Best WoW Addons: What are They & How to Install

There’s no doubt that World of Warcraft‘s UI has been well laid out and user-friendly since day one. However, everything can be improved upon—including WoW’s UI. That’s why we have addons! World of Warcraft and addons go hand in hand. No matter how much the game and its UI have improved over the last 10+ years, specific extra goodies can make your life easier. But how exactly do you install WoW addons? Simple! By downloading and extracting them into the addons subfolder of the WoW folder on your computer. This process is pretty much identical for both Windows and Mac users. Hence, we’ve also created the ultimate list of the best addons for World of Warcraft. By utilizing our top picks, you’ll be able to make the most of your time on Azeroth (or Argus, etc.) as you won’t have to spend hours and hours on end doing the same thing repeatedly – e.g., vendoring all the junk in your backpacks.

The Best Addons to Install for WoW

1. Scraph

Arguably one of the most useful addons and a real lifesaver, scrap lets you sell all of your junk with one simple click on the distinctive ‘Scrap’ button. Using this addon, you essentially wave goodbye to the grueling process of manually selling each grey item or consumable.

But what’s even better is that there’s added functionality, such as:

• You can add/remove items from the Scrap’s junk list
• You can enable auto repair for your gear

2. BuyEmAll

If you have boatloads of items, consumables, and the like spread across your bags, finding particular things can get tricky. Thankfully though, Bagnon replaces the standard bag layout, combining all of your bags into one single bag.

And while that’s more than a good enough reason to get your hands on this addon, you can also:

• Enable the color scheme to help you identify item quality easier
• Check any of your character’s items without logging in with them
• Use the clever item-search function

3. Titan Panel

The Titan Panel is a genuinely legendary addon that’s been around for decades – I remember using it on Warrior back in the fascinating vanilla days. It lets you add two additional bars, one at the top of the screen and one at the bottom, although you can select to use only one of them.

This addon is super helpful as it provides you with lots of excellent features, such as:

• A wholly integrated plugin system
• Various options and menus that are super easy to operate
• Lots of built-in plugins

4. Details

Details are the go-to damage meter addon for anyone interested. Well, details related to damage, healing, etc. Not only are you getting relevant info about how much damage you’re churning out, but there are countless super-detailed and geeky data that you may find helpful.

In a nutshell, these are the critical aspects of Details:

• It wouldn’t slow down your frame rate
• Details can read all kinds of combat log info
• Supports key binding and native multi-window

5. Auctioneer

Auctioneer is a superb addon for anyone that likes using the Auction House. It gives a pretty accurate estimation of how much something will sell at the Auction House by scanning the AH every 3 to 7 days.

On top of that, Auctioneer brings other goodies such as:

• Searching for the cheapest reagents that you might need for specific recipes
• It keeps a record of your past items sold on the AH, enabling you to sell various stacks with a single click

6. MoveAnything

As the name suggests, MoveAnything lets you move and customize the original WoW UI as much as you like. You can also opt for frame-specific modifications, and you can do so thanks to the MoveAnything Frame Editor.

The full functionality of this beauty is opened by simply typing “/move,” and then you’re granted access to things like:

• An extensive list of Blizzard frames
• Alternative bars
• MA-specific key bindings, etc.

7. AskMrRobot

AskMrRobot is designed to help you choose gear wisely or simply do the hard work. It gives you fantastic in-game optimization options like a neat combat logging functionality in addition to a shopping list that you can take advantage of.

Function-wise, there are quite a few goodies, including:

• A live loot ranking system for you and your teammates
• The ‘Best in Bags’ feature that works for all kinds of specs

How to Install WoW Addons

First, you’ll need to ensure that your addons are correctly installed. Here’s our easy-to-follow guide:

1. Get a popular extraction program

Although Windows and Mac devices have built-in programs for extracting .rar and .zip files, most people prefer other extraction programs. Here are the best and most popular ones for both operational systems:

2. Log out of World of Warcraft

Before you even begin to think about downloading addons, you have to exit your WoW client! This is essential because your addons won’t load if you’re trying to install them while the game is running.

3. Find and download your desired addons

Search for the specific addon either on CurseForge or WoWInterface, as these are the go-to places for getting WoW addons. After you’ve found your addon, download it. Note that the file will download to your default folder for downloaded files, but you can always download the addon/s to your Desktop to locate it more easily.

4. Extract/unzip the addon files

After your addon has been downloaded, you’ll want to extract it into the actual Addons subfolder of your World of Warcraft folder. Keep in mind that there’s a folder or folders inside each addon .rar or .zip file. Don’t mess with these! Simply extract the entire file with everything in it as it was. Now the default location of the game varies depending on the OS.

Location on Windows:

• C:\User\Public\Games\World of Warcraft\ is where the game is at by default, and you need to extract the addon/s to C:\User\Public\Games\World of Warcraft\_retail_\Interface\AddOns\

Location on Mac:

• Macintosh HD/Applications/World of Warcraft/ is the folder of the game, and you’ll need to extract the addon file/s to Macintosh HD/Applications/World of Warcraft/_retail_/Interface/Addons/

Here are some details concerning the extraction process for Windows and Mac users:

Extracting an addon on Windows:

• WinZip – Click “1-Click Unzip” then select “Unzip to PC” from the toolbar beneath the Unzip/Share tab and select the AddOns subfolder of the game (IMPORTANT: Ensure that the “Use Folder Names” option is checked!).
• 7-Zip – Click “Extract” and choose the AddOns subfolder of your World of Warcraft folder.
• WinRar – Click “Extract To” and again – select the Interface\AddOns subfolder from the World of Warcraft directory.

Extracting an addon on Mac:

• File Juicer – Drag the compressed addon file/archive and drop it into the AddOns subfolder of the game’s directory to extract it.
• Stuffit Expander – Double-click the addon file/archive, and Stuffit Expander will automatically extract it into the current folder.

5. Check if the newly installed addon works

Launch your WoW client, log in, and hit the AddOns button in the lower-left part of the Character Select Screen. This will open all installed addons, and you can verify if the one you just installed is there. If it’s not, then double-check that you’ve extracted the addon file to the correct folder (\World of Warcraft\_retail_\Interface\AddOns\).

How to Install WoW Addons Through the Twitch App

There are two ways to install addons for WoW Classic. The first is by downloading and extracting the files into the game’s directory (as we just outlined). The second is by using the Twitch app. Since some people find the Twitch path more accessible, we’ll now look at how to use this app for installing Classic addons.

1. Download and install the Twitch app on your computer
2. Open the ‘Mods’ tab
3. Choose World of Warcraft
4. Pick the WoW Classic folder from the drop-down menu in the upper right corner (the default should be C:\User\Public\Games\World of Warcraft\_classic_\)
5. Find the desired addon/s
6. Hit ‘Install’

Enjoy!

Thanks to the brilliant addons listed above, you’ll be able to have much more fun while playing World of Warcraft and above all, you won’t waste your time doing redundant things like manually selling the junk in your bags. Plus, you can finally put the How to Install WoW addons question to rest. As you can see, installing addons for your favorite game is as easy as 1, 2, and 3. Simply find the desired addon, download it and then extract the file (or files) into the AddOns subfolder of your World of Warcraft directory.