Bottled Fury: A Windwalker PvE Guide
New
- Mastery: Bottled Fury (level 80)
Bottled Fury increases the rate at which the Windwalker accrues Tigereye Brew stacks, granting a chance to generate a new stack every time one is generated.
- 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 70% of the Monk's normal damage, while 2 spirits will cause the Monk and both active spirits to deal 55% 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).
- 2T16 Bonus
Combo Breaker: Tiger Palm increases the damage of Tiger Palm by 40%. Combo Breaker: Blackout Kick increases the damage of Blackout Kick by 40%.
- 4T16 Bonus
Every 10 stacks of Tigereye Brew consumed cause your next Rising Sun Kick, Blackout Kick, or Fists of Fury to consume 1 less Chi.
- Brewing: Tigereye Brew
Brewing: Tigereye Brew now gains 1 charge after spending 4 Chi (was 3 Chi), increases damage by 6% per stack (was modified by mastery), 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.
- Chi Burst
Chi Burst no longer requires a target. It now travels as a 40-yard line in front of the Monk.
- Zen Sphere
Zen Sphere now deals 15% more healing and damage.
- Healing Elixirs
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.
- Chi Brew
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. Windwalkers receive 2 stacks of Tigereye Brew.
- Power Strikes
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.
Additionally, Chi Brew gains 2 stacks with 45 second recharges (similar to how Roll works).
- Invoke Xuen, the White Tiger
Xuen now has a pet control bar, is no longer on the global cooldown, and now constantly ticks his Crackling Tiger Lightning every second rather than channeling it over six seconds.
- Rushing Jade Wind
Rushing Jade Wind has been redesigned. It now replaces Spinning Crane Kick (maintaining the same cost, Chi Generation, and periodic rate as Spinning Crane Kick), but deals 80% of the periodic damage, last 6 seconds (modified by haste), is instant (not channeled), and has a 6 second CD (also modified by haste).
Removed
- Glyph of Crackling Jade Lightning (Replaced by Glyph of Nimble Brew)
- Glyph of Expel Harm (Replaced by Glyph of Rapid Rolling)
- Glyph of Retreat (Replaced by Glyph of Fortuitous Spheres)
- Glyph of Stoneskin (Replaced by Glyph of Detox)
- Glyph of Uplift (Replaced by Glyph of Targeted Expulsion)
1. Introduction
Windwalker is the melee DPS spec for Monks. Introduced in 5.0, they prevoiusly brought front-end damage. Now, Windwalkers can be credited as AE beasts and cleavemasters.
Similar to other specs, they are often associated with the August Celestials. In this case, their patron is the White Tiger.
(Note: stolen from the original Windwalker guide, as this is very interesting information. Credit to Mihir)
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 use staves and polearms, or they can dual-wield one-handed maces, swords, axes, and fist weapons. The stats for each weapon is important in calculating the damage of your spells. Therefore, you should always place the most emphasis on upgrading your weapons.
1.1.1 Which to Choose?
Dual wield is (almost always) king. Here's a basic idea of how to choose your weapon:
- You are dual wielding, and your main hand and offhand are the same item level. You receive a two-handed weapon that is ten item levels or less above both. Choice: dual wield. The difference between the two hand and dual wielding will be arbitrary at best.
- You are dual wielding, and your main hand and offhand are the same item level. You receive a two-handed wepaon that is more than ten item levels above your main hand. Choice: two-hander. The difference in stats and weapon damage on the two-hander should be significant enough to show a difference between it and your mainhand.
- Your Main Hand is the item level of current tier (let's say 496, which is Tier 14 "normal") and your offhand is that same main hand's Looking For Raid Version (let's say 483). A 496 staff drops. Choice: dual wield. Even with a worse Offhand, the differenge is neglible at best, and dual wield should still pull ahead.
