Mists of Pandaria Classic Brewmaster Monk Talent Builds

On this page, we outline the most effective talent and glyph options available to Brewmaster Monks in World of Warcraft: Mists of Pandaria. We explain the function of each talent and glyph, along with the situations in which they are most beneficial.

There is no longer a single 'default' talent build, as most talents are now viable choices. They can be easily swapped using Dust of Disappearance, or Tome of the Clear Mind for characters between levels 86 and 90. You will often need to adjust your talents and glyphs between encounters to better suit specific mechanics. As a result, it is essential to understand the effects of each talent and how they influence your play style.

• Celerity — Celerity passively reduces the recharge time of Roll and Chi Torpedo by 5 seconds and increases their charges by 1.
• Tiger's Lust — removes all immobilizing and movement-slowing effects from the target and increases their movement speed by 70% for 6 seconds. It has a 30-second cooldown and can be used on yourself or a friendly target.
• Momentum — passively increases your movement speed by 25% for 10 seconds each time you use Roll or Chi Torpedo, stacking up to two times.

If you are looking for a controlled burst of movement speed or a way to escape movement-impairing effects, then Tiger's Lust is the best option. This ability can also be cast on allies, providing additional utility. If you plan to make frequent use of Roll or Chi Torpedo, and you prefer a smoother, more comfortable experience when using them, then Celerity is likely the most suitable choice. Should you wish to gain a movement speed boost each time you Roll or Chi Torpedo, then Momentum is the optimal talent.

• Chi Wave — functions as a chain heal/lightning, that jumps between the 7 nearest targets, alternating between allies and enemies. Each bounce either heals or damages its target based on their alignment. The healing is smart-targeted, prioritizing allies with the lowest health. It has a 15-second cooldown and costs no resources.
• Zen Sphere — Zen Sphere creates a healing sphere above a friendly target, which can also be yourself, lasting 16 seconds. Every 2 seconds, it heals the target and deals damage to the nearest enemy within 10 yards. The ability has a 10-second cooldown and is free to use. You can have up to two spheres active at once. If the target’s health drops below 35% or when the duration expires, the sphere detonates, dealing moderate healing and damage to all nearby units within 10 yards.
• Chi Burst — emits a wave in a 40-yard cone in front of the caster, healing all friendly targets and damaging all enemies within its range. It has a short cast time, a 30-second cooldown, and costs no resources.

Your choice of talent depends on the type of healing you require, but Chi Wave should be the default option in most situations. It is particularly effective for healing targets that are spread out, as it automatically bounces between allies and enemies. Chi Burst is a strong choice when the raid is stacked together, providing a significant amount of healing in a small area. However, outside of those situations, it can be difficult to position and use effectively. Zen Sphere offers a more controlled, single-target heal. Its detonation effect provides useful area-of-effect healing when multiple players are stacked together, especially if they frequently drop below 35% health, triggering the automatic detonation.

• Power Strikes — passively causes Jab, Expel Harm, Spinning Crane Kick (when it hits at least three enemies), and Crackling Jade Lightning to generate one extra Chi. This effect has a 20-second internal cooldown. If you’re already at maximum Chi when it triggers, a Chi sphere will spawn near you. Walking over the Chi sphere consumes it and grants you 1 Chi.
• Ascension — increases your maximum Chi by 1 (raising it from 4 to 5), boosts your total mana by 15%, and increases your energy regeneration rate by 15%.
• Chi Brew — instantly restores 2 Chi and grants 2 stacks of Tigereye Brew. It has a 45-second cooldown.

In this tier, you are faced with a somewhat difficult decision when determining which talent provides the best survivability. Each option has distinct advantages depending on the encounter.

Ascension increases your Energy regeneration by 15% and Chi by 1. This allows you to store additional Chi in preparation for periods of heavy incoming damage, giving you greater control over your defensive ability usage.

Power Strikes is particularly effective in encounters with regular downtime on targets. Its internal cooldown continues to tick even when you are not actively attacking, so you will receive a Chi proc immediately upon re-engaging a target.

Chi Brew excels in situations where you need to quickly regain control of a new boss or add. In these moments, you may find yourself low on both Chi and Elusive Brew stacks, and this talent allows you to recover both instantly.

• Ring of Peace — can be cast on a friendly target, creating an 8-yard radius ring around them that lasts for 8 seconds. Enemy players within the ring are immediately disarmed for 4 seconds and silenced for 3 seconds. Additionally, any enemies inside the ring who cast spells or use non-melee abilities will also be disarmed and silenced for the same durations. Both effects are subject to diminishing returns and Ring of Peace has a 45-second cooldown.
• Charging Ox Wave — summons an ox that charges forward, stunning all enemies in a 30-yard line in front of you for 3 seconds. It has a 30-second cooldown.
• Leg Sweep — stuns all enemies within 5 yards of you for 5 seconds. This ability has a 45-second cooldown.

These talents have little to no impact on your core gameplay and will not significantly affect your performance.

