Warlords of Draenor Monk Changes

By Wowhead Updated: 2016/07/17

Looking for the WoD Talent Calculator? Check it out here.

Want to know how to play your class on live? Check out our Brewmaster, Mistweaver, and Windwalker guides.

Last update: October 23(Note: This guide is intended to be an overview of changes between Mists of Pandaria and Warlords of Draenor. Due to its popularity, we have included Patch Note updates for 6.1, but its main purpose is to compare the two expansions.) Highlights

Most changes focus on Mistweavers as they were either too strong or weak in Mists of Pandaria while Brewmasters and Windwalkers were fairly solid.

Monk pruning changes focused on niche abilities. Ability consolidation merged some passive abilities and removed unneeded abilities that didn't provide intended gameplay depth.

Healing Sphere was removed because it was awkward to use, but overpowered if done correctly.

Mistweavers' core GCD has been changed from 1s to 1.5s, to ensure they value haste

Mistweavers now have two stances, one for fistweaving and one for normal healing.

To better balance the damage of Brewmaster versus Windwalker where both share many of the same abilities, the damage increase provided by Tiger Stance has been removed, and the damage of melee abilities has been increased to compensate.

Storm, Earth, and Fire, got buffed to make it smoother to use. The devs also buffed because they felt that the ability wasn't giving a strong enough damage boost given its restrictions and impact on the Monk's rotation.

Ox Statue no longer provides a raid bubble, instead just serving as an AoE taunt. This is part of the removal of healing-type cooldowns from tanking classes.

Ascension has been made more powerful as the devs would like to see it used more.

Each point of Agility or Strength now grants 1 Attack Power (down from 2). All other sources of Attack Power now grant half as much as before.

Weapon Damage values on all weapons have been reduced by 20%.

Attack Power now increases Weapon Damage at a rate of 1 DPS per 3.5 Attack Power (up from 1 DPS per 14 Attack Power).

Attack Power, Spell Power, or Weapon Damage now affect the entire healing or damage throughput of player spells.

Patch 6.1 Updates

Blizzard

Talents

Ascension now increases Spirit by 10% instead of increasing maximum mana by 20%.
(Mistweaver) healing increased by 50%.
Chi Burst damage has been increased by 51%. Also fixed a bug that caused its damage and healing to vary based on specialization.
(Mistweaver) healing while in Serpent Stance is increased by 40%, and is now usable while channeling Soothing Mist. Healing while in Crane Stance is reduced by 33.3%.
Chi Torpedo damage has increased by 150% and healing has increased by 42%.
Whirling Dragon Punch (Windwalker) damage increased by 25%.
Ring of Peace now incapacitates all enemies for 5 seconds (up from 3 seconds).
Zen Pulse has been improved. Its detonation damage has increased by 97%, detonation healing has increased by 70%, but periodic healing has been reduced by 39%. Also fixed a bug that caused its damage and healing to vary based on specialization.

General

Rising Sun Kick (Windwalker, Mistweaver) now causes enemies to take 20% increased damage from the Monk's abilities (up from 10%).

Brewmaster

Ironskin Brew is now highlighted when the Monk has 15 stacks of it.

Mistweaver

Mana Tea now restores mana equal to 3 times the Monk's unbuffed Spirit (instead of 4% of maximum mana).

Glyphs

has returned.

Armor Sets

PvP 2-piece set bonus for Windwalker Monks has been replaced by the PvP 4-piece set bonus. Touch of Karma's redirected damage can now exceed 50% of the Monk's maximum health.
PvP 4-piece set bonus for Brewmaster Monks now only applies Guard to 1 additional ally within 15 yards (down from 2 allies).
PvP 4-piece set bonus for Windwalker Monks is now the PvP 2-piece set bonus. The Monk now receives a 2% reduction to damage taken for each stack of consumed for 20 seconds.

3D Armor ModelsWarlords of Draenor Transmog Guide

New Spell EffectsWhirling Dragon PunchSet Bonuses

Item - Monk T17 Brewmaster 2P Bonus: Dodging an attack generates 2 Energy.

Item - Monk T17 Brewmaster 4P Bonus: Purifying Brew generates 1 stacks of Elusive Brew.

Item - Monk T17 Windwalker2P Bonus: Fists of Fury generates 1 stacks of Tigereye Brew.

Item - Monk T17 Windwalker4P Bonus: While Tigereye Brew's damage effect is active, your multistrike damage is increased by 3% per stack of Tigereye Brew consumed.

Item - Monk T17 Mistweaver 2P Bonus: Consuming a 5 stack of Vital Mist generates 1 chi. In Stance of the Wise Serpent, Every time your Soothing Mist heals a target your multistrike chance is increased by 5%.

Item - Monk T17 Mistweaver 4P Bonus: Surging Mist multistrikes cause your next Thunder Focus Tea to generate 1 Chi. Stacks up to 2 times.

Item - Monk WoD PvP Brewmaster 2P Bonus: When you use Roll, the Energy cost of your next Jab is reduced by 30 for 3 sec.

: Increases the duration of Tigereye Brew by 3 sec.

Item - Monk WoD PvP Brewmaster 4P Bonus: Guard also applies to the 2 nearest allies within 15 yards.

