Brewmaster Monk Tank Mythic+ Tips — 12.0.5

This Standard Mythic+ is somewhat similar to a raiding one, though with a bit more investment into AoE and priority-target damage. As a result, you will find it heavily building into Exploding Keg and including both of its followup talents of Fuel on the Fire and Empty the Cellar. However, it also still defaults to Niuzao's Resolve and Bob and Weave for a more convenient healing experience.

Although this build features the Shado-Pan Hero Talents, you can easily switch to Master of Harmony instead. By comparison, Shado-Pan's total damage output at lower target counts—5 or less—will be worse in exchange for more convenient AoE through Shado Over the Battlefield and more frequent access to Invoke Niuzao, the Black Ox. Defensively, Shado-Pan's Predictive Training is also noticeably potent in AoE tanking.

Remember that you can easily import the talent tree below into the game with the "Export Talents" button:

As you grow more comfortable playing a Brewmaster Monk in Mythic+ and reach higher key levels, this build can be switched to for more skill-based defensive potential at the cost of some damage. This is primarily through the inclusion of Black Ox Brew and dropping Niuzao's Resolve, relying once again on careful use of Expel Harm healing. At these higher key levels, you will also start opting into High Tolerance, Zen State, or even Tranquil Spirit and Elixir of Determination, frequently dropping Fuel on the Fire/ Empty the Cellar, Walk with the Ox, or even Special Delivery to do so.

Beyond these choices, this build also opts to mainly play with the Shado-Pan hero talents under the assumption that you will be performing bigger pulls organized around the group's offensive cooldowns (including your own Invoke Niuzao, the Black Ox). Under these circumstances, the uncapped and reliable AoE of Shado Over the Battlefield can excel, though your single and priority-target damage will likely be somewhat worse than Master of Harmony. Feel free to still make use of it as your Hero Talent set instead, but be aware that it has a more strict positioning requirement due to the narrow cleaving effect of Overwhelming Force. At the highest keystone levels either Hero Talent can excel.

For the sake of mentioning the rare times these talents may be useful, the following table includes the remaining options available to you as a Brewmaster Monk. Be aware that you will very rarely need to switch to these talents, if ever. However, be on the lookout for these rare opportunities across the many dungeons in a Mythic+ season.

Talent	Usage Tips
Hasty Provocation	This enhancement to Provoke is unique among taunt effects due to the movement speed increase it temporarily gives the Provoked enemy. You can use this to reposition a threat that rapidly needs to move from one location to another, like avoiding a damage-reduction area on the ground. Be mindful of the speed boost, however. If you need to Provoke an enemy you are trying to run away from, they could easily catch up to you!
Spirit's Essence	You generally have enough mobility as a Brewmaster to easily kite away from enemies as necessary (discussed further in a separate section below). However, with this talent, you can make use of a pre-placed Transcendence to greatly extend how long you can do so.
Save Them All	While this talent appears to promise exceptional healing power when you need it, it only applies to a very small amount of Brewmaster abilities such as Chi Burst, Chi Wave, and Harmonic Surge. All the same, you may have a point to spare for its small gain when Summon Black Ox Statue or Windwalking in particular are unnecessary.
Swift Art	Although you can already remove snares with Tiger's Lust, this talent may enable you to remove a dangerous effect from an ally while still taking care of yourself with a well-timed Roll. Remember, however, that this talent cannot remove roots.
Staggering Strikes	If you are playing in sufficiently low key levels to not frequently reach heavy amounts of Stagger— such as +10 and below — consider using Staggering Strikes rather than Quick Sip to gain a more efficient source of Stagger reduction.
One With the Wind	If in a sufficiently high keystone level where autoattacks from a single enemy or boss are especially dangerous, this talent has a small moment to be useful. You are otherwise going to regularly exceed 100% dodge chance against multiple enemies, wasting the potential of Mastery: Elusive Brawler while this is talented.
Light Brewing	In general, you will rarely, if ever, make use of Light Brewing over Training of Niuzao. However, there may occasionally be bosses on the Tyrannical affix where the extra cooldown reduction is helpful for having Celestial Brew/ Celestial Infusion against specific mechanics.
Ox Stance	Provided your damage intake's high enough to regularly consume its charges, Ox Stance represents a strong source of defense when you need it the most against especially dangerous foes. However, it is rarely necessary outside of the highest key levels.
Anvil & Stave/ Elixir of Determination	While these two talents do have their place in a defensively-minded Brewmaster's kit, they are difficult to budget points for and require you to be in the absolute highest keystone levels to be beneficial. Consider them your last priority when optimizing for defense.

Spear Hand Strike is your "kick" and your most important bit of utility in Mythic+, used to stop enemy casts for the benefit of yourself and the rest of the group. It is highly recommended to use a Focus Kick macro for this.

This macro will kick your focus target if you have one, mouseover if you have no Focus target, and your target if you have neither of those.

To quickly set a focus target in hectic scenarios, we also recommend a Focus Mouseover macro.

