Windwalker Monk DPS Spell List and Glossary — The War Within (Season 1)
On this page, we present you with all spells and procs that you need to understand as a Windwalker Monk in World of Warcraft — The War Within (Season 1).
Introduction
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 specialization, how they interact with each other and also with important cooldowns. If you already have experience with Windwalker and are comfortable with it in the current expansion, it is recommended you skip this section and move on to the rest of the guide.
Main Resource of Windwalker Monks
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.
Unlocking Abilities
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.
Baseline Active Abilities for Windwalker Monks
- Blackout Kick (BoK) — Deals damage to a single target, reduces the cooldown of Rising Sun Kick and Fists of Fury by 1 second per cast.
- Crackling Jade Lightning (CJL) — Deals damage to a single target at range.
- Expel Harm (EH) — Heals yourself, dealing damage to nearby enemies and generating 1 Chi.
- Leg Sweep (LS) — Stuns enemies around you.
- Provoke — Taunts an enemy to you.
- Resuscitate — Revive's an ally outside of combat.
- Roll — Moves a small distance in a direction.
- Spinning Crane Kick (SCK) — Deals damage to all targets in an area around you.
- Tiger Palm (TP) — Deals damage to a single target, generates 2 Chi.
- Touch of Death (ToD) — Deals damage equal to your health to a single target, usable only as certain health thresholds.
- Vivify — Heals a single target.
- Zen Flight — Summons a small cloud that moves at slow mount speed but can fly.
- Zen Pilgrimage — Teleports you back to the Monk Class Hall.
- Touch of Karma (ToK) — Shields you from damage taken, up to 50% of your maximum health, and deals 70% of that absorbed amount to the debuffed target.
- Flying Serpent Kick (FSK) — Surges you forward a long distance at high speed. Can be cast again to halt movement.
Baseline Passive Abilities for Windwalker Monks
- Mastery: Combo Strikes — Your damaging abilities deal increased damage as long as it's not the same as the last damaging ability you cast.
- Combo Breaker — Grants Blackout Kick! and increases the damage of Tiger Palm.
- Mark of the Crane (MotC) — Increases Spinning Crane Kick's damage done for each unique target marked with this debuff, up to 5 targets.
- Afterlife — Killing targets drops a small orb that will heal you. Very helpful in leveling and open-world content.
- Leather Specialization — Increases your primary stat when you wear only Leather armor.
- Mystic Touch — Any enemy you damage is afflicted with this debuff, increasing the damage they take from Physical-classed abilities by 5%.
Monk Class Tree Active Abilities
- Soothing Mist (SooM) — A low mana cost, low healing-per-tick channeled spell that allows two of our spells to be instantly cast on your target for focused, direct healing.
- Paralysis (Para) — Learned by default when you choose this specialization. This ability incapacitates your current target for a minute. Medium range on an infrequent cooldown.
- Rising Sun Kick (RSK) — Learned by default when you choose this specialization. A heavy-hitting melee-range ability. Has a short cooldown.
- Tiger's Lust (TL) — Removes all root and snares currently on the target, and also gives them an increase to movement speed for a short time.
- Disable — Reduce your target's movement speed. If you hit affected targets with a damaging ability, the duration is refreshed.
- Detox — Detox now removes all Poison- and Disease-classed effects.
- Spear Hand Strike (SHS/Kick) — Stop the targeted enemy's spellcasting if they're casting a spell. If successful, this ability also prevents the targeted enemy from casting another spell from the same school of magic for a short time. On a short cooldown.
- Chi Burst (CB) — Fire a projectile in front of you, damaging enemies and healing allies in its path. Has an infrequent cooldown.
- Transcendence (Trans) — Talenting into this ability also grants you Transcendence: Transfer. These abilities allow you to place a spirit that you can swap places with infrequently.
- Ring of Peace (RoP) — Places a ring on the ground that knocks all enemies out of it while also preventing them from entering it while it persists.
- Song of Chi-Ji (SoCJ) — A cloud of mists travels forward from you, disorienting any enemy it comes into contact with for a short while.
- Diffuse Magic (DM) — Reduces all Magic-classed damage on yourself while this is active. This also tries to dispel all Magic-classed debuffs on you and place them on the source.
