Windwalker Monk Guide

📊 Stat Priority

Priority: Agility > Haste > Critical Strike > Mastery > Versatility. In the Midnight Season 1 update Haste was moved above Critical Strike — it now drives attack speed, Energy regen, the cooldown of Fists of Fury and Rising Sun Kick, and procs for Glory of the Dawn / Dance of Chi-Ji, so it smooths the whole rotation.

• Agility - your primary stat; always take the higher item level. It is your Attack Power and the bulk of your damage.
• Haste - more buttons per minute and faster cooldowns. The standout secondary in Midnight.
• Critical Strike / Mastery - close together (Method lists Mastery = Crit). Mastery: Combo Strikes rewards alternating ability types, so it scales with clean play.
• Versatility - the dump stat (it does add a little survivability).

🎁 Tier Set, Trinkets & Consumables

Tier set — Way of Ra-den's Chosen: 2pc = Strike of the Windlord and Whirling Dragon Punch deal +30% damage. 4pc = the cooldowns of Strike of the Windlord and Whirling Dragon Punch are reduced by 5 sec. The set does not change your priority — keep pressing those two on cooldown as you already do. Use the Catalyst to fill missing slots; finishing the bonus beats almost any off-piece.

Top trinkets: on-use — Algeth'ar Puzzle Box (line up with Xuen/Zenith) is the strongest, with Emberwing Feather as an alternative. Passive — Gaze of the Alnseer (tied strongest), Heart of Wind as a backup. Sim to confirm vs your gear.

Consumables (Method): Flask of the Blood Knights · combat potion Potion of Recklessness · food Harandar Celebration or Hearty Silvermoon Parade · Void-Touched Augment Rune · Thalassian Phoenix Oil on your weapon. Gems: one Indecipherable Eversong Diamond, then Flawless Quick Garnet / Flawless Masterful Peridot to match your highest sim stat. Embellishments: Darkmoon Sigil: Hunt on a 1H Agi weapon + Loa Worshiper's Band ring is a strong pairing; swap to Stabilizing Gemstone Bandolier once you have max-ilvl raid weapon/trinkets.

🚀 Opener

Pre-cast Slicing Winds so you land in melee already attacking, then dump all cooldowns into your Zenith burst window. Line trinkets/potion/racial up with Zenith. From the last step, fall into the single-target priority.

1. Pre-cast Slicing Winds (run in)
2. Tiger Palm (generate Chi)
3. On-use trinket (e.g. Algeth'ar Puzzle Box)
4. Invoke Xuen, the White Tiger
5. Zenith — with potion + racial + trinkets
6. Strike of the Windlord
7. Fists of Fury
8. Rising Sun Kick
9. Fists of Fury again (if Rising Sun Kick reset it)
10. Whirling Dragon Punch
11. Strike of the Windlord
12. Slicing Winds, then continue with the priority below

⚔️ Single-Target Priority

A priority list, not a fixed rotation. Each GCD, press the highest available ability you didn't JUST use — Mastery: Combo Strikes rewards alternating ability types, so never repeat the same button back-to-back if another is ready.

1. Fists of Fury if the Heart of the Jade Serpent buff is about to expire (< 1s)
2. Touch of Death whenever available (free execute damage)
3. Celestial Conduit (Conduit of the Celestials)
4. Invoke Xuen, the White Tiger on cooldown
5. Whirling Dragon Punch on cooldown
6. Tiger Palm to avoid Energy capping / build Chi (skip during Zenith)
7. Strike of the Windlord
8. Fists of Fury (channel fully — your top spender)
9. Rushing Wind Kick
10. Spinning Crane Kick to refresh a low Dance of Chi-Ji window
11. Rising Sun Kick
12. Zenith Stomp
13. Tiger Palm if you need Chi
14. Blackout Kick with a proc or during Zenith
15. Slicing Winds
16. Spinning Crane Kick on a Dance of Chi-Ji proc
17. Blackout Kick, then Tiger Palm as the filler

💥 AoE / Multi-Target Priority

Used at 3+ targets. Largely the same list as single-target, but drop the Fists of Fury 'Heart expiring' opener step and lean on Spinning Crane Kick / Dance of Chi-Ji procs as your spender. Fists of Fury and Whirling Dragon Punch both cleave hard, so keep them rolling.

1. Touch of Death whenever available
2. Celestial Conduit (Conduit of the Celestials)
3. Invoke Xuen, the White Tiger on cooldown
4. Whirling Dragon Punch on cooldown (strong cleave)
5. Strike of the Windlord (cleaves the pack)
6. Fists of Fury — channel fully across the targets
7. Spinning Crane Kick on a Dance of Chi-Ji proc (top AoE spender)
8. Rushing Wind Kick
9. Rising Sun Kick
10. Zenith Stomp
11. Tiger Palm to refill Chi / avoid Energy cap
12. Blackout Kick with a proc or during Zenith
13. Spinning Crane Kick as the Chi dump, then Tiger Palm as filler

⏱️ Cooldowns

Stack your burst together: Invoke Xuen + Zenith + Strike of the Windlord + Fists of Fury + Whirling Dragon Punch all want to land in one window. Hold for incoming adds when possible, but don't lose a full use to overlap a small pull.

