Mistweaver Monk Prepatch FAQ

Dragon meets Crane. Shadowlands Awaits.

Mistweaver Monk ascends in 9.0, a new cooldown accompanying some smaller talent & spell changes. This goes a long way toward giving Mistweaver coverage in areas in which they were weak in BFA. The playstyle mostly remains the same though you’ll be better able to focus your healing into key moments in the fight. The spec also remains best or second best in class when it comes to mobility, tankiness, and single target healing.

Prepatch tends to be a volatile time for the game and you can expect information in this FAQ to shuffle around a little bit as all of the new stuff is tested in a proper live environment. We’ll make sure you’re kept up to date. Information below is aimed at level 50 pre-Shadowlands release. We’ll update everything again when the expansion itself launches.

 

The Essentials

  • All stats have been squished substantially. Everything else in the game has also been brought down so you shouldn’t really notice any change outside of your numbers having fewer zeroes.
  • Some talents revamped (more below).
  • Way of the Crane removed (Conflict & Strife now grants the significantly worse Chrysalis PVP talent).
  • Several spells returned to the game (some were PVP talents that are now globally available): Expel Harm (almost completely useless), Touch of Death (quite nice).
  • New spell in Yu’lon, the Jade Serpent. Invoke Chi’ji revamped. (covered in more detail below).
  • Several smaller changes to existing spells including:
    • Fortifying Brew: DR and extra health nerfed by 5%. An ultimately minor change.
    • Mana Tea: Global cooldown removed. Duration slightly reduced. A net gain.
    • Mana costs on key spells altered including Enveloping Mist (up 15%), Renewing Mist (down 12%), and Vivify (up 17%).
    • Spinning Crane Kick capped to 6 targets. This is an across the board change to many AoE spells.
    • Jade Serpent Statue (talent): Duration greatly reduced in exchange for a small spell power increase. This is a large net loss since what was once a low maintenance talent now requires a GCD every 8 seconds to maintain.

 

When do I lose X?

  • Corruption was removed as the prepatch hit. You’ll never see another Thing from Beyond, nor will you be slowed at just the worst possible moment.
  • We get to keep our Azerite traits & Essences until we start our journey into the Shadowlands itself.
  • We’ll keep our neck / cape combo as stat sticks until we hit level 60 and replace them with dungeon gear. Turns out a huge intellect proc on a low budget cape slot holds up very well.

Mistweaver Evolved. New cooldowns in 9.0

A lack of strong raid-wide cooldowns was a sizeable gap in the Mistweaver kit in Battle for Azeroth. In Shadowlands we get our choice of two cooldowns, both more powerful than Revival. By default we now summon Yu’lon who… breathes… on the raid for 25 seconds, healing three targets at a time (wait, wait, it gets better). If you identify more with birds than dragons then you can replace Yu’lon with Chi’ji through a talent. Chi’ji will heal two random allies for the same amount as a Gust of Mists hit whenever you cast Blackout Kick, Rising Sun Kick or Spinning Crane Kick (on cast, not tick). Chi’ji also reduces the cost and cast time of your next Enveloping Mist by 33% per ability. Nice.

Both cooldowns are good at level 50, but only become truly monstrous once Shadowlands launches and we make it to level 58, unlocking the Enveloping Breath passive. This is a fantastic upgrade that heals and buffs 6 targets whenever you cast Enveloping Mist while your cooldown of choice is active. The true power of the ability is that you can choose how much power is necessary and align your mana spend with the damage patterns of the fight. This throttle, or power variation, tends to be incredible in practice and at level 60 it is likely to be a significant amount of your power.

Dragon or Bird, pop your Mana Tea and get ready to hit hard.

 


Talent changes? What’s best in 9.0?

  • Raids

    Chi Torpedo is also very viable if you want to save yourself a keybind.

  • Mythic+

    Chi Torpedo is also very viable if you want to save yourself a keybind.

Talents that are still up in the air

Raid: Refreshing Jade Wind v Invoke Chi’ji

Invoke Chi’ji is a reasonably large upgrade over Yu’lon at level 50 but both lack punch until they are upgraded at 58. It is much more fun to play than Yu’lon but given the last two fights in Ny’alotha aren’t necessarily melee friendly during high damage (both Infinite Darkness and Invoke Anguish can be sketchy or require you to take a melee spot), I’d advise Jade Wind when min-maxing and Chi’ji when trying to maximise prepatch enjoyment.

 

Raid: Upwelling v Rising Mist

Upwelling remains a potent and simple talent that will give you a lot of power for very little gameplay change. It’s a great pick if you’re new to the spec, want to avoid melee, or prefer to focus on the mechanics of the fight rather than your spells. Rising Mist has a much higher skill ceiling, is incredibly fun, but does leave you in melee frequently. Given it’s the prepatch I’d highly advise Rising Mist to all but the newest players to the spec.

 

All information is specific to 9.0 and can change with the expansion launch.


 

What about our stats?

The gear you used in 8.3 should remain incredibly strong in 9.0 (even if the 100% crit dream is over). If you have heavily socketed / leeched items then they are just as fantastic as they were before the patch. The major change is that item level is now much much more powerful than it was previously. Intellect is actually your best stat again and that can make items with otherwise poorer secondary stats viable choices. Questionably Epic Live is updated for the prepatch and you can use it to pick out a set.

 


 

What about gems and enchants?

Weapon: Machinists Brilliance

Rings: Crit, or your secondary stat with the highest stat weight.

Gems: 1x 18 Intellect Gem (Leviathan’s Eye of Intellect), 1x 12 Intellect Gem (Kraken’s Eye of Intellect). You’ll socket +7 crit in your other slots. Previously reported +5 int, +5 crit gems have already been nerfed.

 


Should I level to 60 as Mistweaver?

I wouldn’t recommend it. Windwalker or even Brewmaster will get you to max level much more quickly. If levelling as Mistweaver is a must then take aggressive trinkets where possible and pull big to take advantage of your stellar healing abilities. Levelling with a friend will also give you a leg up.


 

Quick-fire Answers

  • Prepatch is the perfect time for experimentation. Don’t feel like you have to follow a meta right now. Relax and recharge for the expansion ahead.
  • Prepatch raids and Mythic+ are usually significantly easier than before the update outside of occasional bugs. You should expect to be able to knock over N’zoth in fewer attempts than you did last week, even with the loss of Corruption.
  • You should be able to use the same azerite traits and trinkets as you did in 8.3. If anything meaningfully changes post-live then we’ll make sure you’re informed.
  • Healer Stat Weights and the WoWAnalyzer stat weights module will be updated shortly. The people behind the scenes are doing amazing work.
  • Most of our spells got large increases to their spell coefficients. This was combined with the removal of the “spec aura”. The net result is that most spells are exactly as strong as they were before, with exceptions noted in the article above.

 


Prepatch Information Round-up

 

Any other questions? Flick them below and we’ll get you sorted.

One response to “Mistweaver Monk Prepatch FAQ”

  1. Anthony Muratore says:

    Hello,

    Sorry to bother you but I am really struggling with with my grid2 profile and I was wondering/hoping you may have access to the updated one like the one for 8.3? It’s has honestly been a struggle and I know how much work it is to get correct so I am more then will to pay you for it. Please let me know if that is possible.

    Thank you

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