Windwalker Monk DPS Gear and Best in Slot — 12.0.5

With the release of Midnight, all items have been squished to a much more reasonable level.

The Crest upgrade system that was introduced in Dragonflight remains, and is a useful way to upgrade even lower-item level gear to higher versions that can be quite useful in your journey. We recommend that you check out our dedicated page for more information on this gear upgrade system if you are not yet familiar with it:

2.

BiS Gear for Windwalker Monk

Overall BiS List Mythic+ Gear BiS List Raid Gear BiS List

2.1.

BiS List for Windwalker Monk

This list contains the highest DPS setup from all sources for Windwalker Monk. Keep in mind that there are many other setups that perform within the margin of error. This list is not the end-all-be-all list where any item that is not listed is far behind this specific selection.

This list is by no means a replacement for simming yourself. Depending on your previous Great Vault choices and the gear you have available, your BiS gear might look different in some spots than the below list.

In some non-Tier slots, a max ilvl Craft will technically be optimal since you can customize the secondary stats to your liking. Your mileage here may vary.

Slot	Item	Source/Note
2H Weapon	Traitor's Talon	Maisara Caverns
1H Weapon	Arator's Swift Remembrance	Crown of the Cosmos
1H Weapon	Bloomforged Claw	Blacksmithing
Head	Fearsome Visage of Ra-den's Chosen	Matrix Catalyst, or Lightblinded Vanguard - The Voidspire
Neck	Amulet of the Abyssal Hymn	Midnight Falls
Shoulder	Aurastones of Ra-den's Chosen	Matrix Catalyst, or Fallen-King Salhadaar - The Voidspire
Cloak	Windwrap of Ra-den's Chosen	Matrix Catalyst
Chest	Battle Garb of Ra-den's Chosen	Matrix Catalyst, or Chimaerus - The Dreamrift
Wrist	Void-Skinned Bracers	Vorasius
Hands	Vaelgor's Fearsome Grasp	Vaelgor and Ezzorak
Belt	Snapvine Cinch	Windrunner Spire
Legs	Swiftsweepers of Ra-den's Chosen	Matrix Catalyst, or Vaelgor and Ezzorak - The Voidspire
Feet	Storm Crashers of Ra-den's Chosen	Matrix Catalyst
Ring	Loa Worshiper's Band	Jewelcrafting
Ring	Eye of Midnight	Midnight Falls
Trinket 1	Gaze of the Alnseer	Chimaerus
Trinket 2	Algeth'ar Puzzle Box	Algeth'ar Academy

2.2.

Mythic+ Gear BiS List for Windwalker Monk

This list contains the highest DPS setup with farmable gear from Season 1 Mythic+ Dungeons.

This list is by no means a replacement for simming yourself. Depending on your previous Great Vault choices and the gear you have available to yourself, your BiS gear might look different than this list in some spots.

TipsWhich Dungeons Should I Farm?

If you have limited time to play the game, we recommend to farm the following dungeons:

• Algeth'ar Academy: Your best on-use trinket drops here: Algeth'ar Puzzle Box as well as very good Wrists.
• Windrunner Spire: Heart of Wind is the best passive trinket in dungeons.
• Magister's Terrace: Drops a strong Haste/Mastery weapon that can be the best one from dungeons.

