What are some must-have addons for a raid leader?

[cszsolt3]

I am a new raid leader for a 10 man group . I am basically looking for some more experienced folk among you who could share some tips on what are some cool addons to make raid organizing easier.

[judgementofantonidas]

I am a new raid leader for a 10 man group . I am basically looking for some more experienced folk among you who could share some tips on what are some cool addons to make raid organizing easier.

Ora3 adds a lot of functionality to raid leading including but not limited to being able to set up the ability for the group to form itself.

[Glaziola]

Ensidia fails. Tells in /raid all the mistakes people make and how many times they did.

[Nobleshield]

I like using PhoenixStyle, it seems to go similar to EnsidiaFails but it is a bit more spammy; it'll say like if someone stands in the fire and takes damage (when they do it), and after fights it will report who was hit by what mechanics and how many times they were hit. I also use a cooldown tracker of some kind, Hermes is very good, so is the Blood Legion Cooldown addon which is what I recently switched to. ORA3 has a tracker as well but it only shows abilities ON cooldown, not which are ready to be used.

[mayco]

BigBrother, checks food/flasks on readychecks and will notify you if they don't. Also has a tab that shows everyones buffs so you can make sure everyone has them. Can also be configured to announce to you when someone or a pet taunts, as well as misdirects and battle rez's. There's some other things too, but that's all I use it for.

[Azrile]

I am a new raid leader for a 10 man group . I am basically looking for some more experienced folk among you who could share some tips on what are some cool addons to make raid organizing easier.

not an add-on, but Vent. For you, recount. Not just for checking that someone´s dps isn´t terrible, but mainly I used it to see, after a fight, who took unnecessary damage. I don´t like the add-ons listed above because they are too spammy. For me, I don´t need to see if someone made a brain-fart mistake.. but recount will show you the people who are failing on mechanisms in a serious way.

If you are doing serious progression raiding, then DBM as it helps you time and coordinate cds based on mechanisms. If you are just leading a casual raiding group, don´t bother forcing it on your members, the default UI does enough.

[Perryn]

I use RBS to keep an eye on buffs & such, DBM obviously to call out/track timers etc. Voice communication yes, mumble for instance is a nice alternative with a free server solution that pretty much anybody on a broadband connection can set up and run in a pinch (takes just a little time to set up but once done is rock solid and very easily maintained).

Have heard good things about Hermes as well for CD tracking raidwide, not tested it yet. Because my UI doesn't like Blizzard's raid bars I also use a marker addon for world markers, but generally that's not needed ofc.

For most raiding DBM along with a little perusing of Icy-Veins goes a long way towards being prepared.

[-Psypher-]

Marking Bar is awesome for putting world flares out (and resetting them) for positioning, and Slash In is a nice lightweight addon for creating /in stopwatch macros in order to create break macros with one-minute warnings and automatic ready checks built in.

[Sierra85]

RBS - check buffs, spam raid whats missing.

PhoenixStyle - reports mid combat of who's screwing up.

Some sort of marking bar.

Loggerhead - auto combat logging, so you can do the logs.


i also think weakaura's are useful for a raid leader because you can share useful aura strings in raid chat, shift click, to your raiders for a boss fight, to emphasize certain mechanics they should pay attention to. create custom warnings etc

[Grubjuice]

everyone needs to be on some voice-chat program like vent, and everyone needs something like deadly boss mods

i think Ensidia and phoenix style and other bad-habit-trackers are the least subtle tool for the problem they attempt to fix,

a smart raid leader can use his good interpersonal skills and recount to much greater effect. you don't need a sledge hammer to hammer a nail.

[Art3x]

Is it Ora3 that tracks raid cooldowns waiting to be used and which have been used? I always see videos with raid cooldown watchers but I don't know what addon it is.