Windwalker Monk DPS Spell Summary — Shadowlands Pre-Patch 9.0.1

If you are new to Windwalker, this is a great place to start to get an understanding of how the spec works. On this page we will discuss what abilities you have, what they are used for within the specialisation, how they interact with each other and also with important cooldowns. If you already have experience with Windwalker and are comfortable with it in Legion, it is recommended you skip this section and move on to the rest of the guide.

Energy and Chi are your two resources as a Windwalker Monk.

Energy is generated passively, with the regeneration speed affected by your Haste. You have a maximum capacity of 100 Energy, and Energy never decays (meaning that your normal state is to have a full Energy bar). Being at maximum capacity causes any additional Energy you would generate to be wasted.

Chi is generated by using Tiger Palm. You have a maximum capacity of 5 Chi, and Chi decays quickly when out of combat, but it does not decay while in combat. Just like Energy, generating Chi while you are at maximum capacity will cause the new Chi to be wasted.

Most abilities in your rotation cost Chi to use, while Tiger Palm costs Energy. Therefore, properly managing these two resources is essential to doing competitive DPS.

Note that this page simply lists all the different abilities, assuming you are at max level. If you are leveling, check out our dedicated Monk Leveling page, which has detailed information on when you unlock all of these abilities.

These are your core skills that are available regardless of talents and form the core gameplay of the specialization.

Tiger Palm is your Chi-generating ability. It deals damage to the target, has no cooldown, costs 50 Energy, and generates 2 Chi. This is your filler ability as you manage your Energy and generate the Chi required for most of your other abilities.

Fists of Fury is a channeled ability with a 24-second cooldown reduced by haste, which costs 3 Chi and deals damage to all enemies in front of you. It is usually a high priority ability.

Rising Sun Kick deals high damage to a single target, has a 10-second cooldown reduced by haste, and costs 2 Chi.

Blackout Kick deals damage to a single target and costs 1 Chi.

Spinning Crane Kick deals damage to all targets within 8 yards for 1.5 seconds. It costs 2 Chi and has no cooldown. This ability is typically used for AoE scenarios, taking into account the fact that its damage is increased by 10% for each unique target that you hit with Tiger Palm, Blackout Kick, or Rising Sun Kick in the last 15 seconds, up to 50%.

Expel Harm heals you and deals 10% of the healing as damage to a nearby target. It also provides 1 Chi on a 15-second cooldown. Due to the higher Energy to Chi conversion rate, when compared to Tiger Palm, this should be used on cooldown, even if no healing will be done.

For more information on how to use these abilities together in your rotation, please read our rotation page.

Aside from the basic toolkit, you will come across new abilities via your Talents, depending on the ones you choose. We will outline the active abilities here.

Chi Wave has a 15-second cooldown and causes an orb of Chi to bounce between healing allies and dealing damage to enemies.

Chi Burst has a 30-second cooldown and causes an orb of Chi to travel in a line away from the Monk, dealing damage to targets that it hits and providing one Chi per target hit, upt to a maximum of two.

Fist of the White Tiger has a 30-second cooldown and costs 40 energy to deal a small amount of damage and generate 3 Chi.

Rushing Jade Wind has a 6-second cooldown, reduced by haste, costs 1 Chi, and deals damage to up to 6 targets within 8 yards of the Monk.

Whirling Dragon Punch has a 24-second cooldown, reduced by haste, and deals damage to all targets within 8 yards. This is only usable when Fists of Fury and Rising Sun Kick are both on cooldown.

Roll is an essential Monk movement ability It allows you to quickly move 15 yards in front of you, and you should use this extensively for quickly traversing short distances. It has 2 charges and a 20-second recharge time, although this can be improved by talents.

Transcendence allows you to leave behind a copy of yourself for up to 15 minutes. If you then use Transcendence: Transfer, you will be instantly moved back to the location of your copy. This can be useful in a wide range of situations, typically those where you know you will have to return to a certain location after moving away from it.

Touch of Karma causes 70% of all damage you take for 10 seconds (up to a maximum of 50% of your maximum health) to be redirected to the enemy target as a 6-second Nature damage DoT. This is transformed into healing on your character through the Good Karma talent. This can also be used as a "DPS Cooldown", although its not recommended you do so unless you are confident that you will not need its defensive value.

Using Tiger Palm has an 8% chance to make your next Blackout Kick cost no Chi.

Afterlife is a passive ability that causes you to summon a Healing Sphere next to you each time you kill an enemy. The Healing Sphere lasts for 30 seconds, and heals you for a moderate amount when you walk over it. Furthermore, Afterlife also grants you a 50% chance to summon a Chi sphere each time you kill an enemy using Blackout Kick. The Chi sphere lasts for 2 minutes, and grants you 1 Chi when you walk over it.

Touch of Death has a 3-minute cooldown, usable only when the target has less health than you, when it will kill the target instantly, OR used when a "harder" target such as a raid boss has less than 15% health, when it will deal 35% of your health to that target. This is something you will generally want to use on cooldown, but can occasionally delay if it does not cost you a cast over the course of the fight.

Storm, Earth, and Fire has 2 charges and a 90-second recharge time. You split into 3 spirits for 15 seconds (with you controlling one of the spirits), each of which deals 45% of the damage of your normal self (as well as doing 45% of the healing). The spirits that you do not control mimic your attacks on nearby enemies, and using the ability again causes them to fixate on your current target.

Invoke Xuen, the White Tiger has a 2-minute cooldown, and is mainly used as a "fire and forget" ability. Once the expansion comes out and we can level past 58, Xuen will become a much stronger burst cooldown since he gains the "Gale Burst" mechanic that was formerly on Touch of Death.