How It Works

Raid Split uses a multi-phase optimization algorithm to distribute your guild's characters across 2-30 split raids, maximizing loot efficiency and raid viability.

The Problem

In WoW split raids, a guild runs the same raid multiple times with different character compositions. The goal: distribute loot efficiently so mains get geared faster. Each player brings their main to one split and alts to the others, spreading loot opportunities across runs.

Manually organizing this is a nightmare. You need to balance armor types, weapon competition, raid buffs, role composition, and player priorities — all while ensuring each split can actually clear the content.

The Algorithm

The optimizer runs in three phases:

Phase 1: Place Mains

Players are sorted by their main's priority (highest first). Each main is placed in the split that maximizes the overall score, respecting tank/healer caps and the 30-character-per-split limit.

Phase 2: Place Alts

Each player's alts are assigned to splits other than their main's split. This ensures player separation across splits. Alts go to whichever remaining split scores highest.

Phase 3: Simulated Annealing

100,000 swap iterations using simulated annealing. Early on, the algorithm accepts slightly worse swaps to escape local optima. As the temperature cools, it becomes increasingly selective — only accepting improvements. The best arrangement found across all iterations is kept.

Scoring Dimensions

Each arrangement is scored across 9 dimensions — some measured per-split, others globally across all splits. Weights are relative and get normalized automatically. You can customize them in the Optimizer Settings panel.

Per-Split Metrics

Armor Balance (default weight: 20)

Rewards even distribution of Plate, Mail, Leather, and Cloth wearers among mains. A perfectly balanced split (equal counts of each armor type) scores 100. All-same-armor scores 0. This reduces loot competition within each armor token.

Raid Viability (default weight: 15)

Each split needs a viable raid composition to clear content. Scores highest with 2 tanks, scaled healer count (~1 per 4-5 players), and 15-30 total characters. Hard constraints enforce a maximum of 2 tanks and 6 healers per split.

Class Diversity (default weight: 10)

Each of WoW's 13 classes brings unique raid buffs — alts count too (a Shaman alt still brings Heroism). Scores against classes actually present in your roster. Having every class represented in a split scores 100.

Weapon Diversity (default weight: 15)

Mains are grouped by weapon competition: Strength (Plate melee), Agility (Leather melee), Ranged (Hunter), Int Cloth (casters), and Int Mail (Shaman/Evoker). Even distribution means less competition for weapon drops.

Weapon Coverage (default weight: 10)

Ensures every weapon group has at least one character in each split. Weapons that drop with no one to equip them are wasted loot. A split covering all 5 weapon groups scores 100.

Global Metrics

Main Balance (default weight: 40)

The highest-weighted dimension. Rewards even distribution of mains across all splits. Each split should have roughly the same number of mains to distribute loot opportunities fairly. Even split = 100, all mains in one = 0.

Split Size Balance (default weight: 10)

Each split is a raid run — they should have similar total character counts. A lopsided split where one raid has 28 players and another has 12 is suboptimal. Even sizes = 100, all characters in one split = 0.

Priority Placement (default weight: 5)

High-priority mains (rated 1-10) should land in the best-scoring splits. Each main's priority is weighted by the loot quality of their assigned split, ensuring your most important players get the most optimized raid experience.

Alt Class Balance (default weight: 15)

For each class present among alts, measures how evenly those alts are spread across splits. Prevents stacking all Shaman alts in one split while another has none. Even distribution = 100, all same-class alts stacked = 0.

Hard Constraints

These rules are enforced regardless of scoring:

30 characters per split — A WoW raid cannot exceed 30 players.
Max 2 tanks per split — Most encounters require exactly 2 tanks.
Max 6 healers per split — Healer slots are limited; excess healers hurt DPS.
Player separation — A player's main and alts are placed in different splits. This is the entire point of split raids.

The Perfect Split

A score of 100 means every dimension is perfect: armor types perfectly balanced, all 13 classes represented, weapon groups evenly distributed and fully covered, ideal tank/healer ratios, mains spread evenly, splits equally sized, alt classes balanced, and all high-priority mains in top splits.

In practice, this is nearly impossible with real rosters. Scores of 50-70 are typical and represent good splits. The optimizer finds the best arrangement possible given your actual roster composition.

Customization

Use the Algorithm Weights panel in Optimizer Settings to adjust how much each dimension matters. Weights are relative — they get normalized automatically. Set a dimension to 0 to ignore it completely, or crank it to 50 to make it dominant.