Mistweaver Ability Spotlight – Way of the Crane

Welcome back to the Mistweaver Ability Spotlight, a series where we go in-depth and talk about using specific abilities that are very unique to Mistweavers. Today we will be looking at Way of the Crane, and is the best rotation and setup to maximize each use of this ability.

What is Way of the Crane?

Way of the Crane is a PvP ability. It effect is that it increases your Physical damage by 25%, you remove and become immune to all snare and root effects and you heal up to 3 nearest allies for 150% of all damage done. This buff lasts 15 seconds. It does cost 25% of your mana, so there is a large cost associated with the large amount of healing it does provide. Since this is a PvP ability, why do we care about it in PvE? Well, with the new Azerite Essence system and in particular the Conflict and Strike essence, the major effect of this grants us access to Way of the Crane in PvE scenarios.

You can get access to the Conflict and Strife essence by doing rated PvP.

• For Rank 1, you need to earn 500 conquest in a week.
• For Rank 2, you need to reach 1000 rating in any PvP bracket.
• For Rank 3, you need to collect 15 items from your weekly PvP chest to upgrade, similar to the Mythic+ Essence.

In-Depth Look

So now that we know what Way of the Crane is, how exactly do you use it? In this section we will deep dive a bit into the setup, the different rotations during Way of the Crane, any haste breakpoints, and the final verdict.

Setup

With Way of the Crane, the minimal setup you will want to enter the cooldown with is 2 stacks of Teachings of the Monastery, Rising Sun Kick off cooldown, and Thunder Focus Tea off cooldown. From there you have all the necessary items ready to start the initial opening rotation of the cooldown.

There is some potential additional nuance if you want to include using Way of the Crane in one of the final GCDs of Mana Tea to cut its mana cost in half, or timing the usage with a potion. For those items, take a look at how or when you may do that in the ending Question and Answer section. For now though the basic requirements listed above is what we will start with.

Rotation Variations

Based on the above setup, the opening 4 GCDs of any Way of the Crane usage should be consistent. You are looking at the following cast sequence:

1. Tiger Palm
2. Tiger Palm
3. Thunder Focus Tea

1. Way of the Crane (Start of Buff)
2. Rising Sun Kick
3. Tiger Palm
4. Rising Sun Kick
5. Blackout Kick

This initial rotation ends up being the most efficient as it gets up your Secret Infusion buff, from Thunder Focus Tea -> Rising Sun Kick. It also efficiently uses the GCD between Rising Sun Kicks to cap stacks of Teachings of the Monastery, and ends the initial opening with a full 4 Blackout Kicks to maximize your Rising Sun Kick reset potential.

From here your rotation can diverge into two thought processes. One, Tiger Palm 3 times, then Blackout Kick, or alternate Tiger Palms with Blackout Kicks to fish for early Rising Sun Kick resets. Below is the analysis of both, please note the following stat values were used in the analysis:

• Assumed 16% Haste for all of the calculations. This allows for a natural reset of Rising Sun Kick on the final GCD of Way of the Crane.
• Assumed 2 stacks of Secret Infusion @ 420 item level for the buffed damage values.

Thanks for Peak of Serenity Discord user Ashbourne for putting together the base spreadsheet. Below are the two main rotational differences we explored, and the probability of each occurring:

As you can see the damage values are very close between the two rotations, but the reset probability allows the top 3 Tiger Palms -> Blackout Kick to generally be more consistent with damage. If you were able to pull some of the <5% probability reset combinations with the alternating Tiger Palm -> Blackout Kick rotation, it would be a theoretical damage and thus healing increase.

The reset consistency and damage provided by the Tiger Palm three times into Blackout Kick make it a clear choice for the majority of situations.

For a view of the details behind the above screenshot, please check out the sheet here.

Haste Breakpoints

This was mentioned above in the assumptions sections, but there are 2 key haste breakpoints with Way of the Crane. The details are below:

• ~11% Haste – This initial breakpoint allows for an additional GCD under Way of the Crane. This is a key breakpoint and generally in current raid gear should be no issue to hit
• ~16% Haste – This is the second breakpoint that allows for a natural reset of Rising Sun Kick during the final GCD of Way of the Crane. This one may be a bit more difficult to reach, but does provide a guarantee of 3 Rising Sun Kicks in a single Way of the Crane.

Final Thoughts

Way of the Crane is a very cool ability and gives Mistweaver something it has been lacking for 2 expansions now, an actual cooldown that requires some forward planning and thought. It also brings back to PvE the old Fistweaving style that has also been absent for an expansion or two now. The ability does come with a large mana cost, so on top of adding in a DPS rotations, there is also the additional mana management that needs to be taken into consideration. Between usages you will want to conserve to limit your mana usage to ensure you have enough mana to finish the fight.

As for the rotation, the standard Tiger Palm three times into Blackout Kick provides the most consistent damage. While alternating Tiger Palm with Blackout Kick has the chance to do more damage and therefore more healing, the probability is low enough that it won’t result in consistency.

TL;DR / Question and Answers

This section will be dedicated to some quick Q&A and summary information. I will add additional questions from the comments or feedback to the list as time goes on.

When do you use Conflict and Strife as a Major Essence?

You will use the essence any time you can consistently hit something for the duration of the buff, while healing is needed.

What fights would you use Way of the Crane on in Azshara’s Eternal Palace?

Currently, every fight is a candidate for using Way of the Crane. I will say the first boss, Abyssal Commander Sivara is a weak candidate and you will probably swap it out on progression.

What is the optimal rotation and setup when using Way of the Crane?

Read above . . . Just kidding.

1. Start with 2 stacks of Teachings of the Monastery and Thunder Focus Tea and Rising Sun Kick off cooldown.
2. TFT -> WotC -> RSK -> TP -> RSK -> BOK as your opener
3. 3x TP -> BoK, weaving RSKs in with resets

Do you want to always use Way of the Crane with Mana Tea?

No. If you need to chain Mana Tea into Way of the Crane you can, but that is a lot of healing, that is generally not needed in the current raid. You are better off using Mana Tea between Way of the Crane usages to conserve mana during those times.

Does all damage contribute to Way of the Crane healing?

No, only physical damage contributes.

What minor essences do you want to use with Way of the Crane?

Memory of the Lucid Dream or Ever Rising Tide would be the two main ones. With Lucid Dream being your first chose.

What talents do you use with Way of the Crane?

Your talent sections won’t change when using Way of the Crane. Way of the Crane does not make Rising Mist stronger, it’s a trap. DO NOT SPEC RISING MIST!