Home World of Warcraft Classes Brewmaster Monk 9.0.5 Guide

Brewmaster Monk 9.0.5 Guide

Updated created by
Brewmaster Monk in ShadowlandsGlossaryMain AbilitiesTalentsCovenantsSoulbinds and ConduitsConduitsLegendariesClass mechanicsStatsRace choiceBiS Gear + TrinketsMacrosAddonsPro Tips & TricksTo sum this up

Brewmaster Monk in Shadowlands

Welcome to the Brewmaster Monk guide’s page at Overgear! This guide will teach you all the tricks of the Brewmaster spec in different aspects of the game and also how to survive even at the toughest challenges of the Shadowlands. You’ll learn what talents to take, which equipment is the best, and which covenant to choose. All of this stuff and even more awaits you on this page.

Brewmaster Monk plays the role of a tank, relying on his brews, agility, and evasiveness.

  • Fantasy: A martial artist whose specialization is tanking and mitigating incoming damage. Brewmaster is always prepared for battle and has all the necessary resources to survive.
  • Resources: Energy is used to cast abilities, which decrease your brew cooldowns. Brew Charges are the primary defensive resource of this spec. Brewmaster’s special mechanics are Healing Spheres.
  • Weapons: Brewmasters can use two-handed staffs and polearms, as well as one-handed axes, swords, maces, and fist weapons.
  • Armor: Leather armor.
  • Races: All races except Goblins, Worgens, and Lightforged Draenei.
  • Mastery: Elusive Brawler grants you increased Dodge chance in melee combat.

Pros:

  • Brewmaster is resistant to high incoming damage due to Stagger and Purifying Brew. Sustained damage is always easier to heal.
  • Celestial Fortune provides an additional heal, so a Brewmaster, unlike other tanks, especially appreciates the critical strike chance.
  • High mobility.
  • Simple rotations.

Cons:

  • Few defensive cooldowns.
  • Limited self-heal features.
  • Poor AoE damage.

The Author

This guide is written by Хяосяша (Hyaosyasha), a Russian raider from “Банхаммер” (Banhammer) guild, a fan of Mythic+s and a veteran of World of Warcraft. I love and actually know how to play on different roles and classes, and on my Twitch streams, you’ll find high-tier Mythic+s completion and some Mythic Raiding.

Glossary

Main Abilities

Talents

On reaching several levels, you will open new Talent tiers. In each tier, you can choose one Talent at a time. Talents can affect your abilities in different ways: add new ones, replace old ones, passively modify various effects and spells. You can change Talents while you’re in Sanctums or in rest areas, but if there are no such places nearby, you can use Tome of the Tranquil Mind, which allows you to change Talents within a minute. Note that Talents can’t be changed in combat. Also, if a Talent selected in a certain tier is on CD, you’ll have to wait for it to recharge in order to change it. 

Tier 1 Lvl 15

Brewmaster Monk 9.0.5 Guide

 

  • Eye of the Tiger – passive, Tiger Palm also applies Eye of the Tiger, dealing Nature damage to the enemy and healing to the Monk over 8 sec. Limited to 1 enemy at a time.
  • Chi Wave – a wave of Chi energy flows through friends and foes, dealing Nature damage or healing. Bounces up to 7 times to targets within 25 yards. This is a GCD ability, so for a Brewmaster, it may be a loss of DPS.
  • Chi Burst – hurls a torrent of Chi energy up to 40 yds forward, dealing Nature damage to all enemies, and healing to the Monk and all allies in its path. Duration 1 second, CD 30 sec. Due to its range, this spell may pull extra mobs, so be careful.

Talents in this tier are not the strongest. Eye of the Tiger is the most versatile choice, while Chi Burst is good for AoE. Don’t take Chi Wave, it’s rather weak and random.

Tier 2 Lvl 25

Brewmaster Monk 9.0.5 Guide

  • Celerity – reduces the cooldown of Roll by 5 sec and increases its maximum number of charges by 1. A nice option for beginners, but doesn’t give as much character control as the other Talents.
  • Chi Torpedo – torpedoes you forward a long distance and increases your movement speed by 30% for 10 sec, stacking up to 2 times. A good option for M+ dungeons, where you need to kite mobs.
  • Tiger’s Lust – increases a friendly target’s movement speed by 70% for 6 sec and removes all roots and snares. CD 30 sec. This Talent grants bonus mobility but requires a separate bind.

