A WoW Monk Overview

The Monk was introduced with the Mists of Pandaria expansion. They use their martial arts skills, fortified with various exotic brews, to make their way through the world, kicking butt and taking names.

Many years in the past Monks developed as an opposition to their Mogu slave-masters. Forbidden to have weapons, they became weapons themselves. Eventually their time came and they were able to throw off the shackles of their masters.

Much like Paladins, Monks can heal, damage, and tank and their resources are similar. They can also hold their own with the other classes, in PVP, quite nicely.

Monks use Chi as their main resource, but also Energy, and Chi operates much like the Paladin’s Holy Power. You build it up with certain abilities and then use it to power other abilities.

Monk abilities that don’t use Chi, such as their basic strikes, will use Energy or Mana.

Everything that you do will be based around building and expending these resources.

This page is an overview of Monks in general. For more detail in specific areas you’ll want to hit one of the Other Monk Guides, listed below.

Contents: Overview Race Choice Stats General Monk Abilities Faster leveling

Other Monk Guides Monk Leveling – our leveling guide: everything you need to understand the class and charge ahead is here. Windwalkers for the Damage Windwalker PvP Mistweavers for the Heals Brewmaster tankage Brewmaster PvP

So What Are Monks Good For?

Good for? Kicking butt and taking names. Yeah, sometimes the names part is skipped. Monks are good in any aspect of the game: Questing, PvP, dungeons, and raids.

Wind Walkers are agile melee fighters who use a mix of martial arts-inspired abilities to deal damage. They rely on a unique resource called Chi, generated by abilities like Tiger Palm and spent on powerful attacks like Rising Sun Kick and Fists of Fury. Windwalkers can build up combos using Mastery: Combo Strikes, which rewards them for using different abilities in sequence. They also have strong mobility tools like Flying Serpent Kick and Roll, allowing them to stay on targets or escape dangerous situations.

Brew Masters are the tanks and do a fine job of it. The brew helps. Really. Starting with the Keg Smash and continuing through various helpful brows and you won’t even be tipsy. Naturally with that well fortified breath you can breath fire. And your brew covered opponents, from your Keg Smash, will catch fire from that breath.  Your Stagger will make it easier to deal with any incoming damage. You are also very mobile.

Mistweavers excel in healing through a mix of direct healing spells and healing over time effects. Their unique mechanic, Soothing Mist, allows them to channel a stream of healing energy, which can be paired with other abilities for instant healing. Mistweavers also use Enveloping Mist, Renewing Mist, and Vivify to keep their allies topped up. They can switch between traditional caster healing and a melee-oriented healing style known as Fistweaving, which involves dealing damage to heal allies.

 

 

Racial Choices for Monks

Any race can be a Monk, except Dracthyr. Maybe next expansion…

Which race is “best?”  The one you like the look and feel of.

All of the races have one significant offensive or defensive ability. For pretty much all situations the race choice will make little overall difference, so play what YOU want to play and learn to use those special abilities.

In PvP the story is a bit different. For most people, it still makes little difference, except for those highly skilled at efficiently using their abilities. If race A is technically better, but YOU work better with B, then use that.

Keep in mind that the racial work best if your skill level is already very high. Something for the elite min/max crowd.

Best PvP races, for the alliance!

• Human – Can remove stuns and the get a bit more in the way of secondary stats.
• Nightelf – Shadowmeld is a nice way to drop out of sight. If you time it right you can dodge an incoming spellcast. Caster fires the spell, you s’meld, and the spell misses.
• Dark Iron Dwarf – remove all bleeds, etc., and increase your primary stat. You can also remove those right before you attack sequence, and get the stat buff bonus.

PvP for the Horde!

• Orc – Enjoy the reduced duration of all stuns. and use your Blood Fury on your burst attacks.
• Blood Elf – Strip an effect from enemies and also restore resources.
• Undead – You can remove any Charm, Fear, or Sleep effect.

For all the details on the races available to Monks, here ya go!

Races with Offensive Abilities: 

Pandaren — The best choice in all cases, right?

• • Your Quaking Palm will have use on trash mobs, players, and occasional low level bosses. It also turns off your attack so you can run away.
  • 100% Better buffs from food is a nice benefit.
  • Rested XP lasts longer, for faster leveling.
  • Can be either Horde or Alliance.
  • Take less falling damage.

Lightforged Draenei

• • Can use Light’s Judgement to smite opponents, up to 40 yards away, with holy energy.
  • Still leveling? You get +20% experience for killing demons.
  • Explode on death, doing some damage to enemies and some healing to allies.
  • Take slightly less Holy damage.
  • A little more Blacksmithing skill, and can summon your own forge.

Kul Tiran

• • Haymaker stuns and knocks back an opponent.
  • A little more Versatility and heal back a bit of the damage you take.
  • A little more skill in all any profession.
  • A bit of Nature and Frost resistance.
  • Swim faster than others and hold your breathe longer.

Orc

• • Your Enrage is very nice for those times when you need a bit extra damage and threat.
  • Resistance to stun effects will only be rarely useful in PvE, but might be nice in PvP.
  • If, somehow, you ever get a pet then it will do a little more damage.