Invoke Xuen, the White Tiger~2 min

Summons Xuen to fight alongside you for the duration — your biggest sustained DPS cooldown and the anchor of every burst window. With Conduit of the Celestials it also enables Celestial Conduit.

Zenith2 charges, short CD

Your empowerment/burst window. Reduces Chi cost and modifies your priority (you skip Tiger Palm during it and push Blackout Kick / Spinning Crane Kick). Pair with potion, racial and trinkets in the opener.

Strike of the Windlordon CD

Hits everything in front of you and grants the Heart of the Jade Serpent buff that powers your channels. Buffed 30% by the 2pc tier set.

Fists of Furyon CD (Haste-reduced)

Channeled, high-damage cleave and your primary spender. Channel it fully — clipping it loses damage. Haste shortens its cooldown and channel.

Whirling Dragon Punchon CD

Unlocked while both Fists of Fury and Rising Sun Kick are on cooldown. Big AoE hit, grants Heart of the Jade Serpent. Buffed 30% by the 2pc tier set.

Celestial Conduiton CD (Conduit hero tree)

Conduit of the Celestials burst button — press Invoke Xuen first to enable it. Channel a beam of damage; coordinate with Strike of the Windlord / Whirling Dragon Punch.

Touch of Deathon CD

Free burst: deals ~35% of the target's max health, or executes outright if the target is below your current health. Top of the priority whenever it's up.

💚 Defensive Toolkit

Windwalker is thin on passive sustain — your survival is cooldown timing plus mobility used as a defensive. Midnight folded the old magic-DR button into Fortifying Brew. Rotate Touch of Karma and Fortifying Brew to cover scripted hits.

Touch of Karma~1.5 min

Redirects a chunk of your max health worth of incoming damage back to the target as damage over its duration — a defensive AND a DPS gain. Pre-press it before a known big hit.

Fortifying Brew~5 min

Raises max health and reduces damage taken. In Midnight it also carries the Diffuse Magic function, so this is your anti-magic / scripted-spike button. Pressing it before Touch of Death also boosts that damage.

Dampen Harm~2 min (talent)

Reduces high-percentage hits while active — strongest against large incoming attacks. Talent point; take it for tankier content.

Diffuse Magicfolded into Fortifying Brew

No longer a separate button in Midnight — its magic reduction/reflect lives inside Fortifying Brew. Stop looking for it on your bars.

Roll / Flying Serpent Kick / Tiger's Lustmobility = survival

Your real damage avoidance: Roll (off the GCD, multiple charges), Flying Serpent Kick and Tiger's Lust let you simply leave the floor effect. Mobility is mitigation for this spec.

🧰 Utility & Crowd Control

🗝️ Mythic+ Tips

• Shado-Pan is the M+ default — its uncapped, consistent AoE and zero extra resource tracking make big pulls effortless.
• You are a utility powerhouse: Ring of Peace for orbs/casters, Leg Sweep for AoE stuns, Spear Hand Strike kicks, and Paralysis for pat control. Coordinate kicks/stuns with the group.
• Front-load Whirling Dragon Punch, Strike of the Windlord and Fists of Fury into each pack — they all cleave, and the 4pc keeps the first two coming back faster.
• Use mobility as defense: Roll, Flying Serpent Kick and Tiger's Lust to leave swirlies instead of eating them — you have little passive sustain.
• Save Touch of Death for elites/high-HP mobs; it scales off the target's max health for a big free chunk.
• Hold Invoke Xuen + Zenith for the meaty pull, not the trash on the way to it; line trinket/potion with them.

⌨️ Macros & Addons

WeakAuras is not supported in Midnight (12.0) — use Blizzard's built-in Cooldown Manager (importable configs on Wago.io). Addons: ElvUI, DBM/BigWigs, GTFO, Plater, OmniCD.

#showtooltip Spear Hand Strike
/cast [@mouseover,harm,nodead][@focus,exists,harm,nodead] Spear Hand Strike

#showtooltip Tiger's Lust
/cast [@mouseover,help,nodead][@player] Tiger's Lust

#showtooltip Invoke Xuen, the White Tiger
/cast Invoke Xuen, the White Tiger
/cast Zenith
/use 13
/use 14

#showtooltip Touch of Karma
/cast [@target,harm] Touch of Karma

🚫 Common Mistakes

• Repeating the same ability twice in a row — Mastery: Combo Strikes punishes it. Always alternate ability types when you have a choice.
• Clipping Fists of Fury — let the channel finish; cutting it short throws away your biggest spender's damage.
• Holding cooldowns too long — Invoke Xuen, Zenith, Strike of the Windlord and Whirling Dragon Punch want to overlap, not be saved indefinitely.
• Standing in avoidable damage because 'I have no defensives' — you have elite mobility; Roll/Flying Serpent Kick out instead of eating it.
• Looking for a Diffuse Magic button — it's folded into Fortifying Brew in Midnight; use Fortifying Brew + Touch of Karma for magic spikes.
• Wasting Touch of Death on a low-HP trash mob when an elite is up — it scales off max health, so save it for the big target.