The Warrior of the Elements Monk in the 2024 Player's Handbook lets you channel the power of water, earth, fire, and air (and lightning, acid, and thunder) to enhance your martial arts mastery. This subclass builds upon the legacy of the Way of the Four Elements Monk from the 2014 Player's Handbook, but offers a more streamlined approach to unleash your inner elemental warrior.

Let's take a look at the new Warrior of the Elements Monk subclass in the 2024 Player's Handbook!

• Elemental Attunement — Level 3
• Manipulate Elements — Level 3
• Elemental Burst — Level 6
• Stride of the Elements — Level 11
• Elemental Epitome — Level 17

Explore the New Monk

The 2024 Monk class has seen more prominent changes compared to most classes in the 2024 Player's Handbook. Their features more efficiently use Focus Points (previously Ki Points), they are able to regain their resources more easily, and they're offered more options that aren't tied to this expendable resource.

This revamping is extended to the new Warrior of the Elements subclass, as well as the other three Monk subclasses included in the 2024 Player's Handbook, Warrior of Mercy, Warrior of Shadow, and Warrior of the Open Hand.

Warrior of the Elements Monk Features

Artist: Katerina Ladon

Elemental Attunement — Level 3

This feature is the core power of the Warrior of the Elements Monk. It infuses your Unarmed Strikes with elemental energy, extends your reach to 10 feet, allows you to output Acid, Cold, Fire, Lightning, or Thunder damage, and provides the potential to toss your enemies around the battlefield.

Monks who want to throw elemental hands as soon as they can and for as long as they can will be happy to hear that this is an extremely efficient feature. You can enter Elemental Attunement for 1 Focus Point at the start of your turn, so you're not wasting an action or Bonus Action, and this state lasts 10 minutes or until you have the Incapacitated condition.

A Disciple No Longer

This is a complete redesign from the previous Way of the Four Elements Monk in the 2014 Player's Handbook, which was built around learning various Elemental Disciplines, most of which came in the form of spells.

This change was meant to simplify the elemental Monk and make their Focus Point expenditure more effective. Instead of having to spend a handful of points every turn to use your elemental powers, you only have to activate it once, leaving more points to do more fun Monk stuff.

Unarmed Striker

Seeing as Elemental Attunement only works with Unarmed Strikes, this feature means your Warrior of the Elements Monk will be more likely to be an unarmed fighter rather than a Monk weapon wielder.

Striking out with with elemental-infused punches and kicks will be even more fun for the 2024 Monk, as their Martial Arts dice have been upgraded at each level. Now, level 1 monks dish out 1d6 with each Unarmed Strike. Their Martial Arts dice max out at 1d12 at level 17.

Reach Out and Grab 'Em

If you're looking to spice things up, the new Grappler feat combines exceptionally well with the Warrior of the Elements' extended reach and the 2024 Monk's ability to grapple using Dexterity. With the Grappler feat, you can attempt to grapple a creature you hit as part of the same Attack action you use to make an Unarmed Strike.

Seeing as being Grappled reduces a creature's Speed to 0, you can easily hold them out of reach and wail on them with your elemental strikes, which you'll now get Advantage on thanks to Grappler.

On top of being a mechanically powerful ability, this adds to the power fantasy of wielding the elements against your foes. You can flavor your grapples to be temporary ice chunks that hold your foes in place or swirls of air that catch your enemies and prevent them from moving.

Manipulate Elements — Level 3

This feature gives you access to Elementalism, a new cantrip in the 2024 Player's Handbook. This is kind of the utility knife of your elemental monk and will allow you to channel water, earth, fire, and air into minor effects. You can create a breeze, light candles, and conjure water when you need access to a certain element. Good for setting the mood, but you might need a bit more firepower if you're thinking of burning down a fortified stronghold made of stone.

Elemental Burst — Level 6

At the cost of only 2 Focus Points and a Magic action, you'll be happy you've got Elemental Burst when you need to break out the flashy, kaboom-y side of elemental combat.

