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Table of Contents
General Information
On this page, we list your Brewmaster Monk core abilities and how they should be used together (rotation) in World of Warcraft Legion 7.3.5. We also explain when to use your various cooldowns. Then, we go deeper and present all the subtleties that you will need to know if you want to excel at playing a Brewmaster Monk.
The other pages of our Brewmaster Monk guide can be accessed from the table of contents on the right.
About Our Author and Reviewers
This guide has been written by Furty, who has an illustrious history in the World of Warcraft raiding scene and race for World First. He has been a member of guilds such as Serenity, Midwinter, and many more, and is currently raiding in Future. He plays most classes at the highest level. You can follow him on Twitter and watch him play on Twitch.
This guide has been reviewed and approved by:
- Justwait, a top tank who raids in Method; you can watch his stream on Twitch and follow him on Twitter;
- Kamp, a theorycrafter from the Peak of Serenity Discord Server.
1. Single Target Rotation for Brewmaster Monk
The single target rotation for Brewmaster Monks is based on a priority system. It does not account for your active mitigation abilities (which we discuss in depth in a dedicated section) or your survival cooldowns (also discussed separately).
- Use
Keg Smash on cooldown. - Use
Blackout Strike on cooldown. - Use
Breath of Fire on cooldown. - Keep
Rushing Jade Wind active (if you have taken this
talent). - Use
Tiger Palm (always leave enough Energy for your next Keg Smash.
If you have taken 
Blackout Combo as your tier 7 talent, then
you should check this section, since
the ordering of abilities changes from a priority system to an almost
set rotation to provide maximum benefit from the talent.
2. Multiple Target Rotation for Brewmaster Monk
The multiple target rotation is also based on a priority system, and likewise does not include active mitigation abilities or survival cooldowns.
- Use
Exploding Keg for powerful AoE burst and as a defensive
cooldown for spooky packs. - Use Keg Smash on cooldown.
- Use
Chi Burst (if you have taken this talent).- Delay Chi Burst a few seconds if new adds are about to spawn, so that you can hit them as well.
- Use Breath of Fire on cooldown.
- Make sure the enemies are affected by the debuff Keg Smash applies
before doing so.
- Make sure the enemies are affected by the debuff
- Use Rushing Jade Wind on cooldown (if you have taken this
talent).
- Use Tiger Palm if you have 65+ Energy.
- Use Blackout Strike on cooldown.
If you have taken Blackout Combo as your tier 7 talent, then
Blackout Strike should be the top priority, and you should use
it on cooldown.
3. Cooldown Usage for Brewmaster Monk
As a Brewmaster Monk, you have three defensive abilities with a long cooldown.
Fortifying Brew should be used whenever you are about to take a
large amount of damage. Alternatively, it can be used as an emergency cooldown
when your health is low, although it is less effective in this way.
Zen Meditation allows you to greatly mitigate the damage abilities
with a cast time (since the cast time allows you to time Zen Meditation
perfectly). Alternatively, it can reduce the first melee attack or boss
ability that hits you while channeling it.- Exploding Keg deals strong AoE damage and causes enemies to miss
their melee attacks for 3 seconds. Especially potent for AoE as you can make
full use of the damage and miss chance, while on a slow swinging boss it might
only amount to 1-2 attacks total. Very strong in Mythic+ dungeons
Additionally, your talents have the potential to provide you with many different abilities with defensive qualities. We discuss this, as well as the proper timing and usage of your default cooldowns in a subsequent section.
4. Taunting for Brewmaster Monk
Provoke is your single target taunt. When taunting your Black Ox
Statue (if you have taken the 
Summon Black Ox Statue talent), all
enemies within 8 yards of the statue are forced to attack you. This
constitutes a sort of AoE taunt. It is worth noting that taunting a target with Provoke increases its movement
speed by 50%, which is useful when quickly changing a boss's positioning.
It is also worth noting that the Ox spawned by
Invoke Niuzao, the Black Ox has the ability to taunt targets. You can
control this (including turning off the auto-taunt feature) through the pet
control bar that you are provided with. Note that this taunt does not work
against raid bosses.
5. Optional Read: Mastering Your Brewmaster Monk
The information presented until now will allow you to tank successfully as a Brewmaster Monk, in the vast majority of situations. However, there are several aspects about your class and spec that require a very deep understanding if you are to take full advantage of your character.
5.1. Energy
Energy is a resource that Monks share with Rogues and Feral Druids. There are several things you need to know about Energy:
- Energy is generated passively. The regeneration speed is affected by your haste.
- You have a maximum capacity of 100 Energy.
- Energy never decays. A natural consequence of this is that your normal state is to have a full Energy bar (such as before starting combat).
- Being at maximum capacity causes any additional Energy you would generate to be wasted.
