Windwalker Monk 12.1 Survival Guide

As always, information on this page may change over the first days and weeks of the new patch as new things are discovered or tested.

Class Changes

Most of these don’t actually have much of an effect on how you play.

Melee auto-attack damage increased by 30%.
Zenith Stomp damage reduced by 30%.
Weapon of Wind now increases damage during Zenith by 5% (down from 10%).
Tigereye Brew increases Critical Strike damage by 5%/10% (down from 10%/20%).
Celestial Conduit damage reduced by 25%.
Blackout Kick damage increased by 50%.
Tiger Palm damage increased by 200%.
Dual Threat damage increased by 30%.
Combat Wisdom increases Stamina by 5%.
Calming Presence increased from 3% damage reduction to 7% damage reduction.
Spinning Crane Kick buffed by 38%.
- But also maybe nerfed by 12? When we know WTF happened, I’ll update this and there will probably be something in #wind-announce.
Whirling Dragon Punch buffed by 30%.
Jade Ignition buffed by 95%.
Temple Training increases the damage of Fists of Fury and Spinning Crane Kick by 30% (up from 10%).
Vivify healing increased by 25%. (To adjust for 25% increase in health and damage)
Silent Sanctuary healing increased by 25%. (To adjust for 25% increase in health and damage)
Expel Harm healing increased by 25%. (To adjust for 25% increase in health and damage)

What To Do

Tier

The Season 2 tier set is VERY strong, and the Season 1 tier set was very weak. So you’ll likely be swapping ASAP and may even drop your Season 1 tier for higher item level pieces. Because of the new way that the Catalyst works, just make sure you have at least 4 tier pieces.

Talents

Some talent changes, nothing revolutionary.

The biggest change is that Conduit of the Celestials is a very viable and can be “technically” stronger than Shado-Pan in all content. HOWEVER, it is significantly more complex and you should only play it in competitive content if you are POSITIVE that you’re better at Conduit than you are at Shado-Pan. If you play Conduit worse than Shado-Pan, you’re better off playing Shado-Pan. The top rankings will be full of Conduit, but anyone who is not pushing for those top rankings should probably be playing Shado-Pan.

Here’s a flowchart:

Rotation/Priority

There isn’t much changing currently to the rotation other than that you will want to use Spinning Crane Kick with Season 2 4-piece bonus, Unbroken Rhythm after casting Fists of Fury in both single target and AOE.

There will ABSOLUTELY be updates and improvements to the priorities, especially Conduit as the days and weeks go on, so check frequently.

Right now there are some changes that depend on what is going on with the Spinning Crane Kick buff/nerf, so the guides will be updated if anything changes and as people better explain to me why the guides are wrong.

Bonus Rolls

This season bonus rolls are more prevalent, which makes the Great Vault VERY WEIRD. Here are two flowcharts:

Great Vault

Stats

No change: Agility > Haste = Critical Strike = Mastery >>> Versatility

2H vs 1H

2-handed weapons are best, get the one from Ula’tek; Abyssal Broodfiend’s Bardiche

Embellishments

Arcanoweave Lining on Bracers and either Boots if you will eventually kill Mythic Coiled Altar, or Cloak if you will not.

Trinkets

Ideally you want Voracious Heart of Ula’tek and Zul’jin’s Guillotine Technique. As always, sim your options to see what’s best for you in particular.

Consumables

New Health Potion: Concentrated Silvermoon Health Potion

Macros

Since Celestial Conduit is a relatively weak ability by itself, you will want to cancel this with your next ability. This means that you can alter the macros so that they will interrupt Celestial Conduit but not Fists of Fury, I’ll update this and the main guide when someone tells me how to do this.