Mistweaver Monk Guide

[MixelPlx]

This guide has been updated on September 24th(RELEASE). – EGTactics

I know this guide hasen't been edited at all to reflect changes I myself and others have found out through raiding since release. Over the weekend(10/20 - 10/22), I plan on updating a handful of things . Your feedback is what helps the community with a quality guide! Thank you for your patience and I promise to get this guide updated soonest.

Updates soon to come:

• Healing Styles to reflect some of the "well-known" ways of raid healing.
• Gear list to be updated for raiding(Normal and Heroic iLvl)
• .. and much more!

Hello Folks!

I'm EGTactics, a die-hard fan of the Warcraft franchise that has been healing on every class since launch. I've leveled a Monk in beta as Mistweaver from 1-90 so I could give you the best straight forward, to the point information in understanding this new class from the ground up! This guide will be updated throughout Mists of Pandaria and beyond.

This guide consists of the basics of playing a Mistweaver Monk. Updates will be put on our website first, End Game Tactics; I will update this as time allows.
You can visit our website for more advanced rotation guides and video tutorials.
Please help improve the guide from corrections, additions, or alterations in the replies below.

Changelog

• September(24) - Faction list and Addon section has been added. More will be added once we're past release.
• September(21) - Gear list has been cleaned up a bit. Faction portion will be added by end of today.
• September(16) - "Je'lyu has been added to the pre-raid gear list. Plan on adding the "Which faction do I choose first?" section either today or Monday.
• August(25) - Pre-raid gear list has been added to the guide. Factions will be added 8/26/2012.
• August(24) - Gear lists are in the process of being added, faction gear lists will slowly follow.

Table of Contents

• Talents

• Talent Discussion

• Stats

• Reforging

• Enchanting

• Gear Lists

• How-to-Gem

• Glyphs
• Spell Priority
• Add-ons
• Heirloom Lists

Talent Discussion

Level.15 - I’ve decided to select Celerity which grants another charge of Roll, and works very well with Chi Torpedo. Another temporary choice could Momentum if the fight requires a jolt of movement speed boost. Tiger's Lust is meant for PVP but could turn out to be useful if a tank requires to move quickly.

Level.30 - The 2nd talent tree is focused on what the fight requires, changing what is necessary for the fight. Chi Wave is the most logical choice for Dungeons. Chi Burst is currently coming out on top for raiding. Zen Sphere requiring 4 Chi to fully activate is terrible(ATM).

Level.45 - For Dungeons or PVP, Chi Brew allows you to output some fast burst heals with abilities that use Chi as a resource. As for raiding(10 & 25), you need to go the mana efficient route. This is where Power Strikes really shines as you can stack up Mana Tea very fast while still doing some healing.

Level.60 - Leg Sweep has turned out to be very useful for dungeons and raids, especially during boss encounters. Deadly Reach is amazing in PVP and is great if you can get to them before the receive any de-buffs(canceling out your CC). I haven’t found a use for Charging Ox Wave just yet due to the cooldown it has and how easy it is to avoid.

Level.75 - Healing Elixirs is amazing for Mistweavers as it procs every other time we drink Mana Tea. It has a 15sec internal cooldown and 10% of total HP is nice. If PVP is your thing, Diffuse Magic is great for removing those nasty magic de-buffs stacking on you and also redirecting them onto the caster!

Level.90 - With the changes to Spinning Crane Kick, every choice on the Level 90 talent tree is finally useful. I like to rotate between Rushing Jade Wind and Chi Torpedo as they don’t have a 3min cooldown tied to them. Invoke Xuen, the White Tiger is considered another healing cooldown as the damage it does goes off as Eminence healing. Xuen's damage scales with Tiger Power so make sure to keep up x3 stacks while it's up.

Reforging
I'll be providing a list on what stats you should be reforging towards. This is early beta and isn't final.

• 1.0- Intellect
• 1.1- 1350 Haste
• 1.2- Spirit
• 1.3- Mastery

__________________

• 1.4- 1350+ Haste
• 1.5- Crit

Enchants

Cloak

• Enchant Cloak - Superior Intellect - Permanently enchants a cloak to increase Intellect by 180.

Chest

• Enchant Chest - Glorious Stats - Permanently enchants chest armor to increase all stats by 80.
  or
• Enchant Chest - Mighty Spirit - Permanently enchants chest armor to increase Spirit by 200.

Bracers

• Enchant Bracer - Super Intellect - Permanently enchants bracers to increase Intellect by 170.