Item - Monk WoD PvP Mistweaver 2P Bonus: Envenloping Mist reduces the target's chance to be hit with a critical strike by 20% for 6 sec.

Item - Monk WoD PvP Mistweaver 4P Bonus: Reduces the cooldown of Life Cocoon by 45 sec.

TalentsClick here

: You are now able to shrug off even spells, such that 30% of your normal stagger amount works against magic damage.

: Consumes up to 4 Chi to cause the target to explode with Chi energy, causing additional effects based on Chi consumed (Additional 30% decrease for Brewmasters applied via hotfix - not in tooltip):

1+ Chi: Deals Nature damage to an enemy equal to (+ 75% of Attack power) plus 1 (+ 75% of Attack power) per Chi consumed.

2+ Chi: You also gain Shuffle for 2 sec plus 2 sec per Chi consumed.

3+ Chi: Also purifies all of your staggered damage.

4 Chi: The damage also hits all enemies within 8 yards of the target.

: Your Jade Serpent Statue breathes healing mists toward you, healing allies in a cone within 0 yards for 30% of Spell power every 1 sec, split evenly between them. Lasts 10 sec.

: Consumes up to 4 Chi to cause the target to explode with Chi energy, causing additional effects based on Chi consumed:

1+ Chi: Heals an ally for (+ 121.5% of Spell power) plus (+ 121.5% of Spell power) per Chi consumed.

2+ Chi: Causes an additional 50% healing over 6 sec.

3+ Chi: This healing is evenly divided among all allies within 8 yards of the target.

4 Chi: Also summons 8 Healing Spheres in an 8 yard radius ring around the target that last 15 sec.

Pool of Mists

Whirling Dragon Punch: Unleash a rapid series of kicks toward random enemies within 12 yards, dealing a total of to damage over 2 sec. While kicking, you are immune to movement impairing and loss of control effects.

: Consumes up to 4 Chi to cause the target to explode with Chi energy, causing additional effects based on Chi consumed:

1+ Chi: Deals Nature damage to an enemy equal to (89.1%50% of Attack power) plus (89.1%50% of Attack power) per Chi consumed

2+ Chi: Deals an additional 50% damage over 6 sec.

3+ Chi: Also generates a charge of Tigereye Brew.

4 Chi: The damage also hits all enemies within 8 yards of the target.

Ascension: Increases your maximum Chi by 1, your energy regeneration by 20%15%, and your maximum mana by 15%20%.

Black Ox Brew: Instantly restores 2 Chi, and generates 2 stacks1 stack of Mana Tea. Maximum 2 charges.

Chi Burst: Formula changed, see tooltip for details. Brewmaster: Casting Chi Burst does not prevent avoiding attacks.

Chi Torpedo: Torpedo forward, dealing 1914 to 2224 (+ 55.6% of Attack power) (+ 100% of Attack power) Nature damage to all enemies and 1162290 healing to all allies in your path. Replaces Roll, and travels farther.

Chi Wave: Formula changed.

Dampen Harm: You dampen the damage from the most harmful attacks done to you. The next 3 attacks within 45 sec that deal damage equal to 20% or more of your total health are reduced by half.Dampen Harm can be cast while stunned. Reduces damage by 50% from the next 3 attacks that damage you for 15% or more of your maximum health. Castable while stunned.

Invoke Xuen, the White Tiger: Summon an effigy of Xuen, the White Tiger for 45 sec under your command. Xuen attacks your primary target and strikes 3 enemies within 10 yards every 1 sec with Tiger Lightning for 321 (+ 50.5% of Attack power)0 (+ 66% of Attack power) Nature damage.

Combat Wisdom: Every 2015 sec, your next Jab, Soothing Mist, Spinning Crane Kick, Expel Harm, or Crackling Jade Lightning generates 1 additional Chi, or a Chi Sphere if already at maximum Chi.

Ring of Peace: Forms a sanctuary around the friendly target for 8 sec, instantly silencing and disarmingincapacitating all enemies for 43 sec, and disarming and silencing incapacitating them again each time they attack or castother enemies the first time they use a harmful spell or ability.

Rushing Jade Wind: Now 12.5% of base mana, up from 7.5%. Formula changed.

Zen Pulse: Formula changed, see tooltip for details. Now triggered early if dispelled or the target is damaged below 35% health.

GlyphsClick here

: Expel Harm's energy cost is reduced by 5 while your health is below 35%.

: Fists of Fury can be channeled while moving but no longer stuns its target.

: Increases the range of Fists of Fury by 5 yards.

: Flying Serpent Kick now also slows all enemies you move through by 70% for X.

: Increases the range on Keg Smash by 5 yards.

: Detox now has a maximum of 2 charges, but its cooldown is increased by 4 sec.

: When Renewing Mist is dispelled, you gain 1 charge of Mana Tea.

: You gain 1 charge of Roll or Chi Torpedo whenever you kill a target that grants experience or honor.

Yu'lon's Gift: Your Roll, Chi Torpedo, and Flying Serpent Kick abilities dispel all snares affecting you when used.

: When you stop channeling Soothing Mist, you gain 60% movement speed for 1 sec for every sec you spent channeling Soothing Mist.

: When you use Thunder Focus Tea, you gain Zen Focus causing you to be immune to all silence and interrupt effects for 5 sec.

