Monk

Monk

Monks are the newest class, introduced in Mists of Pandaria. All races, except Worgen and Goblin, can be Monks. Like Druids and Paladins, Monks are a hybrid class, able to fulfill all three roles—tank (Brewmaster), healer (Mistweaver), and damage (Windwalker).

Monks use leather armor and can wield (two-handed) staves, polearms, (one-handed) fist weapons, swords, axes, and maces.

The Brewmaster and Windwalker specs utilize Agility on their gear and use Energy as a secondary resource. The Mistweaver utilizes Intellect and uses Mana as their secondary resource. All Monks spend their secondary resource to gain their primary resource (Chi) and spend it on their most powerful skills.

Class Abilities and Resources

Agility specializations have a starting pool of 100 Energy used to fuel Chi generator abilities. Energy will regenerate over time, increased by haste. Chi can then be spent on strong offensive or defensive abilities. Mana specializations use Mana to generate Chi and fuel their other healing abilities. Mana regenerates slowly, increased by spirit.

Keg Smash (Brewmaster)

Smash a keg of brew on the target, dealing damage to all enemies within 8 yards and reducing their movement speed by 50% for 15 sec. Generates 2 Chi.

Fists of Fury (Windwalker)

Pummel all targets in front of you, stunning them and dealing damage over 4 sec. Deals reduced damage to secondary targets.

Revival (Mistweaver)

Heals all party and raid members within 100 yards and clears them of all harmful Magical, Poison, and Disease effects.

Non-Specialization Abilities

Talents

Brewmaster

The Brewmaster uses a mixture of brewing techniques and a drunken style of fighting to dodge attacks and shrug off pain. Brewmaster is the tanking role of the Monk. They are set apart from other tanks by Stagger—the ability to turn a percentage of their damage taken into a Damage Over Time (DOT) that can be cleansed with Purifying Brew for 1 Chi.

Specialization Abilities

Ability	Level	icon	Description
Critical Strikes (Passive)	1		Increases your chance to critically strike by 10%.
Bladed Armor (Passive)	10		Increases your Attack Power by 100% of your Bonus Armor.
Dizzying Haze	10		You hurl a keg of your finest brew, reducing the movement speed of all enemies within 8 yards by 50% for 15 sec. Deals a high amount of threat.
Dual Wield (Passive)	10		You may equip one-handed weapons in your off-hand.
Resolve (Passive)	10		Increases your healing and absorption done to yourself, based on Stamina and damage taken (before avoidance and mitigation) in the last 10 sec.
Stance of the Sturdy Ox	10		Increases armor by 50%, increases Stamina by 25%, reduces magic damage taken by 10%, and improves the functionality of Jab, Fortifying Brew, Tiger Palm, Blackout Kick, and Expel Harm. While in this stance, you will Stagger damage taken. Stagger You shrug off physical attacks, causing 80% of the damage to happen instantly and the remaining 20% to be divided over 10 sec.
Keg Smash	11		Smash a keg of brew on the target, dealing damage to all enemies within 8 yards and reducing their movement speed by 50% for 15 sec. Generates 2 Chi.
Breath of Fire	18		(2 Chi) Targets in front of the caster take Fire damage. If affected by Dizzying Haze, they will also burn for additional Fire damage over 8 sec.
Guard	26		(2 Chi) Guard against future attacks, absorbing damage and increasing all heals you apply to yourself by 30%. Lasts 30 sec.
Elusive Brew	36		Consumes all stacks of Elusive Brew to increase your chance to dodge melee and ranged attacks by 45% for 1 sec per stack. Your autoattack critical strikes grant up to 3 stacks of Elusive Brew, which can stack up to 15 times.
Gift of the Ox (Passive)	56		Your autoattack Multistrikes can trigger Gift of the Ox, summoning a Healing Sphere visible only to you. Moving through this Healing Sphere will heal you.
Summon Black Ox Statue	70		Summons a Black Ox Statue at the target location for 15 min, pulsing threat to all enemies within 30 yards, and interacting with your Provoke ability. You may only have one statue active.
Purifying Brew	75		(1 Chi) Instantly purifies all of your staggered damage.
Mastery: Elusive Brawler	80		Increases your Stagger amount by an additional 5%. Also increases your attack power by 8%.
Legacy of the White Tiger	81		You honor the White Tiger, increasing Strength, Agility, and Intellect by 5% and critical strike chance by 5%. If target is in your party or raid, all party and raid members will be affected.
Zen Meditation	82		Reduces all damage taken by 90% for 8 sec. Being hit by a melee attack will cancel this effect.
Ferment (Passive)	90		You gain 5% more of the Critical Strike stat from all sources.

Draenor Perks

Every other level while leveling up to 100, you will receive a boost to an existing ability called a Draenor Perk. You will learn one Draenor Perk randomly from this list each time. Once you get to 100, you will know them all.