- Fortifying Brew (FortBrew) — While active, reduce the damage you take from all sources while also increasing your maximum health.
- Clash — You and the targeted enemy charge each other, rooting all enemies surrounding the area of impact.
Monk Class Tree Passive Abilities
- Elusive Mists (EM) — Give yourself and your Soothing Mist target a small amount of damage reduction, so long as you're channeling the spell.
- Crashing Momentum (CM) — Snare targets you Roll through for a short time.
- Fast Feet (FF) — Increase the damage of Rising Sun Kick and Spinning Crane Kick.
- Grace of the Crane (GotC) — Increase the healing you receive from all sources.
- Bounding Agility (BA) — Roll travels further.
- Calming Presence (CP) — Reduce the damage you receive from all sources.
- Wind's Reach (WR) — Modifies your decision in the Crashing Momentum / Disable choice node. Disable has a longer range, while Crashing Momentum has an increased duration and stronger effect.
- Vivacious Vivification (VV) — Every 10 seconds, your next Vivify can be cast instantly and also heals its primary target for more. This timer is independent of when the buff is consumed, meaning it will overwrite itself continually if not consumed.
- Jade Walk (JW) — Your movement speed out of combat is increased.
- Pressure Points (PP) — Paralysis now removes all Enrage-classed effects from your target.
- Ancient Arts (AA) — Reduces the cooldowns of Paralysis and Leg Sweep.
- Chi Wave (CW) — Casting Rising Sun Kick or Vivify also releases a bolt that will bounce between enemies and allies, dealing a small amount of damage or healing, respectively. This ability has a short recharge before the triggering spells send another bouncing bolt.
- Energy Transfer (ET) — When you successfully interrupt an enemy with Spear Hand Strike, you also reduce the cooldown of Roll and Paralysis.
- Celerity — Reduces the cooldown of Roll, and give it another maximum charge.
- Chi Torpedo (CT) — Modifies Roll into another spell that travels further and grants a stacking movement speed increase for a short time. Roll-modifying abilities modify this as well.
- Quick Footed (QF) — Snare effects on you have their duration reduced.
- Hasty Provocation (HP) — The target you use Provoke on will have their movement speed increased for a short duration.
- Ferocity of Xuen (FeroX) — Increase the damage you deal.
- Spirit's Essence (SE) — When you cast Transcendence: Transfer, the enemies that were around you at the time are snared for a short duration.
- Tiger Tail Sweep (TTS) — The range of Leg Sweep is increased.
- Improved Touch of Death (ImpToD) — Targets no longer need to be under your maximum health threshold in order to use Touch of Death on them, but the damage it does is reduced.
- Vigorous Expulsion (VE) — Increases the healing and critical strike chance of Expel Harm.
- Yu'lon's Grace (YG) — Gain a stacking magic-only absorb shield every few seconds while in combat. Its strength is based on your maximum health.
- Peace and Prosperity (PnP) — Modifies your decision in the Ring of Peace / Song of Chi-Ji choice node. Ring of Peace has its cooldown reduced, while Song of Chi-Ji has a faster cast time.
- Dance of the Wind (DotW) — Your chance to dodge is increased by a flat amount and increases every few seconds until you successfully dodge an ability.
- Save Them All (StA) — When you heal an ally at low health, you can a short buff that increases all healing you do while it's active.
- Swift Art (SA) — Roll removes a snare every so often.
- Strength of Spirit (SoS) — The healing of Expel Harm is increased, based on your missing health. The lower your health, the greater this multiplier is.
- Profound Rebuttal (PR) — When Expel Harm critically strikes, its healing is increased further.
- Summon White Tiger Statue (Catue) — Place a statue that will channel its own Soothing Mist when you channel yours. It heals for a smaller amount than our own channel but continues channeling while we swap to other spells.
- Ironshell Brew (IB) — The maximum health and damage reduction of Fortifying Brew are increased.
- Expeditious Fortification (EF) — The cooldown of Fortifying Brew is reduced.
- Celestial Determination (CD) — While our chosen celestial is active, we cannot be made slower than a set threshold.
- Chi Proficiency (CP) — Increase the damage of Magic-classed abilities and increases the healing we do.
