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Monk Guide for Midnight - Patch 12.0.1

In this Monk guide for Midnight, you’ll learn the difference between all 3 Monk specs, their role, and how they play. Each one has its own set of tricks and unique traits, and this guide will teach you how to play them all.

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Monk Guide for Midnight Quick Summary:

  • Monks have 3 specs: Brewmaster tank, Mistweaver healer, and Windwalker melee DPS
  • Each spec shares some abilities, but they are all used differently, based on the unique spec identity
  • Mistweaver is a pretty difficult healer spec because it intertwines damage dealing and healing within the same rotation
  • Brewmaster converts incoming damage into DoT damage, which can then be reduced with talents
  • Windwalker uses Chi to activate powerful abilities. Its management makes this spec pretty difficult

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Monk Changes in Midnight

My peers and I like to start these big guides by listing the changes that happened to each class spec in Midnight, because this expansion is known for massive skill pruning and otherwise reworks to all classes. There’s a good chance that you might not even recognize Monk if you’ve tried it pre-Midnight. While it's safe to say that all 3 specs got severely simplified, Brewmasters lost a bunch of defensive cooldowns, and it is now way less dependent on Stagger than before. Mistweavers lost a bunch of talents and abilities, but got even more new ones, basically changing healing-boosting effects. Windwalker lost its signature ability and moved others to the hero talent trees. Here’s a quick list for reference.

Brewmaster changes:

Mistweaver changes:

Windwalker changes:

Monk Midnight Overview

I’ll be honest, Monk class might not be meta in any of its specs, but it does its own thing gameplay-wise and thematically. I’ve always thought that monks don’t fit into the world of Azeroth because they’re just so different from everybody else, not just stylistically, but also in terms of gameplay. If you’ve never played as Monk before, let me quickly introduce you to the specs it has:

  • Brewmaster - a tank spec that has a Stagger mechanic that delays a portion of incoming damage
  • Mistweaver - a healer spec that has a range of interesting healing options, including healing through dealing damage
  • Windwalker - a melee DPS spec that focuses on high mobility and burst damage

So, right out of the gate, you can fulfil any role in group content with one class, which is always a big plus.

I’ll break down each spec in more detail in the “how to play” section, but for now, just know that all 3 specs have some cool, built-in mobility options, so playing a Monk will never feel static, unless, of course, you’re playing as a tank spec. But even then, you’ll be zooming between packs.

And again, if nothing else, both the Monks and Pandaren race feel very different from classic MMO classes like mages or paladins, which is mostly why players are drawn to this class fantasy.

Monk Pros & Cons

I know I’ve said that Monks aren’t exactly meta right now, but how bad are they? Are they even worth trying out at all? What I like to do is give you 3 pros and 3 cons for a class and let you decide for yourself.

Pros

  1. High mobility - all 3 specs have very good movement tools, which is a big plus not only as a QoL feature but also something that will help you dodge those raid mechanics.
  2. Strong utility - even if any taken Monk spec isn’t great, a set of useful utilities will be its saving grace. You got things like Mystic Touch, Ring of Peace, Leg Sweep, Paralysis, and Detox - all of which will come in handy in group content.
  3. 3 unique specs, covering all major roles - it's hard to ignore the fact that you can play as any role on a Monk. Some classes only get to choose between two or even one role, whereas with Monks, you basically get 3 full-fledged classes.

Cons

  1. Requires perfect execution - lots of classes in WoW are somewhat forgiving and therefore easy to play. I wish the same could be said about Monks, but in reality, if your timing isn’t right or you mismanage your cooldowns, you’re going to suffer. It is often said that Monks require a lot more work to get the same result as other classes can get for doing less.
  2. Lots of buttons to press - although partially alleviated by the pruning in Midnight, you still have a lot of buttons to press as a Monk. This is just another way to say that Monks might not be a great choice for new players.
  3. Each spec has a big weakness you need to be aware of - the tank spec has a relatively smaller health pool compared to other tanks in the game. The healer spec runs out of mana way too quickly, and you know how that can become a problem. Meanwhile, the DPS spec is way too squishy with little to no defensive options.

It would seem that there’s a toll for playing this unique class fantasy, and it's the overall mediocrity. I’m sure Monk mains will tell you otherwise, because they’ve already figured out how to counter all of those disadvantages. In any case, now that you know the stakes, you can make that choice for yourself, while we’re moving on to the next section.

