Mists of Pandaria Classic Mistweaver Monk Leveling

If your goal is to reach the level cap in the shortest amount of time, then Mistweaver Monk may not be your best option. If you prefer questing then both Brewmaster and Windwalker can kill mobs more quickly in the open world, and Brewmaster will sail through dungeons more quickly than a Mistweaver (on average).

That being said if you just prefer the playstyle of healing, then compared to other healers, Mistweaver is likely the fastest option. We have truly incredible damage, high mobility, and strong self sustain.

It should also be noted that at level 20 you will learn Zen Pilgrimage, allowing you to teleport to the Peak of Serenity. There, you will gain access to a quest that is repeatable on a daily basis that will grant you a +50% bonus experience buff. Furthermore, every 10 levels you will unlock a new quest, allowing you to refresh your buff more than once per day.

Every 15 levels you will unlock a new talent row. The talents in each row generally follow the same theme, so you are not forced between picking a defensive and a throughput talent.

This is the movement row. Each of these talents augment your ability to get from point A to point B.

• Celerity grants you an extra stack of Roll or Chi Torpedo, while also decreasing their cooldowns by 5 seconds.
• Tiger's Lust allows to place a buff on yourself or a friendly player that increases their speed by 70% for 6 seconds, as well as removes any snares or slows. This is the default pick for dungeons as it can either help you keep up with the Tank, or help the Tank keep up with you.
• Momentum causes your Roll or Chi Torpedo to increase your speed by 25% for 10 seconds, stacking up to two times. If you opt to spend more time out in the open world, this is likely the talent for you. Being able to refresh this movement speed increase especially before you have a mount will help you move between quests more quickly.

This is our first throughput row. Each of the talents on offer here both heal and deal damage at the cost of 0 mana.

• Chi Wave causes you to shoot a bolt out at a target, damaging them if they are an enemy or healing them if they are a friend. The bolt will then bounce back and forth between random friendly and enemy targets until a total of 7 bounces has been reached. This is the default choice for leveling since it does well against single targets, or in a group setting.
• Zen Sphere allows you to place up to two spheres on friendly players that will heal them, while damaging a nearby enemy. After the sphere expires, or the target reaches 35% HP, it will detonate, dealing damage and healing to all targets within 10 yards. This is generally weaker for leveling as it requires a group, and specific timing on its detonation.
• Chi Burst causes you to shoot an orb 40 yard in front of you, healing friendly targets and damaging enemies. This ability is very strong at the sorts of high target count situations that you would find in Raids, and as such is less optimal for most leveling content. But if you are in a dungeon group that pulls many enemies all at once, this could be a strong choice.

This row focuses on resource generation.

• Power Strikes causes your Chi generators to generate 1 extra Chi every 20 seconds. If you do not want to think about your Chi very much then this is a fine pick, otherwise use Chi Brew.
• Ascension passively increases your maximum Chi by 1 and your maximum Mana by 15%. This makes your Mana Tea slightly stronger as a result of the increased Mana pool, but this minor increase in efficiency doesn't stack up to the other options for most situations.
• Chi Brew will instantly restore 2 Chi and 2 Mana Tea stacks. This ability has 2 charges with a 45 seconds recharge time, and is off the Global Cooldown. This is far and away the best option in this row. The ability to instantly refill your Chi during moments of high raid damage is incredibly powerful. On top of that, each press grants you 10% of your Mana pool for free in the form of Mana Tea stacks (more than that if you consider the stacks generated from the free Chi).

This is our crowd control row.

• Ring of Peace creates a ring around you lasting 8 seconds that will Silence and Disarm any enemy within the ring. If they attempt to attack or cast after their respective CC has worn off, the ring will Silence/Disarm them a second time. This is a very powerful option in groups in that already have a lot of Stuns, or if your Tank needs to easily group up a bunch of caster mobs.
• Charging Ox Wave fires a wave 30 yards in front of you that stuns anything in its path for 3 seconds. This is generally just weaker than Leg Sweep.
• Leg Sweep stuns every enemy around you for 5 seconds. Most of the time this will be your default pick.

This is our defensive row. They range from self healing to damage reductions.

• Healing Elixirs passively grants you a buff that will heal you for 15% of your Health any time your HP drops below 35%, or any time you drink a Mana Tea while injured. This buff refreshes every 18 seconds. This is a fine pick for solo leveling in the open world, however it will lose value if you spend a lot of your time in dungeons.
• Dampen Harm grants you a buff lasting 45 seconds that will cause the next 3 attacks you receive to deal 50% less damage, if the damage would have been more than 20% of your total Health. This is a strong talent for any time you are taking frequent large hits.
• Diffuse Magic grants you a buff lasting for 6 seconds that reduces the magic damage you take by 90%. Most of the time this is the default pick for this talent row, as the majority of unavoidable damage you will be taking is magical. It also allows you to solo soak certain mechanics.

Glyphs play a much weaker role in Mists of Pandaria than they have in the past, and even less of a role for Mistweaver with respect to leveling. None of our Glyphs will speed up your leveling process in any meaningful way, so feel free to pick what sounds fun to you (or to forgo them entirely).

• Glyph of Spinning Crane Kick — Allows you to run at full speed while casting Spinning Crane Kick;
• Glyph of Life Cocoon — Allows you to cast Life Cocoon while stunned;
• Glyph of Mana Tea — Removes the need to stop and channel your Mana Tea.

These are the only minor Glyphs that are not cosmetic effects.

• Glyph of Zen Flight grants you the ability to fly around on a cloud at 60% movement speed. This ability is instant cast, so you can use it to save yourself from falling from a high place, or to quickly fly away a dangerous ground-based situation. Lastly, while you cannot cast spells while riding your cloud, you can take some non-combat actions like mounting up, or even fishing.
• Glyph of Spirit Roll lets you roll while dead. Nice for recovering from wipes quickly.
• Glyph of Water Roll lets you roll over water.

Most of your Healing and DPS needs will be covered by following the rotation for Eminence, which converts your damage into healing. Here is the standard DPS rotation for Mistweavers:

1. Set up your Jade Serpent Statue within 20 yards of your group;
2. Tiger Palm if you have Muscle Memory and do not have your Tiger Power buff;
3. Blackout Kick if you have Muscle Memory and do not have your Serpent's Zeal buff;
4. Tiger Palm if you have the Muscle Memory buff;
5. Surging Mist if you have 5 stacks of Vital Mists;
6. Renewing Mist on cooldown to generate Chi;
7. Expel Harm to generate Chi, preferably if you are injured;
8. Jab to generate Chi and proc Muscle Memory;

If you are in a dungeon group and find that Eminence is not enough to keep your group alive, then swap to your pure healing spells. If your Tank is taking heavy damage, cast Soothing Mist on them followed by Enveloping Mist and Surging Mist as required. If there is heavy group damage, spend your Chi on Uplift or Blackout Kick if there are many enemy targets. In a pinch you can always depend on Revival or Life Cocoon to save a party member that might otherwise perish.