Windwalker Monk PvE Guide

Talent Builds

There is a lot of flexibility with talents, so if you prefer a different setup or like to change a talent here or there then you can likely do that without dramatically lowering your damage. It’s a game, play what you’d like.

Abilities

Instructions

Windwalkers generally prioritize our abilities by how much damage they do and the resources (Chi, energy, execution time) that they cost. There are a couple of general goals while playing Windwalker that should help with the bigger picture before diving into the priority lists below:

• Manage Energy and Chi – Outside of big Haste cooldowns, Windwalker’s damage is restricted by how many resources we can generate and spend. This means that sitting at the Energy cap or generating more Chi than you have space for typically results in lost damage potential. Your focus is balancing having enough Chi for spenders and using  Blackout Kick just enough to prevent overcapping without using it too much and not having the Chi you need when a bigger spender becomes available.
  • During major cooldowns, you will often have more Energy and Chi than you can use due to the GCD and cooldowns of Chi spenders, making avoiding the caps less impactful, but still something to be aware of.
• Keep Abilities on cooldown – With most of our Chi spenders having their own cooldowns, it is important to reduce the amount of time that these harder-hitting abilities are sitting off cooldown without being used. There will, inevitably, be overlaps where you’ll have to choose what to press based on the priority list. A key part of playing Windwalker recognizing that one of these situations is approaching and trying to have enough Chi for what you need to do.
• React to procs – Windwalker has several procs that you’ll need to manage in order to maximize damage potential. The main ones are  Dance of Chi-Ji and  Blackout Kick!. Both of these can stack to 2 so that you don’t need to immediately use them. However, you will want to avoid risking overstacking, as that is lost damage potential. These procs can play an integral part in helping you balance your resources while still benefitting from  Mastery: Combo Strikes. They can also throw off what you were planning, so being able to react intelligently and quickly is important.
• Do not break mastery. Simple as that, do not repeat the same ability twice in a row. For a full list of what counts for mastery, see here. There are currently no situations where it is worth it to break mastery as there have been in the past.

Following these rules is the largest part of playing Windwalker. You may notice that “always be casting” is not one of our core tenets, as you are only pressing something if it aligns with these rules (something comes off cooldown, you are close to capping energy, etc). This means that as a natural consequence of following these, you may not always fill every GCD. WINDWALKER IS A SPEC WITH NATURAL DOWNTIME. This is not an indication that you are playing incorrectly or that you need more Haste (which will not really affect this). To execute these rules in the most efficient way, follow the priorities below with the goal of never using something lower in the list if it will delay something higher in the list.

Cooldowns

As said above, the safest bet is to use things as close to their cooldown as possible. However, if you can use most cooldowns at the same time without losing a cast of them, you’ll get the most out of them. You can read more about it in this article by Talby.

• Celestial Conduit –  Celestial Conduit is a powerful ability to use, but the most powerful aspect of it is that it adds the  Heart of the Jade Serpent buff. However, because this buff can also come from using  Strike of the Windlord or  Whirling Dragon Punch, you need to stagger these uses for maximum benefit. This generally means using  Celestial Conduit spaced out between casts of  Strike of the Windlord or  Whirling Dragon Punch. This attempts to insure maximum uptime and value.
• Invoke Xuen, the White Tiger – With the changes in Midnight  Invoke Xuen, the White Tiger is mainly a button you press so that you can then channel  Celestial Conduit afterwards. This means that you’ll want to plan ahead slightly so that you are not wasting a GCD summoning Xuen when you want to be dealing damage.
• Zenith – Doesn’t provide any provide any direct damage increase without the addition of the Apex Talents of  Tigereye Brew. However, it does reduce the cost of all of your Chi spenders by 1 and increases the cooldown reduction provided by  Blackout Kick by an additional second. When you press the button it resets the cooldown of  Rising Sun Kick and provides you an additional 2 Chi to use right away.
• Touch of Death​ – Use when it can be triggered. If you are looking to really min/max, you can make sure to only use it when it will kill the target, as this can do a maximum of 100% of your HP as damage instead of the 35% it normally does to boss targets. However, the 100% HP hit will be overkill in most cases which wastes the value of your Mastery: Combo Strikes since the hp threshold it will switch to a 100% HP hit is unaffected by your Mastery: Combo Strikes.
• Touch of Karma – Although technically a defensive ability, it can provide offensive power. Best used as frequently as you can, get as much damage absorbed as possible.

