Content:
One-Button Rotation in Midnight at a Glance
Updated 12 October 2026 for Midnight patch 12.1. We re-check this page after patch 12.1.5 (13 October).
World of Warcraft has two built-in rotation helpers. Assisted Highlight marks the next spell on your action bars and you press it yourself. The Single-Button Assistant is one spell you put on a key: every press casts the next damaging ability for you, but each of those casts has a 25% longer global cooldown. Both still work in Midnight. Since the 12.0 addon changes they are also the only source of rotation advice in the game, because addons like Hekili can no longer calculate it.
| Question | Answer |
|---|---|
| Added in | Patch 11.1.7, 17 June 2025 |
| Who can use it | Every class and spec, from level 10 |
| Where to find it | Single-Button Assistant: top-right corner of the Spellbook. Assisted Highlight: Options > Gameplay Enhancements |
| Cost of using it | Single-Button Assistant: global cooldown 25% longer. Assisted Highlight: no penalty |
| What it never presses | Major offensive cooldowns, interrupts, crowd control, movement, trinkets, potions, target swaps |
| Is it allowed? | Yes. It is a Blizzard feature, so there is no ban risk |
Single-Button Assistant vs Assisted Highlight
Both tools use the same priority list. They only differ in who presses the button.
| Assisted Highlight | Single-Button Assistant | |
|---|---|---|
| What you see | A blue border on the button you should press next | One button whose icon changes to the next ability |
| Who casts | You | The game, when you press the button |
| Global cooldown | Normal | 25% longer for every ability it casts |
| Needs your spells on bars | Yes, it only highlights buttons that exist | No, it casts from your spellbook |
| Best for | Learning a spec while keeping full damage | Leveling, world content, controllers, players who can’t press many keys |
The two can run together. Many players keep the Single-Button Assistant on one key for trash packs and turn on Assisted Highlight to learn which buttons it presses.
How to Set Up the One-Button Rotation
Single-Button Assistant
- Open the Spellbook (default P).
- Find Single-Button Assistant in the top-right corner of the Spellbook.
- Drag it to an action bar and give it a keybind you can reach easily.
- Target an enemy and press the key. The icon on the button shows the ability it will cast next.
Assisted Highlight
- Press Esc and open Options.
- Go to Gameplay Enhancements and tick Assisted Highlight.
- Put every damaging spell of your spec on your action bars. The highlight only appears on buttons you actually have on a bar.
Both tools follow your talents. After a respec or a new talent loadout they adjust on their own, so there is nothing to set up again.
What the Assistant Presses and What You Still Do
| The assistant handles | You still handle |
|---|---|
| Your damaging abilities in priority order, based on the talents you have | Major offensive cooldowns (for example Avenging Wrath or Ascendance) and most off-GCD abilities |
| Switching to AoE spells when several enemies stand near your target | Interrupts, stuns and other crowd control |
| Procs and resources it can see, such as builder and spender abilities | Movement: Blink, Sprint, Heroic Leap and similar |
| Defensive abilities and healing | |
| Trinkets, potions and other items | |
| Picking a new target or spreading damage-over-time effects |
The right column is where most of your damage and all of your safety come from in group content. Even on one button, keep your major cooldown, interrupt and one defensive on keys you can reach without looking.
How Much Damage You Lose with One Button
The cost has two parts.
1. The 25% global cooldown penalty. Every ability cast through the Single-Button Assistant locks you out of the next action for 25% longer than normal. With a standard 1.5-second global cooldown that is about 1.9 seconds instead of 1.5, so you get roughly four casts in the time you would normally get five. Assisted Highlight has no penalty.
2. Everything the assistant doesn’t press. Cooldowns, potions and trinkets are a large share of damage in raids and Mythic+. If you never press them, you lose far more than the 25%.
When the tool launched in patch 11.1.7, Wowhead’s class writers estimated the loss of the Single-Button Assistant at 2% to 30% depending on the spec, assuming cooldowns were still pressed by hand. Classes were reworked for Midnight, so those per-spec numbers no longer apply and we don’t repeat them here. The range is still a fair guide: specs whose damage comes from pets or passive effects lose the least, specs built around precise burst windows lose the most.
