Assisted Combat Analysis
Assisted Combat is the rotation helper Blizzard built into World of Warcraft, a one-button suggestion system that tells you what to press next. It ships with a real priority list for every specialization, stored in the game's own data tables. The question worth asking is how close those built-in lists come to what an experienced player would actually do.
Blizzard Assisted Combat research
The core buttons are usually present. The optimized decisions are not.
Across the 32 specs with a comparable SimulationCraft profile, the median Blizzard action match is 86%i, while Blizzard represents 66%i of SimC actions. Spell selection is largely right; the material gap is build, timing, resource, targeting, and encounter logic. Pick a specialization below for its exact priority list, what SimC does that it doesn't, and how it compares with Icy Veins.
The Blizzard priority lists are reconstructed from three DB2 tables exported by Wago Tools. The same join is run separately for the pinned live and PTR builds.
AssistedCombat
Identifies the Assisted Combat list assigned to each specialization.
ID · ChrSpecializationIDAssistedCombatStep
Adds the spell for each step and its position in the priority list. 676 steps on live, 693 on PTR.
ID · SpellID · AssistedCombatID · OrderIndexAssistedCombatRule
Adds the ordered conditions that must pass before a step can be recommended. 3,021 rules on live, 3,116 on PTR.
ID · OrderIndex · ConditionType · ConditionValue1/2/3 · AssistedCombatStepIDAssistedCombat.ID=AssistedCombatStep.AssistedCombatIDthenAssistedCombatStep.ID=AssistedCombatRule.AssistedCombatStepIDSteps are sorted by OrderIndex. Rules are grouped under their step and sorted by their own OrderIndex. The readable condition labels use SimulationCraft's Assisted Combat enum and evaluator; the raw IDs and values are retained in the canonical CSV exports.
How to read this
Assisted Combat is a baseline recommendation system, not a complete raid, dungeon, healing, or mitigation plan. Tanks are mostly shown offensive priorities; healer tables are overwhelmingly damage-oriented.
Common omissions versus SimC
- Talent and hero-tree-specific priorities
- Separate single-target, cleave, and AoE rotations
- Openers and cooldown synchronization
- Resource pooling and overcap prevention
- Proc, charge, stack, and previous-cast sequencing
- Target selection, time-to-die, and incoming-add awareness
- Movement and end-of-fight adjustments
- Complete mitigation and defensive planning for tanks
Death Knight · Tank
Blood
In SimC, not in Blizzard's listi
- Heart Strike
- Vampiric Blood
Logic SimC applies that Blizzard doesn'ti
- Active mitigation
- Rune and Runic Power management
- Dancing Rune Weapon timing
Comparison context
Blizzard-only or fallback action names: Rune Strike.
Priority 1 is evaluated first. Every condition shown on a step must pass; “automation only” entries are internal cooldown actions and are not part of Assisted Highlight.
Guide alignment
The Blizzard list covers threat, Death Strike, Bone Shield maintenance, diseases, and a few offensive cooldowns. Icy Veins adds a scripted opener, Runic Power and Coagulopathy management, Dancing Rune Weapon planning, Exterminate handling, and encounter-timed defensives.
Open Icy Veins guideBlizzard change
No Blizzard APL data changes between the pinned live and PTR builds.
Relationship to SimulationCraft
No material change to assess.
Guide and PTR coverage note
Unchanged.
True SimC MID2 profile: yes.
Research snapshot: 2026-08-06 · SimulationCraft midnight commit a87874b5bfc8. DB2 rows and build-to-build differences are exact; readable rule labels follow SimulationCraft's reverse-engineered condition decoder.