The Wow Blog

Slightly Less Basic Macros

by Erik

May 6, 2007 – 10:16 am

I will assume that you have read my previous post on Basic Macros, and will not explain how to enter a macro and put it on your action bar. If you have not read it yet, you can do so now, and I will wait here……..

Okay. Back already? Good.

The next type of Macro that I will explain is the type that interacts with items in your inventory or on your character. This is slightly more advanced, since the macro will fail if it refers to something that is not in your inventory or on your character, or is subject to a cool-down.

A note on failures: If your macro contains only one command, it is not really a problem if it fails. You simply won’t get the result you wanted. Later on, when we enter multiple commands, you will need to be careful about failures because they stop the macro from continuing on to the remaining commands.

For the next example we will look at activating a trinket. I wear a trinket called “Uniting Charm” that temporarily increases my attack power by 185. I like to use this in battle grounds, or just before a large mob that might give me problems if I don’t kill them fast. Naturally, I don’t have time to open up my character screen, find the appropriate item and right click it. So I made a macro with the following command:

/use Uniting Charm

As long as I am wearing it, and it is not currently in a cool-down, and there is no global cool down that affects it, the trinket will be activated just as though I had right-clicked it on my character screen. Much more convenient on the action bar, though!

The next macro will equip an item that is in your inventory, but not on your character. This is useful for switching between weapons of the same type. Hunters will sometimes do this to switch between guns and bows, but it is usually part of a more complex macro.

/equip Hemet’s Elekk Gun

If you currently have the specified item in your inventory, and you have the necessary level to use it, it will be equipped, replacing the item that was in that slot.

Finally, a slightly more advanced version of this macro can be used if the item being equipped is eligible for more than one slot. One-handed items can be used in the main hand or off-hand if you have dual-wield capabilities. A Warrior might use the following macro to replace a shield with a dagger:

/equip 17 Some Dagger

Sorry, I just couldn’t think of a good dagger name for that macro, but you get the idea. the “17″ refers to the off-hand slot. There are 20 slots, and they are numbered as follows:

1. Head
2. is Neck
3. Shoulder
4. Shirt
5. Chest
6. Waist
7. Legs
8. Feet
9. Wrist
10. Hands
11. Top Finger
12. Bottom Finger
13. Top Trinket
14. Bottom Trinket
15. Back
16. Main Hand
17. Off-Hand
18. Ranged
19. Tabard
20. Ammo

 That’s it for this post. Next one will be on casting, and putting together a few commands in one macro.