Player Spotlight: Jfunk

Hello everyone! Welcome to the eighth week of the RaiderIO Player Spotlight. My name is Samantha aka Vitaminpee and with this series, I am aiming to highlight the amazing players of World of Warcraft regardless of their chosen class, spec, language, and/or region. I hope to bring you valuable information and help you learn more about your favorite top players or discover new ones from around the world that you may not yet know.

This week, I had the privilege of speaking with Jfunk about Windwalker Monk in High Mythic+. Jfunk is currently the #1 world Windwalker Monk DPS in Season 2.

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“Windwalker Monk is misunderstood as many other non-meta classes are. They’re seen so rarely that most people aren’t quite sure what to make of them. To counteract this, we need more high-level representation.”

VitaminP: Hi Jfunk! Thanks for taking the time to chat with us. Can you please tell us a little more about yourself?

Jfunk: Hey! My name is James or J-Funk and I’m 25 years old. I was born in Upstate New York and live there to this day. I’ve played WoW since April 2005 and I primarily only raided at that time. I’m a newcomer to pushing keys. I casually did Mythic+ in Legion, but decided to take it more seriously in BfA Beta. I have a degree in Computer Science, but I’m mainly focusing on streaming at the moment.

VitaminP: How long have you been pushing keys as a Windwalker Monk this expansion?

Jfunk: I’ve been pushing keys this expansion since the BFA Beta. I got introduced to Edelweiss at the end of Legion, so I started running keys with her and her group on the BFA Beta and on live sometimes. They introduced me to how fun pushing keys could be. Windwalker Monk is a pretty strong melee class in Season 2 of BFA. It deals with the new Reaping affix quite well and benefits a lot from the removal of Infested. Additionally, the Windwalker Monk Azerite Traits are pretty powerful and, with the right setup, we can deal some pretty crazy damage.





VitaminP: What utility do you bring to a group as a Windwalker monk?

Jfunk: Windwalker Monk brings what I call the “Monk Utility Package”. This includes Detox, Ring of Peace, Leg Sweep, Paralysis, Resuscitate, Vivify, and Tiger’s Lust. Windwalker also brings Disable (a pretty strong Single Target slow) and the Windwalking aura which increases the movement speed of allies within 10 yards by 10%. However, the main reason to bring a Windwalker Monk is the 5% Physical Damage taken debuff on enemy targets called Mystic Touch. If you don’t already have a Monk in your group, that group-wide buff can be a nice boon. I like to utilize the entirety of my class’s abilities, so it feels amazing being able to dispel poisons and diseases from my allies with Detox, speed up the tank with Tiger’s Lust, or help the tank kite with a well-placed Ring of Peace.

“The greatest challenge about playing Windwalker Monk in keys is dealing with all the bugs the spec has right now. Windwalker Monk has to be the buggiest spec in the game.”

VitaminP: Windwalker Monk is known to be one of the harder specs to play. What is your greatest challenge as Windwalker in keys?

Jfunk: The greatest challenge about playing Windwalker Monk in keys is dealing with all the bugs the spec has right now. Windwalker Monk has to be the buggiest spec in the game. You have to get used to these bugs and play around them the best that you can. For all of Season 1, the Mark of the Crane stacks mechanic wasn’t working correctly and they would just disappear after Storm, Earth, and Fire expires. Currently, the Dance of Chi-Ji Azerite Trait isn’t affecting the Storm, Earth and Fire spirits, resulting in a 55% damage loss on the proc. Additionally, sometimes you won’t be able to use Whirling Dragon Punch even though Rising Sun Kick and Fists of Fury are on cooldown. On the bright side, there is a pretty substantial DPS-increasing bug that involves you waiting until the last 0.2-0.1 seconds left on Storm, Earth, and Fire before squeezing in your Whirling Dragon Punch. If you time it right, your Storm, Earth, and Fire buff, (which splits your damage to each spirit), will fade, but the spirits return to you as they are casting Whirling Dragon Punch, with each one dealing full damage. This results in your Whirling Dragon Punch doing 300% damage rather than 135%.





VitaminP: What are your go-to talent builds and Azerite traits for Mythic+? What variations to your build might you make for different affixes/situations?

Jfunk: For most dungeons/situations this is my go-to talent build:



For smaller pack sizes (places that have mostly ~4 mob-pulls i.e. Kings’ Rest and Temple of Sethraliss):
→

The smaller and slower you pull, the more powerful Xuen will be. Xuen can also be powerful on Tyrannical weeks to help defeat difficult bosses such as The Golden Serpent in Kings’ Rest. What it comes down to is knowing how your group is going to pull the dungeon and planning around that.

You should switch → in Shrine of the Storm, Siege of Boralus (to dispel last boss’s debuff), Temple of Sethraliss, and Motherlode (to dispel and reflect 3rd boss’s debuff).



VitaminP: What do you think is the most misunderstood element of Windwalker Monk? Do you frequently get denied from groups due to your class/spec?

Jfunk: Windwalker Monk is misunderstood as many other non-meta classes are. They’re seen so rarely that most people aren’t quite sure what to make of them. To counteract this, we need more high-level representation of these non-meta classes to help change people’s opinions. It is pretty common to get denied or kicked from groups just because you are a Windwalker Monk or any other non-meta class. It’s just a mindset that people have—they want the classes that the best groups bring to make it easier on themselves and because they know those classes are proven to be effective. While the negative community perception is justified for some classes in Mythic+, I prefer to see for myself what a class is capable of before I judge its viability. In the case of Windwalker Monk, it brings so much valuable utility and damage to a group that its poor reputation may simply be due to its unpopularity and not an issue with the class itself.



VitaminP: If there was any change or addition that blizzard could implement for Windwalker, what do you wish it would be?

Jfunk: I wish there were more impactful talent choices or new talents. Blizzard messed with the talents in the BFA Alpha/Beta period, but reverted a lot of them, so Windwalker plays about the same now as it did in Legion. Most of the talents aren’t well balanced, so there isn’t that much choice and a lot of them just lack the “cool” factor to be even remotely interesting. I would also really enjoy it if i could use my interrupt during Fists of Fury while not stopping the channel.



VitaminP: What’s the funniest mistake or bug you’ve encountered in keys due to your class?

Jfunk: You find out a lot about your abilities and their hitboxes when you do Waycrest Manor. There were many learning experiences in early BFA where I would press Whirling Dragon Punch and pull mobs above or below me, which was really “exciting” for our tanks.




VitaminP: What advice can you give to aspiring Windwalker Monks in Mythic+?

Jfunk: As a Windwalker Monk just starting out in Mythic+, I would just say to learn the dungeons first and where to use your cooldowns. Learn how long certain pulls will take in order to maximize the amount of times you can utilize your CDs. Get comfortable with your “Windwalker Utility Package” to help your group. Practice your rotation and make sure you are dealing the most efficient possible damage in every scenario. You also really want to have a focus interrupt macro for doing higher keys so that you can focus on killing a mob while getting ready to interrupt your target. Lastly, just go out there and get experience. It takes time to acquire all these skills and knowledge. Don’t beat yourself up too much when you make mistakes and make sure you learn something from them.