Windwalker Monk Class Guide - MoP Classic

Welcome to our Mists of Pandaria Classic (MoP Classic) Windwalker Monk Class Guide for Phase 1, it focuses on getting you up to speed with the Spec for PvE content, Dungeons and Raiding. The guide includes key information for what has changed going into MoP, the best Talent builds, Major Glyphs, your Rotation, Gearing and Consumables for Windwalker Monk (WW Monk).

Table of Content:

• Changes from Cataclysm to MoP
• Talents
• Rotation & Abilities
• Gearing & Consumables

What’s New for Windwalker Monks in Mists of Pandaria Classic

In this section of the class & spec guide, we tend to discuss what’s new in Mists of Pandaria for said class or specialization. However, Monks are the brand-new class for the expansion, so everything is new. Here’s a quick introduction instead.

The Monk Class is the third Energy / Combo point class in World of Warcraft. It’s an Agility (and Intellect) Class and uses leather armor, like its counterparts. It’s a hybrid class with 3 specializations: Windwalker (Melee DPS), Mistweaver (Healer) and Brewmaster (Tank).

Regarding Windwalker, its gameplay is very dynamic. If you like to press a lot of buttons very fast, you will love this class. It's rather hard to master with a lot going on and priorities you have to respect. I would recommend Windwalker to any Melee DPS enjoyer looking for a new challenge, or Combat Rogue mains who are tired of their class.

Is Windwalker Monk Good?

The short answer is yes, but don’t expect to be a Fury Warrior in the later stages. Monk should always be fine during the whole expansion, even if you don’t top meters. It’s a very fun class to play, and the novelty alone makes it worthwhile.

Best Talents & Glyphs for Windwalker Monk in MoP Classic

As for a lot of classes with the new revamped talent system, you can pretty easily set up 2 talent builds: one for Single Target, usually more for Raids, and AoE, more for Dungeons and Challenge mode. But with more ways to reset talents and change them around, you can adapt your build to any situation.

Windwalker Monk Raiding Talent Build

This is the standard raiding talent build, but you can change a lot of things depending on the situation.

Tiger’s Lust is a great mobility tool, but if you feel like there is already too much going on, you can swap this for Momentum. I find Tiger’s lust better all around, but it’s a personal choice.

Chi Wave won’t be swapped for anything as it’s the best Single Target option, but Chi Burst is better in AoE.

Chi brew is the best choice all around in the next row.

In the level 60 row, Leg sweep will have the most uses but you can pick Ring of Peace depending on the fight.

Diffuse Magic is the best mitigation talent choice in its row.

Finally, Invoke Xuen is the best single target DPS choice.

Best Windwalker Monk Raid Glyphs

Regarding Major Glyphs, you will want to obtain Glyph of Spinning Crane Kick, Glyph of Touch of Death (only in raids not in open world), and Glyph of Touch of Karma.

Other options are Glyph of Zen Meditation and Glyph of Fortuitous Sphere.

There are very few good Minor Glyphs, the ones worth noting are Glyph of Blackout Kick, Glyph of Spirit Roll, Glyph of Water Roll.

Windwalker Monk Dungeons & Challenge Mode Talent Build

The Dungeon talent build uses the same utility choices as the raiding talent build, but depending on the dungeon, you might want to change them. Flexibility is one of the traits of good players. Regarding other choices, Chi Burst is a little bit better than Chi Wave and Rushing Jade Wind is better only if it has a very high uptime on cleave. If you play a dungeon with a lot of downtime or in which bosses are more important than trash, keep Invoke Xuen.

Best Windwalker Monk Dungeon Glyphs

Regarding Major Glyphs, you will want to obtain Glyph of Spinning Crane Kick, Glyph of Touch of Death (only in raids not in open world), and Glyph of Touch of Karma.

Other options are Glyph of Zen Meditation and Glyph of Fortuitous Sphere.

There are very few good Minor Glyphs, the ones worth noting are Glyph of Blackout Kick, Glyph of Spirit Roll, Glyph of Water Roll.

Rotation for Windwalker Monk in MoP Classic

Single Target Rotation & Priority

Windwalker monks use Energy to generate Chi, and spend Chi to cast strong and unique abilities. The following is a list of priority, not a straight rotation.

1. Stay in Stance of the Fierce Tiger.
2. Maintain Tiger power (from Tiger Palm).
3. Use Touch of Death as soon as possible.
4. Use Tigereye Brew when you have 10+ Charge.
5. Use Invoke Xuen on Cooldown.
6. Use Energizing Brew at low Energy and Chi brew when you don’t have Chi.
7. Use Rising Sun Kick on Cooldown.
8. Use Fists of Fury on Cooldown.
9. Use Blackout Kick when Combo Breaker procs.
10. Use Chi Wave on Cooldown.
11. Use Jab to generate Chi and Blackout Kick to spend Chi if you have nothing else to do.

AoE Rotation & Priority

In AoE, the rotation is pretty much the same but you want to use Storm, Earth and Fire on 2 other targets, use Spinning Crane Kick to generate Chi if you are not running Rushing Jade Wind. If you play with Rushing Jade Wind, just maintain it.

Windwalker Monk Opener

Regarding Openers, you want to first get your different buff and debuffs running: Expel Harm before pull to generate 1 Chi, then Tiger Palm, Jab, Rising sun Kick, Invoke Xuen and then follow the normal rotation/priority.

Best Gear & Stats for Windwalker Monk in MoP Classic

Best in Slot (BiS Gear) aren’t as big in Mists of Pandaria Classic. Reforging is the new hype, so you can tailor your gear better than before.

The gear you should aim for are: Trinkets, Tier Sets and Weapons.

The best weapons you can find pre-raid in the first phase are:

• Krol Scimitar, World drop.
• Ka’eng, Breath of the Shadow, from Taran Zhu's Personal Stash in Shado-pan Monastery.
• Siege-Captain’s Scimitar, a bit lower in iLvL, from Commander Vo’jak in Siege of Niuzao.

The best pre-raid trinkets are:

• Relic of Xuen if you have Inscription.
• Searing Words, Darkmaster Gandling, Scholomance.
• Windswept Pages, from Temple of the Jade Serpent.

MoP Classic Windwalker Monk Stat Priority

Reach your Hit and Expertise cap, so around 7.5% for both. Then, Agility is your best stat. As soon as a gear piece gives you more Agility, it’s a good idea to equip it.

After that, it goes: Haste before anything else (with a target of 10,000), then Critical strike, then Mastery in that order. You can then try and reach a Hit Rating of 26.5% to be 100% sure that your off-hand will hit 100% of the time, but it’s often less valuable than more secondary stats.

Best Consumables, Enchants & Gems for Windwalker Monk in MoP Classic

The following tables outline the recommended Consumables, Enchants and Gems for Windwalker Monk in Raiding and Dungeon content.

Consumables

Enchants

Gems

We hope this guide helped you improve your Windwalker Monk Gameplay and better understand the spec. To check out all of our MoP Classic content, such as Class Guides, Tier Lists and more, you can browse our full library of MoP Classic Guides.