WoW Forever macros: from your first button to custom combos

A macro is your own button with a set of instructions. It can heal the ally under your mouse without dropping your enemy target, or interrupt your focus while you hold Shift. It saves you target swaps, but deciding what to press and when is still on you.

• Type /macro in chat. General macros are shared with your other characters, and character macros belong to this character only. Sharing a macro doesn't give another class its spells.
• Click New, give it a short name, and pick the question-mark icon. Paste the example below, save it, and drag its button onto an action bar.
• Bind that action bar slot to a key that's easy to reach. Test the button out of combat before you add a combat spell.
• Start each command on a new line. The Copy button only takes the code, so don't paste the explanation under it into the macro editor. Make and arrange your combat buttons ahead of time, out of combat.

The Mage example below does two things. #showtooltip controls the icon and tooltip, and /cast tries to cast the spell. A tooltip doesn't cast anything. If you leave #showtooltip without a name, the client picks the spell from the macro itself, modifier choices included.

• Commands and conditions stay in English: /cast, help, nodead. Spell names have to match your game client's language, no matter what language the guide is in.
• Put the text cursor after /cast, open your spellbook, and Shift-click the spell. That's safer than translating the name or copying it from an old guide.
• After you Shift-click, check whether a rank got added. Without an explicit rank, the highest rank you have is used, and helpful spells can also have target-level limits. An explicit suffix like "(Rank 2)" won't update when you learn a new rank. Take it out when you want the highest rank, or keep the exact spellbook suffix if you're downranking on purpose.
• Keep an eye on the editor counter. The standard limit is 255 characters, spaces and line breaks included. These examples are short, but once you add conditions, check that the last line still fits.

A line like /cast [conditions] Spell; [other conditions] Other spell is read left to right, and the client picks the first option that matches. It's a priority list of conditions, not a list of spells to try based on cooldowns.

That rule only applies to the options inside one command. Macro lines run from top to bottom, and a command that fails doesn't necessarily stop the lines after it. For example, /startattack can start your swings even if you can't afford the next ability. Use /stopmacro when you really need the later lines skipped.

If Shift+1 is already bound to switching action bar pages, the macro on 1 might never see Shift+1, so check your key bindings. Alt can also be set to self-cast. Start with Shift or Ctrl and clear any binds that clash.

Don't bury five emergency actions under different combos. One modifier you can remember under pressure is worth more than a clever button you have to stop and think about.

Test a mouseover modifier with its actual key binding, not by Shift-clicking the action bar icon, which can behave differently. In the Rogue and Shaman examples below, [nomod:shift] means "without Shift" specifically, even if Ctrl is held.

The global cooldown, or GCD, is the short shared lockout most abilities trigger. A macro doesn't wait between lines, so two regular on-GCD spells don't turn into two casts from one press just because they're on separate /cast lines.

Burst is a short window of extra damage. You can pair an attack with an off-GCD on-use trinket, as long as it's equipped, ready, and allows that combo.

Keep this off your regular spell button if you want to save burst for an important target. /use runs before /cast, so the trinket can get spent even if the spell then fails because of range, resources, or no target. Two on-use trinkets might share a cooldown too, so /use 13 plus /use 14 doesn't guarantee both go off at once.

Spells separated by commas are steps in a sequence, not options to pick from. If you put the first DoT up, move, and press the button again, it tries the next step. Use the question-mark icon and #showtooltip without a spell name to see what's coming next.

• reset=target/10 goes back to the first spell when your selected target changes OR after 10 seconds without pressing this macro. It's not 10 seconds from the start of combat, and it's not the spell's cooldown.
• Every press restarts the idle timer, so spamming a stuck step keeps the timed reset from ever kicking in.
• Running out of mana, a spell you haven't learned, or a step on cooldown can stall the sequence. It doesn't skip ahead to find a different spell it can use.
• Long sequences handle movement, target swaps, and emergency interrupts badly. Keep reactive abilities on their own buttons.
• target/10 combines resets with OR, not AND. To test it, cast the first DoT and change your selected target, and the icon should go back to the first step. Start again and leave the button alone for 10 seconds to test the other reset. Moving your mouse over a different frame doesn't change your selected target on its own.

Pick your class. These are small standalone buttons, not one macro for a whole fight. Learn the listed spells first, and use your spellbook names if your client is in another language. The class PvP guides have more combos, but level and talent requirements still apply.

Resurrection flips the life check: help,dead, not nodead. The example below is for Priests. Other classes should put in their own resurrection spell from the spellbook. The macro doesn't change combat limits, reagent requirements, or cooldowns.

For weapon swaps, /equipslot 16 is the main hand and /equipslot 17 is the off hand, and you need your exact item names. The October 8 patch brought back multiple weapon swaps within one GCD. That doesn't guarantee a follow-up ability can fire on the same press.

• Scrolls trigger the GCD. This changed in the October 15 patch. A scroll followed by a regular spell might stop at the scroll on that press.
• No fog-disabling commands here. Blizzard removed a setting that turned off fog in a way it wasn't meant to. An old graphics macro doesn't prove the command still works.
• Focus and mouseover aren't combat scripts. /run doesn't unlock restricted combat data or let a macro pick the best spell for you. Client restrictions still apply.
• Check @cursor for each ability. Don't assume every Retail ground-targeting shortcut works for every Forever spell. If the client rejects it, use the regular spell and confirm where it lands.
• Check your spellbook and talents. Retail, Classic Era, SoD, and Forever don't give a class the same abilities, and a macro can't teach you a spell you don't have.

You don't need an addon for your first macros. For a bigger collection, ForeverFastMacros opens with /ffm. Drop a spell from the book, pick a mouseover, focus, or Shift template, and take the button it makes. Names come from your client.

Macro Forever, opened with /mforever, has a guided builder with class examples and sequences. Both tools make regular macros, not an autopilot. A library example might use a spell you haven't learned, so read the text it generates before you use it.

There are more handy tools and interface options in our addon guide.

Change one thing at a time: plain /cast first, then conditions, then modifiers. That way you can see which change broke it. Copy working text somewhere safe before a big rewrite, log out normally afterward, and back up the WTF folder with the client closed.

Before a dungeon, test with no target, a living enemy, a friendly unit, and an empty focus, then repeat each one that matters with Shift. Check what happens when it fails, not just when it works. With several lines, also watch whether an item or defensive gets used up before the spell you actually wanted.