Monk FAQs

[Babylonius]

I will try to keep this thread update with Frequently Asked Questions about each spec to minimize the number of question asking threads. Feel free to correct me or add questions you think should be on the FAQ list and I'll try to update it.

Updated for 5.4


Windwalker FAQs

I just made a monk and was looking at icy-vein's WW guide and unless they recently added it (or I'm just blind) they don't even mention Fists of Fury. When is the optimal time to use this ability? Should it be kept on cooldown?

In order to use FoF correctly you have to have a few requirements:
1. You will not put off using RSK
2. You will not cap energy
3. Tiger Palm will not fall off
4. You won't have to cancel the channel early for any reason
5. Any target(s) it is hitting are effective damage

1. Do Xuen, FoF, or Chi Wave snapshot stats?

1. Xuen is considered a guardian so he does not snapshot your stats or % increases, use him early and often unless you need to save him for burst.
2. FoF snapshots stat increases but not damage % increases. This mean popping it at the start of a TED proc is optimal and will keep the Agi modifier the whole time, using FoF at the end of TEB will not extend the TEB % increase.
3. Chi Wave and other abilities of that talent tier will snapshot both % damage increases and stat increases.

For monk's aoe, is it beneficial to pop SEF on various mobs in the pack and them spam SCK or do it without the SEF clones?

"If that pack will live more than 6-8 seconds, you manage to pop both clones, TP and RSK, and you will hit more than 2 add's with each clones SCK - then yes, it is. Otherwise - probably not. You should opt in taking RJW if you want to do AoE damage, it will net you significantly more than SCK. " - unlightable
Source

In 5.3 we sat at around 6-9k haste. With 5.4 what's the recommended haste break? I've heard 12k is the cap. This is assuming we're using Chi Brew

"11-12k. Technically it's up at 14k but that assumes literally no downtime and like 100ms lag/reaction time, so realistically it's closer to 11-12kish." - Totaltotemic

Chi Brew or Ascension?

Chi Brew. Learn to love it. Chi Brew gives 2 Tigereye Brew stacks per use. This can be modified per mastery with each stack given allowing a chance equal to mastery to give a 2nd stack, so you can use Chi Brew once and get 2-4 stacks of TEB.
Source

I have two pieces of tier but just got a piece off Ordos, do I use the Ordos piece or keep the 2p bonus?

The 2pc is worth about 1.5-2% DPS, slightly higher with better gear. If the non-tier piece is only 6 iLevels (Normal to WF) above the tier one then keep the 2p bonus. However, it should be an upgrade to drop the bonus in favor of a full tier upgrade piece (Flex to Normal, Normal to Heroic). This assumes that all the stats will be used on all items (Not going way over hit/exp caps). When in doubt, SimCraft it.
Source 1 Source 2

Recently I was wondering what is better: 4pc or 3 x HC WF off parts.So I was wondering if it's really worth sacrificing 4pc for HC WF shoulder and chest offparts.

Similar to the 2pc, if you're comparing 4pc to non-WF pieces then the bonus is an upgrade. However replacing 2 tier pieces with the higher WF or HWF pieces is a larger dps increase than the 4pc bonus. This assumes that all stats are being used, ie not over capping hit or expertise.

I have 2 1H weapons but recently got a 2H that is higher item level then the 1H, do I switch?

Assuming you wont' go way over the hit/exp caps, hence wasting stats, average the item levels of your 1H weapons (MH+OH/2), if the 2H is more than 7 item levels above that average then its pretty safe to switch to the 2H. Just don't be getting rid of your 1H weapons because dual wielding is the overall best idea.
Source

Which is the best race to be for Windwalker For SoO I recently changed to Panda but wondering if Orc or troll is better?

Pros of each class: Troll if the boss is a Beast (Thok), Pandaren if you're not going to die (lose food buff), Orc if you can make use of the 1% expertise bonus.
Source

Mr Robot suggests me to change 2493 agility into 6% crit. It would involve removing all pure agi gems and switching them to agi/crit and pure crit gems in yellows and prisms. Think it would be worth it?

If AMR is telling you to go with all Crit gems, then make sure Agility is worth Crit x2 + 0.01 so that it keeps Agility in all sockets in some way.

Mistweaver FAQs

Its Heroic progress and i have to perform the best my class can do, do i need to fistweave to achieve this?

"To do the best you can do, you would need to know literally everything about the spec, including when to fistweave and why, so yes. FWing does lower HPS (especially if you need to AoE) and it's difficult to switch from FWing to actual healing thanks to Muscle Memory, so DPS is often somewhat mutually exclusive to HPS throughput." - Geodew
Source

What is lightningweaving? Is it like fistweaving, at range? Do you mostly do traditional heals and occasionally use CJL when bored? This sounds hilarious!

