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Brewmaster Monk Tank Starter Guide - Shadowlands 9.2
By Llarold
Last updated
2022/04/30 at 12:30 AM
View Changelog
Table of Contents
Quick Facts
Table of Contents
Guide Navigation
Welcome to our Brewmaster Monk starter guide, which covers everything you need to start playing a new character in Shadowlands. While our other guide pages go into more individual detail, this simple starter guide covers all the basics in one place, whether you're a new Brewmaster Monk, a returning player to Shadowlands, hardcore, or casual alike, it's the best place to get a beginners overview on the class. Included are basic talent builds, simplified rotations, stats, legendary recommendations, and more to get you started as quickly as possible.
Please keep in mind that this page is meant to get players started quickly as an introduction, and does not contain much in the way of detailed explanations, mechanics, competitive options, gearing, simulation comparisons, or nuance. For more in-depth information, including all those optimizations and more, check out the complete Brewmaster Monk Guide pages linked in the navigation on the left-hand side of the page, and if you're leveling up in Shadowlands, you can take a look at our
leveling tips
.
Overview
NEW
NEW Patch 9.2 Changes
Best Covenant
NEW Tier Set Bonus
Gear
Talent Builds
Legendaries
Conduits
Kyrian
Necrolord
Night Fae
Venthyr
Pre-Patch
Starter Guide
Rotation, Priority, and Abilities
Advanced Concepts
Stats
Consumables
Macros & Addons
WeakAuras
Common Terms
NEW Castle Nathria Tips
NEW Sepulcher Tips
Mythic+
Common Questions
Mage Tower
Twisting Corridors
NEW Simulations
About the Author
This guide was written by Llarold! I’ve been tanking since Vanilla. During Mists of Pandaria, I saw an opportunity to begin writing guides, and I took it with the hopes of making myself a better tank and making the community into better tanks with me. I hope it’s working!
I am active in all of the tank class Discords but primarily contribute to theorycrafting discussions in
Peak of Serenity
and
Skyhold
(Monk and Warrior). I’m active on
Twitter
, where I mostly talk WoW (and basketball), and I’m half of the team responsible for the YouTube channel
WoW at Night
, which focuses primarily on tank guides and previews.
Best Covenants for Brewmaster Monks
As a quick recap, we've created the table below to highlight the notable differences between covenants. Don't hesitate to click the headers to go to their respective guides!
Best Brewmaster Monk Covenants and Soulbinds for Raid
Single Legendary
Double Legendary
Kyrian
Mikanikos
Kyrian
Mikanikos
Necrolord
Plague Deviser Marileth
Necrolord
Plague Deviser Marileth
Best Brewmaster Monk Covenants and Soulbinds for Mythic+
Single Legendary
Double Legendary
Kyrian
Mikanikos
Kyrian
Mikanikos
Necrolord
Plague Deviser Marileth
Necrolord
Plague Deviser Marileth
Best Brewmaster Monk Covenants for Raiding
Simply having an extra potion (
Phial of Serenity
) gives Kyrian a nice defensive bonus. There is a fair amount of movement in raid encounters, and the extra movement from Signature Skills like
Soulshape
is pretty nice, but it's more situationally-useful than
Phial of Serenity
, which is helpful on every fight.
Kyrian is arguably the simplest, all-around best Covenant available to Brewmaster Monks thanks to
Weapons of Order
.
Pelagos
' and
Mikanikos
' soulbind trees are good, and the whole Covenant works well.
Combat Meditation
provides an enormous amount of stat budget that overlaps with your two major offensive cooldown (
Weapons of Order
and
Invoke Niuzao, the Black Ox
), and that's terrific. Mikanikos' end-tree trait
Effusive Anima Accelerator
supercharges the power of
Weapons of Order
, increasing its damage value and reducing its cooldown. It's tremendous at dealing burst damage, it's a reasonably simple and easy skill to use, and it's always very good.
That being said, Necrolord is a pretty decent alternative. The Necrolord Covenant ability
Bonedust Brew
is generally the second-strongest Covenant ability available to Brewmaster Monks, and its only real downside is that it has a short duration. In Mythic+, its short cooldown makes up for that weakness pretty effectively, but in raids it is clearly a weaker bonus. Its 10-second duration makes it a mediocre option as a burst damage cooldown for lining up with other effects like potions, Bloodlust, and trinkets. It is more consistent defensively than
Weapons of Order
, but the margin between Kyrian, Necrolord, and even Night Fae in terms of defense is very small, so that's not really a huge deal.
Lead by Example
in Emeni's Soulbind tree and
Kevin's Oozeling
in Marileth's tree both add a ton of value on top of Bonedust Brew. You've got options!