This tier doesn’t affect your DPS, so it’s quite situational.

Celerity is good for beginners, Chi Torpedo – for extended kiting, and Tiger’s Lust – for those who want to min-max their character.

Tier 3 Lvl 30

Brewmaster Monk 9.0.5 Guide

The best option in this tier is Light Brewing. It requires no separate bind, and its effect is always active, which is a big plus.

Tier 4 Lvl 35

Brewmaster Monk 9.0.5 Guide

  • Tiger Tail Sweep – increases the range of Leg Sweep by 2 yds and reduces its cooldown by 10 sec. Very situational Talent.
  • Summon Black Ox Statue – summons a Black Ox Statue at the target location for 15 min, a pulsing threat to all enemies within 20 yards. You may cast Provoke on the statue to taunt all enemies near the statue. Take this Talent if you want to draw mobs’ aggro, or if you lack aggro in M+.
  • Ring of Peace – form a Ring of Peace at the target location for 6 sec. Enemies that enter will be ejected from the Ring. CD 45 sec. Allows you to group mobs in M+.

Here your choice depends on your combat needs. If you lack aggro or mobs are too spread, take Summon Black Ox Statue. For M+ always take Ring of Peace, as it’s a very versatile ability that helps you group and kite mobs or even interrupts enemy spell casts. Tiger Tail Sweep is a great choice when you need neither of the above and simply want to use an AoE stun more often.

Tier 5 Lvl 40

Brewmaster Monk 9.0.5 Guide

  • Bob and Weave – passive, increases the duration of Stagger by 3 sec. While it doesn’t reduce the damage you take, it does prolong the effect. Each second you take ~20% less damage from Stagger. The best Talent for raid fights.
  • Healing Elixir – drink a healing elixir, healing you for 15% of your maximum health. 2 charges, CD 30 sec. Nice for solo-content or when you lack some gear. Don’t take it if you already have 1 or 2 healers.
  • Dampen Harm – reduces all damage you take by 20% to 50% for 10 sec, with larger attacks being reduced by more. Duration 10 sec. This Talent grants you another defensive cooldown.

For raids, players usually choose the first option. Dampen Harm is useful in M+, where sometimes you have to survive with no heals or wait until Celestial Brew is ready. Pick Healing Elixir if you’re up for some solo-content.

Tier 6 lvl 45

Brewmaster Monk 9.0.5 Guide

  • Special Delivery – drinking from your Brews has a 100% chance to toss a keg high into the air that lands nearby after 3 sec, dealing damage to all enemies within 8 yards and reducing their movement speed by 50% for 15 sec. This Talent is fairly questionable, as the keg often hits the wrong spot and deals minor damage.
  • Rushing Jade Wind – summons a whirling tornado around you, causing damage over 6 sec to nearby enemies. Great ability for a Brewmaster, which compliments his rotation and AoE aggro.
  • Exploding Keg – hurls a flaming keg at the target location, dealing Fire damage to nearby enemies and causing them to miss their melee attacks for the next 3 sec. This is a former Legion artifact.

Special Delivery is the weakest talent in this tier, it’s almost useless. Exploding Keg is nice, but Rushing Jade Wind is simply better. Jade Wind deals constant damage and fits your rotation, so it’s the strongest Talent in this tier.

Tier 7 Lvl 50

Brewmaster Monk 9.0.5 Guide

  • High Tolerance – Stagger is 5% more effective at delaying damage. You gain up to 15% Haste based on your current level of Stagger. This is a good choice in any situation.
  • Celestial Flames – drinking from Brews has a 30% chance to coat the Monk with Celestial Flames for 6 sec. While Celestial Flames is active, Spinning Crane Kick applies Breath of Fire, and Breath of Fire reduces the damage affected enemies deal to you by an additional 5%. The effect uptime is fairly low, as well as the bonus it grants.
  • Blackout Combo – Blackout Kick also empowers your next ability. The most interesting option here is Keg Smash, which reduces the remaining cooldown on your Brews by 2 additional sec. This will slightly increase your sustain, but at the same time – cut your damage.

