Windwalker Monk Frequently Asked Questions — The War Within (11.0.5)
On this page, we go over several of the most frequently asked questions regarding Windwalker Monk in World of Warcraft — The War Within (11.0.5). This will be updated as more common repeated questions surface over the course of the expansion.
Is There a Haste Cap for Windwalker Monks?
Haste is much harder to value in a consistent manner than other secondaries for Windwalker Monks. With a fixed 1-second global cooldown and several abilities not gaining anything from Haste ( Energizing Elixir, Touch of Death to name a couple), the damage gains from Haste can be very surprising in simulations.
Therefore, we encourage you do not trust Stats Weights provided by Simulations regarding haste. Instead, use the Raidbots' Top Gear tool to compare items rather than Haste. If you want to look deeper into the gains from Haste for your character, you can download the Simulationcraft application and look into the Plotting options. This will give you the most accurate information regarding how haste increases will affect your output.
You can learn more about the stat priority on our dedicated stats page.
Which Race is Best for Windwalker Monks?
Most races are very close for Windwalker Monks in their damage output. This means you can favor the gains of your race for other content (PvP, cosmetic). You can find Simulations for different races on Bloodmallet, however as most races are tied to secondary statistics, we encourage you to run simulations for your own character if you want to maximize your output. However the variations between the average and best race for your character will likely be smaller than 0.5% and might change as your itemization evolves.
How Good is Windwalker Monk in The War Within?
Windwalker Monks have a very flexible toolkit and provide various utility. They perform well on burst damage output and have many ways to provide your group with AoE. Generally, Windwalker performs well in Mythic+ and PvP, but struggles to stay strong in raids if they are primarily single target.
Consult our Introduction page for generic information regarding Windwalker Monks.
When Do I Ignore Combo Strikes?
Since Blackout Kick has reduced damage, you do not have to prioritize it over Rising Sun Kick. As such, you very rarely need to Blackout Kick twice in a row.
When you are not running Hit Combo, there is very little incentive to get mastery benefit on a very low hitting ability such as Tiger Palm. Therefore you can easily use Tiger Palm twice in a row when setting up AoE or any other combination of spells.
Am I Supposed to Have Downtime?
Yes! Windwalker naturally has downtime in the rotation and has just about always been this way. Most energy based specs are like this. While gaining Haste will increase your energy regen, it is still not currently a very desirable stat. Learn to use the downtime to plan what’s happening in the future.
Should I hold FoF for a few seconds to use RSK on cooldown?
Generally the safe bet is to delay nothing. However, the best choice in this situation is to make sure that you have 5 Chi ready to use with both abilities back to back with minimal delay. You can then hold FoF for roughly 1-2 GCDs to get RSK off first: any more of a difference between the two cooldowns and you are better off using FoF first.
How does Coordinated Offensive work?
Changelog
- 22 Oct. 2024: Reviewed for Patch 11.0.5.
- 09 Sep. 2024: Reviewed for The War Within Season 1.
- 21 Aug. 2024: Updated for The War Within.
- 23 Jul. 2024: Reviewed for The War Within Pre-Patch.
- 07 May 2024: Reviewed for 10.2.7.
- 22 Apr. 2024: Reviewed for Season 4, no changes necessary.
- 19 Mar. 2024: Reviewed for Patch 10.2.6, no changes necessary.
- 15 Jan. 2024: Reviewed for Patch 10.2.5.
- 06 Nov. 2023: Updated and Reviewed for Patch 10.2, no changes necessary.
- 04 Sep. 2023: Updated and Reviewed for Patch 10.1.7, no changes necessary.
- 10 Jul. 2023: Updated and Reviewed for Patch 10.1.5, no changes necessary.
- 01 May 2023: Reviewed and Updated for Patch 10.1, no changes needed.
- 20 Mar. 2023: Reviewed for Patch 10.0.7.
- 24 Jan. 2023: Reviewed for Patch 10.0.5.
- 11 Dec. 2022: Reviewed for Dragonflight Season 1.
- 28 Nov. 2022: Reviewed for Dragonflight launch.
- 25 Oct. 2022: Updated for Dragonflight pre-patch.
More Monk Guides
Guides from Other Classes
This guide is written and maintained by Babylonius; Guild Master and Raider in Occasional Excellence on US-Turalyon; Eight year veteran of Windwalker; Founder and owner of the dedicated Monk website, Peak of Serenity; and Admin/Owner of the Monk discord, PeakofSerenity. You can find him on Twitch, Twitter, and occasionally YouTube.
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