5.2 Recap for Windwalkers
Updated stat values
5.2 gives us a lot more freedom in what stats to go for, as all stats can be good depending on the situation and your gear.
I'd first like to address the haste soft-cap. While this was at 4K in 5.1, the change to mastery means that Combo Breaker will proc a lot less often. This means that it will take more haste to be able to fill every GCD. Good values to go for now are between 6 and 8k, depending on what setbonuses you have, how comfortable you are with your rotation, your latency, etc. Personally I like to stay just below 7k.
After reaching the haste soft-cap, there's 3 recommended ways to gem and reforge:
1. No T15 4set bonus and no Rune of Re-Origination trinket: hit/exp caps > haste softcap > agility > crit > mastery > haste beyond softcap > hit beyond softcap
Red sockets: pure agility
Yellow sockets: agility + crit
Blue sockets: agility + hit
2. You got the T15 4set bonus and good gear, but no Rune of Re-Origination: hit/exp caps > haste softcap > agility > mastery >= crit > haste beyond softcap > hit beyond softcap
Red sockets: pure agility
Yellow sockets: agility + mastery
Blue sockets: agility + hit
3 Rune of Re-Origination: hit/exp caps > enough mastery to make it your highest secondary stat (without raidbuff) > haste softcap > crit > haste beyond the softcap > more mastery than is needed to make it your highest stat > agility > hit beyond the softcap
Red sockets: expertise/agility + haste/mastery/crit (expertise gems will give you more secondary stats to play with, but take care to not go over the expertise cap)
Yellow sockets: pure haste/mastery/crit
Blue sockets: hit + haste/mastery/crit
What gems to use will vary a lot, and it's not weird to use 5 different kinds of gems in different parts of your gear.
Ideally your stats will look something like this:
haste: 6.5k (softcap)
mastery: 6.6k (just above haste)
crit: 5.5k (rest into crit as long as it stays below mastery)
As you gain better gear, all 3 of your secondary stats should stay very close to each other, with mastery being slightly ahead of the other two.
New
- Mastery: Bottled Fury (level 80)
Bottled Fury increases the damage bonus provided by Tigereye Brew by 1.6% per stack. Every 300 mastery increases the damage bonus by 0.1% per stack.
- Storm, Earth and Fire (level 75)
The Windwalker can summon up to 2 elemental duplicates that mirror damaging abilities that the Monk uses while they are active. For each spirit summoned, the Monk's damage is reduced: 1 spirit causes the Monk and the spirit to deal 60% of the Monk's normal damage, while 2 spirits will cause the Monk and both active spirits to deal 45% of the Monk's normal damage. Each spirit lasts until the ability is canceled, that spirit's target dies or otherwise becomes unavailable, or they're killed (they can be targeted and have 10% of the Monk's health). When using Fist of Fury, the stun effect will only apply from the Monk (not the spirits).
- Nimble Brew (level 30)
Nimble Brew removes all stun, fear, and root effects, and reduces the duration of those effects if they are reapplied by 60% for 6 seconds. It has a 2-minute cooldown.
- Ring of Peace (level 60 talent. Replaces Deadly Reach which is built into Paralysis now)
Ring of Peace forms an 8 yard sanctuary around a friendly target for 8 seconds, disabling enemy player auto-attacks in PvP, and causing all enemies (both players and NPCs) in the area of effect to be disarmed for the duration. In addition, enemies that cast a damaging spell while within the area of effect will be silenced for 3 seconds. The ability has a 45-second cooldown.
- 2T15 Bonus
Your Chi generating abilities have a 15% chance to generate an Energy Sphere, which will grant you 10 Energy when you walk through it.
- 4T15 Bonus
You have a 10% chance to gain an additional charge of Tigereye Brew every time you gain a charge of Tigereye Brew
- Rune of Re-Origination
Equip: When your attacks hit you have a chance to trigger Re-Origination. Re-Origination converts all of your Critical Strike, Haste, and Mastery into the highest of those three attributes for 10 sec.
This trinket combined with our new mastery and T15 setbonuses has the potential to be extremely powerful. See the forum thread about it: http://www.mmo-champion.com/threads/...of-origination
Changed
- Rising Sun Kick
Rising Sun Kick now increases your damage to the target by +10%, down from +15%.
- Spear Hand Strike
Spear Hand Strike no longer has an energy cost.
Spear Hand Strike used on a target that's facing the Monk silences them for 2 seconds (was 4 seconds).
- Touch of Karma
Touch of Karma no longer has a Chi cost.
- Brewing: Tigereye Brew
Brewing: Tigereye Brew now gains 1 charge after spending 3 Chi (was 4 Chi), increases damage by 1% per stack (was 2%), can stack to 20 but only 10 charges can be consumed per activation, and a user interface alert displays upon reaching 10 charges. Stacks of Tigereye Brew are cleared at the start of a raid encounter. This ability is improved by Bottled Fury (new mastery).
- Combo Breaker
Combo Breaker is now a passive ability granted at level 15 that grants a 12% chance to make the Monk's next Blackout Kick or Tiger Palm cost no Chi.
- Tiger's Lust
Tiger's Lust no longer has a Chi cost.
Tiger's Lust can no longer be used on targets that have other temporary speed increases active.
- Chi Wave
Chi Wave now does 100% more damage and 14% less healing, and no longer costs Chi, and has a 15-second cooldown.
- Chi Burst
Chi Burst now does 69% more healing, no longer costs Chi, and has a 30-second cooldown.