By default, take High Tolerance. It amplifies both your survivability and DPS. The other Talents are almost worthless.

To sum up, here are your common builds:

For raids:

  1. Eye of the Tiger
  2. Optional Spell (for ex. Chi Torpedo)
  3. Light Brewing
  4. Summon Black Ox Statue for aggro or Ring of Peace for AoE control
  5. Bob and Weave
  6. Rushing Jade Wind
  7. High Tolerance

For M+:

  1. Eye of the Tiger (Chi Burst for a slightly stronger AoE)
  2. Optional Spell (for ex. Chi Torpedo)
  3. Light Brewing
  4. Ring of Peace
  5. Dampen Harm
  6. Rushing Jade Wind
  7. High Tolerance

Covenants

In Shadowlands, players are able to quest through four new zones ruled by ancient and powerful Covenants. As you progress through the game, you’ll play through each of the four new zones where the Covenants hold dominion, learning about what each Covenant stands for and experiencing some of the powers that they offer. Upon reaching the max level of 60, players can join one of these Covenants.

Kyrians live in Bastion, Necrolords control Maldraxxus, the Night Fae inhabit Ardenweald, and Revendreth is the home of Venthyrs. Each Covenant has unique class abilities and signature abilities available to players who choose to join them at max level.

In this guide, we’ll take a look at all the new Covenant abilities, and how they affect the Brewmaster gameplay.

Covenants Rating

Mythic+:

  • Kyrian >= Night Fae >= Necrolords > Venthyr

Raids:

  • Survivability: Necrolords > Kyrian >= Night Fae > Venthyr
  • DPS: Venthyr > Night Fae >= Kyrian > Necrolords

The best all-around covenant:

  • Kyrian

At the moment, I can recommend Kyrian as a great option both for raids and mythic+. Kyrian will provide you with good DPS and survivability, and one of the best soulbinds in the whole game.

Necrolords are the best choice for maximum survivability. Anyway, you’ve got to understand, that picking DPS can be a better option since every new defensive effect will have reduced effectiveness.

Venthyrs has a very boring and non-interactive ability, but despite that, it has the highest possible DPS in the raid and solo target. And you will get very few defensive bonuses, so be very careful with it.

Night Fae are OK for DPS. Their ability is easily mixed into the Brewmaster’s rotation when everything is on the cooldown, but keep in mind that you won’t get much survivability with this.

  1. The Kyrian

  • Class ability: Weapons of Order – for the next 30 sec, your Mastery is increased by 10%. Additionally, Keg Smash cooldown is reset instantly and enemies hit by Keg Smash take 5% increased damage, stacking up to 4 times.
  • Signature ability: Summon Steward – call your steward to bring you a Phial of Serenity that can be consumed to restore 20% health and remove all Curse, Disease, Poison, and Bleed effects. Your Steward additionally offers access to a selection of useful amenities for 4 min.

The Kyrian are a good versatile Covenant. Weapons of Order can be used both as an offensive and defensive ability, while its CD is only 2 min.​

Phial of Serenity, which removes almost all negative effects, looks quite strong but requires a proper encounter. In M+ it may come in very handy.​

In general, this Covenant is useful in raids and M+, while Phial of Serenity is especially useful when you need to remove an important debuff.

  1. The Venthyr

  • Class ability: Fallen Order – opens a mystic portal for 24 sec. Every 3 sec, it summons a spirit of your order’s fallen Ox, Crane, or Tiger adepts for 6 sec. Duration 24 sec, CD 3 min. Grants damage and no defensive stats whatsoever, thus not being suitable for tanks.
  • Signature ability: Door of Shadows – wend through the shadows, appearing at the targeted location. 1.5 sec cast, 1 min CD.

The Venthyr are the weakest Covenant for the Brewmaster class. Fallen Order has a long cooldown, while its effect is insignificant for a tank. Door of Shadows improves your mobility, but the Monk is already fairly mobile.

