Brewmaster Monk Tank Spec, Builds, and Talents — Dragonflight 10.0.5

Last updated on Jan 24, 2023 at 15:00 by Sinzhu 26 comments
General Information

On this page, you will find out the best talents for each tier for your Brewmaster Monk in World of Warcraft — Dragonflight 10.0.5. 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.

1.

Talent Cheat Sheets for Brewmaster Monk

Remember that you can easily import the talent tree below into the game with either of the two "Copy Export String" buttons:

While optimizing talents on a contextual basis is the highly recommended method of setting up your build, the talent tree listed above will work well for general purposes such as world content and entry-level raiding/mythic+ content.

1.1.

Raiding

Although the build above will likely be "good enough" for most encounters within the Vault of the Incarnates raid, we highly recommend visiting our dedicated raid tips section of this guide for separate talent recommendations on every encounter individually.

1.2.

Mythic+

In addition to having a separate talent build and breakdown for Mythic+, we also have an entire section of this guide devoted to further Mythic+ tips and tricks that you can quickly navigate to.

2.

Brewmaster Monk Talents Explained

Due to the nature of Dragonflight's talent trees, almost every talent is meant to be viable or have a desirable niche where you may want to select it. As such, we will cover some of the more favored talents that you will want to prioritize most of the time from the top of each tree on down, followed by mentioning some of the bigger niche talents that are likely only rarely useful. If you would like to see a list of every single talent's effect as well as the abbreviations they are often known by in the community, please consult our Spell List and Glossary section instead.

2.1.

Talent Rows 1-4

2.1.1.

Noteworthy Talents

Talent Description/Effect
Rising Sun Kick Icon Rising Sun Kick A basic ability that deals a large amount of damage to a single target; has one extra, passive interaction with the larger rotation.
Keg Smash Icon Keg Smash Your primary ability as a Brewmaster; this is to be used on cooldown.
Spirit of the Ox Icon Spirit of the Ox A passive effect that gives your Blackout Kick Icon Blackout Kick and Rising Sun Kick Icon Rising Sun Kick a large chance to generate a healing sphere that functions identically to Gift of the Ox Icon Gift of the Ox.
These two talents are on one choice node, and both provide nearly identical damage; however, Rushing Jade Wind Icon Rushing Jade Wind is marginally better in all counts, though Special Delivery Icon Special Delivery remains at its most competitive in pure single-target. If you would like to learn more about this choice, see our dedicated section of the rotation page.
Purifying Brew Icon Purifying Brew Your main source of active mitigation. It removes 50% of the damage you are currently Stagger Icon Staggering. It has a 20-second recharge that is reduced by Haste. Certain talents and abilities can reduce the cooldown further or grant additional charges.
Detox Icon Detox Dispels all PoisonPoison and DiseaseDisease effects from a target; 20 Energy cost, with an 8-second cooldown upon successfully dispelling an effect.
Paralysis Icon Paralysis Incapacitates a target for 1 minute; any damage the target receives will break the effect.
Grace of the Crane Icon Grace of the Crane Increases all healing received.
2.1.2.

Niche Talents

Talent When to Consider
Vivacious Vivification Icon Vivacious Vivification Strong utility for offhealing and in content that is easier, like world questing.
Healing Elixir Icon Healing Elixir While the healing scales with your own maximum HP and can trigger Celestial Fortune Icon Celestial Fortune, it is mostly used in trivial content where damage reduction is less important than healing.
Staggering Strikes Icon Staggering Strikes Although it does result in a lot of Stagger Icon Stagger removed from hitting Blackout Kick Icon Blackout Kick on cooldown, this talent is only useful in areas where your overall Stagger intake is rather low like world questing
2.2.

Talent Rows 5-7

This section of the talent trees in particular is where you will find many utility and defensive abilities.

2.2.1.

