UPDATED FOR VARIOUS CLARIFICATIONS BELOW.
I was typing this up for some friends who asked about it when, once again, I realized – hey, free blog post.
This will cover simple but incredibly useful macros I’ve discovered to make sure you’re using your trinkets that add damage to your melee and spell combat abilities.
The main idea was this – I had all these great “Use: increases damage for 20 seconds” trinkets, but I never used them. Always in reserve for the “emergency,” and usually forgotten. Finally, I read an article that admonished this behavior, saying if you’re not keeping these things on cooldown, you’re wasting a slot. After all, a 2 minute cooldown is basically one fight; so you can be using them constantly.
So how to remember to always use them? Once I answered that question, my dps went through the roof, as our other feral druid’s damage meters attested.
The answer was to tie your favorite special attack to activating the trinket, so that you constantly use it as soon as it’s available. Even better when you have two trinkets; you can put them both in the macro. If the first one is on cooldown, it goes to the second – perfect!
So you’ve decided you’d like to keep those trinkets working hard for you – but macros are scary. Now what? It’s time to write a macro.
First, type /m or /macro in your interface. Up comes the macro window.
Next, choose “New” from the bottom of the window.
Enter a name for your macro. Make it similar to the actual ability you will be using in this macro. I’m going to start with a combat-based ability for my Feral Druid, Halifaxx. I chose to use the feral ability Mangle for these reasons:
1. It is the best “main” attack for feral druids
2. It has a cooldown (6 seconds), so it’s not a “spam” attack
3. It’s my lead attack, unless backstabbing as a kitty
4. It’s my constant “as soon as it’s off cooldown” attack, meaning I’m using it regularly enough that I will activate the trinket.
So choose a similar ability. For my Shadow Priest Talisker, it’s Mind Blast. So for Mangle, I called the macro “Mangle.” Clever, I know – but the point is to be useful. You can certainly call it l33t faczor lolz if you want. Just don’t tell me.
Next choose an icon. This is even easier. Always choose the red question mark icon (the first choice). What this does is uses the same icon as whatever spell you use in the macro (more on that in a minute) – so you don’t even have to get used to a new picture. Your macro will use the same tooltip picture your ability already does.
Click okay – now you’re ready to write the macro itself.
The first line of all of these macros is this:
#show Spell
Where “Spell” is the name of the ability in your spellbook. In my case, it’s:
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#show Mangle (Cat)()
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What this does is make sure that, on mouseover, the ability shows the same tooltip as the spell you’re using; this also ties into the red question mark and tells it to use that picture. This line isn’t critical; it’s just nice to use the same picture and tooltip as your primary spell ability.
Next, you want your trinket to activate:
/use Trinket
Where “Trinket” is the name of the trinket you want to use. Be careful to spell it exactly (also, always remember the trinket must be equipped when you use the macro, or the macro will just go straight to the spell; not a problem, but not the effect you’re after). In my case, it’s:
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/use Bladefist’s Breadth
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The next line may no longer be necessary as of patch 2.3, but since I tested it and it works, I’m not going to mess with it. It is:
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/stopcasting
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This indicates a stop in the process before a next step can begin.
Next, the actual spell:
/cast Spell
Where “Spell” is the ability in your spellbook. In my case:
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/cast Mangle (Cat)()
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UPDATE: For some time now, you haven’t needed to specify the rank of the spell – the game assumes you want the highest rank – unless you want to downrank to a lower level spell (you downrank spells when you want to use less mana or your objective doesn’t require your highest output; you may use a lower grade heal for “topping off” a party member; you may spam a low-level instant cast in order to try to activate a “chance on” effect; etc.).
However, certain spells confuse the system - particularly druid ones, which specify a form, such as (Cat) in this case. The game thinks the form qualifier (Cat) is actually a rank of the spell. As such, it will do nothing, unless you reassure it that there is a rank present. You can do so by using the set of empty parenthesis at the end of the command. Note that you only need to do this for any ability which ends with a parenthetical qualifer, such as “Faerie Fire (Feral)” – a regular spell requires no rank designation unless you specifically want one.
Finally, a clever bit:
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/run UIErrorsFrame:Clear()
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This is important – you will get an error message the next time you use your favorite attack, because the trinket is now on cooldown. Your attack will go off (it just skips the line command it cannot perform), but the error message is annoying. This clears it and keeps your character from saying, “I can’t use that,” or whatever irritating error message they give (by the way, you can disable your character’s error message voice prompts in the sound menu). You will still here that hollow gong sound that indicates you’ve tried to use something you can’t, but in the roar of battle, it’s lost.
