State of a monk for returning player

[Vasilisa]

I've had a break for over half a year and now I decided to return to Wow.

I've been playing raiding untill 5/13 mythic Hellfire Citadel and had to stop due to rl reasons. I've been mostly player brewmaster and a bit of windwalker (mostly when questing / solo / doing old raids).

How is monk right now? Mostly tank and dps. I'm not familiar a lot with new changes, I've read that we've lost Guard. Didn't it make Brewmaster too squishy? Or I will still be fine once I catch up with new mechanics?

I'm currently trying to decide which char to take as main ( I'll only have enough time to play one char) - monk (my main since MOP vs paladin (my main during TBC - Cataclysm). Is brewmaster still a fun spec with different abilities and quite versatile with tools for different situation? What about self-sustain?

That's my monk main: http://eu.battle.net/wow/en/characte...trixe/advanced

[Jademist]

Brewmaster, as far as I have seen from our main guild tank and friend of mine who plays Brewmaster, is great. It focuses more on brews for active mitigation and according to my friend it's great. He didn't feel as squishy (nor did I notice him any squishier than he used to be as a healer in my guild). I'd suggest trying it out yourself.

Windwalker is, in my honest opinion, more fun with the new mastery and taking the Hit Combo talent route. It's more engaging, and its DPS is actually pretty up there.

[Kiljaedon]

Monks are heavily buffed now. In pvp and pvp all specs are viable from my understanding. It is for WW and mist weaver they are in the upper tiers for the dps and healer spots now. Dunno about Brew.

[Teekey]

I think Brewmaster is in an okay spot comparative to how the other tanks got changed/pruned. But I have to say, the Brewmaster play style feels pretty gutted compared to how it was before.

I really dislike the lack of self-sustain. Vengeance Demon Hunters feel more like the old Brewmasters than the current iteration, in some ways.

[Cempa]

Monks are heavily buffed now. In pvp and pvp all specs are viable from my understanding. It is for WW and mist weaver they are in the upper tiers for the dps and healer spots now. Dunno about Brew.

While I agree with you 100% i'd like to add that Monk is more than viable and that they are doing really well now .. Please note that at least WW has a large number of buttons to press as compared to other DPS builds .. So if you enjoyed monk pre changes you will LOVE monk now ..

PvP wise WW is THE most mobile and I think with line of sight can not be killed 1v1 at all .. BrM in PvP is scary and needs to be kited ..

[Xiaojin]

WW is in a good place right now. The gameplay is really fun (so much in fact that it kept me with my monk even though I planned on re-rolling due to the BrM changes), especially with Hit Combo. Assuming the talents are/get properly balanced, I can imagine that Combo Strikes themselves without Hit Combo are engaging enough if you want the spec to be a little easier, i.e., not get punished as much for failing Combo Strikes once. There still is the perceived lack of raid utility but with a good AoE stun, good damage reduction (even though no longer quite as insanely good as before), nice absorb shield, and movement speed for others (aura + Tiger's Lust) WWs still can help out a lot with mechanics. From my experience in HFC, I may not be a rogue or DK (mass grip's gone for DPS DKs btw), but I still brought useful utility to the raid. For example I helped with soaking black holes on Mythic Xhul (Dampen Harm + Fortifying Brew + Touch of Karma + a little bit of Disc Priest shielding = enough to solo soak a hole) and I was usually the first choice for AoE stunning. Some people may not want to accept it, but outside of the world first race it matters so much more that you play your spec well instead of having chosen the "right" spec.

Regarding BrMs, we definitely lost a lot of self-sustain and need more external healing than before. Feels really bad IMHO if you're used to the old gameplay, especially since other tanks (notably Blood DKs) haven't lost quite as much self-sustain. Feels a bit like an unfair nerf, as if BrMs got hit harder than other tanks (all got nerfs). The important word here is "feels". BrMs are still really good tanks, the combination of Stagger + Ironskin Brew + Purifying Brew can be really strong if used well. For someone who played BrM before it just may not necessarily feel that way. For example I generally feel weak and helpess as compared to before the patch when I play BrM. I don't get the same feeling (at least not quite as pronounced) on my Blood DK. I'd say the shared Brew charges make BrM's active mitigation harder to use well compared to other tanks. For other tanks it is easier to understand when to use which button ("use this against phys. damage and that against mag. damage" or "keep this buff up and use that other button when your health drops"). Brews require a little more planning/deciding since PB provides better mitigation when your Stagger is high but you need IsB, which shares charges with PB, to actually get that high Stagger. Personally, I actually enjoy that part of BrM's gameplay (Brews). What I really hate is Gift of the Ox though. Always have, probably always will. Admittedly, with the boss movement changes and the new Expel Harm it's not quite as bad as before, but I still don't like it. Ignoring talents for a moment, GotO is BrM's only self-heal now. It has been reworked to be reliable now. Old EH and Guard are gone. That might affect how much you enjoy BrMs as well. For me, as I said before, it's a negative change.

