Updated for patch: 5.4
5.4 Mistweaver Monk Notes
Changed
- Mana Tea is now consumed at an increased rate of 1 stack per 0.5 seconds (up from 1 stack per 1 second).
- Revival's healing has been reduced by 30%.
Talents
- Chi Brew now restores 2 Chi, has a 45-second cooldown (down from 1.5 minutes), and generate stacks of Brew/Teas based on the Monk's specialization. (Mistweaver: 2 stacks of Mana Tea)
- Chi Burst no longer requires a target. It now travels as a 40-yard line in front of the Monk.
- Healing Elixirs will no longer activate if the Monk is already at full health, and activate automatically when the Monk has less than 35% of their maximum health.
- Invoke Xuen, the White Tiger now has a pet control bar for Xuen, and the talent is no longer on global cooldown for all Monk specializations.
- Power Strikes will now activate from the following Chi generating abilities; Jab, Expel Harm, Spinning Crane Kick (when it hits at least 3 targets), Crackling Jade Lightning, and Soothing Mist.
- Ring of Peace has a new visual effect that properly depicts its area-of-effect, and now disarms both enemies and those attacking allies within the Ring of Peace's area-of-effect for 4 seconds (up from 3 seconds); the silence effect for casting spells remains unchanged at 3 seconds.
- Rushing Jade Wind: The Monk summons a whirling tornado around them, dealing damage to nearby enemies (heals nearby allies for Mistweavers). Rushing Jade Wind has the same costs, Chi generation, and periodic rate as Spinning Crane kick, but, deals 80% of the periodic damage or healing, lasts 6 seconds, is instant, and not channeled. (Rushing Jade Wind has been redesigned and replaces Spinning Crane Kick.)
- Zen Sphere's base healing and damage has been increased by 15%.
Glyphs
- Glyph of Afterlife now increases the chance to summon a Healing Sphere by 100% (up from 25% chance).
- Glyph of Nimble Brew causes Nimble Brew to heal the Monk when it clears a root, stun, fear, or horror effect. (Glyph of Crackling Jade Lightning has been replaced with Glyph of Nimble Brew.)
- Glyph of Rapid Rolling makes the next Roll or Chi Torpedo go farther after using a Roll or Chi Torpedo. (Glyph of Expel Harm has been replaced with Glyph of Rapid Rolling.)
- Glyph of Fortuitous Spheres causes a healing sphere to be summoned near the Monk at no cost when their health falls below 25%. This effect cannot occur more than once every 30 seconds. (Glyph of Retreat has been replaced with Glyph of Fortuitous Spheres.)
- Glyph of Detox causes Detox to heal the target when it successfully removes a harmful effect. (Glyph of Stoneskin has been replaced with Glyph of Detox.)
- Glyph of Targeted Expulsion now causes Expel Harm to heal for 50% as much when used on other targets. (Glyph of Uplift has been replaced with Glyph of Targeted Expulsion)
- Glyph of Transcendence now reduces the cooldown of Transcendence: Transfer by 5 seconds (used to increase the range by 10 yards).
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Table of Contents 1. Introduction 2. Spells 3. Talents 4. Glyphs 5. Stats 6. Healing Strategies 7. Set bonuses 8. Trinkets 9. Consumables 10. FAQ 11. Macros 12. Appendix
1. Introduction
Monks were introduced in Mists of Pandaria as the 11th class of World of Warcraft and to the current date, I have yet to experience lack of enjoyment with the class in general. Monks are capable of performing the 3 basic roles: tanking, healing and damage dealing. As a follower of the great celestial Jade serpent Yu’lon, this guide will focus on the healing specialization, the Mistweaver monk.
This guide assumes basic knowledge of the game and the monk class. The objective is to have an accessible and updated guide presenting as much information and knowledge as possible into a simple format, aimed at aspiring mistweavers and other players willing to learn from more experienced monks. This guide is written by the monk community, for the monk community. May the Jade Serpent guide you! Now for the good stuff (Note: Feedback, corrections and discussion are more than welcome).
2. Spells
As a monk, we use stances, just like warriors, except ours are cool. If you noticed your stance bar during the short period of time where your monk had no specialization, you would notice that Stance of the Fierce Tiger is the monk default stance, and energy being the primary resource system. As a mistweaver however, you receive a new stance:
Stance of the Wise Serpent
Increases healing done by 20%, replaces your Energy resource with Mana, grants hit and expertise equal to 50% Spirit gained from items or effects.
Increases haste from items by 50%. Your attack power is equal to 200% of your spell power, and you no longer benefit from other sources of attack power.
In addition, you also gain Eminence, causing you to heal the lowest health nearby target within 20 yards for an amount equal to 25% of non-autoattack damage you deal.
- Required for the usage of most of your healing abilities.
- It is not worth it to stance dance for three simple reasons. Firstly, your chi is reset to 1, so you can’t pool chi with jab using energy and then switch to the Serpent stance to use the chi on healing abilities. Secondly, your spirit and spell power are converted into hit and expertise rating and attack power respectively, thus the 20% damage gained from the Tiger stance will not compensate for the attack power and the hit and expertise rating you would’ve had. Third, you gain Eminence while under the Serpent stance, which enables 50% of your special damaging abilities to be converted into smart heals. This type of healing is much similar to discipline priest’s atonement healing and will be discussed further on.
Before going into detail on our specific abilities two important points should be made. First of all, even though we are healers, due to our extensive use of melee abilities as monks we are considered as melee for default raid mechanics. This gives you a higher degree of space occupation during an encounter and you should use this to your advantage. The second point I would like to make is that with the Serpent stance our dual resource system as mistweavers becomes: mana and chi. Thus, our primary spell book abilities will be divided into mana expenditure abilities, chi expenditure abilities and cooldowns, utility spells and passives.
2.1. Mana expenditure abilities
Renewing Mist
5.85% of base mana (17,550 @ lvl 90). 40 yd range. Instant. 8 sec cooldown.
You surround the target with healing mists, restoring [ 2,266 + 10.7% of Spell Power ] health every 2 sec for 18 sec. Generates 1 Chi.
Each time Renewing Mist heals, it also travels to the closest nearby injured party or raid member within 20 yards, up to 2 times.
- Your main HoT as a mistweaver.
- As means of good practice, it is recommended to use ReM on cooldown. Despite the overhealing done, you need to have as many ReM on the raid as possible so you can be ready to react to raid mechanics which require increased healing. ReM interacts with one of our main chi expending abilities, uplift.
- Has a base duration of 18 sec which allows you to have 6 – 8 players with the HoT
Soothing Mist
1% of Base Mana, plus 1% per sec (3,000 @ lvl 90). 40 yd range. Instant (Channeled).
Heals the target for [ 22,208 + 17.92% of Spell Power ] over 8 sec.
When you heal with Soothing Mist, you have a 30% chance to generate 1 Chi.
- Your main chi generator for most situations.
- Chance to generate chi increases by an additional 15% for each tick that does not generate 1 chi.
Surging Mist
8.8% of Base Mana (26,400 @ lvl 90). 40 yd range. 1.5 sec cast.
Heals the target for [ 17,242 + 180% of Spell Power ]. Generates 1 Chi.
If cast while channeling Soothing Mist, Surging Mist will be instant cast and heal that target over all others.
- Becomes instant when channeling soothing mist, note this as it is an important aspect of our single target healing.
- Relatively expensive spell for its effective healing, but it’s synergy with soothing mist makes it a high HPS spell.
- Advice: Avoid using it unless you’re literally out of options for healing your target and you need that chi ASAP
Crackling Jade Lightning
1.57% of Base Mana, plus 1.57% per sec (4710 @ lvl 90). 40 yd range. Instant (channeled).
Channels Jade lightning at the target, causing [ 1,182 + 38.6% of AP ] Nature damage over 6 sec. When dealing damage, you have a 30% 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.
Jab
8% of base mana (24,000 @ lvl 90). Requires Melee range. Instant.
You Jab the target, dealing [ 202.2% of Mainhand Min DPS + 10.7% of AP – 2 ] to [ 202.2% of Mainhand Max DPS + 10.7% of AP + 2 ] damage and generating 1 Chi.
- Reliable chi generator at an expensive mana cost, often used to refer to the ‘jab jab uplift’ cycle in patch 5.1 which is no longer a viable playstyle
- Has 1 sec GCD so ends up as one of the fastest chi generators
- Provides the mistweaver with Muscle Memory
Expel Harm
2.5% of base mana (7,500 @ lvl 90). Instant. 15 sec cooldown.
