Kickbrain
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Kickbrain shows each party member's interrupt as a bar with a countdown, so your group can plan kick rotations in Mythic+ without guessing. Works best when everyone in the group installs it: each copy tells the others exactly when its player kicks.
kickbrain_preview_1.png
Description
Kickbrain: party interrupt tracker for Midnight
One brain for your whole group's kicks.
Kickbrain shows each party member's interrupt as a bar with a countdown, so your group can plan kick rotations in Mythic+ without guessing. It's built for Midnight's new addon rules: it combines five sources of information, and labels every bar with how certain it is.
Kickbrain works best when everyone in the group installs it: each copy tells the others exactly when its player kicks, so the whole group shares one picture. Players without Kickbrain are still tracked as well as the game allows.
Beta. Kickbrain is new and still being tested in live keys. Feedback and
/kbrain proberesults are very welcome (see below).
Features
- One bar per party member, in class colour, with the interrupt's icon, a cooldown swipe and a timer. Ready kicks are listed first.
- Addon sync: Kickbrain users share their kicks with each other the moment they happen. Times are based on the realm's server clock, so everyone's timers agree.
- Works without the combat log: your own kick is read directly from your client, and other players are tracked from their casts and from enemy casts being interrupted.
- Every bar shows how sure it is, so you know which timers to trust.
- Knows every spec in Midnight: which specs have an interrupt (healers other than Restoration Shaman don't), which interrupts are optional talents, and the Midnight cooldowns, such as Restoration Shaman's 30s Wind Shear. Players are inspected for spec and talents automatically.
- Copes when addon chat is blocked: when the game blocks addon messages (for example during boss encounters), Kickbrain holds its messages and catches everyone up when the block ends.
- Your skins and fonts: choose any bar texture or font that your other addons share (Details, BigWigs, DBM, UI packs, SharedMedia), plus Blizzard's own.
- Lightweight and self-contained: no required libraries or dependencies.
- Shown in Mythic+ and dungeons by default and hidden in raids. You can turn it on for the open world.
How it works
In Midnight, Blizzard removed the combat log from addons, hid many combat values from them, and blocks addon chat at times. No single source can see every interrupt, so Kickbrain combines five, from most to least trusted:
| Source | What it knows |
|---|---|
| Your own client | Exactly when you kicked and your real cooldown |
| Other Kickbrain users | Exactly when they kicked (while addon chat is open) |
| Seeing a party member cast | Their kick, when the game shows the spell |
| An enemy cast being interrupted | That someone kicked. Kickbrain only credits a player when exactly one could have done it |
| Class, spec and talents | Which interrupt they have and its cooldown |
A more trusted source always wins over a less trusted one. For example, if a Kickbrain user reports their kick, a guess from the enemy's side about the same kick is ignored.
Reading the bars
| Marker | Meaning |
|---|---|
| (none) | Exact (you) or synced (their Kickbrain told us) |
| o | Observed: we saw them cast it |
| ? | Inferred from an interrupted enemy cast |
| ~ | Estimated from class and spec only |
Less certain bars are drawn fainter. "no addon" marks players who aren't running Kickbrain, a good hint to send them the link.
Getting started
- Install Kickbrain, and ask your group to install it too.
- Type /kbrain test to preview a simulated party. Drag the frame where you want it, then type /kbrain lock.
- Open /kbrain options (or Esc > Options > AddOns > Kickbrain) to change visibility, size, bar texture and font.
Commands
/kickbrain works everywhere /kbrain does.
| Command | What it does |
|---|---|
/kbrain options |
Open the options panel |
/kbrain test |
Toggle a simulated party to preview the bars |
/kbrain lock / /kbrain unlock |
Lock the frame, or show the drag handle |
/kbrain scale 1.2 |
Set the frame scale (0.5 to 2) |
/kbrain reset |
Restore the default position and size |
/kbrain roster |
Show each member's spec, interrupt, cooldown, and whether they run Kickbrain |
/kbrain sync |
Show sync status and who in the group runs Kickbrain |
/kbrain probe |
Show what the game let Kickbrain read (see below) |
Known limitations
These come from Midnight's addon restrictions:
- Players without Kickbrain can't always be tracked exactly. Inside instances the game may hide their spell casts. Kickbrain then relies on interrupted enemy casts and on what it knows about their class and spec.
- Stuns can be mistaken for kicks. Crowd control also interrupts enemy casts, so an inferred (?) kick can occasionally be credited to the wrong player.
- While addon chat is blocked, Kickbrain users can't send updates. Kickbrain treats them like players without the addon until the block ends, then everyone catches up.
- Only flat cooldown talents could be modelled, and none are confirmed for Midnight. This only matters for players without Kickbrain. Kickbrain users always share their real cooldown.
Help improve it: /kbrain probe
How much the game reveals differs between content and patches. Kickbrain quietly counts what it could actually read:
- Type
/kbrain probe reset - Run a key
- Type
/kbrain probeand share the output in the comments
This shows where addon chat was blocked, whether party casts were visible, and how interrupted enemy casts were resolved. It's the most useful feedback you can give.
FAQ
Do I need any other addons or libraries? No. If you have addons that share textures and fonts (most popular ones do), Kickbrain lets you pick from them, but it doesn't need them.
Does it work in raids? It's built for 5-player groups and hidden in raids.
My healer has no bar. In Midnight, healers have no interrupt, except Restoration Shaman. Kickbrain hides players without one.
A cooldown looks wrong.
Type /kbrain roster in your group and post the output for that player in the comments, along with their spec.
Kickbrain Team
