Gilded UI Guide

IOverview

Gilded UI replaces the default interface with a gilded dungeon layout and adds tools for tanking, looting and arranging your screen.

Install or update. Copy the GildedUI folder into _forever_\Interface\AddOns and/or _retail_\Interface\AddOns inside your World of Warcraft folder, then restart the game. A /reload doesn't pick up a brand-new folder. If the AddOns list says "out of date", tick "Load out of date AddOns".

What gets replaced. Blizzard's player, target and party frames and the main action bar. Everything else (bags, micro menu, quest tracker, cast bar, buffs) stays Blizzard's until you move or hide it with the Blizzard frame mover.

Don't combine with other unit frame or action bar layouts (At Your Pace Bartender or SUF profiles, ElvUI), Forever Loot Sparkles or Lueur, which change the same game settings as Loot sparkles. Platynator nameplates work fine alongside.

IIGetting around

Everything is reachable from the Gilded UI shield on the minimap ring, from the settings window, or with /gilded. The same shield marks Gilded UI in the game's AddOns list and tops the settings window.

Minimap button. Left-click opens the settings window. Right-click unlocks or locks the panels for moving. Shift-click turns test mode on or off. Ctrl-click or middle-click opens the Gilded Journal. Drag it around the ring to reposition it. If you hide it (settings → Minimap), /gilded options still opens the settings.

Settings window (also Esc → Options → AddOns → Gilded UI). Categories on the left, that category's options in the middle, and on the right a description of whatever your mouse is over, which parts are running, and a Reload now button when a change needs one. Test mode and Journal sit at the bottom left. Changes made here are saved for your account and win over Config.lua.

Slash commands

Type /gilded or /gildedui followed by:

IIITest mode

/gilded test, the Test mode button in settings → Layout, or Shift-click on the minimap button fills every panel with sample data, so you can judge the look without a group, a target or a fight. Use it again to leave; it also ends by itself when combat starts. Nothing is saved, and your bars and real frames come back as they were.

• Party frames: four sample members (Healer, DPS 1-3) with different health, mana, levels and role badges, one of them out of range.
• Target frame: a hostile sample enemy at partial health with a red name strip.
• Combo points: the orbs fill one by one, flare when full, then empty and start again.
• Threat meter: you and the sample party at different threat levels.
• Tank line: sample Holy Shield, seal and Consecration sliding along the line, a sample LOOSE » HEALER warning and the SWIFT JUDGEMENT » JUDGEMENT callout.
• Instance tank check: the window with a mix of passing and missing checks.
• Talent card: shown again with its current suggestion.
• Loot sparkles: a glint cluster in the middle of the screen, cycling through out of reach, in reach and skill too low.

Combine it with Move panels: unlock, place everything while the samples are showing, then lock. Nameplate class icons can't be faked; stand near other players to see them.

IVUnit frames

Three painted frames replace Blizzard's player, target and party frames. Left-click a frame to target the unit; right-click it for the unit's menu.

While you're in a group, "YOU" also tops the party column. Switch that off with playerInParty in Config.lua.

Role badges

Tank

Healer

Damage

With no role assigned (solo on Forever, for example), the badge shows your class icon in a gold ring instead.

Combo points

Empty

Filled

All full

Rogues, Druids in cat form, and on Retail Holy Power and other class resources get a row of gilded orbs above the player frame, aligned right.

• Every point is always drawn; empty ones show the navy orb.
• A point that lands pops in gold.
• When all points are full, the orbs switch to the glowing art, a flare runs across the row, and a soft halo pulses until you spend one.
• Size: settings → Combat HUD → Combo point size (24-72, default 44). Seven or more points shrink slightly to fit.

On Forever, combo points belong to your target, as in the original game, so they reset when you switch targets. Forever has no Holy Power; Paladin charges such as Holy Shield show on the tank line instead.