- Healing Winds (EW) — Transcendence: Transfer heals you when you use it.
- Windwalking (WW) — Yourself and allies around you have increased movement speed.
- Bounce Back (BB) — Whenever you suffer a large hit, any further damage is reduced for a few seconds.
- Martial Instincts (MI) — Your Physical-class damage is increased, and you take less damage from area-of-effect damage.
- Lighter Than Air (LTA) — Roll now lets you dash forward a short distance when you try to double jump. As a tradeoff, the cooldown of Roll is increased.
- Flow of Chi (FoC) — Depending on your health, this talent has different effects:
- At 90% health or above: Increased movement speed.
- Between 90% and 35% health: Reduced incoming damage.
- Below 35% health: Increased healing received.
- Transcendence: Linked Spirits (TLS) — Transcendence is now only able to be cast on an ally, but using Transcendence: Transfer will teleport you to that ally's location, rather than a static spirit.
- Escape from Reality (EFR) — After using Transcendence: Transfer, you can use it again for a short duration.
- Fatal Touch (FT) — Touch of Death has a reduced cooldown and also grants you a damage-done increase when you use it.
- Rushing Reflexes (RR) — If your Roll ends within a short distance of an enemy, you will charge the remaining distance.
Windwalker Shado-Pan Hero Tree Abilities
- Flurry Strikes (FS) - Gain a stacking buff that is spent when you spend 300 energy and deals damage for every stack you have.
- Wisdom of the Wall (WotW) - Whenever you spend 10 stacks of Flurry Strikes you gain a buff for 20 seconds. You can have multiple different instances up at the same time.
- Pride of Pandaria (PoP) - Flurry Strikes has a 15% increased chance to hit critically.
- High Impact (HI)- Enemies who are killed within 10 seconds of taking damage from Flurry Strikes explode, dealing damage to non-CC'd enemies within 8 yards.
- Protect and Serve (PaS) - Increases your Vivify's healing by 30% when cast upon yourself.
- Lead from the Front (LftF) - Chi Burst, Chi Wave, and Expel Harm heal you for 20% of the damage they deal.
- Whirling Steel (WS) - Once every 180 seconds, your Parry chance and Avoidance are increased by 15% when your health drops below 50%.
- Predictive Training (PT) - Damage taken is reduced by 10% for 6 seconds after dodging or parrying an attack.
- Veteran's Eye (VE) - Haste is increased by 1% every time you hit the same target 5 times within 2 seconds.
- Martial Precision (MP) - Your physical attacks penetrate 12% of your target's armor.
- One Versus Many (OVM) - Your Fists of Fury's damage is increased by 15% and counts twice as much toward generating a Flurry Strikes charge.
- Against All Odds (AAO) - Flurry Strikes increases your Agility by 1%, per stack, for 6 seconds.
- Efficient Training (ET) - Energy spenders ( Tiger Palm) deals an additional 20% damage. Every 50 energy spent reduces the cooldown of Storm, Earth, and Fire by 1 second.
- Vigilant Watch (VW) - Blackout Kick deals an additional 20% damage with critical strikes and increases the damage of your next Flurry Strikes by 10%.
Windwalker Conduit of the Celestials Hero Tree Abilities
- Celestial Conduit - Channel that deals damage to enemies around you.
- Unity Within - Casting Celestial Conduit a second time while channeling will call all of the August Celestials to assist you. If you do not cast it manually, it will be cast automatically at the end of the channel.
- Temple Training - Fists of Fury and Spinning Crane Kick deal increased damage.
- Xuen's Guidance - Teachings of the Monastery has a chance to refund a charge when you consume it. Tiger Palm damage is increased by 10%.
- Restore Balance - You gain Rushing Jade Wind when you summon Invoke Xuen, the White Tiger.
- Yu'lon's Knowledge - Rushing Jade Wind's duration is increased by 4 seconds.
- Niuzao's Protection - Fortifying Brew gives you a shield for 25% of your health.
- Jade Sanctuary - When you cast Celestial Conduit, you heal for 10% of your health and receive 15% less damage while channeling and for 8 seconds after.
- Inner Compass - Grants a small boost to a different secondary stat whenever a new Celestial assists you.