Slot	Item	Source/Note
2H Weapon	Traitor's Talon	Maisara Caverns
1H Weapon	Shadowslash Slicer	Magister's Terrace
1H Weapon	Bloomforged Claw	Blacksmithing
Head	Fearsome Visage of Ra-den's Chosen	Matrix Catalyst, or Lightblinded Vanguard - The Voidspire
Neck	Barbed Ymirheim Choker	Pit of Saron
Shoulder	Aurastones of Ra-den's Chosen	Matrix Catalyst, or Fallen-King Salhadaar - The Voidspire
Cloak	Windwrap of Ra-den's Chosen	Matrix Catalyst
Chest	Battle Garb of Ra-den's Chosen	Matrix Catalyst, or Chimaerus - The Dreamrift
Wrist	Frenzyroot Cuffs	Algeth'ar Academy
Hands	Gloves of the Dark Shroud	Seat of the Triumvirate
Belt	Snapvine Cinch	Windrunner Spire
Legs	Swiftsweepers of Ra-den's Chosen	Matrix Catalyst, or Vaelgor and Ezzorak - The Voidspire
Feet	Storm Crashers of Ra-den's Chosen	Matrix Catalyst
Ring	Loa Worshiper's Band	Jewelcrafting
Ring	Omission of Light	Nexus-Point Xenas
Trinket 1	Heart of Wind	Windrunner Spire
Trinket 2	Algeth'ar Puzzle Box	Algeth'ar Academy

2.3.

Raid Gear BiS List for Windwalker Monk

This list contains the highest DPS setup, only using gear from the Dreamrift, Voidspire, and March on Quel'Danas Raid.

This list is by no means a replacement for simming yourself. Depending on your previous Great Vault choices and the gear you have available to yourself, your BiS gear might look different than this list in some spots.

TipsWhich Raid-Items Do I Want Most?

If you need to submit a list of highly-important items to your raidleader, or simply want to focus on the most important bosses and items, we got you covered!

• Gaze of the Alnseer: Our best passive trinket. Drops from Chimaerus, who also drops our Tier-Set chest and good Boots.
• Arator's Swift Remembrance: A weapon that drops with the highest possibe item level and good stats. Drops from Crown of the Cosmos.
• Umbral Plume: Another good passive Trinket option (you'll probably play the Crit version early on and the Mastery version with more gear). If you know you won't be getting Gaze, this is a good alternative. Drops from Belo'ren.

Slot	Item	Source/Note
2H Weapon	Inescapable Reach	Vorasius
1H Weapon	Arator's Swift Remembrance	Crown of the Cosmos
1H Weapon	Bloomforged Claw	Blacksmithing
Head	Fearsome Visage of Ra-den's Chosen	Matrix Catalyst, or Lightblinded Vanguard - The Voidspire
Neck	Amulet of the Abyssal Hymn	Midnight Falls
Shoulder	Aurastones of Ra-den's Chosen	Matrix Catalyst, or Fallen-King Salhadaar - The Voidspire
Cloak	Windwrap of Ra-den's Chosen	Matrix Catalyst
Chest	Battle Garb of Ra-den's Chosen	Matrix Catalyst, or Chimaerus - The Dreamrift
Wrist	Void-Skinned Bracers	Vorasius
Hands	Vaelgor's Fearsome Grasp	Vaelgor and Ezzorak
Belt	Scorn-Scarred Shul'ka's Belt	Chimaerus
Legs	Swiftsweepers of Ra-den's Chosen	Matrix Catalyst, or Vaelgor and Ezzorak - The Voidspire
Feet	Storm Crashers of Ra-den's Chosen	Matrix Catalyst
Ring	Loa Worshiper's Band	Jewelcrafting
Ring	Eye of Midnight	Midnight Falls
Trinket 1	Gaze of the Alnseer	Chimaerus
Trinket 2	Radiant Plume	Belo'ren

There are a great number of Trinkets available for Windwalker, and we will generally want to play a combination of a powerful on-use trinket like Algeth'ar Puzzle Box or Emberwing Feather, and a passive trinket providing potent secondary stat buffs or raw damage procs. Make sure to consider macroing your on-use trinket to your Zenith cast!

Aim to pick up one trinket from each of these categories as a pair:

Windwalker Monk Trinkets

On-Use - Algeth'ar Puzzle Box or, alternatively, Emberwing Feather
Passive - Gaze of the Alnseer or, alternatively, Heart of Wind

There are quite a few other valuable trinkets out there, so make sure to click on our ranking chart to see if they are worth equipping.