  1. The Night Fae

  • Class ability: Faeline Stomp – strike the ground fiercely to expose a faeline for 30 sec, dealing Nature damage to up to 5 enemies, and restore health to up to 5 allies within 30 yds caught in the faeline. Your abilities have a chance of resetting the cooldown of Faeline Stomp while fighting on a faeline.
  • Signature ability: Soulshape – turn into a Vulpin, teleporting 15 yds forward and increasing your movement speed by 50%. You may reactivate Soulshape every few sec to teleport again. Lasts 12 sec, or indefinitely while in a rest area.

The Night Fae is a nice Covenant for a Brewmaster. Soulshape is an additional blink, and Faeline Stomp is a source of aggro and AoE damage.

  1. The Necrolords

  • Class ability: Bonedust Brew – hurl a brew created from the bones of your enemies at the ground, coating all targets struck for 10 sec.  Your abilities have a 50% chance to affect the target a second time at 35% effectiveness as Shadow damage or healing. Tiger Palm and Keg Smash reduce the cooldown of your brews by an additional 1 sec when striking enemies with your Bonedust Brew active.
  • Signature ability: Fleshcraft – form a shield of flesh and bone over 4 sec that absorbs damage equal to 20% of your maximum health for 2 min. Channeling near a corpse claims their essence to grow the shield, up to 50% of your maximum health. This is most effective against powerful enemies.

The Necrolords are a strong Covenant for a Brewmaster. They are especially good in M+, but additional brew cooldowns are useful in raids too.

Soulbinds and Conduits

Players who join a Covenant are able to bind themselves to one of its members, sharing some of their power through an artifact-like talent tree. Each of the different Covenants has three options to choose from, with each Soulbind offering different bonuses.

Conduits add further customization to those Soulbind trees, allowing players to fill empty sockets in the trees with bonuses of their choosing. You can access the Soulbinds User Interface from the Forge of Bonds in your Covenant Sanctum. 

Each Soulbind has 8 Rows, which are unlocked as you gain Renown with your Covenant. There are also 7 Conduit slots although you won’t have access to all of them at once due to the branching nature of the tree.

Be careful when planning your Talent tree – Conduits can be changed to a limited extent, and if you make a mistake, you will have to wait for a long time to change them again.

We will cover the most powerful effects of the Soulbinds.

Soulbinds rating

Kyrian:

  • Raids, Mythic+: Pelagos – the best choice

Venthyr:

  • DPS: Nadjia
  • Survivability: General Draven

Night Fae:

  • Raids, Mythic+: Korayn

Necrolords:

  • Raids, Mythic+: Emeni

  1. The Kyrian

If you decide to join Kyrians, Pelagos will be a good choice.

  • Kleia
  • Valiant Strikes – you and your nearby allies’ critical strikes grant you stacks of Valiant Strikes, up to 40. If a nearby ally drops below 50% health, you consume these stacks to heal them for 1% of their maximum health per stack.

Not the best Soulbind for you.

  • Mikanikos
  • Bron’s Call to Action – after using 90 damaging or healing spells and abilities, your next spell or ability summons Bron, who knocks enemies back on arrival and then attacks and heals your targets for 30 sec.

Fairly weak Soulbind for this spec.

  1. The Venthyr

  • Nadjia
  • Thrill Seeker– while in combat, you gain a stack of Thrill Seeker every 2 sec, or 4 stacks on killing an enemy. At 40 stacks Thrill Seeker is consumed to grant you Euphoria, increasing your Haste by 20% for 10 sec. Thrill Seeker decays rapidly while you are not in combat.

Not the best choice for the Monk, especially considering the weak class ability.

It’s a good choice for Venthyr Brewmasters.

  • General Draven
  • Enduring Gloom – Door of Shadows grants you a shield that absorbs damage equal to 15% of your maximum health.
  • Service In Stone – damage taken below 40% health is reduced by 10%. Upon death you leave a stone husk behind which shatters after 3 sec, inflicting 100% of your maximum health in damage split among nearby enemies, and healing for 100% of your maximum health split among nearby allies.

Draven is a great Soulbind for raids and difficult M+ dungeons.

  1. The Night Fae

  • Niya
    • Grove Invigoration – healing or dealing damage has a chance to grant you a stack of Redirected Anima. Redirected Anima increases your maximum health by 1% and your Mastery by 25 for 30 sec, and stacks overlap.