Rotation

Brewmasters use energy to gain Chi and then use that Chi to absorb damage, dodge attacks, or cleanse Stagger. It is important to not play the Brewmaster like a damage class. The Brewmaster has been championed as being a tank that can also do great damage. However, your primary job in a party or raid environment is to survive, so it is important to know when you need to conserve Chi for defense rather than use it for offense.

• Pull targets using Dizzing Haze or Provoke.
• Use Keg Smash to generate threat and Chi.
• If Keg Smash is on cooldown, generate Chi using Jab or Expel Harm.
• Use Tiger Palm to apply or maintain the Tiger Power buff.
• Use Blackout Kick to gain Shuffle.
• Use Keg Smash on cooldown to keep threat.
• If you are heavy on Chi, use a charge of Guard to absorb damage.
• When you know heavy damage is coming, use one or multiple defensive abilities (such as Elusive Brew or Guard) to mitigate the damage.
• Use Purifying Brew when you are taking Heavy Stagger damage.
• For AoE situations, use Dizzying Haze to keep threat on multiple monsters.

Group Play

Brewmasters get to utilize their full toolkit when tanking with a group of players. Your job as a tank is to keep the attention of monsters away from other players and to survive being attacked. To gather threat, you have a few tools in your arsenal, mainly Provoke (single target), Dizzying Haze (targeted AoE), Keg Smash (AoE), and Summon Black Ox Statue which will pulse AoE threat around it, picking up any new monsters that pass it.

The making of a great Brewmaster is knowledge of the fight. Your survival will be easier if you can have a cooldown up proactively rather than reactively. When big damage is coming, activating the right defensive ability will keep your Monk happy and healthy. For example, if you know the boss is going to get a large magical spell off, having Diffuse Magic or Zen Meditation up when the spell goes off means you take only 10% of the damage.

Group Buffs

Brewmasters grant Legacy of the White Tiger which increases primary stats by 5% and critical strike chance by 5%. Dizzying Haze applies a movement speed slow to enemies affected by it.

Preparing for High-End Content

As a tank, you will be more gear dependent than other roles. Luckily, there are plenty of ways to gear up in Warlords of Draenor to get ready for the first raid. Questing, Garrisons, dungeons, crafting, and more can help you get the gear you need. To start with, you should look for gear that provides Critical Strike, Mastery, Versatility, or Bonus Armor.

Two-handed weapons (staves and polearms) usually provide higher Stamina values than two one-handed weapons. As you gear up, you will want to switch to dual-wielding to increase your DPS.

After gearing up, head to the Proving Grounds to get a feel for the spec and how it handles. Getting a silver medal in tanking will allow you to queue for Heroic dungeons.

Before stepping into your first raid, as a tank, you will be expected to know the overall mechanics of a fight. Open up the Dungeon Journal and take a look at the summaries of the fights. In Warlords of Draenor, the journal will provide an overview specifically for the tank role of each fight.

Windwalker

Windwalkers use martial arts and their speed to attack targets and get out of harm’s way. Windwalker is the damage dealing role of the Monk. Windwalkers are experts in cleave fights—where there are multiple active targets—due to Storm, Earth, and Fire, letting them split damage among 2 or 3 targets.

Specialization Abilities

Draenor Perks

Every other level while leveling up to 100, you will receive a boost to an existing ability called a Draenor Perk. You will learn one Draenor Perk randomly from this list each time. Once you get to 100, you will know them all.

Rotation

Windwalkers use energy to fuel their Chi generating abilities and then use Chi for powerful attacks.

• Use Jab or Expel Harm to generate 2 Chi. If you are almost full on Chi, spend some first.
• Use Tiger Palm to apply the Tiger Power buff. Keep this up at all times.
• Use Rising Sun Kick on cooldown to keep up the debuff on your target.
• Use Fists of Fury when possible. Using this allows you to generate a lot of energy while doing damage. Try to use when low on energy.
• Use Blackout Kick to spend excess Chi.
• If running low on energy, use Energizing Brew to give you a boost of energy and increased Multistrike.
• When facing 2 to 3 targets, use Storm, Earth, and Fire on the secondary targets and maintain your normal rotation on the primary target.
• When facing more than 3 targets, maintain your Tiger Power buff and Rising Sun Kick debuff, then use Spinning Crane Kick/Rushing Jade Wind.
• Use Expel Harm if running low on health. To avoid damage, use your defensive abilities (Touch of Karma, Fortifying Brew, Zen Meditation, etc.).

Group Play

Your primary job is to deal damage to the enemy. Windwalkers are exceptionally mobile, able to move across the battlefield at quick speed due to Roll and Flying Serpent Kick. You also share your 10% movement speed buff with party and raid members within 10 yards.

As you will be near the primary targets at all times, use Spear Hand Strike to interrupt damaging spells or heals.

While you can survive heavy damage that other classes cannot through Touch of Karma, Fortifying Brew, Diffuse Magic, and Zen Meditation, you have no way to shed threat (except dying, which hampers your DPS), so be careful on the first few seconds of the pull.

Group Buffs

Windwalkers grant Legacy of the White Tiger which increases primary stats by 5% and critical strike chance by 5%.