VAction bar

The gilded bar shows main bar slots 1-12 in up to three rows and behaves like Blizzard's bar: it pages with stances, stealth, Shift+number, vehicles and skyriding, and uses the keys bound to Action Button 1-12.

• Frames: each button has the painted gold frame, which switches to a glowing frame while the spell is active or procs.
• Keybind tag in the top-left corner. Add extra keys per slot in Config.lua, for example keys = { [5] = "Q" }.
• States: cooldown sweep, charges and stacks, red when out of range, blue when out of mana.
• Drag and drop works as usual; hold Shift if your bars are locked.

Button names. A plate under each button shows the spell name, shrunk to fit. To name a button yourself, right-click its plate (Save, Spell name, Hide) or use /gilded label 5 Stun. Names are saved per character and survive updates. Settings → Action bar turns all names off.

Arrange bar

/gilded arrange, or the button in the instance tank check, puts the Protection Paladin layout on slots 1-12 after asking you first.

Slots fall back to older spells you do know: Divine Protection for Templar's Bulwark, Righteous Defense for Swift Judgement, and Holy Wrath, Exorcism or Blessing of Protection when you don't have the macros' spells yet. Slots with nothing learned are left alone. Whatever was in a replaced slot goes back to your spellbook or bags. Need more than 12 buttons? Move blessings, seals and auras into the spell drawers, or show Blizzard's bottom-left bar in Edit Mode and place it with the frame mover.

VISpell drawers and drawer macros

One button per spell family instead of a bar slot per spell, to the right of the action bar. The button shows the spell it casts; the rest wait in a drawer that opens above it.

• Left-click a button: cast the spell shown on it.
• Right-click a button: open its drawer. Opening one drawer closes the other; right-click again to close it.
• Click a spell in the drawer: cast it, and it stays on the button for next time.
• Right-click a spell in the drawer: put it on the button without casting.
• A button glows gold while its spell is active on you, such as your current seal or aura.

The drawers work in combat. Out of combat, an open drawer also closes a moment after your mouse leaves it. Only spells you know appear, and a family you have none of is hidden; new spells join after you learn them. The spell on each button is saved per character. Move the drawers with Move panels, and switch them off in settings → Interface parts.

With your blessings, seals and auras in drawers, you can take them off the action bar and give those slots to other spells. These drawers have no keybinds yet; for a drawer on a key, use a drawer macro (below).

Drawer macros

Your own drawer for anything: spells, items, toys and mounts, on any action bar. Make a macro (/macro), put #gilded:drawer in it, then one line per entry starting with #:

#gilded:drawer
#/cast Blessing of Kings
#/use Hearthstone
#/use item:6948
#/use mount:240

• Put the macro on a bar. Pressing it, with a click or its key, opens the drawer at your mouse.
• Click an entry to use it; the drawer closes. Escape or a click elsewhere also closes it. It works in combat.
• Entries can be spells (#/cast Name or spell:ID), items and toys (#/use Name or item:ID) and mounts (#/use mount:ID). Any other #/ line runs as written. Up to 24 entries, six per row.
• Icons, stack counts and tooltips fill in when the drawer opens. Spells you don't know and items you don't have show greyed out.
• Gilded UI adds a line like /click GildedUIDrawerMacro1 at the end of the macro; that line opens the drawer, so leave it there.

/gilded drawer explains the format and makes an example macro, GU Drawer, in your character macros to edit. Switch the feature off in settings → Interface parts → Drawer macros.

WoW macros hold 255 characters. If a drawer macro is too full for the click line, chat tells you, and that drawer won't open until you shorten it.

VIIMarker wheels

The eight raid marks, hand-painted, float in a small circle right at your mouse, each on a soft shadow so it reads on any background. There's no panel behind them, just the marks and a small gold X in the middle. A second wheel does the same for ground markers. Inspired by the EasyMarks Forever addon.

