Elkano's BuffBars
EBB provides groups of statusbar style indicators to show (de)buffs currently affecting your char or some other units (currently focus, pet and target). For the player, it can also show indicators for temporary enchants place on it's weapons.
Due to changes Blizzard made with WoW 4.x it's no longer possible to cancel buffs without the use of secure frames. Currently EBB limits canceling of buffs to out-of-fight since using SecureAuraHeader would have required a major code restructuring. This will be coming in a later version.
Version 2.x is a total recode based on the Ace2 framework which became necessary in order to support some of the longtime wanted and suggested features. It's now possible to show different groups of bars which can be configured in many ways. Each group can be assigned an individual look and filter settings. EBB can be configured via a dropdown menu which is accessible via chat (/ebb config), FuBar plugin or (for the group settings) by right clicking the groups anchor. After setting up a group, its anchor can be hidden by alt-left clicking a bar or the anchor itself in order to lock the group in place.
In order to get additional bar textures and fonts for EBB simply install SharedMedia which is available for download under http://wow.curse.com/downloads/wow-addons/details/sharedmedia.aspx
If you have bug reports or feature request, create a ticket: http://www.wowace.com/projects/elkbuffbars/create-ticket/
You can also check my thread at the WoWAce forums: http://forums.wowace.com/showthread.php?t=5290
The most recent development version of EBB is available directly from the WoWAce SVN via http://www.wowace.com/projects/elkbuffbars/files/
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Posted Sep 10, 2026Just check my research addon. Everything I was using in the old ELKBB - works
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Posted Sep 8, 2026Hi Elkano,
ElkBuffBars sat on my screen for years, so when 12.1 broke it I went digging
into what exactly changed. That turned into a small addon, written together
with Claude, and I am sharing it in case any of it saves you time:
https://github.com/mixMugz/WoW-TinyBuffBars
It only does player auras as bars — no other units, no config UI, nothing close
to the scope of EBB. It is a proof that bars are still possible in 12.1, not a
replacement for anything.
What killed the old approach: AuraData fields now carry
SecretWhenUnitAuraRestricted, so in combat, encounters, M+ and PvP any
comparison against them raises. Reading auras and drawing your own bars is over.
The sanctioned replacement is CustomAuraContainer (Blizzard_AuraContainer,
always loaded). You declare aura groups and a frame template; the client decides
which aura lands in which group and fills your regions with secret values
itself.
Three things that cost me the most time:
1. There is no per-aura callback. initializeFrame runs once per created frame,
and AuraButton forbids UntrustedScriptExecution, so nothing can be attached
later. Everything per-aura has to be group membership or one of the client's
declarative bindings — AddDispelTypeTexture for colour by dispel type,
SetCancelAuraButtons for right-click cancel, and so on.
2. Splitting permanent from timed. A group's only duration filter is
maxDuration, i.e. "timed only", with no inverse. For helpful auras on the
player you can work around it with candidateFilters.excludeSpellIDs, because
CanApplyIdentityCandidateFilters short-circuits to true there. For harmful
auras on the player it returns false on purpose, so debuffs cannot be split
at all.
3. Which makes a permanent aura in a mixed block awkward: its duration is zero,
so every client-driven element reads zero and the bar renders empty. What
works is to not paint with the StatusBar at all. Drive it by ElapsedTime with
reverse fill, keep its own texture invisible, and anchor a separate coloured
texture from the bar's left edge to that fill texture's BOTTOMLEFT. A
permanent aura has zero elapsed time, so the zero-width fill sits pinned to
the right, its left edge lands on the far end, and the colour spans the whole
bar. Timed auras shrink normally. No classification, nothing to read, works
the same inside a raid.
It is all MIT — take whatever is useful, the code, the approach, or just the
notes above. No attribution needed, no strings attached. If EBB comes back, I
am first in line to install it.
Thanks for all the years of it.
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Posted Sep 9, 2026@mixMugz Thanks for your enthusiasm, but did you have a look at the alpha I posted a month ago? 🫣
The core is already mostly done and working with existing profiles from pre-12.1.
I'm currently working on the settings UI but as I had announced, I have only limited time to spare; haven't even played any 12.1 content, yet. 😅
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Posted Sep 9, 2026@Elkano Long time EBB user. Looking forward to this coming back. Appreciate your work!
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Posted Sep 9, 2026@Elkano yes. I installed alpha.
- no debuff
- no weapon buff
- no tracking
Everything gone.
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Posted Sep 9, 2026@mixMugz 🥲
Tracking is indeed gone as it was a relict from WoW 1.x when you could only have one active and I can't show custom content inside a container.
For the other two, they do work for my config, so hard to tell why they don't show for you. Likely depends on how you had stuff configured. Even though the way old configs are reused will change (as they will be converted to the new DB format instead of directly to a container config), current problems could likely persist unless understood 😰.
The only problem I'm aware so far with the alpha is if you used group scaling as that messes up the anchor position.
If you could sent me your settings, i.e. saved variables file, maybe I'll find something else.
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Posted Sep 2, 2026I'm so glad this is still going, I think I've been using it since it came out 20 years ago.
Currently using the r223 alpha and my buffs and tench are back where they've always been, however the debuffs are nowhere to be found. I've had a look through the variables and the references are still there and appear to still point to the correct ID to "stick to".