: Your Blackout Kick always deals 20%30% additional damage over 4 sec regardless of positioning but you're unable to trigger the healing effect.

: Detox heals your target for 5%4% of your maximum health when it successfully removes a harmful effect.

: Clearing an effect with Nimble Brew heals you for 10%7% of your maximum health.

: Your Renewing Mist travels to the furthest injured target within 40 yards rather than the closest injured target within 20 yards. Increases the range that Renewing Mist may travel by 20 yards.

: While in Stance of the Spirited Crane, your Surging Mist no longer requires a target, and instead heals a random injured target within 40 yards.

: Now Brewmaster and Windwalker only.

Fists of Fury: and

Roll: Yu'lon's Gift, , and

Glyph of Afterlife: Increases the chance to summon a Healing Sphere when you kill an enemy while gaining experience or honor to 100%.

SpecializationsClick here

: Increases your healing and absorption done to yourself, based on Stamina and damage taken (before avoidance and mitigation) in the last 10 sec.

: You gain 5% more of the Critical Strike stat from all sources.

: Increases the cooldown recovery rate by 0% on your Avert Harm, Guard, Zen Meditation, Fortifying Brew, Transcendence, and Clash abilities. Affected spells are not yet final and reflect 5.4 spells instead of 6.0 changes. Readiness has been removed.

: You gain 5% more of the Multistrike stat from all sources. Your Renewing Mist and Rising Sun Kick have a chance equal to your multistrike chance to not go on cooldown when used. The next Renewing Mist or Rising Sun Kick cannot trigger this effect.

: Detonate all of your Healing Spheres, causing each of them to heal an ally within 12 yards.

: Improves the functionality of Surging Mist, Blackout Kick, and Crackling Jade Lightning.While in this stance, you will gain Eminence. Eminence - 50% of all damage you deal with your melee attacks and abilities, including multistrikes, will be converted into healing on an injured ally within 20 yards.

: Haste effects lower the global cooldown of your spells and abilities. Your attack power now equals exactly 100% of your spell power.

: Increases the cooldown recovery rate by 0% on your Thunder Focus Tea, Zen Meditation, Fortifying Brew, Transcendence, Revival, and Life Cocoon abilities. Affected spells are not yet final and reflect 5.4 spells instead of 6.0 changes. Readiness has been removed.

Critical Strikes: Increases your chance to critically strike by 10%.

: You gain 5% more of the Multistrike stat from all sources.

: Grants 5% Multistrike to the Monk and all allies within 100 yards.

: Increases the cooldown recovery rate by 0% on your Flying Serpent Kick, Zen Meditation, Fortifying Brew, Transcendence, Fists of Fury, and Energizing Brew abilities. Affected spells are not yet final and reflect 5.4 spells instead of 6.0 changes. Readiness has been removed.

Breath of Fire: Targets in front of the caster take (Fire (43.692% of Attack power) Fire damage. If affected by Dizzying Haze, they will also burn for (78.408% of Attack power) Fire damage over 8 sec.

Dizzying Haze: You hurl a keg of your finest brew, reducing the movement speed of all enemies within 8 yards by 50% for 15 sec. Deals a high amount of threat. Affected targets have a 3% chance to have their melee attacks misfire and strike themselves instead for (220% of Attack power) damage.

Ironskin Brew: Consumes all stacks of Elusive Brew to increase your chance to dodge melee and ranged attacks by 45% for 1 sec per stack.Your autoattack critical strikes grant up to 453 stacks of Elusive Brew, which can stack up to 15 times.

Gift of the Ox: YouYour auto attack multistrikes have a chance when you deal melee damage to summoncan trigger Gift of the Ox, summoning a Healing Sphere visible only to you. Moving through this Healing Sphere will heal you for (0 + Attack power * 0.375).

Guard: Absorb formula has changed.

Keg Smash: No longer applies Weakened Blows or Dizzying Haze. Generates 2 Chi. Formula changed.

Mastery: Elusive Brawler: Increases your Stagger amount by an additional 5%.Also increases your attack power by 8%.

: You honor the White Tiger, increasing Strength, Agility, and Intellect by 5% and increasing critical strike chance by 5%. If target is in your party or raid, all party and raid members will be affected. Now also useable by Brewmasters.

Stagger: Stance of the Sturdy Ox now also provides the benefits of Brewmaster Training and Desperate Measures. Reduces damage taken by 25%, chance to be critically hit by 6%, and chance to be parried by 3%. Increases Stamina by 20% 40%25%, and Energy regeneration by 10%, and reduces the Energy cost of Jab by 10. Fortifying Brew also increases your Stagger amount by 20% while active. Tiger Palm no longer costs Chi. After you Blackout Kick, you gain Shuffle, increasing your parry chance by 20% and your Stagger amount by an additional 20% for 6 sec. Also reduces the global cooldown of all of your spells and abilities by 0.5 sec, and allows you to Stagger damage. While at or below 35% health, your Expel Harm has no cooldown. Stagger - You shrug off physical attacks, causing 80% of the damage to happen instantly and the remaining 20% to be divided over 10 sec.

Summon Black Ox Statue: Sanctuary of the Black Ox is removed. Statue now causes a minor amount of threat.