Night Fae is also an interesting utility option due to
Faeline Stomp
, which grants a lot of consistent, sustained AoE damage and healing. Night Fae is a good bit behind Kyrian and Necrolord in single target damage, but it's not that bad in sustained AoE damage with low movement. The major downside of Night Fae Monk is the fact that it forces you to fight on top of the Faeline for resets, which means that having to move due to enemy mechanics can be a significant DPS and defensive loss. It does provide a good self-healing and defensive increase, and the Niya Soulbind also grants
Grove Invigoration
. It is worth a constant ~10% Mastery and Maximum Health (more with the Covenant Legendary), which is pretty good. It's not enough to make Night Fae competitive with Kyrian and Necrolord in raids or Mythic+, but it's a fun utility option that isn't totally weak and pointless. On a positive note,
Soulshape
is actually really helpful for dealing with some of the mobility requirements on some encounters like Artificer Xy'mox or Desaugne.
Ultimately, Kyrian is the best, safest, and most reliable choice for Brewmaster Monks in all content, but if you really don't want to be a Kyrian, Necrolord is a fairly competitive alternative. Night Fae can be fun, but it isn't really very competitive, and Venthyr is surprisingly decent for Brewmaster, but still a second-tier option.
Best Brewmaster Monk Covenants for Mythic+
Covenant power is slightly -- but only slightly -- different in Mythic+ than it is in raids for Brewmaster Monks. Kyrian remains the most popular and powerful option for all the same reasons it's good in raids:
Weapons of Order
is a very good burst damage cooldown! It can really help with quickly AoE'ing down big packs of trash mobs, and the defensive value it provides is also pretty good.
Fortunately for Brewmaster Monks, they have options!
Bonedust Brew
adds a lot of value that can make Necrolord competitive with Kyrian in Mythic+. The DPS increase it offers is surprisingly decent, and while it is not as effective a burst cooldown, it is available significantly more often -- around every 30 seconds. This makes it a much more reliable option throughout a Mythic+ run. While
Fleshcraft
is no extra health potion, it's
okay
as a minor defensive cooldown, or just a simple defensive layer to use before big pulls.
Once again, Kyrian is the best, safest choice, but Necrolord is more competitive in Mythic+ than it is in raids.
Best Brewmaster Monk Covenant
Kyrian Brewmaster Monk GuideNecrolord Brewmaster Monk Guide
Night Fae Brewmaster Monk GuideVenthyr Brewmaster Monk Guide
Best Legendaries for Brewmaster Monk in Patch 9.2
Brewmaster Monks have had two main Legendary options during Shadowlands.
Stormstout's Last Keg
has been the best defensive option, and it's also very good offensively.
Charred Passions
changes the rotation significantly, and while it deals more damage in single target situations, it’s more complex and less forgiving.
When combined with the new 4-piece Tier Set bonus,
Stormstout's Last Keg
jumps ahead in overall value in all situations (despite still technically being slightly behind
Charred Passions
in pure single-target DPS).
Best Single Legendary for Brewmaster Monk in Patch 9.2
Best Single Legendaries
Raid Legendary
:
Stormstout's Last Keg
Mythic+ Legendary
:
Stormstout's Last Keg
Best Double Legendaries for Brewmaster Monk in Patch 9.2
Eternity's End allows players to wear two Legendary items at once, albeit with a restriction. One of the two legendaries must be your Covenant Legendary. This causes the balance of Covenant Legendaries to play a role in your choice of Covenant. Double Legendaries become available during week 5, after completing that week’s story chapter.
At this time, Kyrian is the recommended Covenant for raid and general Mythic+, but changes to
Bountiful Brew
have made Necrolord a lot more competitive, especially in higher-level Mythic+ dungeons.
Best Double Legendaries
Raid Legendaries
:
Stormstout's Last Keg
and
Unity
Mythic+ Legendaries
:
Stormstout's Last Keg
and
Unity
Patch 9.2 Legendary Changes & Tuning
Players may now equip two Legendaries, but one must be
Unity
, which grants the Covenant Legendary bonus.
Bountiful Brew
can now proc while
Bonedust Brew
is active. Procs will add onto
Bonedust Brew
’s remaining duration, but manually casting
Bonedust Brew
while it is already active from a proc will not add onto the duration, it will just give you 10 seconds of
Bonedust Brew
.
Best Brewmaster Monk Talents
Brewmaster Monks use the same talents for a lot of content, and most of the time you can get away with just running this one talent build for nearly all content in the game. Switching to
Chi Torpedo
can be a good choice when you really need massive bursts of movement, or if the slow removal component of
Tiger's Lust
isn’t going to be useful.
Healing Elixir
can be a decent choice in lower-level dungeons, and while leveling or soloing, although at higher levels of difficulty, the constant defensive value of
Bob and Weave
, or the extra cooldown from
Dampen Harm
is going to be more valuable. This talent build is primarily focused on raiding for players getting started with end game activities, but our Brewmaster Monk Talent Guide goes into more detail for each talent, as well as providing specific builds for questing, Mythic+, and Raids.
