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Retrieve info about a certain buff on a certain unit. This essentially an alias of UnitAura with the "HELPFUL" filter.

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

Arguments[]

unitId
String - The unit to query information for
index or name
Number or string - The index or name of the buff to retrieve information for. Indices start at 1 and go up indefinitely until there are no more buffs on target.
filter
String - zero or more of "PLAYER", "RAID", "CANCELABLE", "NOT_CANCELABLE", separated by pipe ("|") or space characters.

Returns[]

name
String - The name of the spell or effect of the buff, or nil if no buff was found with the specified name or at the specified index. 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 buff. Returns "" if there is no rank.
iconTexture
String - The identifier of (path and filename to) the indicated buff.
count
Number - The number of times the buff has been applied to the target.
debuffType
String - The magic type of the buff
duration
Number - The full duration of the buff in seconds
expirationTime
Number - Time the buff will expire in seconds
source
String - The unit that cast the buff
isStealable
Boolean - 1 if it is stealable otherwise nil
shouldConsolidate
Boolean - 1 if the buff should be placed in a buff consolidation box (usually long-term effects).
spellId
Number - spell ID of the aura.

Example[]

local buffs, i = { }, 1;
local buff = UnitBuff("player", i);
while buff do
  buffs[#buffs + 1] = buff;
  i = i + 1;
  buff = UnitBuff("player", i);
end;
if #buffs < 1 then
  buffs = "You have no buffs";
else
  buffs[1] = "You're buffed with: "..buffs[1];
  buffs = table.concat(buffs, ", ");
end;
DEFAULT_CHAT_FRAME:AddMessage(buffs);
Macro Options:[]

1. Prints the names of all buffs on the current target:

/run for i=1,40 do local B=UnitBuff("target",i); if B then print(i.."="..B) end end

2. Prints the name, icon texture, and time left for all buffs on the player.

/run for i=1,40 do local n,_,icon,_,_,dur,x,_,_=UnitBuff("player",i);if n then print(i.."="..n..", "..icon..", "..format("%.2f",-1*(GetTime()-x)/60).." minutes left.")end end

History[]

  • Patch 1.9 added castable to the list of parameters.
  • Patch 2.0 added name and rank return values.
  • Patch 2.1 added duration and timeLeft return values.
  • Patch 2.3.2 changed behaviour of castable parameter - spells cast by other players are no longer shown at all when castable is used. Bug or intented change?
  • Patch 2.4 (PTR 8089-enGB) changed (again) behaviour of castable parameter - spells cast by other classes are no longer shown at all when castable is used. Tested with druid and priest spells, MacOSX client. Needs to be confirmed.
  • Patch 2.4 (Live) has corrected the bug introduced in 2.3.2. The castable parameter correctly filters non-castable buffs once again.
  • Patch 3.0 updated the return values.
  • Patch 3.1 changed the boolean return value isMine to the string value source.

See also[]

UnitDebuff
HOWTO: Identify Buffs Using Textures
List of known buff and debuff effects that can be queried
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