Lightning weaving is using Crackling Jade Lightning in place of Jab through Fistweaving.
Source

Im wondering about the dps meta gem, if it does procc for mistweavers wouldnt it be very easy for us to combo it with Chi burst > Tft to get insane haste values on our tft mists. Wouldn't this increase our healing like crazy during burst periods?

"Ideally a 10-15% gain iirc" - Reglitch
Source

is chi brew really better than ascension for mistweaver? i never really have a problem with chi, all the times i've used chi brew i've found the extra banked chi i get, more useful then 2 every cd, with more mana tea stacks i can possibly use on fights too, i don't see much gain.

"Chi brew is indeed better than ascension. The only time ascension could of been better than chi brew, is heavy fistweaving with no lmg at ~520 ilvl. Ascension had it's place on fights like H horridon, which allowed you to consistently fistweave throughout the encounter, without threat of ooming. It became slowly less and less useful as you acquired LMG and higher levels of crit. Nowadays Chi Brew is always better for fistweaving mana regen wise, due to crit proccing 3-4 mana stacks on chi brew. (Although even when it was 2 stacks per chi brew, it was still better). Not only that. Chi brew is a considerable DPS increase over ascension. Also Chi Brew gives you a throughput increase, while ascension doesn't." - Supliftz + Reglitch
Source


Brewmaster FAQs

Q: As a new Brewmaster, I feel like I'm taking a lot of damage? What am I doing wrong?

A: We can't tell without logs. However, it is almost certainly one of the following:

1. You let shuffle drop
2. You didn't use your CDs correctly for the encounter
3. You got hit by avoidable damage (i.e. stood in fire)
4. Your healers forgot to heal you
5. (Rarely) You are comparing your Damage Taken on WoL to other tanks. WoL counts your Staggered damage twice, once when you take it initially and once from the DoT.

Hey guys i was wondering if i should spend the 7k on the dps cloak. I never dps i only tank, but im thinking of taking the dps cloak so i can up my dps as a tank. what does everyone think??

If you can afford the survivability, and/or your guild is tight on enrage timers then go with the DPS cloak. Its always a good idea to have both. Best way is to look at logs of your previous fights, if the cloak procced then you should likely keep using it. For progression, should almost always use the tank cloak.
Source

I want to try solo tanking malkorok during his blood rage on 10N, mostly for fun and to see if it's possibly a viable strategy on hc. Is this possible?

Its very doable and recommended in many cases. When he starts, use Zen Med. When that falls off pop Dampen Harm + Fort Brew or Externals. If you get a 2nd Blood Rage, get Externals or Fort Brew + Dampen Harm, then pop Zen Med when it comes up. Pool Chi before hand and use Purifying Brew every time you get hit. Mastery build will make it safer but can be done on 25m and 10m, Heroic or Normal with Crit build.
Source

[bounstar]

"How much haste should I have?"

As much as you can. The difference between 6k and 10k haste is insane and will result in a completely different feel/rotation. 10k is a good mark to aim for but not at the expense of Agility.

"Chi Brew or Ascension?"

Chi Brew is too good at the moment. Ascension can be considered a "training wheels" talent when it comes to starting out with the spec. 5 Chi gives you a bit of flexibility and it allows you to reach higher energy regen if you can't hit the minimum required haste. However, you'll eventually want to be using CB so learn to love it.

"Validate my choice in class/spec"

Pros:
-Strong personal CD's
-Arguably the best melee AOE/competitive single target
-Mobility like you wouldn't believe
-Easy to learn while having a reasonably high skill ceiling

Cons:
-Mastery will change every tier
-Not a warlock
-No hard raid CD

WW monks are very strong at the moment. Would you be better off rolling a fotm class? Probably. However, if you dedicate the time to learning the nuances of the spec, you won't be disappointed and at the very least be competitive.

I can't think of anything else that isn't already in the guide or can be simmed. I do see the need for this sort of thread because fundamentally WW plays a lot different than what people would be used to with other classes.

[Babylonius]

Updated 11/7

[jazzyy]

In 5.3 we sat at around 6-9k haste. With 5.4 what's the recommended haste break? I've heard 12k is the cap. This is assuming we're using Chi Brew

[Totaltotemic]

In 5.3 we sat at around 6-9k haste. With 5.4 what's the recommended haste break? I've heard 12k is the cap. This is assuming we're using Chi Brew

11-12k. Technically it's up at 14k but that assumes literally no downtime and like 100ms lag/reaction time, so realistically it's closer to 11-12kish.

