Windwalker Monk DPS Mythic+ Tips — Battle for Azeroth (BfA) 8.1

1. Windwalker Monk in Mythic+

Windwalker Monk is a very solid melee specialisation for Mythic+. It provides a good combination of damage output and utility. It has access to some of the best crowd control spells and very flexible burst cooldowns, such as Storm, Earth, and Fire.

1.1. Windwalker Monk Mythic+ Rotation

Both the single-target and multi-target rotations do not change in Mythic+ content. For more information about the Windwalker Monk DPS rotation, refer back to the Rotation, Cooldowns, and Abilities page.

However, it is worth noting that most of your multi-target output now lies in Fists of Fury. Therefore, it is paramount to make the most out of this spell. Avoid delaying it, keep Chi for it, and do not waste it when you expect extra targets to come in soon.

1.2. Azerite Traits for Windwalker Monk in Mythic+

Windwalker Monks have a lot of Azerite Traits which provide significant increases to some of their AoE tools, making them particularly potent in Mythic Dungeons.

• Open Palm Strikes is generally the best Windwalker Azerite Trait for Mythic Dungeons. Not only is it a significant increase to the damage of your strongest AoE tool, Fists of Fury, but it competes as one of the very best Single Target traits. Most of its worth is in the damage portion of the trait, making it very good in multiple.
• Dance of Chi-Ji is a very good AoE Azerite Trait. However it is worth mentioning that it is currently bugged in combination with Storm, Earth, and Fire and that the clones will not benefit from the increased damage, making it stronger outside of your cooldowns. Furthermore, it is very mediocre in multiples.
• For Tier 2 traits, we recommend Overwhelming Power and Heed My Call.

1.3. Windwalker Monk Utility

Windwalker Monks provide utility to the dungeon party through strong crowd control, exceptional on demand burst damage on priority targets and mobility.

• Leg Sweep is one of the strongest crowd controls in the game. Communicate with your party to use it at the best possible timing.
• Ring of Peace is occasionally exceptional. It allows you to move enemies outside of specific ground effects or create a safe zone for your tank. It can also move enemies without entering combat with them to create unique paths to avoid some packs. However, coming at the cost of losing a powerful talent row, it will rarely be picked.
• Paralysis will fully disable an enemy for X seconds or until you attack it. It can be used to prevent specific patrols from moving around or to delay dealing with a specific dangerous mob. Additionally, it can be used mid combat as an interrupt.
• Windwalking will passively grant your nearby allies movespeed. This 10% increase will rarely have a large impact but adds up to a decent gain over the course of a dungeon run.
• Touch of Death is not at its best in a dungeon, as the greater your number of targets, the smaller the damage increase you get from it. This will allow Windwalker Monks to have it up when most needed, to burst down specific targets or during single target encounters. Do not be afraid to fire it on non boss enemies.

1.4. Touch of Death

Touch of Death is a very strong single target DPS cooldown. However, during AoE encounters it is much weaker; not only are your other spells more powerful, but with your damage being spread, Touch of Death will deal less damage per cast.

Therefore, do not be afraid to use your Touch of Death as often as you can. It will help greatly in taking out priority targets significantly faster. Do not try to maximize the 10% damage increase during AoE encounters though.

It is worth noting that Touch of Death has a 2-minute cooldown, reduced to roughly 1 minute and 45 seconds with Meridian Strikes. If you expect bosses to last enough for an extra cast of Touch of Death, then ensuring you have this cooldown available at the beginning of boss encounters is much more important. Furthermore, if you have good knowledge of the dungeon difficulty, you can maximize the value of having a Meridian Strikes trait equipped. On the other hand, if you know that bosses will not last more than 2 minutes, do not try to have it available at the beginning of the fight and use it on cooldown throughout the dungeon, as the spell coming up midway through the fight still allows you to maximize its damage.

Finally, Touch of Death does significantly higher damage on targets that take increased damage. For instance, a boss taking 100% increased damage will often lead to a 200% damage increase to Touch of Death thanks to the way the damage multipliers are applied. This can make touch of death extremely powerful on specific bosses:

• On Coin-Operated Crowd Pummeler in the MOTHERLODE!, you can keep Touch of Death for when the boss has the most stacks of Blazing Azerite.
• Harlan Sweete, the last boss of Freehold, takes 100% extra damage when below 30% health, and is increasingly dangerous the lower his health gets.

