World of Warcraft across its expansions still benefits massively from community addons. They let you tailor your UI, track hidden content, improve quality of life, and optimize performance for raids, collecting, or storytelling. While combat addons are set to be removed with the launch of Midnight, there are still plenty of good, worthwhile addons to make life easier.
Getting Started: CurseForge and How to Install Addons
Before anything else, you need CurseForge. It’s the safest and easiest way to install and manage WoW addons in 2025. Forget about manual zipping and unzipping; the CurseForge app does it all automatically.
- Go to curseforge.com.
- Download the CurseForge App
- Once installed, select World of Warcraft from the list of supported games.
- Hit “Get More Addons” and browse the thousands of available options.
- Click “Install” on anything you like and it’ll appear in your Interface/AddOns folder automatically.
- Launch WoW, click “AddOns” on the character select screen, and make sure your picks are enabled.
That’s it. The app even updates everything for you after patches, saving you from the dreaded “out-of-date” pop-up.
Best WoW Addons 2025: Complete List
These are my absolute essentials you should be running this year. I couldn’t play without these. They cover UI, raids, collections, quality-of-life, and roleplay.
UI & Quality of Life Addons
Your interface defines how you play. A clean, functional UI is pretty and helps performance. These are the foundations of a smoother WoW experience.
Bartender 4
Gives you total control over your action bars. Resize, hide, or move anything. Perfect for clean layouts and efficient keybinding setups.
MoveAnything
Repositions nearly every frame in WoW including quest windows, minimap, player frame, and more. Best paired with Bartender.
Baganator
A modern all-in-one bag interface. Search items, sort automatically, and highlight gear sets. Fast and lightweight.
Kaliel’s Tracker
Transforms the quest tracker into something you’ll actually want on screen. Collapse, expand, and reorder objectives.
Dialogue UI
Turns NPC conversations into a cinematic experience with crisp fonts and better readability.
Better Wardrobe and Transmog
For transmog collectors. Adds advanced filtering, outfit sets, and progress tracking.
Combat, Performance & Raid Addons
Combat addons are being removed with the launch of the Midnight expansion. But for now, these are the ones worth having.
Details! Damage Meter
The definitive DPS/HPS tracker. Provides detailed breakdowns of everything happening in combat, including interrupts, deaths, and healing output.
WeakAuras 2
The backbone of high-end play. Create alerts for procs, debuffs, cooldowns, or boss mechanics.
Deadly Boss Mods (DBM) or BigWigs
Timers, audio warnings, and ability alerts for raids and dungeons. DBM is more aggressive; BigWigs is cleaner.
Plater Nameplates
Highly customizable nameplates that display a wealth of information.
Achievements & Collection Addons
ALL THE THINGS
The collector’s Bible. Tracks everything you don’t own including mounts, pets, toys, appearances, and shows how to get them.
Krowi’s Achievement Filter
Fixes Blizzard’s outdated achievement UI with proper filters and search options.
Instance Achievement Tracker
Shows achievement progress in real time while running dungeons or raids.
Rarity
Tracks your rare drop attempts and calculates your luck (or lack of it).
MountSpy
See a player on a mount you don’t recognize? This addon tells you what it is and where it’s from.
Chat & Communication Addons
Chattynator
A polished chat experience. Adds timestamps, cleaner fonts, and color-coded channels.
WIM (WoW Instant Messenger)
Turns whispers into separate windows, keeping your main chat free for group comms or RP.
Quality-of-Life Addons
HandyNotes
Marks treasures, rares, and secrets on your map. Combine it with expansion-specific plugins for best results.
Better Fishing
Adds a clean fishing UI, auto-casting options, and catch tracking. Makes fishing actually enjoyable.
Screenshots, Style & Roleplay Addons
Narcissus
For screenshots, transmog showcases, or blog visuals. Adds lighting, poses, and camera depth for stunning character shots.
Total RP 3
The foundation of roleplay in WoW. Create character profiles, traits, and items, and interact through immersive RP tools.
Listener
Perfect for RP hubs. Keeps track of nearby conversations and makes multi-character RP readable.
Maintaining Addons Like a Pro
- Keep Auto-Update On: CurseForge can auto-update everything each patch cycle.
- Backup Settings: Copy your
WTFandInterfacefolders occasionally. - Add Gradually: Install in small groups, especially after big patches, to pinpoint performance issues.
- Check Forks: If an addon hasn’t updated in months, search its name + “fork.” Often, active versions exist under new authors.
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