Brewmaster Monk Tank Guide — Battle for Azeroth (BfA) 8.1.5

1. Brewmaster Monk Overview

Brewmaster is the tanking specialization of Monks, and we possess a wide array of colorful and unique abilities. Brewmasters do not overly rely on avoiding damage through dodging and parrying attacks. Instead, we have an additional way of dealing with incoming damage, completely exclusive to Brewmaster. This is called Staggering damage, which causes only a portion of damage taken to be done to the Monk instantly. The rest of the damage is done over the course of 10 seconds (with the possibility for the Monk to remove part of the non-instant damage by using Purifying Brew).

Mainly for these reasons, Brewmasters benefit from a steady and relatively easily-healed damage intake. We are also exceptional at taking large, isolated hits; perhaps the best at this of any tank. We make excellent tanks in PvE and will always be a valuable asset to your raid.

2. Patch 8.1 Changes for Brewmaster Monk

Tides of Vengeance brings a small nerf in Staggered damage and two new Azerite traits to play with:

• The effectiveness of Stagger has been reduced by around 6%. This leads to direct physical hits doing around 10% more damage. There are no playstyle changes associated with this, you will simply require some more healing.
• Niuzao's Blessing has been removed. All items with this trait will gain Straight, No Chaser. This trait causes Ironskin Brew to increase your armor and occasionally not use a charge. This trait is powerful defensively, and you will want at least one.
• Exit Strategy is an interesting new Inner Ring trait. With this, Rolling or Chi Torpedoing grants a large amount of Avoidance (around 10%) for 2 seconds. During the 2 seconds, if you are hit by direct damage your Roll cooldown is reduced.
• Ranged attacks which are dodged now consume Mastery: Elusive Brawler stacks.

3. Brewmaster Monk Strengths

• Very strong against single large hits
• Highly mobile
• Provides Mystic Touch along with the other monk specializations, which all raids will want.

4. Brewmaster Monk Weaknesses

• Less self sufficient than some other tanks.

5. Brewmaster Monk Viability in the Current Patch

Brewmaster is quite strong currently. It is the best tank for dealing with isolated large hits, making it excellent at certain bosses. In Dungeons, Leg Sweep is an exceptionally powerful stun, and we can kite in a pinch to get out of deadly situations.

6. Changelog