Priority Lists

The lists below assume you are doing what you need to do to avoid capping resources, avoid breaking your mastery, and using above cooldowns appropriately. Right now  Heart of the Jade Serpent doesn’t require its own priority, but that may change in the future. We’ve included a “simplified” version of each priority if the “detailed” one is a bit much.

Single Target Priority

NOTES: Skip steps that don’t apply to your Talent build. Those priorities are meant to be used by people regardless of their build, and will include some steps that don’t apply to the recommended builds.

AOE Priority (Generally 3 or more targets)

NOTES: Skip steps that don’t apply to your Talent build. Those priorities are meant to be used by people regardless of their build, and will include some steps that don’t apply to the recommended builds.

Openers

Use these ability orders to start pulls, these may change frequently over time. If you are starting a pull with more Chi, such as in M+, then simply skip the steps that get you to the necessary Chi level. See the Trinkets section further down for how on use trinkets may change your opener.

NOTES: Skip steps that don’t apply to your Talent build. Those openers are meant to be used by people regardless of their build, and will include some steps that don’t apply to the recommended builds.

Ability Usage Notes

• Blackout Kick – Generally used between other abilities to “dump” excess resources.
  • Teachings of the Monastery – Use Blackout Kick as usual UNLESS you are at maximum stacks, then it moves up the priority. DO NOT OVERCAP STACKS.
• Blackout Kick! (Free Proc) – Used before you would potentially overcap on procs (you can hold 2 at a time).
• Crackling Jade Lightning – Not used anymore.
• Dance of Chi-Ji – Simply use the proc on  Spinning Crane Kick (according to priority, and even in single target) and spend it quickly enough to avoid overcapping on procs (you can hold 2 at a time).
• Hit Combo and Mastery – Generally, any ability that directly deals damage both benefits from and continues Mastery and  Hit Combo, as well as a few that don’t directly deal damage. For a full list, see here. Currently, there are no cases where we want to break Mastery that would outweigh its damage bonus.
• Heart of the Jade Serpent – This is a buff that is applied by various abilities when running Conduit of the Celestials. It reduces the cooldown of several rotational abilities, and greatly increases the channeling speed of Fists of Fury. The buff is applied by Strike of the Windlord or Whirling Dragon Punch after first unlocking the hero talent, but also after unlocking Unity Within, a more powerful version is also applied by Celestial Conduit (as one of the “assists” of the Celestials). These two versions do not stack with each other. An additional version of the buff comes from Zenith. This version does stack with the other two.
• Rising Sun Kick then Whirling Dragon Punch – This term is used to describe the Rising Sun Kick that enables the Whirling Dragon Punch and the Whirling Dragon Punch itself. This line, when used, does not apply to Rising Sun Kick unless Whirling Dragon Punch will be used before Rising Sun Kick will be ready again. However, they don’t have to be cast in direct succession.
• Spinning Crane Kick – It is finally possible again to cast abilities when Spinning Crane Kick‘s global has passed and before its channel has finished. This applies to any ability that has no cast or channel time. Vivify buffed by Viviacious Vivification will still interrupt Spinning Crane Kick.
• Strike of the Windlord & Whirling Dragon Punch – Usage depends on the current build.
  • Shado-Pan builds use Strike of the Windlord and Whirling Dragon Punch on cooldown unless a damage amplifier is in the near future or you plan on using Zenith soon. (3 seconds at max)
  • Conduit of the Celestial builds rely a lot on stacking Heart of the Jade Serpent windows. Holding Strike of the Windlord and Whirling Dragon Punch is not recommended unless you have a damage amplifier starting within the next few seconds. It should generally be followed by casting Zenith to overlap their Heart of the Jade Serpent windows to multiply the effects. Additionally, a proper big burst window is crucial for Conduit of the Celestial builds. Delaying Strike of the Windlord or Whirling Dragon Punch is recommended when the next big burst window with Invoke Xuen, the White Tiger and Celestial Conduit will start within the next 10 seconds. You will instead delay Invoke Xuen, the White Tiger if it comes off cooldown while Strike of the Windlord or Whirling Dragon Punch will come off cooldown in the next 10 seconds.

