Targeting Macros for ICC

The following entry is a reader submitted article sent in by PingHansen. I don’t use targeting macros all that often, but I felt that this post would be of value to many of my readers out there. Well done Ping!

Raiding ICC can be a bit overwhelming at times. In order to cut down on the number of things we hunters (and other ranged DPS) have to handle simultaneously, I have put together a set of targeting macros that handles the targeting priority for us. The emphasis is on the hunter perspective, but they should work for any ranged DPS. I have found that the use of macros for targeting has improved my reaction time significantly. But don’t rely too heavily on the macros – there may be situations that are best handled the old fashioned way, aka manual targeting.

In order to keep the macros simple, most of the macros below rely on setting the tank as your focus. The focus can easily be changed during the encounters, if necessary. This also works hand-in-hand when misdirecting to the tank. See the tools for that at the end of this article.

And now for the targeting macros…

Lord Marrowgar

The first part of this section of ICC consists of a lot of trash guarding the entrance to the hall where Marrowgar resides. The pulls on the way to Marrowgar will consist of assisting the tank with the trash (lots of AOE), but with a priority on freeing your fellow raid members from web wrap. When you get to Marrowgar, the priority target will be those unfortunates impaled on Bone Spikes, and Marrowgar for the rest of it. This is easily handled by trying to target the two priorities, and falling back on assisting the tank when they are not found.

/cleartarget
/tar Bone Spike
/tar [noexists,dead] Web Wrap
/assist [noexists,dead] focus

Lady Deathwhisper

The adds are a priority in this fight. On the very top of the list are the Deformed Fanatics, who hit something fierce. After that, the order of priority is Empowered Adherents, Reanimated Adherents, Cult Adherents, Reanimated Fanatics, Cult Fanatics. Then back to grinding down Lady Deathwhisper’s shield. With all those targets in the priority, it was a bit of a challenge constraining this macro to 255 characters. Luckily, we don’t need to be exact in the naming of our targets, so we can shorten the target names a bit. If we lose the spaces after the end-brackets, this will give us room to tag on the assist. The assist is most likely not necessary, but may be helpful later on the way to the Gunship Battle, if we forgot to change the macro.

/cleartarget
/tar Deformed F
/tar [noexists,dead]Empowered A
/tar [noexists,dead]Reanimated A
/tar [noexists,dead]Cult A
/tar [noexists,dead]Reanimated F
/tar [noexists,dead]Cult F
/tar [noexists,dead]Lady D
/assist [noexists,dead] focus

Gunship Battle

The primary target will be the battle-mages/Sorcerers, as they keep the cannons from working. Help AOE the boarders down, and then back to the Axethrowers/Riflemen. The Sergeant and the Reaver/Marine are there for single-targeting. Don’t go after the enemy leader, as that will only keep him out longer.

/cleartarget
/tar Kor’kron Battle-mage
/tar [noexists,dead] Kor’kron Axethrower
/tar [noexists,dead] Kor’kron Sergeant
/tar [noexists,dead] Kor’kron Reaver
/assist [noexists,dead] focus

Now, there is no way I am going to be helping the horde, so I won’t be telling them that there is a horde version of the macro as well… 😉

/cleartarget
/tar Skybreaker Sorcerer
/tar [noexists,dead] Skybreaker Rifleman
/tar [noexists,dead] Skybreaker Sergeant
/tar [noexists,dead] Skybreaker Marine
/assist [noexists,dead] focus

Deathbringer Saurfang

This is a no-brainer. Go after the Blood Beasts, when they are up, otherwise back to assisting the tank with Saurfang.

/tar Blood Beast
/assist [noexists,dead] focus

Professor Putricide

I haven’t forgotten neither Festergut, nor Rotface, nor the trash at the start of the Plagueworks. They are all best handled by the assist. Besides, we don’t really need a target for AOE ;-). Anyway, the targeting for Putricide is simple:

/tar Volatile Ooze
/tar [noexists,dead] Gas Cloud
/assist [noexists,dead] focus

The Blood Princes

Despite us having several bosses to deal with here, this is another no-brainer, as only one is relevant at a time. The main priority is keeping Valanar’s Kinetic Bombs airborne. Other than that, assist the tank with the current prince.

/cleartarget
/targetexact Kinetic Bomb
/assist [noexists,dead] focus

Combo for Saurfang, Putricide and the Blood Princes:

There is no need to complicate things. Therefore, I have combined the macros for the three bosses mentioned above into one. We could easily add Marrowgar to the mix as well, but then we have to start thinking about which macro to use when, and thinking can be dangerous ;o)

/cleartarget
/tar Kinetic Bomb
/tar [noexists,dead] Blood Beast
/tar [noexists,dead] Volatile Ooze
/tar [noexists,dead] Gas Cloud
/assist [noexists,dead] focus

Blood Queen Lanaíthel:

Here we need to do things a bit differently. First we need to change focus to our designated bite target. (read about ncHoverFocus below) At some time during this encounter we will be bitten, which means that we will enter Bloodfrenzy about a minute later. When you enter Bloodfrenzy, the actionbar changes. This macro, when activated, will change the target to our partner, who is our focus, and bite him/her by automagically clicking ActionButton1. For ease, you may want to bind this macro to another key, so you can keep the normal assist up. Remember to change focus back to the tank after you have feasted on your yummy partner, or simply press tab to target the lovely Lana.

