Windwalker Monk DPS Gear and Best in Slot — 12.0.5

With the release of Midnight, all items have been squished to a much more reasonable level.

Upgrading gear in Midnight continues to use the Crest system which lets you increase the item level of gear along tracks that relate to where you obtained the item, which harder content dropping gear that can be upgraded to higher Item Levels. For more information, read up on our dedicated page on how the gearing system works and what has changed in the Midnight expansion.

OverallMythic+Raid

This list contains the highest DPS setup from all sources for Windwalker Monk. Keep in mind that there are many other setups that perform within the margin of error. This list is not the end-all-be-all list where any item that is not listed is far behind this specific selection.

This list is by no means a replacement for simming yourself. Depending on your previous Great Vault choices and the gear you have available, your BiS gear might look different in some spots than the below list.

In some non-Tier slots, a max ilvl Craft will technically be optimal since you can customize the secondary stats to your liking. Your mileage here may vary.

FAQWhich Tier Set Pieces Do I Want?

For Midnight Season 1 as a Windwalker Monk, you will want to try and prioritize getting the Helmet, Shoulder, Chest, and Legs set pieces. However, getting the Gloves to complete one of the bonuses is still better than any other gearing choice. Long-term you will want to play off-set gloves with good secondary stats instead.

Windwalker Monk

1.1.

Overall Best in Slot

Fearsome Visage of Ra-den's Chosen Helm

Catalyst or Lightblinded Vanguard - The Voidspire Empowered Rune of Avoidance

Vaelgor's Fearsome Grasp Hands

Vaelgor and Ezzorak

Amulet of the Abyssal Hymn Neck

Midnight Falls

Snapvine Cinch Waist

Windrunner Spire

Aurastones of Ra-den's Chosen Shoulders

Catalyst or Fallen-King Salhadaar - The Voidspire Amirdrassil's Grace

Swiftsweepers of Ra-den's Chosen Legs

Catalyst or Vaelgor and Ezzorak - The Voidspire Forest Hunter's

Windwrap of Ra-den's Chosen Cloak

Catalyst

Storm Crashers of Ra-den's Chosen Feet

Catalyst Enchant Boots - Lynx's Dexterity

Battle Garb of Ra-den's Chosen Chest

Catalyst or Chimaerus - The Dreamrift Mark of the Worldsoul

Loa Worshiper's Band Ring

Jewelcrafting Eyes of the Eagle

Shirt

Eye of Midnight Ring

Midnight Falls Eyes of the Eagle

Tabard

Gaze of the Alnseer Trinket

Chimaerus

Silvermoon Agent's Deflectors Bracers

Leatherworking

Algeth'ar Puzzle Box Trinket

Algeth'ar Academy

Traitor's Talon Main Hand

Maisara Caverns Acuity of the Ren'dorei

Off Hand

This list contains the highest DPS setup from all sources for Windwalker Monk. Keep in mind that there are many other setups that perform within the margin of error. This list is not the end-all-be-all list where any item that is not listed is far behind this specific selection.

This list is by no means a replacement for simming yourself. Depending on your previous Great Vault choices and the gear you have available, your BiS gear might look different in some spots than the below list.

In some non-Tier slots, a max ilvl Craft will technically be optimal since you can customize the secondary stats to your liking. Your mileage here may vary.

TipsWhich Dungeons Should I Farm?

If you have limited time to play the game, we recommend to farm the following dungeons:

• Algeth'ar Academy: Your best on-use trinket drops here: Algeth'ar Puzzle Box.
• Skyreach: 2 Crit+Mastery Items, a weapon, as well as a useful trinket: Solarflare Prism.
• Windrunner Spire: Drops multiple high-value items, as well as good legs, which we do not want from the Tier-Set.
• Pit of Saron: Drops multiple high-value items, including a dagger and belt.

Windwalker Monk

1.2.