Zen Meditation: Now Brewmaster and Windwalker only. Reduces all damage taken by 90% for 8 sec. and redirects to you up to 5 harmful spells cast against party and raid members within 30 yards. Being the victim of a melee attack will break your meditation, canceling the effect.

: Eminence healing from Blackout Kick heals up to 4 targets for 15%20% of the damage done.

Enveloping Mist: Heals the target for 0 (+ 270% 925.26%660% of Spell power) over 6 sec and increases healing received from your Soothing Mist by 30%. Instant cast while channeling Soothing Mist. Now requires Stance of the Wise Serpent.

: Now Mistweaver only.

Life Cocoon: Now 2.4% of base mana, down from 4.9%. Formula has changed, see tooltip for details.

Mana Tea: Consumes 1 stack of Mana Tea per 0.5 sec to restore 4% of your maximum mana. For each 4 Chi you spend, you gain 1 stack of Mana Tea, with a chance equal to your critical strike chance to generate 1 extra stack. Mana Tea must be channeled, lasting 0.5 sec per stack. Cancelling the channel will not waste stacks.

Mastery: Gust of Mists: You have a 10% chance when you heal to summon a Healing Sphere nearby an injured ally for 30 sec. Allies who walk through the sphere will be healed for 138052.(75% of Spell power). If the Healing Sphere expires before being used, an ally nearby within 6a nearby ally within 12 yards of the sphere will be healed.for 50% of the effect.

Renewing Mist: Now 4.0% of base mana, down from 5.8%. You surround the target with healing mists, restoring 31327 (+ 10.7%0 (+ 10.9984% of Spell power) health every 2 sec for 18 sec. Generates 1 Chi. Each time Renewing Mist heals, it also travels to the closest nearbymost injured ally within 20 yards, up to 2 times. Now requires Stance of the Wise Serpent.

Revival: Now 4.4% of base mana, down from 7.7%. Heals all party and raid members within 100 yards for 132423 (+ 350%0 (+ 1193.25% of Spell power), and clears them of any harmful Magical, Poison and Disease effects.

Summon Jade Serpent Statue: Eminence now causes the statue to heal for 50% up from 25%. Also 10 sec cooldown, down from 30.

Soothing Mist: Channel cost reduced from 0.8 base mana per second to 0.7. Heals the target for 0 (+ 143.36%%918% of Spell power) over 8 sec. When you heal with Soothing Mist, you have a 30% chance to generate 1 Chi. Surging Mist is instant while channeling this ability. Now requires Stance of the Wise Serpent.

: Increases healing done by 20% and replaces your Energy resource with Mana. While in Stance of the Wise Serpent, Crackling Jade Lightning costs no mana. Your Spinning Crane Kick heals nearby injured allies for 0 every 0.8 sec for 2.25 sec.Haste effects lower the global cooldown of your spells and abilities.

Thunder Focus Tea: No longer costs 1 Chi Receive a jolt of energy, doubling healing done by your next Surging Mist or causing your next Uplift to refresh the duration of your Renewing Mists on all targetsRenewing Mist to jump 2 additional times.

Vivify: Now 1.5 sec cast, up from Instant. Heals all targets with your Renewing Mist active for 99673 to 115835 (+ 68%165% of Spell power). Now requires Stance of the Wise Serpent.

Afterlife: When you kill an enemy while gaining experience or honor, you have a 50% chance to summon a Healing Sphere, healing you for X when you walk through it. Enemies who die from Blackout Kick have a 50% chance to summon a Chi Sphere, granting 1 Chi when you walk through it.

Fists of Fury: Damage is now reduced against all targets except your primary target instead of being spread evenly. Additional 5% increase applied via hotfix - not in tooltip

Flying Serpent Kick: Soar through the air forwards at an increased speed. While traveling, use Flying Serpent Kick again to land yourself, use Flying Serpent Kick again to land yourself, dealing 1827 (+ 45% of Attack power)0 (+ 81.3%53.658% of Attack power) damage to all enemies within 8 yards, and slowing them by 70% for 4 sec.

: You honor the White Tiger's legacy, increasing Strength, Agility, and Intellect by 5% and increasing critical strike chance by 5%. If target is in your party or raid, all party and raid members will be affected. Now also useable by Brewmasters.

Rising Sun Kick: Formula has changed, see tooltip for complete details. No longer applies Mortal Wounds but now causes all targets within 8 yards to take 5% damage from spells. Usable by Mistweavers in addition to Windwalkers and now requires Stance of the Spirited Crane for Mistweavers. Additional 10% increase applied via hotfix - not in tooltip

Storm, Earth, and Fire: No longer costs Energy and is off the GCD. 1 sec cooldown. Damage reduced by 30%, or 45% with two spirits.

Touch of Karma: All damage you take is redirected to the enemy target as Nature damage over 6 sec. Damage cannot exceed your total50% of your maximum health. Lasts for 10 sec.

Touch of Death: Now Brewmaster and Windwalker only. You exploit the enemy target's weakest point, instantly killing them.Only usable on non-player targets who have equalless than 10% of their maximum health remaining or less health than you.your maximum health.

: Consumes up to 10 stacks of Tigereye Brew to increase damage and healing done by 6% per stack for 15 sec.For each 64 Chi you consume, you gain a stack of Tigereye Brew. You can have a maximum of 20 stacks.