1.5. Detox

Detox is a very powerful tool in Battle for Azeroth, sine there are many debuffs applied in dungeons. It is worth noting that it removes Poisons and Diseases: this means you sometimes can remove debuffs which your healer cannot remove: a Restoration Druid cannot remove Diseases, a Holy or Discipline Priest cannot remove Poisons, and a Restoration Shaman cannot remove either.

However, even if your healer can remove a specific debuff, they are often applied to several players and helping out with Detox will always be a powerful effect.

Here is a list of specific buffs to watch out for as a Windwalker Monk in every dungeon.

1.5.1. Atal'Dazar

There are no Disease or Poison debuffs listed for Atal'Dazar.

1.5.2. Freehold

• Poisoning Strike: Irontide Corsairs found around Skycaptain Kragg apply a DoT Poison on your tank. This debuff can however be avoided by moving when they leap.

1.5.3. Kings' Rest

• Embalming Fluid: Embalming Fluids found right before Mchimba the Embalmer leave a poisoning pool behind. Although it can be avoided, the stacking slow and damage can quickly be deadly and should be dispelled.
• Wretched Discharge: this Disease is applied during the Mchimba the Embalmer encounter, but you can avoid this easily by interrupting Mummies.
• Poison Barrage: Spectral Beastmasters prior to Council of Tribes target a player and fire poison arrows. Having multiple stacks of this should be avoided or dispelled.
• Poison Nova: although you can individually remove this debuff during the Zalazal part of the Council of Tribes encounter, it should always be interrupted.

1.5.4. Shrine of the Storm

There are no Disease or Poison debuffs listed for Shrine of the Storm.

1.5.5. Siege of Boralus

There are no Disease or Poison debuffs listed for Siege of Boralus.

1.5.6. Temple of Sethraliss

• Neurotoxin: Sandswept Marksmen found at the beginning of this dungeon will apply a poison that puts the player asleep for 5 seconds if they move. You can dispel both parts of the effect.
• Noxious Breath: Scaled Krolusk Riders prior to Merektha perform a frontal cone ability. Although it is preferable to avoid this ability, quickly dispel anyone who does get hit.
• Venomous Spit: this heavy DoT is applied by Crazed Incubators and Crazed Tenders prior to Merektha.
• Plague: Plague Toads during the Sethraliss encounter will apply this DoT effect which reduces the effectiveness of heals by 50%. Very important to dispel if it is applied on your healer, specially if it is a Restoration Druid or Shaman.

1.5.7. The MOTHERLODE!

• Toxic Blades: Hired Assassins at the beginning of the dungeon will apply it on themselves. If you fail to interrupt them, their melee hits will apply the poison and you should prioritize controlling them during Hail of Flechettes with Leg Sweep or Paralysis.
• Festering Bite: applied by Grotesque Assistants on a random melee player.

1.5.8. The Underrot

• Decaying Mind: Diseased Lashers prior to Cragmaw. This 30 seconds stun is very important to remove with Detox or Crowd Control on the Lashers.
• Decaying Spores: DoT from Sporecaller Zancha.

1.5.9. Tol Dagor

• Crippling Shiv: large DoT and 50% slow on a player applied by Jes Howlis, remove quickly.

1.5.10. Waycrest Manor

• Infected Thorn: this DoT is applied by Coven Thornshapers. The application is interruptible.
• Virulent Pathogen: applied by Lord Waycrest, this DoT and 50% slow is spread to any player nearby. Only remove it when the player with the debuff is isolated.

2. Mythic+ Talents for Windwalker Monks

Below are the suggested talents for Mythic+, these talents are recommended for all groups and keys at the current time.

Besides personal preferences in the Level 30 talent row, your most important choice will lie in the Level 90 row. Favor Invoke Xuen, the White Tiger for single target and slight cleave focus. Favor Rushing Jade Wind for heavier multi-target dungeon runs.

Level	Choices
15	✗ Eye of the Tiger	✗ Chi Wave	✓ Chi Burst
30	✓ Celerity	✓ Chi Torpedo	✓ Tiger's Lust
45	✗ Ascension	✓ Fist of the White Tiger	✗ Energizing Elixir
60	✓ Tiger Tail Sweep	✓ Good Karma	? Ring of Peace
75	? Inner Strength	? Diffuse Magic	✓ Dampen Harm
90	✗ Hit Combo	✓ Rushing Jade Wind	✓ Invoke Xuen, the White Tiger
100	✗ Spiritual Focus	✓ Whirling Dragon Punch	✓ Serenity

3. Mythic+ Affixes

The way Mythic+ affixes are tiered in Battle for Azeroth has changed quite a bit since their launch in Legion.

