Update: I just realized WoW.com posted a feature on this addon six days ago. Honest to god, I had no idea… Not only that, it had the same title as my post (which I’ve since changed). I actually originally got the idea from watching Kripparian’s video on NeedToKnow. I thought that writing a brief post about what I’m using would be a good idea. Oh well… guess I should be a little more current on other WoW blogs. π³
In my ongoing pursuit of UI perfection, I’ve settled upon another addon that’s now cemented itself into my on screen array of mods. This is of course, SexyCooldown.
Many of you are probably already familiar with this addon, but for those that are not, SexyCooldown is yet another cooldown monitor. So what’s different about it you ask..?
Well, for one, it’s a logarithmic cooldown bar timer much like ForteXorcist. Instead of showing cooldown bar timers, hourglass and/or numeric counters, SexyCooldown provides a bar with a graphical interface that shows all of your items and abilities that are on cooldown.
As items and abilities go on cooldown, they appear on the bar, riding down towards the other end, and accelerating as they near closer to completion. In other words, a long ability cooldown such as Rapid Fire, will sit at the end of the bar making its way very slowly down. Where as the shorter cooldown of Furious Howl will ride the bar much faster.
I’ve tried this addon in the past, as well as ForteXorcist, but never really saw the need. However, with the five bazillion procs that I now have due to gear, I find it invaluable. One of the things that sets SexyCooldown apart from the rest of the cooldown monitors, is that it shows you internal cooldowns.
Unlike OmniCC or some of the cast/buff bar addons out there, SexyCooldown can display cooldowns on procs right alongside your ability cooldowns. This is very beneficial for timing your big ability cooldowns, as knowing when the buffs are going to proc next is a huge advantage in terms of DPS. For example, let’s say your Armor Pen trinket (ie: Needle Encrusted Scorpion) is about to proc in 11 seconds… a split second before is when you’ll want to swill that Potion of Speed or blow your Rapid Fire (provided Heroism’s not up).
What I like about SexyCooldown is that it is highly configurable, yet extremely easy to use. The config screen is not even one tenth as bloated as that of Forte’s. Not to say that forte isn’t a great addon, but I’ve found that SexyCooldown can do everything I want it to and more, with only a fraction of the fat.
Now there are other alternatives to this, including a popular addon called NeedToKnow. However, I tried NeedToKnow and I found the logarithimic bar approach to provide more of an intuitive interface with less of a footprint. Instead of having bar timers for each proc and ability you want to monitor, you can have as little as one bar that shows you everything, and done.
Another thing that’s nice about SexyCooldown, is that it’s intelligent. It already knows what the cooldowns are on procs. NeedToKnow requires that you input all of that data in order for it to monitor said cooldowns.
I still use OmniCC and my internal meter for my shot priority, so all I have shown on my SexyCooldown bar are my item procs and pet abilities. This allows me to see the cooldowns on Furious Howl, Rabid, Call of the Wild, Whispering Fanged Skull, Needle Encrusted Scorpion, and my Ashen Verdict ring all in one convenient location.
It’s also equally as nice for PvP, in that you can configure it to show all of your defensive abilities for example, on one bar.

You can also configure multiple bars if you want, with each one showing a different set of cooldowns. Personally, I like the one bar approach, but some like to use multiple bars for cooldowns, buffs, target debuffs etc…
Another nice feature of SexyCooldown is that it’s quite easy to filter or “blacklist” certain abilities from the bar to make it less spammy. All you do is shift-right click on the ability when it appears in the bar and it’s gone.
You may also notice that icon in the middle of my screen with a timer above it. That’s part of a new Power Auras configuration I’m playing with. As I’d said, procs are getting out of control, so I’m having to resort to using their actual icons to stay aware of what’s what. I’ll shed more light on the Power Auras config once I am settled with it. So far it’s working out quite well. I have all of my buffs surrounding me in an arc, highest priority ones on top.
Anyway, there’s a lot more to SexyCooldown, but I suggest you try it out for yourself and see what you think. It’s not necessarily revolutionary in its approach to monitoring cooldowns, but it’s pretty damn smart. π
Captain Obvious Protip: All proc abilities are going to happen within the first few seconds of a boss fight provided they are off cooldown, so be sure to refresh that Serpent Sting when they do. π
what addons are you using?
https://huntsmanslodge.com/gar-ui/
This addon is…well sexy indeed! However, everytime I log in to play, the bar just keeps getting bigger!! Anyone else have this problem? Or has it been addressed somewhere els and I just missed it?
Hmmm… I’ve not had this problem myself. I’m thinking of putting the finishing touches on my UI tonight, so I’ll have a look at SexyCooldown and see if there’s some setting in there that may fix this issue.
Upload your Ui!.
I think you should just zip up this UI and post it. I want it so bad Garwulf stop teasing us!!!
Gettin’ there. I still need to dial in my power auras and address a couple of minor details. I usually sit on a new ui for several weeks so that I can play with it to find problems and refine things.
I will post it though.
