Brewmaster Monk Tank Spec, Builds, and Talents — Dragonflight 10.2

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 world content and entry-level raiding/mythic+ content. It is still highly recommended to switch to a more specialized build if engaging in something specific.

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

The following build is focused on maximizing your single-target damage, particularly in a raid encounter. 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 still chooses to use two points of High Tolerance for defense. If this is not necessary and you wish to push your damage even further, drop them in favor of Blackout Combo and Face Palm; be warned this will result in an incredibly punishing rotation.

Finally, as Amirdrassil features a variety of fight styles and mechanics to warrant swapping talents on a fight-by-fight basis, please visit our dedicated raid tips section of this guide for separate talent recommendations on each of its encounters individually.

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

Due to receiving a number of buffs over time and with some enemies hitting for increasingly large amounts of damage, there is an alternative single-target build available for Brewmaster Monks involving the rarely-used talents of Improved Invoke Niuzao, the Black Ox, Walk with the Ox, and Call to Arms. With these talents, your goal is to maximize the damage dealt by your Invoke Niuzao, the Black Ox's Stomp with effective use of Purifying Brew in areas where you are taking a lot of Stagger damage.

Note, however, that this build comes with some heavy warnings. Although you can achieve performance that is good enough to keep up with our other, more traditional Brewmaster Monk builds, it is perhaps the hardest to play well. In addition to having a solid grasp on using Purifying Brew, you must also be skilled in using Blackout Combo, and may even end up taking more damage than other builds at times. If none of this sounds appealing to you, the other builds are more than good enough. However, if you are willing to embrace the "way of the ox", the sky can truly be the limit for your damage; more information on how to utilize this build can be found on its section of our Rotation page.

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

Mythic+ features a lot more talent flexibility due to the variety of dungeons you will be venturing into, 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. To learn more about these flexible talent points and further tips on using your abilities there; we have an entire section of this guide devoted to further Mythic+ tips and tricks that you can quickly navigate to.

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

Highlighting the unique amount of flexibility available through Dragonflight's 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 Dragon Isles, though you should further complement it with other speed-boosting effects such as a Charged Phial of Alacrity.

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

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.

Talent	Description/Effect
Rising Sun Kick	A basic ability that deals a large amount of damage to a single target; has additional passives that interact with the larger rotation.
Keg Smash	Your primary ability as a Brewmaster; to be used on cooldown.
Spirit of the Ox	A passive effect that gives your Blackout Kick and Rising Sun Kick a large chance to generate a healing sphere that functions identically to Gift of the Ox.
Rushing Jade Wind Special Delivery	These two talents are on one choice node, and both provide nearly identical damage; however, Rushing Jade Wind is a more effective tool for gathering initial threat upon enemies, whereas Special Delivery provides access to an rotation and powerful snare effect. If you would like to learn more about this choice, see our dedicated section of the rotation page.
Purifying Brew	Your main source of active mitigation. It purifies 50% of the damage you are currently Staggering, on a 20-second recharge that is reduced by Haste. Certain talents and abilities can reduce the cooldown further or grant additional charges.
Detox	Dispels all Poison and Disease effects from a target; 20 Energy cost, with an 8-second cooldown upon successfully dispelling an effect.
Paralysis	Incapacitates a target for 1 minute; any damage the target receives will break the effect.
Grace of the Crane	Increases all healing received.

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

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

Talent	Description/Effect
Transcendence/ Transcendence: Transfer	Place a spirit with Transcendence, then swap positions with your spirit using Transcendence: Transfer.
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 will be afflicted with a DoT that causes them to deal 5% less damage to you for 12 seconds.
Sal'salabim's Strength	Casting Keg Smash resets the cooldown on Breath of Fire.
Ring of Peace	Create an area on the ground within 40 yards that prevents most enemies from being within the zone for 5 seconds. This is a choice node shared with Song of Chi-Ji.
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. This is a choice node shared with Yu'lon's Grace.
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 at least 20%, and incoming damage exceeding 100% of your max Health will be reduced by 50%. This is a choice node shared with Dance of the Wind.
Fortifying Brew	Your "big", traditional defensive cooldown, granting damage reduction and increased Health on a long cooldown; gains additional effects from other passive talents.
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	Increases the damage of Rising Sun Kick and Spinning Crane Kick by a truly massive amount for its talent point investment.
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	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	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 all enemies around him, and will also take on 25% of the damage you Stagger.
Gai Plin's Imperial Brew	Purifying Brew heals you for a portion of the Staggered damage it purified. This is a choice node shared with Tranquil Spirit.
Light Brewing	Reduces the cooldown of Purifying Brew and Celestial Brew.
Bob and Weave	Stagger's damage now ticks over 13 seconds instead of 10.