This feature allows you to detonate a 20-foot radius sphere explosion of Acid, Cold, Fire, Lightning, or Thunder damage. Targets in the sphere that fail their Dexterity saving throw take damage equal to three rolls of your Martial Arts dice, which is a d8 at level 6.

Elemental Sustainability

While it might not be as damaging as a Fireball yet, this is just the beginning of your bursting career. As your Martial Arts dice increases, so too will the damage you output with this ability, maxing out at 3d12 at level 17. At that point, you'll have enough Focus Points to chuck more elemental blasts than a major-league pitcher.

Expanding Your Toolbox

Monks don't always have much to do when they're far away from their enemies or have ways to capitalize when their enemies have bunched up. Elemental Burst solves both these issues by giving you an AoE option with a 120-foot range, so feel free to sit in the backline and blast away if you're low on Hit Points.

You also have the solid upside of being able to choose from five different damage options each time you use this feature, which can help you avoid resistances and capitalize on weaknesses.

Stride of the Elements — Level 11

This upgrades your Elemental Attunement, providing a Fly speed and Swim speed equal to your Speed while it's active.

While this feature may mechanically give you a Fly speed and Swim speed, in my head, it's so much more. Part of the power fantasy of this subclass is allowing you to imagine your character incorporating elemental powers into everything they do. And, of course, this includes making an ice slide or using jets of fire to propel themselves across the battlefield.

Also, thanks to Unarmored Movement, this means you'll likely have a baseline Fly and Swim speed of 50 feet when you receive this feature.

Nice Moves, Twinkletoes

Having a reach of 10 feet on your Unarmed Strikes plus a consistent Fly speed will make you almost impossible to pin down in combat. Plus, you have Elemental Burst that you can rain down on your opponents from on high.

If your enemies ever get too close, you can use Step of the Wind and Dash away. You can even bring your friends along by level 10—no flying bison required.

Elemental Epitome — Level 17

This well-named feature is the epitome of your Elemental Attunement. It provides a defensive, movement-based, and offensive boost to your kit and really makes you feel like a master of the elements.

First, you gain resistance to Acid, Cold, Fire, Lightning, or Thunder damage and you can change which damage type your resistance applies to at the start of each of your turns.

Next, your Step of the Wind gets a buff, allowing you to travel 20 feet further (while flying or swimming, I may remind you) and dish out elemental damage equal to one of your Martial Arts dice to any creature you get within 5 feet of.

Last, when you hit with an Unarmed Strike, you can deal extra damage equal to one of your Martial Arts dice once per turn. Seeing as your Elemental Attunement comes with elemental damage baked in, this extra damage is the same type of element you've chosen.

Master All the Elements!

If you've ever wanted to ferociously attack with blasts of fire, weather damage like a rock, dance around the battlefield like a breeze, or hamper your enemies with water, the new Warrior of the Elements Monk in the 2024 Player's Handbook is for you. Its streamlined approach, combined with the buffs from the base Monk class, means you'll never run out of cool, elementally-fueled things to do. Plus, you'll get to channel all the elements, not just one, even if you don't have blue tattoos or glowing white eyes!

We're excited to share more of what you can expect from the 2024 core rulebooks, so stay tuned for additional guides previewing the 2024 Player's Handbook, which is releasing September 17!

Ready to see what's next for D&D? The 2024 Player’s Handbook, 2024 Dungeon Master’s Guide, and 2024 Monster Manual are all available for preorder on the D&D Beyond marketplace. Plus, you can save $60 and get exclusive digital bonuses when you preorder the Digital & Physical Core Rulebook Bundle!

Mike Bernier (@arcane_eye) is the founder of Arcane Eye, a site focused on providing useful tips and tricks to all those involved in the world of D&D. Outside of writing for Arcane Eye, Mike spends most of his time playing games, hiking with his girlfriend, and tending the veritable jungle of houseplants that have invaded his house.