- Zen Sphere
Zen Sphere now has a limit of 2 (was 1), detonates when either the recipient reaches 35% health or the Zen Sphere is dispelled, no longer costs Chi, and has a 10-second cooldown. Its periodic damage has been increased by 22%, periodic healing has been reduced by 61%, its detonation healing has been reduced by 62%, and detonation range has been increased by 40%.
- Dampen Harm
Dampen Harm can now be used while stunned, and its cooldown will now begin when used, not when the effect ends.
- Spinning Fire Blossom
Spinning Fire Blossoms’ damage has been adjusted to scale from weapon damage rather than attack power.
Unglyphed SFB doesn't refund Chi anymore when it misses.
- Healing Elixirs
Healing Elixirs now heals the Monk for 15% of maximum health (was 10%).
- Charging Ox Wave
Charging Ox Wave now has a 30-second cooldown (was 60 seconds).
- Paralysis
Paralysis is now a physical, non-magical effect, can no longer be dispelled, grounded or reflected, and its base range has been increased to 20 yards. The paralysis effect lasts 40 seconds (was 30 seconds) for non-player targets, 4 seconds when used against other players, and lasts 50% (was 200%) longer when used from behind a target.
Glyph of Path of Blossoms is now Glyph of Paralysis. This glyph causes the Monk's Paralysis ability to remove all damage-over-time effects on the target.
- Chi Torpedo
Chi Torpedo now deals 15% more damage.
- Diffuse Magic
New icon.
Removed
- Deadly Reach (built into Paralysis by default)
- Path of Blossoms
The Teachings of Xuen:
A Windwalker PvE Guide
1. Introduction
Pandaren masters have chosen to share their ancient martial arts with young fighters in both the Alliance and Horde. Harnessing their inner strength and potent "chi" energy, Monks are extremely capable in every role: damage, defense, and healing.
Monks are masters of bare-handed combat, choosing to draw their weapons only for devastating finishing moves. Monk healers bring harmony and balance to every group, healing even the most grievous of injuries with ancient remedies and focused spiritual arts. And few can hope to out-last the unquenchable prowess of the Monk Brewmaster, whose empowering beverages and unpredictable combat style allow them to absorb incredible amounts of punishment.
This guide will focus on the damage dealing specialization, also known as Windwalker.
Monks are associated with the August Celestials in Pandaria; Xuen, the White Tiger, is the patron of the Windwalkers, Yu'lon, the Jade Serpent is associated with Mistweavers, and Niuzao, the Black Ox with Brewmasters. Consequently, many windwalker abilities have a tiger theme to them.
How to pronounce Xuen
In the Pinyin transliteration of Mandarin Chinese, the 'x' is used to represent a variation of the 'sh' sound like in 'sheep', but with the tongue positioned behind the lower teeth. The u is pronounced like the 'oo' in 'room', and 'en' is pronounced like the 'an' in 'fan'. source
1.1 Weapons
Monks can equip two-handed staves and polearms, and dual-wield one-handed maces, swords, axes and fist weapons. While nearly no monk abilities use weapons in their animations, the stats of your equipped weapons are still used in the damage/healing calculations. So make sure you have the best weapons you can get!
Dual wielding is generally preferred over two-handed. With equal ilvl, dualwield will outperform 2h by quite a bit. If your DW weapons are lower ilvl than your 2h, the difference will be smaller or even in favor of 2h.
1.2 Resources
Chi
Chi is the primary resource of a windwalker monk, and is used by nearly all important damaging abilities. Abilities cost 1-3 chi, and monks can have up to 4 chi at any time (up to 5 with the Ascension talent).
Energy
To generate Chi, a second resource is used: Energy. This works the same way as energy does for rogues and feral druids; it generates at a rate of 10 per second, increased by haste. Energy is consumed by chi-generating abilities like Jab, Expel Harm and Spinning Crane Kick, as well as some other utility abilities like our interrupt (Spear Hand Strike). Since 5.1, Ascension also increases energy regeneration by 15%.
1.3 Abilities
Melee
Jab
40 Energy. Melee range. You Jab the target, dealing X damage and generating 1 Chi.
- In Stance of the Fierce Tiger, generates 2 Chi.
- The only monk attack to use your equipped weapon in its animation
- Can be glyphed to not use the weapon (Glyph of Jab)
- Can be talented to generate 1 additional Chi every 20 seconds (Power Strikes)
- Will change depending on what weapon is equipped, altering the Monk's fighting style appearance. Damage and resource cost remain the same. (Fighting Style)
Blackout Kick
2 Chi. Melee range. Kick with a blast of Chi energy, dealing X Physical damage. If behind the target, you deal an additional 20% damage over 4 sec. If in front of the target, you are instantly healed for 20% of the damage done.
- Can be glyphed to never heal and always deal 20% additional damage over 4 sec, regardless of positioning (Glyph of Blackout Kick).
- The DoT works similar to deep wounds/ignite, rolling any remaining damage into the new dot if refreshed halfway.
Fists of Fury
3 Chi. 4 sec cast (Channeled). 25 sec cooldown. Pummel all targets in front of you with rapid hand strikes, stunning them and dealing X damage immediately and every 1 sec for 4 sec. Damage is spread evenly over all targets.
- Total damage is the same regardless of the number of targets it hits.
- Moving while channeling this spell will cancel the channel.
- Affected targets are determined separately for every tick, so turning around during the cast can be useful if the targets you're trying to hit move around (think of it as a cone of cold that fires 5 times).
- Can be glyphed to increase parry chance by 100% when channeling (Glyph of Fists of Fury)
Rising Sun Kick
2 Chi. Melee range. 8 sec cooldown. You kick upwards, dealing X damage and applying Mortal Wounds to the target. Also causes all targets within 8 yards to take an increased 10% damage from your abilities for 15 sec. Mortal Wounds: Grievously wounds the target, reducing the effectiveness of any healing received for 10 sec.