Best Mythic+ Gear

Fearsome Visage of Ra-den's Chosen Helm

Catalyst or Lightblinded Vanguard - The Voidspire Empowered Rune of Avoidance

Gloves of the Dark Shroud Hands

Seat of the Triumvirate

Barbed Ymirheim Choker Neck

Pit of Saron

Snapvine Cinch Waist

Windrunner Spire

Aurastones of Ra-den's Chosen Shoulders

Catalyst or Fallen-King Salhadaar - The Voidspire Amirdrassil's Grace

Swiftsweepers of Ra-den's Chosen Legs

Catalyst or Vaelgor and Ezzorak - The Voidspire Forest Hunter's

Windwrap of Ra-den's Chosen Cloak

Catalyst

Storm Crashers of Ra-den's Chosen Feet

Catalyst Enchant Boots - Lynx's Dexterity

Battle Garb of Ra-den's Chosen Chest

Catalyst or Chimaerus - The Dreamrift Mark of the Worldsoul

Loa Worshiper's Band Ring

Jewelcrafting Eyes of the Eagle

Shirt

Omission of Light Ring

Nexus-Point Xenas Eyes of the Eagle

Tabard

Heart of Wind Trinket

Windrunner Spire

Silvermoon Agent's Deflectors Bracers

Leatherworking

Algeth'ar Puzzle Box Trinket

Algeth'ar Academy

Traitor's Talon Main Hand

Maisara Caverns Acuity of the Ren'dorei

Off Hand

This list contains the highest DPS setup from all sources for Windwalker Monk. Keep in mind that there are many other setups that perform within the margin of error. This list is not the end-all-be-all list where any item that is not listed is far behind this specific selection.

This list is by no means a replacement for simming yourself. Depending on your previous Great Vault choices and the gear you have available, your BiS gear might look different in some spots than the below list.

In some non-Tier slots, a max ilvl Craft will technically be optimal since you can customize the secondary stats to your liking. Your mileage here may vary.

Windwalker Monk

1.3.

Best Raid Gear

Fearsome Visage of Ra-den's Chosen Helm

Catalyst or Lightblinded Vanguard - The Voidspire Empowered Rune of Avoidance

Vaelgor's Fearsome Grasp Hands

Vaelgor and Ezzorak

Amulet of the Abyssal Hymn Neck

Midnight Falls

Scorn-Scarred Shul'ka's Belt Waist

Chimaerus

Aurastones of Ra-den's Chosen Shoulders

Catalyst or Fallen-King Salhadaar - The Voidspire Amirdrassil's Grace

Swiftsweepers of Ra-den's Chosen Legs

Catalyst or Vaelgor and Ezzorak - The Voidspire Forest Hunter's

Windwrap of Ra-den's Chosen Cloak

Catalyst

Storm Crashers of Ra-den's Chosen Feet

Catalyst Enchant Boots - Lynx's Dexterity

Battle Garb of Ra-den's Chosen Chest

Catalyst or Chimaerus - The Dreamrift Mark of the Worldsoul

Loa Worshiper's Band Ring

Jewelcrafting Eyes of the Eagle

Shirt

Eye of Midnight Ring

Midnight Falls Eyes of the Eagle

Tabard

Gaze of the Alnseer Trinket

Chimaerus

Silvermoon Agent's Deflectors Bracers

Leatherworking

Radiant Plume Trinket

Belo'ren

Inescapable Reach Main Hand

Vorasius Acuity of the Ren'dorei

Off Hand

Itemization

Enchants and Stat Priority

Looking to optimize your character? Check out our Enchant and Stat Priority guides for more information!

EnchantsStats

There are a great number of Trinkets available for Windwalker, and we will generally want to play a combination of a powerful on-use trinket like Algeth'ar Puzzle Box or Emberwing Feather, and a passive trinket providing potent secondary stat buffs or raw damage procs. Make sure to consider macroing your on-use trinket to your Zenith cast!

Aim to pick up one trinket from each of these categories as a pair:

Windwalker Monk Trinkets

On-Use - Algeth'ar Puzzle Box or, alternatively, Emberwing Feather
Passive - Gaze of the Alnseer or, alternatively, Heart of Wind

There are quite a few other valuable trinkets out there, so make sure to click on our ranking chart to see if they are worth equipping.