Gearing

Stats

General stat priority for each Windwalker Hero tree.

Agility > Haste > Critical Strike >= Mastery >>> Versatility

Stat priorities can and will change for your character depending on your current gear, stats and talents. Stat weights are largely an outdated thought. Sim the gear you have through Top Gear. If you’re looking for what gear to aim for, use Droptimizer.

Crafting

THESE RECOMMENDATIONS MAY CHANGE!!! DO NOT CRAFT ANYTHING UNTIL THE ABSOLUTE LAST SECOND!!!

Generally, we recommend simulating your character through Top Gear to find what piece is best for you.

Weapons and 1H vs 2H

With the start of the expansion, 1H is slightly better than 2H weapons. For specific situations or item level gaps, sim your character’s options with Raidbot’s Top Gear Tool.

Trinkets

Ideally you want Gaze of the Alnseer and Algeth’ar Puzzle Box. As always, sim your options to see what’s best for you in particular.

Honorable Mentions:

• Radiant Plume – Another very strong passive trinket.
• Light Company Guidon – The 2nd best on-use trinket behind Algeth’ar Puzzle Box and a completely reasonable option if you can’t be asked to farm Mythic+.
• Emberwing Feather – Only slightly behind the previously mentioned on-use trinkets. Still very potent

“Best-in-Slot”

Sim the gear you have through Top Gear. If you’re looking for what gear to aim for, use Droptimizer.

Gems/Enchants

Gems

Use Raidbot’s Top Gear Tool for the most specific and accurate results for your character. In general, it will usually follow the stat priority above.

Enchants

• Weapon – Best to sim for your character through Top Gear. Default: Enchant Weapon – Acuity of the Ren’dorei
• Helm – Enchant Helm – Empowered Rune of Avoidance
• Shoulders – Enchant Shoulders – Amirdrassil’s Grace
• Cloak – Enchant Cloak – Chant of Winged Grace (No new enchant for Midnight)
• Chest – Enchant Chest – Mark of the Worldsoul
• Bracers –  Enchant Bracer – Chant of Armored Avoidance (No new enchant for Midnight)
• Boots – Enchant Boots – Lynx’s Dexterity
• Ring – Best to sim for your character through Top Gear. Default: Enchant Ring – Silvermoon’s Alacrity
• Armor Kit – Forest Hunter’s Armor Kit (functionally an enchant)

Miscellaneous

Consumables

• Flask – Flask of the Blood Knights. Any of the Flasks that give Haste, Critical Strike, or Mastery will be viable options, just be sure that your sims are using the one you want and it will adjust your gems and enchants if needed.
• Potion – Potion of Recklessness and Light’s Potential are about equal, based on your gear and talents one of them can be slightly ahead of the other. Sim to make sure you are using the correct one.
• Food – Harandar Celebration or Silvermoon Parade
• Weapon Enhancement – Thalassian Phoenix Oil

Racials

Currently, all races sim within a small range of each other and reshuffle constantly. Other than that, pick whatever race you prefer.

Using the racial available to you depends highly on the exact racial. In general, they are divided into three different groups.
Buff racials, direct damage racials and special racials.

Buff racials are the following racials:

• Ancestral Call (Mag’har Orc)
• Berserking (Troll)
• Blood Fury (Orc)
• Fireblood (Dark Iron Dwarf)

Those are used with your cooldowns and can be put into a Burst Macro like the macro you can find in the macro section.
Direct damage racials are the following racials:

• Arcane Pulse (Nightborne)
• Azerite Surge (Earthen)
• Bag of Tricks (Vulpera)
• Haymaker (Kul Tiran)
• Light’s Judgment (Lightforged Draenei)
• Rocket Barrage (Goblin)
• Thorn Bloom (Haranir)

Those are very undertuned and are used at the very end of the priority or whenever you are unable to cast something else.
The only special racial existing right now is the Blood Elf racial Arcane Torrent. This can be used whenever you need a quick chi for your big spenders and you are not able to press a tiger palm for it.

Professions

Professions have no bearing on your ability to perform your role. Pick whatever will make your playing time easier and more enjoyable. As a starting point, many players take Engineering and/or Alchemy for some small perks.

Cooldown Manager & UI

With the loss of WeakAuras, this section will be updated with notable Cooldown Manager and UI setups. If you have one that you really like, even if it is your own, message Babylonius on Discord.

