Windwalker Monk Beginner's Guide

This is intended to be a simple guide to the basic rotation and dynamics of the spec that gets you up and running without requiring more advanced optimization.

Information on hero talents will be coming soon, but in general know that overall they add a minor layer on top of how each spec plays, and most of what’s here should be applicable regardless.

Talent Build #

This is a simplified talent build designed to avoid complex interactions and skip unnecessary abilities. While not optimal in all cases, it should be a great way to get started learning the spec and should work reasonably well in world content, delves, dungeons, and raids. Abilities and talents not chosen in this build are not described here, and the rotation information assumes you’ll be using the build.

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Resources #

Energy – The first of two resources that Windwalker Monks will manage. It will start at 100-150 depending on talents, be spent primarily on Tiger Palm, and then restore itself quickly. Will mainly constrain how quickly you can use Tiger Palm, and encourage you to vary it with other abilities. Smaller amounts of Energy are used on a variety of utilities like Vivify and Detox.

Chi – The second resource Windwalkers use. Each Tiger Palm will grant 2 Chi, which can then be spent on harder-hitting abilities like Blackout Kick, Rising Sun Kick, and Spinning Crane Kick. A number of abilities and effects will restore Chi or reduce Chi costs so you’ll want to think ahead to what abilities you’re trying to use and budget Chi accordingly.

Core Abilities #

Tiger Palm – Spend energy to do minor single target damage. Gives up to 4 stacks of Teachings of the Monastery. These can then be used to enhance Blackout Kick.

Combat Wisdom – Every 15s Tiger Palm will automatically use Expel Harm to provide some self-healing

Blackout Kick – Spend 1 Chi to do moderate damage to the target and with Shadowboxing Treads reduced damage to 2 additional targets. Has a number of interactions with other abilities:

Will consume stacks of Teachings of the Monastery hit multiple times
Each hit will give a chance to reset the cooldown on Rising Sun Kick entirely.
With Transfer the Power each hit will grant a stacking damage bonus to Fists of Fury.

Rising Sun Kick – Spends 2 Chi to do substantial single target damage on a short cooldown and reduce healing on the target for 10s. Blackout Kick has a chance per hit to reset the cooldown and make it instantly usable.

With Transfer the Power each hit will grant a stacking damage bonus to Fists of Fury
Acclamation - Each use of Rising Sun Kick gives the target a stacking increase to damage taken from you
Chi Wave - Every 15s Rising Sun Kick will automatically trigger bonus healing and damage to nearby allies and enemies

Fists of Fury – Spends 3 Chi to do substantial damage to an area in front of you on a moderate cooldown, usable while moving. Will use stacks of Transfer the Power to do extra damage.

Jade Ignition - Each hit from Fists of Fury adds a stacking bonus AoE effect to Spinning Crane Kick

Spinning Crane Kick – Spends 2 Chi to do minor aoe damage. Gains a stacking damage bonus for each unique target you’ve hit in the last 20s with Tiger Palm, Blackout Kick, or Rising Sun Kick - incentivizing you to swap targets while doing AoE damage. As you spend Chi points you’ll occasionally gain Dance of Chi-Ji, which can be used to make Spinning Crane Kick free and do extra damage. Will consume stacks of Jade Ignition built up by Fists of Fury to cause a bonus AoE effect.

Cooldowns #

Storm, Earth, and Fire – 1.5m cooldown with 2 charges. You gain two copies of yourself for 15s that will mirror your attacks with slightly reduced damage. With Ordered Elements Rising Sun Kicks used during Storm, Earth, and Fire will reduce Chi costs by 1 point for 7s, and Blackout Kick will reduce cooldowns slightly. This all mainly adds up to speeding up your rotation and granting extra flexibility.

Strike of the Windlord – 30s cooldown that spends 2 Chi to do AoE damage in front of you and snare affected enemies. With Rushing Jade Wind each enemy hit will count towards the unique-target bonus damage of Spinning Crane Kick, as well as dealing bonus AoE damage over 6s. With Thunderfist will deal bonus damage in subsequent auto-attacks.

Effects #

These are some of the more notable effects, interactions, and passive talents that you should be aware of. It’s not covering effects (even if they’re very strong) that provide flat bonuses or that don’t require much thought to use, and it only includes those used in our recommended build.

Mastery: Combo Strikes - Your rotational abilities deal more damage when not a repeat of the previously used ability. IE if you use Tiger Palm, Blackout Kick, Blackout Kick the last Blackout Kick wouldn’t gain the bonus. The strength of the bonus increases with more Mastery points. This is crucial to the Windwalker rotation and requires you to always move from one ability to the next without repeating.

Hit Combo - Further increases this effect by stacking an additional damage increase for each chained ability that benefitted from Combo Strikes.

Mystic Touch - Damaging an enemy applies a permanent debuff that increases physical damage taken from all sources (including your allies). Make sure you “tag” all enemies with this effect.

Rotation Overview #

This is an overview of the core rotation. It’s not a strict priority order but rather an outline of how the different abilities interact and are used. It assumes you’re using the recommended talent build above.

