Control Your Character Like A Pro!

One way to drastically and instantly increase your skills in WoW is to have a comfortable control setup and be efficient using it. In this guide I will cover how to turn the default WoW UI into one I have found effective and efficient in all aspects of WoW.

First off, we have to make some adjustments to the default UI. Open your interface settings by hitting escape, then clicking interface options. Check Buff Durations, and then click the advanced options tab. from there, check "enable floating combat text" and any options you feel you would like to see. Buff durations will put a countdown underneath the buff once it is cast upon you, allowing you to see exactly how much time is left on that buff. Floating Combat text will show numbers above your head when you take damage, dodge, parry, etc.







Now we will discuss the default UI. I personally hate the default UI, I feel it doesnt give you enough information and has too much excess crap you don't need on it. Once all your bars are filled with icons, it takes up a decent portion of your screen as well. Luckily, add ons can solve these problems.

Add ons are basically third party interface additions that can do many things from giving you more information to making it easier to change gear sets. There are literally thousands of add ons available for download. There are some add ons I consider a must have for any WoW player.


Natur Enemy Cast Bar - Shows the cast bars of your enemies, cooldowns of your enemies, duration of your debuffs on your enemy, and much more. WoW has incorporated this feature into their own UI, but I feel Natur does it better.

Some form of Player/target frames - New frames can clean up and provide more info than the default frames. I recommend AG unit frames or Perl Classic Frames. AG unit frames seems to not be updated as fast as Perl though.

A bar mod - These add ons will give you more action bars to place icons on and allow you to move them around, scale them, etc. I personally use Bartender3. Bartender also lets you hide current parts of the UI, like the bag bar and mini help bar.

Those 3 add ons I couldn't play without. I play with other add ons as well, but none that drastically change my UI such as those listed above. To install these add ons, simply create a folder in your interface folder named "addons" The default path for this folder is C:\Program Files\World of Warcraft\Interface\addons.

Once you have found add ons you like, place and configure them in a way that is comfortable to you. I personally like my bars in the bottom right corner, chat box lowered in the lower left, all frames showing the bare necessities, and my enemy cast bars in an easy spot to read quickly.



Next, key bindings. If you currently click your skills, stop. Even if you are comfortable doing it and can click your skills without looking, stop. Anyone efficient with key bindings will always be faster than you. You could also miss an important spell interrupt which could cost you a loss in an arena game because you click your spells and abilities. Key bindings take some getting use to at first, but once you are comfortable with them there is no going back. I highly recommend getting a mouse with some side buttons on it, to bind more skills to your mouse hand. Another option is to get a gamepad, such as the Belkin Nostromo Speedpad n52. I have no personal experience with one of these pads, but some players love them.


Onto key bindings themselves. I recommend on your main action bars you have keys set up as 1-5, then SHIFT + 1-5, then 2 mouse side buttons to replace "-" and "=". This set up allows your never to have to adjust your hand from its position. Movement with this setup should be done by clicking both the right and left mouse button simultaneously. WASD is fine for moving when you're not in combat. If you're using a bar mod, you can set another bar with more key binds. I use SHIFT + SPACE for actions I use a lot, such as bloodrage, stealth, or hunter's mark. Alt+1-5 is also easy to hit on the fly, as well as SHIFT + mouse buttons.



To set key bindings, hit escape then key bindings. If you're using bartender like me, your main bar will be labeled "Bartender3 Bar 1" Click each red button and then press the button you would like to assign that button to. Other bars are found at the bottom of the keybinding list if you are using Bartender3.

Player preference will be a huge factor in setting up a UI, so experiment and try to find what works best for you. I feel the above UI is basic enough for any player to use, but also efficient for veteran players.