Raid target icons



Raid target icons (sometimes referred to as lucky charms) are icons that raid leaders/assistants and party members can place over players and mobs. This feature was introduced in Patch 1.11.''

Strategy and usage


To place a raid target icon over a mob, simply select the mob, right-click on its portrait, and select a symbol from the hierarchical menu.

Using these symbols is valuable in parties and even more so in raids. Before its introduction, class-specific spells like Hunter's Mark and Detect Magic had to be used to visually indicate to other party/raid members what mobs were targeted for what kinds of actions.

Particular uses include:


 * Rather than saying "sheep left, sap right, attack middle", a party leader can say "sheep moon, sap cross, attack skull"; once the convention is established and all players understand what each symbol means, the party leader won't even have to say that. The advantage of this method over the former is that even if the mobs move around, it's still clear what they're designated for (it's also often the case that it's ambiguous exactly who the "left" mob is, and sometimes it's hard and time-consuming to describe which mob you mean using only words).
 * Rather than the continual assisting of the raid leader, the raid leader can place icons on mobs and assign players to specific mobs, with "Player X has Lucky Charm Y".
 * The "Skull" lucky charm is almost invariably used to indicate which target should have DPS targeted upon it.
 * Very effective in the Domo and Garr fights in Molten Core where there is a lot of target switching.

Another use is to speed up pulls in 20-40 man instances by having each symbol assigned to a tank. Among the tanks in your guild, or at the beginning of the raid declare the "tanking order" meaning assigning each symbol to a tank number. For example: Star is the target of the tank on the top of the Main Tank list, Circle to the number 2 tank on Main Tank list etc. (this can also be done for Crowd Control by putting your mages/warlocks/etc. on the Main Tank list).

Carrying this further, a Raid Leader could even appoint each of those tanks / Crowd Controllers as Raid Assistant, and let them mark their own targets. Assuming your tanks are on the ball, this can save time where the Raid Leader does not need to be assigning targets, and ensures each person actually has that target targeted. Each tank / crowd controller should always use the same Icon (both within the raid, and even across multiple raids, e.g., "ElfMan always tanks the blue square") for this to work. This is for more advanced use, and some Raid Leaders do not like appointing Assistants.

Example targeting convention
Although there is nothing like a standard convention for icon meanings, the following table may provide a starting point for groups or guilds wishing to create a convention.

Obviously, this would have to be altered on a per-case basis if, for example, you have two mages polymorphing or if you have a warlock both banishing and enslaving. Still, it can provide a useful foundation for groups or guilds getting used to the raid icon system.

API and key bindings
These icons can be set programmatically in a macro with the function. Example,  will mark the target with a Skull, 8 standing for the Icon number.

Alternatively, they can be bound to keys for quick application. For example, Skull could be bound to Ctrl-K (Kill, sKull) so that the raid leader or assist can apply the icon quickly to a new target during a fight.

For even faster marking, combining the macro  (# of course being replaced with the corresponding icon's number) with key bindings will allow you to apply icons without actually targetting anything.

returns the icon index of the specified target.

Macros
This macro will cycle Skull, X, Nil, then Moon on cursored targets.

This macro will cycle through all the raid icons (including no raid icon) in reverse order on cursored targets. Replace "mouseover" with "target" if you want this to apply to selected targets.

This macro also cycles through all the raid icons in reverse order on cursored targets but it also announces the next icon in the default chat frame. Useful if you need to skip through charms while marking targets. Press your macro button without a target under the mouse to skip through charms.

/script if (charm==nil) or (charm <= 0) then charm=9; end; charm=charm-1; SetRaidTarget("target", charm)

Adding raid icons to chat
An undocumented feature of patch 2.4 added the ability to post raid target icons into any chat channel by enclosing the name of the icon in curly brackets (braces) - such as {skull}, {circle}, {moon}, etc.

Origin of "lucky charms"
The nickname originates from their appearance similar to the marshmallows from the Cereal Lucky Charms. The commercials feature kids chasing Lucky the Leprechaun, who would inevitably remind them that his cereal contained "Hearts, stars, horseshoes, clovers and blue moons, pots of gold and rainbows, and the red balloon!" These shapes were nearly impossible to identify without the jingle, as the tiny little marshmallow bits bear only the vaguest resemblance to the Lucky Charms they represented.