A very good option for a Brewmaster.

  • Dreamweaver
  • Field of Blossoms – activating Faeline Stomp puts flowers at your feet for 10 sec that increases your Haste by 10% while you stand with them.
  • Podtender – when you take damage that would kill you, instead rejuvenate within a wildseed, regaining 30% of HP over 10 sec.  If the wildseed gets destroyed during this time, you die. This effect may only occur once every 30 min.

Not quite useful for tanks.

  • Korayn
  • First Strike – damaging an enemy before they damage you increase your chance to critical strike by 20% for 10 sec.
  • Hold the Line – after standing still for 5 sec, you take 10% less Physical damage until you move.
  • Wild Hunt Tactics – your damage to targets above 75% health and healing to targets below 35% health is increased by 10%.

This is a very strong Soulbind, both for Mythic + dungeons and for raids.

  1. The Necrolords

  • Marileth
  • Volatile Solvent – using Fleshcraft with nearby corpses consumes their essence completely, granting a benefit based on the creature’s type.
  • Ooz’s Frictionless Coating – when reduced below 50% health, Ooz courses over you, granting you a shield for 20% of your maximum health for 10 sec.  May only occur once per 30 sec.
  • Ultimate Form – while channeling Fleshcraft, you are immune to crowd control and you regenerate 2% health every 1 sec.

Good effects for a tank, especially in M+.

Useful effects for a tank, permanent bonuses to Endurance and Agility.

  • Bonesmith Heirmir
  • Serrated Spaulders – inflict Shadow damage to your attacker over 5 sec when hit at melee range.
  • Heirmir’s Arsenal: Marrowed Gemstone – after landing 10 critical strikes, you gain a 12% increased chance to critically strike for 10 sec. May only occur once per 50 sec.
  • Forgeborne Reveries – upon death, your armor continues to fight, allowing you to fight for an additional 10 sec. During this time, your damage and healing done are reduced by 50% and you cannot receive healing.

Heirmir is not really useful for the Brewmaster Monk.

Conduits

There are 3 types of Conduits: Potency, Endurance and Finesse. Let’s go through those available to the Brewmaster Monk.

  1. Potency

  • Scalding Brew – Keg Smash deals additional damage to targets affected by Breath of Fire. Good DD-Conduit for a Brewmaster.
  • Walk with the Ox – Abilities that grant Shuffle reduce the cooldown on Invoke Niuzao, the Black Ox by 0.5 sec, and Niuzao’s Stomp deals additional damage. This Conduit allows you to use the Ox a bit more often, but don’t expect a huge damage boost.
  • Imbued Reflections – Fallen Order monks deal more damage and healing (Requires Venthyr). It’s a good choice for Venthyr.
  • Bone Marrow Hops – Bonedust Brew’s Shadow damage or healing is increased, and when Bonedust Brew deals Shadow damage or healing, its cooldown is reduced (Requires Necrolord). A great choice for the Necrolords.
  • Way of the Fae – increases the initial damage of Faeline Stomp per target hit by that damage (Requires Night Fae). Useful Conduit, but only for AoE.
  • Strike with Clarity – Weapons of Order‘s duration is increased by 5 sec, and it also increases your Mastery (Requires Kyrian). Kyrian Brewmasters will appreciate this Conduit, no matter the content.

  1. Endurance

  • Grounding Breath – when casting Vivify on yourself, its healing is increased, and it has a chance to refund its cost. This Conduit is fairly useless for a tank.
  • Harm Denial – Expel Harm’s healing is increased. Decent self-heal.
  • Fortifying Brew – Fortifying Brew grants you a shield equal to 12.0% of your maximum health for 15 sec. Not the strongest Conduit, considering the brew cooldown.
  • Celestial Effervescence – while under the effects of Celestial Brew, your effects that heal you are increased. Use it when you cast Celestial Brew at low HP.
  • Evasive Stride – during Shuffle, Heavy Stagger has a chance to heal you instead of dealing damage. Very powerful Conduit for a Brewmaster.

  1. Finesse

Legendaries

Overall, Brewmaster Monk has 16 available Legendary Powers: 8 class and 8 general.

