Non-Monk asks: What do WW monks bring to the raid?

[Deleted]

So, my raiding group has a melee roster that's starting to feel pretty bloated, but no WW monk yet and we have one interested.

I've leveled a monk to level cap enough to know the basics like a fantastic AOE stun, a fair bit of mobility for a melee class, but I'm nowhere near invested in the class enough to know what they really bring to the table in terms of raid utility like DK's bringing grip that can be used to great effect on some fights like Gorefiend or Xul'horac, or Rogues and their novel abilities to handle things like runes on Kormrok.

Do WW monks add much to the raid beyond the obvious?

[Totaltotemic]

Touch of Death can insta-kill adds which is very useful for high priority but low health adds (bombs on Iron Reaver, Essences on Gorefiend, blood stuff on Kilrogg, finishing Dominators on Socrethar, finishing any of the adds on Archimonde).

Diffuse Magic allows WWs do to some of the same shenanigans Rogues can do sometimes (stand in fire to DPS, not worry about dying, get to priority adds faster).

Storm, Earth, and Fire gives ridiculous cleave damage on things that are up for a long time (Council, Xhul'horac, and Archimonde to some extent).

They don't really have "that one thing" like Gorefiend's Grasp, Cloak/Feint, Bladestorm, Stampeding Roar, or HoP that other melee have that you can point to and say "this one mechanic would be a lot easier if we had X." They just have a few pretty high points instead of one god-mode area and a well played WW is a bit more overall effective than most other melee specs outside of that one thing they do best.

[Babylonius]

Windwalker adds superior cleave with Chi Explosion and SEF, unrivaled mobility with Roll, Transcendence, Tiger's Lust, and Flying Serpent Kick, and nearly unrivaled survivability with Zen Meditation, Fortifying Brew, Touch of Karma, Diffuse Magic, and Dampen Harm.

WW also has the ability, as all monks do, to reset encounters with Transcendence which can come in handy on long run backs.

And with the buffs coming in 6.2.2, WW can add above average single target to the list of haves.

WW doesn't provide any traditional utility such as grip, lust, or a raid wide buff.

[Keranth]

Windwalker adds superior cleave with Chi Explosion and SEF, unrivaled mobility with Roll, Transcendence, Tiger's Lust, and Flying Serpent Kick, and nearly unrivaled survivability with Zen Meditation, Fortifying Brew, Touch of Karma, Diffuse Magic, and Dampen Harm.

WW also has the ability, as all monks do, to reset encounters with Transcendence which can come in handy on long run backs.

And with the buffs coming in 6.2.2, WW can add above average single target to the list of haves.

WW doesn't provide any traditional utility such as grip, lust, or a raid wide buff.

don't forget 10% movement speed. I don't think anyone else does that. That doesn't seem like a lot but on things like mythic Mannoroth it can be huge.

[Deleted]

To resume :

10% mooving speed + constant damage in multiple target (ty sef) + mobility (instant tp) + tiger lust + reset with tp + touch of death + good defensive cd

[Ricje]

What was said above plus the "what if" factor. IE: "What if Chuck Norris and Bruce Lee had a baby".

Theoretically they could also provide a 70% movement speed buff to someone in the raid for a short period of time (for the "oh snap I'm supposed to go in the Nexus" moments at Archimonde for example) or use it themself to help clear the fire at Xhul (in combination with Diffuse Magic ofcourse).

Due to their mobility they're also not in high demand for the Eye of Anzu at Iskar but their dps will take a hit if they don't get the Eye (they won't die though).

[Viradiance]

More or less nothing except their good ability to soak large amounts of magic damage, pretty good sustained cleave and the invaluable utility of being able to taunt the boss and teleport out of the room to reset.

[Deleted]

If you already have other monks transendence is moot. Ww strength as a spec is a constant stream of damage that scales insanely if you can have your clones up for a longer period. They have pretty terrible priority target dps as they dont have any major dps cds and touch of death is a 2 m cd. They have the best mobility in the game and brings the unique raid buff of 10% move speed. As for survival they are close to rogues making them nr 2 best me melee. In general though monks are mainly padlords as in they can do loads of dmg given the right circumstances but mostly to non threatening adds that your hunters coulndt be bothered targetting. Im not sure how monks will turn out in 6.2.2 but i think they will still be under represented because of the low priority dmg.

[Notter]

Well let's compare what other abilities classes bring to raid (i might miss things, cause i'm not knowledgeable on other classes):

Rogue - smoke bomb: Allies take 10% less damage while within the cloud.

Death Knight - Death Grip: Drawing the target toward the Death Knight and forcing the enemy to attack the Death Knight for 3 sec.

Feral Druid - Stampeding Roar: increasing the movement speed of all friendly players within 10 yards by 60% for 8 sec and removing all roots and snares on those targets. ALSO: can switch to bear form mid-fight.

Paladin - Hand of Sacrifice: instantly removing all harmful Magic effects from the target, and transferring 30% of damage taken to the Paladin for 12 sec or until the Paladin has transferred 100% of their maximum health.

Enhancement Shaman - Reincarnation: Allows you to resurrect yourself upon death. (30 min cooldown though..)

now, compare these benefits to WW monk:
Tiger's Lust - Increases movement speed by 70% for 6 sec and removes all roots and snares. Can be cast on others. (If you choose this talent. i personally don't).
Detox - Remove Poison and Disease effects from the target. Can be cast on others.(also, hard to use as ww, you'll usually not be using healing addons, and shouldn't be since it's not your job).

Back in MoP we had a good raid ability, Zen Meditation - would transfer all damage around a small area to the monk, and the monk got 90% damage reduction.
But they changed it to be a personal defensive that only protects the monk.

[antico]

Zen Meditation - would transfer all damage around a small area to the monk, and the monk got 90% damage reduction.
But they changed it to be a personal defensive that only protects the monk.

not really, Zen Med in MoP was basically a grounding totem, redirected 5 spells on to you, Avert Harm was the skill that transfered damage, but that was a BrM skill, which became the victim of the ability pruning process with all other tanking raid cooldowns

[TrollShaman]

Back in MoP we had a good raid ability, Zen Meditation - would transfer all damage around a small area to the monk, and the monk got 90% damage reduction.
But they changed it to be a personal defensive that only protects the monk.

transferring all damage was from avert harm, a brewmaster only ability. Zen Med in MoP only allowed 5 targeted spells to be soaked by the meditating monk as antico said.