- Can be glyphed to match the colors of the white tiger, changing the orange-yellow to light blue (Glyph of Rising Tiger Kick).
Tiger Palm
1 Chi. Melee range. Attack with the palm of your hand, dealing X damage. Also grants you Tiger Power, causing your attacks to ignore 30% of enemies' armor for 20 sec.
Touch of Death
3 Chi. Melee range. 1.5 min cooldown. You exploit the enemy target's weakest point, instantly killing them. Only usable on non-player targets who have equal or less health than you.
- Can be glyphed to no longer have a Chi cost, but the cooldown is increased by 2 minutes (Glyph of Touch of Death).
- Can be glyphed to make you honorably bow after each successful Touch of Death (Glyph of Honor).
Ranged / AoE
Crackling Jade Lightning
0 Energy, plus 30 per sec. 40 yd range. Channels Jade lightning at the target, causing 1,182 Nature damage over 6 sec. When dealing damage, you have a 25% chance to generate 1 Chi. If the enemy attacks you within melee range while victim to Crackling Jade Lightning, they are knocked back a short distance. This effect has an 8 sec cooldown.
- Can be glyphed to knock the target back a further distance, and increase the damage the target takes from your CJL by 25% for 8 sec after being knocked back (Glyph of Crackling Jade Lightning).
- Can be glyphed to have it's visual altered to the color of the White Tiger celestial (Glyph of Crackling Tiger Lightning).
Path of Blossoms
30 Energy. You create a Fire Blossom at your feet every 1 sec for 3 sec. The blossom will last for 10 sec and deal 383 Fire damage to the first enemy that walks over it. Fire Blossoms cannot be created within 3 yards of an existing blossom.
- Can be glyphed to increase the number of Fire Blossoms you create by 1 (Glyph of Path of Blossoms).
Spinning Fire Blossom
1 Chi. 50 yd range. Deals 766 Fire damage to the first enemy target in front of you within 50 yards. If Spinning Fire Blossom travels further than 10 yards, the damage is increased by 50% and you root the target for 2 sec.
- Can be glyphed to require an enemy target rather than traveling in front of you, but it will no longer be capable of rooting targets (Glyph of Spinning Fire Blossom).
Spinning Crane Kick
40 Energy. You spin while kicking in the air, dealing X damage to all nearby enemies every 1 sec, within 8 yards. Movement speed is reduced by 30%. Generates 1 Chi, if it hits at least 3 targets. Lasts 3 sec. During Spinning Crane Kick, you can continue to dodge and parry.
- Can be glyphed to not reduce your movement speed by 30% (Glyph of Spinning Crane Kick).
Control
Disable
15 Energy. Melee range. You disable the target's movement, reducing their movement speed by 50%. The duration of Disable will be refreshed if the target remains within 10 yards of the Monk. Using Disable on a target already snared will cause them to be rooted for 8 sec instead.
Grapple Weapon
40 yd range. 60 sec cooldown. You fire off a rope spear, grappling the target's weapons and shield, returning them to you for 10 sec. If you steal a better main-hand weapon, your damage or healing will be increased by 5% or damage taken reduced by 5%.
Paralysis
20 Energy. Melee range. 15 sec cooldown. You cause the target's muscles to contract, incapacitating them for 30 sec. If done from behind the target, the duration is doubled. Only one target can be victim to Paralysis at any given time. Any damage taken will cancel the effect.
- Can be talented to have 20 yard range (Deadly Reach).
Provoke
40 yd range. 8 sec cooldown. No GCD. You mock the target, causing them to rush towards you with a 50% increased movement speed.
Spear Hand Strike
30 Energy. Melee range. 15 sec cooldown. No GCD. You jab the target in the throat, interrupting their spell cast and preventing any spell in that school from being cast for 5 sec. If the enemy is facing you when cast, they are also silenced out of all schools for 4 sec.
Utility
Detox
20 Energy. 40 yd range. 8 sec cooldown. Eliminates ailments from the friendly target, removing all harmful Poison and Disease effects.
- No cooldown if no debuffs were removed.
Energizing Brew
60 sec cooldown. No GCD. Regenerates 60 Energy over 6 sec. Can only be used while in combat.
- Can be talented to heal you for 10% once every 15 seconds (Healing Elixirs).
Expel Harm
40 Energy. 15 sec cooldown. Instantly heals yourself for X, and causes 50% of the amount healed to instantly be dealt to a nearby enemy as damage within 10 yards. Generates 1 Chi.
- Damage is based on effective healing; will not do any damage when used at 100% health.
- Generates 2 Chi in Stance of the Fierce Tiger.
- Can be glyphed for 10 yard additional range (Glyph of Expel Harm).
Flying Serpent Kick
25 sec cooldown. Soar through the air forwards at an increased speed. While traveling, use Flying Serpent Kick again to land yourself, dealing 1,826 damage to all enemies within 8 yards, and slowing them by 70% for 4 sec.
- Increases your movement speed by 300% for up to 3 seconds.
- Can be glyphed to automatically end when you fly into an enemy, triggering the area of effect damage and snare (Glyph of Flying Serpent Kick).
Fortifying Brew
3 min cooldown. No GCD. Turns your skin to stone, increasing your health by 20%, and reducing damage taken by 20%. Lasts 20 sec.
- Can be used to increase the absorb amount of Touch of Karma, and the amount of your opponents health Touch of Death can be used at.
- Can be glyphed to reduce damage taken by an additional 5%, but increase your health by 10% rather than 20% (Glyph of Fortifying Brew).
