Why You Should & Shouldn't Play Brewmaster Monk in Dragonflight Season 2 - Patch 10.1

Posted 2023/05/04 at 11:06 PM by Llarold

Need help choosing a new Class in Season 2? Check out all the released articles in the 'Why You Should Play a Spec' series below:
Why You Should Play a Spec in Dragonflight Season 2 Series

Blood DK
Frost DK
Unholy DK
Havoc DH
Vengeance DH
Balance Druid
Feral Druid
Guardian Druid
Restoration Druid
Devastation Evoker
Preservation Evoker
Beast Mastery Hunter
Survival Hunter
Arcane Mage
Fire Mage
Frost Mage
Brewmaster Monk
Mistweaver Monk
Windwalker Monk

Holy Paladin
Protection Paladin
Retribution Paladin
Discipline Priest
Holy Priest
Shadow Priest
Assassination Rogue

Outlaw Rogue
Subtlety Rogue
Elemental Shaman
Enhancement Shaman
Affliction Warlock
Demonology Warlock
Destruction Warlock
Arms Warrior
Fury Warrior
Protection Warrior

Why You Should Play Brewmaster Monk in Dragonflight Season 2 (and Why You Shouldn't)

Why You Should

Why You Shouldn't

Why You Should Play Brewmaster Monk in Dragonflight Season 2

Mystic Touch

Mystic TouchMystic TouchMystic TouchBrewmaster Monks Are Legitimately Good at Everything

AoE Damage

Celestial Brew

Defensive Cooldowns

Dodging

Mobility

Offensive Cooldowns

Self-Healing

Single Target Damage

Stagger

Tier Set Bonuses

Celestial BrewCelestial BrewBlack Ox BrewCelestial BrewStaggerStaggerExpel HarmMastery: Elusive BrawlerPretense of Instability

2-piece: Monk Brewmaster 10.1 Class Set 2pc

4-piece: Leverage

Why You Shouldn't Play Brewmaster Monk in Dragonflight Season 2

Comment by theasuraPeople complaining why prot pala is mentioned so much in this and other tank guides clearly have no idea why that is so. If you're gonna write up a guide about the most crucial role in the team comp, you should let people know "Hey, this class is fun and great (or not), but just to make sure, there is a giga broken class out there that will let you achieve whatever you wanted to achieve with more ease and room for error", especially for people that are new to tanking. If you could choose to have a new player tanking be on brew or prot, I'm sure many of you would choose brew (:Comment by NiccoloMNice article.
I have both a monk and a paladin. I was waiting for this article to make the choice.
Paladin it is.
Thanks!Comment by DreadfuryDKReasons to play WW Monk: "The spec's community is great. We totally didn't add this as a selling point because the spec itself is an undertuned mess."

Reasons to play Brewmaster Monk: "Yeah, we're straight-up the best tank that isn't Prot Paladin."Comment by StealingYourWiFiReasons to play WW Monk: "The spec's community is great. We totally didn't add this as a selling point because the spec itself is an undertuned mess."

Reasons to play Brewmaster Monk: "Yeah, we're straight-up the best tank that isn't Prot Paladin."Comment by PanTheGuI don't see the need to mention Prot paladin in all these articles. Everyone knows it's busted at the moment but it will surely get nerfed at some point. Right Blizz? Right?

Also as someone who really enjoys Mistweaver as well your comment about them not being brought to provide MT makes me sad...Comment by jayshuttsI tried to play Paladin, but it was too boring. The complexity and more keybinds on a brm monk is what I enjoy about it, prot pally is just a 4 button rotation with the occasional blessing, brewmaster is Jim Carrey in Bruce Almighty when he types on the computer.Comment by MetalmolyBrewmaster is just OP for raid setting, however, in M+ it's a completely different story: as you progress through 25+ and higher keys, you feel extremely squishy, requiring a lot of external healing. You could say that your damage makes up for it, but don't forget that you're basically stealing the healer's damage by making him heal you instead of DPSing. I'm really interested in what they can do to Brewmaster to make it stay the same in raids, but make it less punishing in M+. Because it really feels like BDK, where just in a few second you got from 100% HP to dead if you don't have an instant reaction to press your celestial brew or expel harm. I'm not saying that it's bad or impossible to play in high keys, but Monks and BDK(this expansion also bears) are the only tanks that suffer the most going into the higher keys. You can really feel the sudden shift in difficulty, whereas on other tanks it's way smoother.Comment by LlaroldReasons to play WW Monk: "The spec's community is great. We totally didn't add this as a selling point because the spec itself is an undertuned mess."