Let’s have a look at the best of them.

  • Vitality Sacrifice – taking significant damage from a player or Elite enemy increases your damage and healing. This effect can only occur every 30 sec. This Legendary is very strong both in M+ and raids.
  • Stormstout’s Last Keg – Keg Smash deals 15% additional damage and has 1 additional charge. Compliments your rotation and grants DPS.
  • Charred Passions – your Breath of Fire ignites your right leg in flame for 8 sec, causing your Blackout Kick and Spinning Crane Kick to deal 70% additional damage as Fire damage and refresh the duration of your Breath of Fire on the target. Pretty good for AoE DPS.
  • Mighty Pour – Celestial Brew increases your Armor by 15% for 7 sec, and Purifying Brew has a 15% chance to not consume a charge. This effect can help you enhance your survivability.

If you have different Legendaries that are not listed above, and you want to find out which one will suit you better, we recommend using Simcraft. 

Class mechanics

So, what a Brewmaster should do to survive, cause aggro, and deal damage?

Main rotation:

Always try to cast Celestial Brew and Purifying Brew, maximizing their use. But keep Celestial Brew ready if you’re about to need a shield to survive an important enemy ability.

AoE rotation (3+ targets):

Energy isn’t your main resource. Of course, you can spend it all on Tiger Palm, but it doesn’t make sense. Most of the Monk’s important abilities have cooldowns.

The main rule is that you must always have enough Energy for Keg Smash. If it’s about to recharge, and you have less than 55 Energy, don’t use Tiger Palm.

Brew Charges are the primary defensive resource of this spec. Try to follow these simple rules:

No matter how many enemies you face, your survival scheme remains the same, whether it’s 1 boss or a pack of mobs. Heavy Stagger is always dangerous, so try to mitigate damage with Purifying Brew.

If you see that your health is rapidly running down, and there are no saves – better start kiting. Use Ring of Peace and your mobility to stay away from enemies and restore some HP.

Stats

Before you choose suitable gear, check item levels – that’s what’s really important. Never equip an item that is 10+ levels below, even if it provides better stats. It also means that Finesse and Endurance are the best stats for you, so we won’t mention them in the priority below.

Survivability stats:

Versatility => Crit > Mastery > Haste

Haste increases your attack speed. It also reduces your GCD for spells and such abilities as Purifying Brew and Keg Smash.

Mastery: Elusive Brawler – each time you are hit by a melee attack or hit with Blackout Kick, you gain a stacking increased Dodge chance until your next successful Dodge. Also increases your attack power. Overall, Mastery is not the worst and not the best stat. It works fine against enemies with slow but strong attacks, while against a pack of mobs it won’t be as effective.

Versatility is useful for all tanks, as it amplifies your damage and reduces incoming damage by half.

For the Brewmaster Monk, unlike other tanks, Crit is not just a source of DPS. Due to Celestial Fortune, you have a chance equal to your critical strike chance to be healed for an additional amount of HP.

To maximize your stats, use raidbots.com (-> Stat Weights) and import this information into the game with Pawn (addon) for further convenience.

Based on the above-mentioned characteristics and your own simulation results, let’s move on to Gems, Enchants, and Consumables.

Gems

Enchants

Food

Flasks

Temporary buffs

Race choice

You’ve got to understand that differences between different races are quite minor in any type of content. So, if you’re not aiming at the first page of WoWProgress, you can pick whatever you want. You’ll find some races with noticeable bonuses below for each faction.

Alliance

Horde

BiS Gear + Trinkets

You’ve got to understand that BiS Gear for the tank in Shadowlands is very… relative. In any case, apart from rings and trinkets, you should aim for a higher ilvl. But anyway, here’s a BiS item list for you (remember to aim for the best possible ilvl!):

 

Macros

Modifier kick. Hold Shift to apply to your focus target, or apply to your current target by default:

/cast [mod:shift,@focus][] Spear Hand Strike

Cancel the Blessing of Protection aura:

/cancelaura Blessing of Protection

Detox at the cursor position, to remove debuffs from your allies: 

/cast [target=mouseover] Detox

Taunt to Black Ox Statue:

/cast [@Black Ox Statue] Provoke

Mouseover taunt:

/cast [@mouseover] Provoke

Addons

Addons for World of Warcraft is a very personal thing. Many good players don’t use them or use a bare minimum of them. Others do the opposite by completely re-building the game’s UI. I will suggest some addons that I use myself. These addons are not only good-looking, but they’re also very practical.