Troll

• • Berserking increases your Haste and so your attack and casting speed.
  • Regeneration is generally useful, even it it is not a lot.
  • Reduced duration of effects against your movement are nice.
  • Increased XP Vs beasts will be helpful if you’re leveling.

Tauren – My mind boggles at Taurens doing spinning kicks.

• • War stomp will have definite use against trash.
  • Additional Stam doesn’t scale well at very high levels, but is still nice.
  • +2 Critical effect for bigger crits.
  • Leveling? You get more XP for killing beasts.
  • Increased Herbalism skill and plant picking speed.

Nightborne

• • Your Arcane Pulse will damage and snare nearby enemies every 2 seconds, lasts 20 seconds. 3 min cooldown
  • Summon a mailbox (in the form of a book.)
  • Slightly increased magic damage
  • A bit of Arcane resistance
  • A bit more skilled at Inscription.

Highmountain Tauren

• • Bull Rush: Every 2 minutes charge forward and knock down enemies.
  • Slightly reduced damage from incoming attacks.
  • A bit more versatility
  • Chance to gather more meat and fish
  • Mining skill and speed increased.

Mag’har Orc

• • Ancestral Call: Invoke your ancestors and use a bit of their power. This increases a random secondary stat for 15 seconds.
  • Faster outdoor mount speed, 10% faster.
  • Have  a pet? It’s now healthier by 10%.
  • 10% reduced duration of curses, poisons, and diseases.

Zandalari Troll

• • Personal heal, regeneratin’, 100% over 6 seconds. 2.5 minute cooldown.
  • Ask (nicely) for a personal boon from a Loa. These boons will occur 1-3 times per minute.
    • Embrace of Akunda – Your healing abilities have a chance to heal their target.
    • Embrace of Bwonsamdi – Your damaging abilities have a chance to deal Shadow damage and heal you for 100% of the damage done.
    • Embrace of Gonk – Increase movement speed by 5%.
    • Embrace of Kimbul – Your damaging abilities have a chance to cause the target to bleed over 6s. This effect stacks up to 3 times.
    • Embrace of Krag’wa – Taking damage has a chance to grant you additional Health and 66 Armor.
    • Embrace of Pa’ku – Your abilities have a chance to grant you +4% critical strike for 12 seconds.
  • Gain a bit more gold when looting bodies.
  • Can summon a Pterrodax to save you from the fall. 15 minute cooldown.

Vulpera

• • Use a trick from your bag of tricks to help a friend or hurt an enemy
  • Camp anywhere, and can return (hearth) to that camp.
  • The first hit from an enemy does 5% less damage.
  • You are very good at packing up, so your backpack has +8 slots.
  • A bit of fire resistance.

Races with Escape Effects:

Human

• • Your Will to Survive escape ability allows you to break out of all stun effects. It will have occasional use, especially in PVP.
  • Bonus to all secondary stats will add a bit to your survival and your DPS.
  • Diplomacy skills make rep gains less grinding

Dwarf

• • Stone form washes away some effect (poison, disease, curse, and magic) and reduces damage by 10%, which will have occasional use when things get tough.
  • Increased effect on crits.
  • A bit of Frost resistance.
  • Faster at Archeology work than others.

Gnome

• • Your Escape, from speed altering effects, such as roots and snares, will find occasional use.
  • A bit more Energy is always nice.
  • Take a bit less Arcane damage.
  • Have a bit more Haste.
  • And you have a bit of a bonus to your Engineering skill.

Dark Iron Dwarf

• • Your Fireblood will remove poison, disease, curse, magic, and bleed effects and give you an Agility boost for each effect removed.
  • Move a bit faster indoors.
  • Take a bit less physical damage
  • Summon a mole machine to tunnel through the world. Requires discovery of most of those points before you can use them.
  • A bit more Blacksmithing skill and slightly faster crafting.

Undead

• • Your Will of the Forsaken (remove fear, charm, and sleep effects) is occasionally useful, esp. in PvP.
  • Touch of the Grave is a small DPS add and also heals you for the amount that it drains.
  • Resistant to Shadow damage.
  • Yes, you can eat what you kill (humanoid only) and get health back.
  • And yes, you can “breathe” underwater indefinitely.

Races that can Remove Effects from Opponents:

Blood Elf

• • Your Arcane Torrent removes 1 beneficial effect from enemies within 8 yards, which is situationally useful, and it restores a bit of your Chi.
  • Dispel some magical effects on enemies.
  • resistant to Arcane damage.
  • A bit better at Enchanting.

Races with Heals:

Draenei

• • The 20% self-heal (Gift of the Naaru) is always useful, and can be used on others.
  • Bonus to Agility is pretty nice, and it scales with level.
  • Take a bit less Shadow damage.
  • And you have a bit of a bonus to your Jewelcrafting skill.

Vulpera

• • Use a trick from your bag of tricks to help a friend or hurt an enemy
  • Camp anywhere, and can return (hearth) to that camp.
  • The first hit from an enemy does 5% less damage.
  • You are very good at packing up, so your backpack has +8 slots.
  • A bit of fire resistance.

