Playstyle & Rotation
General Rotation:
Windwalkers use a priority system, not a rotation. This means that you want to use the highest priority ability available and don’t delay a higher priority ability for a lower one.
Single Target
- Invoke Xuen, the White Tiger
- Touch of Death
- Expel Harm if <6 Chi AND about to cap energy
- Tiger Palm if <5 Chi AND about to cap energy
- Blackout Kick with 3 stacks of Teachings of the Monastery
- Bonedust Brew
- Strike of the Windlord
- Faeline Stomp if targets don’t have Faeline Harmony debuff
- Fists of Fury
- Rising Sun Kick
- Whirling Dragon Punch
- Spinning Crane Kick with Dance of Chi-Ji proc
- Blackout Kick
- Spinning Crane Kick
- Chi Wave
- Faeline Stomp
- Chi Burst
- Expel Harm
- Tiger Palm
Opener
Storm, Earth, and Fire: (With Skyreach)
- Expel Harm (14 seconds before pull)
- Chi Burst (2 seconds before pull)
- Expel Harm
- Summon White Tiger Statue
- Invoke Xuen, the White Tiger
- Storm, Earth, and Fire
- Bonedust Brew (if talented)
- Faeline Stomp (if talented)
- Tiger Palm
- Strike of the Windlord
- Fists of Fury
- Tiger Palm
- Rising Sun Kick
Storm, Earth, and Fire: (Without Skyreach)
- Expel Harm (14 seconds before pull)
- Chi Burst (2 seconds before pull)
- Expel Harm
- Summon White Tiger Statue
- Tiger Palm
- Invoke Xuen, the White Tiger
- Faeline Stomp (if talented)
- Bonedust Brew (if talented)
- Storm, Earth, and Fire
- Strike of the Windlord
- Fists of Fury
- Tiger Palm
- Rising Sun Kick
Serenity: (With Skyreach)
- Expel Harm (14 seconds before pull)
- Chi Burst (2 seconds before pull)
- Expel Harm
- Summon White Tiger Statue
- Invoke Xuen, the White Tiger
- Fists of Fury
- Bonedust Brew (if talented)
- Faeline Stomp (if talented)
- Tiger Palm
- Serenity
- Rising Sun Kick (This can be done in one button press with macro)
- Strike of the Windlord
- Blackout Kick
- Rising Sun Kick
- Fists of Fury
Multi Target:
Cleave (2-4 Targets)
- Invoke Xuen, the White Tiger
- Touch of Death
- Expel Harm if <6 Chi AND about to cap energy
- Tiger Palm if <5 Chi AND about to cap energy
- Blackout Kick with 3 stacks of Teachings of the Monastery
- Strike of the Windlord
- Fists of Fury
- Spinning Crane Kick with Dance of Chi-Ji proc
- Whirling Dragon Punch
- Rising Sun Kick ONLY to trigger Whirling Dragon Punch
- Blackout Kick
- Spinning Crane Kick
- Chi Burst
- Expel Harm
- Tiger Palm
AoE (5+ Targets)
- Invoke Xuen, the White Tiger
- Touch of Death
- Expel Harm if <6 Chi AND about to cap energy
- Tiger Palm if <5 Chi AND about to cap energy
- Strike of the Windlord
- Spinning Crane Kick with Dance of Chi-Ji proc
- Blackout Kick with 3 stacks of Teachings of the Monastery
- Fists of Fury
- Whirling Dragon Punch
- Rising Sun Kick ONLY to trigger Whirling Dragon Punch
- Spinning Crane Kick
- Blackout Kick
- Chi Burst
- Expel Harm
- Tiger Palm
Playstyle
Mark of the Crane
Mark of the Crane is the term for the mechanic when you use Tiger Palm, Blackout Kick, or Rising Sun Kick. It applies a 20-second debuff that increases the damage of your Spinning Crane Kick by 18% per stack. In AoE, it is crucial to maintain as many debuffs as there are targets up to a maximum of 5 to deal the most damage with Spinning Crane Kick. This can be accomplished when you use Storm, Earth, and Fire because by default the spirits will seek out targets that you are in combat with and targets that do not have a mark applied to them. When you use an ability that would normally apply a Mark of the Crane, it effectively triples the speed at which you can gain stacks in AoE.
In Dragonflight with the addition of Shadowboxing Treads this process has been made significantly faster and easier because the additional hits from Blackout Kick also apply Mark of the Crane to targets. Additionally, Coordinated Offensive is no longer and thus you do not need to fixate your spirits anymore for a DPS increase. Fixating your spirits can theoretically be a DPS increase in some situations in order to position them better to hit more targets with their AoE abilities.
Movement
Windwalker Monk is one of the most mobile classes in the game. You have a plethora of mobility tools available, such as Flying Serpent Kick, Roll, Transcendence, and Tiger's Lust if you have it talented.
Survivability
You have many defensive cooldowns available to you, such as Touch of Karma, Fortifying Brew, Dampen Harm, and Diffuse Magic, as well as the constant healing from Expel Harm. If you have it talented, you should try to identify good times to use Touch of Karma to deal damage as long as it is not detrimental to your group and does not put you at risk later on.