Monk Class Changes in Dragonflight
A new WoW expansion is getting closer and closer to its release on November 28. Each build makes it easier to speak about various class changes and suggest firm predictions on Dragonflight meta. This text will cover crucial Monk abilities changes.
Monk Class Tree
The revamp of the talent system in the new expansion leads to the emergence of two separate trees for class and specialization. One tree contains basic class talents which are accessible in every spec. And another one — those that belong only to a particular specialization.
Players have 31 points to spend in the class tree and 30 points in a spec one. These restrictions will make players choose a limited number of skills and traits by holding more or less to the right, middle, or left branches. One more feature to remember is that talents placed in octagons must always be chosen out of two options.
Monk didn’t receive many new talents since the preview of the Dragonflight tree. Most of the «new» generic skills and traits for some specs are those which have been previously available only for certain specializations. For instance, Mistweaver players can take the Spear Hand Strike now, while in Shadowlands, only Brewmasters and Windwalkers got this spell on level 18. It’s in the middle of the right branch.
At the end of the same branch, there’s another skill for the Monk generic tree in Dragonflight: the Summon Black Ox Statue. Previously it could have been picked only by Brewmasters on the level 35. However, there’s a doubt that healers and damage dealers would often choose to move that far in the tank’s class branch. But those who took a tank role will be happy because Monk’s tree changes offer a possibility of taking all three former talents of their fourth tier at once. The mentioned Summon Black Ox Statue, the Ring of Peace in the middle of the tree and the Tiger Tail Sweep trait at the upper part of the left branch.
However, a few completely new abilities and passives appear in this tree. At the end of the middle branch, you can find the Summon White Tiger Statue. Thanks to Monk talent tree changes, this class finally receives the damaging kind of statue. It provides you with not very strong, but the long effect of AoE damage.
New passives are helpful for particular specs as a part of their builds but can also be useful for any spec, especially in PVP. For example, the Resonant Fists give you a chance to make each attack an AoE. Or the Bounce Back, which makes you much tougher to damage if some of it suddenly reduces your maximum HP by 20%. And the Close to Heart and Generous Pour at the opposite corners of the tree are those new Monk talents which provide all your party with a useful buff. You can increase the healing they gain around you by 8% or give them up to 4% more chance to avoid damage. Or take both, but at the cost of some other talents in your build.
Mistweaver Changes
The talent system changes bring back a few past Azerite traits as talents. For example, the Overflowing Mists and the Secret Infusion. The effects of both traits remain almost unchanged, with only one little difference: now they both work in percentage. The Mists make your Enveloping Mists provide the ally with healing 2% of its maximum HP when they’re attacked. The Infusion makes some of your spells trigger an effect that buffs one of your stats by up to 15%.
Very important passives are scattered over the Mistweaver spec tree, so there’s no surprise that such a mighty trait as the Rapid Diffusion is in the middle of the right branch. It enhances a mechanic with which this healer can heal an ally by dealing damage to the enemy — in this case, with the help of the Rising Sun Kick. It may have reminded you of one of the Shadowlands Runecarving Powers, but the thing is that it’s also at the bottom of the right branch. The Ancient Teachings passive inherits the effect of the Ancient Teachings of the Monastery, making more of your attacking spells provide a group member with extra healing.
Many results of other significant Mistweaver Monk updates brought by Dragonflight lie at the bottom of the tree. But it’s important to look up and find the first octagon in the upper part of it. There you can choose between the familiar Revival spell and the new one called Restoral. At first glance, its main effect is almost the same, but there’s one essential change. It can be cast in the stun but at the cost of it not being able to relieve you and your party from magical effects.
Brewmaster Changes
Brewmaster Monk receives many offensive talents in Dragonflight. The Stormstout’s Last Keg is a former Runecarving Power whose unchanged effect is now a trait at the end of the middle spec branch. As before, it makes the Keg Smash more painful and gives it an extra charge. Right before this trait, there’s another buffed Keg, the Exploding Keg. It used to deal damage to the enemy and make their attacks miss, but now its damage is increased and provided with additional effect. All the hits to the affected enemies will be followed by extra Fire damage. And instead of avoiding their melee hits, you will gain 100% less damage from them.
Basic spells of the rotation can be empowered too. For instance, there’s an octagon in the middle of the right branch, where you can choose between the Fluidity of Motion and the Shadowboxing Threads. Both passives are improving the Blackout Kick. The first decreases its cooldown by 1 sec at the cost of the damage reduction, and the second makes it deal greater damage. And deal it to two more targets.
Another choice waits for you at the opposite side of the spec tree. In this octagon, there are the Sal’salabim’s Strength and Scalding Brew traits. Both aim to enhance the connection between the Keg Smash and Breath of Fire abilities and the talents that improve their effects. The first does so by refreshing the CD of the Breath with the use of the Keg. And the second gives extra damage to the Keg when it’s used on the enemy hit by the Breath. The first talent is the effect taken from the Legion legendary Sal’salabim’s Lost Tunic, and the second is a former Shadowlands Conduit.
Finally, Monk class changes in Dragonflight also made the Rising Sun Kick spell accessible by tank spec. Moreover, it’s the first talent in the middle branch of a class tree, which becomes one more reason for Brewmaster to become even more dangerous in combat.
Windwalker Changes
Windwalker spec really has a lot of features returning from the far past. Like the Strike of the Windlord, which was given by equipping the Fists of the Heavens Artifact in Legion. Or the former Meridian Strikes Azerite trait, which once more grants you the ability to decrease the CD of the Touch of Death with procs of your Combo Strike mastery. By the way, the former effect of Legion’s Hidden Master’s Forbidden Touch Legendary returns as the Forbidden Technique. The possibility of dealing 40% more damage with the Touch of Death and casting it twice in a row alongside other buffs will undoubtedly improve this spell’s place in the rotation.
The talent changes brought to this Monk spec by Dragonflight with the features from the nearest past are also worth mentioning. At the bottom of the middle branch, there’s the Xuen’s Battlegear, the former Runecarving Power with an unchanged effect. It’ll once again improve the rotation with the Rising Sun Kick and Fists of Fury empowering each other. The Bonedust Brew is a former Necrolord Covenant spell that will provide you with an extra AoE to fight masses of enemies. And the Fatal Flying Guillotine, which used to be a Torghast Power in Shadowlands, becomes one more tool to improve your Touch of Death with a deadly AoE effect. Windwalkers have never been this AoE before.
Comments