Instantly heals yourself for [ 943.8% of Mainhand Min DPS + 50% of AP – 7 ] to [ 943.8% of Mainhand Max DPS + 50% of AP + 7 ], and causes 50% of the amount healed to instantly be dealt to a nearby enemy as Nature damage within 10 yards. Generates 1 Chi.
- Use it. Abuse it. Low mana cost and guaranteed 1 chi for 1 gcd, expel harm is our most mana-efficient chi generator.
- Moderate self-heal, if you can predict a situation where your expel harm’s heal will be effective then don’t risk using it as soon as the cooldown is ready.
Spinning Crane Kick
7.15% of base mana (21,450 @ lvl 90). 2.25 sec duration.
You spin while kicking in the air, dealing [ 236% of Mainhand Min DPS + 12.5% of AP - 2 ] to [ 236% of Mainhand Max DPS + 12.5% of AP + 2 ] damage to all nearby enemies and 2,809 healing to nearby allies every 0.75 sec, within 8 yards. Movement speed is reduced by 30%. Generates 1 Chi, if it hits at least 3 targets. Lasts 2.2 sec.
- ‘Channeled’ AoE heal with 3 ticks, 1 every 0.75 sec.
- Scales well with haste relative to other secondary stats since the channel time is reduced.
Healing Sphere
2.0% of base mana (6,000 @ lvl 90). 40 yd range. Instant. 0.5 sec cooldown.
You form a Healing Sphere out of healing mists at the target location for 3 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.
- 0.5 sec GCD
- To use the spell you must choose a target location and left-click.
- For its cost and ability to use repeatedly it is our best heal in terms of healing per mana expended and also single target HPS.
- Only triggers when injured players walk through it which theoretically means the possibility of low overhealing, however an injured player that runs onto several spheres at once will pick up all the spheres.
- Problems associated with this spell include the fact that players need to walk on them to trigger the heal and thus the location where these spheres are placed is crucial and occasionally unpredictable, making this spell unreliable at times.
2.2. Chi expenditure abilities
Tiger Palm
1 chi. Melee range. Instant.
Attack with the palm of your hand, dealing [ 404.5% of Mainhand Min DPS + 21.4% of AP - 3 ] to [ 404.5% of Mainhand Max DPS + 21.4% of AP + 3 ] damage.
Also grants you Tiger Power, causing your attacks to ignore 30% of enemies' armor for 20 sec.
- Gives you an awesome buff which allows your melee abilities to ignore 30% of the enemies’ armour.
- Does approximately 40% damage of a blackout kick.
Blackout Kick
2 chi. Melee range. Instant
Kick with a blast of Chi energy, dealing [ 960% of Mainhand Min DPS + 50.9% of AP - 7 ] to [ 960% of Mainhand Max DPS + 50.9% of AP + 7 ] Physical damage to your target and [ 480% of Mainhand Min DPS + 25.4% of AP - 4 ] to [ 480% of Mainhand Max DPS + 25.4% of AP + 4 ] to up to 4 additional nearby targets.
Also empowers you with Serpent's Zeal, causing you and your summoned Jade Serpent Statue to heal nearby injured targets equal to 25% of your auto-attack damage.
- More about the buff “Serpent’s Zeal” under “Teachings of the Monastery”
- 50% of the damage done to the main target is dealt to a maximum of 4 nearby targets
Uplift
2 chi.
Heals all targets with your Renewing Mist active for [ 7,794 + 68% of Spell Power ].
- One of your main chi healing abilities.
- Effectiveness dependent on your Renewing Mist management.
Enveloping Mist
3 chi. 40 yd range. 2 sec cast.
Heals the target for [ 65,688 + 66.5% of Spell Power ] over 6 sec, and increases the healing the target receives from your Soothing Mist by 30%.
If cast while channeling Soothing Mist, Enveloping Mist will be instant cast.
- Amazing synergy with soothing mist as it becomes instant and buffs SooM's healing on the player
- Can be hard cast to avoid spending mana and on certain situations might be more effective such as for a player about to take a considerable amount of damage
2.3. Cooldowns, utility spells and passives
Revival
7.7% of base mana (23,100 @ lvl 90). 100 yd range. Instant. 3 min cooldown.
Instantly heals all party and raid members within vision for [ 9579 + 350% of Spell Power ], and clears them of any harmful Magical, Poison and Disease effects.
- Advantages: It’s instant, allows you to cast a relatively strong raid throughput cooldown on the move.
- Disadvantages: It’s instant. It’s throughput is similar to that of a tranquility, but since it is instant the likelihood of overhealing some players is tremendous.
Life Cocoon
4.95% of base mana (14,850 @ lvl 90). 40 yd range. Instant. 2 min cooldown.
Encases the target in a cocoon of Chi energy, absorbing [ 550% of Spell Power + 39,958 ] damage and increasing all periodic healing taken by 50%. Lasts for 12 sec.
- Not exactly your conventional tank external cooldown, but it is unique and has its utility. Quantifiable cooldown which can be more valuable for occasions where your tank will take a hit which could kill him.
- Doesn’t necessarily need to be used on a tank unless you’re assigned to use it on them.
Thunder Focus Tea
1 chi. Instant. 45 sec cooldown.
You receive a jolt of energy, doubling the healing done by your next Surging Mist or causing your next Uplift to refresh the duration of your Renewing Mists on all targets. Lasts for 30 sec.
- One of our most effective throughput cooldowns. Mastering its usage is vital for effective raid blanket healing.
Brewing: Mana Tea
For each 4 Chi you consume through use of spells and abilities, you gain a charge of Mana Tea. Use Mana Tea to consume the charges.
You have a chance equal to your crit chance to generate double the Mana Tea charges.
Mana Tea can stack up to 20 times.
- Effective usage of your chi is crucial for maximizing your mana tea charges.
Mana Tea
Instant (channeled).
Restores 4% of your maximum mana per stack of Mana Tea active. Mana Tea must be channeled, lasting 1 sec per stack. Cancelling the channel will not waste stacks.
Summon Jade Serpent Statue
40 yd range. Instant. 30 sec cooldown.
Summons a Jade Serpent Statue at the target location. Lasts for 15 min. Only one statue can be active at a time.
Eminence (Passive)
When the Monk deals non-autoattack damage, the summoned Jade Serpent Statue will heal the lowest health nearby target within 20 yards equal to 50% of the damage done.
Serpent's Accord (Passive)
When you cast Soothing Mist, the Jade Serpent Statue will also cast Soothing Mist on an injured ally within 40 yards.
- Allows you to perform Eminence healing, more information about this style of healing further on.
- When you channel soothing mist it replicates your channel on an injured ally.
Detox
2.6% of base mana (7,800 @ lvl 90). 40 yd range. Instant. 8 sec cooldown.
Eliminates ailments from the friendly target, removing all harmful Magic, Poison and Disease effects.
- Cooldown is only applied if Detox was successful in removing the harmful effect.
- With the passive Internal Medicine, Mistweavers can remove magical effects with detox.
Muscle Memory
Instant.
When you successfully Jab or damage at least 3 enemies with Spinning Crane Kick, you gain Muscle Memory, causing your next Tiger Palm or Blackout Kick to deal 150% increased damage and restore 4% mana.
- Passive added in 5.2 which procs from jab and SCK
- Understanding this passive is essential for practicing Fistweaving correctly
- Does NOT stack, therefore casting jab or SCK on 3 + targets while you already have Muscle Memory means a proc is wasted
Teachings of the Monastery
Crackling Jade Lightning
Damage increased by 100%.
Tiger Palm
Damage increased by 100%. When you Tiger Palm, you gain Vital Mists, reducing the cast time and mana cost of your next Surging Mist by 20%. Stacks up to 5 times. Lasts 30 sec.
Blackout Kick
When you Blackout Kick, you gain Serpent's Zeal causing you to heal nearby injured targets equal to 25% of your auto-attack damage.
Spinning Crane Kick
While channeling Spinning Crane Kick, you also heal nearby injured allies for 2,809 every 0.75 sec for 2.2 sec. Healing yourself does not count for Chi generation.
- Turns your spinning crane kick into an effective AoE heal
- Using tiger palm as a filler whilst fistweaving allows you to cast an instant and free surging mist every 5th vital mist stack.
Tiger Strikes
You have a 8% 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.
Way of the Monk
The Monk attunes himself differently depending on the weapon type.
One-handed weapon
Autoattack damage increased by 70%.
