[Windwalker] Tier 17 Tips and Tricks

[Krazyito 521]

This thread is for Windwalker Monk tips, tricks, and discussions in how to best handle the various boss fights throughout Tier 17 including Highmaul and Blackrock Foundry. Feel free to contribute or discuss encounter-specific anything you find from exceptional talent choices to ways to take advantage of class mechanics.

Highmaul
-->Kargath Bladefist
-->The Butcher
-->Tectus
-->Brackenspore
-->Ko'ragh
-->Twin Ogron
-->Imperator Mar'gok

Blackrock Foundry
-->Gruul the Subjugated
-->Oregorger
-->Blast Furnace
-->Hans'gar and Franzok
-->Flamebender Ka'graz
-->Kromog
-->Beastlord Darmac
-->Operator Thogar
-->Iron Maidens
-->Blackhand



Highmaul

Kargath Bladefist
Tips by Earithrandil


The Butcher

Tips by Earithrandil


Tectus
Tips by Earithrandil

Brackenspore
Tips by Earithrandil

Ko'ragh


Twin Ogron
Tips by Earithrandil

Imperator Mar'gok


Blackrock Foundry

Gruul the Subjugated


Oregorger


Blast Furnace


Hans'gar and Franzok


Flamebender Ka'graz


Kromog


Beastlord Darmac


Operator Thogar


Iron Maidens


Blackhand

[Earithrandil 5]

Kargath:

If you're on crowd group, I recommend Ascension and Chi Explosion for talent choices, Touch of Death can one shot Iron Bombers on at least Normal and Heroic, would not recommend using the glyph for Touch of Death, as it is ready for use each time we go up, unglyphed.

I did not run with Rushing Jade Wind, as I felt the only reason for this would be for killing the Iron grunts, who really are not a priority at all. You should just be aiming to kill the Bombers and Bileslingers whilst the Grunts are cleaved down by Chi Explosion and Fists of Fury Xuen will increase your damage on Kargath, who you will spend most of your time hitting, even when you go up.

If you stay down, I believe Chi Brew and Serenity to be superior, as it gives higher Single Target DPS. This is very valid for crowd group as well, especially on Mythic.

 

The Butcher:

Chi Brew and Serenity for above stated reasons, imo. Serenity is also nice since we want the burst at 30%. Touch of Karma helps healers when you have dot stacks. Dampen Harm will also help versus the Cleave. I recommend using Roll to get back from the knock back, then Flying Serpent Kick to reach him after he does Bouncing Cleave. I feel this is better since most of the time, the distance will be greater after he charges your ranged group, this depends on your group though. Be careful not to reach him too quickly though, and get hit by the ranged cleave (it happened)

Noticed our Fists of Fury CD and his knock back lines up sort of bad, so that he will interrupt our Fists of Fury, which is hella annoying. Watch out for his energy before you use Fists of Fury.

 

Tectus 

I would use Ascension and Chi Explosion, real nice cleave on this fight so SEaF is incredibly useful, make the most of it! Touch of Death helps a ton too, since we can use it on adds in phase 1, and on Tectus' motes and shards through the encounter.

 

Regarding Tectus' accretion, I am currently checking if SEaF removes it as I am unsure, but I see no reason why it should not. It does

RJW is really good for the final stages of Tectus, when all the motes are up, but Xuen is a bit better at the start, depends on your group imo. We had problems getting him down for the first Upheaval and the part with the Motes went by incredibly fast and easy, so in that scenario Xuen was the better choice.

Try to keep Dampen Harm up as much as possible, it will get harder and harder to dodge the Fractures, if you do get it this will keep your health a bit higher, which might be the one thing keeping you alive if you get knocked into a Crystalline Barrage. The reason why I prefer Dampen Harm over Diffuse Magic on this fight is because it lasts longer, allowing us to mess up more often without taking the full damage. While Diffuse Magic will almost entirely reduce incoming damage to zero for a short period of time. They are both very useful and depends on how you do during the fight.