Stance of the Fierce Tiger provides a passive 10% movement speed increase that is shared with party and raid members within 10 yards.

Windflurry provides a passive 5% Multistrike increase to all party and raid members.

Rising Sun Kick reduces healing taken by affected targets by 25%.

Preparing for High-End Content

Warlords of Draenor brings with it a wealth of ways to gear up. Questing, Garrisons, crafting, and dungeons all give ways to get decent gear. After you feel comfortable in dungeons, step into Proving Grounds and work on getting a Silver medal. Once you do, that opens up Heroic Dungeons. Grab some friends or queue up and go have fun!

Windwalkers are attuned to Multistrike, so focus on finding gear with that stat first. Haste, Critical Strike, and Versatility are your next stats to look for. For weapons, look for one-handed weapons (fist weapons, swords, axes, and maces) over two-handed weapons unless the two-handed weapon is several item levels higher than your one-handers.

Mistweaver

Mistweaver received the most changes between Mists of Pandaria and Warlords of Draenor, the biggest of which is the inclusion of Stance of the Spirited Crane. Doing damage while healing (also known as fistweaving) has always been a part of Mistweaver design, but this change has brought it into the spotlight.

Mistweaver is the healing spec of the Monk. There are two stances: Stance of the Wise Serpent offers a pure healing stance that is strong at quick single-target healing and small Heal Over Time (HOT) spells; and Stance of the Spirited Crane that focuses on doing damage to a target and using Eminence to do “smart heals” to injured party members.

Specialization Abilities

Both Stances

Stance of the Wise Serpent Only

Stance of the Spirited Crane Only

Draenor Perks

Every other level while leveling up to 100, you will receive a boost to an existing ability called a Draenor Perk. You will learn one Draenor Perk randomly from this list each time. Once you get to 100, you will know them all.

Rotation

The rotations are different depending on which stance you are in. You can change stances at any time, costing only a global cooldown.

Wise Serpent

• Use Renewing Mist on cooldown to make sure the party/raid is blanketed with as many of these as possible. There is a chance (equal to your Multistrike chance) that your Renewing Mist will not go on cooldown when used, allowing you to use it twice in a row.
• Soothing Mist on your single target in order to speed up casting of Surging Mist (your primary Chi generator).
• For single-target healing, spend Chi on Enveloping Mist. For healing multiple targets, spend Chi on Uplift.
• Use Revival if there are many allies with a Magic, Poison, or Disease debuff and/or there are several targets nearing death.
• Use Life Cocoon to shield a target that is about to take a lot of damage.

Spirited Crane

• Use Jab to generate Chi.
• Use Tiger Palm to apply the Tiger Power buff. Use again when needed to maintain the buff.
• Use Rising Sun Kick to apply the damage debuff. Like Renewing Mist, there is a chance that Rising Sun Kick will not go on cooldown when used.
• Use Blackout Kick to apply Crane’s Zeal, increasing your critical strike chance. Use again when needed to maintain the buff.
• When at 5 stacks of Vital Mists, cast Surging Mist as it will be instant cast and cost no Mana.
• When all buffs and debuffs are active, use Tiger Palm for single target heals, Blackout Kick for multiple target heals, and Rising Sun Kick for large heals.
• Crackling Jade Lightning is Mana intensive, but provides a lot of damage and healing in a short time and will generate 4 Chi.

For Both Stances

• Place your Jade Serpent Statue close to a group of targets that need healing.
• Use Detox to remove Magic, Poison, or Disease effects from targets.

Group Play

Mistweavers have the unique ability to “switch gears”, going from 50% damage/50% healing to full healing and back again. This will make them attractive to raid teams that want to edge out as much damage as possible.

Keeping the party happy and healthy is your primary job. Coordinate with other healers to ensure you are not using healing cooldowns like Revival unnecessarily. If only light raid damage is going out, help your team by going into Stance of the Spirited Crane and doing damage. If damage starts getting heavier, switch gears to Stance of the Wise Serpent to get everyone safe again.

Both stances require careful management of buffs and debuffs. Renewing Mist uptime for Mistweavers and Crane’s Zeal/Tiger Power/Rising Sun Kick for Fistweavers will set you above the rest.

Group Buffs

Mistweavers grant Legacy of the Emperor which increases primary stats by 5%.

Getting Ready for High-End Content

Warlords of Draenor brings with it a wealth of ways to gear up. Questing, Garrisons, crafting, and dungeons all give ways to get decent gear. After you feel comfortable in dungeons, step into Proving Grounds and work on getting a Silver medal. Once you do, that opens up Heroic Dungeons. Grab some friends or queue up and go have fun!

Mistweavers are attuned to Multistrike, so focus on finding gear with that and Critical Strike. Trinkets, weapons, rings, necks, and cloaks have the chance to have Spirit on it which will be helpful in not going out of Mana. On fights when you will be fistweaving, two-handed weapons will perform better. When mainly mistweaving, the one-handed plus off-hand will usually provide more stats. Note that you can switch weapons during combat, so you could switch out when changing stances.