Windwalker Monk DPS Guide — The War Within (11.1.5)

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

• Stat scaling should be significantly improved, especially with a huge boost to Mastery and Haste.
• Mobility remains nearly unparalleled, if not improved from Dragonflight.
• Burst damage can be significant during cooldown windows, which can be every 90 seconds depending on talents.
• Talent choices to adjust for how much downtime you enjoy.
• Playstyle similar to Dragonflight.
• Little to no damage loss for switching targets.
• Good build variety, easily swaps between 1:30 and 2:00 cooldown windows.

Weaknesses

• Reduced burst AOE potential without Fatal Flying Guillotine.
• Lacks an immunity or unique utility.
• "Desirability" and community perception often depends as much on the strength of Mistweaver and Brewmaster as on the strength of Windwalker.

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.

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.