- Can be talented to heal you for 10% once every 15 seconds (Healing Elixirs).
- Can be glyphed to reduce all bleed damage taken by 20% while active (Glyph of Stoneskin).
Healing Sphere
60 Energy. 40 yd range. You form a Healing Sphere out of healing mists at the target location for 2 min. If allies walk through it, they consume the sphere, healing themselves for 9,986. Maximum of 3 Healing Spheres can be active by the Monk at any given time.
- Can be glyphed to increase the duration of your Healing Spheres by 3 minutes (Glyph of Enduring Healing Sphere).
Resuscitate
50 Energy. 40 yd range. 10 sec cast. Returns the spirit to the body, restoring a dead target to life with 35% of maximum health and mana. Cannot be cast when in combat.
Roll
No GCD. 0.8 sec cooldown. Roll a short distance.
- Increases your movement speed by 250% for 1 second.
- Has 2 charges, and gains back a charge every 20 seconds (similar to DK runes).
- If you're moving, the roll will be in that direction. So roll while strafing = sideways roll, roll while backpedaling = backwards roll.
- Can be talented to have 3 charges and 15 sec regeneration time (Celerity).
- Can be talented to increase speed by 25% for 10 seconds after a roll. Stacks (Momentum).
- Can be talented to turn yourself into a Chi Torpedo while rolling, healing any friendly targets and damaging any enemy targets along the way (Chi Torpedo).
- Can be glyphed to temporarily reduce all threat for 10 sec (Glyph of Retreat).
- Can be glyphed to allow you to cast Roll or Chi Torpedo while dead as spirit (Glyph of Spirit Roll).
- Can be glyphed to allow you to Roll or Chi Torpedo over water (Glyph of Water Roll).
Tigereye Brew
No GCD. Increases damage done by 2% per stack of Tigereye Brew active, consuming your Tigereye Brew stacks. Lasts 15 sec.
- Can be talented to heal you for 10% once every 15 seconds (Healing Elixirs).
Touch of Karma
2 Chi. Melee range. 1.5 min cooldown. All damage you take is redirected to the enemy target over 6 sec instead of you. Damage cannot exceed your total health. Lasts for 10 sec.
- Can be glyphed to have 20 yard range (Glyph of Touch of Karma).
- Will absorb 20% more damage if used with Fortifying Brew active
Transcendence
0.5 sec cast. 45 sec cooldown. You split your body and spirit, leaving your spirit behind for 15 min. Use Transcendence: Transfer to swap locations with your spirit.
Transcendence: Transfer
15 Energy. 40 yd range. 0.5 sec cast. 25 sec cooldown. Your body and spirit swap locations.
- Can be glyphed to increase the range by 10 yards (Glyph of Transcendence).
- Can be glyphed to make your spirit appear in a fighting pose (Glyph of Fighting Pose).
Zen Meditation
8 sec cast (Channeled). 3 min cooldown. No GCD. Reduces all damage taken by 90% and redirects to you up to 5 harmful spells cast against party and raid members within 30 yards. Lasts 8 sec. Being the victim of a melee attack will break your meditation, cancelling the effect.
- Can be glyphed to allow you to channel Zen Meditation while moving (Glyph of Zen Meditation).
Zen Pilgrimage
10 sec cast. 30 min cooldown. Your spirit travels to the Peak of Serenity in Pandaria, leaving your body behind. Use Zen Pilgrimage again to return near to where you were.
Buffs
Legacy of the Emperor
50 Energy. 40 yd range. You extol the words of the last emperor, increasing Strength, Agility, and Intellect by 5%. If target is in your party or raid, all party and raid members will be affected.
Legacy of the White Tiger
50 Energy. 40 yd range. You honor the White Tiger's legacy, increasing critical strike chance by 5%. If target is in your party or raid, all party and raid members will be affected.
Passive
Adaptation
When you are disarmed, your chance to dodge is increased by 25% for 5 sec.
Afterlife
When you kill an enemy while gaining experience or honor, you have a 50% chance to summon a Healing Sphere. Enemies who die from Blackout Kick have a 50% chance to summon a Chi Sphere.
Healing Sphere
Forms a healing sphere. If you walk through it, you are healed for 15% of your total health. Lasts for 30 sec.
Chi Sphere
A sphere of energy forms from the wake of the fallen enemy. Walking through your Chi Sphere will restore 1 Chi. Lasts for 2 min.
- Can be Glyphed to have a 25% increased chance to summon a Healing Sphere (Glyph of Afterlife).
Brewing: Tigereye Brew
For each 4 Chi you consume through use of abilities and attacks, you gain a charge of Tigereye Brew. Use Tigereye Brew to consume the charges. Tigereye Brew can stack up to 10 times.
- Known bug: Free Tiger Palms gained from Combo Breaker do not grant Tigereye Brew charges (free Blackout Kicks do however)
Mastery: Combo Breaker
Grants a 11% chance for Jab to cause your next Tiger Palm to cost no Chi, or your next Blackout Kick to cost no Chi.
Sparring
When you are attacked by a melee enemy in front of you, you begin to spar their attacks, increasing your chance to parry by 5% for 10 sec. This effect has a 30 sec cooldown. When you attack them back, Sparring is amplified by an additional 5%. Stacks up to 3 times.
- Can be glyphed to also grant a 5% chance to deflect spells from attackers in front of you, stacking up to 3 times (Glyph of Sparring).
Stance of the Fierce Tiger
Stance. Increases damage done by 20% and increases the amount of Chi generated by your Jab and Expel Harm abilities by 1.
Swift Reflexes
Increases your chance to parry by 5%. Whenever you parry an attack, you reflexively strike back at the enemy for X damage. This effect has a 1 sec cooldown.