Opening a wheel

• Keys (work in combat): Esc → Options → Keybindings → Gilded UI has "Raid marker wheel", "Target mouseover and open the marker wheel" and "Ground marker wheel". No keys are set for you. With the mouseover key, hover an enemy's model or nameplate and press it: it targets that enemy and opens the wheel.
• Double-click a Gilded target, player or party frame (also in combat).
• /gilded marks or /gilded ground out of combat.

Under the mouse a mark grows a little and glows gold; hovering the X says what it clears. Right-click anywhere in the circle or press Escape to close it; choosing a mark closes it too. Out of combat a wheel closes by itself after five seconds away from it. Make the wheels smaller or bigger in settings → Combat HUD → Marker wheel size (60-140%), and switch them off in settings → Interface parts → Marker wheels.

A marked friendly player shows the mark above their class icon on the nameplate, so it isn't hidden behind it.

Marking follows the game's rules: ground markers need a party or raid, and in a raid you need lead or assist. Double-clicking an enemy's model or the ground isn't supported; use the mouseover key.

VIIITanking tools

Four pieces work together for Protection Paladins (the tank line also has a Warrior list): a live line in combat, a check window in instances, a full ready check, and two macros.

Tank line

Centre of the screen, shown while you're tanking: a shield equipped on Forever, a tank spec on Retail.

• Short buffs (Holy Shield, your seal, Divine Protection) slide from the yellow end to the red end as they run out, with time left and charges on the icon. Consecration is timed from the cast.
• Abilities off cooldown sit above the line. Hammer of Wrath joins only when usable (target at 20% health or less); Holy Wrath and Exorcism only against Undead or Demons.
• Red line: something is wrong. LOOSE » HEALER (an enemy attacking someone else), RIGHTEOUS FURY MISSING, NO SEAL, FORBEARANCE with time left (and NO BULWARK while it stops Templar's Bulwark), or your seal's last 5 seconds.
• Gold line (in combat): worth pressing now. JUDGEMENT or SWIFT JUDGEMENT » JUDGEMENT for a loose enemy, HOLY SHIELD READY, HAMMER OF WRATH, HOLY WRATH.
• Templar's Bulwark, Swift Judgement and Blessing of Freedom join the ready row once you know them; Bulwark only while the game says it can be used.

Instance tank check

For Protection Paladins in dungeons and raids: a closable window that appears after combat when one of these is missing, and closes itself once all pass.

Loose enemies

In a group fight, the tank line watches every enemy nameplate. When an enemy in combat attacks a group member other than you or another tank, the red line says LOOSE » HEALER, or that player's name. With more than one loose it shows how many, and names the healer first. The gold line then gives the taunt: JUDGEMENT when it's ready, or SWIFT JUDGEMENT » JUDGEMENT while Judgement is on cooldown. Warriors get Taunt, then Mocking Blow or Challenging Shout.

Turn enemy nameplates on in the game options: without them only your current target is checked. On Retail, Blizzard hides some of this information inside dungeons, so the alert may stay quiet there.

More on the tank check

Unlearned spells are skipped. If you close it by hand, it stays away until something new fails or you enter another instance. Its reminders: Judgement doesn't use up your seal, so refresh it when it expires rather than after every Judgement; keep Holy Shield rolling; Hammer of Wrath is a finisher with a cast time; Holy Wrath is for Undead and Demon packs.

Ready check

/gilded tank checks your Defense skill against your level cap and the 440 raid-boss mark, tank buffs, Well Fed, flask or elixir, healing and mana potions in your bags, shield and weapon, and which gear slots lack an enchant.

Macros

/gilded macros (or Make macros in the tank check) creates the macros whose spells you know, or brings them up to date. Arrange bar makes GU Undead and GU Ally itself when it needs them.

A full rotation macro isn't possible: WoW allows one global-cooldown ability per key press, and macros can't check cooldowns or buffs.

IXProtection rotation

A practical tanking routine for a level 60 Protection Paladin in WoW Forever, using the planned Protection build. It's a comfortable starting point based on the current beta information, not a proven maximum-damage order, and final tuning may change it.

