Windwalker Monk DPS Gear, Legendaries, and Best in Slot (Legion 7.2.5)

Table of Contents

• +Introduction
  • 1. Class Overview
  • 2. Patch 7.2.5 Changes
  • 3. Patch 7.2 Changes
  • 4. Contents
  • 5. ChangeLog
• +Easy Mode
  • 1. The Basics
  • 2. Talent Choice
  • 3. Stat Choice
  • 4. Basic Rotation
    • 4.1. Single Target
    • 4.2. Multiple Target
      • 4.2.1. Against 2-3 Enemies
    • 4.3. Against 4+ Enemies
  • 5. Cooldowns
  • 6. ChangeLog
• +Spell Summary
  • 1. Introduction
  • 2. Main Resource
  • 3. Basic Abilities
    • 3.1. Movement
    • 3.2. Survival
  • 4. Important Procs
  • 5. Cooldowns
  • 6. ChangeLog
• +Builds and Talents
  • 1. Talent Choices
  • 2. Tier 1 (Level 15) Talents
  • 3. Tier 2 (Level 30) Talents
  • 4. Tier 3 (Level 45) Talents
  • 5. Tier 4 (Level 60) Talents
  • 6. Tier 5 (Level 75) Talents
  • 7. Tier 6 (Level 90) Talents
  • 8. Tier 7 (Level 100) Talents
  • 9. ChangeLog
• +Artifact Traits and Relics
  • 1. Artifact Progression
  • 2. Relic Choice
    • 2.1. Single Target
    • 2.2. AoE
  • 3. ChangeLog
• +Rotation, Cooldowns, and Abilities
  • 1. Single Target Rotation
  • 2. Multiple Target Rotation
    • 2.1. Against 2-3 Enemies
    • 2.2. Against 4+ Enemies
  • 3. Cooldowns
  • 4. Optional Read: Mastering Your Windwalker Monk
    • 4.1. Energy and Chi
      • 4.1.1. Energy
      • 4.1.2. Chi
    • 4.2. Mastery: Combo Strikes
    • 4.3. Artifact Ability
    • 4.4. Afterlife Procs
    • 4.5. Detailed Cooldown Usage
      • 4.5.1. Touch of Karma
      • 4.5.2. Tier 1 Talents
      • 4.5.3. Tier 3 Talents
      • 4.5.4. Tier 7 Talents
    • 4.6. Roll and Transcendence
      • 4.6.1. Roll
      • 4.6.2. Transcendence
  • 5. ChangeLog
• +Stat Priority
  • 1. Basics
    • 1.1. Single Target
    • 1.2. Multiple Target
  • 2. Getting a Better Understanding
  • 3. ChangeLog
• +Gems, Enchants, and Consumables
  • 1. Gems
  • 2. Enchants
  • 3. Consumables
  • 4. ChangeLog
• +Macros and Addons
  • 1. Macros
    • 1.1. Generic Macros for Monks
      • 1.1.1. Detox Mouseover Macro
      • 1.1.2. Tiger's Lust Mouseover Macro
      • 1.1.3. Ring of Peace Mouseover Macro
    • 1.2. Specific Macros for Windwalker Monks
      • 1.2.1. No Fists of Fury Cancelling Macro
  • 2. Addons
    • 2.1. Generic Addons for Monks
      • 2.1.1. ElvUI
      • 2.1.2. Boss Mods: Deadly Boss Mods or Bigwigs
      • 2.1.3. GTFO
      • 2.1.4. Parrot or Mik's Scrolling Battle Text
      • 2.1.5. Weak Auras
      • 2.1.6. Recount / Skada / Details!
      • 2.1.7. Grid and GridClickSets (Optional)
      • 2.1.8. Omen Threat Meter
    • 2.2. Specific Addons for Windwalker Monks
  • 3. ChangeLog
• ×Gear, Legendaries, and Best in Slot
  • 1. Tier 20 Set Bonuses
  • 2. Legendary Items
  • 3. Loot Competition
  • 4. ChangeLog

General Information

This page is a gear reference for Windwalker Monks. It lists your best items and Legendaries, gives you gearing advice, and shows you how you will be competing for loot with other classes.

The other pages of our Windwalker Monk guide can be accessed from the table of contents on the right.