Adaptation, Windwalker: When you are disarmed, your chance to dodge is increased by 25% for 5 sec.

Avert Harm, Brewmaster: You cause 20% of all damage party and raid members within 10 yards take to be re-directed to you. Lasts for 6 sec. The damage received through Avert Harm can be Staggered. Avert Harm is cancelled if you reach 10% or lower health.

Brewmaster Training, Brewmaster: This is included in Stance of the Sturdy Ox now.

Clash, Brewmaster: You and the target charge each other, meeting halfway then stunning all targets within 6 yards for 4 sec.

Combat Conditioning, Windwalker: This is included in Stance of the Fierce Tiger now.

Combat Breaker, Windwalker: This is included in Stance of the Fierce Tiger now.

Dematerialize, Mistweaver: When you are stunned, you phase out of existence temporarily causing all melee, ranged and spell attacks to miss you for 2.50 sec. This effect has a 10 sec cooldown.

Desperate Measures, Brewmaster: This is included in Stance of the Sturdy Ox now.

Muscle Memory, Mistweaver: When you successfully Jab or damage at least 3 enemies with Spinning Crane Kick, you gain Muscle Memory, causing your next Tiger Palm or Blackout Kick to deal 150% increased damage and restore 4% mana.

Surging Mist is now available to all specs.

Spinning Fire Blossom, Windwalker: Deals X Fire damage to the first enemy target in front of you within X yards. If Spinning Fire Blossom travels further than 10 yards, the damage is increased by 50% and you root the target for 2 sec.

Sparring, Windwalker: When you are attacked by a melee enemy in front of you, you begin to spar their attacks, increasing your chance to parry by 5% for 10 sec. This effect has a 30 sec cooldown. When you attack them back, Sparring is amplified by an additional 5%. Stacks up to 3 times.

Teachings of the Monastery, Mistweaver: You become adept in the ways of the Mistweaver, amplifying four of your abilities. Now incorporated into Stance of the Wise Serpent.

Tiger Strikes is now available to all specs.

Vengeance, Brewmaster: Each time you take damage, you gain 1.5% of the unmitigated damage taken as attack power for 20 sec.

Class AbilitiesClick here

Blackout Kick: Formula changed, see tooltip for details. Now requires Stance of the Spirited Crane for Mistweavers.

Crackling Jade Lightning: Now 21.3% of base mana, down from 32.0%. Channel Jade lightning, causing 42.7%28.182% of Attack power) + 1 * Attack power * 0.641)] Nature damage over 64 sec. In Stance of the Wise Serpent, Refunds 2% of maximum mana if channeled for entire duration. In Stance of the Spirited Crane, generates 1 Chi each time it deals damage. 30% chance to generate 1 Chi removed. Additionally, it is free in Stance of the Wise Serpent.

Expel Harm: Now 3.0% base mana, up from 2.5%.

Tiger Palm: Now 3.5% of base mana, down from 8.0%. Formula changed. Now requires Stance of the Spirited Crane for Mistweavers.

Resuscitate: Now .8%, down from 20.1%.

Spear Hand Strike: You jab the target in the throat, interrupting their spell cast and preventing any spell in that school from being cast for 4 sec.If the enemy is facing you when cast, they are also silenced for 2 sec.

Spinning Crane Kick: Now 8.8% base mana, up from 7.2%. Brewmaster: Channeling Spinning Crane Kick does not prevent avoiding attacks. Formula changed.

Stance of the Fierce Tiger: Now also provides the benefits of Combo Breaker and Combat Conditioning. Increases your movement speed by 10%. Increases the amount of Chi generated by your Jab and Expel Harm abilities by 1. Reduces the global cooldown of all of your spells and abilities by 0.5 sec. GrantsIncreases all damage dealt by 10%. Grants yourself and all allies within 10 yards 10% increased movement speed. You have a 0% chance when you Jab to cause your next Tiger Palm or Blackout Kick to cost no Chi within 15 sec. Your Blackout Kick now also deals an additional 0% damage over 4 sec if behind the target or heals you for 0% of the damage done if in front of the target. Additionally, your Rising Sun Kick now also causes Mortal Wounds to the primary target. - Mortal Wounds - Grievously wounds the target, reducing the effectiveness of any healing received for 10 sec.

: Now 4.7% of base mana or 30 Energy, down from 8.8% Heals the target for 220484 to 256237 (+ 201.644%0 (+ 161.315% of Spell power)Generates 1 Chi. If cast while channeling Soothing Mist, Surging Mist will be instant cast and heal that target over all others.Now available to all specs.

: Formula changed, see tooltip for details. Now requires Stance of the Spirited Crane for Mistweavers.

: You have a 8%10% chance to gain Tiger Strikes when you autoattack, increasing your attack speed by 50% and causing your next 4 autoattacks to cause an extra attack.Your successful auto attacks and their multistrikes have an 8% chance (5% when dual - wielding) to trigger Tiger Strikes, increasing your multistrike chance by 25% for 8 sec. Now available to all specs. Inactive while in Stance of the Wise Serpent.