Two-handed weapons
Melee attack speed increased by 40%.
Zen Meditation
8 sec cast (channeled). 3 min cooldown.
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.
- Situational use.
3. Talents
Tier 15 – Mobility
Celerity
Allowing you to roll more often by reducing the cooldown and increasing the number of charges to 3 will inevitably give you ‘burst movement’. It is the mandatory talent when using chi torpedo.
Tiger’s Lust
20 yd range. 30 sec cooldown.
From a PvE perspective, this talent is interesting because it gives you the option to increase your target’s movement speed so you can give this to someone else. Also, it is the only talent of the 3 available which increases your mobility without resorting to roll, which is valuable in situations where you can’t afford to roll such as Blade Lord Ta’yak’s Stage 2 with ‘Storm Unleashed’ (the torna-doh phase).
Momentum
The talent you can pick if none of the others will be useful to you. It also allows you to stack the speed increase buff meaning you can move quite a long distance running with increased speed.
Recommendation:
Solo - Momentum
Dungeon Party - Tiger's Lust / Momentum
Raid - Celerity (if Chi Torpedo) / Tiger's Lust
Tier 30 – The Free cost Healing Abilities
Chi Wave
40 yd range. Instant. 15 sec cooldown.
For most situations, this is the talent you pick if the other 2 won’t be useful to you. Its potential throughput is lower than the other T30 talents, but the advantage of chi wave is that it's a smart heal that jumps to players with highest health deficit, which might make chi wave's effective healing more useful than the other tier talents for any encounter where these would not be very effective.
Zen Sphere
40 yd range. Instant. 10 sec cooldown.
Its HoT component is interesting for some encounters, and its detonate upon expiration of the HoT or the player dropping below 35% health yields similar HPS to Chi Burst given that both are healing effectively. It is slightly more complicated to time the Zen Sphere so it can detonate when needed, and generally if you need the detonate component of Zen Sphere you should probably consider Chi Burst. Given that they have similar HPS values, Zen Sphere needs to be used every 10 seconds for this to be possible, forcing the monk to sacrifice an additional global cooldown on a regular basis for the sake of keeping the rotation. This is opportunity cost, in other words there would be other abilities you could cast besides ZS but because you have it you need to use it often to maximize it's effect.
Chi Burst
40 yd range. 1 sec cast. 30 sec cooldown.
Chi burst is an interesting AoE heal with regard to how it needs to be used. Its cooldown is lengthy, but it's throughput is relatively high, making it a very good talent for most situations where the monk needs to heal several players. The difficulty with this heal is that the monk needs to decide a good point for aiming chi burst, since this ability only heals players standing between its path.
Recommendation:
Solo - Chi Wave
Dungeon Party - All are viable, however Chi Wave tends to be the better option overall.
Raid - All are viable, depends on the encounter. Generally, 10 man will consider all 3 talents often whilst 25 man mistweavers will favour chi burst.
Tier 45 – Chi Generation
Power Strikes
20 sec cooldown (internal).
It’s an interesting talent because it is the best mp5 talent of this tier and because it gives some consistency to your chi generation over the course of a fight. It is a respectable choice for an encounter with even damage to heal constantly such as Garalon, however the monk needs to track the cooldown appropriately to maximize chi gains. It is important to note that it activates upon the first tick of SM and CJL as soon as it is available, it is independent of the actual chi generated by the channeled cast abilities mentioned.
Ascension
Increasing your maximum chi to 5 allows for better control of your chi and it allows the monk to pool even more chi for a phase where burst healing would be needed. Even though it increases your mana tea gains per stack and muscle memory mana return by 1,800 mana, with the current cost of generating 1 chi it is considered the bottom tier 45 talent for most situations because it adds nothing to throughput whilst the other 2 talents do in some way by providing additional chi. Its value relative to others increases when you need to fistweave more often during an encounter.
Chi Brew
1.5 min cooldown. Instant (no gcd). 2 charges.
Now the strongest talent for mana regeneration as it grants 2 stacks of mana tea per chi brew charge, this can be considered a viable cooldown and the best throughput talent of the tier. Due to its cooldown it theoretically lines up perfectly with TfT allowing for some effective burst AoE healing thus making it a strong MW talent.
Recommendation:
Depends on playstyle but generally chi brew is the most useful talent in the tier for most situations. Ascension can definitely be picked up for a mistweaver intending to perform pure fistweaving, however that would be suboptimal.
Tier 60 – Crowd Control
Ring of Peace
40 yd range. 45 sec cooldown.
This talent actually has its uses in PvE, mainly for AoE silencing adds which would otherwise need to be interrupted.
Charging Ox Wave
30 yd range. Instant. 30 sec cooldown.
Might have its uses in PvP but for PvE it is generally not considered because of its short stun and increased difficulty to use effectively, however being able to stun from range has its value depending on the situation.
Leg Sweep
5 yd range. Instant. 45 sec cooldown.
Generally a valuable ability to have as it removes some pressure from your tanks temporarily when tanking several adds that can be stunned.
Recommendation:
Solo - Leg Sweep / Charging Ox Wave
Dungeon Party - Leg Swep / Ring of Peace
Raid - Ring of Peace / Leg Sweep
Tier 75 – Defensive Abilities
Healing Elixirs
18 sec cooldown (internal).
A relatively odd passive that has its value for lvling and for those encounters where you just want to increase your HPS by that tiny percentage.
Dampen Harm
Instant. 1.5 min cooldown. 3 charges.
Should generally be seen as your physical damage mitigation talent. Any encounter where you will take a large hit in the form of physical damage, do not neglect this talent. Use it, it’s free.
Diffuse Magic
Instant. 1.5 min cooldown.
Dispersion 2.0, slightly improved version since you can still use abilities but it only mitigates spell damage. Incredibly useful on several occasions in tier 14 for soaking large amounts of spell damage, I love it.
Recommendation:
Solo - Healing elixirs / Dampen Harm
Dungeon Party - Dampen Harm / Diffuse Magic
Raid - Dampen Harm / Diffuse Magic
Tier 90 – The good, the bad and the ugly
Rushing Jade Wind
8 yd range. Instant. Cooldown haste dependent. Replaces Spinning Crane Kick.
As of patch 5.4 RJW replaces SCK directly, the main differences being that other spells can be cast while RJW is up, its duration is double that of SCK but each tick heals for 80% of an SCK tick. It brings an interesting concept of being able to maintain AoE healing and cast other abilities, which enhances one of mw's main impairments of not being able to carry on both AoE and single target healing / mana tea channeling.
Invoke Xuen, the White Tiger
40 yd range. Instant. 3 min cooldown.
I would rather invoke Chi-Ji or Yu’lon but with respect to the talent in itself, there are two possibilities for which it should be considered. Firstly, Xuen is considered a guardian and as such he benefits from temporary stat increases and general damage increasing mechanics from raid encounters. He does not however, benefit from Tiger Power.
Although Xuen is considered a DPS cooldown, he interacts with Eminence healing and thus it can be considered a viable healing cooldown over 45 secs. Thus, having increased damage from raid mechanics will also net increased healing from Eminence.
Even without raid mechanics which directly increase damage done, Xuen should be considered for encounters where RJW or Chi Torpedo will not be of a particularly effective use to the monk.
Chi Torpedo
Instant. Replaces Roll.
With patch 5.1 the value of chi torpedo rose significantly mainly because of a buff to its heal constant and the increased mana cost to most of our abilities as mistweavers, but chi torpedo is literally a free and relatively effective heal and as such it is amazingly efficient. Unless you desperately need your roll for additional mobility, this is one of our main talents and for the moment RJW cannot compete with this talent both in throughput and HPM.
For an effective use of this healing ability, the monk needs to have sufficient raid awareness to pass through at least 6 players. Important aspects to note: When using chi torpedo it is practically mandatory to use the talent Celerity. Make sure you torpedo to a safe spot (I’ve managed to kill myself by using torpedo on to a Pheromone Trail on Garalon, true story). It is also highly recommended that you make a macro to cancel the Stampeding Roar aura since you can't use this spell while the buff is active. Though, don't consider this macro or avoid using it if you genuinely need the increased run speed.
