla Experience!
MapCoords Classic
MapCoords Classic places coordinates on your world map and minimap, which allow you to communicate, and understand, exact locations on WoW Classic easily when reading guides such as ours.
Guidelime
Guidelime will allow you to download and follow a predefined optimized questing path, complete with an arrow pointing towards your next location and World Map notes on what your next steps are and their location.
There are many guides available to download at Guidelime's Guidelist. We are currently using Sage's guide for Alliance leveling and Sevenleaves for Horde leveling.
Finally, if you are mostly leveling by doing dungeons we would recommend Hakurai's dungeon leveling guide!
GatherMate2
GatherMate2 allows you to gather world materials more efficiently by remembering the location of spots at which you have gathered before. It also comes with a pre-filled database listing many of the possible locations for herbs, ores and such in WoW Classic. Using this addon is highly recommend for Shaman Gold Making in the world.
Addons for Classic Raiding
While the previous addons dealt with general UI, which is your main priority, when you start raiding you will want to have a few more tricks up your sleeve to make your life easier.
Boss Mods: Deadly Boss Mods
Boss mods are addons that warn you about boss abilities and give you live advice on how to handle some mechanics. Deadly Boss Mods has already released a WoW Classic version, so make sure to help on its testing!
Optionally, DBM Voicepack VEM can be used alongside DBM to audibly warn you of upcoming mechanics.
Party / Raid Frames: VuhDo
While already useful for dungeons, it is in raids that a clickable, customizable raid frame becomes very necessary. VuhDo is precisely that, and has been our author's choice for the past 10 years!
Threat Meter
A threat meter is indispensable for raiding in WoW Classic, as you should always aim to Heal or deal as much DPS as possible without pulling threat from the tanks. We recommend using the TinyThreat plugin for Details Damage Meter. which you can find out how to configure in this video, by Autonomic.
RC Loot Council
RC Loot Council allows you to distribute master loot more efficiently and quickly than doing it with the default UI.
Shaman Addons for Classic Player vs Player (PvP)
Player vs Player is a huge part of what makes WoW Classic great, and while most addons are useful for all aspects of the game, some were made specifically with PvP in mind.
LoseControl
LoseControl creates an icon in the center of your screen whenever you lose control of your character (due to Fear, for example) that displays the ability that caused you to lose control, and its duration.
OmniBar
OmniBar adds icons to your screen that display your target's cooldown (such as Counterspell) timers. This allows you to fake cast and know exactly for how long you can cast uninterrupted, and you can configure which cooldowns you want to track.
TrinketMenu
TrinketMenu makes trinket swapping a breeze, by allowing you to click a configurable trinket menu in order to quickly switch to any trinket in your inventory.
Spy Classic
Spy Classic scans for nearby enemy faction players and announces their presence / lists them and their class / level in your UI. This is very useful in order to be aware of potential world PvP activity going around you and to avoid being caught off guard!
Honor Spy
HonorSpy inspects every player you meet and stores their current honor system data. By comparing this information with the information obtained by other people using this addon, it is possible to create a database with the estimated brackets / standings for ranking every week.
Other Useful Addons and Alternative Addons
While these addons are not quite as impactful as the ones listed previously, they can still be helpful to certain people, especially for those who dislike the setup we presented beforehand.
TomTom
TomTom is a navigation addon which allows you to set waypoints on your map with /way CoordX CoordY (replace with the numbers of the coordinates you want to go to). An arrow will then point towards that waypoint, making it easy to reach a set of coordinates, such as the ones we use on the Shaman leveling page.
Auctionator Classic
Auctionator Classic makes it easier to search and post on the Auction House. It also lists the price per item on stacks of items being sold. While it has much simpler functionality than something like TSM Classic, it is also much simpler to use for most users.
Unit Frames
If you dislike ElvUI / TukUI Unit Frames, try Luna Unit Frames or Dominos, which are great alternatives!
Classic Aura Durations
By installing Classic Aura Durations, the buffs/debuffs on the default UI gain a duration indicator. This includes raid frame debuffs, which are very handy when raid-wide decursing is needed.
Classic Castbars
Classic Castbars adds information on what spell is being cast, along with a rough estimation of its cast time, to the default target frames and nameplates. This makes it much easier to land a timely Earth Shock or Grounding Totem!
Atlas Loot Classic
By installing Atlas Loot Classic, you become able to browse loot from various sources (PvP, Raids, Dungeons, Crafting, etc.) inside the game, without the need to visit third party websites.
Advanced Interface Options Classic
This addon allows you to change a lot of UI options that are normally hidden, such as Floating Combat Text customization options, mouse wheel chat scrolling, the displaying of Lua errors, among other options.
Twitch Emotes
Twitch Emotes is all about having some modern day fun with many of the emotes we are used to from Twitch. This is not for everyone, but if memes are part of your experience, this is a good addon for you.
Classic Shaman Macros
Macros are a great complement to addons for your WoW Classic experience, allowing you to do more with less buttons in your interface.
For this reason, we recommend that you also read our Shaman Macros page, in order to improve your gameplay experience!
Changelog
- 18 Nov. 2024: Page updated for Classic Anniversary.
- 05 Jan. 2020: Added Details TinyThreat meter, GatherMate2, DejaClassicStats, ItemRack, WeaponSwingTimer and a ton of PvP addons. Removed Azeroth Auto-Pilot.
- 03 Sep. 2019: Added a PvP addon section with Spy Classic and Classic Castbars.
- 31 Aug. 2019: Added Auctionator and TomTom.
- 29 Aug. 2019: Added Guidelime and reworked the full addon section, should be much clearer what to use now.
- 12 Aug. 2019: Added Details, Twitch Emotes, ClassicThreatMeter, and changed some of the GitHub addon links to Curseforge for easier access.
- 04 Aug. 2019: Added a macro template for dealing damage and healing in a single button.
- 02 Aug. 2019: Page added.
Classic Dungeon Guides
Classic Reputation Guides
This guide has been written by Seksi, original vanilla player and multi-class player, currently playing on Gehennas Horde. You can find him on the Classic Warrior, Mage and Shaman Discords, as well as the Icy Veins Discord.
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