5.2. Mastery: Elusive Brawler
Your 
Mastery: Elusive Brawler grants you a stacking buff that
increases your chance to dodge, which lasts until the next time you dodge.
Blackout Strike and 
Breath of Fire will also provide stacks
for each target hit.
Your Mastery also passively increases your attack power. The amount of dodge chance increase and the amount of attack power increase depend on how much Mastery you have.
5.3. Stagger and Active Mitigation
Brewmaster Monks rely on a specific ability (Stagger) to smoothen out the damage they take throughout fights. This is a somewhat complex ability, and we will explain in depth in the sections that follow.
5.3.1. Stagger
In addition to dodging and parrying attacks, Brewmaster Monks have an
additional means of mitigating the damage that they take, called
Stagger. This is a key element in your survivability as a tank, so it
is important to understand it correctly.
Stagger causes Physical and magic attacks attacks made against you to have their damage split in two portions:
- An instant portion, which, predictably, does its damage to you instantly, in the moment of the attack.
- An over-time portion, which does its damage to you in the form of a 10-second DoT.
By default, 40% of the damage of a Physical attack is done over time,
while only 40% of that amount applies to magic attacks. That said, the
division between the portions of damage depends on other factors, namely
whether or not you have the 
High Tolerance tier 7 talent (which
increases the over-time portion by 10%) and whether or not you have
Ironskin Brew or 
Fortifying Brew active.
As can be easily noticed, Stagger does not provide any form of
damage reduction, mitigation, or avoidance. This is where
Purifying Brew comes into play. Purifying Brew has 3 charges and a
21-second recharge time, and using it instantly removes 40% of the Staggered
damage (the damage you are due to take over the next 10 seconds).
A simple example, assuming a Stagger amount of 40%, is as follows:
- An attack of 500,000 damage is performed against you.
- 300,000 damage is dealt to you instantly.
- A DoT is applied to you, which deals 200,000 damage over 10 seconds.
- You cast
Purifying Brew after 2 seconds, removing 40% of the DoT's
remaining damage. - You have sustained 300,000 in instant damage, and 136,000 in Staggered damage. The remaining 64,000 damage has been removed by Purifying Brew.
The other ability that has a close interaction with Stagger and Purifying
Brew is Ironskin Brew. This ability also has 3 charges and the same recharge
time as Purifying Brew, and in fact the two abilities share charges. Ironskin
Brew grants you a 6-second buff that increases the amount of damage you Stagger
by 35% for 6 seconds. Successive applications of Ironskin Brew (while the buff
is active) will extend its duration. Note that Ironskin Brew effect has no
impact on the existing Stagger damage, and only affects the division of damage
you take while the buff is active.
Note that the remaining recharge times of your Purifying Brew and Ironskin
Brew (and the remaining cooldown of Fortifying Brew) are reduced by 1
second each time you use 
Tiger Palm and by 4 seconds each time you use
Keg Smash.
5.3.2. Purifying Brew Versus Ironskin Brew
The hardest part of playing a Brewmaster Monk is to find the balance
between Purifying Brew and Ironskin Brew. Both of these
abilities have extremely valuable effects, but at the same time, because they
share charges, you cannot use them liberally.
As far as using Ironskin Brew is concerned, you should look at it as a way of reducing damage in the short term. An example of when using Ironskin Brew is a very good idea is when you have just taunted or started tanking a boss. Having the effect active will result in you taking less instant damage, and thus it will give your healers more time to start healing you.
Aside from this, Ironskin Brew has good pre-emptive uses. If you know a powerful boss ability is about to hit you, you can use Ironskin Brew to put a large portion of that damage into Stagger.
You can also use Ironskin Brew reactively, if you have taken damage and are low on health. This will cause you to take much less damage in the next few seconds, giving your healers a chance to heal you back up.
It is important to keep in mind that Ironskin Brew does not
remove the incoming damage, rather, it converts it into a less threatening
form via the Stagger DoT. When facing heavy incoming damage, or
mechanics that could potentially result in instant lethal damage, it is always
preferable to deal with that damage in the form of Stagger rather
than taking it directly. This gives us time to be healed up and stabilized,
gives a chance to potentially Purify the damage away entirely, or use further
cooldowns to keep us healthy. Try to aim for as close to 100% uptime on
Ironskin Brew as possible when actively tanking, keeping a brew charge in
reserve for emergency Purifying Brews. The 
Black Ox Brew
talent is invaluable for emergency refills when you are in desperate need
of Ironskin uptime, or need a quick Purify.
The balance tips even further in the favor of Ironskin Brew
once you have obtained the Tier 20 4-piece bonus, as we are constantly
trickle purifying via our 
Gift of the Ox Healing Spheres. This reduces
the need to use Purifying Brew as frequently and further encourages
the use of Ironskin as our go-to brew.