Click for Windwalker Monk Trinket Rankings

Ranking	Shado-Pan and Conduit of the Celestials
S Tier	Radiant Plume — Both Mastery and Critical Strike are strong secondary stats, and having some control over them makes this a very strong stat trinket. Gaze of the Alnseer — This trinket has been nerfed but remains tied for the strongest passive trinket. Mastery is a good secondary stat and the buffs from this trinket are incredibly strong. Algeth'ar Puzzle Box — The strongest on-use trinket that we'll have access to this season. Mastery is a very good secondary stat to have in a large chunk when you need it.
A Tier	Emberwing Feather — This trinket probably can be S-tier, and maybe Best-in-Slot, but the potential for it to subtract from Critical Strike or Mastery means that it can have some drawbacks. However, it is a lot of Haste on a good cooldown timer. Heart of Wind — Static Agility plus a nice chunk of Haste with a very high uptime is very good. Windwalker is much better at dealing with Haste that comes from random procs than it used to be. Undreamt God's Oozing Vestige Light Company Guidon — Haste is a very good secondary stat to have on-use, allowing you to use it with your cooldowns for increased power. Solarflare Prism — Critical Strike, and getting stronger later in the fight, make this trinket strong.
B Tier	Latch's Crooked Hook Kroluk's Warbanner Eye of the Drowning Void Darkmoon Dominion: Hunt — Controlling what stat you get based on the creature you're attacking is very cool, but you can't often choose the type of your target. Darkmoon Dominion: Rot Forgotten Farstrider's Insignia — The strength of this trinket will depend entirely on what stat you need and what stat you get. Ranger-Captain's Iridescent Insignia Void Stalker's Contract
C Tier	Vessel of Tortured Souls — Mastery isn't a bad stat, but the other trinkets have static Agility, which is hard to beat. Darkmoon Dominion: Blood — Ideally, Versatility is your lowest secondary stat, so getting more of it is less than ideal.
D Tier	Darkmoon Dominion: Void — Versatility is our weakest secondary stat, so this trinket struggles. Magister's Alchemist Stone — Versatility is our weakest secondary stat, so this trinket struggles. Lost Idol of the Hash'ey — Speed is fun, but this trinket just doesn't provide much benefit.

Patch 12.0.5 brings two powerful voidcore systems designed to enhance your gearing progression:

• Nebulous Voidcore guarantees loot from your target boss or dungeon. While the specific item is random, you'll never receive duplicates, each new voidcore guarantees a different drop until you've collected everything available from that source.
• Ascendant Voidcore elevates your best gear beyond their normal item level caps. Use these only on fully-upgraded Hero or Myth Midnight Season 1 weapons and trinkets, or maximum-quality Radiance Crafted weapons and trinkets.

Seasonal Mechanics

Voidforge and Voidcores

Check our our guide on the Voidforge to learn how to acquire this powerful upgrades!

Go to Guide

Your Nebulous Voidcores are a valuable resource for targeting gear that would otherwise elude you. Your voidcore strategy should prioritize closing gaps in your current setup, keeping in mind what you have already obtained from the Great Vault and your raid progression tier. Spending voidcores on items you can access through higher difficulty content in the coming weeks is generally inefficient. Here is what you should focus on:

Voidcore Targeting Priority

1. Myth-track weapons (2H)
2. Mythic-track trinkets like Algeth'ar Puzzle Box and Gaze of the Alnseer
3. Tier set pieces you are missing for your 2 or 4-piece bonus
4. High-impact slots from your BiS list

Your Ascendant Voidcores should follow this prioritization order (they only apply to weapons and trinkets):

1. 2-Handed Weapon
2. Algeth'ar Puzzle Box
3. Gaze of the Alnseer
4. Your Offhand weapon if you're using 1H weapons

Don't overlook crafted weapon options, an embellished piece with the right stats can outperform a standard raid drop from a lower difficulty. When deciding between upgrading a Hero-track and Myth-track item, prioritize based on your progression pace. For example, if Mythic raids feel distant, boosting a Hero-track Gaze of the Alnseer is worthwhile. As always, simming your character will reveal the exact value of each upgrade.

