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WoWNov 11, 2015 1:46 pm CT

WoW Legion Monk class preview

Monks are up next on Blizzard’s class change preview rotation, and we’re seeing a major shakeup for all three specs in Legion. As with Paladins’ Holy Power, Monks’ Chi is being removed from the tanking and healing specs — but remaining for the DPS spec, lending some gameplay complexity to an otherwise endless array of punches and kicks.

Both Mistweaver and Windwalker are also getting brand new Mastery abilities — and with good reason, as Mastery was typically the lowest stat priority for both specs. Let’s dive in and take a look at exactly what’s in store for the class.

Brewmaster

The brewmaster is a quirky character, though dangerous when underestimated.

Though Brewmasters are ditching Chi, they’ll be gaining charges to their Brew abilities that will interplay with other skills for gameplay depth, without juggling another resource. There’s more focus on stagger and evasiveness and less on absorption and shields (with shields being pulled from many classes, this fits with other changes).

Mistweaver

Those who weave the mists wield the power of life’s essence, using a mixture of preventative and restorative spells to mend their allies’ wounds.

The Mistweaver rotation will be changing, with Blizzard removing a lot of the need to set up skill combinations to heal effectively — notably the need for Renewing Mist to set up Uplift. Now you’ll have more flexibility on casting what you need when you need it rather than setting up particular spell chains. Uplift is now gone entirely, replaced by Vivify (causes a surge of invigorating mists around the target, healing them and their 2 nearest injured allies for a moderate amount) and Essence Font (unleashes a rapid twirl of healing bolts at up to 6 allies within 25 yds, every 1 sec for 3 sec; each bolt heals the target for a moderate amount, plus an additional moderate amount over 8 sec). Effuse, Enveloping Mist, and Vivify will trigger Soothing Mist (which channels healing mists into the target, healing them for a minor amount every 0.5 sec, until you take any other action), adding a bit more oomph to your heals and changing gameplay style a bit by encouraging Mistweavers to stop casting in order to maintain those channels.

The new Mastery ability will be Gust of Mists, which makes your targeted heals also cause a gust of healing mists, instantly healing the target for a minor amount — an entirely welcome addition to the Mistweaver toolkit.

Windwalker

Windwalkers possess unparalleled physical finesse, and are capable of overwhelming their enemies with a dizzying flurry of punches and kicks.

The change to Mastery feels like the biggest shakeup to the Windwalker rotation (though your own opinion may vary, as there are a lot of changes on the agenda). The new Mastery is Combo Strikes, which causes your abilities to deal 25% (with Mastery from typical gear) more damage when they are not a repeat of the previous ability. This will encourage mixing and matching your abilities to boost your damage, an interesting new mechanic for Windwalker gameplay — and certainly more of an interactive ability than the previous Bottled Fury.

Windwalkers are also seeing some talents and glyphs become baseline, with Tiger Palm innately giving you a chance to cast your next Blackout Kick for free and being able to channel Firsts of Fury while moving. And, perhaps my favorite skill change: Storm, Earth, and Fire will become a simple toggle, with no need to target. This will help the spell see a lot more use in the rotation when Monks need to AOE.

You can read the full Monk class preview on the WoW official site. You can also read previous class preview blogs here on Blizzard Watch. Left for today we have Druids at 5pm pacific, with Rogues getting their preview tomorrow at an indeterminate hour (but we dearly hope not at 5am). Stay tuned to Blizzard Watch for more previews and in-depth analysis!

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