How to Play Monk in Midnight

We already know that Monks can be DPS, Tank, or a Healer, and each spec is unique in the way it works. Some may lack unique utility, but other than that its like learning a new class. So, in this section, I’ll try to explain the main mechanics, basic abilities, and how they interact with each other. I’ll also briefly go over the hero talent trees, their differences, and the apex talent for each spec. So, let’s get going!

Brewmaster Playstyle

This tank build revolves around using the Stagger passive. It basically delays a portion of incoming physical (and partially) magical damage based on your Agility stat. Energy is your main resource, but only a few abilities actually require it. Main buttons include:

  • Blackout Kick - always has a static cooldown that doesn’t depend on the amount of Haste your character has. Also grants Shuffle - a buff that increases Stagger power. Every other ability is pressed when Blackout Kick is on cooldown.
  • Keg Smash, Tiger Palm, Spinning Crane Kick - cost energy, reducing the cooldown of Purifying Brew talent.
  • Purifying Brew - an important talent that clears half of the Staggered damage.
  • Expel Harm - a quick healing ability that also costs energy, best saved for dangerous moments.

So, in other words, you turn your incoming damage into damage over time with Stagger and then reduce that DoT damage with things like Purifying Brew. That’s the main idea. If you want to know more about the Brewmaster rotation, you can check out this Brewmaster Monk guide from Method. Just make sure to read the skill descriptions before pressing them in the shown order. Otherwise, you risk misusing many key mechanics.

The stagger has 3 levels, by which you can tell how much damage you’ve taken that will be converted into DoT damage.

  1. Light Stagger - your incoming DoT damage is equal 1%-29% of max health.
  2. Moderate Stagger - your incoming  DoT damage is equal 30%-59% of max health.
  3. Heavy Stagger - your incoming  DoT damage is equal 60%-100% of max health.

The last one, the red stagger means that you’re in danger and you need to mitigate that damage using Shuffle and Purifying Brew. Other types of Brews include:

  • Celestial Brew - provides a shield that absorbs damage taken. Its capacity can be increased with Purified Chi.
  • Fortifying Brew - a long cooldown that gives you an extra 20% max health and 20% damage reduction.

When it comes to the hero talent trees, Brewmasters have two options: Shado-Pan and Master of Harmony. 

Shado-Pan’s Flurry Strikes trigger when you cast Keg Smash, generating Flurry Charges, which deal an extra 60% physical damage per charge. As a Master of Harmony, you get Harmonic Surge, which adds Nature AoE damage when you cast Tiger Palm or Vivify.

Mistweaver Playstyle

Mistweaver is a melee healer that also deals damage. Its a risky spec that requires you to stay in the thick of battle to heal your allies. So, you deal damage and heal within the same rotation, but your healing buttons include a reactive one and something you set up beforehand. Sounds complicated? Let’s break it down.

Also, you have celestials that you can summon for extra utility. For instance, Invoke Yu’lon, the Jade Serpent, heals injured allies. Invoke Chi-Ji, the Red Crane, adds immunity to movement debuffs and heals when you use Blackout Kick, Rising Sun Kick, or Spinning Crane Kick. Your healer's panic button Revival heals all party members and removes all DoT effects from them.

As for utility, you have:

As a Mistweaver, you have to know what type of damage is coming next and, based on that information, press the right buttons. It’s also important not to use all of your abilities, especially in Mythic+.

For hero talents, you have Conduit of the Celestials that focuses on the four August Celestials and their powers. Your main spells, like Tiger Palm, Vivify, and Thunder Focus Tea, activate those powers to improve healing, shields, or damage. An alternative is the Master of Harmony that focuses on storing power from using healing and damage abilities to then unleash it with Thunder Focus Tea.

Windwalker Playstyle

Windwalker is a DPS spec that can dual-wield or use a two-handed weapon, and its main mechanic revolves around converting Energy into Chi to use on hard-hitting abilities. With added mobility, self-healing, and crowd-control, you get a very fun and dynamic DPS spec.

The most interesting aspect about this spec is that instead of learning a rotation, you’re pressing buttons based on a priority. So, you start with the highest priority abilities, moving down the priority list. Let’s go over the main buttons and talents and start with those that generate Chi.

  • Tiger Palm - main Chi generator that uses Energy. You use it whenever you need more Chi on stronger abilities.
  • Blackout Kick - although it spends Chi, you use it mainly to prevent overcapping Chi. It helps maintain the Combo Strikes mastery.

