The default 3.3.5 interface gives healers the basics: health bars for party and raid members and a spellbook full of heals. It does not give much information at a glance. Blizzard’s raid frames are plain, they do not show every effect on a target, and clicking a frame and then a spell button for every heal is slow in a 25-player raid. Healer addons fix these problems. This guide covers the types worth installing on WotLK 3.3.5 private servers, what each one does, and how they fit together.
What healers need from an addon setup
A healer’s addons do four jobs. They show who needs healing and which effects each player has. They let you cast on the frame under your mouse pointer. They help you remove harmful effects quickly. And they tell you when your own buffs and cooldowns are ready. Boss timers and a healing meter are useful extras. Most healers combine one raid frame addon with a dispel addon and some form of aura tracking.
Raid frame addons
Raid frame addons replace Blizzard’s frames with ones built for healing. Three have long been used by WotLK healers.
Grid is a lightweight set of raid frames that shows health and shows effects as small indicators on each frame. The original Grid is bare-bones and gets extra features from plugins. Grid2 is a related addon that includes indicators and options in a single package, so it needs fewer add-ons around it.
VuhDo has click-casting built in and can highlight healing-over-time effects and debuffs on each frame. It has a lot of settings, which means more control and a longer setup.
HealBot lets you assign spells to mouse buttons and modifier keys on its frames, and it is generally regarded as simpler to set up than VuhDo.
You only need one of these. Running two raid frame addons at once draws two sets of frames on your screen, so most players pick one and disable the rest. Make sure the version you download was built for the 3.3.5a client, since newer builds of these addons target later expansions.
Click-casting and mouseover macros
Clique lets you bind spells to mouse clicks on any unit frame, including Blizzard’s frames and frames from other addons. It is commonly paired with Grid. VuhDo and HealBot have their own click-casting, so they do not need Clique.
You can also heal with mouseover macros and no extra addon. A macro like this casts Flash Heal on the friendly unit under your mouse pointer, and falls back to your current target if your mouse is not over a frame:
/cast [target=mouseover,help,nodead] [] Flash Heal
Replace Flash Heal with a spell from your own class and bind the macro to a key. This works well with any frame addon, since the macro only cares about what is under the mouse.
Removing effects with Decursive
Decursive shows which group members have a curse, poison, disease, or magic effect that your class can remove, and lets you remove it with a click or a keybind. Which effects you can remove depends on your class. It runs alongside whatever raid frames you use, so you can add it to any setup in this guide.
Tracking your own cooldowns and effects
WeakAuras displays icons, bars, and sounds for buffs, debuffs, and cooldowns. Healers use it to watch effects on specific targets, such as Earth Shield on a tank or Beacon of Light on a Paladin’s chosen target, and to get an alert when a cooldown comes back. Building auras from scratch takes time, so Warperia has a library of ready-made WeakAuras profiles sorted by class and role.
Meters and boss timers
Details! Damage Meter tracks healing as well as damage. After a fight, you can check how much healing you did and how much of it was overhealing, which is a quick way to see whether you are spending mana well. Deadly Boss Mods adds timers and warnings for boss abilities, which helps you plan when to save mana or use a raid cooldown.
A full interface with healer-ready frames
ElvUI replaces the default interface and includes its own raid frames, which can be set up with a healer layout. If you would rather import a finished setup than build one, the ElvUI profiles page has profiles sorted by role. The Project Epoch Healer Profile was built for Project Epoch, and it is a reasonable starting point on other 3.3.5 servers where ElvUI runs, after you adjust it to your screen.
Picking a setup
There is no single correct combination, and players use all of the ones above. A few common ones are worth knowing:
- Grid, Clique, and Decursive, which is three separate addons that each do one job
- Grid2 with Decursive, since Grid2 includes more features on its own
- VuhDo or HealBot with Decursive, since both include click-casting
- ElvUI with a healer profile, which keeps everything in one addon
The right choice is the setup you can read quickly and use without thinking about it. Try one for a few dungeons before switching, since changing frames mid-raid is a good way to heal the wrong player.
Where to download healer addons
Warperia’s WoW 3.3.5 addons page lists addons built for the 3.3.5a client, and you can filter by category and server. Check an addon’s page for the client version before you install it, and use the build made for your server when one exists.
Frequently asked questions
Do I need Clique if I use VuhDo or HealBot?
No. Both include click-casting, so Clique would duplicate something they already do.
Can I use more than one raid frame addon?
You can install several, but each one draws its own frames. Most healers keep one enabled and disable the others.
Does WeakAuras work on 3.3.5?
Yes, there is a version built for the 3.3.5 client, and Warperia lists it on its WeakAuras page. Use that version and not a build made for a later expansion.