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Windwalker Monk DPS Starter Guide - Shadowlands 9.0.5
By Babylonius
Last updated
2021/03/09 at 1:07 AM
View Changelog
Table of Contents
Quick Facts
Table of Contents
Guide Navigation
Welcome to our Windwalker Monk starter guide, which covers everything you need to start playing a new character in Shadowlands. While our other guide pages go into more individual detail, this simple starter guide covers all the basics in one place, whether you're a new Windwalker Monk, a returning player to Shadowlands, hardcore, or casual alike, it's the best place to get a beginners overview on the class. Included are basic talent builds, simplified rotations, stats, legendary recommendations, and more to get you started as quickly as possible.
Please keep in mind that this page is meant to get players started quickly as an introduction, and does not contain much in the way of detailed explanations, mechanics, competitive options, gearing, simulation comparisons, or nuance. For more in-depth information, including all those optimizations and more, check out the complete Windwalker Monk Guide pages linked in the navigation on the left-hand side of the page, and if you're leveling up in Shadowlands, you can take a look at our
leveling tips
.
Overview
NEW
NEW Best Covenant
Gear
Talent Builds
NEW Legendaries
NEW Twisting Corridors
NEW Conduits
NEW Kyrian
NEW Necrolord
NEW Night Fae
NEW Venthyr
Pre-Patch
Starter Guide
Rotation, Priority, and Abilities
Advanced Concepts
Stats
Consumables
Macros & Addons
WeakAuras
Common Terms
NEW Castle Nathria Tips
NEW Mythic+
Common Questions
NEW Simulations
About the Author
This guide is written and maintained by Babylonius; former moderator on MMO-Champion; current owner and administrator of the
PeakofSerenity Monk class discord
; founder and Windwalker author of the Monk Class site,
PeakofSerenity.com
and those that came before it; Guild Master and Midweek Raider in
Occasional Excellence
on
US-Turalyon
; Windwalker main since early Mists of Pandaria, guide writer/theorycrafter/teacher for several years.
Discord:
http://www.discord.gg/peakofserenity
Twitter:
https://twitter.com/BabyloniusMonk
Twitch:
https://twitch.tv/babylonius
YouTube:
https://youtube.com/babyloniusmonk
Best Windwalker Monk Covenant
With the exception of Venthyr, each covenant excels in a different area of gameplay, although they remain viable in those they are not primarily suited for. Overall the majority of players should pick Kyrian due to its unparalleled strength in Raids, PvP, and strong performance in coordinated Mythic+ groups. Night Fae and Necrolord are reasonable alternatives for people who do not enjoy Kyrian or prefer one of those for other reasons, but they just cannot match the potential of Kyrian.
Best Raid Covenants
Covenants
Rating
Best Soulbind
Kyrian
BEST
Pelagos
Necrolord
Decent
Bonesmith Heirmir
Night Fae
Good
Niya
Venthyr
Bad
Nadjia
Best Mythic+ Covenants
Covenants
Rating
Best Soulbind
Kyrian
Low Keys
: Good
High Keys
: Great
Pelagos
Necrolord
Low Keys
: Great
High Keys
: Great
Bonesmith Heirmir
Night Fae
Low Keys
: Great
High Keys
: Great
Niya
Venthyr
Low Keys
: Bad
High Keys
: Bad
Nadjia
Best Windwalker Monk Covenant
Kyrian Windwalker Monk Guide Necrolord Windwalker Monk Guide Night Fae Windwalker Monk Guide Venthyr Windwalker Monk Guide
Best Windwalker Monk Legendaries
For Legendaries, Windwalker Monks have one real option,
Invoker's Delight
. While other legendaries like
Jade Ignition
,
Last Emperor's Capacitor
,
Keefer's Skyreach
, and
Judgment of the Arbiter
are decent options, they simply cannot match the strength of
Invoker's Delight
in all content. It is further strengthened by the people who choose go with Kyrian for additional synergy.