It is worth noting is that if you chose the Special Delivery talent,
you want to make sure that you never sit at maximum Brew charges, since it is
an indirect damage loss.
5.4. Gift of the Ox
Thanks to Gift of the Ox, a passive ability, you have a chance to
summon a healing sphere each time you receive damage. These healing spheres
persist on the ground around you, and moving over them causes them to be
consumed, healing you. If the spheres expire without being consumed, they will
do their healing to you automatically, provided that you are in range of
them.
If you can predict when you will take higher than usual damage, you can save up some spheres around you and use them all when you need the extra healing.
The spheres can sometimes be hard to spot, and that is where
Expel Harm becomes really useful. Expel Harm costs 15 Energy, draws in
all your Healing Spheres and damages the nearest enemy for 10% of the amount
that the spheres heal you for.
Your healing spheres are precious, and you should try to save up at least 3 of them before you either pick them up or use Expel Harm. With this said, you should only use the spheres when you are dropping low on health or need to get topped off before you are struck by a special attack.
5.5. Celestial Fortune
Celestial Fortune is a passive ability that uses your Critical
Strike chance to give you a chance that any healing you receive (from any
source, including from your healers) heals you
for an additional 65% of the amount healed. This effect occurs passively, but
it is good for you to know that it exists.
Celestial Fortune also interacts with absorbs on you
at a rate equal to your Critical Strike chance. If you have 25% Critical
Strike, all absorbs will be 25% larger on you at all times.
5.6. Detailed Cooldown Usage
5.6.1. Fortifying Brew
Fortifying Brew increases your current and maximum health by 20%,
reduces all damage taken by 20%, and increases your Stagger amount by
20%, for 15 seconds. It has a 7-minute cooldown (but the remaining cooldown is
reduced by 1 and 4 seconds when you use Tiger Palm and
Keg Smash, respectively).
Fortifying Brew is your main defensive cooldown, and it best used
pre-emptively, such as before taking a large amount of damage from a boss
ability. You can also use it reactively, to prolong your survival, since it
increases your health by 20%. One thing to note about it is
that, because of the Stagger increase it offers, it is imperative to use
Purifying Brew to take full advantage of it.
5.6.2. Zen Meditation
Zen Meditation is a very powerful defensive cooldown. It reduces damage
taken by 60% for 8 seconds, but the effect is canceled prematurely if you are
the victim of a melee attack.
The spell is most useful for reducing the damage of abilities with a cast time, since the cast time makes it very easy to time Zen Meditation perfectly. It can also be used to mitigate a powerful melee attack or other boss mechanic.
5.6.3. Exploding Keg
Exploding Keg causes enemies to miss their attacks for 3 seconds. It
also deals heavy AoE burst.
Try to take advantage of this when you are tanking a large pack of mobs and need a few seconds to stabilize or catch up. It is also fine as an emergency melee cooldown on raid bosses, though it is less efficient to use it in this fashion as it will only causes 1 or 2 attacks to be evaded. This keg has a very long range and can be used to assist another tank if they are tanking a group of adds away from the boss, for example, on Skorpyron.
5.6.4. Tier 1 Talents
If you chose 
Eye of the Tiger, you should strive to maintain 100%
uptime on the buff it provides, which requires you to use Tiger Palm
at least once every 8 seconds.
Chi Burst is best used when there are a lot of mobs stacked up. You
should always try to aim the projectile towards your raid, since it heals all
allies in its path.
Chi Wave should be used on cooldown. If you are dropping low on
health, you should cast this on yourself, rather then on the boss. This is
achieved with this macro.
5.6.5. Tier 3 Talents
If you chose Black Ox Brew, you should always make sure to use up all your Brew charges before using it. A good way of doing this is to use 2
Ironskin Brew followed up by a Purifying Brew, if you are
actively tanking, or just 3 Ironskin Brews otherwise to prepare for incoming
damage. Remember that
Black Ox Brew also refills all your Energy, and since Ironskin Brew and
Purifying Brew are off the global cooldown, this leaves you with room for a
Keg Smash or Tiger Palm at the same time. This talent
shines in combination with Special Delivery, due to the increased gain
in Brew stacks.
5.6.6. Tier 4 Talents
Ring of Peace can be useful to interrupt several mobs at
once (since the knockback interrupts casts), but you should be careful never
to use the ability on raid members standing in the melee group, since this can
cause adds to be knocked out of melee range. While it has its uses, Ring of
Peace is mostly a PvP ability.
If you chose 
Leg Sweep, you should always be the first person using
your stun. The instant 5-second stun is really amazing, and should in almost
all cases be used before diminishing returns kicks in. Make sure you set up a
good stun rotation to get the most out of this talent.
Summon Black Ox Statue is a one of a kind ability that you should
strive to play with. Having all of the mobs running to the same place makes
everything so much easier when trying to pick them up. Remember you can use
Provoke on your Black Ox Statue to taunt all the mobs near the statue.
