Patch 5.4 patch notes
Virtual Realms feature revealed
The Proving Grounds are coming
The latest patch 5.4 newsAddon Spotlight: SmartBuff
by Eliah Hecht 
May 5th 2009 at 8:00PM
Buff smart: use SmartBuff. This addon is pretty comprehensive and crazy configurable, and is designed to facilitate and partially automate the buffing process. Here's how it works:
- Check off which buffs you want to keep up, on what classes, main hand/off hand (if applicable), and when you want it to remind you (in combat, out of combat, 10 seconds remaining, etc).
- Under the specified conditions, SmartBuff will put a reminder up on your screen (also configurable, of course) telling you who needs what buffs.
- Now simply click the SmartBuff button, or scroll your scroll wheel (if you have that option set), and the necessary buffs will magically be applied for you!
It doesn't get much easier than that. SB also supports setting up profiles, for PvP vs. raids vs. parties, for instance.
I do have a few minor gripes about SmartBuff. It would be nice if it could recognize when I was on a vehicle, and stop bugging me for buffs under those conditions. Sure, "/sb toggle" isn't hard (turns the mod off/on), but then I have to remember to toggle it back on, and remembering to buff is the reason I have SB in the first place. It doesn't do a very good job of recognizing when you've manually re-applied a buff, as I often do with Inner Fire when I have a spare moment. It also used to frequently double-buff for buffs that just recently went raid-wide (like Prayer of Shadow Protection), though that seems to be fixed in the latest version.
That's another good thing about SB: It's under constant development. The author is very responsive to bugs and feature requests, and I've never seen big issues stay around for long. New revisions are usually made pretty quickly in response to patches changing things.
There's more to the mod than I've talked about here, but basically: if you want it to be easier for you to buff, or if you're always forgetting buffs, give SmartBuff a spin. I think you'll like it.
Download Smartbuff at WoWInterface
Addons are what we do on Addon Spotlight. Check out a lighter auction mod that I'm enjoying as an alternative to Auctioneer. See what the dailies are on your realm -- the more people use this mod, the better! And remember, Addon Spotlight is fueled by viewers like you, so if you have a mod you think we should take a look at, drop us a line. Filed under: Add-Ons, AddOn Spotlight, Buffs
Reader Comments (Page 2 of 2)
poilbrun May 6th 2009 5:52AM
I will probably give smartbuff a try. It's not really necessary on my main, a mage, since all buffs have pretty long durations, but when I play my rerolls, especially those that have buffs of various lengths, I often forget to reapply some of them. Does it have an option for a food buff?
Tekkub, I did not know you read WoWInsider, but I'll take the chance to thank you for your great work. I don't know how I could play my rerolls without Tourguide! :-)
Tekkub May 6th 2009 2:49PM
You didn't read the comments before posting your own^^
FlameFlash May 6th 2009 8:39AM
/shrug
I use healbot even on the toons that don't need it (like my mage).
It's a great and easy way to use only one addon for multiple characters for buffing purposes.
blankStare May 6th 2009 10:07AM
I like the verity of playing 8 different toons. Using SB really helps with keeping buffed.
Kitrine May 6th 2009 12:13PM
I LOVE SmartBuff for my shammy. You can set it to cast one buff during combat and I have it set to cast Water Shield. Logic is disabled in combat, so every time I scroll it recasts Water Shield. This is useful for me because that particular buff has charges that are used up quickly and the spell costs no mana.
However, the one time I tried to do the same for my priest's Inner Fire, I went oom because it cast too often. SmartBuff also annoys me while playing my druid because I don't want to have to shift out of cat to cast Thorns all the time.
Overall, I think SmartBuff is a great addon. It just requires a little tinkering to find the configuration that works best for you.
artifex May 6th 2009 4:05PM
How does it compare to BuffEnough and DeBuffEnough? BE/DBE don't have a one-click button to keep everything up, but they work well.
Jyotai May 7th 2009 12:35PM
How does this compare with ZOMGbuffs?
I see a couple of posters have commented on ZOMGBuffs. I suppose I'll have to give them a side-by-side and see for myself.
We no longer raid with any paladins, so PallyPower comparability has lowered for me (I'm our former paladin, switched to warrior & DK for tanking when I got bored of the paladin rotation).
What I find bothersome about ZOMGBuffs learning is that it often 'learns' buffs I only want cast once, like a fear ward or vigilance, and then insists on casting them over and over again on that same target on every cooldown. Those are situational buffs I keep on situational keybinds - and I want to be able to manually cast them and not have ZOMGBuffs switch back to the learned target the next time my finger slips and scrolls the mouse wheel.
No matter how many times I disable this learning, for some buffs, it keeps adding them.
Tish May 7th 2009 2:50PM
I use and like SmartBuff for somethings.
I don't use it on my main (priest) any more because VuhDo has a buff watch included that is so much better. It shows you when everyone is in range so you don't waste reagents needlessly.
My husband also liked this add-on but for his Pally had to switch to Pally Power because it is just too difficult to use when half the shaman's want Might the other half want Wisdom. (at least pre 3.1)
But I still like it for my Druid and DK alts.
Clatto May 11th 2009 8:55AM
How well does this or ZOMGBuffs, etc work with dual spec? Is this something I need to manually change everytime I change specs?