PvE Mistweaver Monk

Monks are a brand new class to World of Warcraft in Mists of Pandaria. Guided by the celestial Jade Serpent, Yu’lon, the Mistweaver Monk draws upon both mana and Chi to heal their allies and deal damage to their enemies. They are unique melee healers, who can “fistweave” to contribute some extra damage along with their healing. This guide will cover building, gearing, and playing your Mistweaver Monk in all of the endgame PvE content that MoP Classic offers.

New in Mists of Pandaria

Monks did not exist in the game before the Mists of Pandaria expansion, so everything about them is new. However, it’s important to note that some of the general class mechanics have changed since Cataclysm. Class specializations have become more streamlined, with trimmed-down talent trees and the removal of Prime Glyphs.

It’s also worth remembering that WoW Classic expansions launch with class tuning that reflects the final patch of the original expansion. So even in Phase 1 of MoP Classic, the Mistweaver Monk’s talents and abilities will be in the same state they were in for Patch 5.4.8. One example of this is Mana Tea, which was changed in 5.4 to consume 1 stack every .5 seconds instead of every 1 second. There are also numerous glyphs and talents that were changed over the course of the expansion.

Strengths & Weaknesses

Strengths

• Smart Heals:
  Many of your heals are smart heals, which makes them particularly effective. Smart heals choose their targets based on who is missing the most health. You won’t be dumping a lot of overhealing on full-health targets while other targets die.

• Heal While Dealing Damage:
  Fistweaving is similar to the Discipline Priest’s Atonement healing, allowing you to heal through low to moderate damage while also contributing some DPS. Groups will benefit from having a Mistweaver Monk any time a fight has a high DPS requirement, or if the content is on farm. You can always be doing something to contribute to the group’s progress, even if there’s not much to heal.

• Exceptional Mobility:
  Melee DPS tend to be more mobile than ranged by necessity, and you’re basically a melee healer, so you benefit from that as well. You have very few cast-time spells. You do have some that need to be channeled, but these can be canceled without wasting resources, and you can even move while channeling Spinning Crane Kick. You’ve also got Roll or Chi Torpedo and Tiger’s Lust for when you need a boost.

• Strong Burst Healing:
  You have a lot of options for when burst healing is needed, particularly when groups are stacked. You can HoT up multiple targets with Renewing Mist and then use Uplift. You have multiple talent options for AoE heals as well as Spinning Crane Kick, Summon Jade Serpent Statue, and Healing Spheres which can be set up in advance and triggered when most needed. For single targets, the Soothing Mist, Enveloping Mist, Surging Mist combo is powerful. You’ve also got some strong cooldowns such as Life Cocoon and Revival.

Weaknesses

• Lack of Absorbs:
  Even the strongest heals just don’t compete with absorption effects. With a Discipline Priest or Holy Paladin in your group, you may find that a lot of the healing gets handled before you have a chance to do anything. And in situations where one of those healers isn’t present, such as dungeons, you’ll feel the lack of absorbs, which go a long way toward smoothing out damage.

• High Complexity:
  Mistweaver Monks, like Holy Paladins, have a second resource to manage in addition to their mana in the form of Chi. You also have several procs and effects to keep track of. It will take experience to learn when you can safely rely on fistweaving and when you need to switch to direct healing. Additionally, you will drain your mana faster than other healers and must use Mana Tea to regenerate it, requiring more active resource management than other healers. All together there is a definite learning curve and a lot to pay attention to when you’re playing this build.

• Positioning Requirements:
  To play a Mistweaver Monk, especially if you’re going to do any fistweaving at all, you will need to be in melee. That can be a dangerous place to be as a healer, especially given that you’re not the sturdiest, with your leather armor and lack of absorbs. Even beyond using your melee abilities, you have abilities like Chi Burst and Chi Torpedo that require you to position and aim your character to use, as well as Summon Jade Serpent Statue and Healing Sphere that must be placed on the ground and can cause frustration when the group winds up moving away from them.

• Ramp Reliant:
  The Mistweaver Monk’s strong burst healing is reliant upon setting up your HoTs and Healing Spheres and building your Chi in advance so you can use them when the damage goes out. This makes the build much less able to react to sudden unexpected damage. You will need to know the fights and know when you need to ramp (and when to conserve your resources).

Best Races

Any race can be a Monk except for the two Cataclysm races, Goblin and Worgen. Racial traits are less impactful in this expansion than they were in earlier versions of WoW, but they can still affect your gameplay as a Mistweaver Monk.

The new Pandaren race offers the biggest potential stat boost to Mistweaver Monks of either faction with their Epicurean trait, which doubles the amount of Intellect or Spirit you can get from food buffs.

Alliance

The best Alliance race for Mistweaver Monks is the Pandaren thanks to their Epicurean trait, which amounts to a significant Intellect or Spirt buff. Human offers The Human Spirit, which buffs your Spirit, and Gnome offers a larger mana pool through Expansive Mind.

• Draenei: Gemcutting, Gift of the Naaru, Heroic Presence, Shadow Resistance
• Dwarf: Crack Shot, Explorer, Frost Resistance, Mace Specialization, Stoneform
• Gnome: Arcane Resistance, Engineering Specialization, Escape Artist, Expansive Mind, Shortblade Specialization
• Human: Diplomacy, Every Man for Himself, Mace Specialization, Sword Specialization, The Human Spirit
• Night Elf: Nature Resistance, Quickness, Shadowmeld, Wisp Spirit
• Pandaren: Bouncy, Epicurean, Gourmand, Inner Peace, Quaking Palm

Horde

The best Horde race for Mistweaver Monks is Pandaren thanks to their Epicurean trait, which amounts to a significant Intellect or Spirt buff. Troll gets Berserking, which gives you an extra throughput cooldown. Blood Elf is also a strong choice thanks to their mana restoration ability, Arcane Torrent.

• Blood Elf: Arcane Affinity, Arcane Resistance, Arcane Torrent
• Orc: Blood Fury, Axe Specialization, Hardiness, Command
• Pandaren: Bouncy, Epicurean, Gourmand, Inner Peace, Quaking Palm
• Tauren: Cultivation, Endurance, Nature Resistance, War Stomp
• Troll: Beast Slaying, Berserking, Da Voodoo Shuffle, Dead Eye, Regeneration
• Undead: Cannibalize, Shadow Resistance, Touch of the Grave, Will of the Forsaken