Make the most of Touch of Karma! it can be used to negate Tectonic Upheaval in the beginning of fights, but you're going to want to have it for the part with 4 Motes and 1 Shard to ensure your survival.

Glyphed Zen Meditation is really useful to pass through the Crystalline Barrage, I do not recommend rolling through them as this still will deal a lot of damage to you.

 

Brackenspore

Ascension and Chi Explosion is, imo, by far the optimal choice here. The Berserker mushrooms will give you a lot of haste, and combined with the cleave CE just becomes incredible on this fight.

CEs range also enables you to deal damage to the adds faster, or continue DPSing while having to get out of range for a mushroom.

Diffuse Magic is excellent for mitigating damage. Infesting Spores will deal increased damage the more stacks you have, save it for later since that will reduce the most damage.

ToD is amazing on this fight to deal with the spore shooters and mind fungus. Do not glyph it.

ToK can be used to mitigate damage, or to increase your own DPS. Pop it while standing Infesting Spores is up and it is guaranteed to be used to it's full extent. Even while standing in Living Mushroom this is useful. NOTE: this leaves you a defensive short, which can get cumbersome.

 

The Twins

these are sort of tricky, I would definitely use SEaF since they share health, but at times you will not be able to DPS Pol, and sometimes not Phemos, (namely when they do Shield Charge or Whirlwind) so you have to manage SEaF carefully through the fight.

The decision between Serenity/Chi Explosion (and with it comes Ascension/Chi Brew) really depends on how tightly your group stacks them (should be tight). For that reason, I prefer Chi Explosion, however I might be wrong there. I have had the highest performance with CE and Ascension though.

CE can also be useful since it has a ranged, meaning you can continue DPS even while running from fires and after shield charges.

Roll can be extremely helpful in avoiding fires, but also make you take unnecessary stacks! Be careful!

Diffuse Magic Only helps to mitigate fire damage, it does not remove stacks. If you're confident in dodging fires go with Dampen Harm instead, it helps with roar and Pulverize damage which is for the most part unavoidable.

 

 

Ko'Ragh

You have the option between Serenity and Brew, or CE and Ascension, depending on what your group needs.

CE will be a decrease in your DPS, but since it is magic damage it will help with the shield as well as deal twice as much damage when the shield is recharging so it might be beneficial to the group. The ranged effect will also make you able to DPS the adds within the Suppression Fields without worrying about range.

Other abilities we have that deal magic damage is Chi Wave, Expel Harm and Xuen (He does a bit of both). Chi Wave will be a high priority spell during recharge phase.

Diffuse Magic Can be used to remove Expel Magic: Fire but DO NOT do it when people are near you, run away from the group and dispel it when it has less than 6 seconds left. This will make you take 90% less damage from other players explosions, so you can go back to the boss relatively safe.

Diffuse Magic, as well as ToK and Zen meditation are also useful to mitigate damage taken from Expel Magic: Frost. Use these as often as you can.

 

Imperator Mar'Gok

You have the choice between Serenity and Brew or CE and Ascension yet again. CE and Ascension can be useful because this fight has a bit of cleave. But I prefer Serenity and Brew due to wanting to burst down the cleaver and mages during the intermission phases.

As for all melee, don't get knocked back into mines.

Roll or use FSK through the novas to reduce the amount of damage you take.

Transcendance can be used to quickly get back, increasing your uptime on the boss as well as reducing all damage from that nova.

Diffuse Magic is the obvious choice, since all of the damage is magic damage. 

Edited January 8, 2015 by Earithrandil

[HAWKERMONK 0]

In my personal opinion the way i do it on my monk is put your SEF on Phemos because WHirlwind goes on way longer than Pol's Shield Charge and that way your not off the boss for to long.

use serenity and chi brew for the quick burst Chi Explosion I dont recommend because its a DPS loss when its 2 enemies or less i find.

Touch of Karma and Zen Meditation is great for mitigating the damage from quake and pulverize.

with these tips I pull anywhere from 26-29k it about 650 avg ilvl gear  

[Blizzt 2]

Nice post, just thought I'd mention a few extra things (in a few cases, things I don't quite agree with).

