Windwalker Monk Patch 9.2 Changes Analysis and Tier Set Thoughts

This page will go over how the changes in Patch 9.2, Eternity's End, will affect Windwalker Monks, specifically how the changes might impact its playstyle, best Legendary choices, Covenants, and the like. If you are simply interested in what the current changes are for Monks in Patch 9.2 in general, you can instead read our full list of changes to the entire Monk class on our dedicated page below. For an additional list of content coming with Patch 9.2, you can also check out our Patch 9.2 Overview page.

At the moment, Windwalker Monks have not yet received any changes to the specialization's core kit. The addition of Covenant Legendaries or the current tier sets will have little, to no, effect on how Windwalker plays.

As with the specialization itself, there have been no direct Talent changes made in PvE or PvP for Windwalkers, it is unlikely that the Covenant Legendaries or tier set bonuses will change the talent choices for Windwalkers. Although some people are playing around with new combinations involving Serenity, it is not likely these will see widespread use.

Within the new Sepulcher of the First Ones raid that will be coming in Patch 9.2, every class will once again earn pieces of a gear set that is uniquely class-themed with its own two- and four-piece bonuses for every specialization. For Windwalker Monks, these set bonuses currently are:

• Windwalker Monk 2-Piece — Increases Fists of Fury damage by 40%.
• Windwalker Monk 4-Piece — After 10 offensive abilities, your next 3 offensive abilities deal an additional 22% damage.

As Patch 9.2 is still being developed, this tier set bonus can be changed.

Compared to some set bonuses, Windwalkers received one that is fairly passive in its execution. The increased damage to Fists of Fury that comes from the Windwalker Monk 2-Piece is a noticeable increase, and one that makes using Fists of Fury feel more impactful in single-target where it was close to getting overshadowed by Rising Sun Kick, and in AOE where it was frequently overshadowed by Spinning Crane Kick. The increased damage will "technically" change when you would stop using Fists of Fury in AOE in favor of more Spinning Crane Kicks and when you decide to cancel the channel of Fists of Fury during Weapons of Order, but that number crunching will come closer to when Patch 9.2 is released and numbers seem more final.

The Windwalker Monk 4-Piece is one that initially seemed like it could result in a very unfavorable playstyle of maximizing what abilities are buffed, it does not currently seem like that will be the case, and we will keep playing the way we have normally. Moreover, there is currently a plethora of issues with the set bonus on PTR that make it difficult to know how strong it will be and how it is really intended to work. For example, currently having Storm, Earth, and Fire out will not increase the rate that you get to the 10 abilities to trigger the buffs. However, the spirits will consume one of the 3 abilities that get buffed, without having their damage actually buffed. This makes it impossible to know how the set bonus and the buff will interact when working "correctly" which hinders giving a fair assessment of its power.

Although there have been no changes to Covenant abilities or Soulbinds for Windwalker at this time, it should be pointed out that as of Patch 9.1.5 players may freely switch between Covenants provided they have obtained the Renowned achievement on any character of their account. The only requirement for this achievement is that you must reach Renown level 80 with any Covenant. This has opened up a lot of flexibility for Windwalkers, allowing them to effectively choose the Covenant whose bonuses are most useful at a given time, though the choice for maximizing damage will still largely come to either Kyrian or Necrolord.

In addition, Conduits will be unlocking their final few ranks, though this will not alter gameplay in any substantial way.

Recall that in Patch 9.1, every class received a Legendary Power that was unique to each Covenant. For Monks, these Powers were:

• Kyrian — Call to Arms — Casting Weapons of Order will also summon your specialization's Celestial for 12 seconds. For Windwalker, this means you will spawn Xuen from Invoke Xuen, the White Tiger.
• Necrolord — Bountiful Brew — Your abilities will occasionally cause a cast of Bonedust Brew to occur at your target's location. This occurs at a frequency of approximately 1.25 procs per minute, but has a 5-second cooldown between activations of the effect.
• Night Fae — Faeline Harmony — The 6% chance for your abilities to reset the cooldown of Faeline Stomp is doubled, increasing it to 12%. In addition, both enemies and allies hit by Faeline Stomp gain the Fae Exposure buff. This buff increases the damage taken or healing received from you by 8% for 10 seconds, respectively.
• Venthyr — Sinister Teachings — Fallen Order summons one additional adept matching your specialization that lasts for 24 seconds. While any adept from Fallen Order is present, your critical strikes reduce the cooldown of Fallen Order by 3 seconds.

However, new in Patch 9.2 is the ability to eventually use a second Legendary Power, provided it is your Covenant-specific effect. This means that a Venthyr Windwalker could make use of both Sinister Teachings and Invoker's Delight! In addition, this ability will be tied to a new Legendary Power that automatically switches to match your current Covenant, further encouraging the flexibility of freely changing Covenants that was introduced in Patch 9.1.5.

With it explained that any combination of Covenant Legendary Power and regular Legendary Power can be used in Patch 9.2, what possibilities does this create? As mentioned above, Covenants that were already making use of a Covenant's Legendary Power, such as Night Fae and Venthyr Windwalkers, have now essentially earned a second Power for free. This means that the common choice of Invoker's Delight will become the de facto second Legendary for maximum damage potential.

However, this also means that Kyrian Windwalkers may now use Call to Arms with that staple Legendary as well, also bolstering their power. For Kyrians in particular, the presence of Invoke Xuen, the White Tiger with every Weapons of Order cast will result in a lot of extra damage dealt over a dungeon or raid encounter if used appropriately. This is because the cooldown of Invoke Xuen, the White Tiger naturally desyncs from Weapons of Order over time due to Effusive Anima Accelerator when playing with Forgelite Prime Mikanikos as your Soulbind.

However, in the past there were issues with the Xuen summoned by the Legendary being active at the same time that the Xuen from Invoke Xuen, the White Tiger was active. Its unclear whether these issues will remain in 9.2, but that will hinder the damage potential for this combination. It also limits the potential gain that a Windwalker will receive from switching to Kyrian for single-target, which may place both Covenants on equal footing, or keep them in their current usage as in 9.1.5.

Bountiful Brew's effect, while also nice to get for free, is hurt by being more random and reducing its own potential over time. As the effect cannot trigger while already active, you may essentially "waste" some procs of the Legendary Power. With this in addition to not being able to plan your largest damage events around the random activations, it is very likely that Necrolord Windwalkers will stay Necrolord for situations with multiple targets, and switch to Kyrian for pure single-target.