Click for Windwalker Monk Trinket Rankings

Ranking	Shado-Pan and Conduit of the Celestials
S Tier	Radiant Plume — Both Mastery and Critical Strike are strong secondary stats, and having some control over them makes this a very strong stat trinket. Gaze of the Alnseer — This trinket has been nerfed but remains tied for the strongest passive trinket. Mastery is a good secondary stat and the buffs from this trinket are incredibly strong. Algeth'ar Puzzle Box — The strongest on-use trinket that we'll have access to this season. Mastery is a very good secondary stat to have in a large chunk when you need it.
A Tier	Emberwing Feather — This trinket probably can be S-tier, and maybe Best-in-Slot, but the potential for it to subtract from Critical Strike or Mastery means that it can have some drawbacks. However, it is a lot of Haste on a good cooldown timer. Heart of Wind — Static Agility plus a nice chunk of Haste with a very high uptime is very good. Windwalker is much better at dealing with Haste that comes from random procs than it used to be. Undreamt God's Oozing Vestige Light Company Guidon — Haste is a very good secondary stat to have on-use, allowing you to use it with your cooldowns for increased power. Solarflare Prism — Critical Strike, and getting stronger later in the fight, make this trinket strong.
B Tier	Latch's Crooked Hook Kroluk's Warbanner Eye of the Drowning Void Darkmoon Dominion: Hunt — Controlling what stat you get based on the creature you're attacking is very cool, but you can't often choose the type of your target. Darkmoon Dominion: Rot Forgotten Farstrider's Insignia — The strength of this trinket will depend entirely on what stat you need and what stat you get. Ranger-Captain's Iridescent Insignia Void Stalker's Contract
C Tier	Vessel of Tortured Souls — Mastery isn't a bad stat, but the other trinkets have static Agility, which is hard to beat. Darkmoon Dominion: Blood — Ideally, Versatility is your lowest secondary stat, so getting more of it is less than ideal.
D Tier	Darkmoon Dominion: Void — Versatility is our weakest secondary stat, so this trinket struggles. Magister's Alchemist Stone — Versatility is our weakest secondary stat, so this trinket struggles. Lost Idol of the Hash'ey — Speed is fun, but this trinket just doesn't provide much benefit.

Patch 12.0.5 brings two powerful voidcore systems designed to enhance your gearing progression:

• Nebulous Voidcore guarantees loot from your target boss or dungeon. While the specific item is random, you'll never receive duplicates, each new voidcore guarantees a different drop until you've collected everything available from that source.
• Ascendant Voidcore elevates your best gear beyond their normal item level caps. Use these only on fully-upgraded Hero or Myth Midnight Season 1 weapons and trinkets, or maximum-quality Radiance Crafted weapons and trinkets.

For more information on how to acquire these items, make sure to check out our dedicated guide below.

Your Nebulous Voidcores are a valuable resource for targeting gear that would otherwise elude you. Your voidcore strategy should prioritize closing gaps in your current setup, keeping in mind what you have already obtained from the Great Vault and your raid progression tier. Spending voidcores on items you can access through higher difficulty content in the coming weeks is generally inefficient. Here is what you should focus on:

Voidcore Targeting Priority

1. Myth-track weapons (2H)
2. Mythic-track trinkets like Algeth'ar Puzzle Box and Gaze of the Alnseer
3. Tier set pieces you are missing for your 2 or 4-piece bonus
4. High-impact slots from your BiS list

Your Ascendant Voidcores should follow this prioritization order (they only apply to weapons and trinkets):

1. 2-Handed Weapon
2. Algeth'ar Puzzle Box
3. Gaze of the Alnseer
4. Your Offhand weapon if you're using 1H weapons

Don't overlook crafted weapon options, an embellished piece with the right stats can outperform a standard raid drop from a lower difficulty. When deciding between upgrading a Hero-track and Myth-track item, prioritize based on your progression pace. For example, if Mythic raids feel distant, boosting a Hero-track Gaze of the Alnseer is worthwhile. As always, simming your character will reveal the exact value of each upgrade.

