Pick the boss abilities you care about. Get alerts when they happen. Ignore everything else.
CustomBossAlerts lets you browse the Encounter Journal, select specific boss abilities, and receive customizable sound and visual alerts when those abilities are cast in combat. Think of it as a personal, per-ability warning system — you only see alerts for the mechanics that matter to you.
Requires World of Warcraft: Midnight (12.0.1+)
Open the config with /cba, browse raids and dungeons from the Encounter Journal, and add the abilities you want alerts for. Group them into collections — one for M+ keys, one for your raid progression boss, one for the mechanics that keep killing you.
Ships with curated alert sets for all current content:
- Mythic+ Season 2 — all 8 dungeons (Altar of Fangs, Den of Nalorakk, Murder Row, The Blinding Vale, Voidscar Arena, Kings' Rest, Ruby Life Pools, Temple of Sethraliss)
- The Venomous Abyss — all 8 bosses
- The Tidebound Grotto — Nymrissa Wavecaller
- Mythic+ Season 1 — all 8 dungeons with action callouts (DODGE, SOAK, TANK CD, KICK, etc.)
- Voidspire Citadel — all 6 bosses
- March on Quel'Danas — both bosses
- The Dreamrift — Chimaerus the Undreamt God
- Alert type — sound only, visual only, or both (per ability)
- Sound — pick from built-in sounds or use a custom sound file
- Appearance — override icon, name, text color per ability
- Duration — adjust how long alerts stay on screen (1-15s, global or per ability)
- Screen flash — optional full-screen flash on alert
- Position — move the alert display via WoW's Edit Mode (Escape → Edit Mode)
Export any collection as a compact string and share it in guild chat, Discord, or wherever. Importing brings in all abilities and their settings — same format as WeakAuras.
CustomBossAlerts integrates with your existing boss mod to identify abilities:
| Boss Mod | Dungeon Support | Raid Support |
|---|---|---|
| BigWigs / LittleWigs | All difficulties | All difficulties |
| DBM | Mythic+ keystones only | Varies per boss |
BigWigs or DBM is required. CustomBossAlerts relies on boss mod callbacks to identify abilities — without one installed, alerts will not work. BigWigs + LittleWigs is recommended for the best coverage across all difficulties.
| Command | Description |
|---|---|
/cba |
Open the configuration window |
/cba test |
Fire a test alert |
/cba test [iconID] [name] |
Test with a custom icon and name |
/cba list |
List all tracked abilities |
/cba reset |
Reset all settings to defaults |
Alert positioning is done through WoW's built-in Edit Mode (Escape → Edit Mode). Select the CustomBossAlerts frame and drag it where you want.
- Outside combat — browse the Encounter Journal in the config UI, pick abilities, organize them into collections
- Boss pull — CustomBossAlerts listens for your boss mod's timer callbacks (BigWigs/DBM) and Blizzard's Encounter Timeline
- Ability detected — if the ability matches one you're tracking, you get your configured alert (sound, visual, or both)
- On-screen display — icon with countdown swipe, ability name, and context text (INCOMING, CASTING, ON YOU)
Install via CurseForge, Wago, or manually:
- Download and extract into
World of Warcraft/_retail_/Interface/AddOns/CustomBossAlerts - Restart WoW or
/reload - Type
/cbato open the config
Do I need BigWigs or DBM? Yes — it's a hard requirement. CustomBossAlerts will refuse to load without one installed and print a message in chat. Due to Midnight's secret value system, spell IDs are hidden from addons in instances; boss mods decode them, and CustomBossAlerts listens to their callbacks.
Why didn't my alert fire?
Check: (1) the ability is enabled in at least one collection, (2) your boss mod covers this difficulty (see compatibility table above), (3) the encounter name matches — use /cba list to verify.
Can I use this alongside BigWigs/DBM? Yes. CustomBossAlerts listens to their callbacks passively — it doesn't modify or interfere with your boss mod's own bars and warnings.