You spend Chi on your core damage abilities:

  • Rising Sun Kick - powerful single-target ability that you use on cooldown and whenever you have enough Chi.
  • Fists of Fury - channeled attack that deals damage to all enemies in its range in front of you. Has one of the highest priorities
  • Spinning Crane Kick - an AoE attack that can be further improved by Dance of Chi-Ji talent, making this ability cost no Chi at all.
  • Whirling Dragon Punch - accessed through a talent, this deals a lot of damage to all enemies in range.

Additionally, you have cooldowns that you use at the right moment:

Combo Strikes is a system that makes you press different abilities instead of spamming the same one. The mastery bonus is granted if you cast a new ability each time, dealing more damage. With all of that combined, you press buttons based on what is available to you at the moment. If you have enough Chi, spend it. Is a major ability ready? Press the button. Not enough Chi - use Tiger Palm. The list goes on.

The two hero talents you can select don’t change how the spec works. But Shado-Pan adds damage by improving your normal abilities with Flurry Strikes and Wisdom of the Wall. Meanwhile, Conduit of the Celestials, with its apex Unity Within, allows you to cast your celestials for increased damage.

 

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Monk Stat Priority

Monk’s primary stat changes by spec. Brewmaster and Windwalker scale with Agility, while Mistweaver scales with Intellect. In general, higher item level upgrades should be prioritized first while gearing. Once item levels are close, use this table as a quick reference for Midnight Season 1.

Priority

Brewmaster

Mistweaver

Windwalker

1

Agility

Intellect

Agility

2

Versatility

Haste

Haste

3

Critical Strike

Critical Strike

Critical Strike*

4

Mastery

Versatility

Mastery*

5

Haste

Mastery

Versatility

Windwalker note: Shado-Pan favors Critical Strike slightly ahead of Mastery, while Conduit of the Celestials flips Mastery ahead of Critical Strike.

Brewmaster relies heavily on Agility as its main stat because it increases both damage and survivability. Among secondary stats, Versatility provides consistent mitigation and damage, while Critical Strike and Mastery add defensive and offensive value. Haste is generally the weakest stat since it offers less direct survivability.

Mistweaver centers around Intellect for raw healing power. Haste is the most valuable secondary stat because it speeds up casts, reduces cooldowns, and increases the frequency of healing-over-time ticks. Critical Strike and Versatility provide consistent throughput and survivability, while Mastery tends to fall slightly behind overall.

Windwalker prioritizes Agility for raw damage scaling. Haste is the strongest secondary stat because it improves Energy regeneration and reduces the cooldown of key abilities like Fists of Fury and Rising Sun Kick. Critical Strike and Mastery are very close in value depending on Hero Talents, while Versatility usually provides the smallest damage increase.

Best Monk Builds for Midnight

With three vastly different specs, to make a good build, you need to decide what type of content you’re going to use it on. Solo content is the same as open-world and Delves. You don’t have to worry about group utility or even play as Mistweaver when you’re solo. Small group content usually refers to Mythic+, and large-group content usually means raids. So, you get 3 different build types. In this section, I will provide only one build for each spec. But each build listed below is a solid starting point, something you can tune to the type of content you want to do.

Brewmaster Master of Harmony Raid Build

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This is a simple build for raids that will be perfect if you’re learning this spec. I’d like to highlight talents like Niuzao’s Resolve, Awakening Spirit, and Tranquil Spirit, all of which give you some good passive defence in their own way. This will help you do your tank job better and stay safe.

Master of Harmony gives you the Aspect of Harmony and Coalescence that stores vitality that will be used on your next abilities to increase their damage by 40%. You can also give yourself even more survivability if you disable Walk with the Ox and instead spend that point on Ox Stance or High Tolerance, both of which improve your Stagger.

Mistweaver Rising Mist M+ Build

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As a healer in smaller groups, you have way more downtime when you don’t need to heal. This is the time when you start using your damaging abilities. That’s why this build uses Way of the Crane talent to improve your Blackout Kicks and Spinning Crane kicks. Still, the build mainly revolves around Rising Mist talent that extends Renewing Mist and Enveloping Mist by 4 seconds. You’re going to maintain these healing over time effects with Rising Sun Kick combined with Misty Coalescence and Way of the Serpent talents.

Windwalker Single-Target Raid Build

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As a windwalker DPS, you will mostly focus on maximizing single-target damage that isn’t going to be lost if you switch from one target to another. With Shado-Pan as your chosen hero talent tree, you’ll get a very simple and streamlined DPS build that uses Zenith to manage your Chi consumption. It’s not all single-target, though, as you get the Jadefire Stomp talent followed by its improvement in the form of Singularly Focused Jade, which makes it hit only one target. You can switch out this talent based on the kind of raid you’re doing.