Gloves

• Enchant Bracer - Greater Haste

Boots

• Enchant Boots - Pandaren's Step - Permanently enchants a pair of boots to increase movement speed slightly and mastery by 140.
  or
• Enchant Boots - Greater Haste - Permanently enchants a pair of boots to increase haste by 175.

Weapon

• Enchant Off-Hand - Major Intellect - Permanently enchants a shield or off-hand item to increase Intellect by 165.
• Enchant Weapon - Jade Spirit - Permanently enchants a melee weapon to sometimes increase your Intellect by 1,650 when healing or dealing damage with spells. If less than 25% of your mana remains when the effect is triggered, your Spirit will also increase by 750.

Rings (Enchanter Only)

• Enchant Ring - Greater Intellect - Permanently enchants your ring to increase Intellect by 160.

Gear Lists
This is something I've been a lot of requests for and here you go! I will add a BiS list once beta is down and items are finalized.
We've also added reforge and gemming section for those confused on what to do with their gear!


Pre-Raid Cheatsheet
(Hover over the item for details on where you can them.)
Note: Make sure to have this ready to go for Mists launch!
Update: "Which faction should I go for first?" section will be added prior to launch."

Helm	Hood of Viridian Residue	No Enchant, Reforge Crit > Mastery| Revitalizing Primal Diamond/ Sparkling River's Heart
Neck	Necklace of Disorientation	None
Shoulder	Incarnadine Scarlet Spaulders	Greater Crane Wing Inscription, Reforge Crit > Mastery| Purified Imperial Amethyst
Back	Cloak of Hidden Flasks	Superior Intellect
Chest	Chestguard of Despair	Mighty Spirit, Sparkling River's Heart (Alternate Choice: Purified Imperial Amethyst)
Wrist	Star Summoner Bracers	Super Intellect
Hands	Rattling Gloves	Superior Mastery
Waist	Hurricane Belt	Living Steel Belt Buckle, Sparkling River's Heart
Legs	Darkbinder Leggings	Greater Pearlescent Spellthread, Reforge Haste > Mastery, Sparkling River's Heart (Alternate Choice: Purified Imperial Amethyst)
Feet	Airstream Treads	Pandaren’s Step, Sparkling River's Heart (Alternate Choice: Artful Vermilion Onyx)
Ring (1)	Viscous Ring	None
Ring (2)	Beastbinder Ring	Reforge Crit > Mastery
Trinket (1)	Price of Progress	None
Trinket (2)	Vial of Ichorous Blood	None
Weapon	Je’lyu, Spirit of the Serpent	Jade Spirit
Off-Hand	Inscribed Red Fan	Major Intellect
Alternate Off-Hand	Bottle of Potent Potables	Major Intellect, Reforge Haste > Spirit

How-to-Gem
Note: This section will be updated frequently once stats are finalized.
For the first tier, stack all spirit gems til you feel comfortable switching into different gems.
Gems we recommend picking are labeled with a (*).

Blue:
Sparkling River's Heart(+320 Spirit)*
JC Exclusive: Sparkling Serpent's Eye(+480 Spirit)
Purified Imperial Amethyst(+80 Intellect and +160 Spirit)*
Timeless Imperial Amethyst(+80 Intellect and +120 Stamina)
Red:
Brilliant Primordial Ruby(+160 Intellect)
JC Exclusive: Brilliant Primordial Ruby(+320 Intellect)
Yellow:
Reckless Vermilion Onyx(+80 Intellect and +160 Haste)
Potent Vermilion Onyx(+80 Intellect and +160 Critical Strike)
Artful Vermilion Onyx(+80 Intellect and +160 Mastery)*
Meta:
Ember Primal Diamond(+216 Intellect and +2% Maximum Mana)*
Revitalizing Primal Diamond(+432 Spirit and 3% Increased Critical Effect)
Burning Primal Diamond(+216 Intellect and 3% Increased Critical Effect)


Factions? Which do I choose?

You're going to want to finish each faction eventually but here are our recommendations on which you should tackle first.
Note: I'll follow this up with other factions you should follow it up with.

The Klaxxi (1st Choice):

• Links of the Lucid
• Klaxxi Lash of the Harbinger
• Wind-Reaver Greaves
• Sudden Insight Bracers
• Amber Saber of Klaxxi'vess < Wowhead Link
• Amber Scythe of Klaxxi'vess < Wowhead Link

Other factions soon to be added to the list!

Mistweaver Glyphs
Glyphs I pick are labeled with a (*).