- August Dynasty - Casting Jadefire Stomp increases the damage of your next Rising Sun Kick by 30%.
- Courage of the White Tiger - Tiger Palm has a chance to summon Xuen, clawing your target.
- Heart of the Jade Serpent - Consuming 45 Chi causes your next Strike of the Windlord to call upon Yu'lon to decrease the cooldown time of Rising Sun Kick, Fists of Fury, Strike of the Windlord, and Whirling Dragon Punch by 75% for 8 sec. The channel time of Fists of Fury is reduced by 50% while Yu'lon is active.
- Strength of the Black Ox - After Xuen assists you, your next Blackout Kick refunds two stacks of Teachings of the Monastery and deals damage to targets in range.
- Flight of the Red Crane - Casting Rushing Jade Wind or Spinning Crane Kick has a chance to summon Chi-Ji to increase your energy regeneration and deal damage to enemies.
Windwalker Spec Tree Active Abilities
- Fists of Fury (FoF) — Deals damage to current target and other targets in front of you.
- Storm, Earth, and Fire (SEF) — Splits into clones that zip around tagging targets and copying abilities.
- Dance of Chi-Ji (DoCJ) — Proc chance to make Spinning Crane Kick free and deal additional damage.
- Strike of the Windlord (SotW) — Deals damage and slows targets in a very, very narrow cone in front of you.
- Invoke Xuen, the White Tiger (Xuen) — Summons a glowy kitty to fight with you for a bit.
- Last Emperor's Capacitor (EmpCap) — Provides a stacking buff that increases the damage and reduces the cost of Crackling Jade Lightning.
- Whirling Dragon Punch (WDP) — Spins up in the air and deals damage around you.
- Jadefire Stomp (JFS/FLS) — Stomps a line in front of you that deals damage to those hit.
Windwalker Spec Tree Passive Abilities
- Momentum Boost (MB) — Increases damage of Fists of Fury and increases auto attack speed after Fists of Fury completes its channel.
- Combat Wisdom — Replaces Expel Harm and makes it a passive. You will now reset to 2 Chi when outside of combat rather than 0.
- Acclamation — Rising Sun Kick debuffs the target that increases the damage you do to it.
- Touch of the Tiger (TotT) — Increases the damage of Tiger Palm.
- Hardened Soles (HS) — Increases the damage of Blackout Kick.
- Ascension — Increases maximum Chi to 6 and increases energy regen.
- Ferociousness — Increases chance to Critical Strike.
- Crane Vortex (CV) — Increases the damage of Spinning Crane Kick.
- Teachings of the Monastery (TotM) — Gives Blackout Kick a chance to reset Fists of Fury and Tiger Palm allows Blackout Kick to hit more times.
- Glory of the Dawn (GotD) — Gives Rising Sun Kick a chance to deal extra damage and refund 1 Chi.
- Jade Ignition (JI) — Fists of Fury stacks up charges that are exploded by Spinning Crane Kick.
- Courageous Impulse (CI) — Blackout Kick increases the damage of your next Blackout Kick.
- Flurry of Xuen (FloX) — Deals damage to targets in front of you.
- Hit Combo (HC) — Stacking damage increase.
- Brawler's Intensity (BI) — Reduces the cooldown of Rising Sun Kick and increases the damage of Blackout Kick.
- Meridian Strikes (MS) — Increases the damage and reduces the cooldown of Touch of Death.
- Drinking Horn Cover (DHC) — Extends the duration of Storm, Earth, and Fire.
- Spiritual Focus (SF) — Reduces the cooldown of Storm, Earth, and Fire.
- Ordered Elements (OE) — Provides 2 Chi and resets the cooldown of Rising Sun Kick when you activate Storm, Earth, and Fire. Casting Rising Sun Kick during Storm, Earth, and Fire reduces the Chi cost of abilities by 1 for 7 seconds, and Blackout Kick reduces abilities by an additional 1 second.
- Martial Mixture (MM) — Blackout Kick increases the damage of Tiger Palm, stacking up to the maximum.
- Energy Burst (EB) — Blackout Kick generates 1 Chi
- Shadowboxing Treads (SbT) — Increases the damage of Blackout Kick and allows it to hit extra targets.