Touch of Death: You exploit the enemy target's weakest point, instantly killing them. Can also be used on tough creaturestargets when they have equal health to youare below 10% health, dealing damage equal to the Monk's maximum health to them.

Removed Class Abilities

Grapple Weapon: You fire off a rope spear, grappling the target's weapons and shield, returning them to you for 8 sec. If you steal a better main-hand weapon, your damage or healing will be increased by 5% or damage taken reduced by 5%.

Healing Sphere is gone, and the ID is reused for so be careful linking! Instantly detonate all of your Healing Spheres, causing each of them to heal a nearby ally within 12 yards of the sphere for 50% of the effect.

Swift Reflexes: Increases your chance to parry by 5%. Whenever you parry an attack, you reflexively strike back at the enemy for X damage.

MoP Abilities Changed to WoD Specialization/Talents

Disable: now Windwalker

: now Mistweaver

Zen Meditation: now Brewmaster and Windwalker.

Draenor PerksClick here

Roll Speed Controls: Your Roll now travels the same distance in 25% less time.

: Your Breath of Fire spell now always applies its damage over time effect to the target.

: Guard now has 2 charges.

: The cooldown of Transcendence is reduced by 35 sec, and Transcendence: Transfer is now instant cast.

Roll Speed Controls: Your Roll now travels the same distance in 25% less time.

: Increases the duration of Renewing Mist by 2 sec.

: Reduces the cooldown of Life Cocoon by 20 sec.

: The cooldown of Transcendence is reduced by 35 sec, and Transcendence: Transfer is now instant cast.

Roll Speed Controls: Your Roll now travels the same distance in 25% less time.

Windwalking: Increases your maximum Chi by 1.

: Spinning Crane Kick now deals damage twice as fast, but its duration is reduced by 50%.

: The cooldown of Transcendence is reduced by 35 sec, and Transcendence: Transfer is now instant cast.

Changed Crowd Control

Adaptation has been removed.

Fists of Fury no longer stuns a target more than once per cast.

's Disoriented effect now shares Diminishing Returns with all other Mesmerize effects.

Grapple Weapon has been removed.

Ring of Peace no longer Silences or Disarms enemies. It now incapacitates targets in the area for 3 seconds, or until the target takes damage. The ability now shares Diminishing Returns with all other Mesmerize effects.

Spear Hand Strike no longer Silences the target if they're facing the Monk.

's Root effect now shares Diminishing Returns with all other Root effects.

Blue TweetsPatch NotesWarlords of Draenor Beta patch notes

Latest Patch Notes

The brand-new class for Mists of Pandaria, Monks, turned out to be a ton of fun. Brewmasters stayed fairly solid all expansion long. Windwalkers needed a few tweaks here and there, especially to their Mastery, and still have a few shortcomings that we hope to improve, but overall worked quite well. Mistweavers had a bit of a rollercoaster ride, veering between weak and strong over the course of the expansion. Most of our changes to Monks will focus on Mistweavers, to try to get them just right.

Ability Pruning

See the Ability Pruning section above for discussion of why we're pruning class abilities. For Monks, the pruning focused on niche abilities. One removal of note is that of Healing Sphere. The active ability to place a Healing Sphere was particularly awkward to use, but overpowered if used perfectly. So we removed it, and replaced it with Healing Surge for Windwalkers and Brewmasters.

Avert Harm has been removed.
Clash has been removed.
Dematerialize has been removed.
Power Guard has been removed.
Sparring has been removed.
Spinning Fire Blossom has been removed.
Stagger now replaces Stance of the FierceTiger for Brewmaster Monks.
now replaces Stance of the Fierce Tiger for Mistweaver Monks.
Swift Reflexes has been removed.
Zen Meditation is no longer available to Mistweaver Monks.
Healing Sphere has been removed.

Abilities that can summon Healing Spheres, Mastery: (Mistweavers), Gift of the Ox (Brewmasters), and Afterlife (Windwalkers) can still summon Healing Spheres.
is now available to allMonk specializations. It costs 30 Energy in Ox or Tiger Stance, and continues to cost mana in Serpent Stanceand Crane Stance. However, it only generates Chi for Mistweaver Monks.

Ability Consolidation and Refinement

Monk ability consolidation is fairly straightforward. It includes merging of some passive abilities, and removing unneeded abilities that didn't create the gameplay depth they had been intended to.

Teachings of the Monastery has been removed. Its effects modifying Spinning Crane Kick has been incorporated into .
has been removed. Its effects have been incorporated into Stagger.
has been removed. Its effects have been incorporated into Stagger.
Combo Breaker has been removed. Its effects have been incorporated into Stance of the Fierce Tiger.
Combat Conditioning has been removed. Its effects have been incorporated into Stance of the Fierce Tiger.
Fortifying Brew now lasts 15 seconds (down from 20 seconds).
Combat Wisdom now triggers every 15 seconds (up from every 20 seconds) and also triggers from (for Mistweavers only), but no longer triggers from Crackling Jade Lightning.
Resuscitate's mana cost has been reduced by 80%.
Spinning Crane Kick now always generates 1 Chi, and no longer reduces movement speed.
Paralysis now always lasts 60 seconds against creatures, regardless of facing.
Disable is now available only to Windwalker Monks.
Vivify now follows standard area-of-effect capping rules, diminishing in effectiveness beyond 6 targets.
Zen Meditation is no longer available to Mistweaver Monks, and no longer redirects harmful spells cast against party and raid members.
Zen Pulse no longer has a target limit.

