Windwalker Monk PvP Rotation and Playstyle — The War Within (11.1.0)
PvP requires you to perform various actions in the course of a duel, match, or battleground: interrupting/silencing enemies, damaging them, bursting them down, defending yourself, keeping yourself alive, etc.. It is a game mode that fully utilizes your kit, especially spells that are rarely used in PvE. On this page, we go through all the spells you need to use in PvP as a Windwalker Monk, how you should use them, and we explain what your playstyle should be.
This page is part of our Windwalker Monk PvP Guide.
Playstyle for Windwalker Monks
The main role for a Windwalker Monk is simple: use your mobility to
relentlessly attack a target and use your strong single-target cooldowns to
burst your enemies down. You have some crowd control for the enemy healer in
the forms of Paralysis and
Leg Sweep. Because of this,
you will use a large amount of damage output you have to make the enemy
team use their defensive cooldowns. By managing your damaging buffs, a
Windwalker can unleash a devastating amount of damage in a short amount of
time.
Windwalker Monk Spells and Passives
Before talking about your damage rotation, it is important to note that there are a few spell interactions that Windwalker Monks have that should be understood to ensure you do the most damage. Here is what you should pay attention to:
- Managing your
Hit Combo and
Mastery: Combo Strikes is crucial to the Windwalker Monk rotation. You want to make sure that you are not pressing the same spell two times in a row. Use a filler
Tiger Palm or
Blackout Kick to maintain the buff.
Combo Breaker gives your
Tiger Palm a chance to make your next
Blackout Kick cost no Chi.
Teachings of the Monastery is the most important passive spell to understand. This makes it so your
Tiger Palm causes your next
Blackout Kick to strike an additional time, stacking up to 4 times. It also makes it so Blackout Kick has a chance to reset the cooldown on
Rising Sun Kick.
Blackout Kick reduces the cooldown of
Rising Sun Kick and
Fists of Fury by 1 second for each use.
Before Gates Open
Know exactly where to put your Transcendence portal. Although
it does not seem like it, using your
Transcendence effectively is
crucial in Windwalker's survivability. The best place to put it is behind a
pillar and make sure your healer knows where you placed it. This way, when you do use
Transcendence: Transfer, they will not be confused about where you
are.
The Opener
The opener refers to your team's opening crowd control chain and damage
done as soon as you exit the gates. The main goal in the opener is to force
your enemies to use defensives or trinkets. They are in trouble if the enemy
healer uses their trinket in the opener. Windwalkers have Paralysis
(an incapacitating effect with diminishing returns) and
Leg Sweep
(a stun with diminishing returns). Always use
Paralysis on the enemy
healer, and if the enemy team is grouped up try to Leg Sweep the healer.
This is the rotation you should use on your target at the beginning of the game.
- Use
Disable to slow your target. This is crucial if you are playing against a ranged class that will try to kite away from your team.
- Use
Tiger Palm to generate 2 Chi.
- Use
Rising Sun Kick off cooldown.
- Use
Fists of Fury.
- Use
Tiger Palm.
- Use
Blackout Kick.
- Use
Rising Sun Kick if the cooldown got reset.
- Use
Tiger Palm.
- Use
Blackout Kick to reduce the cooldown on
Rising Sun Kick and
Fists of Fury. You also want to use it if you get a
Blackout Kick proc.
- Use
Spinning Crane Kick if you get a
Dance of Chi-Ji proc.
- Use
Paralysis on the enemy healer.
- Use your burst rotation.
- After your burst, perform your sustained damage rotation until your burst cooldowns are available.
Burst Damage
When you have the enemy healer in crowd control and are trying to kill an enemy, you use your burst damage.
- Before you use your burst rotation, generate 2-3 Chi.
- Use
Invoke Xuen, the White Tiger.
- Use
Leg Sweep.
- Use
Storm, Earth, and Fire.
- Use
Spinning Crane Kick when you get a
Dance of Chi-Ji proc.