Brewmaster Monk Talents Guide
Brewmaster Monk Stat Priority
Unlike previous expansions, primary stats such as Agility are much more important than they used to be, and secondary stats are close enough together that item level is typically a larger factor when it comes to choosing gear. You can find out more about how stats work, including sample stat weights and scaling plots in the Stats Guide, or get an overview of the best-in-slot gear to look for from dungeons and raids in the Brewmaster Monk Gear Guide.
Agility > Versatility >= Critical Strike > Haste = Mastery
Agility
: Increases all damage done by native class spells, abilities, and auto attacks, increases your base
Stagger
value, and increases the value of your healing skills. It is your best overall stat, which makes item level generally worth prioritizing over itemization. This is a good thing. When in doubt, just wear the highest item level piece of gear available.
Versatility
: An excellent damage and damage reduction stat that still has modest self-healing value. It is a very strong stat, valued just slightly ahead of Critical Strike. Because Versatility is generally in much shorter supply than Critical Strike, it is typically a better option for gems and enchants, but your mileage may vary depending on your specific gear.
Critical Strike
: Thanks to
Celestial Fortune
, Critical Strike directly increases your healing taken, and is integral to surviving with Brewmaster’s limited self-healing toolkit. It's also an excellent offensive stat. Outstanding stuff.
Haste
: Increases Energy generation and reduces the cooldown of
Keg Smash
. Haste is a weaker offensive and defensive option than Critical Strike and Versatility, but not by a huge margin. Its value is slightly higher in AoE than single target.
Mastery
: Functions more or less like Dodge chance. It is a decent, reliable offensive boost as well, about on par with Haste. It has built-in inefficiencies, in that
Blackout Kick
can push stacks over the hard cap, resulting in wasted avoidance - and that it does nothing to reduce damage that cannot be dodged, such as spell damage. Despite those limitations, it is the strongest effective damage reduction stat against auto attacks. Mastery is a good stat, but you will want to prioritize Critical Strike and Versatility ahead of it under normal circumstances.
Brewmaster Monk Stats Guide
Brewmaster Monk Enchants and Consumables
Cloak
: Increase stamina and tertiary bonuses. Avoidance is good for reducing unavoidable AoE damage, and Speed helps make dodging boss effects slightly easier -
Enchant Cloak - Fortified Avoidance
or
Enchant Cloak - Fortified Speed
Chest
: Agility & Stamina -
Enchant Chest - Eternal Stats
Wrists
: Hearth cooldown? -
Enchant Bracers - Shaded Hearthing
Boots
: Increases Agility -
Enchant Boots - Eternal Agility
or
Enchant Boots - Agile Soulwalker
(budget)
Rings
: Increases Versatility -
Enchant Ring - Tenet of Versatility
or
Enchant Ring - Bargain of Versatility
(budget)
Mainhand Weapon
: AoE damage proc -
Enchant Weapon - Lightless Force
Offhand Weapon
: Agility proc -
Enchant Weapon - Celestial Guidance
Brewmaster Monk Enchants Guide
Best Brewmaster Monk Rotation
This is a typical Brewmaster Monk DPS rotation. More detailed information can be found in the Brewmaster Monk Rotation Guide.
Celestial Brew
to mitigate large bursts of damage
Purifying Brew
whenever you are taking large amounts of Stagger damage
Touch of Death
when available
Invoke Niuzao, the Black Ox
whenever a pull will last at least 25 more seconds
Use Covenant skills when available
Keg Smash
on cooldown
Blackout Kick
on cooldown
Breath of Fire
on cooldown
Rushing Jade Wind
Expel Harm
if you need healing
Tiger Palm
to prevent capping Energy
Try not to let
Purifying Brew
sit with both charges on cooldown while you are tanking. It is one of your core defensive skills, and you should always be using it to the fullest. Don't let
Touch of Death
and
Invoke Niuzao, the Black Ox
sit on cooldown, either. They are your big offensive cooldowns!
As for timing
Celestial Brew
skillfully, letting it sit on cooldown for a brief period so that you can use it to mitigate a large enemy hit is the right move. This is true more often in raids and on Tyrannical Mythic+ bosses than it is while tanking trash.
Sometimes the best move is just to use it as close to on cooldown as you can. This is true more often in Mythic+ trash, especially on Fortified weeks. Use Celestial Brew as the situation dictates.
Brewmaster Monk Rotation Guide
Back to Top
Our Brewmaster Monk guides are always updated with the latest information from in-game experience, simulations, and logs; make sure to check our changelog to this page, by clicking on
View Changelog
at the top of the page. If you are interested in more in-depth Brewmaster Monk guides for , make sure to browse the
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below, and our list of
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just beneath the
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