Before pulling

The instance tank check watches all five of these for you.

• Righteous Fury
• Seal of Fury: makes Judgement your taunt. Judgement doesn't use up the seal, so refresh it when it expires, not after every Judgement.
• Blessing of Kings, or your assigned blessing
• Devotion Aura for armor, or Retribution Aura for reflected damage
• A one-handed weapon and shield

Priority

Press the highest ability that's useful right now. Staying alive and getting enemies back come before damage. Keep auto-attacking between abilities; gaps between cooldowns are normal.

1. Holy ShieldKeep it up while enemies hit you with blockable attacks. Refresh it when it's available and needed. The tank line shows HOLY SHIELD READY.
2. Holy StrikeUse it regularly. With Iron Creed it also gives a short damage reduction while Righteous Fury is active.
3. JudgementThreat and damage when you can safely spend your taunt. Use it at once on an enemy attacking a teammate.
4. ConsecrationKeep it down under packs that will stay in it. On a single enemy, use it when your mana allows. On packs it moves ahead of ordinary attacks while you're building group threat.
5. ExorcismAdd it against Undead or Demons, as long as it doesn't delay protection or threat recovery.

Openers

Reaction buttons

While you're learning, save Swift Judgement for recovering enemies. Templar's Bulwark interacts with Forbearance, so it can't always be combined with your immunities; the tank line shows FORBEARANCE while it's on you.

Level 60 extras

• Hammer of Wrath: a finisher on enemies at 20% health or less. It has a cast time in this build, so use it selectively while tanking. The tank line only offers it when it's usable.
• Holy Wrath: a situational area attack, best around Undead and Demons. Its cast time and wide radius make it something to plan around, not press on reflex.

Forever Protection has no Holy Power, so the orbs above the player frame have nothing to track for Paladins there. Holy Shield charges and your seal show on the tank line instead.

Sources: Blizzard Paladin deep dive Blizzard class panel recap Mobalytics Protection guide Hammer of Wrath Holy Wrath

XGilded Journal

The dungeon, profession and Protection Paladin guides inside the game, next to your own stats, skills and gear. Open it with /gilded journal, Ctrl-click or middle-click on the minimap button, or the Journal button at the bottom left of the settings window. It opens as two framed panels: your character on the left, the tabs on the right.

Left column: your portrait, level and zone; Defense, melee hit, spell hit and expertise against the level 60 boss targets (green or red once you're 60); lowest durability, free bag slots, Well Fed and potions in your bags; and a skill bar for each of the five professions.

What it does for you

• Ticks itself where the game can tell: repaired, bag space, food, potions, one tank, one healer and three damage; all five professions learned, a Mining Pick and fishing pole, Mining and Blacksmithing kept close, Expert books and Artisan quests. Those show grey ticks.
• Bosses tick themselves when you kill them. A Clear button resets them for the next run.
• Map next to a trainer or rank unlock drops a pin on your map. If the game can't pin that spot, the coordinates go to chat instead.
• Link next to a talent build opens a box with the calculator address, ready to copy with Ctrl+C into your browser; the game can't open web pages.
• The tickbox at the top right shows only dungeons near your level, or hides what's done on the other tabs.

Click a section's header to fold it open or closed; the journal remembers how you left it. Your own ticks are saved per character.

The notes summarise the Wowhead and Method (method.gg) guides, beta information for patch 1.60.1 checked 30 October 2026: level ranges, recipes and the best-in-slot list can still change. Hit and expertise are the numbers the game reports, which may leave out talents such as Precision. On Retail the journal opens with a note that it's written for Forever.

XIThreat and talents

Threat meter (bottom right): one row each for you and up to four party members against your current target, with class icon, class-coloured bar and percentage. Your row is gold. It also shows when you're solo (only your row); switch that off in settings → Combat HUD. On Retail, Blizzard hides threat values in some combat situations, and the bars stay empty then.