Tiger Strikes
You have a 10% chance to gain Tiger Strikes when you autoattack, increasing your attack speed by 50% and causing your next 4 autoattacks to cause an extra attack.
Abilities that didn't make it out of the Beta
Invoke Chi-Ji, the Red Crane
3 min cooldown. Invokes the Red Crane Celestial, summoning an effigy at the command of the caster. While active, Chi-Ji will increase the mastery of all party and raid members by 20% for 45 sec.
Death Cocoon
2 Chi. 40 yd range. Channeled. 12 second duration. 2 min cooldown. Encases the target in a harmful cocoon of Chi energy, dealing 5 damage every 1 sec and causing any healing recieved to be damage instead. While in the Cocoon, the target moves at 50% reduced speed and is unable to attack or cast spells.
Ring of Peace
2 min cooldown. Forms a sanctuary around you, causing all enemies to be unable to attack or cast harmful spells while within it. Lasts 10 sec.
Tigereye Brandy
1 Chi. Causes your Tiger Palm and Blackout Kick to also hit 3 additional nearby enemies within 5 yards when they deal damage for 20 seconds.
Summon White Tiger Statue
40 yard range. 5 sec cast. Summons a White Tiger Statue at the target location. Lasts for 6 minutes. Limit 1 Statue. When you consume 3 Chi, your Statue will conjure a White Tiger Effigy which travels towards the last enemy you attacked, dealing 846 damage. If the effigy travels for 5 seconds, it becomes lusted, moving at a greater speed and dealing 100% increased damage.
Tiger's Lust (on-click effect)
Increases the damage done by the ally and the Monk by 15% for 6 seconds. Limit 2 charges per statue.
Muscle Memory
Your fighting technique improves over time during combat. Anytime you Jab a target from behind, your chance to critically hit with Jab increases by 1% for 30 seconds. This effect can stack up to 100 times.
Leaving combat or an encounter will clear your Muscle Memory.
2. Character Setup
2.1 Talents
15 — Mobility
Celerity
Allows you to Roll and Chi Torpedo more often, increases their maximum number of charges by 1, and reduces their cooldown by 5 sec.
Tiger's Lust
1 Chi. 20 yd range. 30 sec cooldown. Instantly clears the target of all immobilizing and movement impairing effects, and increases their movement speed by 70% for 6 sec.
Momentum
Every time you Roll or Chi Torpedo, your movement speed is increased by 25% for 10 sec. Stacks up to 2 times.
Recommendations:
Leveling before you get a mount - Momentum
Leveling after you get a mount - Celerity
PVP - Tiger's Lust
Raid - Momentum seem to work better on most encounters
30 — Chi consumers that heal and do a little damage
Chi Wave
2 Chi. 40 yd range. 8 sec cooldown. You cause a wave of Chi energy to flow through friend and foe, dealing 307 damage or 384 healing. Bounces up to 7 times to the nearest targets within 20 yards. When bouncing to allies, Chi Wave will prefer those injured over full health.
- Can be cast on yourself, a friendly target or a hostile target. Bounces will alternate between friendly and hostile targets, for a total of 4x damage and 4x healing.
Zen Sphere
2 Chi. 40 yd range. Forms a Zen Sphere above the target, healing the target for 126 and dealing 101 damage to the nearest enemy within 10 yards of the target every 2 sec for 16 sec. Only one Zen Sphere can be summoned at any one time. If Zen Sphere is cast again while active, the Zen Sphere will detonate, dealing 360 damage and 450 healing to all targets within 10 yards.
- Has to be cast on the same target twice to trigger the detonation.
Chi Burst
2 Chi. 40 yd range. 1 sec cast. You summon a torrent of Chi energy and hurl it at the target, dealing 690 damage to all enemies, and 864 healing to all allies in its path. Chi Burst will always heal the Monk. While casting Chi Burst, you continue to dodge, parry, and auto-attack.
Recommendations:
Chi Wave seems to be the best option now for most situations. It heals for a similar amount as the Zen Sphere HoT, but the cooldown is only 8 seconds vs 16 seconds for ZS. It's also a smart heal which can be helpful in smaller groups. For 25mans, the aoe burst healing of ZS might be more appealing on some encounters.
45 — Chi Generation/Management
Power Strikes
Your Jab generates an additional Chi when used. This effect has a 20 sec cooldown. If you are already at maximum Chi, a Chi Sphere will be summoned near you. Lasts for 2 min.
Ascension
Increases the amount of maximum Chi by 1, and the energy you generate by 15%.
Chi Brew
1.5 min cooldown. No GCD. Instantly restores all of your Chi.
Recommendations:
While Ascension doesn't provide any extra Chi, it does make it a lot easier to use Fists of Fury / Touch of Death, as you can guarantee having 3 Chi ready at any time.
Power Strikes provides the most Chi over time, but if an encounter has short burst damage phases, or phases with increased damage taken on the boss, Chi Brew will win out.
60 — Control
Deadly Reach
Your Paralysis ability is now usable from 20 yards away.
Charging Ox Wave
60 sec cooldown. A mighty Ox effigy rushes forward 30 yards in front of you, stunning all enemies within its path for 3 sec.
Leg Sweep
45 sec cooldown. You knock down all enemies within 5 yards, effectively stunning them for 5 sec.
I much preferred Deadly Reach in this tier, as in my experience smart usage of Fists of Fury provides all the stuns you need. 20 yard instant incapacitate comes in very handy both for leveling and on some raid encounters like Lei Shi or Wind Lord Mel'jarak.