Professions are a great way to gear up with your optimal secondary stats, as adding special items to the crafting process lets you pick and choose the exact secondary stats you want.

If you want to find out more about professions, i.e. to learn how to craft your own Mythic itemlevel equipment, make sure to check out our Midnight Profession guide!

As your ability to craft items will be time-gated in the initial stages of Midnight, we highly recommend getting a Mainhand weapon as soon as possible, unless you can reliably get one elsewhere. Once you have a good weapon, work on your other Embellished Item next, and then craft whichever pieces you do not have high-item-level versions of yet.

Windwalker Crafted Gear Priority

• Any 1-handed Agility weapon, like Bloomforged Claw with Darkmoon Sigil: Hunt
• Loa Worshiper's Band
• Any item with Stabilizing Gemstone Bandolier once you can get a maximium item level weapon to replace one you crafted.

Up to two of your crafted items can be Embellished. This is a similar concept as Unique-Equipped, as you can only wear two items that have the Embellished status. Some crafted items, many of which have powerful procs or beneficial effects by default, are considered Embellished. You can also add Embellishments from a variety of professions to any crafted item, adding the effect to this item either when creating it or at a later stage.

As there is a lot of competition for Embellishments, you will have to pick and choose the two strongest ones for your overall DPS output. Most of them provide very similar DPS benefits, even if the effects are entirely different. The two best choices for this are:

• For Raid: Darkmoon Sigil: Hunt on an 1-handed Agility weapon and Loa Worshiper's Band.
• For Mythic+: Darkmoon Sigil: Hunt on an 1-handed Agility weapon and Loa Worshiper's Band.

If you are able to get a 1-Handed or 2-Handed weapon at maximum item level, then you can craft an item with Stabilizing Gemstone Bandolier as your 2nd Embellishment to go with Loa Worshiper's Band.

It is recommended to sim yourself to find out what works best, and if you also play the other 2 Monk specs, you might want to pick Embellishments that work well for all of them.

You can add sockets to Helmets, Belts, and Bracers with the Radiant Jewelbinder consumable that you can get if you do not select any of the choices in your Great Vault. Not picking a choice will grant you tokens, six of which can be traded in for the Radiant Jewelbinder item that allows you to add a socket to the above piece of gear, if you acquired them in Season 1.

Early into the season, or if you have just started playing an alt, you will have limited access to upgrading-crests such as Myth Dawncrest. These can be used to upgrade gear to higher itemlevels. Since crests are limited each week and upgrading different items costs the same amount of crests regardless, you will want to prioritize your usage of them on items you plan on not replacing anytime soon, or that offer the biggest benefits.

Windwalker Monk Crest Upgrade Priority

Weapon (Mainhand) ➜ Trinkets ➜ Helmet/Chest/Legs ➜ Shoulders/Gloves/Belt/Boots

These are not the only items worth upgrading, of course. They simply offer the highest DPS gain early into the tier when your upgrade currency is limited. Note that exceptions are possible, such as special items that have additional procs attached to them.

With all the different layers of gearing currently available to players, it is impossible to cover all edge cases and individual recommendations in a guide. We therefore highly recommend simming your own character by using Raidbots. This website allows for precise and individualized recommendations that consider your exact talents, gear, trinket, and all the other layers of gearing that the game has to offer. Learning to use this tool is essential to maximizing your potential, as it is the only reliable way to get information on which piece of gear, enchant, gem, or trinket is the best for your character.

The Droptimizer feature from Raidbots lets you identify which dungeons and Raid Bosses offer the highest DPS upgrades to you. It simulates all of the potential upgrades in a raid or a dungeon and lists the bosses/dungeons by rank order of how much DPS you can expect to gain from each of the items it drops. We have a guide for it that you can access using the link below.