Talent point card (right side) appears when you have points to spend. Once closed, it stays hidden for the rest of that level; /gilded talents brings it back.

The Open talents button opens the game's talent window. The status banner's emblem uses your main talent tree's icon.

XIILoot sparkles and class icons

Loot sparkles make lootable things easy to spot. Each option is in settings → Loot sparkles.

The glints are dim while the node is out of reach, flare and brighten once in reach, and turn grey when your skill is too low. Only one node sparkles at a time: the one your interact key would use. The feature changes some game settings and puts your own values back when you untick it; switching quest item sparkles off takes a game restart.

Nameplate class icons put each player's round class icon above their nameplate, with Platynator or Blizzard plates. In settings → Nameplates, enemies and friends switch separately, and you can add a thin gold ring and set the size (default 26). Friendly icons need friendly nameplates turned on in the game options. On Retail, Blizzard hides player details on nameplates inside dungeons, so icons may not show there.

XIIILoot and vendors

Three chores done for you, each with its own switch under settings → Loot and vendors. All start switched on.

Switch the whole group off in settings → Interface parts → Loot and vendors.

XIVLook and layout

The edges of the screen are painted gold and navy, and every Gilded panel and many Blizzard frames can be moved.

• Status banner (top left): "DUNGEON READY · LEVEL 60" with your main tree's emblem in the round end. It shows the instance name inside a dungeon, RAID OF n or PARTY OF n in a group, or your zone when solo, and widens to fit.
• Bottom strip and corners: a navy strip with a gold rail, and gilded corner frames with your faction's medallion (Alliance blue and gold, Horde red and gold). Set their width with decor.cornerWidth in Config.lua (default 120).
• Minimap: thin gold ring, zone banner above, clock below (click it for the stopwatch and alarms), your coordinates under the clock, mouse-wheel zoom. Small buttons around the ring are drawn 20% bigger and stay in place; change that in settings → Minimap button size (80-180%).
• Experience bar on the bottom strip, in place of Blizzard's: gold fill, rested experience in blue just ahead of it, ten segments, and level, XP and rested numbers when you hover it. At the level cap it follows your watched reputation, coloured by standing, and hides when you watch none. Move it with Move panels.
• Cast bar: Blizzard's cast bar sits just above the gilded action bar and follows it when you move the bar. Place it with the frame mover to put it anywhere else; actionbar.castBarAbove = false in Config.lua turns this off.
• Chat: a see-through framed panel behind the main chat window and gold tabs, with the selected tab bright.
• Windows: settings, the journal, the tank checks, the Blizzard frames list and the talent cards share one style: deep navy behind a thin antique-gold frame with sapphire gems on the corners, parchment text, gold section titles over a fading divider, see-through list rows, bevelled navy buttons and gold checkboxes.
• Font: Gilded UI's own text uses Roboto Condensed (Google Fonts, SIL Open Font License): Medium for text, Bold for titles. Chat, tooltips and Blizzard's windows keep the game's fonts. If the font can't load, the game's font takes over.

Moving Gilded panels. Use settings → Move panels, the minimap button's right-click, or /gilded unlock. Drag the green handles; right-click one to reset it. Panels lock themselves when combat starts. Panel scale changes all Gilded panels at once.

Blizzard frame mover (/gilded frames). Tick any of about 25 Blizzard frames (buffs, debuffs, cast bar, quest tracker, micro menu, bag buttons, XP bar, extra bars, alerts, loot rolls, error text, focus, boss frames), or click Pick a frame and then click anything on screen. In Move panels mode they get blue handles:

A ticked frame ignores Edit Mode until you untick it. Moving Blizzard action bars waits until combat ends.

XVConfig and troubleshooting

Most things are in the settings window; Config.lua (in the addon folder, one copy per client) holds the rest. Edit it, save, then /reload. Anything changed in the settings window or in the game wins over this file, and updating Gilded UI overwrites the file, so in-game settings are the safer place.

Troubleshooting