/target focus
/click ActionButton1

Valithria Dreamwalker:

For this fight, the entire priority is taken up by the adds, as we help Valithria Dreamwalker regain her health. The priority will be Blazing Skeletons, then Suppressors, Risen Archmages, Rot Worms, Gluttonous Abominations and finally, Blistering Zombies. Add our usual assist, so we have all eventualities covered. Had to shorten Abomination to keep the macro below the 255 char limit.

/cleartarget
/tar Blazing Skeletons
/tar [noexists,dead] Suppressors
/tar [noexists,dead] Risen Archmages
/tar [noexists,dead] Rot Worms
/tar [noexists,dead] Gluttonous Abom
/tar [noexists,dead] Blistering Zombies
/assist [noexists,dead] focus

On heroic, we may want to change the priority, as the zombies become a hazard to the tanks. Opinions are, however, a little divided on this. Some prefer to keep the same priority on normal and heroic.

/cleartarget
/tar Blistering Zombies
/tar [noexists,dead] Suppressors
/tar [noexists,dead] Risen Archmages
/tar [noexists,dead] Rot Worms
/tar [noexists,dead] Gluttonous Abom
/tar [noexists,dead] Blazing Skeletons
/assist [noexists,dead] focus

Sindragosa

Basically get the Ice Tombs down, then back to Sindragosa.

/cleartarget
/tar Ice Tomb
/assist [noexists,dead] focus

You may want to have a second macro ready, for when you get sucked in, to drop a trap and then Disengage.

/cast Explosive Trap
/cast Disengage

Or use the good old Disengage macro.

/cast Raptor Strike
/cast Wing Clip
/cast Disengage

The Lich King

Here we will need two macros, but you can benefit from keeping one of them for general use. We generally need to keep the adds off the others, then burn down our noble prince. No need to target Arthas, as the tanks should be on him already.

/cleartarget
/tar Val’kyr Shadowguard
/tar [noexists,dead] Raging Spirit
/tar [noexists,dead] Vile Spirits
/tar [noexists,dead] Raging Spirits
/assist [noexists,dead] focus

At times, hunters will also need to tranq the Shambling Horrors. Mouse-over the Horrors and press your tranq key. You may want to keep this macro for general use.

/cast [@focustarget] Tranquilizing Shot; [@mouseover] Tranquilizing Shot

As with some of the other macros, the macros for Sindragosa and the Lich King can be combined into one:

/cleartarget
/tar Ice Tomb
/tar [noexists,dead] Val’kyr Shadowguard
/tar [noexists,dead] Raging Spirit
/tar [noexists,dead] Vile Spirits
/tar [noexists,dead] Raging Spirits
/assist [noexists,dead] focus

That was the last of the targeting macros. Copy/paste the macros into the macro editor one by one. Then drag one of the macros to button on an actionbar, and bind a key to that button. I use “T” myself, but any odd key will work. As you work your way through ICC, you will need to drag another macro to the button after each boss. I.e. after Marrowgar, drag the macro for Lady Deathwhisper to your selected actionbar button. Don’t worry, the keybinding will remain in place. Please remember, that macros cannot be changed during combat, so do it BEFORE the hunting season opens.

Handling focus:

Earlier, I promised you a few tools to handle focus. An easy way way to set your focus, is by using the addon ncHoverFocus, which will let you change focus by alt-clicking on things like unit frames or a character or a monster. You can download ncHoverFocus at Wowinterface.com.

Below is the general purpose focus/misdirection macro that I use myself. Used standalone, or combined with ncHoverFocus, it easily handles switching MD (focus) between the tank, my pet and obnoxious players in the daily random heroic PUGs (wicked grin).

#showtooltip Misdirection
/focus [mod:shift]
/stopmacro [mod:shift]
/cast [@focus] Misdirection

Targeting addons

Now, all this macro-switching sounds like something that could/should be automated.

Well, there exists an addon called “Target For Me” that supposedly does just that. The idea is good, but the addon doesn’t work in ICC – yet! Until it does, we need to handle the macros manually.

Pets, healing and plain nonsense

Now, let’s reinforce the old saying:

tank dead = healer’s fault
heal dead = tank’s fault
raid wipe = hunter’s fault

Many healers understand neither the benefit of pets, nor how much they mean for our DPS. Well, I’ve got news for you! Healers CAN be trained. Whenever I PUG, I usually warn them if my pet starts to get low on health, but they don’t always listen – the first time. Most healers get the point when I misdirect a monster onto them and then FD. Well, it’s not my repair bill. Nah! Time to stop dreaming (sigh), we have to play nice. The next comes in handy when the healer is too busy to heal our pet.

/cast Heart of the Phoenix
/cast [target=pet,dead] Revive Pet; [nopet] Call Pet; Mend Pet

I’m thinking about adding a [combat] to the mend pet, and then using a bandage on the pet when we are out of combat, something like “; [@pet] Bandage”. I’ll have to try that out some day.

There is one last macro I want to share with you:

#showtooltip Feign Death
#show Feign Death
/p Guys, I’m emo!!!
/e cuts wrists
/petpassive
/stopcasting
/cast Feign Death

This article has been put together using information from multiple sources. Take various YouTube videos, including several from TankSpot, add the “ICC Strats” from StabilizedEffortScope.com and sprinkle lightly with a bit of personal experience from raiding ICC. Mix and shake – don’t stir. 😉

Have fun!

Sussisanne, Certified Insane, EU-Darkspear.