Almost every rated arena player runs the same core stack: Gladius or sArena for enemy unit frames, OmniBar for enemy cooldown tracking, OmniCC for cooldown numbers, and WeakAuras for everything custom. Add BigDebuffs for crowd-control timers and Details for damage review. That five-addon set covers enemy health, trinkets, DR and interrupts — the information arena is actually decided by.
The core arena stack
| Addon | What it does | Why it matters |
| Gladius (or sArena) | Enemy arena frames with health, cast bars, trinket and racial icons | You cannot swap targets or time a kill window off the default UI |
| OmniBar | Icon bar of enemy defensives, interrupts and CC on cooldown | Tells you when their kick is down — the single biggest casting decision |
| OmniCC | Numeric countdowns on every cooldown icon | Turns swipes into readable seconds, everywhere |
| BigDebuffs | Enlarges CC and immunity auras on frames | You see the stun duration and the DR window without squinting |
| WeakAuras | Custom alerts for procs, DR trackers, dispel timers | The one addon that scales with how good you get |
| Details! Damage Meter | Post-match damage, healing and death logs | Reviewing why you lost a game beats guessing |
Nice-to-have, not required
- Diminishing returns tracker — many players use a WeakAuras DR package instead of a standalone addon; either works, and knowing when a stun is at half duration wins games.
- ElvUI — a full UI replacement. Great if you want one consistent layout, overkill if you only want arena frames.
- Plater or a nameplate addon — cleaner cast bars and target readability in 3v3 chaos.
- Clique or a mouseover macro setup — technically not an addon habit but the same category of speed gain, especially for healers.
Do I need Gladius if I already run ElvUI?
No. ElvUI ships its own arena frames, and they cover health, cast bars and trinket status well enough for most players. Running Gladius on top usually means two sets of frames fighting for the same screen space — pick one and configure it properly.
The thing to check either way is that trinket and racial icons are visible and large. If you cannot tell at a glance whether the enemy healer still has their PvP trinket, your setup is not done.
Are arena addons allowed, or can they get me banned?
Addons that use the official API are allowed. Everything in the list above reads information the game already exposes to your client — enemy cooldowns, auras, cast bars — and displays it more clearly.
What is not allowed is anything that automates decisions or reads data your client should not have. Stick to addons distributed through CurseForge, WoWUp or Wago and you are fine.
What actually improves rating more: addons or practice?
Practice, by a wide margin. Addons remove excuses — they stop you from missing a kick window you had no way to see — but they do not teach you when to press cooldowns or how to peel. Most players who plateau around 1600-1800 have a fine UI and a positioning problem.
The honest ordering is: set up the six addons above once, spend an hour tuning positions, then never touch it again and put the rest of your time into VOD review and comp knowledge.
Where do I put arena frames on screen?
Close to your character and near your own frames, not off in a corner. The goal is that your eyes never leave the middle of the screen during a swap. Most high-rated setups stack enemy frames just left or right of centre, with OmniBar directly above or below them so cooldowns and health read as one block.
If you have the UI dialled in and still want faster progress, PewPewShop's rated PvP help is human-only: vetted arena players who play alongside you, call targets in real time and get you through the brackets. 2v2 Arena Rating starts from EUR 20.03 and 3v3 Arena Rating from EUR 25.04, with Solo Shuffle Rating Boost up to 2400 in Midnight Season 2 from EUR 46.01. No bots, no cheats — just people who know the matchup.