Major:

• Glyph of Zen Meditation*
• Glyph of Life Cocoon
• Glyph of Mana Tea*
• Glyph of Fortifying Brew
• Glyph of Renewing Mists*
• Glyph of Spinning Crane Kick

Minor:

• Glyph of Water Roll*
• Glyph of Zen Flight*
• Glyph of Spirit Roll*
• Glyph of Jab
• Glyph of Honor
• Glyph of Crackling Tiger Lightning
• Glyph of Fighting Pose

*Remember to always drop your Jade Serpent Statue before every boss pull!
These are the different spell rotations that I've used that seem to be effective.

Make sure to use Brewing: Mana Tea when you need mana, don't fall behind or you will regret it!

Single Target
(Requires 2 Chi)

• 1.0 Renewing Mists
• 1.1 Soothing Mists
• 1.2 Chi Burst or Chi Wave
• 1.3 Soothing Mists

Area-of-Effect (1)
(Requires 4 Chi, Uplift based)

• 1.0 Renewing Mists
• 1.1 Thunder Focus Tea
• 1.2 Uplift
• 1.3 Soothing Mists
• 1.4 Uplift

Area-of-Effect (2)
(Requires 4 Chi, and taking Chi Burst)

• 1.0 Renewing Mists
• 1.1 Chi Burst (Line up as if you were doing Light of Dawn)
• 1.2 Soothing Mists (Till you have 2 or 4 Chi)
• 1.3 Chi Burst (Line up as if you were doing Light of Dawn)

Area-of-Effect (3)
(Requires 4 Chi, and taking Zen Sphere)

• 1.0 Renewing Mists
• 1.1 Renewing Mists
• 1.2 Soothing Mists
• 1.2 Zen Sphere(Explode at the last few seconds)

Healing through damage

• Crackling Jade Lightning - With Eminence, this allows us to heal through our damage. While we won't be able to do this a lot, there are going to be moments where doing damage is better then sitting by idle.

• When channeling this, you have a 25% chance to gain 1 Chi.

Melee healing Rotation
(This rotation will help you prepare yourself for Serpent's Zeal healing).
Before a boss pull, make sure to be capped at (4) or (5) Chi, depending if you took Ascension.

• 1.0 Blackout Kick
• 1.1 Renewing Mists(Tank, or lowest HP target)
• 1.2 Blackout Kick
• 1.3 Brewing: Mana Tea
• 1.4 Renewing Mists
• 1.5 Jab
• 1.6 Tiger Palm
• 1.7 Tiger Palm
• 1.8 Tiger Palm

Maintaining Serpents Zeal is essential. Your healing output will increase withTiger Power stacks but if you cant maintain keeping it up, make sure to not let Zeal drop as it takes 4 Chi to get 2 stacks.

Here are a handful of addons that I recommend you try out. I'll add UI compilations in the next couple of days for those that would rather download an entire UI instead of bits and pieces. - EGTactics

• Deadly Boss Mods
• BigWigs Bossmod
• Recount
• OmniCC
• WeakAuras
• Power Auras Classic
• Clique
• TellMeWhen

Heirlooms
Here is a list of heirloom options you could use for Mistweaver!
Some are available now, some are not. Make sure you get these before launch!

Armor

• Preened Tribal War Feathers
• Preened Ironfeather Breastplate
• Preened Ironfeather Shoulders
• Lasting Feralheart Spaulders
• Ancient Bloodmoon Cloak
• Preened Wildfeather Leggings*NEW

Accessories

• Discerning Eye of the Beast
• Swift Hand of Justice
• Dread Pirate Ring

Weapons

• Dignified Headmaster's Charge
• Grand Staff of Jordan

[Tatuin]

For me chi torpedo is working, doing both dmg and healing on ppl. Someone said it didnt work if you had the clearity talent at lvl 15. I have momentum and it works fine

Oh and it would be cool if you tried out melee healing and write about that or say if you wont go that way. And incase you do how you are doing melee healing.

I been trying it out but havent really got a good "rotation" on it. Since atm for me RM arent working.

And im not totaly amazed at our 90 talents. Seams booring and dont do much healing. But that maby need tweaks

[MixelPlx]

For me chi torpedo is working, doing both dmg and healing on ppl. someone said it didnt work if you had the clearity talent at lvl 15. i have momentum and it works fine

Interesting. I'll have to try that out and edit the guide accordingly. Ty

[Stormykitten]

I'm still on the fence about zen sphere and chi burst. I agree Chi wave is finicky as well as underpowered atm, even for windwalkers - Zen sphere is vastly superior single and Chi burst in aoe unless there was a change the last build.

Zen sphere is better when you need to be mobile (pvp, occasional pve) and I really find it nice in that you can just leave it on someone that you know will be close to a big aoe hit, and not have to stand a certain way to use it for the Aoe. It is a pretty strong HoT otherwise. The fact that it works like a 'bomb' when you really need it is its strong point tho imo.