There are now three weekly affixes and one seasonal affix. The first affix available instantly at level two and three, the second affix starts at level four, the third affix enabled at level seven, and finally the seasonal affix at level ten.

3.1. Tier One Affixes

• Fortified increases the Health pool of all non-boss enemies by 20% and damage dealt by 30%.
• Tyrannical increases the Health pool of boss enemies by 40% and their damage dealt by 15%.

Fortified and Tyrannical are the two affixes every player will see. These affixes shift the focus of dungeons from boss to trash depending on the week. Windwalker Monks will excel during Fortified weeks as our multi-target damage has a short ramp up time and then will sustain at very high numbers with or without the use of cooldowns. During Tyrannical weeks, players may want to take more single-target oriented trinkets, gear, or even talents but that will be both dungeon and key level dependent.

This affix can be a deciding factor in your Level 100 talent. When facing Tyrannical, you are more likely to use Invoke Xuen, the White Tiger, whereas when facing Fortified, you are more likely to want Rushing Jade Wind.

3.2. Tier Two Affixes

• Raging increases the damage dealt by enemies below 30% by 100% until they die.
• Teeming adds additional trash mobs to certain packs throughout each dungeon.
• Bolstering buffs remaining enemies Health pools and damage dealt by 20% when an enemy dies nearby. To counter this affix, DPS all enemies evenly and focus your casts onto high Health mobs if there are any.
• Sanguine places a pool of blood on the ground when a mob is slain. This pool will heal remaining enemies who stay inside the zone and also damage players. Windwalker Monks can use Ring of Peace to push enemies off of Sanguine zones.
• Bursting forces enemy mobs to detonate when slain, afflicting the group with a stacking debuff that causes players to suffer 10% of their max Health in damage every four seconds. When handling the Bursting affix, ask how many stacks your healer can handle and try to not mindlessly DPS and exceed your healer's stack limit.

3.3. Tier Three Affixes

• Volcanic spawns volcanic plumes underneath and around players when in combat with any enemy. When damaged by Volcanic, players suffer 50% of their maximum Health pool in damage. The more enemies you are in combat with, the more Volcanic that will spawn.
• Grievous afflicts players with a stacking DoT when they fall below 90%. Bring consumables to assist your healer when out of combat.
• Quaking will periodically attempt to interrupt casters by creating a damaging zone around each player. About 3 seconds after the zone forms, it will deal 20% maximum Health in damage to each player caught in the zone as well as interrupting any hard casts being finished during the shockwave.
• Explosive will occasionally spawn Explosive Orbs that need to be targeted and burned down within a short period of time or they will deal significant damage to the party. Explosive Orbs cannot be cleaved and the amount of orbs that spawn scales with the amount of enemies pulled. You can get stacks of Mark of the Crane from hitting these orbs.
• Necrotic debuffs the target of enemy melee swings with a stacking healing reduction and a minor DoT. Windwalker Monks should use Leg Sweep and Ring of Peace to assist tanks in kiting enemies before they become unhealable.
• Skittish reduces the amount of threat generated by tanks throughout the dungeon. Default out of Serenity for those weeks as the clones from Storm, Earth, and Fire generate threat independently and will reduce chances you get killed. Keep in mind these clones can die from generating too much threat.

3.4. Seasonal Affix

Reaping is the seasonal affix for Season 2 of Battle for Azeroth. Reaping causes Souls to rise from the dead and attack the party at intervals of 20% completion on the Enemy Forces count. There are three different enemy types to be aware of.

• Risen Soul — They will apply Reap Soul to their current target, dealing 2% maximum health in damage every 3 seconds, per stack. This can be dispelled.
• Tormented Soul — They will cast Grave Bolt, which deals 25% maximum health in damage to the cast target. This cast can be interrupted.
• Lost Soul — They will cast Shadow Smash at their current target, a frontal cone ability that can be sidestepped. If you are hit by this, your maximum health will be reduced by 20% for 1 minute. Additionally, when Lost Souls die they will cast Expel Soul, spawning swirls on the ground that must be dodged. If you are hit by this, your damage and healing done will be reduced by 10% for 30 seconds.

As a Windwalker Monk, make sure you are aware of your Leg Sweep cooldown whenever you reach these thresholds, and make your tank aware of it. Furthermore, other cooldowns (offensive ones like Storm, Earth, and Fire and crowd control ones like Ring of Peace) will be very important for these critical moments.

Consider using the Tiger Tail Sweep talent for these dungeons. It comes at a small survivability cost in Good Karma but will grant you more frequent and better Leg Sweep which might be a big difference maker.

4. Changelog