Brewmaster Monk Tank Spec, Builds, and Talents — The War Within (11.0.5)
On this page, you will find out the best talents for each tier for your Brewmaster Monk in World of Warcraft — The War Within (11.0.5). We also have default talent lists for various types of content, such as raiding or Mythic+. If you play with Warmode on, we have your PvP talents covered as well.
Within this page, we will go over every single talent available to Brewmaster Monks. Many of them are only passive effects, but they all can have an impact on how the spec is played, whether active or passive. To see how these choices fit into how you play as a Brewmaster, take a look at the Rotation section of our guide.
Talent Cheat Sheets for Brewmaster Monks
Best Delves/Open-World Talents for Brewmaster Monks
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 additional buff to your Vivify ability through Protect and Serve, which should be used with Vivacious Vivification procs for reliable self-sufficiency. You may still use 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:
Best Default/Defensive Raiding Talents for Brewmaster Monks
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. However, it also chooses to use a point of High Tolerance and Anvil & Stave for defense. If this is not necessary and you wish to push your damage even further, drop one in favor of Face Palm.
As for Hero Talents, the Master of Harmony tree's extra bonuses to Celestial Brew and Purifying Brew are an excellent complement to a defensive playstyle, offering some extra control over your survival and rewarding you with more vitality from the higher damage intake of a raid.
Remember that you can easily import the talent tree below into the game with the "Export Talents" button:
Best Advanced/Offensive Raiding Talents for Brewmaster Monks
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 require you to make use of Blackout Combo, Scalding Brew, Charred Passions, and Black Ox Brew in particular. As this build is still focused primarily on raiding, 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 Dragonfire Brew.
For Hero Talents, the Shado-Pan tree acts as a clear winner once you are optimizing purely for single-target damage due to its greater synergy with Tiger Palm's and Keg Smash's many damage buffs. However, its defensive potential is often a little lower in a raid environment where dodging may not be as consistent, and you have little need to use Vivacious Vivification. If you are in need of on-demand bonus AoE damage, then Master of Harmony may still prove useful, though its single-target potential will be a bit lower.
Remember that you can easily import the talent tree below into the game with the "Export Talents" button:
Best Standard Mythic+ Talents for Brewmaster Monks
Dungeons feature a lot more talent flexibility due to the variety of scenarios you will encounter, such as whether or not you need an extra defensive cooldown in the form of Dampen Harm compared to the passive Dodge of Dance of the Wind, or if you want to opt for a more passive experience with Dragonfire Brew.
Although this build features the Shado-Pan Hero Talents, you can easily switch to Master of Harmony instead. However, its single-target damage output will be a bit lower by comparison in exchange for stronger Purifying Brew casts and a second charge of Celestial Brew. Fortunately, Shado-Pan's Predictive Training is noticeably potent in AoE tanking, and Protect and Serve pairs nicely with Vivacious Vivification for additional self-healing.
Remember that you can easily import the talent tree below into the game with the "Export Talents" button:
Best Advanced Mythic+ Talents for Brewmaster Monks
As you grow more comfortable playing a Brewmaster Monk in Mythic+, this build can be switched to for a large gain in your damage output and only a small sacrifice to your defenses. Like the advanced raiding build, this is done with the help of Blackout Combo, Scalding Brew, and the Monk Brewmaster Season 1 4pc bonus, though you will still be punished if unable to reliably hit Blackout Kick on cooldown. Much of the talent flexibility from the standard Mythic+ build for defense and utility still applies, however. Make sure you are still willing to switch to Dampen Harm as needed, for example!
When you are using this build, your playstyle will also change slightly. With these talents, you will 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! In addition, due to talenting Scalding Brew rather than Sal'salabim's Strength, you are unable to maintain the DoT effect of Breath of Fire without the help of Charred Passions. Fortunately, in smaller pulls, you can take advantage of Shadowboxing Treads's cleaving effect on Blackout Kick to keep the DoT active. With all of these changes combined, you will still maintain an active rotation with minimal downtime and achieve the greatest damage output possible from a Brewmaster.
As a final note, this build is meant to be played with the Shado-Pan Hero Talents. While there is nothing preventing you from trying its alternate playstyle with Master of Harmony, much of its additional damage is tied to passive effects found in the Shado-Pan tree. Playing without it will largely defeat the purpose of talenting Scalding Brew in the first place, though the other talents such as Blackout Combo are still potent.
Remember that you can easily import the talent tree below into the game with the "Export Talents" button:
Best Legacy Content/Movement Speed Talents for Brewmaster Monks
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 The War Within, though you should further complement it with other 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:
PvP Talents for Brewmaster
PvP talents are PvP-centric options that activate out in the world when you enable War Mode in the talent pane or when participating in instanced PvP content. If you are comfortable with being flagged for PvP, some offer great benefits to questing.
