How to install addons for World of Warcraft

[Valks 2,373]

Addons open up a whole new world of possibilities for your user interface (UI) in WoW - the question is, how can you start downloading them and getting them running in-game?

There are a few different methods depending on the addon you are downloading, so we're going to go over each of them with a step-by-step guide.

Twitch App (Curse Client)

This is by far the simplest of the three options and the most safe of them. You can start by downloading the Twitch App here - this used to be called the Curse Client, prior to Twitch acquiring Curse, a name many of you are likely more familiar with. This app has the same functionality, with some cosmetic changes added in.

Once you have downloaded and installed the app, you will be prompted to either log in with your Twitch account or create one. Once you have completed this, you will be presented with a screen similar to that of the Twitch homepage. For the purposes of downloading addons, you can ignore this and should instead click on the "Mods" option at the top of the app. Select World of Warcraft and you will be presented with the following two tabs: "My Addons" and "Get More Addons".

Select the "Get More Addons" tab and then click on the search bar. You can now search for any addon you wish to install, either by name or category. Once you have found one you wish to install, simply hit "Install", wait for it to be done and then start up your WoW client to try it out!

If you're unsure of which addons to choose on the Twitch App, you can always check out our recommended addon lists!

Interface/Addons Folder

This method is the most difficult, although still fairly simple, but is open to the most exploitation and issues with security. This is mainly due to the fact that you are manually putting a folder into your WoW Interface folder, after downloading it from a source that you trust.

There's no client for you to download here - instead, you need to find an addon that you wish to download directly from the source (keep in mind, there is little reason to do this anymore - it's likely going to be on one of the two apps we suggest instead). Once you find it, you will likely be given a .zip file to download. Once downloaded, extract it to your desktop using a program like WinZip.

Once you have the file extracted and on your computer, you will need to find the location of your WoW installation. This is likely going to be in your Program Files folder, located on your main HDD or SSD. The domain will likely look similar to this:

C:\Program Files (x86)\World of Warcraft\

Once you have found your WoW folder, navigate to the Interface folder and then into the Addons folder within. Once there, simply drag the file that you extracted earlier into the Addons folder and then load up your WoW client to test it out.

Tukui Client

This method rests in between the two presented before and is fairly simple to execute. You need to download a client, as you did for the Twitch App. You can find the download for the Tukui Client here.

Once downloaded, you need to extract the .zip file and install the client. After doing so, you will need to locate your WoW installation, as you did above. Once done, you will be prompted to either log in with your Tukui account or make one. 

You can now use the client to install either Tukui or ElvUI for your client, both of which are major visual overhauls to the base Blizzard interface. You can also use it to download new addons, as you do in the Twitch App.