Target markers

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Target markers (sometimes referred to as lucky charms) are icons that raid leaders/assistants and party members can place over players and mobs. This feature was introduced in Patch 1.11.

Strategy and usage

The list, in-game

To place a target marker over a mob, simply select the mob, right-click on its portrait, and select a symbol from the hierarchical menu.

Using these symbols is valuable in parties and even more so in raids. Before its introduction, class-specific spells like Hunter's Mark and Detect Magic had to be used to visually indicate to other party/raid members what mobs were targeted for what kinds of actions.

Particular uses include:

• Kill order: The largest use for target markers (or lucky charms) aside from crowd control, is to denote a "kill order". This is the order that DPS will follow as it attacks targets in each fight. For example, 5 mobs marked Skull , X , Square , Star , and the last mob is not marked. The leader declares that the kill order is Skull, X, Star, and Square. This would mean that DPS would focus fire on each target, starting with Skull, until that target is destroyed and then all DPS would move to the next target in the list, and ending with the unmarked target. This allows for the tank to easily control threat, keeping other player characters from taking damage, which in turn, makes it easy on the healer to keep everyone's character alive.
• Crowd control: Rather than saying "sheep left, sap right, attack middle", a party leader can say "sheep moon (), sap cross (), attack skull ()"; once the convention is established and all players understand what each symbol means, the party leader won't even have to say that. The advantage of this method over the former is that even if the mobs move around, it's still clear what they're designated for (it's also often the case that it's ambiguous exactly who the "left" mob is, and sometimes it's hard and time-consuming to describe which mob you mean using only words).
• Assigning players to mobs: Rather than the continual assisting of the raid leader, the raid leader can place icons on mobs and assign players to specific mobs, with "Player X has Lucky Charm Y".

Oooh, look at me lucky charms!

Other notes:

• The "Skull" lucky charm is almost invariably used to indicate which target should have DPS targeted upon it.

Example targeting convention

Although there is nothing like a standard convention for icon meanings, the following table may provide a starting point for groups or guilds wishing to create a convention. The idea behind this is that the marks follow Blizzard's class colors.

Symbol	Chat Command	Class Color	Class	Action	Notes
	{Skull} or {rt8}		Tank	Kill target	Focus of all DPS.
	{Cross}, {X} or {rt7}		Tank	Off Tank	Usually the target DPS should switch to once the target marked with the skull has been killed.
	{Circle}, {Coin}, or {rt2}	Orange	Druid	Hibernate	If you have a druid tank, he can cast this before he shapeshifts into bear form. (Think green for nature spells or the color of the ZZzz's over a hibernated mob).
	{Star} or {rt1}	Yellow	Rogue	Sap	Groups must wait until the rogue has sapped before engaging the group, as sap cannot be reapplied in combat.
	{Square} or {rt6}	Blue	Shaman	Hex	Hex is similar to a Mage's Sheep, and can be Re-Hexed as needed throughout the fight.
	{Triangle} or {rt4}	Green	Hunter	Trap	Groups may wish to delay 10-15 seconds between the hunter trap and the pull, so that the trap's cooldown is up if the trap breaks early.
	{Diamond} or {rt3}	Purple	Warlock / Paladin	Seduce / Banish / Enslave Demon or Repentance	When using enslave, groups may sometimes wait until the target has died before engaging the rest of the group. If a warlock is not in your group or raid, but there is a Retribution Paladin, then repentance can be used. Repentance is similar to a Rogue Sap in effect, but it can be reapplied during combat as long as the cooldown timer has expired.
	{Moon} or {rt5}	White	Priest - Mage	Shackle / Mind Control or Polymorph	Mind Control should be used carefully because when the control breaks, the mob usually goes straight to the priest. (Think encircling the mob with shackles or the circular whirl above a mind-controlled mob). In the case of a Mage Polymorph, Usually the sheeped mob is the last to kill, as mages can easily resheep and keep the mob controlled indefinitely.

Obviously, this would have to be altered on a per-case basis if, for example, you have two mages polymorphing or if you have a warlock both banishing and enslaving. Still, it can provide a useful foundation for groups or guilds getting used to the target marker system.

In non-guild PuG settings, the Skull->Primary, X->Off Tank convention is almost universal (when target icons are used).

API and key bindings

These icons can be set programmatically in a macro with the SetRaidTarget function. Example, /run SetRaidTarget("target", 8); will mark the target with a Skull, 8 standing for the Icon number.

Alternatively, they can be bound to keys for quick application. For example, Skull could be bound to Ctrl-K (Kill, sKull) so that the raid leader or assist can apply the icon quickly to a new target during a fight.

For even faster marking, combining the macro /run SetRaidTarget("mouseover", #); (# of course being replaced with the corresponding icon's number) with key bindings will allow you to apply icons without actually targetting anything.

GetRaidTargetIndex returns the icon index of the specified target.

Macros

This macro will cycle Skull, X, Nil, then Moon on cursored targets.

/script if (charm == nil) or (charm < 6) then charm=9; end; charm=charm-1; if (charm==6) then SetRaidTarget("mouseover", 0) else SetRaidTarget("mouseover", charm); end

This macro will cycle through all the target markers in reverse order on cursored targets

/script if (charm == nil) or (charm < 0) then charm=9; end; charm=charm-1; SetRaidTarget("mouseover", charm)

This macro also cycles through all the target markers in reverse order on cursored targets but it also announces the next icon in the default chat frame. Useful if you need to skip through charms while marking targets. Press your macro button without a target under the mouse to skip through charms.

/script if(chrm==nil)or(chrm<=0)then chrm=9 end chrm=chrm-1 SetRaidTarget("mouseover", chrm) nxt={[0]="None",[1]="Star",[2]="Circle",[3]="Diamond",[4]="Triangle",[5]="Moon",[6]="Square",[7]="Cross",[-1]="Skull"}DEFAULT_CHAT_FRAME:AddMessage(nxt[chrm-1])

Adding target markers to chat

An undocumented feature of patch 2.4 added the ability to post target markers into any chat channel by enclosing the name of the icon in curly brackets (braces) - such as {skull}, {circle}, {moon}, etc.

AddOns

There are several very good AddOns that make it easy for anyone to quickly mark targets. There is no "required" AddOn to use at any time, but three of the more commonly suggested are:

• Raid Target Icon

• Target Charms

• Simple Raid Target Icons

Trivia

Origin of "lucky charms"

The nickname originates from their appearance similar to the marshmallows from the Cereal Lucky Charms. The commercials feature kids chasing Lucky the Leprechaun, who would inevitably remind them that his cereal contained "Hearts, stars, horseshoes, clovers and blue moons, pots of gold and rainbows, and the red balloon!"

Sometimes called raid target icons

Although these place-able symbols have often been called "raid target icons", they have never been exclusively usable by raids or raid members. Due to their introduction with the original Naxxramas raid, they were generally associated with raids, but were available to normal party leaders also.

Patch changes

• Patch 3.3.0 (08-Dec-2009): Any party member may mark targets (this does not apply to raid groups).
              (Previously only party leaders could mark.)
  
• Patch 1.11.0 (20-Jun-2006): Added.
  

See also

• {{Targetmarkermini}}

External links

WoW Insider WoW Rookie: Stay on target with raid icons by Lisa Poisso Mar 4th 2010 9:00AM