Recommendation:
Solo - Xuen
Dungeon Party - Xuen / Chi Torpedo
Raid - Chi Torpedo / Xuen
4. Glyphs
With Mists of Pandaria, Blizzard attempted a new system of glyphs whereby they have a minor impact on performance and can be mostly chosen based on the player’s preference in terms of game style or even cosmetics. Nevertheless, there are a few performance altering major glyphs for mistweavers:
- [Glyph of Renewing Mist] – It gives your Renewing Mist the ability to spread over greater distances, giving the mistweaver the ability to blanket heal the raid in general assuming melees and ranged are within at least a 40 yd range. However, it removes the ability for the monk to selectively blanket heal specific groups and it is not always the best choice, especially when you realize a sector of your raid will need more healing.
- [Glyph of Spinning Crane Kick] - Allows some additional mobility whilst channeling SCK, typically the 3rd choice for a major glyph.
- [Glyph of Enduring Healing Sphere] - Definitely a glyph to consider, especially for raiding. The amount of spheres that detonate without healing any player justifies the possibility of extending their duration so that they are more likely to be used, generally a slight gain to Gift of the Serpent healing.
- [Glyph of Surging Mist] – Effective for encounters where you will be constantly fistweaving, allowing your SrM to also become a ‘smart’ heal.
- [Glyph of Zen Meditation] – Useful if you are assigned to “soak” damage on the move.
- [Glyph of Mana Tea] – Used to be an important glyph as it ‘forced’ Mana Tea consumption into our priority list but had the advantage of reducing our mana tea consumption downtime by 50% if used with two stacks. With our mana tea consumption rate decreased to 1 stack per 0.5 seconds it is generally not worth using this glyph unless there is a lot of movement involved.
- [Glyph of Targeted Expulsion] - Interesting glyph to have a spot heal alternative when using Expel Harm just to generate chi.
- [Glyph of Detox] - Small heal provided after dispelling a player successfully. Can be considered for encounters where a lot of dispels are required but will generally have a very minor impact
- [Glyph of Fortuitous Spheres] - I don't think it's worth the glyph slot as long as the monk doesn't make any mistake which will cause his HP to drop to drastic levels
As for minor glyphs, they literally have no impact on our game play. Nevertheless, I feel the need to mention:
- [Glyph of Spirit Roll] – Because I like rolling as a spirit and your argument is invalid.
5. Stats
5.1. The General Stat Priority
For those reading this guide the TL;DR version recommended depends on your item level and it is given as:
Spirit until satisfactory mana regen. > Haste (Breakpoint) > Intellect > Crit > Mastery > Haste
During the initial gearing process, the monk will barely have enough haste to get to 3,145 haste rating, and possibly having to sacrifice a lot of crit and even intellect or spirit to do so. Thus it is recommended that the monk should firstly obtain a satisfactory mana regen. I've personally seen low geared monks gemming +320 haste rating gems to go for 3,145 haste and that's just wrong.
Reaching the 2nd haste breakpoint on ReM will be beneficial to the monk from the moment he can obtain it without sacrificing any intellect and possibly spirit, and without losing too much crit. Lastly, the 3rd haste breakpoint on ReM should be reached with an average ilvl in between LFR and normal ToT gear, having the 2T15 set bonus makes this breakpoint even more desirable. The reasoning for attaining this breakpoint will be the same as the previous one: Don't make harsh sacrifices for that specific haste amount.
I dislike including Intellect on a stat priority mainly based around secondary stats since Intellect is valuable to a mistweaver simply because of its increased scarcity to obtain. Since you can’t reforge to it, its value will be higher relative to secondary stats but with the new gemming scheme introduced in MoP, the mistweaver is given the choice to gem for a secondary stat (in particular spirit) over intellect. Now, an explanation is required for the reasoning behind this stat priority, in no particular order.
5.2. Spirit until satisfactory mana regeneration
In MoP, Blizzard slightly revamped the significance of intellect in a way which increased the relative value of spirit. This is because intellect used to be a mana regeneration stat, too. However, spirit is now our main stat for increasing our mp5, where 1 Spirit = 0,56435 mp5 in combat.
The amount of spirit you need cannot be quantified to a fixed value since it is defined by the player and as such you need to decide how much spirit is ‘satisfactory’. This is important because as obvious as it sounds, a healer without mana will not be particularly effective at healing.
5.3. Intellect and Spell Power
As mentioned previously, intellect has been altered to simply reflect as a throughput stat, where 1 intellect = 1 spell power and 0.048% crit. Intellect is increased by buffs such as Legacy of the Emperor and mistweaver’s passive Leather Specialization, both increasing your intellect by 5%. As such, the value of intellect will increase over the course of the expansion as your own intellect increases with ilvl upgrades.
Spell power is very significant since all of our healing abilities scale to some sort of degree with it. Spell power is directly obtained mainly by weapons and trinkets. As intellect cannot be as easily obtained as secondary stats, the moment you consider your spirit excessive for the content you’re aiming to clear then consider replacing spirit gems for intellect gems instead of removing spirit reforges.
5.4. Haste Rating
Haste rating reduces your time taken to cast and channel spells. Given that 425 haste rating = 1% haste, it is important to note that haste is additive as haste rating but multiplicative as a percentage. As obvious as it sounds, several calculations are often misguided for forgetting this simple detail.
As a mistweaver, haste rating reduces our channel time of SM and SCK, reduces the time between auto-attacks and reduces the time between every tick of our HoTs, thus causing our HoTs to have more ticks after certain ‘breakpoints’ of haste.
The breakpoints for our HoTs are displayed below:
Note: Zen Sphere doesn’t benefit from haste.
The number highlighted in green is the haste rating required, before factoring in the 50% bonus to haste rating from Stance of the Wise Serpent (SWS) and including the common 5% spell haste buff to reach the 11th ReM breakpoint. In other words, this is the haste rating that the monk needs to reforge to without having the haste rating bonus from SWS active. If you use an in-game reforge addon such as ReforgeLite it is recommended to switch to Stance of the Fierce Tiger for reforging to 3145 haste rating. Meeting the 3145 haste rating requirement without SWS will mean that with SWS you'll have 3145*1.5 haste rating or 4718. The same method applies for the other breakpoints mentioned, for example the breakpoint highlighted in orange would be the haste required before SWS's effect.
To check that you have the right amount of haste on your gear, the best way is to switch to Stance of the Fierce Tiger and verify if your haste value is greater than or equal to the one highlighted on the table above.
Besides the fact that you need haste to meet the haste rating requirement for additional ReM ticks, after which the value of haste becomes slightly lower in our priorities, there is another important aspect to note about the effect of haste on our HoTs, in particular for ReM. As an example of the 11th ReM tick, by getting to the precise point of 4718 haste rating with 5% haste, ReM will have a total duration of 18.85 sec which is almost 1 sec higher than its base duration of 18 sec. This is important since it allows for more leeway for an optimal TfT uplift combo. Every point of haste after 4718 until a subsequent 12th tick of ReM will reduce this leeway, making the 4718 marker especially important to hit on the spot. The following graph provided by Reglitch demonstrates the effect of haste on ReM described above:
Does this mean that haste actually becomes a negative stat upon reaching a new breakpoint? No, not at all. Haste affects other spells besides ReM, including your chi generation via soothing mist and SCK.
5.5. Crit Rating
Crit rating gives your spells the ability to crit, duplicating the value of your heal. With meta gems such as [Revitalizing Primal Diamond] and [Burning Primal Diamond] your crits become 2.06 times the value of your heal, and 600 crit rating = 1% crit.
For mistweavers in particular, crit rating can also be associated as an mp5 stat. This is because when you spend 4 chi to gain 1 mana tea stack, you have a chance equal to your crit rating to duplicate the amount of mana tea stacks gained.
Finally, our main healing spells scale better with increases in crit rating relative to haste and mastery making crit rating a more desirable stat for mistweavers.
5.6. Mastery Rating
Mastery: Gift of the Serpent
You have a 9.6% chance when you heal to summon a Healing Sphere nearby an injured ally for 60 sec. Allies who walk through the sphere will be healed for 9,986.
If the Healing Sphere expires before being used, an ally nearby within 6 yards of the sphere will be healed for 50% of the effect.
Yeah, green orbs, everywhere. For mistweavers in particular, 480 mastery rating = 1% mastery, and although this guide does not recommend reforging to this stat, it is still a very interesting mechanic to note as a passive. It is unique in the sense that it has two variables to consider. Firstly, it gives your healing abilities a probability to summon a healing sphere. After mentioning this and considering that 1% mastery requires 120 less rating than 1% crit, new players tend to consider mastery as the go-to stat.
