Question about raids + fistweaving

[Nynax]

Hey guys, I just had a few questions about how raid mechanics work in relation to monks. I'm planning to be switching to monks soon because I raid Ret and offheal some fights...but I find that I really dislike holy's healing style.

Anyway, Does anyone know how raids determine if you are a melee target or not, and if switching to Spirited Crane changes that?

I ask because I want to be able to know if Raid mechanics like beastlord's tossing spears at ranged targets will 100% lock you out of fistweaving for those fights or not.

Also, how often does fistweaving actually get used? the guides like to dedicate a good amount of space too them...but I always felt like it was just a way to mix things up on fights you have on farm, or when oom.

[Java]

Hey guys, I just had a few questions about how raid mechanics work in relation to monks. I'm planning to be switching to monks soon because I raid Ret and offheal some fights...but I find that I really dislike holy's healing style.

I quit my long time ret/holy paladin last expansion, you will probably enjoy the switch. WW is a lot like Ret but more fun and MW blows Holy away.

I ask because I want to be able to know if Raid mechanics like beastlord's tossing spears at ranged targets will 100% lock you out of fistweaving for those fights or not.

I have heard we are hard coded as melee so changing stances doesn't matter, I think some abilities never target us like spears (unless I'm just very lucky).

Also, how often does fistweaving actually get used? the guides like to dedicate a good amount of space too them...but I always felt like it was just a way to mix things up on fights you have on farm, or when oom.

I haven't used it much but I saw a Mythic geared monk pull 35k heals and 25k dps on heroic maidens.

[Deleted]

Hey guys, I just had a few questions about how raid mechanics work in relation to monks. I'm planning to be switching to monks soon because I raid Ret and offheal some fights...but I find that I really dislike holy's healing style.

Anyway, Does anyone know how raids determine if you are a melee target or not, and if switching to Spirited Crane changes that?

As Mistweaver (and the other specs) you are always a melee. The stance does not matter. However, stuff that can target healers specifically can usually target you as well. Beastlord pins won't target you and neither will other ranged specific mechanics (impale on Blackhand, wolf fixate on Flamebender etc.)

I ask because I want to be able to know if Raid mechanics like beastlord's tossing spears at ranged targets will 100% lock you out of fistweaving for those fights or not.

It will not. If the fight allows for melee, you can always go in melee without causing any disruption like a ranged would.

Also, how often does fistweaving actually get used? the guides like to dedicate a good amount of space too them...but I always felt like it was just a way to mix things up on fights you have on farm, or when oom.

A decent amount. Fistweaving is mana positive. The more spirit you have the more mana positive it becomes. Using it during progress when your spirit is low or the extra damage is needed, or you need the extra mana tea stacks is ideal. On fights like Flamebender where there is not a lot to heal you might as well fistweave for most of the fight. Same with Maidens. Leave the discs and holy palas to fight for those heals. You'll smartheal and do damage.
But in general, fistweaving is definitely not as strong as it was in MoP, where it was viable for keeping a raid up. You can use it at the start of some encounters where everyone will fight with the disc over the first heals anyways to get some more mana tea as well.

[Nynax]

Wow, ok. Thanks for the info!

Those are some pretty sweet hidden percs to the class haha, now I can't wait to switch!

[Nokcihc]

Fistweaving is mana positive.

This right here is the biggest reason to Fistweave currently. There are a lot of fights, if not all fights, where you can open with your Fistweaving rotation and generate up to around 10 stacks of tea before needing to go back to Serpent without going below 90-95% mana. You can also do this during light damage portions of fights to generate free tea stacks. It's a really great way to conserve mana, or even regen some, while still being useful during down time.

Additionally to all this, I'd like to point out that full on Fistweaving while just being a Revival bot is a legitimate way to heal for some fights and I do it often. Mistweavers can pull off some great DPS numbers(when I full on Fistweave I normally do 28-35k depending on the fight) and while Eminence isn't amazing, it puts out enough healing that you sort of just supplement your other healers. Sort of like how Shadow Priests were in MoP, except we do more healing. With the addition of Chi Explosion you have even more options. If I'm not mistaken, Chi Explosion Fistweaving actually offers the highest healing potential for a Mistweaver, but of course that's just potential and assumes that most of your group is stacked and taking consistent damage.

There are a lot of fights currently where I only Fistweave and never leave Crane unless another healer dies. For instance, on Iron Maidens I stay on the platform and just DPS the entire time. It helps us finish the fight once they get to sub 20%, and because my fellow healers handle the damage easily and Mistweavers make for lousy tank healers, it's pretty easy to pull off.

[GuruFTP]

You can use fistweaving when low raid damage is going out. usually at the start of a fight, or on fights like hellfire assault, if your raid has good focus and can kill the gorebounds fast enough.

[Rakoth]

You can use fistweaving when low raid damage is going out. usually at the start of a fight, or on fights like hellfire assault, if your raid has good focus and can kill the gorebounds fast enough.

We did council normal last night 3 healers, 5 DPS, 2 tanks.

Unless one of the bosses was doing his special ability (Wailing Horrors, and Images) I was fistweaving *mostly for interrupts on the caster add*.

I was also targeted twice by bloodboil and really enjoyed the extra healing my extra damage gave.

Ended the fight with 35k healing, 14k DPS. I was under the other healers at 42k and 37k, but no one died.

I fistweave a lot on farmed content. People know the mechanics and I don't need to save them from stupid stuff. Kormork for the grasping hands and between runes, council as I described, assault for the AoE on small adds. I don't really fistweave on Reaver, mostly because it's a very spread out fight.