Essential WoW Midnight Addons: Navigating the New UI Era

With the release of the World of Warcraft: Midnight pre-patch, Blizzard has introduced sweeping changes to how the game handles combat data. These restrictions have significantly limited or completely disabled many popular modifications.

To help you prepare, we’ve refined the list of the most effective and updated addons that will remain functional (or provide viable alternatives) in the new expansion.

🛠 Comprehensive UI Overhauls

• ElvUI: The industry standard for total UI replacement. As of now, skins, chat, bags, and action bars are functional. Note: Raid/Unit frames and Nameplate modules are still under heavy development for Midnight.
  
• NephUI: A rising alternative offering deep customization for cooldown trackers and core UI elements.
• TweaksUI: A lightweight but powerful option for those looking to fine-tune specific interface elements without a complete overhaul.

⏳ Cooldown & Combat Tracking

• BetterCooldownManager: A reliable tool for monitoring spell and ability recoveries.
• ArcUI: Focused specifically on buff and cooldown tracking. Simple, though some modules may still be in early testing.
• TweaksUI_Cooldowns: A standalone module of TweaksUI for players who only need the cooldown tracking functionality.

 👥 Raid & Unit Frames

• Cell: Currently one of the most stable raid frame addons, though some advanced automated features have been curtailed by the API changes.
• Grid2 / VuhDo: Both remain functional for basic raid healing and tracking, albeit with more limited utility than in previous expansions.
• Danders Frames: A brand-new addon specifically designed for the Midnight era. It features a modern aesthetic and is highly optimized.
• Unhalted Unit Frames: Best for those who want to customize player, target, and boss frames without touching raid layouts.

🏷 Nameplates (Health Bars)

• Plater: Remains the most robust option for advanced nameplate customization.
• Platynator: A specialized alternative built specifically to work within the new Midnight API constraints.

⚔ Raid & Dungeon Utility

• Method Raid Tools (MRT): Most modules, like ready checks and notes, work perfectly.
• Northern Sky Raid Tools (NSRT): An essential update. It effectively replaces many "WeakAura Raid Packs" by integrating timer-based reminders and healer cooldown notes directly into its framework.
• BigWigs / Deadly Boss Mods (DBM): Still functional for boss timers and basic alerts, though some visual "anchors" may look different.

⚠️ The "Midnight Survivors": Replacing WeakAuras

The most significant change in Midnight is that WeakAuras and OmniCD (Interrupt trackers) are currently non-functional due to combat data restrictions. Here are the necessary replacements:

• TargetedSpells: Replaces the popular WeakAuras that play a sound or show an icon when you are the target of a specific spell. Essential for Mythic+.
• Better Timeline: A high-quality replacement for displaying boss ability timers and mechanics in a linear format.
• MTT (Midnight Trinket Tracker): Since standard trackers are struggling, this addon specifically focuses on tracking trinkets and racial abilities.
• Falcon: A specialized addon for Dragonriding/Dynamic Flight UI, replacing old WeakAura flight speedometers.
  

🎒 Quality of Life & Navigation

• Bags: Most popular bag addons (Adibags, Bagnon, etc.) are being updated and should work without major issues.
• Plumber / EQOL: Excellent tools for enhancing the default Blizzard interface with "common sense" improvements.
• TomTom / HandyNotes: Navigation remains untouched; these will work as usual.
  

Here is a list of 7 addons that will replace some popular WeakAura:

In general, some players (and we too) advise not to download a lot of different addons on the first day, but to try to play with the standard interface and explore its innovations and improvements. Perhaps they will be enough for your needs and you will no longer have to mess with third-party modifications. And if not, then you can always download addons later, since their authors will have time to fix possible problems and introduce additional improvements in the first few days.