This is a lot like the Add-On Watcher, perhaps a little more streamlined. I use Watcher for now, but my guild has been clamoring about this add-on recently. That and I completely need to revamp my UI, Xperl is clustering my screen like mad. Thanks for this post!
hi Garwulf,
I hate to be that guy, but I think you meant ‘your’ when you wrote this: ‘For example, letβs say youβre Armor Pen trinket (ie: Needle Encrusted Scorpion) is about to proc in 11 secondsβ¦’
Great article as usual, thanks!!! π
npast
You’re exactly right.
…and no worries about being that guy. I usually try to proofread my articles a few times before they go to post and correct any mistakes, but I am just a man. π
Funny thing is, I’ve been catching myself using the contraction a lot, as opposed to the possessive. You’d think it’d be the other way around.
It won’t happen again. I promise! π
It’s me again drooling over your UI. May I ask though what font you’re using?
Calibri
Hi Brig,
I Googled SexyCooldown just to see if anyone else had ever featured it in a post. Imagine my surprise when I saw that not only had it been showcased by WoW.com, but the article was only a week old.
But yea… there is only so much to write about. However, my problem is not always a shortage of topics, but more a case of not having the time to cover them all. What often times ends up happening is that I settle upon an idea I think I can pound out quickly, as opposed to one of the topics I’d really like to discuss. I have so many great ideas for topics, but then when I start to formulate a plan of attack, I quickly see how much time it will require to do it properly and say all I want to say. So then I just end up going, “eh… I’ll talk about SexyCooldown instead”. π
I need to get better at Twitter so that I can learn to better express my thoughts and ideas in fewer words.
Funny you should stop by, because I’d been thinking about you lately. In fact, your story was yet another possible idea for a post of mine. I happened by your site a bit ago and saw that you were going to call it quits on your hunter blog. One thing you said that I could really relate to was how the WoW community has changed.
Maybe I was oblivious to a lot of the elitist crap that had existed in this game for years, but I tend to feel it’s gotten exponentially worse over recent years.
I love your attitude towards the game, especially your preaching of how you shouldn’t let others tell you how to play your game. At the end of the day, it’s really just about fun. Sure being good at WoW makes it more fun, but really… having fun with it is a heck of a lot more important than being good at it.
Anyway, I’ll stop myself from rambling too much, because what i really need to do is save my thoughts for a proper post.
Thanks for stopping by man!
Hey Gar!
Just wanted to say that sometimes we all get the same idea at the same time. There’s only so much you can write about in this game. The fact that your original title was the same (which you changed) and the addon the same is proof of that point.
Anyways, just wanted to say great post. Keep it up! Anddon’t sweat it!
Hey, I’d also love to see your updated UI, but I probably won’t download the whole thing. Think you could post your Powerauras settings separately?
I’ve been using SexyCooldown for a few weeks now, and really like it.
Gar, are you going to be posting an updated UI yet? I’m not very UI savvy as far as messing with .lua and stuff. Couple of my addons aren’t working well and I figured I’d just wait till you updated yours again.
thanks.
Rog.
It’s on the list.
So far everything’s working fine since the patch. I’m still using most of the same addons, but I have dropped a couple and maybe picked up one or two new ones.
I’ll try to get things exactly how I want them, then I’ll zip it up and post it again. May be as early as next week, but then again, that may be a little ambitious. I’ll see what I can do though.
Thanks Ibraha.
From time to time I’ll experiment with different arrangements, addons and so forth, but in the end I go with what works. I see so many gorgeous and inspiring UIs on sites like ElitistJerks and WoWInterface, but they just don’t appear all that functional to me.
That’s the beauty of a custom UI though… you can tailor your configuration to enhance your game play. What works for one guy may not work for the next, but I happen to think mine’s pretty universally bitchin’. π
*toots own horn*
Is your long term goal to replace Power Aura’s with this or a combo of both? Seems to me that there’s a bit of overlap? Also do you know of a list for trinket proc names (I recently read thru your power aura’s setup and was able to get some info off there, but I’m looking for the Buff name for Needle Encrusted Scorpion…and hopefully others as I head more into ICC!).
Thanks for your time!
The addons compliment one another. I use SCD to tell me when items and abilities are on cooldown and Power Auras to tell me when the buffs are flowing. You could use SCD for both, but I like the HuD type of effect that power Auars gives me.
As far as buff names go…
NES: Fatal Flaws
WFS: Icy Rage
Ashen Verdict ring: Frostforged Champion
T10 2pc: Exploit Weakness
Garwulf! When are you coming out with an update to your UI?! I want it!!
Soon my friend. π
I know I’ve said this before, but I’m really happy with this one. It’s still pretty similar to what I’ve been using for awhile, but with a few refinements.
Exactly. Why change something completely if it works and looks incredible. This screen shot is by far my favorite version of your UI yet. Keep up the good work. π
Garwulf – Thanks for the response. Here’s the list that I was looking for (hopefully others can use it): http://thebrewhall.com/2010/02/18/shiny-happy-trinkets-proccing/
You know I was going to ask you if you had ever used this addon. I find it instrumental when casting on my Elemental Shaman, timing Lava Burst precisely with Lightning Bolt spam. I don’t know if it has something to do with 3.3.3, but when I switch specs recently, I find that SCD isn’t staying put. Like the profile is getting switched too. Noticed anything like that? I’m about to go back to ForteXorcist if I can’t get it to stop.
I haven’t had any problems with it since the patch. Did you position it using the advanced options?