On the other hand, Chi burst can absolutely produce more healing output if things align accordingly. I suspect it will indeed be too good not to take if there are DS-style fights like Ultraxion or Madness, where your raid is gathered in a relatively small area.

Otherwise, good starter guide I mostly agree with the other choices, and if I got to ask something out of the devs it'd be to give rushing jade wind more than just one off damage (now that they seem to have removed speedy spin?) to make it more attractive.

[MixelPlx]

I'm still on the fence about zen sphere and chi burst. I agree Chi wave is finicky as well as underpowered atm.

Zen sphere is better when you need to be mobile (pvp, occasional pve) and I really find it nice in that you can just leave it on someone that you know will be close to a big aoe hit, and not have to stand a certain way to use it for the Aoe. It is a pretty strong HoT otherwise. The fact that it works like a 'bomb' when you really need it is its strong point tho imo.

On the other hand, Chi burst can absolutely produce more healing output if things align accordingly. I suspect it will indeed be too good not to take if there are DS-style fights like Ultraxion or Madness, where your raid is gathered in a relatively small area.

Otherwise, good starter guide I mostly agree with the other choices, and if I got to ask something out of the devs it'd be to give rushing jade wind more than just one off damage (now that they seem to have removed speedy spin?) to make it more attractive.

Honestly, the level 30 bracket really does come down to the fight or instance you're currently in.
Boss fight has a lot of adds? Use Chi Burst or Zen Sphere
Boss fight doesn't have a lot of adds? Use Chi Wave

I tried out all three and ended up using Chi Burst more. Others seem useless ATM, we'll see how they fair up in a raid scene.
As for "Rushing Jade Wind" and they recent changes to it, they will probably change the ability entirely. Its fairly useless for all specs(IMO of course).

Otherwise, good starter guide

TY!

[Apellosine]

As for major glyphs I prefer "Glyph of Renewing Mist" over "Glyph of Life Cocoon", the 40yd bounce range is handy when people are a little spread out and also "Glyph of Mana Tea" instead of "Glyph of Surging Mist".

Also I've found good single target spells to be Soothing Mist+ Enveloping Mist to be my standard tank healing rotation, throw in surging when needed for some burst. This gives a decent chi production and the chi use from Enveloping Mist builds up your tea stacks which can be used on the run with the "Glyph of Mana Tea", it's usually better to use these on cd if it won't cap your mana pool.

For aoe situations I use Chi Burst, renewing mist + uplift, have not found that Spinning Crane Kick is very good yet, I think that the AP bonus that Mistweavers should be getting isn't working as intended yet as can be noted by the problems with Zen Sphere.

Most of my group healing on bosses simply comes from Soothing Mist + Statue copy, merely concentrating on the tank most of the time.

[Lucyrotten]

Good starter guide!! I was looking for something to see what other people are doing.

I've been looking over our spells and talents and trying to fudge a stat weighting for myself and it seems like haste is probably at the bottom since the only thing that will really benefit from it is Soothing Mist and although that will play a prominent role in our healing rotation, we have mostly instant heals to work with so it seems like haste should fall behind crit and mastery. The question then becomes which of those pulls ahead. The increased chance to produce a healing sphere seems like a decent mastery and may play differently at end game but I see a lot of green balls floating around that are going to waste. I would almost argue that crit might pull ahead in the short term even though in general I'm not a fan of rng healing. Crit will add to damage/healing spec though in the form of increased damage so the stat priorities might differ slightly in that case.

[Lyriok]

Great guide, If you need any assistance feel free to ask. Rolling Mistweaver Monk for my main and i'd love to contribute anyway I can.

Acension and Chi brew is a difficult choice, At the moment it seems that we will have alot of variations depending on the fight. Chi brew would obviously as you've stated be great for burst healing while Acension will be great for sustaining.

[MixelPlx]

As for major glyphs I prefer "Glyph of Renewing Mist" over "Glyph of Life Cocoon", the 40yd bounce range is handy when people are a little spread out and also "Glyph of Mana Tea" instead of "Glyph of Surging Mist".

I've recently switched to Glyph of Renewing Mist (Extremely useful for instances, always someone who wants to run off max distance) and it works wonders.

As for Glyph of Mana Tea, I've edited the guide to reflect a better option than Surging Mist.
If you're using some sort of mouseovers, the glyph goes to waste IMO.

Good starter guide!! I was looking for something to see what other people are doing.