- Inner Peace (IP) — Increases your maximum energy and reduces the energy cost of Tiger Palm.
- Rushing Jade Wind (RJW) — Strike of the Windlord debuffs all targets hit with Mark of the Crane and summons a tornado that deals damage to targets around you.
- Thunderfist (TF) — Strike of the Windlord grants increased auto attack damage for each target hit.
- Sequenced Strikes (SS) — You gain Blackout Kick after consuming Dance of Chi-Ji.
- Rising Star (RS) — Increases damage of Rising Sun Kick.
- Invoker's Delight (ID) — Provides Haste after casting Invoke Xuen.
- Dual Threat (DT) — Auto attacks increase damage you do for a small time.
- Gale Force (GF) — Targets that are hit by Strike of the Windlord take increased damage.
- Xuen's Bond (XB) — Reduces the cooldown and increases the damage of Invoke Xuen.
- Xuen's Battlegear (XBG) — Rising Sun Kick crits reduce the cooldown of Fists of Fury. Casts of Fists of Fury increase the crit chance of Rising Sun Kick.
- Transfer the Power (TtP) — Stacking increase to damage dealt by Fists of Fury.
- Jadefire Fists (JFF) — You automatically cast Jadefire Stomp after you finish channeling Fists of Fury.
- Communion With Wind (CWW) — Reduces CD and increases damage of Strike of the Windlord.
- Power of the Thunder King (PotTK) — Crackling Jade Lightning hits up to 5 targets and channels all of its damage in half the time.
- Revolving Whirl (RW) — Whirling Dragon Punch's CD is reduced and it gives you Dance of Chi-Ji after using it.
- Knowledge of the Broken Temple (KotBT) — Whirling Dragon Punch gives 4 stacks of Teachings of the Monastery and increases the maximum stacks.
- Memory of the Monastery (MotM) — Increases the chance of getting Blackout Kick and gives a Haste buff after using Blackout Kick.
- Fury of Xuen (FoX) — Stacking buff that increases Haste and summons Invoke Xuen after using Fists of Fury.
- Path of Jade (PoJ) — Increases damage of Jadefire Stomp based on targets hit.
- Singularly Focused Jade (SFJ) — Jadefire Stomp hits only 1 target but deals a lot more damage.
- Jadefire Harmony (JFH/FLH) — Increases damage taken by targets hit by Jadefire Stomp.
- Darting Hurricane (DHC) — Reduces the global cooldown of Tiger Palm after using Strike of the Windlord, also has a chance to proc.
Changelog
- 09 Sep. 2024: Reviewed for The War Within Season 1.
- 21 Aug. 2024: Reviewed and updated for The War Within Launch, added Hero Talents.
- 23 Jul. 2024: Reviewed and updated for The War Within Prepatch.
- 07 May 2024: Reviewed for 10.2.7.
- 22 Apr. 2024: Reviewed for Season 4, no changes necessary.
- 19 Mar. 2024: Reviewed for Patch 10.2.6, no changes necessary.
- 15 Jan. 2024: Reviewed for Patch 10.2.5.
- 06 Nov. 2023: Updated and Reviewed for Patch 10.2, updated talent recommendation.
- 04 Sep. 2023: Updated and Reviewed for Patch 10.1.7, no changes necessary.
- 10 Jul. 2023: Updated and Reviewed for Patch 10.1.5, no changes necessary.
- 01 May 2023: Reviewed for Patch 10.1, no changes needed.
- 20 Mar. 2023: Reviewed for Patch 10.0.7.
- 24 Jan. 2023: Reviewed for Patch 10.0.5.
- 11 Dec. 2022: Reviewed for Dragonflight Season 1.
- 28 Nov. 2022: Reviewed for Dragonflight launch.
- 25 Oct. 2022: Updated for Dragonflight pre-patch.
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This guide is written and maintained by Babylonius; Guild Master and Raider in Occasional Excellence on US-Turalyon; Eight year veteran of Windwalker; Founder and owner of the dedicated Monk website, Peak of Serenity; and Admin/Owner of the Monk discord, PeakofSerenity. You can find him on Twitch, Twitter, and occasionally YouTube.
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