About Our Reviewer

This guide has been reviewed and approved by Babylonius, a prominent Windwalker Monk theorycrafter who maintains the Windwalker sections of Peak of Serenity. You can follow him on Twitter: @BabyloniusMonk.

1. Tier 20 Set Bonuses

Currently, more testing is required to asses the exact value of the Tier 20 Set Bonuses (though it seems clear that at least the 2-piece Set Bonus is very desirable).

2. Legendary Items

Legendary items have a high item level of 970, which makes them extremely strong. They are so strong, in fact, that a legendary item is always going to be worth equipping over any other item you might have in that slot.

However, there is a limitation on the number of legendary items you can have equipped at any one time (by default 1, but by now most players should be able to equip 2). Since some legendary items are better than others, if you have more items than the limit, you will have to choose which ones to equip.

Below, we will do our best to guide you through this process, as well as provide any other relevant information.

Ranking Windwalker legendaries is difficult, so they are only listed in approximate order below.

Drinking Horn Cover is useful for all situations and is a great legendary item, provided you are using the Serenity talent.

The Emperor's Capacitor is the best legendary item for use against a single target, especially when combined with Drinking Horn Cover and the Serenity talent). For AoE and cleaving damage, it is not nearly as good and there are better options available.

Cinidaria, the Symbiote provides 30% more damage when the target is above 90% health, making it very useful for bosses that require considerable burst at the beginning. It works well with Gale Burst at the start of a fight. That said, as your raid's overall gear level increases, the value of this item will drop (since targets will drop below 90% health faster), and it does not shine in any particular aspect in general.

Katsuo's Eclipse provides the strongest personal damage increase, and is a great general purpose legendary item.

Hidden Master's Forbidden Touch is only useful in multi-target situations, as the second Touch of Death needs to be cast on a second target with another ability between so you do not lose the Mastery: Combo Strikes bonus and Hit Combo.

Cenedril, Reflector of Hatred is one of the strongest single target legendaries (though not the strongest one). It is easy to use it in order to gain a large damage boost. Against multiple targets, however, it is very weak.

The Wind Blows is a reasonably good legendary item; it is stronger in single target situations.

Soul of the Grandmaster is also reasonably good, and it is stronger in AoE situation. Both this and The Wind Blows are essentially medium-tier legendaries, and the ones mentioned above are generally preferable if you can get them.

Sephuz's Secret provides a strong Haste boost, which is useful in AoE situations and/or when you can stun, interrupt, and/or dispel during a fight. It is very strong in dungeons. Keep in mind that if you cannot regularly trigger its effect, it is a weak choice.

Prydaz, Xavaric's Magnum Opus provides a good cushion of health to help survive big hits of damage and require less healing. Also provides the most stats for any neck. For survivability, it is excellent, but for DPS purposes it is weak.

March of the Legion provides the least amount of personal damage improvement, although it does provide useful raid utility in helping melee DPS increase their uptime on targets and in allowing players to move out of harmful effects faster.

3. Loot Competition

Regarding the loot you will get from raid or dungeon bosses, you will compete with other classes in the following cases:

Item Type	Competing Classes
Tier Tokens	Hunters, Brewmaster/Mistweaver Monks, Shamans, and Warriors
Leather Armor	Demon Hunters, Druids, Brewmaster/Mistweaver Monks, and Rogues
Amulets Cloaks Rings	Everyone
Trinkets	Havoc Demon Hunters, Feral/Guardian Druids, Hunters, Brewmaster Monks, Rogues, and Enhancement Shamans

4. ChangeLog

+ show all entries - show only 10 entries

• 12 Jun. 2017: Updated legendary ranking and added a mention of Tier 20 Set Bonuses (although a clear recommendation is not yet possible).
• 28 Apr. 2017: Updated legendary ranking and discussions.
• 27 Mar. 2017: Slightly updated the description of Drinking Horn Cover to account for Patch 7.2 changes.
• 13 Jan. 2017: Updated a few of the legendary item evaluations.
• 10 Jan. 2017: Updated legendary recommendations and added Tier 19 Set Bonus recommendation.
• 29 Aug. 2016: Updated for Legion's launch.
• 18 Jul. 2016: Updated for the Legion pre-patch.