Charging Ox Wave is a strong choice when you need a ranged stun, particularly in encounters where you must regularly pick up newly spawned adds. Its range and ability to stun in a line make it highly effective for initial control.

Leg Sweep provides reliable crowd control and damage reduction, especially if you are able to stun adds that are actively attacking you. However, it has a shorter range and a longer cooldown compared to Charging Ox Wave.

Ring of Peace is situationally useful against groups of adds that can be silenced or disarmed. It excels in encounters where controlling enemy casting or weapon-based abilities is important.

• Healing Elixirs — restores 15% of your maximum health each time you consume a Brew or Tea. This effect has an internal cooldown of 18 seconds and does not trigger if you are at full health. It will automatically activate if your health drops below 35%.
• Dampen Harm — reduces the damage of the next three attacks against you (within 45 seconds) by 50%, provided each attack deals at least 20% of your maximum health. This ability has a cooldown of 1.5 minutes.
• Diffuse Magic — removes all magical debuffs currently affecting you. For the next 6 seconds, it reduces all magic damage taken by 90% and reflects all spells back to their caster.

The choice of talent in this tier depends heavily on the type of damage you are receiving during the encounter:

Diffuse Magic is highly effective for mitigating magic damage and can also cleanse harmful debuffs from yourself. Due to its short duration, it is best used against bursts of magic damage rather than sustained magic-based threats.

Dampen Harm reduces the damage of both magic and physical attacks, despite the tooltip's somewhat unclear wording. It is most effective for mitigating high-damage melee attacks from bosses. However, unless the boss hits extremely hard or you are in progression content, typical melee attacks may not be strong enough to trigger the effect.

Healing Elixirs requires no active management and provides a solid amount of passive healing over the course of a fight. However, this healing may occur at times when it is not urgently needed, reducing its overall effectiveness in high-pressure moments.

• Rushing Jade Wind — is an upgraded version of Spinning Crane Kick, which it replaces. While it deals only 80% of the damage and healing of Spinning Crane Kick, it is instant and not channeled, allowing you to continue casting other spells while it is active.
• Invoke Xuen, the White Tiger — summons a white tiger that attacks your current target as well as up to three nearby enemies. The tiger remains active for 45 seconds and can be controlled using the pet action bar. This ability has a 3-minute cooldown.
• Chi Torpedo — is an enhanced version of Roll, replacing it. It propels you a short distance forward, dealing damage to all enemies and healing all allies in your path.

The best talent choice in this tier is either Invoke Xuen, the White Tiger or Rushing Jade Wind, depending on the encounter.

Rushing Jade Wind is the optimal choice for sustained area-of-effect (AoE) situations. It should be used whenever there are more than three enemies around you. Its short cooldown and ability to be used alongside your other abilities make it ideal for consistent AoE threat and damage.

Invoke Xuen, the White Tiger is the best option for single-target and cleave encounters. Xuen provides a strong burst of damage and can be controlled manually through the pet bar for more precise usage.

Chi Torpedo plays a hybrid role, offering both damage and healing. It is only useful when you are able to move freely and when your raid is sufficiently stacked for the healing component to be effective. In practice, this talent is highly situational and rarely outperforms the other two options in terms of overall utility or throughput.

There are several decent Major Glyphs for Brewmaster Monks.

• Glyph of Fortuitous Spheres causes a Healing Sphere to be summoned near you when your health drops below 25%. This effect has no cost and is limited by a 30-second internal cooldown. It is a useful glyph if you have an available slot, especially in encounters where your health frequently dips below 25%.
• Glyph of Fortifying Brew increases the damage reduction of Fortifying Brew by 5% (bringing it to 25%), but reduces the health increase by 10% (bringing it to 10%). Since Fortifying Brew is best used preemptively, this glyph can often be beneficial, trading reactive health for more consistent mitigation.
• Glyph of Leer of the Ox grants you the Leer of the Ox ability, which allows your Black Ox Statue to perform a single-target taunt. However, this taunt does not work on raid bosses, limiting its usefulness to smaller-scale content or trash control.
• Glyph of Zen Meditation allows you to channel Zen Meditation while moving. This is extremely helpful in encounters that require high mobility, and it also prevents accidentally canceling the spell due to movement.
• Glyph of Enduring Healing Sphere significantly increases the duration of the healing spheres created by Gift of the Ox. This allows you to accumulate a group of spheres and use them strategically when you need a burst of healing.
• Glyph of Touch of Death removes the Chi cost of Touch of Death, but increases its cooldown by 2 minutes. Since using Touch of Death on a raid boss is difficult due to the narrow health window (usually between approximately 500,000 HP and 0), removing the Chi cost can make timing the ability more flexible and easier to execute.

There is no Minor Glyph for Brewmaster Monks particularly useful Glyph for tanking. Glyph of Spirit Roll and Glyph of Water Roll allow you to use Roll and Chi Torpedo while dead and while moving across water, respectively. These glyphs have no impact in raid encounters but can be quite convenient in other scenarios.