[Jonky]

I don't want to get in trouble for posting links, so my character is [WW] Jonky - Tichondrius.

This will be the first night I'm raiding with both AoC and my 2pc bonus. At this point in my gear progression, I'm not sure what level of stats I need to be shooting for and I still have many questions:

1. In regards to haste vs. crit, should I be aiming for a certain level of haste before gearing crit? Or is crit going to give me more dps point for point? With Chi Brew, I'm going by this priority Agi > Haste (10k-11k) > Crit (until cap) > Haste > Mastery.

2. Will AoC change anything in my "rotation"? The one thing I can see for sure is that I'll be using FoF a lot less with the reduced cooldown on EB. EB should always be used over FoF when possible, right?

3. The 4pc looks like garbage, but I can replace my chest and gloves with LFR pieces to get it. Is there some magic thing about this bonus that I'm missing that would make it worth the drop in ilvl?

4. Should I always save EB and FoF for 10 stacks TeB? Should I just blow my current stacks when they come up? Is it appropriate to use EB or FoF during energy lulls without using TeB?

5. What abilities should I be using during trinket procs?

6. And last, the obligatory "How much dps should I be doing?" with a 526 ilvl. Single target, of course. Also, I hear that simcraft isn't the best tool to use for WW's, but I was able to get within 4% of the simmed dps (before AoC) in a patchwerk with no buffs. Is there a better tool or spreadsheets I can use to compare myself against?

[Babylonius]

I don't want to get in trouble for posting links, so my character is [WW] Jonky - Tichondrius.

This will be the first night I'm raiding with both AoC and my 2pc bonus. At this point in my gear progression, I'm not sure what level of stats I need to be shooting for and I still have many questions:

1. In regards to haste vs. crit, should I be aiming for a certain level of haste before gearing crit? Or is crit going to give me more dps point for point? With Chi Brew, I'm going by this priority Agi > Haste (10k-11k) > Crit (until cap) > Haste > Mastery.

2. Will AoC change anything in my "rotation"? The one thing I can see for sure is that I'll be using FoF a lot less with the reduced cooldown on EB. EB should always be used over FoF when possible, right?

3. The 4pc looks like garbage, but I can replace my chest and gloves with LFR pieces to get it. Is there some magic thing about this bonus that I'm missing that would make it worth the drop in ilvl?

4. Should I always save EB and FoF for 10 stacks TeB? Should I just blow my current stacks when they come up? Is it appropriate to use EB or FoF during energy lulls without using TeB?

5. What abilities should I be using during trinket procs?

6. And last, the obligatory "How much dps should I be doing?" with a 526 ilvl. Single target, of course. Also, I hear that simcraft isn't the best tool to use for WW's, but I was able to get within 4% of the simmed dps (before AoC) in a patchwerk with no buffs. Is there a better tool or spreadsheets I can use to compare myself against?

1. That stat priority should be fine. However sicne you have AoC you can lose a little bit of haste. I go with about 9.5k since I use AoC.

2. Nothing changes about your rotation. Use EB on cooldown, use FoF if RSK is on CD, TP wont' fall off, you wont energy cap, and you have no Combo Breaker procs up

3. The 4pc is an upgrade, but only when comparing items of the same tier. If you can replace normal (553) items with normal (553 tier) then the 4pc is an upgrade. If you have any WF or pieces of higher item level than the tier pieces, its better to go with 2pc and the higher ilevel items. This does assume that you won't be going over hit/expertise cap which would be wasting the stats on some pieces.

4. Use EB anytime its off CD and you're below 60 energy. EB/FoF use for energy regen has nothing to do with TEB use.

5. Pop TEB then do your normal rotation. If you have an item like Renataki's or Ticking Ebon Detonator then use Chi Wave, with TEB up, when those trinkets are giving the most Agi.

6. SimC may not be perfect, but it is the best tool we have for that kind of thing to my knowledge.

[Jonky]

4. Use EB anytime its off CD and you're below 60 energy. EB/FoF use for energy regen has nothing to do with TEB use.

Thanks for the reply.

I think this one is where I've been messing up a lot. I used to save EB and FoF for 10 stacks of TeB to increase my dps, but if it's better to just use it on cooldown I'll start doing that. I haven't been paying much attention to trinket procs, so I think I'll be doing that tonight using it during those periods of higher agility.