Blizzard’s view, from Associate Game Director Morgan Day in July 2025: the tool “is currently meeting our intentions”, and Blizzard keeps its priority lists up to date when a spec gets significant changes. It is meant to make the game playable and learnable, not to compete with a well-played rotation.
Which Specs and Roles Work Best on One Button
We don’t publish a one-button tier list for Midnight: the loss per spec has not been measured on the current patch. What does hold for every spec is how the assistant treats each role.
| Role or spec type | How the assistant behaves | What you press yourself |
|---|---|---|
| Damage dealers with pets or passive damage | Loses the least: pet and passive damage don’t use your global cooldown | Major cooldowns, pet control in group content |
| Melee and ranged builders/spenders | Handles the core loop well | Burst cooldowns, interrupts, movement |
| Specs with channeled spells | Pressing the key again can cut a channel short | Use the channel macro below, or press slower |
| Tanks | Uses damaging abilities only | All active mitigation and defensives. Don’t tank group content on one button |
| Healers | Casts damaging spells only, never heals | All healing. Useful only for solo questing |
Players have reported channels being clipped since the tool launched, for example Convoke the Spirits and Ray of Frost. The priority list is fixed, so the only workaround is the macro below.
Useful Macros for the Single-Button Assistant
You can call the assistant from a macro with /cast Single-Button Assistant. Two patterns help most players.
Don’t break your own channels
#showtooltip /stopmacro [channeling] /cast Single-Button Assistant
While a channel is running, the macro does nothing, so spamming the key no longer interrupts it.
Use an on-use trinket with the same key
#showtooltip /use 13 /cast Single-Button Assistant
13 is the top trinket slot, 14 the bottom one. Use this only for a trinket you want on cooldown in every fight. Keep major class cooldowns on their own key so you can time them for bosses.
Rotation Addons in Midnight: Hekili Is Gone
Patch 12.0 brought “secret values”: addons can still show combat information, but they can no longer read it and decide what you should do. Rotation helpers that simulated your rotation, such as Hekili, stopped working with the Midnight pre-patch.
What exists now are display addons that take Blizzard’s own suggestion (the same one Assisted Highlight uses) and show it somewhere else, for example as a large icon near your character with the keybind on it. Simple Assisted Combat Icon, HekiLight and NextGCD work this way. None of them can change the priority list. If the built-in suggestion is wrong for your build, no addon can fix it.
For the rest of the Midnight addon situation, including what replaced WeakAuras, see our Midnight add-ons guide.
When to Use One Button and When Not To
| Content | Single-Button Assistant? | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Leveling and the campaign | Yes | Enemies die before the penalty matters |
| World quests, farming, low-tier Delves | Yes | Speed and comfort matter more than the last 10% of damage |
| Learning a new class or spec | Use Assisted Highlight instead | Same advice, no penalty, and you learn the buttons |
| Normal raids and low Mythic+ keys | Possible, with cooldowns and interrupts by hand | Your group needs your interrupts more than perfect damage |
| Heroic and Mythic raids, high keys | No | The penalty plus missed cooldowns cost too much damage |
When you’re ready to play a spec properly, start from our best DPS specs in Midnight list. If you only want an alt at max level and skip the leveling, see our WoW leveling service.
One-Button Rotation FAQ
Can you get banned for using the one-button rotation?
No. The Single-Button Assistant and Assisted Highlight are built into the game by Blizzard.
How big is the Single-Button Assistant penalty?
Every ability it casts has a 25% longer global cooldown. A 1.5-second global cooldown becomes about 1.9 seconds.
Does it use cooldowns, interrupts or potions?
No. Major offensive cooldowns, interrupts, crowd control, movement, defensives, trinkets and potions are always up to you.
Does it heal or tank?
No. On healers and tanks it only casts damaging abilities.
Does Hekili work in Midnight?
No. The 12.0 addon changes stopped addons from calculating rotations. Display addons can only show Blizzard’s own suggestion.
Is it worth using in Mythic+?
On low keys with cooldowns and interrupts pressed by hand, it works. In high keys and progression raids the lost damage is too large.