WoW API: UnitAura

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This function was introduced in Patch 3.0. It will serve as an all-in-one solution for querying unit buffs and debuffs. UnitBuff and UnitDebuff will serve as aliases with built-in harmful/helpful filters.

Usage:

name, rank, icon, count, debuffType, duration, expirationTime, unitCaster, isStealable, shouldConsolidate, spellId 
 = UnitAura("unit", index or "name"[, "rank"[, "filter"]])

If the second parameter is a string, then the third parameter is the rank (which can be nil)

Either use:

unit, index, filter

or

unit, name, rank, filter

Examples:

• UnitAura("target", 1) -- First buff on target
• UnitAura("target", 1, "PLAYER|HARMFUL") -- First debuff, cast by the player, on the target
• UnitAura("player", "Lightning Shield") -- first instance of "Lightning Shield" on the player
• UnitAura("player", "Lightning Shield", nil, "PLAYER|HELPFUL") -- first instance of "Lightning Shield" on the player, cast by the player
• UnitAura("player", "Lightning Shield", "Rank 2") -- first instance of "Lightning Shield", rank 2, on the player

Arguments

unit

String - The unit you want debuff information for.

index

Number - The index of the debuff to retrieve info for. Starts at 1, maximum 40.

filter

This parameter can be any of "HELPFUL", "HARMFUL", "PLAYER", "RAID", "CANCELABLE", "NOT_CANCELABLE". You can also specify several filters separated by a | or space character to chain multiple filters together (e.g. "HELPFUL|RAID" or "HELPFUL RAID" == helpful buffs that you can cast on your raid). By default UnitAura has "HELPFUL" as an implicit filter - you cannot get back BOTH helpful and harmful at the same time. Neither "HELPFUL" or "HARMFUL" have meaning for UnitBuff/UnitDebuff, and will be ignored.

Returns

name

String - The name of the spell or effect of the debuff. This is the name shown in yellow when you mouse over the icon.

rank

String - The rank of the spell or effect that caused the debuff. Returns "" if there is no rank.

icon

String - The path to the icon file.

count

Number - The number of times the debuff has been applied to the target. Returns 0 for any debuff which doesn't stack. ( Changed in 1.11 ).

debuffType

String - The type of the debuff: Magic, Disease, Poison, Curse, or nothing for those with out a type.

duration

Number - The full duration of the debuff in seconds;

expirationTime

Number - The time in seconds (like what returns GetTime()) when the aura will expire.

unitCaster

String - unitId reference to the unit that casted the buff/debuff.

isStealable

Boolean - 1 or nil depending on if the aura can be spellstolen.

shouldConsolidate

Boolean - 1 or nil depending on if the default Blizzard UI should put the aura into the "consolidated" box of buffs.

spellId

Number - the spellId of the aura.

Macro Options:

1. Prints the name of any stealable buffs on the current target, or a notice if nothing is stealable:

/run local y=0;for i=1,40 do local n,_,_,_,_,_,_,_,isStealable=UnitAura("target",i);if isStealable==1 then print(n.." on target, steal it!")y=1;end end if y~=1 then print("No stealable buffs.")end

History

• Patch 3.0 combined UnitDebuff and UnitBuff into this command.
• Patch 3.1 changed "isMine" to "unitCaster". It is now possible for addons to retrieve the unitId that cast the buff/debuff.
• Patch 3.3 added shouldConsolidate and spellId

See Also

UnitBuff

UnitDebuff

List of known buff and debuff effects that can be queried

Upcoming 3.0 Changes - Concise List