If you have any clues as to what I'm missing that would be great, but I can live with it till a later release.
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Posted Aug 31, 2026Is there a way to 'hack' a settings file up? I have always used EBB and upon switching to the alpha, everything disappeared and it's like my old settings didn't carry over.
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Posted Aug 31, 2026@Bluphino it should currently be "reusing" your EBB2 settings and it does for me
maybe it's not using the correct DB profile, you'd have to tweak your saved variables file to fix that at the moment
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Posted Aug 31, 2026I installed version 223, but I noticed that after logging in, it always places itself in the upper left corner, and from there you have to always place it in the correct place. It doesn't have a settings screen, not even on command.
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Posted Aug 31, 2026@zsami1 If you used EBB before, it should result in a similar setup
the fact that it shows something is likely an indicator for that
a "misplaced" group could be the result of trying to anchor it to a group that doesn't exist, yet 🤔
getting at least some working settings is the next step on my list, but will likely still take a few days/weeks 🥲
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Posted Aug 29, 2026omg downloaded the alpha and i can see my debuff bars again. i can finally know if i have a debuff or not, really cant live without this after being accustomed to it for 20years... only thing is it hides my blizzard buff frames (i was just using it to show debuff bars and using blizz buff bars) but ill just target myself as a workaround while i wait. thanks man
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Posted Aug 31, 2026@Khelge already changed locally to at least use the old setting for Blizzard buffs as long as I'm reusing the EBB2 settings
but you can also just edit your v3/ElkBuffBars.lua and remove the call to DisableDefaultPlayerAuras()
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Posted Aug 20, 2026Hello. Thanks for the amazing work, this really is a fantastic addon. Does anyone happen to know how I could remove the TENCH column, as it's currently bugging out and showing incorrectly. Cheers.
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Posted Aug 31, 2026@wellhyper1 In case you are talking about the 12.1 alpha, it's currently reusing an existing EBB2 config, so you should be able to edit your saved variables outside of the game 🫣
However, before doing so, it would be great if you could tell me what you consider "bugging out and showing incorrectly", as that might indicate something broken I still need to fix.
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Posted Aug 14, 2026Downloaded the alpha but am I clumsy? I cannot see the configuration window I type /ebb no such command. I right click on the EBB icon on my broker bar and nothing comes up. No error message. How am I supposed to configure stuff? :D
Anyways I wanted to start using EBB becuase I really want to get rid of my static buffs And see some short combat buffs like less than 60 second long buffs only. Is this doable?
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Posted Aug 14, 2026@40PE Like I've written in the changelog, the first alpha will only work if you have pre-existing settings from before 12.1 as I haven't started on the settings windows, yet. 😅
So unless you want to "hack" yourself some temporary settings in you'll likely loose when updating, or set the addon up on a classic flavour and copy the saved variables over (as classic still uses the old code), you'll have to postpone your testing and adoption of EBB for a few weeks.
Having a group show only buffs with less than 60 seconds of maximum time (i.e. not remaining), will be possible.
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Posted Aug 14, 2026@Elkano Ohh I didn't see your big comment above prior posting sorry, Ok I'll wait patiently. This game is gargabe without addons now anyways. :S
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Posted Aug 12, 2026I have also been using Elkano's BuffBars for many years.
For more than two decades, I have felt somewhat helpless watching the default way the game displays Buffs and Debuffs remain almost completely unchanged. As the game has evolved through the years, more and more Buffs have become important to monitor, while an increasing number of Debuffs have become critical to pay attention to—especially in high-end raids.
But after I started using Elkano's BuffBars, all of that changed.
I could clearly see the final second of a Buff and use that information to squeeze out one last, perfectly timed ability. I could also immediately notice important Raid Debuffs on myself and react quickly enough to avoid boss mechanics.
Even today, I still haven't found another addon that can truly compare to Elkano's BuffBars as a bar-based timer.
Whether it is the way it presents information—which, perhaps, was simply too far ahead of its time—or the incredible precision of its timers, these are the reasons I have continued using it all these years. A timer bar provides visual feedback precise enough to let players judge even the final 0.1 seconds, something that ordinary Buff/Debuff icons simply cannot replace.
Even after Blizzard began restricting addon functionality to varying degrees starting with 11.0, I still never gave up on EBB.
Knowing that you are preparing to redevelop Elkano's BuffBars, there isn't much I can personally do to support you. The most I can offer is my support through words and language.
But I sincerely hope you can find some confidence and motivation in my message.
Because to me, Elkano's BuffBars has never been just another Buff addon.
It has become an irreplaceable part of my experience playing World of Warcraft for all these years.
So please, accept this gratitude from a long-time user with a clear conscience.
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Posted Aug 12, 2026The initial Alpha r223 should be downloadable from files or via client. 🎉
https://www.curseforge.com/wow/addons/elkbuffbars/files/8633538
As outline in the changelog and pinned post, while the core functionality is mostly complete, I only did a quick front wiring to reuse an existing EBB2 profile. You wont have any settings nor will it remember the position of frames you moved. But at least it shouldn't outright throw errors at you. 🫣
Besides some emergency patch in case it's needed (and I can squeeze it in somehow), there likely won't be much movement for at least the next 2 weeks. Glad I managed at least this state though.