However, the second and most important variable is the interaction with other players. This is because players must physically cross through your orbs in order for the healing sphere to be considered effective, which makes the mechanic overall slightly less appealing. The alternative added with patch 5.2 as an attempt to make healing spheres more effective is that if the duration of the sphere expires, it will heal a player within a maximum of 6 yards by 50% of its original value. Regardless of this addition, our healing abilities scale poorly with mastery and thus better results can generally be seen with prioritizing other secondary stats, mainly crit. Below, just for curiosity are the gift of the serpent proc scalars (values by which your mastery is multiplied for each heal caused by the ability) provided by Ghostcrawler:
5.7. Enchants
Item Slot Enchant Alternative Profession based Shoulders [Greater Crane Wing Inscription] [Crane Wing Inscription] (Cheap) [Secret Crane Wing Inscription] Cloak [Enchant Cloak - Superior Intellect] [Enchant Cloak - Superior Critical Strike] [Lightweave Embroidery] or [Darkglow Embroidery] Chest [Enchant Chest - Mighty Spirit] [Enchant Chest - Glorious Stats] (Read below) Bracers [Enchant Bracer - Super Intellect] [Enchant Bracer - Mastery] (Cheap) [Fur Lining - Intellect] Gloves [Enchant Gloves - Greater Haste] [Enchant Gloves - Superior Mastery] Belt [Living Steel Belt Buckle] Legs [Greater Pearlescent Spellthread] [Pearlescent Spellthread] (Cheap) [Sanctified Spellthread] Boots [Enchant Boots - Pandaren's Step] [Enchant Boots - Greater Haste] Ring [Enchant Ring - Greater Intellect] x2 Weapon [Enchant Weapon - Jade Spirit] [Enchant Weapon - Windsong] (Cheap) Off-hand [Enchant Off-Hand - Major Intellect] (Cheap)
Generally, enchanting is pretty straightforward. However, as a mistweaver there are some important aspects to consider when enchanting your gear. Firstly, if you decide you want to replace spirit for more intellect, then the first replacement to make is the chest enchant. This is because switching from Mighty Spirit to Glorious Stats has the best tradeoff, because you’re replacing 120 spirit to gain 80 intellect whereas with gemming you would replace spirit for intellect in a 2:1 ratio respectively.
Secondly, regardless of monk's exceptional mobility Pandaren's Step is the default boot enchant mainly because of the 8% increased run speed. This is because if you have chi torpedo as your lvl 90 talent you immediately have to exclude roll as additional mobility (unless you can or have to use some chi torpedos for mobility). If you aren't going to use chi torpedo (which for several raid encounters is a viable talent), then Greater Haste on boots is a more optimal enchant.
5.8. Gemming
Meta Socket Courageous Primal Diamond Revitalizing Primal Diamond - 244 mp5 Burning Primal Diamond Ember Primal Diamond* Red Socket Purified Imperial Amethyst Brilliant Primordial Ruby
Brilliant Serpent's Eye (JC only)Potent Vermilion Onyx Reckless Vermilion Onyx Blue Socket Sparkling River's Heart
Sparkling Serpent's Eye (JC only)Purified Imperial Amethyst Misty Wild Jade Energized Wild Jade Yellow Socket Misty Wild Jade Smooth Sun's Radiance
Smooth Serpent's Eye (JC only)Potent Vermilion Onyx Reckless Vermilion Onyx
* = mp5 regen depends on mana tea usage and Muscle Memory mana gains through fistweaving.
Gemming changed significantly with MoP where secondary stats have twice the value of primary stats, exclusive for gems. This ‘allows’ players to gem pure secondary stat gems without having to worry about the stat weights of primary stats being better than that of secondary stats per point. Basically, it means that if you’re needing more mp5, then you should first resort to spirit gems.
If however, you find that you don’t need more spirit gemming due to stable mana regeneration, then consider gemming for throughput. Intellect for example is a lot more scarce than any secondary stat, do not overlook it. An important aspect to note is that in case you feel you want more intellect then gems are the last place to look for more intellect. This is basically because of the ratio of primary to secondary stats provided, where consumables have a 1:1 ratio respectively and thus should be considered first, followed by the chest enchant which has a 1:1.5 ratio respectively and finally the 1:2 ratio of primary to secondary stats on gems.
Using your LMG proc effectively
The legendary meta gem (LMG) buffs the player with Lucidity:
Your spells have their Mana cost reduced by 100%. Lasts 4 sec.
There are 2 ways of using your legendary meta gem proc, and that is for conserving mana you wouldn't have spent otherwise and actual mana regen. The latter is the most typical use of the LMG simply because as a mistweaver it provides an interesting source of mana regen by using a Jab > TP x2 rotation, resulting in a 24k mana gain, so if you don't stand in melee range this is one more reason to do so whenever possible. The general rule of thumb is that you want to use your proc and prioritize your mana consuming spells that you won't have to use and spend mana on later when you don't have the buff up. Since we're healers there are a lot of exceptions to this rule that are learned with practice. Having an addon such as Weakauras or TellMeWhen is highly recommended to track this buff.
6. Healing Strategies
Mistweavers have many possible styles of healing and generally a good mistweaver knows how to identify what kind of healing will be required for the situation presented.
6.1. Eminence Healing and Fistweaving
If you can recall the description of Stance of the Wise Serpent, the last paragraph mentioned:
In addition, you also gain Eminence, causing you to heal the lowest health nearby target within 20 yards for an amount equal to 25% of non-auto attack damage you deal.
As a melee orientated class, this means our special hits (most of which requiring melee range) will be converted into smart heals. If you notice however, our Jade Serpent Statue included the same description. This means, that when you deal damage your Stance will allow 25% of your non-autoattack damage to be converted into healing, as well as your statue, adding up to 50% of your non-autoattack damage. With a 20% bonus to healing granted by the stance, the monk heals for 60% of non-autoattack damage done.
You need to control your statue’s position and be aware of it at all times during an encounter. Our damaging abilities which get converted to Eminence healing are basically damaging abilities which do not already contain a healing component. Thus the following damaging abilities cause eminence healing:
- Blackout Kick
- Tiger Palm (Provides Tiger Power)
- Jab
- Crackling Jade Lightning
- Invoke Xuen, the White Tiger
- Auto-attacks (with Serpent’s Zeal)
- Tiger Strikes (related to Auto-attacks)
- Touch of Death
The first aspect to note is Tiger Power:
Also grants you Tiger Power, causing your attacks to ignore 30% of enemies' armor for 20 sec.
Keeping this buff up is simple since it is refreshed everytime you use tiger palm, yet it is vital to increase our Eminence healing.
If you read the tooltip description carefully you would find auto-attacks shouldn’t belong to that list, however thanks to your passive ‘Teachings of the Monastery’, when you cast blackout kick you gain Serpent’s Zeal:
When you Blackout Kick, you gain Serpent's Zeal causing you to heal nearby injured targets equal to 25% of your auto-attack damage.
Having auto-attacks heal free of cost is efficient for its mana cost, and knowing when and how you should perform ‘Fistweaving’ is essential to play the specialization to its maximum potential.
When you should Fistweave:
Fistweaving is the most unique style of healing available to Mistweavers and is quite different from any other method of healing in the game. It is similar to Atonement in the aspect of doing damage to heal, but the playstyle is a lot different and much more viable in varying degrees depending on the fight. The purpose of this guide is to flesh out some of the more confusing aspects of Fistweaving so that Mistweavers can understand when, why, and how it works.
Maintaining Serpent's Zeal, Tiger Power, and spending all extra Chi on Tiger Palm or Blackout Kick
This is the main objective of fistweaving which involves taking on a full DPS rotation (with other things mixed in, more on that later) with the object of translating as much damage as possible into healing while attempting to be mana efficient.
When and why you should Fistweave:
This is a difficult question to answer because it depends on several factors with some of the more important ones being the type of role you are attempting to fulfill in your group, your assignment and if you can afford to stop completely healing to provide the group with some dps and some healing. As a healer it should usually be just an extra set in your toolkit for downtime or to help your group beat an enrage timer. The general way of looking at it is the following: if healing is required for which using your typical healing spells would be more effective then you shouldn't dps to cover the healing, and in a similar fashion if there is nothing to heal then there is no reason not to dps. The rule of thumb is to attempt being as useful as you can to the group, whilst fulfilling your role as a healer.
How to Fistweave:
Given as a priority queue it would look like:
- Keep Statue within 20 yards of groups of players if possible
- Keep Tiger Power up
- Tiger Palm if Muscle Memory is up and you have 1 chi to spend (or Blackout Kick if there's more than 1 target, Muscle Memory is up and you have at least 2 chi you can spend)
- Jab to generate chi and Muscle Memory (or SCK if 3 or more targets are up)
Thus, your rotation for a single target would look something like:
Place Statue in a good position > Jab > TP > Jab > TP...