 

Kargath:

I agree with everything you say here, a couple of extra things though :)

 

All difficulties:

Be careful with getting knocked back into fire/tiger pits when he starts doing Chain Hurl.

If you're not in the group that goes up you can continue DPS'ing until the cast is about to finish (just move to the outer edge of the circle on the ground, let the cast finish, then go back in).

 

Mythic:

You can help DPS the tigers down with a clone - ONLY do this when they're on fire (i.e. running around in a circle), or the clone won't be able to keep up.

I try to get a Touch of Death off on the tigers when ever I can, but be careful with getting in front of them.

 

Butcher:

Instead of using roll / FSK, use Transcendence to get back after the knockback.

I usually place the clone down some time during downtime in my rotation (I usually have a 1 second window where I don't have energy/chi for anything).

The moment the knockback hits, you just transfer back, and only lose about half a second's uptime on the boss.

If you're running Dampen Harm (as you really should on this boss), you can use it early to get it off cooldown faster (the buff lasts for 45 seconds).

 

Tectus:

Nothing to note, fully agree.

 

Brackenspore:

 

I personally don't like running Chi Explosion on this fight since everything dies so fast for our group - but I can see the logic behind running it.

 

I like to use my clones A LOT on this fight, anything that's going to survive longer than 5 seconds gets a clone thrown at it (the Mind Fungus etc).

I usually throw my clone on Brackenspore when the Fungal Flesh-eater is up, to make it easier to help interrupting.

 

The Twins:

I always throw my clone on Phemos since Pol is in range more often than Phemos (he comes back rather fast after a Shield Charge, where we can't touch Phemos during Whirlwind, but our clone can!).

Touch of Karma's cooldown lines up nearly perfectly with Enfeebling Roar, so I always make sure to use it on him (the cooldown should be perfect if you cast it a second or two before he starts casting).

 

 

Ko'ragh:

As far as I know, Touch of Karma doesn't work against Overflowing Energy, how ever, it does work on Expel Magic: Frost. The cooldown lines up most of the time (seems odd at times though, not sure why).

Supposedly we're able to use Touch of Death when his shield is below 10%, haven't been able to confirm yet though.

 

Imperator Mar'Gok:

You can abuse your clones quite a bit on this encounter, same with Touch of Death.

If you use Touch of Death on the first add he spawns, it's usually up for the 3rd, 5th etc.

Remember to use your clones all the time on this encounter, unless your group is lacking single target DPS on the add(s).

 

Same thing in the transition phases, clones, clones, clones.

 

That's my 2 cents - hope you agree :).

 

Blizzt

 

 

[Earithrandil 5]

Agree with everything! (Except maybe not using CE on Brackenspore but that is really up to personal preference)

Thanks for the tip about Transcendence on The butcher! Did not even think about that!

 

Did not know the clones could manage to damage the tigers on mythic even while they are feared, may be worth to note that FoF will probably not work for that as the clone will just stand still.

Imo melee should not go on the tigers at all, they're really easy for a group to handle and is basically free favor of the crowd.

 

Correct about Overflowing Energy as well: that damage can not be mitigated in any way, I meant to write Expel Magic: Frost, as you said. Fixed that in my post.

 

Thanks!

Edited December 31, 2014 by Earithrandil

[neskafe 0]

Hi, I'm quite the noob with the ww monk, had to swap from brewmaster within the day, and although I've been surfing the web looking for guides and such (icy-veins's included), and this piece of information for each boss is pretty useful, I had a few doubts. If you could answer some of them or give me a piece of advice, it would be a blast.

 

Mainly, I need practice with the different rotations of using CE and Ascension and multi-targetting with the clones... but the thing I struggle the most sometimes is the opening with the different sets of talents...

[Siar 0]

Blackrock Foundry

 

This is what I think is true.

