Introduction
Welcome to the Method Mistweaver Monk guide. This guide has been written by Hannah, a current Mistweaver main in Method. I’ve played in two RWFs, one with BDG and the other with Method, both as a Mistweaver. Prior to joining these two guilds, I played in the top 25 bracket for many years, maining Discipline Priest, Holy Paladin, and of course, Mistweaver Monk.
Mistweaver is an incredibly strong specialisation, as of 10.2.6. We excel at targeted spot-healing, but are also incredible at healing a large raid group. We have a strong 1-minute cooldown, making us extremely flexible in any raid composition. This is also a great boon in Mythic+, and we have a variety of tools which make us an asset in any 5-man group.
Mistweaver is, however, quite unique from other healers. In raid, we function closest to Discipline. In M+, we are closest to a hybrid of Holy Paladin and Discipline, although with many key differences. A lot of our healing comes directly from our DPS, although we are able to pump insane amounts of healing into individuals. The fact that we are quite unique makes Mistweaver potentially quite intimidating for new players, although I’d argue it is by far the most fun healer in Dragonflight!
What has changed
Patch 10.2.7 Changes
Nourishing Chi has been redesigned: Life Cocoon increases healing over time received by an additional 20%, and increases all periodic healing you deal by 20% for an additional 10 sec after the Life Cocoon is removed.
This is a nice change to Nourishing Chi, a previously underutilised talent. It now grants the Monk a periodic healing amplifier, which may mean that it is situationally viable.
Furthermore, Upwelling and Essence Font both had small aura changes that appear not to change much. As of the 10.2.7 PTR, Upwelling is still not recommended.
Patch 10.2.5 Changes
Dance of the Wind has been redesigned. Previously, it granted 10% dodge. In 10.2.5 it will continue to do so, although it now also stacks a further 10% every 4 seconds until you dodge, with a maximum cap on 9 stacks.
A new quality of life change for Teachings of the Monastery is that it now highlights Blackout Kick on the action bar when it is at maximum stacks.
Expel Harm can now benefit from Thunder Focus Tea. Casting it with TFT causes it to transfer 25% more healing to damage and also creates a Chi Cocoon on the player.
Tea of Plenty can no longer grant empowered Essence Fonts and Renewing Mists. These abilities have been replaced by Expel Harm and Enveloping Mist.
Secret Infusion now grants Versatility when used in conjunction with Expel Harm.
Faeline Stomp has been renamed to Jadefire Stomp.
Awakened Faeline has now become Awakened Jadefire.
Most of these changes are quality-of-life and PvP-oriented ones.
Patch 10.2.0 Changes
Healing Elixir has been reworked and now will automatically trigger when your health is below 40%, and it was also buffed from 15% to 20%.
Expel Harm has been significantly buffed and changed. It can no longer be cast on allies during Soothing Mist. Its healing was buffed by 550%, it now deals damage equal to 25% of the amount healed instead of 10%, and its damage range was also increased to 20 yards, up from 8 yards.
Bounce Back, one of our defensive options on the class talent tree, was also buffed significantly. It now reduces damage by 20/40%, and triggers when you take 12% of your max health, instead of 20%. It also lasts 2 seconds longer.
Clouded Focus has been changed, with the buff now stacking to 2 instead of 3. Furthermore, it longer increases the healing of Vivify and Enveloping Mist on the first cast during Soothing Mist.
Life Cocoon can no longer be cancelled.
Ancient Teachings of the Monastery may now stack up to 4, up from 3. This is an M+ oriented change, and a welcome one.
Patch 10.1.7 Changes
Mistweaver had some small but quite significant changes heading into Patch 10.1.7. The biggest being our change to Mana Tea. For every 25k mana spent, a stack of MT is generated. There is then a further chance, equal to your Critical Strike, to generate 1 extra stack. When you activate MT, 1 stack is consumed every 0.5 seconds to restore 3k mana, and will additionally reduce the cost of your spells by 50% for 1 second per stack consumed. MT may be used while moving, but your speed will be reduced by 40% while channelling.
Additionally, the Lifecycles talent has been reworked.Vivify has a 25% chance to cause your next Rising Sun Kick or Enveloping Mist to generate 1 stack of Mana Tea. This talent shares a node with Energizing Brew, which causes your MT to channel 50% faster and generates 20% more mana. As of 10.2.7, I would still recommend using Lifecycles.
Some interesting things to note with the new Mana Tea are:
- Mana Tea is hasted which means the channel time is decreased depending on your haste.
- Mana spent whilst buffed by Innervate contributes towards the stack gaining.
- Your stacks persist through death, although they reset at the start of combat. Keep in mind that you are able to consume stacks, prior to combat, and retain the mana reduction buff.
- It stacks up to 20.
Patch 10.1.5 Changes
Not a lot has changed for Mistweavers in 10.1.5. The only notable changes are the defensive choice nodes pertaining to Diffuse Magic and Dampen Harm. As of 10.2.7, I would recommend choosing Dampen Harm and Yu’lon’s Grace for raiding, although these choices will be expanded upon further in this guide.
Dragonflight Expansion Changes
Mistweaver had quite a few changes heading into the Dragonflight expansion, and in general are strong in all forms of content.
With nerfs to Refreshing Jade Wind, and having new talents which aid the spreading of Renewing Mist, we have become far more oriented towards maintaining and spreading ReM and EnvM to ‘ramp’ for Vivify cleaves.
Invoke Yu’lon, the Jade Serpent now causes our Enveloping Mists to cost 33% less mana whilst active.