Talent	When to Consider
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.
Song of Chi-Ji	Very rare situations where a distant enemy needs to be kept out of your path for an extended period of time, and Ring of Peace will not suffice.
Yu'lon's Grace	Trivial content or areas that do not feature sporadic magic damage dangerous enough to require a specific cooldown against it. Against continuous magic damage, this talent can still prove valuable! It is a choice node shared with Diffuse Magic.
Dance of the Wind	If you are fighting enemies whose main damage comes from auto-attacking, such as in Mythic+, and you also will not be in need of an additional defensive cooldown, as this is a choice node shared with Dampen Harm.
Black Ox Brew	This ability to fully restore 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 or Celestial Brew (or wish to give Special Delivery a bit more burst potential).
Chi Torpedo	If you are traveling for long periods of time and cannot mount, stacking the buff of Chi Torpedo can quickly add up; be wary of the longer roll distance, however.
Tranquil Spirit	You may wish to use this talent instead of Gai Plin's Imperial Brew (its alternate choice) when in content with limited amounts of Stagger or where you are more likely to press Expel Harm, such as world quest content or areas where you have a large item-level advantage.
Fundamental Observation	Include this talent if you need to turn Zen Meditation into a more generally useful cooldown.
Pretense of Instability	This talent may be used in areas where you are constantly being attacked by enemies, including Mythic+, and even raids.

Talent	Description/Effect
Close to Heart	Provides an 8% increased healing aura to yourself and allies within 10 yards; the effect lingers for 10 seconds if they leave this range, and is always active on you.
Resonant Fists	Attacks have a chance to trigger a burst of Nature damage to all nearby enemies. 10% proc chance; 1-second cooldown between procs.
Summon White Tiger Statue	This talent places a statue that pulses for a small amount of damage to all nearby enemies over a 30-second duration and on a 2-minute cooldown. Place it in an area against enemies that will survive for at least that long.
Dragonfire Brew Charred Passions	Your choice between these two talents will have a large impact on your rotation. In particular, selecting Charred Passions means that you will be expected to reliably hit Blackout Kick on cooldown. However, bear in mind that the decision between these two talents aligns with the choice of Rushing Jade Wind and Special Delivery: they will be nearly identical in single-target, though Charred Passions will perform slightly better with appropriate skill. If you would like to learn more about this choice, see our dedicated section of the rotation page.
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 auto attacks for 3 seconds. In addition, all direct hits from your attacks will deal bonus Fire damage during this time.
Stormstout's Last Keg	Keg Smash gains a second charge and deals bonus damage.
Weapons of Order	Gain 10% Mastery for the next 30 seconds while also resetting the cooldown of Keg Smash. In addition, targets hit by Keg Smash or will take 8% additional damage from your abilities, stacking up to four times; Rising Sun Kick will also apply this effect to all nearby enemies. This is a choice node shared with Press the Advantage.
Press the Advantage	Tiger Palm is replaced with a passive effect that deals additional damage with all mainhand auto attacks while also granting a small amount of Brew cooldown reduction, and gains stacks of bonus damage. Upon reaching 10 stacks, your next Keg Smash or Rising Sun Kick will be cast an additional time. These bonus attacks will also partially benefit from any talents that interact with Tiger Palm or Weapons of Order, such as Face Palm, Counterstrike, Blackout Combo, Chi Surge, and Call to Arms. This is a choice node shared with Weapons of Order
Bonedust Brew/ Bountiful 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. This ability's cooldown is affected by Brew cooldown reduction effects. Bountiful Brew enhances this talent by causing additional casts to passively occur with your other abilities.

Talent	When to Consider
Escape from Reality	When you are in an environment where you need one extra class talent point for some much-needed utility and will not be able to take advantage of Fatal Touch's cooldown reduction on Touch of Death, you may opt for this one-point talent instead to still reach Resonant Fists and Summon White Tiger Statue below it.
High Tolerance	If you are in content where you need more defense, this is perhaps the first talent to switch into.
Blackout Combo	So long as you are very confident in your ability to perform your rotation well, this talent can provide an additional 5% damage reduction on-demand, 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	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	As Avoidance only reduces AoE damage, consider this talent in stacked group content featuring a lot of it.
Walk with the Ox Improved Invoke Niuzao, the Black Ox Call to Arms	Try these talents together in content where you are taking heavy amounts of Staggered damage and will be able to purify it regularly.

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