Once you have your character set up with gear, enchants, and so on, and you’ve learned your rotation, there are a couple of ways you can really take your gameplay to the next level, and that’s with addons and macros. These tools can enhance your performance by making it easy to track and perform actions that might be much more complicated with only hotkeys and the default interface. This guide will get you started with some of the best addons and macros to use as a Shadow Priest in Cataclysm Classic.
Addons
Addons are direct quality-of-life improvements to the existing game features. They can range from User Interface modifications to simple tools such as a Damage Meter or Threat Meter. Addons can also be used to generate text notifications or even in-game vocal notifications to keep better track of your buffs and procs. They can also be used to display boss tactics and notify you of impending threats.
- DeadlyBossMods or BigWigs – Allows you to track boss abilities. A must-have for raiding.
- Details – Shows you how much damage, healing, and threat everyone in your raid is doing. Flex on your friends!
- WeakAuras – Extremely versatile addon that can be used to track buffs, debuffs, or create audio notifications.
WeakAuras or a similar addon is strongly recommended for tracking your buffs, procs, and cooldowns as a Shadow Priest. You may have a hard time keeping track of everything otherwise. There are plenty of fantastic Shadow Priest WeakAuras available on wago.io, and they can all be customized to your liking.
Macros
Here are a few macros that can improve your effectiveness as a Shadow Priest by combining actions so you can focus on other things.
Mouseover Casting
These macros will allow you to cast a spell on the target you are currently mousing over rather than your actual target. This means that you can keep the boss targeted to continue dealing damage while also supporting your team by interacting with your unit frames. It also means you only have to click or press a key once rather than clicking on a target first and then using your keybind. If you’ve never tried this before, you may be surprised by just how much faster and smoother your healing becomes.
The macro below is a mouseover template macro, ready to be filled with whatever you want. Simply replace “SPELLNAME” with your spell of choice, for example, Power Word: Shield. This macro will attempt to cast that spell on your mouseover target if they are friendly and if they are alive. If these requirements aren’t fulfilled, it will simply try to heal your target as it would by default, without the macro.
#showtooltip SPELLNAME
/cast [@mouseover,help,nodead][] SPELLNAMEA strong use for this in Cataclysm is for Leap of Faith, as you almost always want to cast this as a reaction, which means any delay could make it too late.
One-Click Mass Dispel
This macro will cast Mass Dispel in the location of your mouse cursor, saving you an extra click.
#showtooltip
/cast [@cursor] Mass DispelDispersion Canceling
This macro will cast Dispersion on the first press, and cancel it on the second press. Unfortunately this does mean that you cannot mash the key, as it will immediately cancel Dispersion. This is fantastic if you only want a second or two of the effects.
#showtooltip
/cancelaura Dispersion
/cast DispersionShadowform Safety
This will allow you to spam the Shadowform key without leaving form. This is great for people that tend to press the button more than once, entering Shadowform and immediately leaving it accidentally.
#showtooltip
/cast !Shadowform
About the Author
