Windwalker Monk PvP Best Races and Racials — The War Within (11.1.0)
Racial bonuses can provide interesting PvP benefits. Here are the best races to choose for each faction. The races are sorted from highest impact in arena to lowest. However, all races below have their own unique ways of making an impact in a PvP match.
This page is part of our Windwalker Monk PvP Guide.
Best Alliance Races for Windwalker Monks
- Nightelf
- Human
- Gnome
Night Elf Racials
The Night Elf racial bonus ( Shadowmeld) is always a strong
choice. This race has a high skill cap, but using it to avoid crowd
control can be very powerful. For example, if a Mage is casting
Polymorph on you, use Shadowmeld to avoid it. If you use
Shadowmeld at the same time that a Priest uses their
Psychic Scream, you will not be feared. You can also use it to
leave combat in case you need an emergency drink to replenish your Mana.
Being a Night Elf also provides you with two noteworthy passive abilities:
Quickness, which grants you 2% extra movement speed and 2% dodge
chance, and
Touch of Elune that increases either your Haste or
Critical Strike by 1% depending on whether it is night or day.
Human Racials
The Human racial bonus ( Will to Survive) is a great way to get
out of stuns. If you think you will be the focus target versus teams with
multiple stuns, this race allows you to play
Relentless. This will
help increase your overall survivability. It is also important to note that
Humans also have
The Human Spirit. This increases your secondary
stats (Haste, Critical Strike, Mastery, Versatility). This is another
beneficial reason to play Human.
Gnome Racials
The Gnome racial bonus ( Escape Artist) removes any movement speed
reduction effects on you. With only a 1-minute cooldown, this can be used both
defensively or offensively. You can use this to help kite incoming damage or use
it to remove slows on you while chasing down an enemy. Another racial that
Gnome provides is
Expansive Mind. This will increase your
maximum Resource, which helps with not running out of resources.
Best Horde Races for Windwalker Monk
- Orc
- Blood Elf
- Undead
Orc Racials
The Orc racial bonus ( Hardiness) is great for reducing the
duration of stuns on you. This is absolutely the best Horde racial to have if
you are primarily focusing on PvP. In addition to Hardiness, Orcs also have the
Blood Fury racial. This is off the global cooldown and should be used
when you are using your burst rotation.
Blood Elf Racials
The Blood Elf racial bonus ( Arcane Torrent) has multiple effects.
The primary use for this ability is that it removes 1 beneficial effect from
all enemies in range. This is great for removing abilities such as
Blessing of Protection from Paladins or
Soul of the Forest from Restoration Druids.
The other effect is that it restores resources
based on what specialization you are.
Undead Racials
The Undead racial bonus ( Will of the Forsaken) removes any Charm, Fear, or Sleep effect from you. This is a great racial versus specializations
that are able to fear you constantly throughout an arena match. It is
important to note that this does share a 30-second cooldown with
Gladiator's Medallion, so it is advised to only use it when you do
not want to waste Gladiators Medallion. Here are a few examples of spells
that Will of the Forsaken will remove from you:
Sleep Walk from Preservation Evoker/ Devastation Evoker/Augmentation Evoker
Fear from Demonology Warlock/ Destruction Warlock/Affliction Warlock
Intimidating Shout from Arms Warrior/ Fury Warrior
Psychic Scream from Holy Priest/ Shadow Priest/Discipline Priest
Being an Undead also grants you the passive abilities
Shadow Resistance, reducing Shadow damage taken by 1%, and
Touch of the Grave, sometimes dealing a small amount of Shadow damage
to your target and healing you for the same amount.
Changelog
- 24 Feb. 2025: Reviewed for Patch 11.1.
- 15 Dec. 2024: Reviewed for Patch 11.0.7.
- 21 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: Updated for The War Within Pre-Patch.
- 07 May 2024: Reviewed for 10.2.7.
- 22 Apr. 2024: Reviewed for Patch 10.2.6
- 15 Jan. 2024: Reviewed for Patch 10.2.5.
- 06 Nov. 2023: Reviewed for Patch 10.2.
- 04 Sep. 2023: Reviewed for Patch 10.1.7.
- 10 Jul. 2023: Reviewed for Patch 10.1.5.
- 17 Jun. 2023: Updated Best Alliance races.
- 06 May 2023: Reviewed for Patch 10.1.
- 21 Mar. 2023: Updated for Patch 10.0.7.
- Updated Best Horde and Alliance races.
- 30 Jan. 2023: Reviewed for Patch 10.0.5.
- 11 Dec. 2022: Updated Best Horde race.
- 21 Nov. 2022: Updated for Dragonflight pre-patch.
- 01 Aug. 2022: Reviewed for Shadowlands Season 4.
- 31 May 2022: Reviewed for Patch 9.2.5.
- 27 Feb. 2022: Reviewed for Patch 9.2.
- 10 Nov. 2021: Reviewed for Patch 9.1.5.
- 02 Jul. 2021: Reviewed for Patch 9.1.
- 08 Mar. 2021: Reviewed for Patch 9.0.5.
- 14 Oct. 2020: Updated for Shadowlands pre-patch.
Other PvP Guides
This guide has been written by Mysticall, a seasoned PvP player who has repeatedly achieved 3000 rating. You can watch his stream on Twitch, and you can also check out his YouTube channel.
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