 

Gruul the Subjugated

• Serenity/Chi Brew for Single target
  

• Dampen Harm
  

• Xuen
  

 

 

Oregorger

• Serenity/Chi Brew for Single target
  

• Dampen Harm
  

• Xuen
  

 

 

Blast Furnace

• Chi Explosion/Ascension
  

• Rushing Jade Wind - for so many adds
  

• Dampen Harm
  

 

 

Hans'gar and Franzok

• Chi Explosion/Ascension
  

• Xuen
  

• Dampen Harm
  

 

 

[kneeglow 0]

Hi fella windwalkers.

 

I play casually this teir on my WW, I come up with few things on heroic that needs to get test it. I never seen any mythic BRF so I can not speak for that,

 

 

Gruul

 

Nothing special here,TOK the inferno slice. zen med the shatter.

Glyph. floating butterfly

Talent. diffuse magic/ dampen harm

 

Oregorger

 

During rolling phase, put EWF on the boss and dps the ore box (not sure if it's dps gain). if you about to get rolled over, you can always zen med, Tok also works for the roll. I usually save my fortbrew towards the end of the rolling phase.

 

Glyph. floating butterfly

Talent.  dampen harm, serenity

 

Beastlord

 

this fight is more of cleave fight than aoe fight. I split my clones to the spears that has high HP and non grouped. I make sure have my FOF up for those small adds, I use my TOK during the tantrum phase, same goes for dampen harm, diffuse magic can be useful during bird phase. you can leg sweep the adds to save some trouble.

 

Glyph. Flying fist

Talent. chi burst, chi brew, leg sweep, dampen harm/ diffuse magic, xuen, serenity.

 

Hans and Franzs (da Han brothers)

 

I put clone on one of them and kick the crap out the other one.  I save my TOK for the stamps.

 

Glyph. floating butterfly( not sure about flying fist if anyone have a good experience with that please post them)

talent. chi wave, chi brew, healing elixir, xuen, serenity

 

Needs confirmation/ testing: 1. delay serenity when both boss are down, 2, cancel clone when one of them is jumping around ( since your clone is spent majority of time chase after him it's pointless to put it on)

 

Flamebender

 

The EWF usage  on this fight is really tricky, if any ww pro at this, please share your tip.

 

but this is what I do. when dogs come out, I put one on the boss, another one of the ranged dog and dps the melee dog. When those dogs swap, I simply cancel one of my spirit and finish off the melee dog. I save my tok for the aoe stack phase. 

 

Talent, chi wave/ zen sphere, diffuse magic. serenity/ chix

Glyph. flying fist. (needs confirmation)

 

Operator

 

chi burst for the adds, split clones to man of arms and Operator and shit on the Firemender. I pool my chi for the adds so I can get (rsk>fof>chix) combo for them. save tok for the Man of arms

 

talent, chi burst, ascension, leg sweep, dampen harm, xuen, chix

glyph. flying fist

 

Kromog

 

dampen harm the rippling smash and Yolo kicking 247 until the rune phase. Fort brew the slam. split the clone to the hands on the corner. aim your chi burst.

 

this need some testing, if it works can yield major dps difference.

during Thundering blows, don't bother to get into the rune, instead put TOK on the boss use transcendence as soon as he lunch you to the air so u can avoid fall damage, the TOK should keep you alive and does crap load damage to the boss.

 

glyph: flying fist ( needs feedback)

talent: chi burst, chi brew, dampen harm, xuen, serenity.

 

Maidens

 

split the clones, and run chix. zen med the aim, tok the blood ritual

 

boat phase:

uktar: don't bother to split the clone, just singe target burst this one down, spread out don't be in a line, tok if u have it up.

Gorak, use stuns, defensives when u get fixate, and just stack on top of the gorak and burst em down, no EWF split.

Uk urogg, stutter step works magic here, not sure if tok works here.

 

glyph: floating butterfly if u are going on the boat, else use flying fist

talent: chi burst, ascension, leg sweep, dampen harm, xuen, chix

 

Blast furnace (oven boss)

 

 

 

Blackhand