75 — Defense
Healing Elixirs
Anytime you drink from a Brew or Tea, you gain 10% of your total health. This effect cannot occur more than once every 15 sec.
Dampen Harm
1.5 min cooldown. You dampen the damage from the most harmful attacks done to you. The next 3 attacks within 45 sec that deal damage equal to 10% or more of your total health are reduced in half.
Diffuse Magic
1.5 min cooldown. Reduces all spell damage taken by 90% and clears all magical effects on you, reversing them back to their original caster if within 40 yards if possible. Lasts for 6 sec.
Recommendations:
Healing Elixirs are very nice for leveling to reduce downtime.
For raid encounters, Diffuse Magic seems the most useful, while on the few encounters with heavy physical raid damage like Imperial Vizier Zor'lok, Dampen Harm should be used instead.
90 — The Good Stuff
Rushing Jade Wind
2 Chi. 30 sec cooldown. You summon a whirling tornado that travels X yards in front of you, dealing 5,036 Nature damage to all targets in its path and increasing damage taken by your Spinning Crane Kick by 30% for 8 sec.
Invoke Xuen, the White Tiger
40 yd range. 3 min cooldown. Invokes the White Tiger Celestial, summoning an effigy at the command of the caster. The effigy will assist you, attacking your primary target and also inflicting tiger lightning every 6 sec to 3 nearby enemies within 10 yards dealing 1,455 damage over 5 sec. Lasts for 45 sec.
Xuen scales dynamically with your attack power, crit and haste(*), which means that if you drink an agility potion while Xuen is active, he will start hitting harder, and when the agility potion runs out, his damage goes down again. The same goes for trinket procs and the haste from tiger strikes. Xuen is not affected by Tigereye Brew or anything else that increases your damage by a percentage; only direct buffs to your attack power / crit rating / haste rating will be transferred.
While Xuen doesn't have a pet bar, he automatically attacks what you are attacking and has the following abilities:
Crackling Tiger Lightning
This is where the majority of Xuen's damage comes from. A 5 second dot with a 6 second cooldown that gets applied to Xuen's target and 2 other enemies near it. Does not scale with haste; the time between ticks is always 1 second.
Tiger Leap
Jumps to a target and applies Tiger Lust.
Tiger Lust
Increases movement speed by 80%.
8 seconds remaining
Chi Torpedo
Torpedo a distance in front of you, dealing 1,642 damage to all enemies and 1,642 healing to all allies in your path. Chi Torpedo replaces Roll.
Recommendations:
Sustained AoE: RJW.
Burst single target/AeE: Xuen
Chi Torpedo seems more of a Mistweaver talent.
2.2 Glyphs
Major
Glyph of Afterlife
Increases the chance to summon a Healing Sphere when you kill an enemy while gaining experience or honor by 25%.
Glyph of Crackling Jade Lightning
Your Crackling Jade Lightning knocks the target back a further distance, and after being knocked back increases the damage the target takes from your Crackling Jade Lightning by 25% for 8 sec.
Glyph of Enduring Healing Sphere
Increases the duration of your Healing Spheres by 3 minutes.
Glyph of Fists of Fury
When channeling Fists of Fury, your parry chance is increased by 100%.
Glyph of Fortifying Brew
Your Fortifying Brew reduces damage taken by an additional 5%, but increases your health by 10% rather than 20%.
Glyph of Path of Blossoms
Increases the number of Fire Blossoms you create by 1.
Glyph of Retreat
When you Roll or Chi Torpedo, all threat is temporarily reduced for 10 sec.
Glyph of Sparring
While Sparring, you also have a 5% chance to deflect spells from attackers in front of you, stacking up to 3 times.
Glyph of Spinning Crane Kick
You move at full speed while channeling Spinning Crane Kick.
Glyph of Stoneskin
When you use Fortifying Brew, all bleed damage taken is reduced by 20% while active.
Glyph of Touch of Death
Your Touch of Death no longer has a Chi cost, but the cooldown is increased by 2 minutes.
Glyph of Touch of Karma
Your Touch of Karma now has a 20 yard range.
Glyph of Transcendence
Increases the range of your Transcendence: Transfer spell by 10 yards.
Glyph of Zen Meditation
You can now channel Zen Meditation while moving.
Minor
Glyph of Blackout Kick
Your Blackout Kick always deals 20% additional damage over 4 sec regardless of positioning but you're unable to trigger the healing effect.
Glyph of Crackling Tiger Lightning
Your Crackling Jade Lightning visual is altered to the color of the White Tiger celestial.
Glyph of Fighting Pose
Your spirit now appears in a fighting pose when using Transcendence.
Glyph of Flying Serpent Kick
Your Flying Serpent Kick automatically ends when you fly into an enemy, triggering the area of effect damage and snare.
Glyph of Honor
You honorably bow after each successful Touch of Death.
Glyph of Jab
You always will attack with hands and fist with Jab, even with non-fist weapons equipped.
Glyph of Rising Tiger Kick
Your Rising Sun Kick's visual is altered to the color of the White Tiger.
Glyph of Spinning Fire Blossom
Your Spinning Fire Blossom requires an enemy target rather than traveling in front of you, but is no longer capable of rooting targets.
Glyph of Spirit Roll
You can cast Roll or Chi Torpedo while dead as a spirit.
Glyph of Water Roll
You can Roll or Chi Torpedo over water.
Glyph of Zen Flight
Teaches you the spell Zen Flight. Zen Flight requires a Flight Master's License in order to be cast.
Zen Flight
You fly through the air at a quick speed on a meditative cloud.