Make sure that your UI shows your Focus Target's casts clearly so that you are always able to kick it on cooldown or in coordination with the rest of your group.

Leg Sweep is your AoE stun effect as a Monk. With it, you can delay or negate dangerous abilities cast by enemies, or you can use it to survive a dangerous pull for a little while longer while you build up your defenses. Remember that certain enemies, such as minibosses, may be immune to its effects and other stuns in general!

Paralysis is a versatile crowd control ability that temporarily removes an enemy from the fight, it is best to cast it before you pull a group of enemies so that the effect will not be broken by a random bit of damage. In addition, you can use Paralysis as an extra interrupt effect in a pinch.

If your enemies are able to be knocked around, then Ring of Peace represents another form of disruption, bouncing them out of the summoned ring. Ring of Peace has a lot of possibilities for its application and is remarkably versatile: you can disrupt patrolling enemies, interrupt an enemy's cast, or keep a fixated enemy away from its target, among other uses.

Finally, Brewmaster has access to the Mighty Stomp talent, which allows summons of Niuzao to trigger one Mighty Stomp per activation that knocks up all nearby enemies. While it is less effective than a silencing effect on casters, it can prove useful anywhere that Ring of Peace is already considered as an extra piece of enemy disruption.

Crackling Jade Lightning can be a useful tool for pulling a faraway group of enemies by casting it on one of them; just remember to immediately cancel Crackling Jade Lightning's channel by moving or performing another action! Bear in mind that it will hardly generate any threat.

Roll, Lighter Than Air, and Tiger's Lust can all be used fairly often in a dungeon and are excellent options for repositioning yourself or making a quick escape from danger. Tiger's Lust, in particular, can often remove debuffs that deal damage over time or other negative effects if the debuff also snares or roots the victim! Lighter Than Air, meanwhile, can be used to negate fall damage or even briefly enable waterwalking in the rare moments when it may be helpful.

The Windwalking aura works to provide you and any allies within 10 yards with extra movement speed. In Mythic+, where there is only one healer and the group tends to stay close to the tank, you can provide your entire group with this buff at nearly all times!

When running a Mythic+ dungeon, there may be times when the damage you or the rest of the group is taking becomes too intense for the healer to manage. During these moments, you can utilize kiting to help reduce your damage taken. This can provide precious time for your healer to restore some extra missing health or for you to get more of your defensive resources back.

There is no solid guideline for when in a dungeon; you may need to practice kiting as a Brewmaster Monk. Still, you must not forget it is an available option commonly seen in Mythic+ compared to a raiding environment. Fortunately, all the mobility available to Brewmaster Monks makes kiting reasonably simple. You could choose to Leg Sweep a group of enemies and Roll away afterward, throwing a Keg Smash to slow them down while you play keep-away. Or, you could place a Transcendence beforehand and quickly teleport to it later with Transcendence: Transfer. With the use of talents like Summon Black Ox Statue and Ring of Peace, the only thing stopping you as a Brewmaster from kiting endlessly is your ability to maintain threat on what is trying to reach you.

For a quick guide of which talents to use, check the dungeon and affixes in the table below and see the list of suggested utility talents you should make sure you work into your build. Note that in the case of Tiger's Lust, which is always run regardless, this tool means to point out dungeons where there are additional root or snare mechanics you can remove or negate with it.

Based on the selections above, you should run the following talents:

• Detox
• Pressure Points
• There are noteworthy snares or roots for Tiger's Lust to remove.

Brewmasters have a large number of abilities on hand that can counter the Cosmic Ascension casts from the orbs this affix generates. Among these are your Spear Hand Strike, Paralysis, and even Ring of Peace or Leg Sweep. However, you may want to avoid overcommitting resources to stopping this affix in favor of still having them available for the traditional trash pulls of a dungeon; choose your tools carefully.

Void Emissaries spawned when this affix triggers only have 1 HP, with their health otherwise being an absorb. This means that your Touch of Death can instantly be used on them, dealing its full amount of damage and significantly negating their danger. With the frequency of these spawns, you will be able to cast Touch of Death on most. This does mean you will not have access to the ability for "regular" moments of the dungeon .

You are unable to gather the Void Pulsar orbiting your character on your own. It must be walked into by another player. In addition, these Pulsars will always orbit clockwise; take advantage of this and your own mobility to quickly gather another player's Pulsar that is in melee range to avoid disrupting enemy positioning too much.

Void Rift's absorb can be removed after receiving 53% of your maximum health in healing, or instantly with either Detox or Tiger's Lust. If you have talented into Vivacious Vivification as well, consider dispelling yourself— due to tanks having more health to heal through otherwise— and using an instant cast of Vivify or Tiger's Lust to help out another player if there are not enough dispels to go around.

Alternatively, if you are the only player taking significant damage, your healer will already be passively counteracting Void Rift by keeping you alive. In these moments, consider using your Detox on another player instead.