Brewmaster Monk Guide - WOW Dragonflight

Brewmaster Monk is a very straightforward tank that focuses on surviving all but the biggest hits, turning the vast majority of damage taken into a DoT effect known as Stagger that is capable of being cleared by other abilities. Through your increasing dodge chance and through Stagger smoothing out your damage intake, the way that a Brewmaster Monk takes damage makes both your life as a tank as well as the healer's job significantly easier and more predictable. On top of all of this, Brewmaster has considerable utility in almost all content.

Why play Brewmaster Monk

Brewmaster monk has a damage intake that is completely predictable through Stagger and Shuffle for both Magic and Physical damage, helping immensely at keeping you alive.

Brewmaster has access to a considerable amount of mobility in Roll, Tiger’s Lust and Transcendence.

You have unique abilities to help reposition enemies such as Clash, Ring of Peace and Summon Black Ox Statue, crowd control abilities such as Leg Sweep and Paralysis as well as the ability to provide unique auras to the group and to themselves in Close to Heart, Generous Pour & Windwalking. As well as being the only class with the Mystic Touch debuff, the specialization and gameplay itself is incredibly forgiving to mistakes.

There are a few downsides to playing Brewmaster that are noteworthy, namely:

An unusual weakness to sustained magic damage.

Lower base health than any other tank in the game, augmented by your dodge but unforgiving when it comes to DoT effects.

Large number of abilities and keybinds to keep track of.

Low self-sustainability outside of Expel Harm.

Playstyle might come across as unintuitive to some and may require addons or WeakAuras to play effectively.

The basics of Brewmaster Monk gameplay

As a tank specialization, your job is of course to make sure above all else stay alive and make sure you have the threat of every mob you are in combat with. The tools you have to complete the first task lie in your Stagger passive as well as your Shuffle passive ability, then using your Purifying Brew to clear that Stagger and soften your damage intake. In addition to this, plenty of potential damage is dodged and mitigated entirely through the application of their Mastery: Elusive Brawler.

When it comes to keeping the aggro of enemies monk is competitive with any other tank in the game. Brewmaster has incredible damage output through converting their Energy into abilities such as Spinning Crane Kick, Keg Smash, and Tiger Palm that both help to improve the power of Stagger through Shuffle. In addition, you have a number abilities with no cost, such as Blackout kick allowing you to dodge more attacks, Breath of Fire setting enemies hit by Keg Smash on fire, or instantly killing most enemies below a certain HP threshold with Touch of Death. With stagger spreading out a large portion of all damage taken as a 10 second (13 if talented) DoT effect, you gain an enormous advantage when dealing with burst damage and burst damage is generally what kills all tanks. Monks have access to Purifying Brew and Celestial Brew, allowing them to clear a portion of their Staggered damage and shield themselves. This provides monks with proactive defensive tools and reactive defensive tools and gives them the most complete toolkit of any tank. Their collection of defensive cooldowns is severely limited, but Stagger shores that weakness up almost entirely.

Offensively, Brewmaster Monks play around keeping Keg Smash permanently on cooldown, and because their main rotational skill is an AoE, their ability priorities hardly change between AoE and single target.

Brewmaster Monk Utility

Brewmaster has an incredible amount of both mobility and utility in their toolkit, just to name the most notable ones:

• Stagger is an incredible ability that is unlike any other in the game and will be the sole reason you are both easier to predict required healing and easier to reactively heal than any other tank in the game.
• Weapons of Order is a considerably effective ability in the Mastery: Elusive Brawler bonus that is applied as well as significant, stacking damage buff that applies to your Keg Smash.
• Purifying Brew clears 50% of your stagger instantly and is effective at lowering your damage intake significantly on demand and often, and with the cooldown reduction your Purifying Brew has, you will use it early and often to prevent dangerous situations.
• Invoke Niuzao, the Black Ox summons an effigy of Niuzao, effectively taking 25% of your stagger while also dealing a significant amount of damage in both single target and AoE situations.
• Zen Meditation reduces all damage taken by 60% for 8 seconds, and although it is canceled entirely after being hit by a melee attack or casting another spell, this is significant in lowering the damage of magical abilities in a wide variety of situations.
• Detox removes all poison and diseases on the target and is an ability that will help your party significantly and provide immense relief to your healer if used well.
• Ring of Peace is a borderline overpowered crowd control ability that creates forced space from most mobs in the game for 5 seconds, as well as a short cooldown to be used often. This can be used to reposition mobs in every single pull.
• Paralysis is a 60 second incapacitate that will take an enemy out of the fight entirely, saving you on dangerous pulls and Inspiring affix weeks in Mythic+
• Fortifying Brew is a long 6 minute cooldown (4 if talented) that increases your current and maximum health by 15% as well as reducing your damage taken by 20%. It is something that while on a long cooldown, should be used early and often.
• Transcendence is a set teleport location with a 40 yard range and a 45 second cooldown. This is an incredible ability for repositioning and should be used frequently when needing to deal with movement based mechanics.
• Diffuse Magic & Dampen Harm are your significant damage reduction abilities, reducing your magic damage taken by 60% on a 1.5 minute cooldown and reflecting some abilities, as well as reducing a significant portion of your physical damage taken on a 2 minute cooldown, respectively. Both of these can be taken as talents and both of them should be used early and often to stay ahead of damage taken.
• Every single specialization of monk has access to Leg Sweep, a short AoE stun around your character. This is an incredible ability for stopping casts and controlling mobs and will be one you use practically on cooldown.
• As a Monk, you have access to the only Mystic Touch physical damage taken increase debuff in the game and it is incredibly value for every group and in all content.

Monk is an incredible tanking specialization that relies quite heavily on the healer to keep them sustained and in combat, but if you use your tools correct you are predictable and easy to heal and help the group out more than any other tank specialization in the game. Keep an eye out for more guides, talents, Mythic+ tips and routes are coming soon!

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