Frequently asked questions

Skaldlogs is a free combat-log analyzer for World of Warcraft, built primarily for private servers (WotLK 3.3.5 first). You upload the WoWCombatLog.txt file your game client generates and get a full raid report: DPS and HPS per boss, food and flask compliance, death recaps, boss mechanics and more.

Yes. Uploading and analyzing logs is free, with no premium tier. The site is supported by a few ads and by donations on the support page.

No. You can upload a log anonymously without signing in. Creating an account (via Discord) lets you manage and delete your uploads, attach them to your guild, and use guild tools like attendance tracking and DKP.

The combat log format is the same as on retail, so most servers work out of the box: WotLK 3.3.5 (Warmane, Sirus, Onyxia, Angrathar, Ashamane, ChromieCraft, Whitemane…), TBC (Atlantiss, Stormforge), Classic (Turtle WoW), Cataclysm (Firestorm), MoP (Tauri) — and log formats from Classic through BFA are parsed.

Type /combatlog in the chat before the pull — WoW then writes every combat event to WoWCombatLog.txt. Or install the Skald addon, which turns logging on automatically whenever you enter a 10 or 25-player raid.

In the Logs folder of your WoW installation, for example World of Warcraft/Logs/WoWCombatLog.txt. If the file isn't there, logging wasn't enabled during the raid.

Go to the upload page, drag and drop your WoWCombatLog.txt, and wait a moment: parsing runs in your browser, and nothing is sent to the server until you confirm. Then pick your server and guild, choose public or private, and validate.

Skald currently accepts up to 25 MB of parsed JSON, which corresponds to roughly 200-300 MB of raw combat log — usually a full raid night. If your file is bigger, split the night into several logs or contact us.

You choose at upload time. Public logs are visible to everyone and feed the tops and guild pages. Private logs are only visible to you and the people you share the link with — this is enforced at the database level.

If you were signed in when uploading, delete it anytime from your account page. If you uploaded anonymously, email contact@skaldlogs.com with the log URL and we'll remove it.

Per boss pull, Skald computes effective DPS and HPS: damage or healing divided by the time you were actually able to act — AFK time and inactive phases are excluded. That's why numbers can differ from an in-game meter that mixes trash, downtime and whole-night totals.

For every pull, Skald checks whether each raider had a flask (or battle + guardian elixirs) and a food buff, including during the minute before the pull. The result is a 4-level colour code per player per pull — so a raid leader sees at a glance who shows up prepared.

For every death, Skald reconstructs the last 10 seconds: damage taken hit by hit, healing received, and which defensive cooldowns were used — or not used. It's the quickest way to tell an unavoidable raid-damage death from an avoidable one.

Skald categorises boss-specific events with short labels: missed interrupts (KICK), avoidable overlaps when players were stacked (SPREAD), damage from void zones the player should have moved out of (MOVE), and so on, depending on the boss.

The stats page aggregates all public logs and shows the DPS/HPS distribution per class and spec at the 5th, 10th, 25th and 50th percentile, refreshed weekly. It gives you a realistic baseline for your gear level and server, rather than a world-record target.

Kill detection relies on boss death events in the log, with heuristics for a few special encounters. If a fight is misclassified, report the log URL on Discord or by email — these reports directly improve the parser.

The addon (WotLK 3.3.5) enables the combat log automatically when you enter a 10/25 raid, disables it when you leave, and shows a post-raid popup with the kills/wipes summary and the upload URL. It also ships optional raid-lead tools such as loot distribution and raid plans.

Yes. Guilds can connect Skald to their own Discord to post raid summaries automatically, and the community SKALD LOGS Discord is open to everyone for help, suggestions and bug reports.