Recommended glyphs for raiding:
Major: Glyph of Spinning Crane Kick, Glyph of Touch of Karma, Glyph of Zen Meditation
Minor: Glyph of Blackout Kick
Leveling: Glyph of Afterlife, Glyph of Sparring, Glyph of Spinning Crane Kick. Don't glyph Glyph of Blackout Kick
2.3 Stats
Weapon DPS
While Monks don't use their weapons for most of their attacks, the weapon dps of their equipped weapons is used for the damage/healing calculations of every ability. Weapons equipped in the off-hand get a 50% dps penalty.
Attack Power
While this stat is rarely found anymore on gear, it's still used indirectly by primary stats such as Agility and Strength. Attack power increases your weapon dps, and some abilities also use attack power directly in their damage/healing calculations. Weapon DPS is increased by 1 for every 14 attack power (on your character sheet) you have. Keep in mind that any raw attack power on gear or buffs will be increased by 10% by the attack power raid buff (Battle Shout / Horn of Winter / Trueshot Aura).
Agility
Agility increases attack power and crit chance. Each point of agility (on your character sheet) increases attack power by 2, and at level 90, ~1260 agility (on your character sheet) is needed to increase critical strike chance by 1%. Due to 5% Leather Specialization, the 10% melee attack power raid buff (Battle Shout / Horn of Winter / Trueshot Aura), and the 5% primary stats raid buff (Legacy of the Emperor / Mark of the Wild / Blessing of Kings), the effective amount of AP gained from 1 point of raw agility on gear or buffs is 2.4255, and ~1142 raw agility is needed for 1% crit.
Expertise
Expertise decreases the chance your attacks will be dodged or parried. The way this works has changed in MoP: Previously, Dodge and Parry got reduced at the same time, doubling the value of expertise when attacking from the front. In MoP, expertise initially only reduces chance to dodge, and only after chance to dodge reaches zero will it begin to reduce chance to parry.
Base chance to get dodged/parried:
3% / 3% for equal level (90)
4.5% / 4.5% for +1 level (91)
6% / 6% for +2 levels (92)
7.5% / 7.5% for +3 levels and bosses (93)
At level 90, 340 expertise is needed to decrease your chance to be dodged or parried by 1%. NPCs cannot parry if attacked from behind. To reduce the chance to be dodged by a level 93 raid boss to 0%, 7.5% expertise is needed, which requires 2550 expertise.
If attacking from the front, an extra 7.5% expertise would be needed to negate a level 93 boss' chance to parry your attacks, which would require another 2550 expertise, for a total of 5100 expertise. This is not recommended for damage dealers as they can generally stand behind the target to avoid parries.
Hit
Hit increases the chance your attacks will hit. At level 90, 340 hit is needed to increase your Hit Chance by 1%. To increase the chance your special (yellow) attacks and non-dual-wield auto-attacks will hit a level 93 raid boss to 100%, 7.5% hit chance is needed, which requires 2550 hit rating. When Dual-Wielding, any hit beyond 2550 will still increase the chance your auto-attacks (white damage) will hit, due to the -25% dual wield hit penalty.
Haste
Haste increases attack speed and energy generation. At level 90, ~425 haste is needed to increase your haste by 1%.
Critical Strike
Crit Chance increases the chance for your attacks to be a critical strike, which deal 100% additional damage. At level 90, ~600 crit is needed to increase your chance to get a critical strike by 1%.
Mastery
Mastery: Bottled Fury increases the damage bonus provided by Tigereye Brew by .2% per Mastery per stack. 300 mastery is needed to increase the damage increase of 10x Tigereye Brew by 1%.
Stat priority
5.2 gives us a lot more freedom in what stats to go for, as all stats can be good depending on the situation and your gear.
I'd first like to address the haste soft-cap. While this was at 4K in 5.1, the change to mastery means that Combo Breaker will proc a lot less often. This means that it will take more haste to be able to fill every GCD. Good values to go for now are between 6 and 8k, depending on what setbonuses you have, how comfortable you are with your rotation, your latency, etc. Personally I like to stay just below 7k.
After reaching the haste soft-cap, there's 3 recommended ways to gem and reforge:
1. No T15 4set bonus and no Rune of Re-Origination trinket: hit/exp caps > haste softcap > agility > crit > mastery > haste beyond softcap > hit beyond softcap
Red sockets: pure agility
Yellow sockets: agility + crit
Blue sockets: agility + hit
2. You got the T15 4set bonus and good gear, but no Rune of Re-Origination: hit/exp caps > haste softcap > agility > mastery >= crit > haste beyond softcap > hit beyond softcap
Red sockets: pure agility
Yellow sockets: agility + mastery
Blue sockets: agility + hit
3 Rune of Re-Origination: hit/exp caps > enough mastery to make it your highest secondary stat (without raidbuff) > haste softcap > crit > haste beyond the softcap > more mastery than is needed to make it your highest stat > agility > hit beyond the softcap
Red sockets: expertise/agility + haste/mastery/crit (expertise gems will give you more secondary stats to play with, but take care to not go over the expertise cap)
Yellow sockets: pure haste/mastery/crit
Blue sockets: hit + haste/mastery/crit
What gems to use will vary a lot, and it's not weird to use 5 different kinds of gems in different parts of your gear.
Ideally your stats will look something like this:
haste: 6.5k (softcap)
mastery: 6.6k (just above haste)
crit: 5.5k (rest into crit as long as it stays below mastery)
As you gain better gear, all 3 of your secondary stats should stay very close to each other, with mastery being slightly ahead of the other two.
2.4 Consumables
Food
In MoP, Cooking is split up in 6 specializations, one for every primary stat (str/agi/int/spi/stam) and the 6th one for Brewing.
The specialization containing agility increasing recipes is Way of the Wok.