This utilises the amount of mobility needed from you in the encounter, since
you can easily pick up all the mobs with a single Provoke. Remember that the
statue is killable, so you should try to summon another one once you have
picked up the adds.
5.6.7. Tier 5 Talents
Healing Elixir should most often be allowed to proc on its own
when you are low on health, although you can also use it manually if you
feel the need to top yourself off in preparation for a large attack.
Mystic Vitality is generally our default option as it is
invaluable against Magic damage.
Dampen Harm is a survival cooldown that you can use to mitigate
the damage from powerful boss attacks. It is most useful if used
preemptively.
5.6.8. Tier 6 Talents
Rushing Jade Wind should be used to keep the buff active. Since it
does not need to be channeled, you can simply continue casting your other
abilities as soon as you cast it.
Invoke Niuzao, the Black Ox can be commanded to attack and taunt
specific targets through the pet control bar. We advise you to remove the auto
taunt feature. Note that bosses are generally not susceptible to Niuzao's
taunt.
5.6.9. Tier 7 Talents
High Tolerance is the best option for defensive play, in any situation.
This is due to the 10% additional Stagger that High Tolerance
provides. Remember that you also gain up to 15% Haste depending on your
current amount of Stagger, which means that you require less Haste in
general.
Elusive Dance is generally not a competitive option, as it
is not on par with High Tolerance defensively. It technically reduces
more damage taken per second, but is less effective at actually keeping
you alive.
Blackout Combo empowers your next ability, and therefore changes
your rotation somewhat. It is also different from both Elusive Dance
and High Tolerance in that it is still strong while you are not taking
any damage.
So what should you use your Blackout Strikes in combination with?
You should always be using your Blackout Combos with Tiger Palm.
To accomplish this, you will modify the convention priority list to a simple
rotation that consists of:
- Keg Smash
- Blackout Strike
- Tiger Palm
- Filler
- Blackout Strike
- Tiger Palm
- Filler
The filler spells can consist of Breath of Fire and Rushing Jade Wind
as well as any other talents you have taken (e.g. Chi Wave). You should avoid
using Blackout Combo on your brews, and therefore you should make sure to use
your brews outside of the Blackout Strike → Tiger Palm window.
5.7. Roll and Transcendence
5.7.1. Roll
Roll is an ability that allows you to quickly move 15 yards in
front of you. It is a useful mobility ability, which you should use
extensively for quickly traversing short distances. Here are a few facts about
Roll:
- Roll has no resource cost and no cooldown. It is based on a charge
system.
- It has a maximum of 2 charges, and each charge has a 20-second recharge time.
- The
Celerity talent increases the number of charges to 3, and
reduces recharge time to 15 seconds.
- Roll is off the global cooldown, but while you are rolling, you are unable to use any other ability.
- Roll will always send you in the direction that your character is currently moving (including backwards). If your character is stationary, Roll will send you in the direction your character is facing.
- You cannot roll through objects or obstacles. If you encounter an obstacle, your Roll is ended prematurely.
- Your movement speed while rolling is greater than while running, so rolling off a cliff will push you further than if you were just running and jumping.
5.7.2. Transcendence
Transcendence allows you to place a copy of yourself behind for
up to 15 minutes. If you then use 
Transcendence: Transfer, you will be
instantly moved back to the location of your copy. This can be useful in a
wide range of situations, typically those where you know you will have to
return to a certain location after moving away from it.
Transcendence can also be used to reset a fight. If you place it outside the room before you engage the boss, you can taunt the boss and use Transcendence: Transfer, and he will follow you outside and reset.
6. ChangeLog
- 28 Aug. 2017: No changes needed for Patch 7.3.
- 02 Aug. 2017: Removed an erroneous mention of Keg Smash in reference to Blackout Combo.
- 24 Jun. 2017: Updated the Ironskin vs. Purifying Brew section.
- 21 Jun. 2017: Updated a few talent sections and examples.
- 13 Jun. 2017: Updated rotation, specific talent sections, and Blackout Combo rotation.
- 28 Mar. 2017: No changes needed for Patch 7.2.
- 13 Feb. 2017: Updated Tier 7 talents section.
- 10 Jan. 2017: Checked and confirmed for Patch 7.1.5.
- 29 Aug. 2016: Updated for Legion's launch.
- 23 Jul. 2016: Fixed an issue where we were referring to Blackout Strike as Blackout Kick.
- 19 Jul. 2016: Completely revamped many talent discussions to account for some changes in opinions.
- 19 Jul. 2016: Added a mention of the interaction between your Tier 18 4-Part Set Bonus and your Healing Spheres, and slightly tweaked the single target rotation.
- 18 Jul. 2016: Updated for the Legion pre-patch.
CONTENTS
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