Noteworthy Talents

Talent Description/Effect
Transcendence Icon Transcendence/Transcendence: Transfer Icon Transcendence: Transfer Place a spirit with Transcendence Icon Transcendence, then swap positions with your spirit using Transcendence: Transfer Icon Transcendence: Transfer.
Breath of Fire Icon Breath of Fire Deals damage in a cone in front of you and has no cost on a 15-second cooldown. Any targets that have already been hit by Keg Smash Icon Keg Smash will be afflicted with a DoT that causes them to deal 5% less damage to you for 12 seconds.
Sal'salabim's Strength Icon Sal'salabim's Strength Casting Keg Smash Icon Keg Smash resets the cooldown on Breath of Fire Icon Breath of Fire.
Ring of Peace Icon Ring of Peace Create an area on the ground within 40 yards that prevents any enemies from being within the zone for 5 seconds.
Diffuse Magic Icon Diffuse Magic Gain 60% damage reduction against magic damage for 6 seconds, while also dispelling any active magic debuffs and applying them to their original caster, if possible. 90-second cooldown.
Dampen Harm Icon Dampen Harm A 2-minute defensive cooldown that reduces damage for 10 seconds depending on how hard the hit is. All hits will be reduced by 20%, and incoming damage exceeding 100% of your max Health will be reduced by 50%.
Fortifying Brew Icon Fortifying Brew Your main defensive cooldown, granting damage reduction and increased health on a long cooldown; gains additional effects from other passive talents.
Spear Hand Strike Icon Spear Hand Strike Your interrupt. It stops a cast, and prevents similar spells from being cast for 4 seconds. It has no cost, with a 15-second cooldown and is not on the global cooldown.
Fast Feet Icon Fast Feet Increases the damage of Rising Sun Kick Icon Rising Sun Kick and Spinning Crane Kick Icon Spinning Crane Kick by a truly massive amount for its talent point investment.
Celestial Brew Icon Celestial Brew One of your main defensive tools, allowing you create a powerful shield that absorbs all damage. Note that this defensive ability is on the global cooldown.
Zen Meditation Icon Zen Meditation A channeled defensive cooldown. For 8 seconds, you take 60% less damage, but cannot attack. It is broken immediately on receiving Physical damage or movement, and has a 5-minute cooldown.
Invoke Niuzao, the Black Ox Icon Invoke Niuzao, the Black Ox While this 3-minute cooldown is active, a spirit of Niuzao will assist you for 25 seconds. During this time he will attack your targets, frequently Stomp Icon Stomp all enemies around him, and will also take on 25% of the damage you Stagger Icon Stagger.
Gai Plin's Imperial Brew Icon Gai Plin's Imperial Brew Purifying Brew Icon Purifying Brew heals you for a portion of the Stagger Icon Staggered damage it removed. This is a choice node shared with Tranquil Spirit Icon Tranquil Spirit.
Light Brewing Icon Light Brewing Reduces the cooldown of Purifying Brew Icon Purifying Brew and Celestial Brew Icon Celestial Brew.
Bob and Weave Icon Bob and Weave Stagger Icon Stagger's damage now ticks over 13 seconds instead of 10.
2.2.2.

Niche Talents

Talent When to Consider
Hasty Provocation Icon Hasty Provocation If a particular target needs to be quickly repositioned (such as a caster that has just been interrupted), the extra movement speed is unique among taunt abilities.
Black Ox Brew Icon Black Ox Brew This ability fully restoring your Energy is arguably more useful than the brew cooldown resets, as it is hard to maximize its defensive potential. Use if you want just a few more casts of Purifying Brew Icon Purifying Brew or Celestial Brew Icon Celestial Brew (or wish to give Special Delivery Icon Special Delivery a bit more burst potential).
Chi Torpedo Icon Chi Torpedo If you are traveling for long periods of time and cannot mount, stacking the buff of Chi Torpedo Icon Chi Torpedo can quickly add up; be wary of the longer roll distance, however.
Tranquil Spirit Icon Tranquil Spirit You may wish to use this talent instead of Gai Plin's Imperial Brew Icon Gai Plin's Imperial Brew (its alternate choice) when in content with limited amounts of Stagger Icon Stagger or where you are more likely to press Expel Harm Icon Expel Harm, such as world quest content or areas where you have a large item level advantage.
Fundamental Observation Icon Fundamental Observation Include this talent if you need to turn Zen Meditation Icon Zen Meditation into a more generally useful cooldown.
2.3.

Talent Rows 8-10

2.3.1.

