Tracking Pulverize / Lacerate with Power Auras Classic

I've been meaning to put up a post for quite a while now showing how I'm currently using Power Auras Classic to track Pulverize and Lacerate. I finally remembered last night to take some screen shots for a post, so better late then never I suppose.

Complicated Addons are complicated. Power Auras Classic is exactly like other complicated addons in that there are so many options and so much customization it can be overwhelming and down right unfriendly at first. However again just like other complicated addons, once you are comfortable with Power Auras Classic you'll start to realize it's not all that complicated and can be incredibly powerful.

(I'm already tired of typing out Power Auras Classic, so "Powa" for now on.)

Why Use an Addon?

There are a number of important reasons to track Pulverize and Lacerate as a bear. You want the highest possible up-time for both obviously, so what it comes down to is making sure you let Pulverize tick down (don't refresh too early, unless there is an intuitive reason [like you are about to change mobs]) and have a 3-stack of Lacerate ready when Pulverize gets down to a second or two from expiring. Being that one is a buff (Pulverize) and the other is a debuff (Lacerate) it's going to be difficult (at the very least annoying) to track both by default.

Which Addon?

Power Auras Classic. There is a relatively informative Wiki for the addon, so I won't spend any time explaining much about it. Suffice it to say the addon can show symbols, artwork, spells, etc. on the screen based on triggers. The triggers are typically when you have a buff/debuff, or the mob you are targeting has a buff/debuff, etc.

In Action

This is how I have Powa set up - I went for convenience and proximity to my character where my eyes tend to be the most. If you look closely enough you can see that the Pulverize icon shows the time remaining and the Lacerate icon (hard to see) shows the stacks and time remaining. (Click to enlarge)

Yay - Boomkin practicing on the dummy behind me!

Setting up Powa
There are a couple different screens that you'll want to set up to get Powa running the way you want. The first screen is found by clicking on Interface from the Game Menu and then clicking the "Addons" tab. Powa should be listed here if it's installed and enabled at the character log-in screen.

There really isn't much to set on this screen, or at least it's beyond this post. The important thing is the "Show Aura Browser" button (also available from the console by typing "/powa"). This is where Powa has all of your "auras" stored. Each aura represents a symbol on the screen and the trigger that makes the symbol appear.

UPDATE: Per Anon in the comments here is the text that you can use with the "Import Set" button. Just copy the text exactly as it is below go into wow, click the "Import Set" button and paste this text into the text box:

Set=Page 1@
Aura[1]=Version:4.9; icon:Ability_Smash; buffname:Pulverize; x:-75; alpha:1; owntex:true; combat:true; size:0.23; y:23; timer.b:0.1961; timer.enabled:true; timer.r:0.9922; timer.Relative:CENTER; timer.UseOwnColor:true@
Aura[2]=Version:4.9; target:true; icon:Ability_Druid_Lacerate; buffname:Lacerate; x:-75; bufftype:2; alpha:1; owntex:true; mine:true; size:0.23; y:-37; timer.b:0.0196; timer.g:0.9647; timer.enabled:true; timer.Relative:CENTER; timer.y:-17; timer.UseOwnColor:true; stacks.enabled:true; stacks.b:0.0314; stacks.g:0.9804; stacks.y:11; stacks.Relative:CENTER; stacks.UpdatePing:true; stacks.UseOwnColor:true@

I only have two auras set up in Powa, the first is the aura for Pulverize and the second is for Lacerate. Creating a new one is simple - just click the "New" button.

Pulverize Configuration
Set up the window exactly as I have and when you put up Pulverize you should see the icon on your screen similar to the screen shot I showed above. The important thing to note is you will may need to adjust the "Position X" and "Position Y". Feel free to mess around with the other options as well. The most important thing is the bottom half of the window, ensure "Use own Texture" is checked and you type the name of the spell correctly. In order for the icon to show the time remaining, you'll also want to enable the options on the "Timer" tab in the bottom half of the window.

Lacerate Configuration
The only difference between Lacerate and Pulverize is the bottom half of the screen, you'll need to click the "Stacks" tab and configure that appropriately to show the number of stacks you have up. It's very self explanatory and admittedly I forgot to take a screen shot of that tab. I'll modify this post later to include the screen shot, but honestly it's probably not necessary to show.

Final Thoughts
I'm not getting the most I can out of Powa. There are an infinite number of things that you can track with Powa, even specific boss abilities which is the one thing I think could be the most advantageous. For now though I'm happy with Pulverize and Lacerate tracking.

If you are - how are you using Powa, are you using something else entirely to track Pulverize/Lacerate?