Zen Meditation: Monk tier 18 class trinkets and set bonuses

Well, patch 6.2 has been here for a week now! Most of you have probably already dived into the content, and this is great — especially if one raids, there is certainly plenty to do with 6.2.  Now that we are a week in, we can look at Monk tier 18 with an in-depth look at our class trinkets and set bonuses.

Tossing kegs

Brewmasters — I absolutely feel your pain. My own first trounce into Hellfire as a tank made me realize how it felt to actually need a real cooldown.  However, once you get that sweet 4-piece bonus, you should have some pretty smooth sailing by giving you a higher uptime on Guard (with four set pieces, your Expel Harm will reduce the cooldown on your Guard ability). So get ready to be healing and absorbing like a fiend — pretty soon, you’ll be right back on feeling just as strong as you were before.

In addition, your class trinket (Sacred Draenic Incense) is certainly interesting. While it may not be as strong as other classes, it will grant you more damage from your Elusive Brew — making it even more to keep that up when you have it equipped.

Weaving mists

Mistweavers came in pretty strong in 6.2, but keep in mind you’re still competing with Disc Priest absorbs; the array of cooldowns from a Resto Shaman or Holy Paladin; or the raw throughput of other classes. However, the passive healing from your own Serpent Stance 4-piece bonus is quite strong on its own as well. While your 2-piece bonus adds the Extend Life effect from your Renewing Mist (which heals them, and then increases the healing they receive by 15%), your 4-piece will cause another Extend Life heal every time you use Uplift or Enveloping Mist. For Crane stance, your 4-piece will have a 50% chance to apply a Renewing Mist on an injured all.  Meanwhile, your 2-piece will increase the effectiveness of your Rising Sun Kick’s debuff by 6% — that is, when you apply Rising Sun Kick, rather than increasing your damage from abilities by 15%, it will increase damage by 21%. This means you will not just do more damage, but also more healing due to Eminence.

Finally, your own class trinket turns you into an AE-healing power machine. When it is equipped, your Soothing Mists will heal all allies around the target for an amount related to the item level of the trinket (33% on normal, 38% on Heroic, and 44% on Mythic). The foreseeable problem with this is that you are effectively giving up another trinket slot with stats, and it encourages you to use Soothing Mists… when your set bonuses encourage you to use more Renewing Mist and Uplift for AE healing. Still, it is a very strong option, but you may get more mileage from any of the other trinket choices this tier.

Kick punchers

Windwalkers, your set bonus is going to make you want to keybind Blackout Kick to every button on your action bar, because you are going to be hitting that button far more often than you’re used to if you manage to get your 4-piece and your class trinket.

In short, your 4-piece bonus and 2-piece bonus work incredibly well together. First, your 2-piece grants your Rising Sun Kick a 35% (down from the initial 40%) chance to grant you a Combo Breaker for either Blackout Kick or Tiger Palm. This includes your procs from your class trinket. That is, your class trinket grants a chance to cast a “free” Rising Sun Kick any time you cast Fists of Fury, Blackout Kick (or Chi Explosion), or Rising Sun Kick — and you don’t even need to press the button. Thus, you gain not only more Rising Sun Kicks, but all of then can grant you a Combo Breaker.

Then, your 4-piece not only increases your energy by 20… but also gives you a 15% extra chance when casting Jab to proc a Combo Breaker. In other words, have your wrist guards ready, and probably just keybind your Blackout Kick button to a peddle, because you will be hitting it far more than you’re used to.

Tanaan and Hellfire await!

Overall, with the set bonuses and trinkets, Monks are going to have a very interesting ride this tier. Brewmasters will be very absorbent, Mistweavers are looking at some interesting playstyle choices, and Windwalkers may as well make their entire UI dedicated to the Combo Breaker: Blackout Kicks they will be spamming.

It is going to be an incredible tier for all of us!