I did a massive comparison of DPS rotation addons a few years back, but a lot has changed since then. When World of Warcraft: Midnight launched, Blizzard overhauled the game to block the functionality that rotation addons like Hekili and MaxDPS rely on. As a result, these addons stopped working, were replaced with native alternatives, and the addon authors folded up shop. Those changes apply only to the retail (Midnight) version of the game for now, so there are still options for Classic players that I’ll cover in an upcoming guide.
For those playing Midnight, you can no longer use addons like Hekili, but you do have the option of using one or more of the built-in rotation helpers provided by Blizzard, including:
- Assisted highlight: Places a blue outline around the next best spell to cast in your action bars at the bottom of your screen, updates after every cast.
- Single-button assistant: Allows you to press the same button repeatedly to cast the next best spell.
In this guide, I’ll show you how to set up these rotation-assistance tools to keep your damage competitive and highlight the pros and cons of each. Before I do that, I want to highlight an overarching pro of these tools. Some players will try to shame those who want to use them. Personally, I think they are great resources for players who aren’t interested in optimizing every key press and for gamers with disabilities that make complex rotations difficult to execute. Let’s make WoW a more inclusive place and celebrate the fact that others want to be a part of this world that we love.
WoW’s Native Assisted Highlight: Pros, Cons and Setup
Assisted highlight is the first native rotation helper I want to cover. You can turn it on by pressing ESC and then clicking on the following: “Options” → “Gameplay Enhancements” → “Assisted Highlight” (checkbox). When you put your cursor over the checkbox, a tooltip will pop up and tell you that the helper will only highlight abilities that are visible on your action bar. In other words, make sure to open your spellbook (keyboard shortcut ‘N’ by default) and place all your spells in a visible spot so it works properly. That’s all it takes to set it up!
Is assisted highlight any good?
There are a few ways to think about that question. The first is to ask whether you lose DPS by following the recommended spells. While it is hard to answer that precisely for each player, the general answer is yes: using the assisted highlight helper leads to a DPS loss compared to “perfect” play. Some major offensive cooldowns, on-use trinkets, and potions are not recommended, which means that you are guaranteed to do less damage if you follow the highlights blindly. The tool doesn’t recommend healing or defensive spells either, so dying and doing zero damage is a real risk if you aren’t paying attention.
Another way to look at it is whether the tool is good for you. Very few players are likely to hit the threshold of “perfect” rotation execution, so that might be the wrong benchmark. If you play casually or play a stable of alts, the assisted highlight may actually be great for you and may even increase your DPS.
Assisted highlight + cooldown manager = better DPS
In addition to assisted highlight, Blizzard also introduced another tool that can help you execute your rotation in Midnight called the cooldown manager. This tool allows you to track when your big offensive and defensive spells are ready to cast. That allows you to see the spells that aren’t showing up in the recommendations so you can weave them into what you are casting. From there, you just need to use those spells when you want to do more damage (at the beginning of a fight, during bloodlust, or an important phase of a boss fight).
Setting up the cooldown manager takes more work, so I’m working on a dedicated guide that I’ll link to here soon.
Assisted highlight pros and cons
Bringing it all together, here is a list of pros and cons of using the assisted highlight feature:
| Pros | Cons |
| Similar experience to addons like MaxDPS | Potential DPS loss |
| Easy to set up | Does not recommend some major cooldowns or interrupts at all |
| Allows for rotation flexibility | No customization; only shows the next spell, not a queue of upcoming ones like in Hekili |
| May serve as a good starting point for learning how a rotation feels if you want to try something new | Highlights on action bars can be hard to follow and take attention away from where your character is |
| Can do decent DPS, especially when combined with cooldown manager | Mileage varies by class and spec. Not recommended for healers/tanks |
WoW’s Single-Button Assistant: Pros, cons, and setup
The other built-in rotation helper is called the single-button assistant, and it is exactly what it sounds like. When you turn this feature on, you get a single spell you can press repeatedly to cast your next best spell. To start using it, all you need to do is open your spell book (shortcut ‘N’) and drag the “Single-Button Assistant” icon from the top right corner of the page to your desired spot in your action bar.
The spell you cast is going to line up with the assisted highlight, but there is a big difference between the two. In the assisted highlight, you don’t pay a time penalty for using it. The moment you cast a spell, the outline shifts to the next recommendation, and you can cast another spell as soon as the global cooldown resets. The single-button assistant, on the other hand, builds in a 25% penalty, which means you are going to do less damage. That “performance tax” is going to vary depending on the class and spec you play, but for many characters it means you will do 20-30% less damage compared to the perfect rotation.
While that sounds like a huge DPS loss, I think the single-button assistant is a huge win for the community and accessibility. Moving your fingers between a dozen or more spells rapidly isn’t something that everyone can do, and this provides a way for them to play the game. I also could see it clearing the path for more controller support down the road, which would be great.
All in all, the single-button assistant can be a great option for casual questing, farming, lower dungeon and raid difficulties, and open-world content.
Single-button assistant pros and cons
Here are some of the pros and cons of using the single-button assistant:
| Pros | Cons |
| Accessibility, good for controller play | DPS loss, built-in penalty |
| Super easy | Does not recommend some major cooldowns or interrupts at all |
| Can focus on mechanics (any DPS is better than zero) | Repetitive combat |
| Consistent output, maintains DPS uptime | Mileage varies by class and spec. Not great for healers/tanks |
Summary: Which Tool Should You Use?
Which tool you should use comes down to how you play the game.
If you love exploring the world and doing casual content by yourself or with friends, the single-button assistant will work great for you. For a little more control and pushing into some higher keystones and heroic raids, I think that the assisted highlight tool (especially when paired with the cooldown manager) is the perfect pick.
If you play a healer or tank, or are looking at getting into high M+ keys and mythic raiding, these tools can give you a starting point, but you’ll need to invest more time and practice into your rotation. For most players, these tools are more than enough to help them focus on the pieces of the game they love without getting bogged down in optimizing every keystroke.
Hopefully this guide helped! I would love to hear the ways you are using these tools in the comments below. Thanks for reading!
F.A.Q
Blizzard’s reasoning was that these addons were removing skill expression between players and were creating less engaging combat. However, the native solutions feel quite similar to what the addons provided. A bigger driver seems to be that the developers have recognized a growing need to download addons to play the game, and they’re pushing back by moving more features into the game.