[Promdates]

Its very doable and recommended in many cases. When he starts, use Zen Med. When that falls off pop Dampen Harm + Fort Brew/Externals. If you get a 2nd Blood Rage, get Externals/Fort Brew + Dampen Harm, then pop Zen Med when it comes up. Pool Chi before hand and use Purifying Brew every time you get hit. Mastery build will make it safer but can be done on 25m and 10m, Heroic or Normal with Crit build.
Source

Blood Rages are 2:48 between each other (for the first hit). So you won't have Fortifying Brew and Zen Meditation up for both unless you have the Vial of Living Corruption (the LFR drops Fort Brew/Zen Med down to 2:35 cooldown, HWF 2/2 drops it down to 2:24). This is mostly only having to deal with heroic unless you can't kill him in 1 Blood Rage phase on normal.

[Babylonius]

Blood Rages are 2:48 between each other (for the first hit). So you won't have Fortifying Brew and Zen Meditation up for both unless you have the Vial of Living Corruption (the LFR drops Fort Brew/Zen Med down to 2:35 cooldown, HWF 2/2 drops it down to 2:24). This is mostly only having to deal with heroic unless you can't kill him in 1 Blood Rage phase on normal.

I guess I'll edit that. What I meant by "Externals/Fort Brew" was "Externals or Fort Brew" If you get Externals after Zen Med comes off in Blood Rage 1, you will have Fort Brew up for the start of Blood Rage 2, and vice versa. Zen Med comes off CD toward the end of the 2nd Blood Rage if you used it on the first one so it can be used to survive the final moments of Blood Rage 2.

[zurm]

As a brewmaster, is chi brew ever the way to go?

Off the top of my head, the only situation I can think of for using it is Malkorok, both to have shuffle more quickly on the pull and to have more chi available if you are solo tanking P2 for using PB.

[Promdates]

I guess I'll edit that. What I meant by "Externals/Fort Brew" was "Externals or Fort Brew" If you get Externals after Zen Med comes off in Blood Rage 1, you will have Fort Brew up for the start of Blood Rage 2, and vice versa. Zen Med comes off CD toward the end of the 2nd Blood Rage if you used it on the first one so it can be used to survive the final moments of Blood Rage 2.

We ended up just chaining a bunch of CD's together (Rook's trinket+Pain Sup+IronBark+Vigiliance+zenmed/fortbrew) in some fort to last 20 sceonds taking the least amount of damage on 25H.

[Babylonius]

We ended up just chaining a bunch of CD's together (Rook's trinket+Pain Sup+IronBark+Vigiliance+zenmed/fortbrew) in some fort to last 20 sceonds taking the least amount of damage on 25H.

Yeah, clearly having Rook's would make it easier. I was listing the bare minimum you can use to survive if other things are not available. Any CDs beyond that dont' hurt.

[Babylonius]

Bumping to answer some questions, can this be stickied or something?

[Rockets]

Q: As a new Brewmaster, I feel like I'm taking a lot of damage? What am I doing wrong?

A: We can't tell without logs. However, it is almost certainly one of the following:

1. You let shuffle drop
2. You didn't use your CDs correctly for the encounter
3. You got hit by avoidable damage (i.e. stood in fire)
4. Your healers forgot to heal you
5. (Rarely) You are comparing your Damage Taken on WoL to other tanks. WoL counts your Staggered damage twice, once when you take it initially and once from the DoT.

Linking to a log will let us point out to you exactly what the problem was, which will 99% of the time be one or more of the things I just listed.

There is also a small chance that you don't have enough mastery for the encounter, but that tends not to be a problem that someone new to BrM is going to run into unless they're very undergeared for the content they're dealing with. I mean, yeah, if you're tanking H-Thok, or you're trying to solo-soak Malkorok's Blood Rage, you might be in trouble with a crit build. But people attempting those things tend to know what they're doing already.

[Babylonius]

people still asking the same questions over and over again, how do we get this stickied? Most of the other forums have something similar stickied.

[Jonky]

For heroic juggernaut, can we safely ToK one mine without using other cooldowns?

Also, for single target fights: Talisman of Bloodlust (LFR) or Sigil of Rampage (Flex, upgraded). My trinkets are garbage

[bounstar]

For heroic juggernaut, can we safely ToK one mine without using other cooldowns?

It's physical damage, so WW isn't the best choice to soak mines. I prefer to use my CD's for the shock pulses.

Also, for single target fights: Talisman of Bloodlust (LFR) or Sigil of Rampage (Flex, upgraded). My trinkets are garbage

Probably Sigil of Rampage? I dunno, both are beyond awful.

[Deleted]

What are your choices for ww trinkets, picking from
- aoc
- ted
- haroms
- sigil

[Jonky]

What are your choices for ww trinkets, picking from
- aoc
- ted
- haroms
- sigil

Depends on the fight, but I'd say TED/Haromm's for single target fights. Can't say which one you should drop for Sigil on cleave fights. I've heard from quite a few good monks that AoC doesn't compare to the other trinkets this tier.