It's as simple as it sounds.
For a more in-depth guide to fistweaving visit Reglitch's fistweaving guide.
6.2. Choosing the correct Chi generator
Encounters will vary, some will allow a mistweaver to take full benefit of its strengths, others will pick on their weaknesses, but we must always adapt to the situation we are given and act accordingly. As with everything, practice makes perfect and through experimenting with different spells on different occasions, you will find which spells best fit to the situation and in particular, what ability you should use to generate chi, our main resource. You should view it as a sort of command list, where you need to meet certain criteria.
Renewing Mists generates 1 chi. Since mistweavers have a slow ramp-up time to reach their full AoE potential it is mostly recommended to use ReM on cooldown, especially if the player recognizes he will need to be using uplift regularly. This is one of the most important recommendations in the guide since a mistweaver must gain this habit to be ready to heal multiple players when required.
For 5.2, your main chi generator for the majority of encounters will be soothing mist. Efficiency is the key word and the fact is that it has more sustained and reliable chi generation than in previous patches. Whilst its chi generating component is based on a probability it has been fixed so that the probability increases after each tick that doesn't generate chi. After a tick generates chi, this probability lowers back to its base. Our other single target heal and chi generator is surging mist. It is our most expensive chi generator and generally shouldn't be used "just because you need chi". However, if chi is desperately needed and a player can benefit from the heal then this spell shouldn't be excluded as an option.
Before patch 5.2, the main chi generator for most encounters which allowed the monk to stay within melee range was jab. As a chi generator it is guaranteed to generate chi making it reliable and since it has no CD it can be used several times. However, its excessive mana cost prevents us from using this ability continuously for a practice called Zealweaving which is no longer viable simply because of the excessive mana cost of jab. This will be your main chi generator when fistweaving as it buffs the mistweaver with Muscle Memory.
Spinning Crane Kick (SCK) is one of our main AoE healing abilities, and its relatively expensive mana cost for a 4 tick channeled cast AoE prevents monks from using it blindly. Since AoE heals are now limited to healing 6 players at a time, they will heal the 6 most injured players in the group. This makes SCK a powerful chi generator in raid groups as it will have a high chance of being effective healing provided there are enough players to make SCK worth using (typically 4 or more).
Finally, some players will tell you to use expel harm as soon as its cooldown is ready. Technically, expel harm is our most mana efficient on-demand chi generator but it is also a moderate self-heal. Usually, this can be used on cooldown, but if you can predict incoming damage where the self-heal will be effective, then it is best to delay it a few seconds just to take advantage of the heal.
6.3. Single-target healing: “The synergy”
The traditional healing specs of the game have what is usually referred to as the heal triplet. A small, low mana cost heal as a sort of filler (e.g. holy light), a fast, high HPS and mana expensive heal for those ‘oh shit’ moments (e.g. flash of light) and a slow, big and mana efficient heal (divine light). Monks were designed with a similar spell designation but unique in its own way as will be seen further on.
Basically, it works around channeling soothing mist, your primary chi generator. When you channel soothing mist (SM), your surging mist (SrM) and enveloping mist (EM) become instant and can be cast whilst channeling soothing mist, but both heals mentioned will specifically be directed to the player who you are channeling soothing mist on. Don't try to cast enveloping mist on one player whilst channeling soothing mist on another because it won't work and instead you might just end up wasting your enveloping mist. The key notes to take from this unique style of healing is that you shouldn't be using SrM and EM sporadically on players unless you know only you will be able to heal them. Specifically for EM's case, it is a relatively strong and short HoT thus it is best used on a player who will be taking more damage so in other words; don't spam these abilities, play smart and attempt to reduce overhealing with these. It is often advised that if you do need to cast SrM or EM on a player, then try to channel soothing mist before to make the following SrM or EM instant cast, to continue healing with SM and even generate some additional chi if possible.
Soothing mist has an interesting feature which is its initial tick upon starting the channel. Due to this characteristic it is possible for the monk to 'spam' SM, resulting in more ticks than a regular non-interrupted channel of SM. This is important not only because of the extra SM healing, but mainly because it is a quicker and more effective way of generating chi with our main chi generator. Below is a graphical illustration of SM spam against a regular non-interrupted SM channel in the same time period:
As single target healers, mistweavers aren't usually assigned for specific players or even tanks simply because their AoE throughput is often too valuable to miss out on, and since chi is most often used on uplift or enveloping mist but not both simultaneously, then the most common assignment is to have mistweavers as FFA (free for all), covering the party or raid as they so please as long as their throughput can match the damage being taken. In 5 man parties and 10 man raids, there will be a higher tendency for the monk to cover the tank via enveloping mist simply because there will be less tank healing going on with reduced number of healers available.
The interaction between these 3 healing abilities is awesome, having SrM and EM become instant while channeling SM and the increased healing to the channel while EM is active on the target is an appealing way of tank healing. As of patch 5.2, we don't tend to resort solely to tank healing simply because of the opportunity cost of not covering multiple players which is something we can excel at when prepared. Aside from that, mistweavers are a decent alternative to cover a tank, the only setback really is the mana cost tied to SrM which burns our mana if the player happens to take some spiky damage.
6.4. Optimal usage of main cooldowns
Revival
Raid wide AoE heal and amount healed per player depends on the raid difficulty (10 or 25). Generally speaking, overhealing with this cooldown is unnecessary and often considered meter padding. It’s a good “oh shit” cooldown, and it’s relatively effective for topping your raid off so make sure its heal will be effective. Revival scales exceptionally well with spell power so it depends on the character but in 10 man it can go up to healing every player for 40% of their total hp, it literally tops the raid. In 25 man it will heal every player for roughly 15 – 20% of their total hp assuming all players are healed.
Life Cocoon
Unique in the sense that it absorbs damage, possibly saving the player, shit in the sense that it gets obliterated in 2 hits if used on a tank. The recommended use for this cooldown is to anticipate damage, use it preemptively on a tank for raid mechanics which require external tank cooldowns such as Overwhelming assault on Blade Lord. The second note is that it doesn’t NEED to be used on a tank (unless it’s assigned) so casting it on a player with a damaging debuff will be an effective use, unless the debuff is negligible in which case that’s considered poor use.
The 50% increased HoT healing associated to the cocoon is also valuable for single target throughput (e.g. healing Tsulong).
Thunder Focus Tea
This cooldown allows for 2 separate benefits, depending on which ability is used associated to the cooldown but the main note should go to TfT with uplift. This combo allows the monk to refresh all the ReMs on the raid to their full duration, meaning that you will have double the usual amount of players with ReM on them. It is an amazing cooldown for blanketing the raid with ReM and ‘snipe’ healing with uplift and it is rare to find a raid encounter where you won’t use this combo.
Assuming the monk uses ReM on cd, the optimal usage of TfT will be with 7 – 8 players with ReM and 1 – 2 seconds immediately after using ReM. This is because 3 sets of ReM will be running when TfT is used, with the first one about to run out. Therefore, using TfT in this way will allow for more ReMs during the cycle following TfT. It is recommended to ‘pool’ at least 2 chi using this method, to be ready to cast an uplift as soon as ReM and TfT is used.
The other TfT combo is associated to surging mist, and like it or not it does have its utility. Firstly, it is important to note that consuming 1 chi with TfT is not on the gcd, which allows you to do so while channeling soothing mist. Duplicating your SrM heal doesn’t seem very valuable, but if you managed to save a tank with this combo I would say that you’ve used your cooldown effectively, unless you know you will need your TfT for AoE throughput in a close future.
Situations in which the SrM combo of TfT is worthwhile includes healing on tsulong during the day phase (using it with the Light of Day or Bathed in Light), challenge modes struggling to keep your tank alive, and any situation where it will save the player unless you recognize that another healer will do the job and you will need it for ReM refreshing.
Chi Brew (Optional via talent)
It is our best throughput talent for the respective tier primarily because it can lineup beautifully with TfT's CD, so if there is an incoming phase where increased healing throughput is demanded, then delaying the cooldown by a few seconds might be beneficial.