UPDATE: Be careful. The fact that you’re clearing error messages means you’re also clearing things like range errors (you’re too far away), cooldown errors (you can’t cast the spell yet), facing errors (you’re facing the wrong direction), etc. Therefore, it is up to you to be aware of all conditions, because you’re clearing all error messages.
Luckily, many of these errors are apparent because of other interface qualities; the number of your hotkey will be red instead of white if you’re out of range; the cooldown clock graphic will still be animating if you’re on cooldown – but if you’re facing the wrong way (and sometimes it’s hard to tell when you’re up to your neck in mobs), you may think you’re casting the spell – and you’re not. So beware!
So the whole thing, ready to copy and paste:
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#show Mangle (Cat)()
/use Bladefist’s Breadth
/stopcasting
/cast Mangle (Cat)()
/run UIErrorsFrame:Clear()
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Bear version (note you will have to put this bear-specific version on your bear toolbar, because it is a different spell):
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#show Mangle (Bear)()
/use Bladefist’s Breadth
/stopcasting
/cast Mangle (Bear)()
/run UIErrorsFrame:Clear()
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If you have a second trinket, just add a line item after the first trinket for the second one (see below for an example). Halifaxx’s other trinket is Hourglass of the Unraveller, which is passive, so I don’t need it here.
So your macro is done – now what? Drag the red question mark onto your toolbar replacing the spell button you have there. When you close the macro window (sometimes just on mouseover), the icon will change to the familiar one, only with some text on it (the title of your macro), letting you know it’s got “something special.”
Experiment; I suggest killing trash critters, and then salivate at how you will destroy! Think about it – in constant combat, such as an instance, you will be adding that damage every 2 minutes (more if you have two “use” trinkets), for 15 to 20 seconds. Your dps is on the way up.
Here is the caster macro I use for Talisker to make sure he’s getting the most out of his trinkets and Mind Blast:
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#show Mind Blast
/use Glowing Crystal Insignia
/use Terokkar Tablet of Vim
/cast Mind Blast
/run UIErrorsFrame:Clear()
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Here’s a version with my heal trinkets, to pump up Greater Heal:
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#show Greater Heal
/use Oshu’gun Relic
/use Heavenly Inspiration
/cast Greater Heal
/run UIErrorsFrame:Clear()
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I’m not sure why, but these don’t seem to require the open parenthesis at the end of the spell.
Here’s my spammable debuff remover:
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#showtooltip Abolish Disease
/targetparty
/cast Abolish Disease
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I just spam that and it keeps targeting players until it finds one with a disease; no worries targeting. I’m going to do more work with the focus command so this doesn’t lose your targeted enemy while working (more on focus at a later date). I tried this with dispel, except dispel can be used offensively, too, so that needs more work.
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This next one is exclusively for druids – our other feral druid will love this. You’re tanking and it’s going bad – if only you could jump out and take a potion!
#show Super Healing Potion
/cancelform
/use Master Healthstone
/use Super Healing Potion
/cast [nostance] Dire Bear Form
/cancelform gets you out of bear; the next two lines use the items (this particular version takes advantage of using a healthstone if you’re grouped with a lock; if not, it skips that step), then it gets you back into bear form.
Note that this will work if you start off as a cat or bird or manatee, too, because cancelform isn’t specific – it just says cancel your current shapeshift. If you’re already out of form, it ignores that step. If you’re in another form and it’s bad enough you had to take a potion, you obviously want to end up in bear form.
This executes so fast, I thought it hadn’t worked. But my health bar was now at 30% instead of 5%, and only 4 potions showed in the tooltip. Amazing. Obviously, change the name of the potion if you’re using something else, like the Ogri’La potions. I’ve used this twice more, and the shapeshift (if you’re already in bear) will not be visible. It’s that cool.
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Finally, if you play on more than one computer, be warned – macros are stored locally. You will log onto another computer and find empty spots on your toolbar where the macros used to be. So email them to yourself or just replace the actual spells (you will then have to replace with macros when you get back to your original machine); or, bookmark Sound and Fury and just come back here to reconstruct them.
Have fun!
