Brewmaster Monk Shadowlands Leveling Guide From 1 to 60
On this page, we will go over everything you need to know to level up your Brewmaster Monk to get ready for Shadowlands end game content. Make sure to use the slider to make the guide adapt to your level. If you are looking for more generic leveling guide you can refer to our Monk leveling guide.
Gear Options
During leveling, item level is even more important than normal on your Brewmaster. You should always pick the item with a higher level, with the possible exceptions of jewelry and trinkets. For these slots, you may wish to select the item that is providing more Critical Strike or Versatility. On trinkets you have the opportunity to experiment with various effects, so pick whatever you desire if it is reasonably close to your item level.
Level-By-Level Rotation and Talents
Move the slider below to make the guide update to your level!
Brewmaster Monk Talents While Leveling
Talents are additional passive effects and abilities that can give you access to more tools in your spellbook. They are unlocked on a regular basis as you level.
You will unlock your first talent row decision once you reach level 15.
Your talent set up should be as follows with each talent row as you unlock them. Note that these recommendations may differ from what is shown in our main guide for a maximum-level player.
- Level 15:
Chi Burst
- Level 25:
Chi Torpedo for more passive movespeed or
Tiger's Lust if you want a more-involved speed boost
- Level 30:
Spitfire if you are in War Mode and using
Incendiary Breath, otherwise
Black Ox Brew purely for the extra energy being valuable while questing
- Level 35:
Summon Black Ox Statue
- Level 40:
Healing Elixir to add a reliable form of self-healing
- Level 45:
Rushing Jade Wind for more total damage or
Exploding Keg for more burst damage or massive pulls
- Level 50:
High Tolerance
Rotation/Ability Priority to Level Up as a Brewmaster Monk
From Level 1, your lone ability is
Tiger Palm.
- (Optional): Tag an enemy with
Crackling Jade Lightning to have it move toward you, provided you immediately cancel the ability after casting. If you are using
Summon Black Ox Statue, place it near multiple enemies to get all of their attention at once.
- (Optional): Use
Provoke to force an enemy to run to you at high speed or briefly "tag" them with
Crackling Jade Lightning, provided you immediately cancel its cast afterward. If you are using
Summon Black Ox Statue, place it near multiple enemies to get all of their attention at once.
- (Optional): Use
Clashto force an enemy to charge at you,
Provoke to force them to run toward you at high speed, or briefly "tag" them with
Crackling Jade Lightning so long as you immediately cancel the channel after starting it. If you are using
Summon Black Ox Statue, place it near multiple enemies to get all of their attention at once.
- If talented, use
Rushing Jade Wind or throw
Exploding Keg before directly engaging your targets.
- (Optional): Use
Touch of Death to instantly kill the target if it is usable. Recommended for tougher enemies.
- (Optional): Use
Touch of Death to instantly kill weaker enemies, or elite foes below 15% Health.
- Cast
Invoke Niuzao, the Black Ox to increase your damage dealt and reduce your damage taken.
- Cast
Keg Smash as your opening ability when entering combat.
- Cast
Blackout Kick whenever it is available.
- Cast
Breath of Fire on enemies that have been hit by Keg Smash to have them deal less damage to you , and be aware of potential cooldown resets if
Spitfire is talented.
- Cast
Expel Harm on cooldown to offset your damage taken.
- Cast
Chi Burst, if talented, on cooldown to deal more damage and heal yourself.
- Cast
Tiger Palm in your spare time, but do not go below 40 Energy.
- Cast
Tiger Palm in your spare time if fighting one target, but do not go below 40 Energy.
- Cast
Spinning Crane Kick in your spare time if fighting multiple targets, but do not go below 40 Energy.
- Cast
Expel Harm if you are in need of healing to gather your
Gift of the Ox spheres.
Active Mitigation
- Maintain
Shuffle by continuing to cast
Blackout Kick and
Keg Smash on cooldown to smooth out your damage taken.
- Cast
Purifying Brew on cooldown , saving one charge for emergencies, when actively fighting an enemy and suffering damage from
Stagger.
- Cast
Celestial Brew on cooldown to temporarily absorb all damage taken.
- Cast
Celestial Brew after using your initial Purifying Brew charges to increase its size with the stacks of
Purified Chi received. Use it on cooldown otherwise.
Summary of Unlocked Abilities for Brewmaster Monks
To avoid this summary becoming overly-long, only abilities and ranks unique to Brewmaster Monks will be shown. To see every ability, please visit the Spell Summary of the main guide.
- At Level 10, your
Tiger Palm and
Spinning Crane Kick now cost 25 Energy each rather than 50 and 40.