Monk Best in Slot Gear in Midnight

This section is “Work in Progress”. I need a bit more time to come up with the list of BiS gear for each spec that isn’t just another copy of the Pre-Patch BiS. Stay Tuned!

 

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Best Monk Professions

If you heard that “best professions” for a class are a thing of the past, it’s true. There’s just no class-specific profession that will make or break the experience for you. But, nevertheless, one can still work out the best professions based on what your class can equip and what things are useful.

  1. Leatherworking - since Monks wear leather armor, it would be a good idea to make your own armor, which isn’t bad at all compared to what drops in the endgame.
  2. Alchemy - this is just so you can make your own consumables, presumably saving gold. You still need the skill and materials, though.
  3. Enchanting - a profession that every class can benefit from because it lets you create enchants for your armor and weapons. Plus, there are Mana Oils that increase the damage of your weapons!

All in all, professions are less of a requirement these days, and if you want to pick one, you can do that without looking at what your class is.

Best Consumables for Monk

Consumables are important when you start doing that endgame content. You’re going to make sure you’re constantly topped up on your buffs, damage, etc. In this list, I’ve picked consumables for all Monk specs, so you don’t need to go look for specific items.

  • Combat potion: Light’s Potential / Potion of Recklessness / Draught of Rampant Abandon / Potion of Zealotry - Light’s Potential is the safest all-round combat potion for Brewmaster, Potion of Recklessness is the main performance pick for Windwalker and a strong throughput option for Mistweaver, Draught of Rampant Abandon is a higher-risk Brewmaster alternative for Mythic+, and Potion of Zealotry is a solid single-target Brewmaster option.
  • Situational potion: Lightfused Mana Potion - The main mana potion for Mistweaver and the practical choice for longer raid fights or any encounter where mana is the real limiter.
  • Health potion: Silvermoon Health Potion - The default emergency heal for Brewmaster, Mistweaver, and Windwalker in all PvE content.
  • Healthstone: Healthstone - A separate healing cooldown from your potion, making it a valuable extra survival tool for any Monk spec.
  • Weapon buff: Thalassian Phoenix Oil - Universal weapon oil for all three Monk specs, so you can keep the same buff regardless of role.
  • Augment rune: Void-Touched Augment Rune - The shared rune choice for Brewmaster and Windwalker, and still a solid Monk-wide progression consumable when you need extra output.
  • Flask: Flask of the Shattered Sun / Flask of the Blood Knights - Shattered Sun is the common Brewmaster flask, while Blood Knights is the standard pick for Mistweaver and Windwalker, with small gear-based swaps possible if your stat balance changes.
  • Food: Harandar Celebration / Silvermoon Parade / Royal Roast / Hearty Flora Frenzy / Blooming Feast - Harandar Celebration is the most flexible shared feast across Monk specs, Silvermoon Parade is another strong feast option for Brewmaster and Windwalker, Royal Roast is the common Agility food for Brewmaster and Windwalker, Hearty Flora Frenzy is the main personal food for Mistweaver, and Blooming Feast is a strong secondary-stat feast option for Mistweaver.

You might not need to have them all, but if you’re planning to farm high ilvl gear in M+ or heroic and mythic raids, you might as well bring as many of these as you can.

You might also want to check out our other WoW guides:

F.A.Q.

Are the Monks good in WoW Midnight?

 

Monks are not S-tier right now, but they’re a solid class, and each of the specs does its job well enough. This class is usually picked for its fantasy rather than for being overpowered like other classes.

Is Monk hard to play in WoW?

 

Even after simplifying and pruning in Midnight, Monks are still pretty complex. Especially if you look at the Mistweaver, who is a melee healer who has to deal damage and heal all within the same rotation.

What is the best profession for Monks in Midnight?

 

If you want to make your own armor, then pick Leatherworking, as it matches the type of armor your class can wear. Other than that, you can’t go wrong with Alchemy or Enchanting for making your own consumables and gear upgrades.

How do I maximize DPS as a Windwalker Monk in Midnight?

 

The single most important trick for increasing DPS as a Windwalker Monk is managing your Chi and making sure you don’t overcap it.

Which Monk spec is best in WoW Midnight?

 

Each Monk spec fulfils one of three roles, so if you want to play a tank, a healer, or a DPS, you really have no choice. That being said, Brewmaster spec seems to be the most popular when it comes to M+ and raids compared to the other two.

What are the best races for a Monk in Midnight?

 

There’s no substantial difference between the best and the worst of available races in WoW, but the best race is still considered Pandaren because of Epicurean and Bouncy racial abilities.

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