Brewmaster Monk Tank Spec, Builds, and Talents — Midnight Pre-Patch (12.0)

While optimizing talents on a contextual basis is the highly recommended method of setting up your build, the talent tree listed below will work well for general purposes such as Delves, world content, and entry-level dungeons and raids. It is still highly recommended to switch to a more specialized build if engaging in something specific.

When making use of this build in Delves in particular, it is recommended to take advantage of the Shado-Pan Hero Talents due to their substantial buffs to your Energy spenders and movement speed bonuses. You may still use the Master of Harmony talents instead, of course!

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

The following build is focused on your performance within raid encounters. As such, it does not opt into utility that is rarely seen within a raid or can be covered by another player instead. Although it opts into some additional defensive talents, it also aims for a slightly more simple rotation with the use of Special Delivery. For near-identical performance and greater complexity, you can instead opt into Rushing Jade Wind. Depending on an encounter's needs, you may also need to switch between Celestial Infusion and Celestial Brew or consider dropping Niuzao's Resolve. If you would like to be even more defensive, remove Empty the Cellar and Dragonfire Brew for High Tolerance, Elixir of Determination, or even Ox Stance, though be warned that this will come with some fairly significant damage losses.

As for Hero Talents, the Shado-Pan tree's cooldown reduction to Invoke Niuzao, the Black Ox and passive defense from Predictive Training give you more opportunity to focus on your rotation or repositioning during an encounter. Plus, your Flurry Strikes will add extra damage all on their own with every cast of Keg Smash.

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

Once you are appropriately comfortable with your playstyle as a Brewmaster Monk, consider switching to this set of talents to fully maximize your single-target damage potential. Be aware that it will ask of you to make use of Black Ox Brew and the Rushing Jade Wind supporting talents in particular, while sacrificing some defensive power by giving up Tranquil Spirit and Awakening Spirit. It will also expect you to make effective use of Expel Harm due to not having Niuzao's Resolve. Beyond these differences, this build is still focused primarily on raiding, and it will similarly not have all of your available utility selected. In fact, you may end up dropping further options, such as Peace and Prosperity, in favor of easier Touch of Death usage with Improved Touch of Death. If this build's choices seem too daunting, you can even opt for somewhere in between it and our Default raiding talents, keeping Bob and Weave and picking up Tranquil Spirit or Awakening Spirit in particular.

For Hero Talents, the Shado-Pan tree remains a clear winner due to its extra Tiger Palm enhancements in particular. In addition, more frequent access to Invoke Niuzao, the Black Ox also results in additional Stomps from regularly casting Blackout Kick to gain an edge in AoE encounters.

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

Dungeons feature a lot more talent flexibility due to the variety of scenarios you will encounter. Due to the wider variety of utility and AoE needs, this build opts into both of Exploding Keg's follow-up 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, Master of Harmony's damage output will be a bit lower by comparison in exchange for stronger Purifying Brew casts and a second charge of Celestial Infusion/ Celestial Brew. By comparison, 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+, this build can be switched to for a small gain in your damage output alongside more skill-based defensive potential. 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. While it still defaults to the Shado-Pan hero talents, optimizing your pulls around Invoke Niuzao, the Black Ox and Wisdom of the Wall will be much more important. Otherwise, much of the talent flexibility needs from the standard Mythic+ build for defense and utility still applies.

Note that with these talents, you will still be consuming all of your Blackout Combo buffs on empowering Tiger Palm. This damage bonus is strong enough that you will not be casting Spinning Crane Kick outside of massive pulls or initial enemy gathering.

As a final note, this build is equally useful for both the Shado-Pan and Master of Harmony Hero Talents. Due to the latter's Overwhelming Force passive, your Blackout Kick casts provide a lot of damage in smaller pull counts while still keeping up in larger ones. Your main deciding factor should come down to how you prefer to handle your defense and whether or not you are triggering larger bursts of AoE with more frequent casts of Invoke Niuzao, the Black Ox, alongside larger pulls for more Keg Smash damage.

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

Highlighting the unique amount of flexibility available through talent trees, the following build is intended for trivial content that you wish to get through as quickly as possible, such as old raids or previous expansion features. It makes use of talents that are otherwise not taken during your time in Midnight, though you should further complement it with other legacy speed-boosting effects such as a Charged Phial of Alacrity and Exquisitely Eviscerated Muscle.

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