- Your Main Hand is the item level of the current tier (we'll say 496 again), but your offhand is from a previous tier (let's say 463). A two hander drops of item level 496. Choice: It depends. This is actually a more complicated question, simply because of the difference between your offhand and your mainhand. Theoretically, however, it would be advised to use the two-hander, but try to find a better offhand.
It is honestly always a hard choice when the 2H has much higher stats and item level, but it really comes down to the fact that we scale with our weapon damage and dual wield gives us the benefit of double-proccing Dancing Steel (amongst other things). Early on, when RPPM trinkets scaled with weapon speed, we did see MAJOR benefit in 2H - but unfortunately, that did not go live, and so a very, very slight delta still exists between DW and 2H.
Note, however, that in current tier - with Heroic Thunderforged and several different item levels, it is not going to be uncommon for a 2H to outperform DW. That is the problem with having a tier in which weapons with a 19 item level difference can drop - it will complicate things for you.
1.2 Resources
Monks utilize two resources: Energy and Chi. Note that they are an either-or resource, meaning that abilities will use either Chi or Energy, but not both. Energy is converted into Chi, which is then used for more powerful abilities.
Energy
Energy generates Chi. 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). The talent Ascension increases energy regeneration by 15%.
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). Outside of using Energy to create Chi, monks can also use the talents Power Strikes or Chi Brew in order to generate Chi. Otherwise, Chi is generated through energy-using abilities (usually).
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.
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.
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.
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. 20 yard 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.
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
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 to be castable on other players, but amount healed is reduced by 50% (as is damage) (Glyph of Targeted Expulsion).
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).
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.
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 6% per stack of Tigereye Brew active, consuming your Tigereye Brew stacks. Lasts 15 sec.
Touch of Karma
20 yard 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.
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.
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 100% 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. Mastery: Bottled Fury also gives a chance to generate an additional stack of Tigereye Brew.
- Known bug: Free Tiger Palms gained from Combo Breaker do not grant Tigereye Brew charges (free Blackout Kicks do however)
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 10%, movement speed by 10%, 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 — Abilities that do some damage, and heal
Chi Wave
40 yd range. 15 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
40 yd range. 10 sec cooldown. 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
40 yd range. 30 sec cooldown. 1 sec cast. You summon a torrent of Chi energy and hurl it in front of you, 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. Chi Burst seems to be very strong in AE situations.
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
2 charges, 45 second recharge for both. The monk gains 2 chi, and stacks of their specific brew, per charge. Windwalkers gain 2 stacks of Tigereye Brew per charge.
Recommendations:
Ascension and Chi Brew are roughly neck-to neck for most encounters, but in practicality, Chi Brew pulls ahead. Additionally, Chi Brew is great for burst (such as an encounter with an early Lust) while Ascension is good for Patchwerk-like fights.
60 — Control
Ring of Peace
45 sec cooldown. Forms a sanctuary around the friendly target, instantly silencing and disarming all enemies for 4 sec. In addition, enemies within the Ring of Peace who attack or cast harmful spells will be disarmed and silenced for an additional 4 sec. Ring of Peace lasts for 8 sec.
Charging Ox Wave
30 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.
Ring of Peace provides a small amount of utility for silencing and disarming adds, but Leg Sweep is also very strong for an AE stun. This will be very encounter-dependent.
75 — Defense
Healing Elixirs
18 sec internal cooldown. Healing Elixirs heals you for 15% of your total health the next time a damaging attack brings you below 35% of your maximum health, or you drink a Brew or Tea while injured.
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. This can be used while stunned.
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 — Flavor Value
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.
Note that the duration and cooldown are reduced by haste, but that it retains the same amount of ticks.
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 1 sec to 3 nearby enemies within 10 yards dealing 1,455 damage. 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.
As of 5.4 Xuen has a pet bar, and 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. Constantly cleaves targets around him. 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, or any fight with 3+ targets: RJW.
Burst single target/AeE: Xuen
Chi Torpedo is not recommended for Windwalker.
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 100%.