300 agility from Sea Mist Rice Noodles
275 agility from Valley Stir Fry / (Great) Pandaren Banquet / (Great) Banquet of the Wok
250 agility from Sauteed Carrots / (Great) Banquet of the Brew / (Great) Banquet of the Grill / (Great) Banquet of the Oven / (Great) Banquet of the Pot / (Great) Banquet of the Steamer
Note that stats gained from Banquets are increased by 25 if you have the corresponding achievements; for example Master of the Wok grants +25 agility (275) from Banquet of the Wok, and Master of the Ways grants +25 agility (300) from Pandaren Banquet.
Flask/Elixirs
In MoP, cauldrons are no longer available, but the amount of herbs required to create a flask or elixir has been greatly reduced as well: Flasks only require 4 herbs + a lotus, and elixirs only 2. Flasks grant primary stats, while elixirs grant secondary stats. Keep in mind that if you are using elixirs, you can only use 1 battle elixir and 1 guardian elixir at the same time (guardian elixirs increase armor or dodge).
1000 agility from Flask of Spring Blossoms
750 hit from Elixir of Perfection
750 haste from Elixir of the Rapids
750 mastery from Monk's Elixir
750 expertise from Elixir of Weaponry
750 critical strike from Mad Hozen Elixir
Potion
4000 agility for 25 seconds from Virmen's Bite
60,000 Health from Master Healing Potion
70% movement speed for 15 seconds from Darkwater Potion
2.5 Professions
Inscription - Secret Tiger Claw Inscription replacing Greater Tiger Claw Inscription
Blacksmithing - Socket Bracer / Socket Gloves
Enchanting - Enchant Ring - Greater Agility
Jewelcrafting - Delicate Serpent's Eye
Leatherworking - Fur Lining - Agility (Rank 3) replacing Enchant Bracer - Greater Agility
Engineering - Tinker: Synapse Springs (Mark II)
Tailoring - Swordguard Embroidery replacing Enchant Cloak - Accuracy
Alchemy
Herbalism - Lifeblood (Rank 9)
Skinning - Master of Anatomy (Rank 8)
Mining - Toughness (Rank 8)
2.6 Races
Only listing DPS-affecting racials
Troll - Berserking, Beast Slaying
Orc - Blood Fury, Command, Axe Specialization
Pandaren - Epicurean
Draenei - Heroic Presence
Forsaken - Touch of the Grave
Blood Elf - Arcane Torrent
Human - Sword Specialization, Mace Specialization
Gnome - Shortblade Specialization
Dwarf - Mace Specialization
Night Elf - none
Tauren - none
3.1 Trinkets
3.2 Set bonuses
Tier 14
PvP
3.3 Enchants
Enchant Weapon - Dancing Steel
Enchant Weapon - Windsong
Enchant Boots - Blurred Speed
Enchant Bracer - Greater Agility
Enchant Chest - Glorious Stats
Enchant Cloak - Accuracy
Enchant Gloves - Greater Haste
Enchant Gloves - Superior Expertise
Shadowleather Leg Armor
Greater Tiger Claw Inscription
Living Steel Belt Buckle
3.4 Gems
Red: 160 agi
Yellow: 80 agi + 160 haste or crit
Blue: 80 agi + 160 hit
If you can't reach the hit cap from gear/enchanting/reforging alone, you can replace agility with hit or expertise, for example
Red: 80agi + 160hit or 160exp + 160hit or 320exp
Yellow: 160haste + 160 hit or 160exp + 160haste
Blue: 320 hit or 160exp + 160 hit.
3.5 Reforging
todo
4. Combat
4.1 Priority lists
These are taken from the highest dps simulationcraft profile.
Single target
- No Rising Sun Kick debuff on your target -> Rising Sun Kick
- No Tiger Power buff on you, or Tiger Power runs out in less than 3 seconds -> Tiger Palm
- Tigereye Brew has 10 stacks -> Tigereye Brew
- More than 5 seconds for your energy to cap -> Energizing Brew
- Invoke Xuen or Rushing Jade Wind
- Rising Sun Kick is ready -> Rising Sun Kick
- Energizing Brew is not active, Tiger Power has 3 stacks and more than 4 seconds left, and more than 5 seconds for your energy to cap -> Fists of Fury
- Combo Breaker: Blackout Kick procced -> Blackout Kick
- 3+ Chi and energy will cap in less than 2 seconds -> Blackout Kick
- Combo Breaker: Tiger Palm procced and more than 2 seconds for energy to cap -> Tiger Palm
- Combo Breaker: Tiger Palm procced and the proc has less than 2 seconds left on it -> Tiger Palm
- 1 or less chi and Power Strikes is ready, or 2 or less chi if Power Strikes isn't ready -> Jab
- Max chi -> Blackout Kick
- Enough energy will regenerate to Jab for chi for Rising Sun Kick when it comes off cooldown -> Blackout Kick
AoE - 4 or more targets
4.2 Addons
- No Rising Sun Kick debuff on your target -> Rising Sun Kick
- Less than 3 stacks of Tiger Power buff on you, or Tiger Power runs out in less than 3 seconds -> Tiger Palm
- Tigereye Brew has 10 stacks -> Tigereye Brew
- More than 5 seconds for your energy to cap -> Energizing Brew
- Invoke Xuen or Rushing Jade Wind
- Max chi -> Rising Sun Kick
- Spinning Crane Kick
4.3 Macros
5. Other
5.1 Leveling
5.2 Links
5.3 Changelog
2012-10-12 09:39 CET - Added glyph recommendations.
2012-10-02 05:32 CET - Updated priority list.
2012-08-29 11:22 CET - Added talent recommendations.