How to turn on the cooldown manager
The cooldown manager pulls key cooldowns off your buff bar and action bar and puts them in one bar you can move. It ships disabled, so nothing appears until you switch it on. That matters if you have leaned on third-party addons for this before: the manager is Blizzard's own built-in version, placed through Edit Mode.
Players testing it on the beta forum describe the same flow: enable it, then open the small edit box that pops up and turn on Always Visible before you close it. That has not been a reliable fix. Testers reported the bar vanishing again after they saved, because the cooldown manager was still a work in progress for several classes.
- Open Options and go to Gameplay Enhancement.
- Toggle the Cooldown Manager on.
- Click Edit on the bar, turn on Always Visible, and drag it where you want it.
Which classes the cooldown manager tracks
As of the 24 September build, five classes were in the test: Druid, Mage, Priest, Warrior, and Warlock. Blizzard said more classes would become testable in later updates.
The 1 October build added racial abilities and Rogue, and removed the duplicate entries each spell rank used to create for classes already supported. Paladin, Hunter, Shaman, and the rest are not named in either set of notes. Do not assume they were added quietly; if a class is not listed, treat it as still out.
Before Blizzard's own list went live, testers in a 19 September beta forum thread described a rougher picture. One said some classes could use it and some could not, and another wrote that their Warrior was the only class it worked for. That is a player report from before the official list, not the current state, but it shows the feature was uneven even within one testing window.
Why some cooldowns don't show up
The known issues list that shipped with the 24 September build named specific gaps: Healthstone cooldowns cannot be tracked, Arcane Blast cannot be tracked, a mana gem needs one extra cast before its cooldown starts tracking, pet cooldowns cannot be tracked at all, and item enhancements like Windfury or rogue poisons cannot be tracked either. Priest currently tracks every spell by default instead of a curated list.
The main Known Issues thread still listed the Cooldown Manager as a work in progress on 1 October, with implementation said to vary by class. If the cooldown manager is not working for a spell you expect, check this list before you assume your settings are broken.
Is there a cooldown manager import?
No import or export option is mentioned anywhere in the beta notes. The only things you control yourself are whether the manager is on and where its bar sits through Edit Mode.
Blizzard's current ask for feedback is which spells you want tracked by default, which points toward better defaults rather than an import tool before launch.
Wowdee will keep a short checklist of which classes, racials, and spells the cooldown manager actually tracks, updated whenever a beta build changes it, so an empty bar does not leave you guessing whether it is your setup or a gap Blizzard has not filled yet.
Still to come
Not yet settled by our sources or tested in game:
- Whether Paladin, Hunter, Shaman, and the rest join the cooldown manager before launch.
- Whether spell-rank support and the open Healthstone, mana gem, and pet-cooldown gaps get fixed before launch.
- Whether an import or export option for the bar's layout is ever added.
Sources
Beta notes are dated because Forever is still changing.
- Blizzard Beta Development Notes, 24 September and 1 October 2026Default-off toggle and Gameplay Enhancement location, the first five test classes, then racials, Rogue, and the spell-rank duplicate fix.
- Blizzard Beta Known Issues, updated 1 October 2026Confirms the manager is still work in progress and lists it as varying by class.
- Player reports, WoW: Forever beta forum, 19 September 2026Describes the enable and Edit Mode flow, the Always Visible toggle, and early inconsistent per-class results.