Invoke Xuen, the White Tiger (Optional via talent)
Xuen provides moderate eminence healing for no cost over a 45 sec duration and 3 min cooldown. To maximize its use, it should typically be used on cooldown, however it shouldn’t be viewed completely as a DPS cooldown for mistweavers; you’re brought to heal, not to DPS and as such if there’s literally no damage to heal with Xuen’s damage triggering Eminence smart heals, consider its use. It might come handy for a phase where its free smart heals will come to play at the expense of 1 gcd where you have to summon him. As an important note of Xuen's use, the spell is currently used to summon Xuen but not to make him attack your target and as such you must attack your target in any form (auto-attack, crackling jade lightning if at ranged position) to get Xuen to attack that target. Additionally, any time you enter a vehicle Xuen will cease his attack and you must attack your target again. This fixating issue will be fixed soon.
7. Set bonuses
T16 Set Bonuses
Monk T16 Mistweaver 2P Bonus - When Gift of the Serpent spheres heal a player, they gain an absorb for 45% of the amount healed.
- Decent 2 set that provides players with a moderate absorb which is generally valuable for most encounters
- Absorb is called Yu'lon's Barrier
Monk T16 Mistweaver 4P Bonus - When your Renewing Mist heals a target, you have a 4% chance to cast a Mist Wave healing bolt at a nearby low health friendly target.
- Despite the low probability of proccing the heal it is a reasonable 4 set as it triggers a moderate smart heal thus it will attempt to heal the party or raid member with lowest health points
T15 Set Bonuses
Monk T15 Mistweaver 2P Bonus - Your Renewing Mist heals for 15% more each time it travels to a new target. (Multiplicative)
- Quite a powerful bonus that buffers one of our most effective heals by an average of approximately 16%, makes further ReM haste breakpoints more desirable.
Monk T15 Mistweaver 4P Bonus - Reduces the cooldown of your Thunder Focus Tea by 5 sec.
- Situational, generally you'll have TfT ready to use when it matters on most encounters even with a 45 sec CD but otherwise there's no huge sacrifice in going for this bonus unlike its tier 14 counterpart.
T14 Set Bonuses
Monk T14 Mistweaver 2P Bonus - Reduces the mana cost of your Surging Mist spell by 10%.
- Generally a very lackluster set bonus simply because it's tied to a spell we tend not to use, not worth getting tier just for the bonus.
Monk T14 Mistweaver 4P Bonus - Increases the healing done by Enveloping Mist by 5%.
- Same as the the 2P bonus.
8. Trinkets
There's a certain leeway when considering trinkets, this is that a different set of trinkets will yield better results for different encounters (e.g. what kind of healing you will be required to do), which simply means that if you want to be optimal you should consider all trinkets within reach and have more than just 2 if there are encounters which indeed require different sets. The following list, courtesy of Reglitch, designates a weight to each stat which allows for the attribution of a "Trinket Score". The trinkets are then given a rank based on their score.
Code:1 Int = 1, 1 HPS = 0.33, 1 spirit = 0.3, 1 MP5 = 0.54, 1 crit = 0.5, 1 haste = 0.4, 1 mastery = 0.3, Spirit proc = 0.3, Proc haste = 0
Rank Trinket Trinket Score 1 Thok's Acid-Grooved Tooth[HW] [2] 8,143 2 Thok's Acid-Grooved Tooth[H] [2] 7,820 3 Thok's Acid-Grooved Tooth[N] [2] 7,623 4 Thok's Acid-Grooved Tooth[FL] [2] 7,305 5 Nazgrim's Burnished Insignia[HW] [2] 7,103 6 Nazgrim's Burnished Insignia[H] [2] 6,985 7 Thok's Acid-Grooved Tooth[L] [2] 6,931 8 Prismatic Prison of Pride[HW] [2] 6,806 9 Nazgrim's Burnished Insignia[N] [2] 6,709 10 Prismatic Prison of Pride[H] [2] 6,691 11 Prismatic Prison of Pride[N] [2] 6,466 12 Nazgrim's Burnished Insignia[FL] [2] 6,451 13 Nazgrim's Burnished Insignia[L] [2] 6,212 14 Prismatic Prison of Pride[FL] [2] 6,109 15 Prismatic Prison of Pride[L] [2] 5,856 16 Dysmorphic Samophlange of Discontinuity[HW] [2] 3,891 17 Dysmorphic Samophlange of Discontinuity[H] [2] 3,659 18 Dysmorphic Samophlange of Discontinuity[N] [2] 3,467 19 Dysmorphic Samophlange of Discontinuity[FL] [2] 3,209 20 Lightning Imbued Chalice[HT] [2] 3,084 21 Contemplation of Chi-Ji[ISLE] [2] 3,011 22 Dysmorphic Samophlange of Discontinuity[L] [2] 2,915 23 Lightning Imbued Chalice[H] [2] 2,819 24 Horridon's Last Gasp[HT] [2] 2,750 25 Lightning Imbued Chalice[H] [1] 2,715 26 Lightning Imbued Chalice[NT] [2] 2,666 27 Horridon's Last Gasp[HT] [1] 2,650 28 Lightning Imbued Chalice[H] [0] 2,616 29 Horridon's Last Gasp[H] [2] 2,601 30 Lightning Imbued Chalice[NT] [1] 2,568 31 Horridon's Last Gasp[HT] [0] 2,553 32 Lightning Imbued Chalice[N] [2] 2,542 33 Horridon's Last Gasp[H] [1] 2,506 34 Lightning Imbued Chalice[NT] [0] 2,474 35 Lightning Imbued Chalice[N] [1] 2,449 36 Horridon's Last Gasp[NT] [2] 2,436 37 Horridon's Last Gasp[H] [0] 2,414 38 Lightning Imbued Chalice[N] [0] 2,359 39 Horridon's Last Gasp[NT] [1] 2,347 40 Horridon's Last Gasp[N] [2] 2,303 41 Horridon's Last Gasp[NT] [0] 2,261 42 Horridon's Last Gasp[N] [1] 2,219 43 Lightning Imbued Chalice[L] [2] 2,179 44 Soothing Talisman [REP] [2] 2,159 45 Qin-Xi's [H] [2] 2,143 46 Horridon's Gasp [N] [0] 2,138 47 Lightning Imbued [L] [1] 2,099 48 Soothing Talisman [REP] [1] 2,080 49 Qin-Xi's [H] [1] 2,065 50 Lightning Imbued [L] [0] 2,022 51 Soothing Talisman [REP] [0] 2,003 52 Qin-Xi's [H] [0] 1,989 53 Horridon's Gasp [L] [2] 1,912 54 Qin-Xi's [N] [2] 1,898 55 Spirits of the Sun [H] [2] 1,881 56 Horridon's Gasp [L] [1] 1,842 57 Qin-Xi's [N] [1] 1,829 58 Spirits of the Sun [H] [1] 1,812 59 Horridon's Gasp [L] [0] 1,775 60 Qin-Xi's [N] [0] 1,762 61 Spirits of the Sun [H] [0] 1,745 62 Relic of Chi-Ji [2] 1,681 63 Qin-Xi's [L] [2] 1,681 64 Spirits of the Sun [N] [2] 1,667 65 Relic of Chi-Ji [1] 1,620 66 Qin-Xi's [L] [1] 1,620 67 Spirits of the Sun [N] [1] 1,606 68 Relic of Chi-Ji [0] 1,561 69 Qin-Xi's [L] [0] 1,561 70 Heartwarmer Medallion [REP] [2] 1,551 71 Cutstitcher Medallion [REP] [2] 1,551 72 Spirits of the Sun [N] [0] 1,547 73 Heartwarmer Medallion [REP] [1] 1,495 74 Cutstitcher Medallion [REP] [1] 1,495 75 Spirits of the Sun [L] [2] 1,477 76 Scroll of Revered Ancestors [REP] [2] 1,453 77 Jade Courtesan Figurine [N] [2] 1,453 78 Heartwarmer Medallion [REP] [0] 1,440 79 Cutstitcher Medallion [REP] [0] 1,440 80 Spirits of the Sun [L] [1] 1,423 81 Scroll of Revered Ancestors [REP] [1] 1,400 82 Jade Courtesan Figurine [N] [1] 1,400 83 Spirits of the Sun [L] [0] 1,371 84 Scroll of Revered Ancestors [REP] [0] 1,349 85 Jade Courtesan Figurine [N] [0] 1,349 86 Empty Fruit Barrel [0] 1,222 87 Price of Progress [0] 1,152 88 Vial of Ichorus Blood [0] 1,059 89 Thousand-Year Pickled Egg [2] 974 90 Thousand-Year Pickled Egg [1] 938 91 Thousand-Year Pickled Egg [0] 904 92 Inscribed Bag [HT] [2] 883 93 Inscribed Bag [HT] [1] 851 94 Inscribed Bag [H] [2] 835 95 Inscribed Bag [HT] [0] 820 96 Stolen Relic [H] [2] 810 97 Inscribed Bag [H] [1] 805 98 Inscribed Bag [NT] [2] 783 99 Stolen Relic [H] [1] 781 100 Inscribed Bag [H] [0] 775 101 Stolen Relic [NT] [2] 759 102 Inscribed Bag [NT] [1] 754 103 Stolen Relic [H] [0] 752 104 Inscribed Bag [N] [2] 740 105 Stolen Relic [NT] [1] 731 106 Inscribed Bag [NT] [0] 726 107 Stolen Relic [N] [2] 718 108 Inscribed Bag [N] [1] 713 109 Stolen Relic [NT] [0] 705 110 Stolen Relic [N] [1] 691 111 Inscribed Bag [N] [0] 687 112 Stolen Relic [N] [0] 666 113 Inscribed Bag [L] [2] 614 114 Stolen Relic [L] [2] 596 115 Inscribed Bag [L] [1] 592 116 Stolen Relic [L] [1] 574 117 Inscribed Bag [L] [0] 570 118 Stolen Relic [L] [0] 553
9. Consumables
As mentioned previously, spirit is now a more appealing stat for healers since it is generally the only stat which provides a linear increase to mp5 regen. However, choosing the correct consumable might be a tougher option than gemming for instance. This is because the stat ratio of intellect to spirit is 1:1, meaning that you should try and gem for a satisfactory spirit level, so you can use intellect flasks and food. Only use spirit consumables if you really feel your mana regen is not satisfactory.