Mistweaver Changes

About midway through the expansion, it became clear that mana was not valuable for Mistweavers. We tried some adjustments to solve that, but it proved too large of a change to make at the time. We chose to just live with that problem for the time being, and tune them around not really caring much about Spirit or mana (once they reached epic gear).

Now that we have the time to tweak things for Mistweavers to acquire new gear, we're making changes to get them in the right spot. Initially, we experimented with giving Mistwavers a 1-second global cooldown (GCD) akin to that of the Rogue to give them a faster combat feel. However, it's proven difficult to balance. Haste is attractive to healers because it lowers not just cast time but GCD as well. Therefore, Monks valued Haste much less than other healers. We explored a few options, but ultimately landed on changing the core GCD for Mistweavers from 1 second to the standard 1.5 seconds, which you will be able to reduce with Haste. This will feel jarring at first, but we're confident that it's for the best, long-term.

All abilities available to Mistweavers now have a 1.5-second global cooldown (up from 1 second).

Stance of the Fierce Tiger now reduces the global cooldown of the Mistweaver Monk's abilities by 0.5 seconds.
Stagger now reduces the global cooldown of the Mistweaver Monk's abilities by 0.5 seconds.

Focus and Harmony is a new passive ability for Mistweaver Monks, causing Haste to reduce the global cooldown, and causes Attack Power to be equal to 100% of Spell Power.

no longer provides this Spell Power to Attack Power conversion.

Crackling Jade Lightning's throughput has been increased by 100%, but it no longer generates Chi for Mistweaver Monks. Additionally, it is free in .
Black Ox Brew now grants 1 charge of Mana Tea (down from 2 charges).
Ascension now increases maximum Mana by 20% (up from 15%).

is a new spell available to Mistweaver Monks, instantly detonating all Healing Spheres, and causing each of them to heal a nearby ally within 12 yards of the sphere with a 15-second cooldown.
Healing Spheres now heal an ally within 12 yards (up from 6 yards) for 100% (up from 50%) of their normal healing, when they expire.
Mastery: Gust of Mists chance to trigger has increased significantly for various Mistweaver spells, conferring a larger percentage of the maximum value.
Soothing Mist's healing has been increased by 100%, its GCD has been reduced to 0.5 seconds, but no longer heals immediately, and no longer generates Chi.
no longer increases Haste from items by 50%.
Summon Jade Serpent Statue now has a 10-second cooldown (down from 30 seconds).
Thunder Focus Tea no longer costs Chi, causes the next Renewing Mist to jump up to 4 times (instead of causing the next Vivify to refresh the duration of Renewing Mists on all targets). Its effect on remains unchanged.
Jade Mist is a new passive ability for Mistweaver Monks, causing them to gain 5% more of the Multistrike stat from all sources, and also causes Renewing Mist and Rising Sun Kick to have a chance equal to Multistrike chance to not go on cooldown when used. This effect cannot trigger on the next Renewing Mist or Rising Sun Kick.

Another issue with Mistweavers is that of Ancient Teachings of the Monastery, which has never really played out how we had hoped. The intent with Ancient Teachings of the Monastery was to create an alternate play style to fulfill the fantasy of healing through dealing damage, since we knew a lot of players had that fantasy, and a new class was the perfect opportunity to satisfy that.

Having two play styles in one spec (Ancient Teachings of the Monastery, and traditional Mistweaving, healing primarily through casting heals) proved challenging to balance, because we don't want players to take the best parts of both and stack them into an unintended superior spec. The most notorious of these cases was "Jab-Jab-Uplift". In order to solve this problem, we're giving Mistweavers two stances. will continue to be the stance from which to do traditional Mistweaving. The new will be the stance to use for Ancient Teachings of the Monastery. You can swap stances at will, with only the cost of a GCD and any current Chi that you've accrued. The intention is that Crane Stance allows Mistweavers to trade healing for damage; it should fall somewhere in the middle between being a full healer, and being a full damage dealer.

is a new ability for Mistweaver Monks, which replaces Stance of the Fierce Tiger, and provides the following effects.

The Monk gains Ancient Teachings of the Monastery, causing all damage dealt to also heal nearby allies.

Ancient Teachings of the Monastery now causes a nearby target to be healed for 50% of all damage caused by the Monk and includes auto attacks.
no longer provides this benefit.

Crackling Jade Lightning channels 150% faster, generates 1 Chi each time it deals damage, but costs 300% more mana.
Blackout Kicks grants , increasing Critical Strike chance by 20% for 20 seconds.
Blackout Kick causes Ancient Teachings of the Monastery to heal 5 allies instead of 1, but heals for only 20% of damage dealt instead of 35%.
The Monk gains a stack of for every Chi consumed. reduces the cast time and Mana cost of the next by 20% per stack up to a maximum of 5 stacks.
Muscle Memory has been removed.
Serpent's Zeal has been removed.
has been removed.

Rising Sun Kick is now available to Mistweaver and Windwalker Monks. However, it does not cause Mortal Wounds for Mistweavers.

