As I continue to go through the gear progression for my Windwalker Monk, I started to really appreciate how this class/spec is put together. Thus far, I’ve managed to go up to Siege of Orgrimmar wing 1 successfully and feel I have quite a few of the basic play style for this class/spec down and want to share my thoughts on what I think is one of the most well rounded classes/specs around.
When I first saw the basics of the Monk, I was instantly reminded of the druid since you can perform all three roles and employ leather for armor. While I still would like to give the Brewmaster a try and have no sense of what the Mistweaver is like, the one I’m concentrating the most is the Windwalker (since I’m a primarily DPS type of player). With the partial resource of energy as one of the core resources for the Windwalker, you cannot help but compare this spec to the feral or the rogue to a degree. Chi is the other major resource points that you build up, again similar to the rogue and feral. The difference is that you’re not attempting to maximize your Chi for a mega blow but rather building it up and using it, attempting to balance between burning through too much energy and having some Chi to perform actions.
The thing is that compared to a rogue and feral druid is that with the Windwalker monk, you really never feel energy starved in the same way. Instead, you’re constantly doing something and finding ways to either build Chi (mostly through jabs) or replenishing your energy. Both are built up fairly quickly so you’re not really waiting for energy to return the way rogues and feral druids are. Instead, you’re very active with keeping buffs up to supplement this whole process.
Also, unlike a feral or rogue class, you really aren’t a huge burst DPS spec nor are you a real DoT type of class where you place some DoT on a target and allow it to expire. Instead, you pretty much are the DoT in being extremely active in putting out damage in a continual manner. That makes this spec exciting to play because there is very little down time or ways in which you won’t be just sitting waiting for something to pop up. There is always something you must pay attention to in keeping your DPS up.
Mike Preach described this class as being “spammy” and compared it to the Enhancement Shaman. Quite honestly, I never really felt that the Enhancement Shaman is that spammy and more about mega burst phases. However, the utility aspect between the Enhancement Shaman and the Windwalker Monk could be a closer comparison in the amount of tools both classes bring to the table. It is true though that you are spamming a lot with this spec with your DPS in the sheer number of abilities you’re putting out. Despite having a few very focused abilities, the small side things you can do to maintain your throughput on DPS makes this class feel spammy.
One thing that I do feel that the Windwalker Monk has an advantage over the Enhancement Shaman is their AoE. That part is extremely spammy in how you’re primarily dishing out constant circles of Spinning Crane Kicks while keeping up Rising Sun Kick. The simplicity of their AoE makes this class one of the better AoE specs, imo.
Another interesting thing about the Windwalker Monk in comparison to the Enhancement Shaman is that they share similar weapons, except that they can utilize both polearms/staves as well as one handed swords. That increases the ease of gearing quite a bit as they now can encompass feral druids, rogues and enhancement shamans for their possible weapons. Using a 2 or 1 hander at the moment does not yield significant difference in terms of stat priority so you can switch pretty fluidly depending on how lucky you get with weapon drops.
Going back to the utility aspect, the Windwalker Monk is just an insanely useful class. Quite frankly, I don’t find anything that special in terms of really unique abilities, except one: Touch of Death. I’m not sure how Touch of Death works against bosses, but certainly it’s an excellent clean up tool. Seeing something instantly drop can mean the difference between a wipe and the success of an encounter. That said, the Windwalker Monk has access to a fair number of abilities like disarming, instant crowd control, a 30 second interrupt, resurrection, limited healing, some ranged attacks, a buff that can take place for Kings or Mark of the Wild, cleanses, taunts, slow and some amazing movement abilities. One thing I started to really appreciate is combining the Windwalker’s various movement capabilities and being able to reach an enemy when no one else might be able to. You essentially have three blinks, a long distance blink and your own gateway. It’s hard not to use these abilities to help out in an intense phase during a fight.
The thing is that if you really enjoy being active and feeling as though every hit has some meaning, this is one of the best specs around. I’m still working on seeing the higher numbers but I have not being bored with this class thus far. I think once the expansion comes out, this is going to be one of the classes I might level early on. It’s an incredible pleasure maximizing what you can get out of a class like this, especially if you’re familiar with many of the basic abilities that they share with other classes.