You are permitted to choose 3 talents from the PvP Talents list. Here is a recommendation of those most helpful for questing:
- Double Barrel is an active ability that is off the global cooldown. When used, it increases the damage of your next Keg Smash by 50% and stuns enemies for 3 seconds. Note that its cooldown does not begin until this buff has been consumed. This is great for larger packs but requires a keybind, which is not useful in Raids and Dungeons. Fortunately, as it is off the global cooldown, it can be cast at the same time as Keg Smash with the help of a macro if you want to passively benefit from it.
- Hot Trub causes your Purifying Brew to also deal split damage to enemies around you based on 20% of how much damage you have Purified. While this is often a small amount of damage due to low Stagger amounts in world content, it is entirely passive and does not require any special planning.
- Microbrew allows you to use Fortifying Brew more frequently without reducing its strength as your most powerful defensive cooldown.
- Eerie Fermentation, while not offering a strong benefit most of the time, will allow you to gain increased movement speed and a little extra defense against magic attacks while questing. Magic damage from players or NPCs is normally a little more dangerous to a Brewmaster.
- Alpha Tiger provides a large amount of Haste when casting Tiger Palm on a target, though you cannot gain the buff more than once every 30 seconds per enemy hit. In open-world content where you are fighting multiple enemies for only a short amount of time, this talent is quite strong.
- Dematerialize acts as a form of stun protection, providing you with temporary damage reduction while stunned. However, its amount decreases with every second you are stunned, completely depleting after only three seconds.
- Admonishment is also worth mentioning. It causes your Provoke to increase the damage a target takes by 3%. However, this amount can increase all the way to 15% bonus damage for every unique player that attacks the target. While this is not very useful while completely solo, if you are taking on elites with other people who happen to be in the zone or questing in a group, it can be worth taking. Be careful using this on world Bosses — they will still attack you when you Provoke them!
For most situations, a solid combo is Double Barrel, Eerie Fermentation, and Microbrew or Alpha Tiger, as these provide largely-passive benefits while increasing your damage-dealing and defensive potential.
While it can be fun to use your PvP talents if you are looking to PvP more seriously, you will likely want to consider doing so as a Windwalker or Mistweaver.
Changelog
- 21 Oct. 2024: Wording adjustments made to reflect the more interchangeable nature of choosing Hero Talents.
- 28 Sep. 2024: Slight tweaks made to Mythic+ and Open World/Delve builds.
- 09 Sep. 2024: Mythic+ build split into Standard and Advanced talent guidelines; other builds updated based on Season 1 simulations.
- 25 Aug. 2024: Delves build playstyle guidelines updated.
- 21 Aug. 2024: Talent builds updated for The War Within release to include Hero Talent recommendations.
- 23 Jul. 2024: Updated for The War Within Pre-Patch.
- 07 May 2024: Reviewed for 10.2.7.
- 22 Apr. 2024: Page reviewed for Dragonflight Season 4.
- 19 Mar. 2024: Raiding talent builds separated into defensive and offensive options; Invoke Niuzao build removed due to limited applications; page reviewed for Patch 10.2.6.
- 15 Jan. 2024: Page reviewed for Patch 10.2.5
- 10 Nov. 2023: Slight talent adjustments to the Generic and Invoke Niuzao builds; wording cleanup on certain talent descriptions.
- 06 Nov. 2023: Added an additional talent build focusing on Improved Invoke Niuzao, the Black Ox for Patch 10.2; included discussion of Escape from Reality as a niche talent choice.
- 10 Sep. 2023: Added an additional talent build for Legacy Content/maximizing movement speed.
- 04 Sep. 2023: Page formatting adjusted; Open-World and Mythic+ talent recommendations slightly adjusted.
- 10 Jul. 2023: Default build adjusted to reflect new Patch 10.1.5 talents; additional talent notes added for possible choices.
- 02 Jun. 2023: Slightly adjusted the wording of Weapons of Order to reflect a recent hotfix.
- 01 May 2023: Added Song of Chi-Ji as a new niche talent; Incendiary Breath honor talent removed.
- 20 Mar. 2023: Reviewed for Patch 10.0.7.
- 24 Jan. 2023: Talent trees adjusted based on 10.0.5 talent changes; added notes on Blackout Combo as a potential talent decision.
- 11 Dec. 2022: Build and talent recommendations slightly adjusted based on recent developments regarding Charred Passions, Dragonfire Brew, Special Delivery, and Rushing Jade Wind.
- 11 Dec. 2022: Adjusted general build to focus on world content and entry-level Mythic+/Raiding. See their respective guide sections for more tailored builds.
- 28 Nov. 2022: Updated for Dragonflight launch.
- 25 Oct. 2022: Updated for Dragonflight pre-patch.
More Monk Guides
Guides from Other Classes
This guide has been written by Sinzhu, a Mythic raider on US-Kil'jaeden who has passionately played Brewmaster for the past nine years. He also contributes to the Peak of Serenity and is a Moderator of the Monk Class Discord.
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