Mistweaver Monk Leveling Guide from 1 to 80 — The War Within (11.1.5)

Of the three Monk specs, Mistweaver is probably the slowest in terms of leveling speed. If your goal is to reach max level as quickly as you can, it is highly recommended to level as a Windwalker. That being said, there are niche situations in which Mistweaver can be extremely useful. Depending on your level, due to our sustain, Mistweavers can solo elite quests (albeit slowly) by simply outlasting a dangerous mob and chipping away at its Health pool in between healing ourselves. Outside of that, Windwalker outclasses Mistweaver in almost every way for leveling.

However, all that only applies to the classical form of leveling via quests out in the open world. If you prefer to Dungeon spam in order to level, then Mistweaver is a fairly speedy option. Below level 20, character scaling makes you essentially invincible, and Spinning Crane Kick deals an inordinate amount of damage when compared to other classes, allowing you to simply run through dungeons, spinning as mobs die around you. Beyond 20, as the scaling falls away, you get new talents that keep you incredibly strong and durable until max level is within spitting distance.

If you choose to level as a Mistweaver, then you ought to be spending as much time as possible inside dungeons, with your goal being to rush to the end and requeue as fast as possible in order to maximize the experience gained from the RDF queue bonus. Like mentioned above, at lower levels due to the bizarre way in which level scaling works, you will find that you are effectively invincible, able to simply run through the dungeon yourself, killing everything in your path while also keeping yourself healthy via HoTs and self healing. Your job is to sort of drag your group along with you and lead by example; show them there's nothing to fear, that you're gonna complete this Dungeon with or without them, so they might as well keep up.

Once that scaling starts to die down and you begin to notice that you can't pull packs as safely, you can start leaning on your group to help, however you still need to move with confidence as a form of non-verbal communication with your tank. If your tank sees you timidly waiting at the back of the group for them to go pull something, they might pull slowly, because they are unsure of what you are comfortable doing. Make it clear via your actions that you don't want to stop moving forward until you have to kill a boss.

Run along side your tank, if not in front of them between pulls, use your movement abilities to get ahead of them so you can pull groups to them, use Tiger's Lust on them so they can keep up with you. Of course, as you level up and dungeons start to become harder, you will have to temper your aggression based on your comfort level.

Lastly, it bears mentioning that after you have passed the point where you can solo the dungeons for your group, you shouldn't take this "aggressive movement" playstyle force your tank into playing in a way that they are not comfortable playing. Normally pulling mobs to a tank, or running ahead is just a shorthand way of communicating to them that you are fine if they pull fast/big, but that shorthand should not be used as a tool to bludgeon them into playing in a way that they are not ready for.

When leveling, you should always select the pieces with the highest item level. Between two equivalent pieces, try to prioritize Critical Strike and Haste.

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Starting at Level 1, your only damaging ability will be Tiger Palm.

1. Use Touch of Death to instantly kill an enemy with lower Health than you.
2. Use Thunder Focus Tea to proc Jade Empowerment, then use Crackling Jade Lightning.
3. Rising Sun Kick should be pressed on cooldown.
4. Spinning Crane Kick when there are 4 or more enemies.
5. Faeline Stomp when there is more than 1 enemy.
6. Maintain Faeline Stomp.
7. Blackout Kick should be pressed on cooldown.
8. Tiger Palm should be pressed whenever Blackout Kick is unavailable.
9. While standing in Faeline Stomp, alternate between Tiger Palm and Blackout Kick.
10. Tiger Palm should be used until you gain 4 stacks of Teachings of the Monastery.
11. Blackout Kick when you reach 4 stacks of Teachings of the Monastery.
12. Crackling Jade Lightning should be used to engage targets at a distance, or to deal damage when you cannot get into melee range

At level 15, you will be able to queue for the Dungeon Finder. Your goal while leveling as a Mistweaver should be to join as many dungeons as possible, as queue times healers are short, and dungeons provide a great deal of experience. An added benefit is being able to practice your healing rotation. For a more in-depth look, visit our rotation page. For a quick glance at your spell priority, continue reading below:

1. Use Thunder Focus Tea on cooldown.
2. Apply Renewing Mist on cooldown.
3. Use Enveloping Mist and follow up with Vivify as needed.
4. Cast Enveloping Mist whenever your target is taking consistent damage.
5. Vivify on damaged allies.
6. Use your DPS rotation when no other healing is required.

With the level squish that took place with Patch 9.0, gaining abilities happens at a much greater rate. The spellbook in the game will tell you exactly what abilities you will be gaining and when. Rather than being redundant and listing that same information here, check out our dedicated Spells guide for a more rigorous look at these abilities.

As you level up, you will gain access to War Mode, allowing you to participate in world PvP while also giving a small boost to your experience gained and allowing you to use PvP talents in the open-world. Unfortunately for Mistweavers, essentially, none of our PvP talents help almost at all with leveling. However, they are still better than nothing, so listed below is the ideal setup for leveling.

1. Alpha Tiger Provides a nice passive haste bonus.
2. Zen Spheres As it is the only remaining damage increase.
3. Dematerialize To give you damage reduction if you find yourself stunned.

We recommend picking up pieces with as much Critical Strike as you can find. This will increase both your DPS, as well as making your healing more efficient. Haste is also good for Mistweaver DPS. However, it is less desirable for the other Monk specs, so if you plan on swapping around, it might be better to have your second priority by Versatility instead.

There are a couple of consumable items that can significantly increase your speed while leveling. These are by no means compulsory. However, they can be a nice quality of life change.

• Goblin Glider Kit is a leveler's best friend. It reduces your falling speed while also granting a large forward velocity. Any time you are able to jump from a high place, these will get you to your destination very quickly.
• Gunshoes are an Engineering item that increases your movement speed by 200% for 25 seconds. The drawback, however, is that you cannot stop moving, so you will either need to click off the buff or wait for it to time out. Any time you need to cover a large distance, these are good to use.