- Author: Luxrah
- Date: March 7, 2025
- Updated: March 7, 2025
- Expansion: World of Warcraft
Patch 11.1.5 is now available on the PTR, and the upcoming content update brings a new feature to the default interface: the Cooldown Manager. You can test this feature out now by opening the game menu (Esc by default) and clicking on Options, and then Advanced Options.
There are four elements that will appear in your UI with the Cooldown Manager enabled: essential cooldowns, utility cooldowns, tracked bars, and tracked buffs. You can see examples of these, except for tracked bars, in the image below.
- Essential cooldowns are your basic rotation and other important abilities, and by default they’ll appear as a larger row of icons near the middle of the UI. These icons will be highlighted just like the abilities in your action bar so you know when you have an important proc that benefits one of them.
- Utility cooldowns are more situational abilities that are nonetheless important to track. These show up in a smaller row beneath the essential cooldowns.
- Tracked buffs are contextual and only show up if you have a buff that impacts your rotation. They appear as smaller icons above the essential cooldowns row, if you have relevant buffs.
- Tracked bars show the duration of significant spells like Combustion, Shield Block, or Eclipse. They appear a little up and to the right of the other elements when you have a relevant spell active.
The abilities that each element shows and the order they appear is not customizable at the moment. But you can change the appearance of each element in Edit Mode by checking the Advanced Options box and then Cooldown Manager. From there you can change many options for each element, including visibility, size, orientation, and whether the timer is shown on each spell or buff.
This feature is unlikely to completely replace addons like Weakauras, which offer a lot more customization and depth, but it’s another step toward providing basic default versions of UI elements that are considered must-haves by many players.
In the 11.1.5 PTR, there’s a new User Interface feature called the Cooldown Manager. The Cooldown Manager’s purpose is to help inform you of the state of your important class and spec cooldowns in a consolidated space on your UI.
The Cooldown Manager is a new display that can be enabled by opening the Options Menu, navigating to Advanced Options, and checking the box labeled “Enable Cooldown Manager”. There’s also a search bar at the top of the Options menu! Once enabled, you can make further adjustments to the size, position, opacity, and other options in Edit Mode, just the same as you would adjust any other User Interface element.
The Cooldown Manager has four parts to it that can all be adjusted and shown or hidden separately based on your preferences.
Essential Cooldowns
Essential Cooldowns are where any ability you currently have access to that has a cooldown is displayed. These are where your core rotational and big impact abilities are found, such as Crusader Strike, Judgment, and Avenging Wrath.
Essential Cooldowns show whether an ability can be used, the remaining duration of any effects is applies, and its cooldown once its effects are no longer active. Highlights that appear on abilities in action bars also appear on Essential Cooldowns, so you have all the information you need to play your spec in the Cooldown Manager, in the form you’re used to seeing it.
Utility Cooldowns
Utility Cooldowns is for buttons that are situationally useful, such as interrupts, mobility, or crowd control. You’ll find spells like Counterspell, Blink, and Ice Block here.
Tracked Bars
Tracked Bars appear for effects where it’s important for you to be able to see their exact duration. For instance, spells that change your rotation like Combustion, effects that are important to maintain like Shield Block, or effects where it’s helpful to know exactly when they will end, like Eclipse.
Tracked Buffs
Icons appear in the Tracked Buffs section for effects where it’s important for you to know that you have the effect, but its duration isn’t especially significant. Buff icons like Nether Precision for Arcane Mage, Backdraft for Destruction Warlock, or Maelstrom Weapon for Enhancement Shamans show up here.
Tracked buffs show icons, durations, and stacks of the effect. Tracked Buffs do not appear for effects that are fully indicated by ability highlights in the Essential Cooldown section.
Feedback
This first version of the Cooldown Manager is a designer-curated list of abilities; which abilities are shown and the order in which they appear is not customizable. While you can adjust the size, opacity, location, and other properties of each section of the Cooldown Manager in Edit Mode, you cannot control what abilities show up or the order in which they are shown.
The most useful feedback we’re looking for are your thoughts on abilities or buffs that you feel are missing, extra icons or bars that do not feel important to you, and obviously any bugs you encounter.
Feedback about how you play is also extremely valuable to improving it in future patches. We have plans to add new features and customization tools. Are there important aspects of playing your spec that you cannot do with only the Cooldown Manager? What information do you need to track, and how do you currently track it?
Thank you very much for your testing and feedback!
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