Races with Other Abilities: 

Night Elf

• • Shadowmeld lets you fade into the shadows. Don’t move.
  • 2% Dodge is a fairly nice stat for anyone, you also move 2% faster.
  • +1% Crit by day, which is nice, and +1% Haste by night, which isn’t so hot.
  • A bit of resistance to Nature damage.
  • Do you really care if you can move faster when dead? Hopefully you don’t have to use this too often.

Worgen

• • Can move faster, using Darkflight, every two minutes.  You can also drop to all fours and run like a wild animal.
  • A slight bonus to Crit.
  • A bit of resistance to nature and Shadow damage.
  • A bit of a bonus to Skinning, and a little faster at it, too.
  • Naturally you can switch between Worgen and Human forms.

Void Elf

• • Create a Spatial rift and travel through it, 30 yard range. Get creative with this.
  • Occasionally deal an extra 5% damage. Happens randomly with a 1 minute cooldown.
  • Spell casts are not delayed by damage.
  • Take slightly less Shadow damage.
  • Cheaper Transmog and Void storage.

Mechagnome

• • Your Hyper Organic Light Originator can summon a pair of duplicates to confuse enemies for 15 seconds.
  • Your Agility increases slightly as you fight.
  • You are your own, personal, crating station.
  • Able to pick locks.
  • Automatically heal a bit when you are badly injured.

Goblin

• • Can rocket jump forward. has its uses. Can also help with falls.
  • Rocket Barrage launches rockets at an enemy, mostly just to get their attention.
  • Naturally Goblins get Vendor discounts.
  • A bit more Haste.
  • Alchemy skill and potion healing are increased.
  • And, of course, they can summon a personal bank. Might be handy when “just the item you need” is in your bank.

 

 

Monk Stats, Abilities,  and Notes

Stats change as expansions arrive. New stats have appeared in the past and then fallen into the abyss, never to be seen again.

While leveling the Item Level of your gear counts for more than anything.

• Agility for Windwalkers and Brewmasters.
• Intelligence for Mistweavers.

The value of the secondary stats depends on a variety of things. But generally…

• Versatility adds to your damage and your heals. So 5% Vers. adds 5% to both. It adds half its value to your damage reduction.
• Critical strikes do double damage when they appear. Less in PvP.
• Mastery varies among the specializations, and improves some aspect of what you do.
• Haste speeds up everything you do, reduces cooldowns, and so on.
• Various tertiary stats and gems slots have a random chance to appear on dropped or created gear (such as from gear tokens earned in your Garrison.) None will appear on vendored gear. These stats are Speed (move faster,) indestructible (item takes no damage,) Avoidance (like Dodge,) Leech (gain health,) and the gem slots.

Since Shadowlands:  all secondary stats, Critical Strike, Haste, Mastery, and Versatility, will now have diminishing returns once you’ve stacked too much of a given stat.

This change only happens with stats gained from gear bonuses, and gains like Bloodlust/ Heroism aren’t affected by this change.

For example: after reaching 30%, received from gear, of any secondary stat, it takes increasingly more rating to increase another % of that stat from your gear. This means that if you have, let’s say, 40% haste before the change was implemented, with it you’ll only have 39% haste. Also, there’s a new cap on how much of a single secondary stat you are able to obtain from gear. This cap is set to 126% right now, everything beyond that is ignored and wasted.

Note that all those numbers will probably change at some point, but the concept remains the same. For now.

See the links just below to get to pages with more detail on stats, rotations, talents, etc.

General Monk Abilities

All Monks will wear leather armor and all monks will get a bonus at level 27 which adds +5% to your main stat if you are wearing all leather armor.

1. Monk Leveling – Covers all the general abilities and specific abilities for WW and Brew.
2. Windwalkers Damage Guide
3. Windwalker PvP
4. Mistweavers Healing – Mistweaver specific abilities are here.
5. Brewmaster tanking
6. Brewmaster PvP

 

 

The Fast Monk Leveling Guide

Once upon a time, while leveling, you had to look up quest details on some website. There was no in-game help and you had to trundle along as best you could. That was when there were only 60 levels. Now we have thousands of quests and a bazillion mobs to kill. Whether or not you’re playing a Monk that’s a daunting task.

Here’s how to make it easy: Now you have a guide which sits in-game, in a small window, and shows you step-by-step where to go, what to do, and everything you need to know to make leveling easier. Dugi’s Guide shows you the best and fastest path to complete those quests and get yourself to the top levels ASAP.

Want to get a level, or several levels, in the dungeons or in PvP? No problem. Dugi’s will remember where you left off and then it will figure out where you should be at your new level and pick up from there.

Brand new to WoW? Decked head to toe in Heirlooms? Mixing up questing with PvP and/or dungeons? No problem, Dugi has your back all the way from level 1 to the level cap, or whichever level you start from.

Dugi’s in-game guide is always quickly updated for all patches and expansions, so it’s never obsolete. Grab yours here and get leveled fast. Who knows, you might be be able to match their Leveled 1 – cap in 4 days played time.