Portrait

A character's portrait as of patch 10.0.0.

The original portrait prior to patch 10.0.0.

The portrait (or unit frame) is a screen UI element that represents a "unit" (player character, mob, or NPC). It can include a name, portrait, status bar or some other element related to the unit.

Character Portrait: Shows your character name, face, level, and health bar. Depending on your class, the second bar could be your mana, rage, energy,^[1] focus bars or a special secondary resource.

Target Portrait: Shows the name, face, and health bar of any creature or character you click on in the game. Depending on the target, it might also have a mana, rage, or energy bar.^[2]

Pet Portrait: Some character classes can summon pets. If such a character is currently controlling a pet, a pet portrait appears underneath the main character portrait. The pet portrait displays the pet's name, health bar, and energy, mana, or rage bar. You can mouse over the bars for exact numbers.

Party Member Portraits: If you are grouped with other players, their portraits appear under yours as well. If you also have a pet, the party member portraits appear under your pet portrait. Each party member portrait displays the character's name, health bar, and energy, mana, or rage bar. Mousing over the party member's portrait also reveals its level and class, as well as any spell effects that are currently affecting the selected party member.^[3]

Layout

Portrait during pre-release.

The character's name and current Health and resource bars.

The primary resource bar is usually Mana but certain classes or forms will have different resources instead.
- These other resources includes: Runes, Fury, Astral Power, Energy, Rage, Focus, Energy, Insanity, Maelstrom, Holy Power.
The secondary resource appears under the primary resource bar depending on the class.
- The secondary resources are specific to certain classes, but consist of Mana, Runic Power, Combo Points, Essence, Arcane Charges, Chi, Soul Shards
A small circular level indicator appears at the bottom-left of the portrait (shows when in combat).
The Resting icon appears in the top-right of the portrait, indicating if the player is in a rested zone.
If your PvP Flag is on, it will appear above the Level indicator. The Portrait badge will be displayed here.
Your character's portrait usually matches whatever your character is wearing.
The portrait will flash red if health is very low.
A smaller portrait of the character's pet will appear below the character's portrait with name, attribute bars, but no level indicator.
- Prior to patch 4.1.0, Hunter's pets would have the mood icon displayed to the right of the portrait.

The portrait of any selected (current target) creature should appear to the right of your character's portrait.

The name and current Health and Mana bars (Energy or Rage bars if rogue or warrior) appear to the left of the portrait.
The small circular level indicator appears at the bottom-right. This will display a skull if the selected mob has a level much higher than yours (usually if more than 10 levels above you).
Smaller portraits of any Party members should appear below your character's portrait. The party Leader will have a small crown icon at the top-left of the portrait.
- Small Buff or Debuff icons will appear below party members' attribute bars when the pointer is moved over their portrait.
A dragon border appears around elite, bosses, and rare elite creatures' portraits.
- Elites will usually have wings and would appear gold while rares would appear gray and without wings. Rare elites will appear silver.

Toggle Player vs. Player
Loot options
- Loot specializations, set to current specialization or a specific spec.
Instance options
- Dungeon difficulty (Normal, Heroic, or Mythic)
- Raid difficulty (Normal, Heroic, or Mythic)
  - It also contains options to select the Legacy raid sizes at 10 Player and 25 Player for Normal and Heroic difficulties.
- Quick button to reset all instances
Other options
- Voice Chat

Right-clicking on another player's portait:

Add them as a friend (via BattleTag or just character)
Interact
- Invite
- Whisper
- Inspect
- Compare Achievements
- Trade
- Follow
- Duel
- Pet-battle Duel
Other options
- Report Player
- Copy Character Name

For most menu portraits, the following options are available:

Apply a Target Marker Icon
Set the portrait as focus (which displays a smaller portrait in another place)
Other options
- Edit Mode

Critters with the pet battle symbol have an option to "Show Pet in Journal".

Self player's menu
Another player's menu
Self player's menu, prior to patch 11.0.0
Another player's menu, prior to patch 11.0.0

Gallery

Players

Paladin UI with various amounts of Holy Power
Death Knight portrait, frost spec
Death Knight portrait, blood spec
Death Knight portrait, unholy spec

NPCs

A raid boss portrait with the gold dragon border, with wings.
A boss from a dungeon with the gold dragon border, no wings. Also orange color, indicating they can't be attacked.
An elite mob with the gold dragon border, no wings.
A rare mob with no dragon border but the silver star icon.
A rare elite mob with the silver dragon border and the silver star icon.
A mob that is associated with a quest.
A neutral mob portrait that can be attacked.
A hostile mob portrait that will attack the player when close.
A friendly NPC portrait.
A critter with their pet battle family.

Old UI

Players

Load video
Local File
Local File might collect personal data.

Mana bar indicator showing the cost of the spell casting
Death Knight portrait with the old rune system.
Druid eclipse bar at full lunar power

NPCs

A rare mob with no dragon border but the star icon, prior to patch 11.0.0.
A rare elite mob with the silver dragon border and the star icon, prior to patch 11.0.0.
A rare mob with the silver dragon border with no wing, prior to patch 10.0.0.
A mob that is both rare and elite with the silver dragon border with a wing, prior to patch 10.0.0.
An elite mob with the gold dragon border with a wing, prior to patch 10.0.0.
A mob that is associated with a quest, prior to patch 10.0.0.

Beta

Death Knight's original portrait showcased at BlizzCon 2007.
The BlizzCon frame which exists in the game files.
Death Knight beta portrait
The beta frame with its glow (click image to see animation).
Monk portrait with Serpents in early Mists of Pandaria beta

Patch changes

Patch 11.0.0 (2024-07-23): Right-click dropdown menu had a visual update and added a new option for "Self Highlight".
Patch 10.0.5 (2023-01-24): Rare elites now use the (used by rare mobs) instead of the .
Patch 10.0.2 (2022-11-15): Silver dragon border with no wings was reinstated and modernized. It was only applied to rare elite mobs while rare mobs were unaffected.
Patch 10.0.0 (2022-10-25):
- UI has been updated.
- Quest icon was updated from to and moved from the top left of the portrait model to just underneath it.
- The dragon borders have changed drastically.
  - Elite mobs and bosses in dungeons now use the gold dragon border without wings; world bosses and raid bosses remain with the gold dragon border with wings.
  - Rare mobs no longer have the silver dragon border as it was completely removed. To indicate if they are rare, the would be displayed underneath their portrait. Rare elites now use the under their portrait.
Patch 7.0.3 (2016-07-19): Added portrait badges and mana bar indicator.
The mana bar will now visually show how much mana the spell that is casting will cost, similar to how shields show up on the health bar.
Patch 4.1.0 (2011-04-26): With the removal of Happiness, the mood icons were removed from the pet's portrait.
Patch 4.0.6 (2011-02-08): Added predicted healing to the player, party, target, and focus frames.
Patch 4.0.3a (2010-11-23): Added the quest icon for mobs associated with a quest.