I've been looking over our spells and talents and trying to fudge a stat weighting for myself and it seems like haste is probably at the bottom since the only thing that will really benefit from it is Soothing Mist and although that will play a prominent role in our healing rotation, we have mostly instant heals to work with so it seems like haste should fall behind crit and mastery. The question then becomes which of those pulls ahead. The increased chance to produce a healing sphere seems like a decent mastery and may play differently at end game but I see a lot of green balls floating around that are going to waste. I would almost argue that crit might pull ahead in the short term even though in general I'm not a fan of rng healing. Crit will add to damage/healing spec though in the form of increased damage so the stat priorities might differ slightly in that case.

Currently the guide has stat priority listed as (Spirit -> Haste -> Mastery -> Crit).
This only really for beta and I can see Mastery and Crit being very potent stats in the future.

Once people learn to actually walk over Healing Spheres, a lot of our heals wont be wasted and mastery will be more appealing.
As for Crit, it effects both healing and damage equally and will definitely require more theorycrafting.

[Lyriok]

Im not in beta so unable to test things out but is Spirit really a high priority? That honestly surprises me especially with mana tea for regen. as currently I play resto druid and most druids reforge spirit off now.

As for the glyphs I can't really agree with them, Only in a PvP situation I can.

Glyph of Renewing Mists seems like a must have for PvE

Is it safe to assume Glyph of Uplift is for Tank healing?

[MixelPlx]

Im not in beta so unable to test things out but is Spirit really a high priority? That honestly surprises me especially with mana tea for regen. as currently I play resto druid and most druids reforge spirit off now.

As for the glyphs I can't really agree with them, Only in a PvP situation I can.

Glyph of Renewing Mists seems like a must have for PvE

Is it safe to assume Glyph of Uplift is for Tank healing?

Yes it is a high priority.
Everyone has the same flat amount of mana, and while we gain an ability to regen, you still have to spend mana to regen mana.

Glyph of Uplift is pretty bad and probably wont use it. Uplift is great and what makes it stand out is the extra time it adds to Renewing Mists. Once you take that away, can't see using 2 Chi for a mediocre "Circle of Healing" type ability.

[Lyriok]

I don't mean to be annoying im just looking forward to rolling a mistweaver and enjoy discussing it.

With the aoe healing you have 3 ways listed.

With the spells on wowhead the scaling isn't listed at all purely with the base numbers uplift seems to be the better use of chi due to leading with an extra 3550 healing done how much do they currently scale with sp? Is there a clear winner yet or is it all situational

Currently on my phone so a bit tedious to figure out the numbers right now but Chi burst should then pull ahead with the 50% from Jade serpent statue being brought into the picture

[Yorgl]

It might be my lack of ability to manage my ressources as a Mistweaver (I'm more used to the BM gameplay), but I find Ascension really really useful, as it can happen often to overcap chi with only 4 chi "slots". One of the reasons of this, is because I don't use my Chi asap, but I sometimes store it beacuse no big heal needs to be done, at this moment.

[Tatuin]

Well i do think haste will be important for melee healers. Since it does reduce the time betwen hits. And wiht the BoK buff we get it might be very usefull

[Slowpoke is a Gamer]

You posted one build, I use a totally different talent build.


Mission accomplished.

[MixelPlx]

You posted one build, I use a totally different talent build.


Mission accomplished.

/cheers!

Builds vary from fight to fight. The build posted above is a all around build focused towards the current content of beta(Heroic 5's).
Not to mention, some people might try the build I've recommended and not like a certain ability. This is the great thing about the new talent system.

Fit it to your play-style.

[Lyriok]

Well i do think haste will be important for melee healers. Since it does reduce the time betwen hits. And wiht the BoK buff we get it might be very usefull

That is true, nothing is yet final and the optimal way to heal is yet to be figured out.

At this current time it all seems very situational which is a great thing but since it is Beta it could change depending on how Blizzard want it to be.

[MixelPlx]

Well i do think haste will be important for melee healers. Since it does reduce the time betwen hits. And wiht the BoK buff we get it might be very usefull

Forgot to reply to this last night >.<!

Haste also effects Renewing Mists.

I'm very interested to see how Mastery/Crit fair out in the end.

[Lyriok]

Will be interesting I can see crit pulling ahead as our heals and abilities will have a higher crit chance.

Im sort of scared of the mastery, I can imagine it being Lightwell 2.0 especially on fights with movement.

[reale]

Quick Chi Burst macro

Normally you'd do:
#showtooltip
/cast [@mouseover] Chi Burst

But that will give a "You have no target."

This one works just fine. Makes it easier to cast imo:
#showtooltip
/target [@mouseover]
/cast Chi Burst
/targetlasttarget