Noteworthy Talents

Talent Description/Effect
Close to Heart Icon Close to Heart Provides an 8% increased healing aura to allies within 10 yards; the effect lingers for 10 seconds if they leave this range and is always active on yourself.
Resonant Fists Icon Resonant Fists Attacks have a chance to deal additional Nature damage to all nearby enemies. 10% proc chance; 1-second cooldown between procs.
Your choice between these two talents will have a large impact on your rotation. In particular, selecting Charred Passions Icon Charred Passions means that you will use Spinning Crane Kick Icon Spinning Crane Kick, even in single-target. However, bear in mind that the decision between these two talents aligns with the choice of Rushing Jade Wind Icon Rushing Jade Wind and Special Delivery Icon Special Delivery: they will be nearly identical in single-target, Dragonfire Brew Icon Dragonfire Brew will perform slightly better in low target counts (2-3), and it will continue to become noticeably better from there. If you would like to learn more about this choice, see our dedicated section of the rotation page.
Exploding Keg Icon Exploding Keg Toss a flaming keg with no target cap on a 1-minute cooldown. Every target hit will deal 99% reduced damage with their autoattacks for 3 seconds. In addition, all direct hits from your attacks will deal bonus Fire damage during this time.
Stormstout's Last Keg Icon Stormstout's Last Keg Keg Smash Icon Keg Smash gains a second charge and deals bonus damage.
Weapons of Order Icon Weapons of Order Gain 10% Mastery for the next 30 seconds, while also resetting the cooldown of Keg Smash Icon Keg Smash. In addition, targets hit by Keg Smash will take additional damage from you, stacking up to four times.
Bonedust Brew Icon Bonedust Brew Coat enemies and allies in a targeted location for 10 seconds. During this time, all of your abilities have a 50% chance to replicate 40% of their damage or healing done.
2.3.2.

Niche Talents

Talent When to Consider
High Tolerance Icon High Tolerance If you are in content where you need more defense, this is perhaps the first talent to switch into.
Blackout Combo Icon Blackout Combo So long as you are very confident in your ability to perform your rotation well, this talent will provide an additional 5% damage reduction at nearly all times, along with a substantial increase in your single-target damage. It is highly recommended to read the relevant section of our rotation page to understand how to correctly make use of this complex talent.
Bounce Back Icon Bounce Back Consider this talent when extra defensive power is needed against constant danger. Due to the effect triggering more or less on cooldown, it is not a replacement for another defensive option, but just a supplement.
Generous Pour Icon Generous Pour As Avoidance only reduces AoE damage, consider this talent in stacked group content featuring a lot of it.
Summon White Tiger Statue Icon Summon White Tiger Statue Use this in AoE or Mythic+ environments where enemies will survive for at least 30 seconds and not be moving around.
Try these talents together in content where you are taking heavy amounts of Stagger Icon Staggered damage.

We recommend checking our dedicated rotation section if you want to know how to optimize the use of these talents.

3.

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 Icon Double Barrel is an active ability that is off the global cooldown. When used, it increases the damage of your next Keg Smash Icon 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 does require a keybind that 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.
  • Incendiary Breath Icon Incendiary Breath alters Breath of Fire Icon Breath of Fire, doubling its radius and damage, but also its cooldown. It will also disorient any enemies hit. This is excellent, as often you will only get to use one Breath of Fire, so the increased cooldown will hurt less. The Spitfire Icon Spitfire talent can be combined with this PvP talent for a noteworthy damage boost in open-world content. The Breath of Fire effect from Celestial Flames Icon Celestial Flames is also doubled by this option.
  • Hot Trub Icon Hot Trub causes your Purifying Brew Icon 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 Icon Stagger amounts in world content, it is entirely passive and does not require any special planning.
  • Microbrew Icon Microbrew allows you to use Fortifying Brew Icon Fortifying Brew more frequently without reducing its strength as your most powerful defensive cooldown.
  • Eerie Fermentation Icon 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 Icon Alpha Tiger provides a large amount of Haste when casting Tiger Palm Icon 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 Icon 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 Icon Admonishment is also worth mentioning. It causes your Provoke Icon 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 that 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 Icon Double Barrel, Incendiary Breath Icon Incendiary Breath — if you have Sal'salabim's Strength Icon Sal'salabim's Strength talented — and Eerie Fermentation Icon Eerie Fermentation 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.

4.

Changelog

  • 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.
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