Stance of the Fierce Tiger now causes Rising Sun Kick to cause Mortal Wounds, instead of it causing Mortal Wounds naturally.

The following abilities now require for Mistweavers:

Enveloping Mist, Renewing Mist, Soothing Mist, Vivify

The following abilities now require for Mistweavers:

Blackout Kick, Tiger Palm, Rising Sun Kick,

Healing Spheres

Healing Spheres have been improved. You'll no longer waste them when running over multiples at once when you only need a little healing. We significantly improved the Mistweavers' Healing Spheres effect when they expire. We also made Afterlife's Healing Spheres consistent with the rest of the class.

When a player runs through multiple Healing Spheres at once, only as many as needed to heal the player to full health will be consumed (instead of all of them if the player is injured at all).
Healing Spheres summoned by Mastery: (Mistweaver) now heal an injured ally within 12 yards (up from 6 yards) for 100% (up from 50%) of their normal effect when they expire, and scales with Spell Power instead of Attack Power.
Healing Spheres summoned by Afterlife (Windwalkers) now heals for the same amount as other Healing Spheres (instead of healing for 15% of maximum health).
Healing Spheres generated from Gift of the Ox now heals the Monk if they are within 6 yards of the sphere when it expires.

Shared Ability Changes

There were several changes that affected multiple Monk specializations. We'd like to see Monks using Transcendence more often, so its usability has been improved (some baseline, and some in a Draenor Perk). For Touch of Death, we like that it's a unique execute being usable only once, but found it impractical to use on bosses and have improved its usability. For Tiger Strikes, we buffed it to grant Multistrike ability which it was similar to already, and extended it to work with all Monk specializations. To better balance the damage of Brewmaster versus Windwalker where both share many of the same abilities, we removed the damage increase provided by Tiger Stance, and increased the damage of melee abilities to compensate.

Black Ox Brew now has a 60 second recharge time (up from 45 seconds).
Stance of the Fierce Tiger no longer increases damage dealt, also includes the benefits of Combo Breaker and Combat Conditioning, and is replaced by another stance for Brewmaster and Mistweaver Monks.

Brewmaster: Stagger replaces Stance of the Fierce Tiger.
Mistweaver: replaces Stance of the Fierce Tiger.

is now available to all Monk specializations, and has a chance to trigger on successful auto attacks and their Multistrikes. It has an 8% chance to trigger while using a two-handed weapon, and a 5% chance to trigger while dual wielding.

When triggered, now grants a 25% increase to Multistrike for 8 seconds instead of a 50% increase to attack speed and double attacks for 4 attacks.

Touch of Death is no longer available to Mistweaver Monks, and is usable on targets that have 10% or less health remaining, or have less current health than your maximum health. The rules against players remain unchanged.
Transcendence: Transfer no longer has an energy or mana cost.

Windwalker Changes

For Energy-based gameplay to function well, the primary limitation on ability usage should be Energy, not time. That breaks down when a rotation becomes limited by available GCDs, rather than by Energy. Windwalkers were hitting this “GCD-cap” too easily, causing scaling problems as they geared up, and removing rotational choices. To solve this problem, we’ve made a few tweaks that will slow down their rotation slightly; but still allow Windwalkers who enjoy the GCD-capped playstyle to have options available to focus on Haste and Energy regeneration. Individually, these may sound like significant nerfs, but Windwalker damage has been adjusted to compensate for these changes. The goal is to address the issue with GCD-capping while not reducing DPS.

Combo Breaker now has an 8% chance to trigger, per effect, per Tiger Palm (down from 12%).
Tiger Palm now costs 45 Energy while in Stance of the Fierce Tiger

There are a couple of additional changes for Windwalkers. Storm, Earth, and Fire, got buffed to make it smoother to use. We also buffed Fists of Fury because we felt that the ability wasn't giving a strong enough damage boost given its restrictions and impact on the Monk's rotation.

Fists of Fury now deals 100% increased damage, and always deal full damage to the primary target; additional targets are still affected by the damage split.
Storm, Earth, and Fire no longer has an energy cost, and is off global cooldown.

Brewmaster Changes

For Brewmasters, Gift of the Ox has been modified to allow it to scale defensively with the new Multistrike stat. The Black Ox Statue has been modified to aid Monks in establishing threat on new enemies instead of shielding allies. We also removed the Misfire effect, as it did not live up to its original idea, and was unnecessary.

Black Ox Statue no longer casts Guard on allies and now has a 10-second cooldown (down from 30 seconds). Black Ox Statue now passively attracts the attention of all enemies within 30 yards, causing a minor amount of threat each second.
Dizzying Haze now has no Energy cost but no longer causes the target's melee attacks to sometimes misfire.
Ironskin Brew now increases dodge chance by 45% (up from 30%).
Gift of the Ox now has a chance to trigger only from auto attack Multistrikes, instead of from all auto attacks. It has a 100% chance to trigger while using a two-handed weapon, and a 62.5% chance to trigger while dual wielding.
Stagger now increases Stamina by 25% (up from 20%), reduces magic damage taken by 10% (down from all damage taken by 25%), and grants a 50% increase to Armor, but no longer increases Energy regeneration.
Shuffle now increases Stagger and Parry by 10% (down from 20%).

Share your comments about this guide in our Monk forum!