[Vasilisa]

Thanks a lot for the answers. Guess I'll look into new guides and see how I should play now. Even I know I will miss self sustain (guard T_T) it seems that monk is still fun to play.

Thanks a lot!

[EbullientPrism]

WW is in a good place right now. The gameplay is really fun (so much in fact that it kept me with my monk even though I planned on re-rolling due to the BrM changes), especially with Hit Combo. Assuming the talents are/get properly balanced, I can imagine that Combo Strikes themselves without Hit Combo are engaging enough if you want the spec to be a little easier, i.e., not get punished as much for failing Combo Strikes once. There still is the perceived lack of raid utility but with a good AoE stun, good damage reduction (even though no longer quite as insanely good as before), nice absorb shield, and movement speed for others (aura + Tiger's Lust) WWs still can help out a lot with mechanics. From my experience in HFC, I may not be a rogue or DK (mass grip's gone for DPS DKs btw), but I still brought useful utility to the raid. For example I helped with soaking black holes on Mythic Xhul (Dampen Harm + Fortifying Brew + Touch of Karma + a little bit of Disc Priest shielding = enough to solo soak a hole) and I was usually the first choice for AoE stunning. Some people may not want to accept it, but outside of the world first race it matters so much more that you play your spec well instead of having chosen the "right" spec.

Regarding BrMs, we definitely lost a lot of self-sustain and need more external healing than before. Feels really bad IMHO if you're used to the old gameplay, especially since other tanks (notably Blood DKs) haven't lost quite as much self-sustain. Feels a bit like an unfair nerf, as if BrMs got hit harder than other tanks (all got nerfs). The important word here is "feels". BrMs are still really good tanks, the combination of Stagger + Ironskin Brew + Purifying Brew can be really strong if used well. For someone who played BrM before it just may not necessarily feel that way. For example I generally feel weak and helpess as compared to before the patch when I play BrM. I don't get the same feeling (at least not quite as pronounced) on my Blood DK. I'd say the shared Brew charges make BrM's active mitigation harder to use well compared to other tanks. For other tanks it is easier to understand when to use which button ("use this against phys. damage and that against mag. damage" or "keep this buff up and use that other button when your health drops"). Brews require a little more planning/deciding since PB provides better mitigation when your Stagger is high but you need IsB, which shares charges with PB, to actually get that high Stagger. Personally, I actually enjoy that part of BrM's gameplay (Brews). What I really hate is Gift of the Ox though. Always have, probably always will. Admittedly, with the boss movement changes and the new Expel Harm it's not quite as bad as before, but I still don't like it. Ignoring talents for a moment, GotO is BrM's only self-heal now. It has been reworked to be reliable now. Old EH and Guard are gone. That might affect how much you enjoy BrMs as well. For me, as I said before, it's a negative change.

Is there a guide for WW monks you recommend? I'm already looking into icy veins, just wondering if there was something else too.

[Rothesh]

http://www.walkingthewind.com/ is the go-to site for all your ww monk needs.

[Xiaojin]

Icy Veins, Walking the Wind and this forum (WW threads/stickies) are all good resources. Basically, if it says Babylonius, who is also a mod here, contributed, you can be reasonably sure that it's a good guide. He contributed to/wrote the IV WW guide, WtW, this forum, posts on reddit (/r/wow) and can be found in the Monk Discord channel (or whatever these things are called on Discord). WtW and this forum also have contributions from other good players as well, so those are probably the best Monk-specific resources as you not only get Baby's great advice but also the PoV of other Monks.