Overall:

Avoid using the same damage ability twice in a row to keep up the bonus from Mastery: Combo Strikes. Sometimes this will mean needing to get creative to find an ability to use, IE using Spinning Crane Kick in single target if other options aren’t available.
In AoE, cycle targets for your Tiger Palm and Blackout Kick to keep the unique-targets bonus for Spinning Crane Kick active.

Single Target:

Build Chi points and stacks of Teachings of the Monastery with Tiger Palm
If you have stacks of Teachings of the Monastery, use Blackout Kick, especially if Rising Sun Kick is on cooldown so you can benefit from it being reset. Try to build up the full 4 stacks, but sometimes this will be tough to do in practice.
Use Rising Sun Kick whenever it’s off cooldown and you can fit it in
As you use the above three abilities, you’ll gain stacks of Transfer the Power, once you’ve got several stacks, ideally all 10, use Fists of Fury
If you get stuck without other good choices, use Spinning Crane Kick as an alternative filler
Use Strike of the Windlord whenever available, but align it with longer cooldowns if they’ll be ready soon
If the target is expected to live for a while:
- Use Storm, Earth, and Fire when available, followed by Strike of the Windlord, then proceed through your normal rotation but be ready to accelerate things as you’ll have more Chi points to use.

AoE:

Use Strike of the Windlord whenever available, especially at the beginning of a pack to quickly gain the unique-target bonus, but align it with longer cooldowns if they’ll be ready soon
Build Chi points and stacks of Teachings of the Monastery with Tiger Palm
If you have stacks of Teachings of the Monastery, use Blackout Kick. Try to build up the full 4 stacks, but sometimes this will be tough to do in practice.
Use Spinning Crane Kick, especially if you have Dance of Chi-Ji
As you use the above three abilities, you’ll gain stacks of Transfer the Power, once you’ve got several stacks, ideally all 10, use Fists of Fury, followed by a Spinning Crane Kick to activate Jade Ignition
If the targets are expected to live for a while:
- Use Storm, Earth, and Fire when available, followed by Strike of the Windlord, then proceed through your normal rotation but be ready to accelerate things as you’ll have more Chi points to use.

Defensives / Sustains #

Vivify – Spend a small amount of energy on a short cast to restore some health to the target. Becomes instant and more powerful once every 10s with Vivacious Vivification. Use the instant-cast version whenever available and healing would be useful, but avoid the casted version unless it’s a true emergency.

Fortifying Brew – Increases max health by 20% and reduces damage by 20% for 15s on a medium length cooldown. Should be used whenever significant incoming damage is expected or you’re otherwise at risk of dying.

Crowd Control #

Interrupt Spear Hand Strike – Melee interrupt on a 15s cooldown. Use this frequently to stop enemy casts.

Stun Leg Sweep – AoE 3s stun on a 50s cooldown. Helpful to reduce the danger of packs of enemies, or as a backup interrupt when Spear Hand Strike is on cooldown.

Incapacitate Paralysis – Incapacitates the target for 1m, but will break on damage. 30s cooldown. With Pressure Points can also be used to remove enrage effects.

Ring of Peace – Form a circle at the targeted location that pushes enemies out for 5s. Helpful to either keep enemies away from you or an ally, or to nudge enemies in a particular direction.

Mobility #

Roll – Rolls forward a short distance. Has three charges and relatively short cooldown. Extremely useful to get out of danger, close distance to enemies, or otherwise speed up motion.

Tiger's Lust – 70s speed boost for yourself or an ally for 6s on a moderate cooldown. Also removes all roots and snares. Helpful to get yourself or a party member out of danger, or to get to a destination more quickly.

Transcendence and Transcendence: Transfer – Mark a location with Transcendence, then teleport back to it with Transcendence: Transfer. The location marking can be done frequently but actually transferring incurs a moderate cooldown. If you can mark a safe or otherwise useful location it’s an extremely useful way to get out of danger or reach a needed destination instantly.

Utility #

Crackling Jade Lightning – Channels over 3.3s to deal a small amount of damage. Not useful for DPS but helpful to pull enemies from range.

Touch of Death – Instantly kills any target with less health than you. 3m cooldown. While technically a damage ability, the long cooldown and use requirements mean its more situational and not really part of your rotation. Helpful to quickly dispatch normal enemies you don’t want to deal with.

Taunt Provoke – Taunts the target to attack you from range. Critical for tanks but occasionally helpful for others to pull enemies.

Cleanse Detox – Cleanses all harmful magic effects from an ally on a short cooldown. If talented removes poison and disease effects as well.

Resuscitate – Out-of-combat resurrect.

Quality of Life #

Zen Flight – Instant-cast out-of-combat flight at a slow speed. Useless for travel now that dragonriding/skyriding is a thing, but very niche utility to save yourself from falling damage in outdoor content, or to get somewhere nearby quickly when you don’t want to bother mounting.

Zen Pilgrimage – Teleports you to the Peak of Serenity, which has repair vendors and portals to Orgrimmar and Stormwind. If your character has started Legion content takes you to the Temple of the Five Dawns instead - which is somewhat less useful.