Reasons to play Brewmaster Monk: "Yeah, we're straight-up the best tank that isn't Prot Paladin."Hi! You mention pally so much, why aren't you playing one instead of writing this guide?Am I upset about playing Monk? Not at all, but I would probably play Paladin if providing the debuff ("Debuff prison - Mystic Touch") was a non-issue.Comment by ForrestWI wish I was being facetious when saying that I have 34 active abilities on Brewmaster that I press every possible pull in Mythic+.

To say it only has 30% more key binds than the other tanks is a severe understatement. If you intend on playing Brewmaster, buckle up to have the vast majority of your useable keybind space full to the brim. Happy Brew'ing!Comment by SmubroI don't see the need to mention Prot paladin in all these articles. Everyone knows it's busted at the moment but it will surely get nerfed at some point. Right Blizz? Right?Comment by dabone1337I don't see the need to mention Prot paladin in all these articles. Everyone knows it's busted at the moment but it will surely get nerfed at some point. Right Blizz? Right?

Also as someone who really enjoys Mistweaver as well your comment about them not being brought to provide MT makes me sad...Comment by SupmonkI tried to play Paladin, but it was too boring. The complexity and more keybinds on a brm monk is what I enjoy about it, prot pally is just a 4 button rotation with the occasional blessing, brewmaster is Jim Carrey in Bruce Almighty when he types on the computer.Comment by KillerMoyashi13You made a typo. You labelled the monk tier set as the warrior tier set.Comment by BeelzeduupGet some new tank class writers, they just whine about prot pala being better than their spec. Focus on the specs strenghts and how to utilize them instead of that weak #$%^Comment by MorrddMonks really need tier alternatives to "that one hat" design.Comment by dralonisSometimes I feel bad for tank players since they often don't get the option to flex as much and more pushed for a debuff since dps don't want to play that spec and WW is a mess. so, while it is annoying to see all of the petty articles about prot paladin being an amazing tank and all of them talk about it, since you don't see it for other classes, I can understand where it comes from. It Just sort of takes away from the use of the articles with so many of them talking about Prot paladins, at length, and how they are just better.

It could easily be said "why play ele shaman, hunter, or mage, where mage feels rather punishing and not as fun for 2 of their specs when you can play warlock with nearly all of their specs are good AND fun or shadow priest? Maybe even evoker even though it is rather easy ST"

I don't recall prot paladin being in the top tank spot too often recently. Frequently a strong pick though or mid. I recall them being good in sanctum of domination at least. Otherwise, I like the article about BrM.Comment by kevlarz I don't recall prot paladin being in the top tank spot too often recently.Comment by 2198799It's a bit odd, cause i dont really disagree with anything said here cause at the tippy top its true that paladin at the moment is really good. On the other hand most of the people reading there kinds of articles to decide what to play would be better off playing a monk and wouldnt be any worse off, and prolly have easier time. These also help create a lfr environment that thinks you need a prot pally, when a bad one is reaaally bad, especially after they get toned down. We know paladin is not getting a utility nerf now, its just gonna be passive damage and mitigation which make it harder to play and monk is the exact opposite of that. You will survive easily, optimizing damage takes time.

tldr: Monk is great, especially in m+ or if you need mystic touch. Paladin hype is blown out of proportion, especially for heroic/mid m+ players.Comment by Soifon I don't recall prot paladin being in the top tank spot too often recently.Paladin hype is blown out of proportion, especially for heroic/mid m+ players.Comment by MarkElfI wish the writer left opinions (specifically the weaknesses section) and especially the mention of prot pally out. It's really uncalled for in a guide about BM monks. Most of these guides wowhead posts are just flat out terrible. I.e ret pally's weakness is mobility (They ain't DKs that can make that excuse,pally has freedom and horse which is planty) or the reason to play BM hunter is liking the spec.