Professions are a great way to gear up with your optimal secondary stats, as adding special items to the crafting process lets you pick and choose the exact secondary stats you want.

For more information about crafting gear you can visit our Professions page.

As your ability to craft items will be time-gated in the initial stages of Midnight, we highly recommend getting a Mainhand weapon as soon as possible, unless you can reliably get one elsewhere. Once you have a good weapon, work on your other Embellished Item next, and then craft whichever pieces you do not have high-item-level versions of yet.

Windwalker Crafted Gear Priority

• Any 1-handed Agility weapon, like Bloomforged Claw with Darkmoon Sigil: Hunt
• Loa Worshiper's Band
• Any item with Stabilizing Gemstone Bandolier once you can get a maximium item level weapon to replace one you crafted.

Up to two of your crafted items can be Embellished. This is a similar concept as Unique-Equipped, as you can only wear two items that have the Embellished status. Some crafted items, many of which have powerful procs or beneficial effects by default, are considered Embellished. You can also add Embellishments from a variety of professions to any crafted item, adding the effect to this item either when creating it or at a later stage.

As there is a lot of competition for Embellishments, you will have to pick and choose the two strongest ones for your overall DPS output. Most of them provide very similar DPS benefits, even if the effects are entirely different. The two best choices for this are:

• For Raid: Darkmoon Sigil: Hunt on an 1-handed Agility weapon and Loa Worshiper's Band.
• For Mythic+: Darkmoon Sigil: Hunt on an 1-handed Agility weapon and Loa Worshiper's Band.

If you are able to get a 1-Handed or 2-Handed weapon at maximum item level, then you can craft an item with Stabilizing Gemstone Bandolier as your 2nd Embellishment to go with Loa Worshiper's Band.

It is recommended to sim yourself to find out what works best, and if you also play the other 2 Monk specs, you might want to pick Embellishments that work well for all of them.

You can add sockets to Helmets, Belts, and Bracers with the Radiant Jewelbinder consumable that you can get if you do not select any of the choices in your Great Vault. Not picking a choice will grant you tokens, six of which can be traded in for the Radiant Jewelbinder item that allows you to add a socket to the above piece of gear, if you acquired them in Season 1.

Early into the season, or if you have just started playing an alt, you will have limited access to upgrading-crests such as Myth Dawncrest. These can be used to upgrade gear to higher itemlevels. Since crests are limited each week and upgrading different items costs the same amount of crests regardless, you will want to prioritize your usage of them on items you plan on not replacing anytime soon, or that offer the biggest benefits.

Windwalker Monk Crest Upgrade Priority

Weapon (Mainhand) ➜ Trinkets ➜ Helmet/Chest/Legs ➜ Shoulders/Gloves/Belt/Boots

These are not the only items worth upgrading, of course. They simply offer the highest DPS gain early into the tier when your upgrade currency is limited. Note that exceptions are possible, such as special items that have additional procs attached to them.

Throughout this page and elsewhere in our guide, we regularly refer to the importance of simming yourself on Raidbots. This is because every character is unique, and each gear piece you have access to can change what is best right now for you.

While we do offer recommendations for gear and trinkets, these are not complete replacements for simming yourself. The only way to truly optimize your character to that degree is by making use of the tools available!

Optimization

Simulations and Tools

For further reading on how to truly maximize your character's potential, check out our guide on Raidbots!

Go to Guide

Babylonius

Guide Author

Follow Babylonius

This guide is written and maintained by Babylonius; Long time raider in Occasional Excellence; Thirteen year veteran of Windwalker; Founder and owner of the dedicated Monk website, Peak of Serenity; and Admin/Owner of the Monk Discord, PeakofSerenity. You can find him on Twitch, Twitter, and occasionally YouTube.