With the Prepatch going live tomorrow, I wanted to list all the changes that are happening for Windwalkers. All of the guides have been updated to match the changes, this is simply to outline all those changes so that you don’t have to worry about missing something. If you’re looking for information about how all these changes have affected Windwalker, then make sure to check out the PvE Guide.

Video

If you prefer your information in a video format, check out Kuya’s youtube video guide:

Removed

•  Effuse – Replaced with  Vivify
•  Chi Orbit – Replaced with  Spiritual Focus
•  Healing Elixir – Replaced with  Inner Strength
•  Power Strikes – Replaced with  Fist of the White Tiger
•  Summon Black Ox Statue – Replaced with  Good Karma
• Most Artifact Traits

New

•  Fist of the White Tiger – Active – New Tier 3 (level 45) talent, replacing  Power Strikes, inspired by old artifact ability,  Strike of the Windlord. Generates 3 Chi for a 40 energy cost, used as a  Tiger Palm replacement when available and won’t overcap.
•  Good Karma – Passive – New Tier 4 (level 60) talent, replacing  Summon Black Ox Statue, inspired by former artifact trait,  Good Karma. Increases the damage absorbed, redirected, and dealt, by  Touch of Karma from 50% of your health modified by Mastery and Versatility, to 100% of your health, modified by Mastery and Versatility. Used as the standard talent of this row, unless other talents are needed.
•  Tiger Tail Sweep – Passive – New Tier 4 (level 60) talent, replaced  Leg Sweep. Increases the range of  Leg Sweep and reduces its cooldown by 10 seconds. Used when you need the extra range or reduced cooldown.
•  Inner Strength – Passive – New Tier 5 (level 75) talent, replaced  Healing Elixir. Provides a stacking buff that reduces all damage taken by 2% per stack, up to 5 stacks. Gains 5-second duration per Chi spent. Used when small but steady damage is more frequent than big hits of magic or physical damage.
•  Spiritual Focus – Passive – New Tier 7 (level 100) talent, replaced  Chi Orbit, inspired by both the former artifact trait,  Split Personality, and (less so) legendary  Drinking Horn Cover. Reduces the cooldown of  Storm, Earth, and Fire by 1 second per 2 chi spent. Not typically used unless reduced cooldown will help  Storm, Earth, and Fire line up with mechanics better.
•  Vivify – Active – New baseline healing spell. Replacing  Effuse. Stronger in just about every way than  Effuse ever was.

Changed

•  Chi Burst – Now provides 1 Chi per target hit, up to a maximum of 2 Chi.
•  Ascension – Now also increases maximum energy by 20.
•  Energizing Elixir – Now provides 2 Chi, instead of 5. Added to the GCD.
•  Hit Combo – Grants 1% increased damage per stack, down from 2% per stack.
•  Rushing Jade Wind – Cost changed from 1 Chi to 4 energy up front and 4 energy per second. Can be toggled on/off rather than have a set duration.
•  Invoke Xuen, the White Tiger – Duration reduced from 45 seconds to 20 seconds, cooldown reduced from 3 minutes to 2 minutes.
•  Storm, Earth, and Fire – Added to the GCD.
•  Leg Sweep – Changed from Tier 4 talent to baseline. Stun duration reduced from 5 seconds to 3 seconds, cooldown increased from 45 seconds to 60 seconds.
•  Fists of Fury – AOE damage changed from 100% to all targets hit to 100% for main target and 50% to all other targets hit.
•  Cyclone Strikes – Damage increase to  Spinning Crane Kick reduced from 40% per stack to 10% per stack. Added cap at 5 stacks.
•  Blackout Kick – Now reduces the cooldown of  Fists of Fury and  Rising Sun Kick by 1 second per use.
•  Spinning Crane Kick – Chi cost reduced from 3 to 2.
•  Flying Serpent Kick – Duration reduced from 2 seconds to 1.5 seconds.
•  Touch of Death – Gained the former Artifact trait;  Gale Burst, increasing the final damage of  Touch of Death by 10% of all damage dealt during the 8 second duration.

Global Cooldown

The Global Cooldown, or GCD, is a short lockout period which controls the rate with which abilities can be used; spells that are on the GCD are unable to be used simultaneously, while only abilities off the GCD can be used at the same time or during that lockout period. The global cooldown starts at 1.0 second for energy resource classes, and 1.5 seconds divided by haste for all others.

In Battle for Azeroth, many abilities which used to be off the GCD are now controlled by it. For WW Monks the abilities affected by this change are:

•  Storm, Earth, and Fire 1.0s GCD
•  Energizing Elixir 1.0s GCD
•  Serenity 1.0s GCD
•  Fist of the White Tiger 1.0s GCD

Windwalkers only had three abilities added to the GCD:  Energizing Elixir,  Storm, Earth, and Fire, and  Serenity. This means that Windwalker got off relatively easy, and the effect on the playstyle is minimal. It will take a little getting used to in order to adjust, but it’s not as disruptive as the GCD changes are for other classes and specs.

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