Windwalker Monk DPS Guide — Dragonflight 10.2

The Windwalker specialization is a melee DPS spec that focuses on using Energy, converting it into Chi, and using that Chi to deal damage. Windwalker is an incredibly mobile spec with a very strong presence in M+ and PvP but historically lags beyond other specs in Raids.

Strengths

• Windwalker Monks are a jack of all trades.
• Nearly unparalleled mobility potential.
• Strong burst and sustained stacked AoE and Cleave.

Weaknesses

• Windwalker Monks are a jack of all trades, master of none.
• Lack meaningful utility in many situations, like an immunity.
• Generally poor sustained single-target damage, but should be much better as Dragonflight rolls on.

There were no significant changes for Windwalker Monks in 10.2.

Windwalker's main strength is their AOE and burst damage. Although ultimately most bosses are single-target creatures, many fights have adds or additional targets that can, or need to, be killed. This allows Windwalker Monks to excel as they are better at killing many targets quickly than nearly any other spec in the game. Windwalker's generally weak damage capabilities are likely to hold the spec back in raids for anyone looking to push higher-level content.

Mythic+ has long been where Windwalker's shine the brightest, and while it won’t be quite as gleaming as it was in Season 1; Season 3 should continue to see Windwalker be “good enough” for the vast majority of players. New in Dragonflight was the rise and dominance of Touch of Death in AOE packs due to the presence of Forbidden Technique and Fatal Flying Guillotine that turns it into a potential 10 mob-hitting explosion of damage to finish off mobs and leave your group mates wondering why they even popped their cooldowns in the first place. As time goes on, this has become more, and more, of Windwalker’s identity, but for Mythic+, it is a very strong identity to have.

Lastly, Windwalkers have access to the same group buffs that Brewmasters and Mistweavers have in Close to Heart, Generous Pour, and the less useful Windwalking. While these won't make or break an encounter all the time, they certainly help.

If you want to play a Windwalker Monk but currently do not have one at max level, you can check out our leveling guide for tips on your journey.

Once you reach the max level, it can be somewhat overwhelming to completely change the way you play by suddenly implementing a large number of addons in a short space of time, especially if they have a heavy visual impact on your UI. We recommend using some of the more basic addons recommended on our Addons page below while leveling so that you have more time to get used to them during the easier phases of playing your class.

Windwalker Monk is a spec about managing resources and abilities with cooldowns at the same time. The primary concern for Windwalkers is to use Tiger Palm to convert Energy into Chi for abilities like Rising Sun Kick and Fists of Fury with as little of a delay as possible while not capping your Energy or Chi.

Windwalker will inherently have more resources than you can use on those two abilities, so Windwalkers need to learn how to adequately incorporate enough Blackout Kick into the rotation so as to not overflow with Chi, but not so much that you don't have the Chi necessary to cast Rising Sun Kick and Fists of Fury as soon as they are available.

The Windwalker Monk Mastery, Mastery: Combo Strikes, forces the Windwalkers to prepare and think several steps ahead, since they will want to avoid using Blackout Kick or Tiger Palm back to back, rather trying to weave them artfully between other abilities in order to get the maximum damage possible.

If you are a beginner to the spec, but would like to learn the basics of the class, recommend looking through the Spell Summary first, as well as the Easy Mode page linked below.

If you are already familiar with Windwalker, you can head to the Talents and Rotation pages to jump into the more complex, detailed information.

Gearing as a Windwalker is relatively simple; start by grabbing the highest item level pieces you can get. Once you have accomplished that, you will want to take a look at our dedicated Gear Guide for more information on how to optimize your character's gear for playing.

After your character's gear is taken care of, the next step is to maximize your damage through other means. One way to do this is through using consumables, gems, and enchants. For information about those additional aspects of maximizing your character, see our dedicated pages for what you need.

Leveling and "end-game" content generally look very different. Regardless of what type of content you are interested in, we have pages dedicated to providing you with the information that you need to be successful.

Everyone struggles from time to time, but what's important is how you overcome those struggles. Here are some pages with information and frequently asked questions or mistakes that players make that you may find helpful in improving your own performance.