Take a look at our
legendary guide
to learn more about the legendaries available to Windwalker Monks, or our
crafting guide
to find all the materials you need to craft them.
Windwalker Monk Legendaries Guide
Best Windwalker Monk Talents
Windwalker Monks use the same talents for a lot of content, for general purposes, below is the best choice for an "all around" talent build. Our
Windwalker Monk Talent Guide
goes into more detail for each talent, as well as providing specific builds for questing, Mythic+, and Raids.
Windwalker Monk Talents Guide
Windwalker Monk Stat Priority
Unlike previous expansions, primary stats such as Agility are much more important than they used to be, and secondary stats are close enough together that item level is usually more important factor when it comes to choosing gear. You can find out more about how stats work, including sample stat weights and scaling plots in the
Windwalker Monk Stats Guide
, or get an overview of the best-in-slot gear to look for from dungeons and raids in the
Windwalker Monk Gear Guide
.
Agility > Versatility > Mastery = Critical Strike > Haste
Agility
: Increases most damage done by native class spells, abilities, and auto attacks.
Versatility
: Increases all damage dealt, healing done, and reduces damage taken. Most desirable stat, largely due to limited availability.
Mastery
: Increases the damage of abilities, provided they are not a repeat of the previous cast. Typically the most desirable secondary stat, but falls behind Versatility easily, due to differing availabilities.
Critical Strike
: Increases the chance that abilities deal 100% increased damage. Bounces around with Mastery and Versatility due to differing availabilities.
Haste
: Increases energy regeneration, reduces cooldown of
Fists of Fury
,
Rising Sun Kick
, and
Whirling Dragon Punch
. Although not worth avoiding at all cost, other stats are generally more useful.
Windwalker Monk Stats Guide
Windwalker Monk Enchants and Consumables
Weapons:
2H
: Use 1x
Enchant Weapon - Sinful Revelation
for single target OR 1x
Enchant Weapon - Lightless Force
for AOE.
DW
: Use 1x
Enchant Weapon - Sinful Revelation
for single target OR 1x
Enchant Weapon - Lightless Force
for AOE. Your second enchant should always be
Enchant Weapon - Celestial Guidance
.
Chest:
Enchant Chest - Eternal Skirmish
and
Heavy Desolate Armor Kit
Boots
:
Enchant Boots - Eternal Agility
Rings
: Heavily depends on character, use Raidbot's
Top Gear
Cloak
:
Enchant Cloak - Soul Vitality
Bracers
: No direct DPS benefit, pick what you'd like
Gloves
: No direct DPS benefit, pick what you'd like
Windwalker Monk Enchants Guide
Best Windwalker Monk Rotation
This is a typical Windwalker Monk DPS rotation, using the talents recommended above. More optimized rotations and notes on on cooldown use can be found in the
Windwalker Monk Rotation Guide
.
Invoke Xuen, the White Tiger
Xuen
Touch of Death
ToD
Fist of the White Tiger
(if <3 Chi AND about to cap energy) FotWT
Expel Harm
(if <5 Chi AND about to cap energy) EH
Tiger Palm
( if <4 Chi AND about to cap energy) TP
Whirling Dragon Punch
WDP
Spinning Crane Kick
(with
Dance of Chi-Ji
proc) SCK with DoCJ proc
Rising Sun Kick
RSK
Fists of Fury
FoF
Fist of the White Tiger
FotWT
Expel Harm
(if <5 Chi) EH
Blackout Kick
BoK
Chi Wave
(Talent) CW
Tiger Palm
TP
Windwalker Monk Rotation Guide
Back to Top
Our Windwalker Monk guides are always updated with the latest information from in-game experience, simulations, and logs; make sure to check our changelog to this page, by clicking on
View Changelog
at the top of the page. If you are interested in more in-depth Windwalker Monk guides for , make sure to browse the
Navigation Bar
below, and our list of
Related Guides
just beneath the
Table of Contents
.
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