So what changed for Monks in 5.4? A bunch of little changes and tweaks. A buff or two and a couple of nerfs to things that might have been overpowered anyway. There are no new talents and no talents were eliminated. You gained no new abilities.
Brewmasters might have the biggest changes, with a Keg Smash nerf and the changes to Vengeance.
Scroll through the notes and check out the video, below, which covers all the changes and how they affect you.
General
- Spinning Crane Kick now functions like a smart heal, healing the 6 most injured friendly targets within range, and minor guardians are no longer targeted (Wild Imps, Bloodworms, Snakes from Snake Traps, etc.). There has been no change to the total amount of healing granted by the ability, it just distrbutes the healing more effectively.
Brewmaster
- Keg Smash now deals 18% less damage.
Also note the following 5.4 Vengeance changes to all tanks:
- First off, any characters in a tanking specialization now generates 40% more threat. This will make up for various nerfs to the Vengeance ability.
- Secondly, you can no longer get massive gains while standing in the fire while battling many mobs. Not as massive, anyway.
- Vengeance now grants Attack Power equal to 1.5% of the damage taken, down from 1.8% (The tooltip said 2% but it was actually 1.8%.) So now it won’t hit as hard.
- Tanks no longer receive Vengeance from many persistent area damage effects (standing in the fire) or from missed attacks (dodging and parrying an attack will continue to work as it has before.) This will reduce your DPS somewhat and remove some of the cheese from your game.
- Vengeance gains from being critically hit have been reduced by 50%. Since you shouldn’t be taking many crits anyway (Unwavering Sentinel) this shouldn’t be a big thing.
- There are now diminishing returns on Vengeance gains while tanking multiple targets. Each additional target grants progressively less Vengeance. No more powering up by fighting groups.
- So as not to affect Challenge Mode leader boards, the above Vengeance changes will not apply there. For Challenge Modes, Vengeance will continue to work as it did in patch 5.3.
Mistweaver
- Mana Tea is now consumed at an increased rate of 1 stack per 0.5 seconds (up from 1 stack per 1 second).
Revival‘s healing has been reduced by 30%.
Windwalker
- Mastery: Bottled Fury has been redesigned. Bottled Fury now gives a chance to generate an additional charge of Tigereye Brew when the Monk gains one normally.
- Storm, Earth and Fire now deals 70% damage (up from 60%) with one Spirit summoned and 55% (up from 45%) with two Spirits summoned.
- Tigereye Brew received an adjustment: It now increases damage by 6% per stack, (up from 1% per stack) but is no longer increased by Mastery.
- A charge of Tigereye Brew is gained for each 4 Chi consumed through use of abilities and attacks (up from a charge for each 3 Chi consumed).
The Patch 5.4 Monk Changes: Talents
Some classes had talents become abilities and got new talents to replace them. You did not, but there were a number of changes.
Level 30, tier 2:
- Chi Burst no longer requires a target. It now travels as a 40-yard line in front of the Monk.
- Zen Sphere now deals 15% more healing and damage.
Level 45, tier 3:
- Chi Brew now restores 2 Chi, has a 45-second cooldown (down from 1.5 minutes), and generate stacks of Brew/Teas based on the Monk’s specialization.
- Brewmaster: 5 stacks of Elusive Brew
- Mistweaver: 2 stacks of Mana Tea
- Windwalker: 2 stacks of Tigereye Brew
- Power Strikes will now activate from the following Chi generating abilities; Jab, Expel Harm, Spinning Crane Kick (when it hits at least 3 targets,) Crackling Jade Lightning, and Soothing Mist.
Level 60, tier 4:
- Ring of Peace has a new visual effect that properly depicts its area-of-effect, and now disarms both enemies and those attacking allies within the Ring of Peace’s area-of-effect for 4 seconds (up from 3 seconds); the silence effect for casting spells remains unchanged at 3 seconds.
Level 75, tier 5:
- Healing Elixirs will no longer activate if the Monk is already at full health, and activate automatically when the Monk has less than 35% of their maximum health.
Level 90, tier 6:
- Invoke Xuen, the White Tiger now has a pet control bar for Xuen, and the talent is no longer on global cooldown for all Monk specializations.
- Brewmaster Monks now gain Vengeance when Xuen takes damage.
- Rushing Jade Wind has been redesigned and replaces Spinning Crane Kick: Using Rushing Jade Wind the Monk summons a whirling tornado around them, dealing damage to nearby enemies (heals nearby allies for Mistweavers). Rushing Jade Wind has the same costs, Chi generation, and periodic rate as Spinning Crane kick, but, deals 80% of the periodic damage or healing, lasts 6 seconds, is instant, and not channeled.
Glyphs
The patch 5.4 Monk changes did a number on your glyphs. You had five glyphs removed and replaced with new ones. Check ’em out and see if they fit your game.
Major Glyphs
- Replaced: Glyph of Crackling Jade Lightning has been replaced with Glyph of Nimble Brew. This new glyph causes Nimble Brew to heal the Monk when it clears a root, stun, fear, or horror effect.
- Replaced: Glyph of Expel Harm has been replaced with Glyph of Rapid Rolling. Your Glyph of Rapid Rolling makes the next Roll or Chi Torpedo go farther after using a Roll or Chi Torpedo.
- Replaced: Glyph of Uplift has been replaced by Glyph of Targeted Expulsion. This glyph allows Expel Harm to be used on other players. Glyph of Targeted Expulsion also now causes Expel Harm to heal for 50% as much when used on other targets.
- Replaced: Glyph of Retreat has been replaced with Glyph of Fortuitous Spheres. This glyph causes a healing sphere to be summoned near the Monk at no cost when their health falls below 25%. This effect cannot occur more than once every 30 seconds.
- Replaced: Glyph of Stoneskin has been replaced with Glyph of Detox. This glyph causes Detox to heal the target when it successfully removes a harmful effect.
Glyph of Afterlife now increases the chance to summon a Healing Sphere by 100% (up from 25% chance).- Glyph of Transcendence now reduces the cooldown of Transcendence: Transfer by 5 seconds (used to increase the range by 10 yards).
Bug Fix
- Fixed a bug that caused the damage of some abilities for Brewmasters with Vengeance to scale incorrectly.
Video: The 5.4 Monk Changes
This video covers the changes for all monks in patch 5.4 and there’s a lot of good “How to” info included.