Hey folks.
I’m working on a script for a youtube video about Pandaria RP and I’m at a bit where I need some information about monk martial arts. I know the bare bones stuff about the August Celestial inspired styles. Serpent, Tiger, Crane and Ox, but I would like to read some stuff from more sources and from roleplayers that have more specific knowledge on the subject. If you have links to outside sources for information, I’ll receive it gladly.
ye bro i got you😍
https://giphy.com/gifs/dreamworks-kung-fu-panda-Rr6J53cRIwdBS
It’s a bit much to jot down everything I know here, I’d say your best bet is to start on wowpedia on the subject of monks and work your way through the links you find in the article. They will usually give a source to the material they gleaned it from, be it novels or quests.
https://wow.gamepedia.com/Monk#History
Hey there Zol! While I’m no means a Monk expert, I’ll drop some observations I’ve seen/recorded as well as some external visual references on how the stances are built via their animations. Oddly enough, monks at one time all shared a similar toolkit, but their role was balanced and altered through combat stances! Each is based, regionally, on combating particular types of Sha (ie. the Brewmaster often grappled with the Sha of Fear, so focused on sturdiness and stamina in the face of the overwhelming).
Stance of the Sturdy Ox - The Brewmaster stance! Very much incorporating a wide variety of brews and drinks, Brewmasters have ‘unpredictable’ movement and students of this school are known for shrugging of incredible blows. A lot of the visual stance-work in the animation rig can be immediately drawn back to the Drunken Fist (or boxing) style of Wushu. The most popular media version of this comes from many of Jackie Chan’s kung-fu movies, and his role in ‘The Forbidden Kingdom’ is perhaps one of the best visual examples.
Stance of the Fierce Tiger - The Windwalker’s signature style. It is the first stance many monks learn, and is one that is often purely offensive. Tiger-Style techniques are strong and quick; fast enough that a monk can throw dozens of punches in a few seconds! All chi abilities a WW has at their disposal are near instantaneous, allowing them to stay on the offensive full-time. They are the absolute experts of aggressive combat, and they are one of the few monks you’d hope not to meet. A lot of Tiger Stance moves are seemingly based on more offensive martial arts (Krav Maga, Russian Fist) but most can be seen in observing Shaolin Tiger Fist.
Stance of the Wise Serpent - The predominate style of the scholarly Mistwalkers, Wise Serpent Stance is perhaps the least physically imposing style of the Monk. Instead, much of it’s power relies in how it more effectively channels the mysterious Mists this school is known for; improving one’s abilities to naturally direct the ebb and flow of Chi. Needless to say, Mistweavers are just as dangerous as their counterparts, and much of their stance-work is reminiscent of Wing Chun. The most popular media counterpart to it is, of course, the Ip Man movies (most of which are available on Netflix in English sub AND dub!).
Stance of the Spirited Crane - This was the only stance in-game that did not feature it’s own animation rig, and was only available to Mistweavers. It also replaced ‘Stance of the Fierce Tiger’ for Mistweavers, and was thought to be a more offensive in-between of the two, using offensive blows to redirect Chi and support their allies.
Thank you Velravyn! This is exactly the kind of summary of each style I needed. I was kind of stuck at the Windwalker, Brewmaster, Mistweaver titles as they don’t really spell out any specific styles and are more there for spec names and seem like very “surface level” descriptions, if you know what I mean. Thanks again!
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