- Also at Level 10, your
Blackout Kick has its cooldown increased to 4 seconds from 3.
- Finally at Level 10, you unlock access to the
Mastery stat and your
Mastery: Elusive Brawler. This gives you a chance to dodge attacks that increases until you successfully dodge. It also increases your Attack Power.
- At Level 12, you unlock
Stagger, which acts as your unique defensive tool. A portion of all Physical damage you receive will instead be turned into a 10-second Damage Over Time effect.
- At level 17, you unlock
Shuffle. This passive effect will cause
Blackout Kick to temporarily increase the amount of damage you
Stagger.
- At Level 19, you unlock the
Brewmaster's Balance Passive, which increases your total Armor by 25%.
- At Level 21, you unlock
Keg Smash. This is your primary ability as a Brewmaster, and will grant 5 seconds of
Shuffle when used.
- At Level 23, you unlock
Purifying Brew. This ability acts as your main way to reduce the amount of damage you are taking from the
Stagger effect and its cooldown is reduced by using
Keg Smash and
Tiger Palm.
- At Level 26, you unlock
Stagger Rank 2, which now allows your
Stagger to partially work on Magic damage, including most damage over time effects.
- At Level 27, you unlock
Celestial Brew, allowing you to temporarily create a shield that absorbs all damage received. Its cooldown is reduced by using
Keg Smash and
Tiger Palm.
- At Level 29, you unlock
Breath of Fire, which will temporarily burn enemies you have recently
Keg Smashed and reduce their damage dealt to you by 5%.
- At Level 33, you unlock
Spinning Crane Kick Rank 2, causing it to now give you Shuffle when it hits an enemy.
- At Level 34, you unlock
Zen Meditation, another powerful defensive cooldown that ends upon taking damage, attacking, or moving.
- At Level 38, you unlock
Gift of the Ox, occasionally spawning healing spheres when taking damage.
- At Level 41, you unlock
Celestial Brew Rank 2, which allows your
Purifying Brew to generate stacks of
Purified Chi that increase the size of
Celestial Brew's shield.
- At Level 42, you unlock
Invoke Niuzao, the Black Ox. This cooldown summons a ghostly Ox that deals damage and takes on a portion of your
Stagger.
- At Level 43, you unlock
Expel Harm Rank 2, reducing its cooldown by 10 seconds and causing it to also automatically pick up any
Gift of the Ox spheres that are present.
- At Level 46, you unlock
Celestial Fortune, causing all healing received to heal for 65% more, based on your Critical Strike.
- At Level 47, you unlock
Purifying Brew Rank 2, giving the ability a second charge.
- At Level 48, you unlock
Fortifying Brew Rank 2, causing it to also increase your
Stagger effectiveness while active.
- At Level 52, you unlock
Touch of Death Rank 3, which causes it to remove
Stagger based on the damage dealt.
- At Level 54, you unlock
Clash, which forces both you and the target to charge at eachother.
- At Level 56 you unlock
Zen Meditation Rank 2, allowing you to move while channeling the ability.
- At Level 58, you unlock
Invoke Niuzao, the Black Ox Rank 2, increasing its damage based on how much
Stagger you have recently removed with
Purifying Brew.
War Mode Talents to Level Up as a Brewmaster Monk
If you are willing to utilize War Mode, the following PvP talents are recommended during leveling or for other open-world content. There may be times where you would like to use other options, and are encouraged to experiment! PvP talents can be freely changed at any time.
Your first PvP talent slot will unlock at Level 20, your second at Level 30, and the final at Level 40.
Recommended Brewmaster PvP Talents
Double Barrel will allow you to frequently increase the damage of your
Keg Smash and also allow it to stun everything it hits. It can also be used in a macro to make it effectively a passive benefit.
Incendiary Breath can be combined with the
Spitfire talent for a noticeable damage increase, along with giving your
Breath of Fire an additional disorient effect.
Eerie Fermentation can provide you with a small amount of additional mobility and defense against Magic damage.
The End Game
Congratulations! You made it to level 60! Now that you are in the end game, we recommend looking at our Easy mode page and Talents section to see how to transition from leveling to the end-game.
Changelog
- 31 May 2022: Page reviewed for Patch 9.2.5.
- 28 Jun. 2021: Reviewed and approved for Patch 9.1.
- 09 Mar. 2021: Reviewed for 9.0.5.
- 12 Oct. 2020: Guide added.
This guide has been written by Sinzhu, a Mythic raider on US-Kil'jaeden who has passionately played Brewmaster for the past eight years. He also contributes to the Peak of Serenity and is an active Veteran of the Monk Class Discord.
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