The other important note is to food. In MoP, cooking was reworked to become a more interesting profession with 6 available specializations, where a player can learn all 6 and become a Master of the Ways. Each specialization allows the player to cook food with different exceptional stat bonuses, which corresponds to each of the primary stats, spirit and a 6th specialization for making some of the finest brew in Pandaria. As mistweavers, I would recommend you at least reach maximum skill with Way of the Pot (Intellect) and Way of the Steamer (Spirit). Finally, if you become Master in all 6 ways, you gain the right to purchase an apprentice (lol that might not sound right) with Ironpaw Token. When he reaches maximum level (will take a while but totally worth it) he will offer a daily quest with a random reward which can give +300 stat food.
Flasks
Flask of the Warm Sun: +1,000 Intellect
Flask of Falling Leaves: + 1,000 Spirit
Food
Mogu Fish Stew: +300 Intellect / Steamed Crab Surprise: + 300 Spirit
Braised Turtle: +275 Intellect / Fire Spirit Salmon: +275 Spirit
Great Pandaren Banquet: +275 Intellect
Banquet of the Pot and Great Banquet of the Pot: +275 Intellect / Banquet of the Steamer and Great Banquet of the Steamer: +275 Spirit
Swirling Mist Soup: +250 Intellect / Shrimp Dumplings: +250 Spirit
(Note: Stats gained from banquets are increased by 25 if you have the corresponding achievements; for example Master of the Pot grants +25 intellect (275) from Banquet of the Pot)
Potions
Potion of the Jade Serpent: +4,000 Intellect for 25 sec
Potion of Focus: +45,000 Mana over 10 sec
Master Mana Potion: +30,000 Mana
10. FAQ
Q - "So hold on, do I need 3145 haste rating in serpent stance or without it??? I'm so confused."
A - I suppose that by this you're aiming for 16.65% haste, which is the 2nd breakpoint on Renewing Mist giving you an 11th tick. If you're in a group with a class that can provide 5% haste such as a shadow priest or balance druid, this requirement gets pushed down to 11.10% haste which you'll need to obtain from your gear since there are no other static raid haste buffs which you can count on. However, you also have Stance of the Wise Serpent's (SWS) effect which increases your haste rating by 50%. This means that without SWS you only need 7.40% haste so that when you do have SWS active this gets buffed to 11.10%. Therefore it is recommended that when reforging you use Stance of the Fierce Tiger. Finally, to get 7.40% haste you'll need 3145 haste rating from your gear.
Q - "Are you crazy? Gift of the Serpent is usually around 8% of my total healing, it must be good!"
A - The mechanic behind Gift of the Serpent is absolutely fine, and it's an interesting passive for our healing abilities. However, you could have 0 mastery rating and your Gift of the Serpent would still be around 8% of your total healing. By this I mean that our heals scale poorly with mastery rating.
When we consider the interaction of our mastery rating with Gift of the Serpent we can truly see how it's not an adequate mastery to have, especially as a healer. As an example If you have 1% mastery as a Restoration Druid, it's as linear as it gets: 1% mastery is a direct 1% increase to single targets heals and harmony. As a mistweaver, 1% mastery increases the probability of summoning a healing sphere by 1% on each heal. However, the number on your Gift of the Serpent tooltip is the base probability. Since on an average 8 min encounter you will literally have thousands of heals, this would yield an insane amount of spheres so individual scalars were given to each of our heals according to their frequency of healing. Just to simplify things I'll use the average scalar for all of our heals (this is incorrect since it assumes equal weight on all of our heals which is wrong, the average would actually tend to a number between ReM and uplift's scalar so between 0.15 and 0.25) which would be approximately 0.2. So if you have 19% mastery your heals will on average have a 3.8% chance to summon a healing sphere. If you get 480 mastery rating to increase it to 20% mastery you'll increase the chance to 4%, meaning you got 480 mastery rating to increase the chance for your heals to summon a healing sphere by 0.2%.
If you get 500 crit rating instead, you're increasing the chance on all of your heals to be 200% (or 206% with a 3% crit meta gem) of their normal value by 0.83%. This also partly explains why we go for crit rating, because it's the stat our heals scale best with.
Q - "Do I gem for intellect or crit?"
A - Both gemming strategies are viable and roughly equal at high ilvls such as heroic ToT gear, except fistweaving tends to be more effective with a crit build. At lower ilvls intellect gemming is superior for throughput.
Q - "What haste breakpoint do I go for?!"
A - This will obviously be gear dependent, but the general rule of thumb is that if you're losing around 1.6k crit from reforging or you're gemming yellow haste gems then you probably don't have enough ilvl to support the haste breakpoint you're aiming for.
11. Macros
Mouse-over macros
As healers and especially mistweaver monks these macros are essential to increase our output level as it allows for better reactions since you no longer have to target players to cast a heal and you can continue with other actions, for example auto attacking to heal via Serpent's Zeal.
This macro prioritizes the monk's Renewing Mist cast on a mouseover. If there is no mouseover, the heal will go on your target instead and if there is no target it will be cast on yourself.Code:#showtooltip Renewing Mist /cast [target=mouseover,help] Renewing Mist; [help] Renewing Mist; Renewing Mist
Engineering Macros
This macro allows you to use Synapse Springs as you TfT + uplift or SrM, where the former will update all the ReMs on the raid with Synapse Spring's intellect buff. Although I don't recommend this macro as your usage of Synapse Springs will depend on the nature of the damage you're preparing for but typically most mistweavers go with this macro to keep it simple.Code:#showtooltip Thunder Focus Tea /use 10 /cast Thunder Focus Tea
12. Appendix
Glossary:
Term Meaning AA Auto-Attack (white hits) BoK Blackout Kick CB Chi Burst CJL Crackling Jade Lightning CT Chi Torpedo CW Chi Wave EM Enveloping Mist FW or FWing Fistweaving HPM Healing Per Mana HPS Healing Per Second LC Life Cocoon MW Mistweaver ReM Renewing Mist RJW Rushing Jade Wind SZ Serpent's Zeal SM Soothing Mist SCK Spinning Crane Kick SrM Surging Mist TfT Thunder Focus Tea TP Tiger Palm Xuen Invoke Xuen, the White Tiger ZS Zen Sphere
Special Thanks
- Valen and Suzushiirou for the outstanding theorycrafting presented on several forums and the development of Valen’s Mistweaver Calculations
- EGTactics for his work done during beta
- Reglitch and Dumbfoundead for their collaboration and support with the guide
- Shyama for some outstanding artwork provided for the guide
- Totaltotemic for his endless discussions on fistweaving
- All the MMO-Champ users making daily contributions and providing interesting discussions in the monk forum
Update Log:
14.09.2013 - Patch 5.4 updates.
16.01.2013 - Thread created.