- Use
Strike of the Windlord.
- Use
Rising Sun Kick.
- Use
Fists of Fury.
- Use
Whirling Dragon Punch.
- Use
Spinning Crane Kick when you get a
Dance of Chi-Ji proc.
- Use
Celestial Conduit.
- Use
Tiger Palm.
- Use
Blackout Kick.
- Use
Rising Sun Kick.
- Use
Tiger Palm.
- Use
Blackout Kick.
- Use
Rising Sun Kick.
- Use
Touch of Death if the enemy drops below 15% health.
Sustained damage
Sustained damage is damage you do when your burst cooldowns are unavailable.
- Maintain
Disable on your team's kill target if you are the only reliable slow on your team.
- Use
Spinning Crane Kick when you get a
Dance of Chi-Ji proc.
- Use
Tiger Palm to generate Chi.
- Use
Blackout Kick when you have multiple stacks of
Teachings of the Monastery. Blackout kick reduces reduce the cooldown on
Rising Sun Kick and
Fists of Fury. You also want to use it if you get a
Blackout Kick proc.
- Use
Rising Sun Kick off cooldown.
- Use
Fists of Fury off cooldown.
- Use
Whirling Dragon Punch. Ideally, you use this during your burst rotation or if multiple enemies are stacked to get value from
Rising Dragon Sweep.
- Use
Strike of the Windlord.
- Use
Touch of Death if the enemy drops below 15% health.
Defensive Techniques
Leg Sweep should be used for crowd control on the kill target most of the time. If you are being focused and cannot get away or receive help from your teammates, use
Leg Sweep to stun enemies near you.
Transcendence should be the first cooldown you use when being focused, especially if your healer is in crowd control. Use this to port behind a pillar and heal yourself with
Vivify until your healer is able to save you. You port back to your previous location, thanks to the talent
Escape from Reality.
Touch of Karma is our primary defensive cooldown. Use this when the enemy team is focusing you down, and your healer cannot heal you through it or is stuck in crowd control. It absorbs 50% of your Health pool and redirects 70% of the amount to the enemy target as nature damage.
Fortifying Brew is a powerful defensive cooldown. This not only decreases the amount of damage you take, but it increases your Health. This affects how much Health you get back when using a
Healthstone.
Finally, use Monk mobility as a defensive technique.
Flying Serpent Kick can be useful if you have taken the
Ride the Wind PvP talent. Even without the PvP talent, this helps with getting around pillars to get away from enemies.
Tiger's Lust removes snares from you. This will help you get away from enemies if you are slowed or rooted.
Roll if your final mobility spell. This can be great for ducking behind a pillar when your healer is in crowd control. When you get to a pillar, use
Ring of Peace to continue kiting and
Vivify to heal yourself.
Macros
It is advised to use Macros to use abilities on enemies or allies without having to target them. For this reason, we have a page dedicated to them.
Changelog
- 24 Feb. 2025: Reviewed for Patch 11.1.
- 15 Dec. 2024: Reviewed for Patch 11.0.7.
- 08 Nov. 2024: Updated Damage Rotations.
- Added new section for understanding spells and passives.
- Updated all Damage Rotations.
- Updated Defensives sections.
- 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.
- 25 Aug. 2023: Fixed spelling mistake.
- 10 Jul. 2023: Reviewed for Patch 10.1.5.
- 06 May 2023: Reviewed for Patch 10.1.
- 21 Mar. 2023: Updated for Patch 10.0.7.
- Updated all damage rotations.
- 30 Jan. 2023: Reviewed for Patch 10.0.5.
- 11 Dec. 2022: Updated Damage rotations.
- 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: Updated All Damage rotations.
- 10 Nov. 2021: Updated Damage rotations.
- 02 Jul. 2021: Updated Burst rotation.
- 08 Mar. 2021: Reviewed for Patch 9.0.5.
- 29 Nov. 2020: Removed outdated Traits and Essences.
- 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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