WoW: How to set up One-Button Rotation (and is it worth it?)

One-Button Rotation was introduced with WoW update 11.1.7, Legacy of Arathor, in addition to the useful teaching tool, Rotation Assist. One-Button Rotation is another teaching tool for players who might want a bit more direct guidance and do not want to look all over their hotbars for the next button. Think of it as an auto-combo in a fighting game: it’s a useful way to learn, but it isn’t as strong as doing the inputs yourself.

We’ll show you how to set it up on your hotbar and what it does using my character Ragadin as an example. If you want to know if One-Button Rotation is right for you in WoW, we’ll give some thoughts on that as well.

How to set up One-Button Rotation in WoW

You can find One-Button Rotation in two places, technically, in WoW. If you open the settings and click on Gameplay Enhancements, One-Button Rotation is there, but it has a button that reads “View In Spellbook.” Instead of looking in your settings, just press “P” (default key for Spellbook) and hover over the “Single-Button Assistant” in the top-right corner of the spellbook.

This is great if you're learning a DPS role. Healing? Not so much (Image via Blizzard Entertainment)

If you hover over it, it shows the priority order for your attacks, and that One-Button Rotation only uses damaging attacks. It’s not going to use healing abilities, movement abilities, or anything like that. That’s still up to you. This is not an auto-gameplay mode. It won’t walk you around or get you out of damaging attacks.

Using this button also adds a 25% extra cooldown for any cooldowns on your attacks, so yes, there is a slowdown in overall DPS. If you load this onto the Bartender Addon, the button doesn’t really change as much in my experience. You just have to trust it’s doing the right things (it is).

Is One-Button Rotation worth it for you in WoW?

Is One-Button Rotation right for you in WoW? Well, that’s an excellent question. If you’re a new player, leveling a character, or just coming back to the game, I’d say the answer is yes, provided you’re not playing a healer. This isn’t going to be useful as a healer; all it does is list combat attacks.

It can use tank abilities, provided they are combat skills and not defensive cooldowns, at least. If you’re learning how to play a damage role and aren’t trying to push Mythics, Heroics, or anything complex, I’d say it’s useful.

Conversely, this is Holy Paladin. Note the lack of healing powers (Image via Blizzard Entertainment)

One-Button Rotation is also great if you’re feeling lazy and are grinding through enemies/raids that do not pose a threat to you at all. A good example is farming Invincible in ICC25 or doing tedious achievements that require you to farm hundreds of mobs. Other than that, it’s probably not for you.

One-Button Rotation has its good points and useful features, but rest assured, you will almost assuredly lose tons of DPS. It is still a very good teaching tool for new/returning players, and not one that they should underestimate.

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About the author

Jason is an Esports and Gaming journalist at Sportskeeda holding an amazing 11 years of experience under his belt. Having put out 4000-plus articles and amassing over 12 million reads for Sportskeeda, he is among the company’s most experienced writers. Jason holds a Bachelor's degree in English from UNC Pembroke and was inspired to become a gaming journalist very early on in life after reading Nintendo Power.

Jason is a jack of all trades when it comes to gaming journalism. He’s a key writer in Sportskeeda's MMO department, but he also likes to help out in other categories, like streamers, RPG, card games, and whatever else is needed. A solo gamer at heart, Jason's favorite titles include Earthbound and Dragon Warrior.

Jason places high value on accuracy and relevance in his write-ups. He achieves this with thorough research to sift facts from rumors. One of the biggest highlights of his career is his interview with Canadian pro wrestler Kenny Omega about his inclusion in the Like a Dragon game series. He is also good friends with journalist Kazumo Hashimoto, who he admires for the kind of stories he works on and his deep ethics.

A true cinephile, one of Jason’s primary hobbies involves enjoying cinematic experiences. He also loves reading, be it fiction or manga, when not working. Additionally, he streams on Twitch and posts his gaming insights on YouTube.

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Edited by Jason Parker