Very powerful and flexible addon which can display almost any information whenever you’ll need it. This addon began with displaying buffs, debuffs, and alerts for some actions in battles, but has gone a long way since then. Today WA can send boss info to other players, replace standard UI elements, track other players’ abilities, and much more.

You can find presets at wago.io, but I’ll point out the most useful of them:

This is a multifunctional addon for the nameplates of your enemies (health bars). Plater will allow you to keep track of your aggro, what are they casting and who is the target. You will also see mobs’ buffs and debuffs including the control effects.

Plater is also compatible with some modes suitable for various situations. You can find it at wago.io in the Plater category.

An addon that shows the total damage or heal of your party or the raid. But all of that is really detailed – buffs and debuffs uptimes, cast interrupts, phasing on boss fights, you can literally view everything.

An addon, that shows ads and boss cooldowns with the alert of when they will cast their abilities again. Very useful in raids and mythic+. You can replace it with a similar addon called Deadly Boss Mods if you want to.

Small addon that enables the auto-repair, trash loot auto-sell, instantly pick and turn-in quests, fast looting, and other useful stuff.

This addon is not very practical, but it can help you to completely redo your UI by your preferences. Like, every piece of UI. It is a very popular addon.

Pro Tips & Tricks

In this section of the guide, I’ll tell you about some moments of the Monk tank, what you should and should not do in order to be an effective tank.

  • The biggest question for young Brewmasters is how to properly use their brews. Unlike other tanks that use their cooldowns before taking the damage, Brewmasters use their abilities to decrease the already taken damage via Stagger and Purifying Brew. Stagger is empowered by Shuffle, which will reduce the damage taken. Shuffle is activated by using Keg Smash and Blackout Kick. Luckily, if you’ll use these abilities on the cooldown, your Shuffle uptime will reach 100%.

Purifying Brew can seem like a long cooldown with 2 charges, but it’s not that simple. Despite that you should leave 1 charge “just in case”, you should never have 2 charges on this ability. You can use it even at yellow Stagger, just to get rid of the second charge. But sometimes you can leave even the red Stagger to your healers. It is important for you to know the capability of your healer and to know when exactly it is ok for him to heal you this much or not.

  • Celestial Brew should be used on its cooldown. You have to remember, that damage from your Stagger is also turned into the shield, so sometimes you’ve got to reach the red level to use Celestial Brew at the maximum effectiveness. 
  • Using external cooldowns. Your healers also have some save abilities and they can use them when you need them. Communicate with your healer and try not to cross your defensive cooldowns with theirs.
    Here are some of these cooldowns:
  • Druid: Ironbark
  • Discipline Priest: Pain Suppression or Power Word: Barrier
  • Holy Priest: Guardian Spirit
  • Monk: Life Cocoon
  • Paladin: Blessing of Sacrifice
  • Dealing Damage. Some tanks think that dealing damage is not necessary. The main target is just not to die. Well, not dying is an important thing, but that’s not everything. More damage means faster mythic+ or boss clear time, so even heals are trying to do as much damage as possible. More damage is always good.

Sometimes you’ll even want to adjust your build or save your defensive abilities for later if possible, just to do as much damage, as you can.

  • To maximize your damage, while your Invoke Niuzhao, the Black Ox is active, you should purify only the red level of your Stagger. Your Niuzhao AoE depends on your Stagger level purification, so it’s better to maximize the damage when you can.

To sum this up

The Monk kept his pros in Shadowlands but also received some new stuff. The overall rotation became simpler, but now have some new possibilities for raids and mythic+. The returning of double-charged keg legendary from Legion is a very good bonus. Overall, the spec is looking good for all types of content.

Thank you for the attention, I wish you to stay well and the best of luck in your Azeroth adventures!

Related items

World Of Warcraft Twitch Drops
WoW Embers of Neltharion New Factions
WoW Snail Racing Guide

Discussion0 comments