Glyph of Nimble Brew
Clearing an effect with Nimble Brew heals you for 10% of your maximum health.
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 Fortuitous Spheres
Falling below 25% health will automatically summon a healing sphere near you at no cost. This effect cannot occur more often than once every 30 seconds.
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 Detox
Detox heals your target for 5% when it successfully removes a harmful effect.
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%.
How Much Haste Should I Have?
This common question is fairly tricky to answer.
Long story short:
Enough so that you aren't energy capping, but you're still using Energizing Brew.
So what's the long story?
First, look at your trinkets. Which trinkets are you using? Are either of them Assurance of Consequence?
If yes, you probably only need around 8-9K haste, depending on your lag. Wow, that's not very much! However, that's because this trinket means that you are going to be using more Fists of Fury and more Energizing Brew. If you can't do that (and most people can't, don't feel bad), then you should probably swap to a different trinket.
If not, then you want as much haste as you can get your greedy little hands on. Many monks are going as high as 13k-15k haste. The reason isn't even just energy regen, but also because our RPPM cloak, meta, and trinkets all scale with haste. So, more haste = good! (Plus, it also lowers the channel time of Fists of Fury).
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%.
Crit soft caps for 2H and Dual Wield monks are 75% and 57%, respectively.
NOTE:
The Crit "cap" ONLY affects Auto Attack damage. KEEP IN MIND that you will STILL benefit from crit beyond this cap. However, reaching this cap DOES allow you to play around with other stats - perhaps testing higher haste, or continuing to go into crit. Either way will see you still benefiting very well from either secondary!
Mastery
Mastery: Bottled Fury increases the chance to generate an additional stack of Tigereye Brew. 240 mastery is needed to increase this chance by 1%.
Stat priority
I'd first like to address the haste soft-cap. This describes the necessary haste to be able to fill every GCD. As of 5.4, you basically want to get as much haste as you can (assuming you are not using Assurance of Consequence), and then after around 11K haste you want to begin collecting tons of crit. Many monks state that they are pretty happy at around 13K haste, but some do go for more.
After reaching the haste soft-cap, there's 3 recommended ways to gem and reforge:
hit/exp caps > haste softcap > agility > crit > haste beyond softcap >>>>> mastery
Red sockets: pure agility
Yellow sockets: agility + crit
Blue sockets: agility + hit
As you gain better gear, it will be very easy to accidentally have tons of mastery, be very close to crit cap, and find a reasonable amount of haste (according to the notes above).
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. The food vendor for the "feast" in 5.4 will grant 300 agility.
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
3.5 Reforging
todo
4. Combat
4.1 Priority lists
These are taken from the highest dps simulationcraft profile.
Single target (Nightmare Mode)
- 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
- 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
Single target (Not Nightmare Mode)
- 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
- Trinket has procced, or your Tigereye Brew has 15+ Stacks -> Tigereye Brew
- Specced into Chi Brew, and it has 2 charges -> Chi Brew (arguably, use both charges at pull or during Lust, or when trinkets and TeB are up)
- Invoke Xuen
- Rising Sun Kick is ready -> Rising Sun Kick
- Combo Breaker: Blackout Kick procced -> Blackout Kick
- 3+ Chi and energy will cap in less than 2 seconds -> Blackout Kick
- Blackout Kick
- Blackout Kick
- Blackout Kick
- Refresh Tiger Power
- Die of falling asleep while hitting Blackout Kick
- You can't do anything -> Energizing Brew
Cleave - 2 targets
- Cast Storm, Earth, and Fire on targets that you are not targetting.
- Follow the single-target rotation, ensuring that you refresh Tiger Palm and Rising Sun Kick following Storm, Earth, and Fire (if it is necessary to re-create one of the clones)
AoE - 3 or more targets
- Cast Storm, Earth, and Fire on targets that you are not targetting.