Macros

Don’t Clip Things

#showtooltip Tiger Palm
/cast [nochanneling][channeling:Spinning Crane Kick] Tiger Palm

Change  Tiger Palm to whatever ability you want. This macro prevents you from cancelling the channel of  Fists of Fury,  Crackling Jade Lightning, and Celestial Conduit early and missing a tick of damage. It is recommended to use this on your main rotational abilities as it’s very very unlikely that we’ll look to cancel these abilities.

Here is a version of the Don’t Clip Things Macro that swaps between Whirling Dragon Punch and Strike of the Windlord depending on what you have talented.

#showtooltip [known:392983] Strike of the Windlord; Whirling Dragon Punch
/stopmacro [channeling:Fists of Fury]
/stopmacro [channeling:Celestial Conduit]
/cast [known:152175] Whirling Dragon Punch
/cast [known:392983] Strike of the Windlord

Burst Macro

#showtooltip Zenith
/use [pet][known:450615]13
/use [mod:shift,pet][mod:shift,known:450615]item:212971
/use [mod:shift,pet][mod:shift,known:450615]item:212265
/cast Zenith

This Macro uses your on-use stat trinket and potions in the correct order to allow your Zenith Stomp from casting Zenith to be affected by the stat buffs as well. However, this macro has a few nuances you need to adjust for your personal use, so here is an explanation for all lines and how to change them appropriately.
/use [pet][known:450615]13
This line uses your trinket in slot 13 whenever you have an active pet OR when you are talented into Shado-Pan by utilizing the very first passive point Flurry Strikes. For Windwalker the only active pet that triggers this condition is a summoned Xuen from Invoke Xuen, the White Tiger by talenting into Conduit of the Celestials. If you have your on-use stat trinket on slot 14 you need to adjust this line. If you don’t use a trinket that should be used that close between Xuen and Zenith or don’t have one (example for the first would be a trinket like Algeth’ar Puzzle Box) you should delete this line to make sure you don’t accidentally misuse the trinket you have.
/use [mod:shift,pet][mod:shift,known:450615]item:212971
/use [mod:shift,pet][mod:shift,known:450615]item:212265
Those two lines allow you to use less binds by using a shift modifier to pop your potion at the same time as your trinket, right before your Zenith Stomp from casting Zenith. The used IDs are the Fleeting Tempered Potion and the normal Tempered Potion, both at rank 3. By using this order given in the macro, you will first use your existing Fleeting Potions before starting to use your personal property. If you use rank 2 or even rank 1 potions, you can add those lines by using the same format with the IDs you can find on wowhead. If you want to use different modifiers, you can also replace shift by ctrl or alt or even get rid of it fully. Just be aware that you may end up consuming all your precious potions in content you may not want to use them for if you remove the modifier condition.
/cast Zenith
Simply casts Zenith as the very last thing inside this macro.

Seperating Invoke Xuen, the White Tiger and Celestial Conduit

When you want to seperate Invoke Xuen, the White Tiger and Celestial Conduit as seperate keybinds, just because you are used to it from your time in The War Within you can use the following two macros.
This is for Xuen:

#showtooltip
/cast [nopet]Invoke Xuen, the White Tiger

And this is for Celestial Conduit

#showtooltip Celestial Conduit
/cast [pet]Celestial Conduit

If you want their icons to properly show you have to hard assign the icon through the pre selection of the icon yourself.

Focus Cast Macros

Windwalker has a number of spells you may want to target using the /Focus targetting option. You can replace the sample text in the macro below with spells such as  Spear Hand Strike,  Paralysis, or  Detox depending on your preference:

#showtooltip
/cast [@focus,exists] Sample Text

Mouseover Macros

In some cases being able to cast spells/heals on targets without having to switch targets is extremely useful. You can use the following macro to make the desired spell cast on the target you are currently mousing over instead of your active target. Replace the sample text with the desired spell name:

#showtooltip
/cast [@mouseover] Sample Text

Ring of Peace Placement

The following two macros will place  Ring of Peace without having to use a targeting circle to do so The first will place if at your feet when pressed immediately:

#showtooltip
/cast [@player] Ring of Peace

And this will place it where your cursor is currently targeting:

#showtooltip
/cast [@cursor] Ring of Peace