Part of what helps me as a healer is to analyze myself and my performance. I am still technically in the adolescent stages of learning to Mistweave, and therefore trial and error and some research have been necessary over the past few months. Another thing that helped me with my Shaman was to post a guide. Sitting down, putting some thought into how I play enough to explain it, this helped me analyze myself and what I could do better.
I finally feel that I am to a point with Ireenia where I can make some statements about how I Mistweave, and not sound completely ignorant. 🙂 Hopefully this exercise will also help me to improve even more.
Unlike my Shaman’s guide, though, I have decided to break this guide up into more bite-sized pieces. This portion will focus on Stats, and the next two will be Talents and Glyphs, then my Rotation. Maybe I will even attempt something about World of Logs and parses… maybe. 😛
Stat Priority and Reforging
One of the biggest issues I have had since beginning to raid on my Monk is stats and what I feel the most important focus should be.
The Mistweaver Mastery is okie, but lackluster, so I have never put much focus into it. I don’t mind the random Monk-balls, they are a nice bonus, but they are not something I can control. So I would rather focus my stats elsewhere. At least with my Shaman, my Mastery affected how much I healed if I healed lower targets. That is something I can focus on.
Crit is okie, but not as impressive as it was on my Shaman, it has no mana regen capabilities like it did there.
But Haste, Haste seems to be the shining star of channeled spells and HoT ticks. Not to mention, more Haste means faster casting, and faster generation and usage of Chi. Monk healing is a loop of using mana, using Chi, and using Mana Tea. As long as I can maintain the mana-Chi balance, the more and faster I can cast, the better.
Priority
There is an updated Mistweaver guide on MMO Champion, and from it, I pulled this nifty little guideline for prioritizing. As you might notice, they seem to feel similar about Mastery. Personally, I think Intellect factors more strongly, though, since I cannot reforge into Intellect.
If below ilvl 489:
- Spirit until satisfactory mana regen. > Intellect > Crit > Haste > Mastery
If above ilvl 489:
- Spirit until satisfactory mana regen. > 3,145 Haste > Intellect > Crit > Haste > Mastery
If above ilvl 510:
- Spirit until satisfactory mana regen. > 6,141 Haste > Intellect > Crit > Haste > Mastery
Haste
I am leaning most heavily toward Haste. Having more gear is definitely helping in this regard. For quite some time, I was focused on the 3145 Haste break, and everything else into Crit. Mistweavers seem to be somewhat dependent on gear, and as mine has improved and I have been able to push my Haste more, the boost has made for a noticeable difference. This seems to coincide with the priorities I listed above from MMO Champion.
After some searching, I have finally stumbled across some updated information about Mistweaver Haste break points. In the same MMO Champion guide I mentioned above, there is also a more extensive chart for Haste break points.
As you can see from the chart, the two major (and attainable) Haste break points are at 3145 and 6141. These are the same break points referred to above in the stat priorities above. (These are also assuming you are running with someone with the 5% Spell Haste buff.)
I am currently at 6409 without Stance of the Wise Serpent on, and 9614 with it. Honestly, I have been somewhat confused about whether I am suppose to figure my Haste with or without it. So I decided to do some math. (Disclaimer: I hate math!)
My conclusion? It seems to be before figuring in Wise Serpent, because according to the tooltip my Renewing Mist lasts 17.94 seconds and ticks every 1.63 seconds, which equals 11 ticks if my math is correct. So that seems on par with my 6409 without a 5% spell haste buff. (Because I was just standing around, solo, in the Shrine.)
So remember to turn off Stance of the Wise Serpent before reforging or examining your Haste.
Spirit
As for Spirit, I am sitting at about 10.7k with a 529 iLevel. 10k-11k seems to be a happy area.
More Haste might lead me to more Spirit, but for now I seem to be in a good, balanced place. I can use mana and Chi and my Mana Tea and manage my mana pretty well, if I am straight healing.
Honestly, I might look into boosting my Spirit some more, simply because I like fiddling with Fistweaving. The healing is so-so, but the damage is pretty nice. It is just too mana intensive for me to be able to maintain it throughout an entire raid encounter just yet, especially using healing spells and damaging skills together. But I think even in that regard, I am getting close. I am regularly doing heroics and scenarios with almost pure Fistweaving, and in an LFR earlier this week, the bosses were dying fast enough that I kept up my mana throughout.
But as far as straight healing goes, 10k-11k and my Shado-Pan Assault trinket are working out well.
Crit
Crit is an okie stat for throughput, but a bit too unpredictable for me. Without the added bonus of mana regen, like on my Shaman, this makes me more interested in Haste. Only once I figure out exactly where I want to cut off my Haste, might I reforge the extra points back into Crit. But I have not made a solid decision in that regard yet.
Gems and Enchantments
Even though I am listing gems and enchantments last, these are best done before reforging.
Gems
I still stand by matching gem sockets and getting socket bonuses. I see no reason for losing out on free stats.
Red
- Brilliant (straight Intellect)
Blue
- Purified (Purple – Intellect and Spirit)
Yellow
- Reckless (Orange – Intellect and Haste)
Meta
- Legendary (Intellect and Chance to not use mana) — if you have it
- Burning (Intellect and Increased Crit Effect) — the primary choice for a non-Legendary meta
- Revitalizing (Spirit and Increased Crit Effect) — a good alternative if you need more Spirit
Enchantments
Most of the enchantments have little room for choice, but there are a few that have some wiggle room.
For hands, you have a choice between Mastery and Haste – I say Haste, because I value that over Mastery. For chest, you have a choice between all stats and straight Spirit – I say stats, because that means more Intellect, but if you are really hurting for Spirit, that is an option. For feet, you have a choice between speed and Mastery or straight Haste – I say movement speed over Haste, even though it means choosing Mastery. For the weapon, there is Jade Spirit and Windsong – I say Jade Spirit, unless you have a low iLevel weapon you want to enchant cheaply, because the Intellect will help more than a random secondary stat.
- Shoulder – Greater Crane Wing Inscription (+200 Intellect and +100 Crit)
- Chest – Glorious Stats (All Stats +80)
- Wrist – Super Intellect (+180 Intellect) — w/Leatherworking: Fur Lining – Intellect (+500 Intellect)
- Hands – Greater Haste (+170 Haste)
- Legs – Greater Pearlescent Spellthread (+285 Intellect and +165 Spirit)
- Feet – Pandaren’s Step (Increased Movement and Mastery +140)
- Weapon – Jade Spirit (Intellect and Spirit proc)
- Offhand (if applicable) – Major Intellect (+165 Intellect)
- Cloak – Superior Intellect (+180 Intellect)
- Rings – w/Enchanting: Greater Intellect (+160 Intellect)
Keep a look out for the followups to this post real soon. 🙂
~ Effy
And that number of bosses will grow as gear improves and the bosses become more farmable.
Awaiting the Muse 