- No Rising Sun Kick debuff on your target -> Rising Sun Kick
- 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. Addons
Weak Auras is an extremely useful addon that can be customized to track certain spells, procs, and buffs/debuffs. This thread on MMO-Champion contains some very helpful strings that can be imported.
Otherwise, I recommend any module which can be used to track energy, Chi, our Tiger Power buff, Tigereye Brew stacks, and cooldowns such as Energizing Brew in a manner that the user is comfortable with. I have known many Windwalkers which were perfectly comfortable (and very successful) with the default UI.
4.1 Macros
It might be worthwhile for some Windwalkers (Engineers in particular) to macro the use of their Synapse Springs with a cooldown, or the use of their Potion with a major cooldown (as items can be used simultaneously with using spells, it would activate both cooldowns at the same time). Again, however, this will not "make or break" the Windwalker in question.
This macro is a very helpful mouseover macro to make casting Storm, Earth, and Fire less of a pain:
Code:
/cast [target=mouseover] Storm, Earth, and Fire
In addition, the following macro is helpful for cancelling ALL Storm, Earth, and Fire clones:
Code:
/cancelaura Storm, Earth, and Fire
Talent Macros
These allow for you to have a single hotkey for your talents, since you will be swapping between them fairly often. Note that hte level 90 one will become somewhat useless in 5.4, as your Spinning Crane Kick hotkey will be replaced by Rushing Jade Wind anyway.
Also note that you will need the name of the macro in the macro itself. For example, my personal Level 30 Talent Macro is called 30 Talents. The last line of the macro has that name in it - you will need to change it if you opt to use the macro.
Level 30 Talent Macro (swap between Chi Wave and Chi Burst):
Code:
/use Chi Wave
/use Chi Burst
/run local G=GetSpellInfo SetMacroSpell("30 Talents", G"Chi Wave" or G"Chi Burst")
Level 60 Talent Macro (swap between Ring of Peace and Leg Sweep):
Code:
/use Leg Sweep
/use [target=focus] Ring of Peace
/run local G=GetSpellInfo SetMacroSpell("60 Talents", G"Leg Sweep" or G"Ring of Peace")
Level 75 Talent Macro (Swap between Diffuse Magic and Dampen Harm):
Code:
/use Diffuse Magic
/use Dampen Harm
/run local G=GetSpellInfo SetMacroSpell("75 Talents", G"Diffuse Magic" or G"Dampen Harm")
Level 90 talent macro (to swap between Xuen and RJW):
Code:
/use Invoke Xuen, the White Tiger
/use Rushing Jade Wind
/run local G=GetSpellInfo SetMacroSpell("90 Talents", G"Invoke Xuen, the White Tiger" or G"Rushing Jade Wind")
5. Other
5.1 Leveling
5.2 Links/Resources
Spreadsheets
Trinkets Ranking Spreadsheet: Credit to Promdates and Eyedore for creating the two spreadsheets that lead to this. Simply follow the directions in the sheet, rank the trinkets, and profit.
Eyedore's Monk Energy spreadsheet: Credit to Eyedore for compiling this. Inserting mastery and haste, in addition to talent choices, gear choices, and rotation choices, allows the user to view statistics on energy regeneration, regeneration/min, jabs/min, chi/min, etc. Very useful in determining the amount of time active for a Patchwerk situation.
5.2 Monk Energy Sheet (Eyedore): Willl replace the former link upon launch of 5.2
Calligraphy's Spreadsheet of Pre-Raid Gear: Spreadsheet of items a player can obtain without having stepped foot in a raid instance (LFR included) that require no valor to obtain.
Simulators
SimulationCraft.org: Credit to Eeinx for his work on the Windwalker profile. Please view this for how to use this tool.
Rotund's Stat Weight Simulator Spreadsheet.
Changelog
08/09/2014 - Updated some things with Crit Strike
2/22/2014 Yep fixed stat prios.
2/3/2014 Yah yah yah, shut up about haste already
9/9/2013: Alysmera is now stealing this guide and updating it for 5.4
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.