Brewmaster Monk Tank Spec, Builds, and Talents (Legion 7.3.5)

Table of Contents

• +Introduction
  • 1. Class Overview
  • 2. Patch 7.3 Changes
  • 3. Patch 7.2.5 Changes
  • 4. Patch 7.2 Changes
  • 5. Strengths
  • 6. Weaknesses
  • 7. Viability in the Current Patch
  • 8. Contents
  • 9. ChangeLog
• +Easy Mode
  • 1. The Basics
  • 2. Talent Choice
  • 3. Stat Choice
  • 4. Basic Rotation
  • 5. ChangeLog
• ×Builds and Talents
  • 1. Talent Choices
  • 2. Talent Cheat Sheets
    • 2.1. Raid Encounters
    • 2.2. Mythic+
  • 3. Tier 1 (Level 15) Talents
  • 4. Tier 2 (Level 30) Talents
  • 5. Tier 3 (Level 45) Talents
  • 6. Tier 4 (Level 60) Talents
  • 7. Tier 5 (Level 75) Talents
  • 8. Tier 6 (Level 90) Talents
  • 9. Tier 7 (Level 100) Talents
  • 10. ChangeLog
• +Artifact Traits and Relics
  • 1. Artifact Progression — First 35 Points
  • 2. Patch 7.2: 35+ Trait Path
  • 3. Relic Choice
  • 4. ChangeLog
• +Netherlight Crucible Relic Paths
  • 1. General Optimization Advice
  • 2. Tier 2 Upgrade Priority
    • 2.1. Tier 3 Upgrade Priority
  • 3. ChangeLog
• +Rotation, Cooldowns, and Abilities
  • 1. Single Target Rotation
  • 2. Multiple Target Rotation
  • 3. Cooldown Usage
  • 4. Taunting
  • 5. Optional Read: Mastering Your Brewmaster Monk
    • 5.1. Energy
    • 5.2. Mastery: Elusive Brawler
    • 5.3. Stagger and Active Mitigation
      • 5.3.1. Stagger
      • 5.3.2. Purifying Brew Versus Ironskin Brew
    • 5.4. Gift of the Ox
    • 5.5. Celestial Fortune
    • 5.6. Detailed Cooldown Usage
      • 5.6.1. Fortifying Brew
      • 5.6.2. Zen Meditation
      • 5.6.3. Exploding Keg
      • 5.6.4. Tier 1 Talents
      • 5.6.5. Tier 3 Talents
      • 5.6.6. Tier 4 Talents
      • 5.6.7. Tier 5 Talents
      • 5.6.8. Tier 6 Talents
      • 5.6.9. Tier 7 Talents
    • 5.7. Roll and Transcendence
      • 5.7.1. Roll
      • 5.7.2. Transcendence
  • 6. ChangeLog
• +Stat Priority
  • 1. Basics
  • 2. Getting a Better Understanding
  • 3. ChangeLog
• +Gems, Enchants, and Consumables
  • 1. Gems
  • 2. Enchants
  • 3. Consumables
  • 4. ChangeLog
• +Macros and Addons
  • 1. Macros
    • 1.1. Generic Macros for Monks
      • 1.1.1. Detox Mouseover Macro
      • 1.1.2. Tiger's Lust Mouseover Macro
      • 1.1.3. Ring of Peace Mouseover Macro
      • 1.1.4. Chi Wave Macro
    • 1.2. Specific Macros for Brewmaster Monks
      • 1.2.1. Exploding Keg Macros
      • 1.2.2. Blessing of Protection Cancelaura Macro
      • 1.2.3. Mouseover Taunt Macro
      • 1.2.4. Taunt from Statue
  • 2. Addons
    • 2.1. Generic Addons for Monks
      • 2.1.1. ElvUI
      • 2.1.2. Boss Mods: Deadly Boss Mods or Bigwigs
      • 2.1.3. GTFO
      • 2.1.4. Parrot or Mik's Scrolling Battle Text
      • 2.1.5. Weak Auras
      • 2.1.6. Recount / Skada / Details!
      • 2.1.7. Grid and GridClickSets (Optional)
    • 2.2. Specific Addons for Brewmaster Monks
      • 2.2.1. Omen Threat Meter
  • 3. ChangeLog
• +Gear, Legendaries, and Best in Slot
  • 1. Tier 21 Set Bonus
  • 2. Tier 20 Set Bonus
    • 2.1. Tier 19 in Tomb of Sargeras
  • 3. Trinket Discussion
  • 4. Legendaries
  • 5. Loot Competition
  • 6. ChangeLog

General Information

On this page, we present the viable talent choices for Brewmaster Monks in World of Warcraft Legion 7.3.5. We detail what each of the talents do and in which situations they should be taken.

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. Talent Choices

Level	Choices
15	? Chi Burst	✔ Eye of the Tiger	✘ Chi Wave
30	✔ Chi Torpedo	✔ Tiger's Lust	✔ Celerity
45	✘ Light Brewing	✔ Black Ox Brew	? Gift of the Mists
60	? Ring of Peace	? Summon Black Ox Statue	✔ Leg Sweep
75	? Healing Elixir	✔ Mystic Vitality	? Dampen Harm
90	✔ Rushing Jade Wind	? Invoke Niuzao, the Black Ox	? Special Delivery
100	✘ Elusive Dance	✔ Blackout Combo	✔ High Tolerance

Talents can be freely changed when out of combat and in a rested XP area (such as an inn or a capital city). Moreover, Tome of the Tranquil Mind and Codex of the Tranquil Mind can be used to temporarily allow players to change talents anywhere, as long as they are out of combat.

2. Talent Cheat Sheets

While optimizing talents on a contextual basis is the highly recommended method of setting up your build, the talent builds listed below work great for specific purposes.

2.1. Raid Encounters

This build is an excellent starting point as a "standard" raid setup. It is very highly recommended you read the individual talent points as this specialization in particularly is highly situational with respect to talent choice.

• Level 15: Eye of the Tiger
• Level 30: Tiger's Lust
• Level 45: Black Ox Brew
• Level 60: Summon Black Ox Statue
• Level 75: Mystic Vitality (if there is Magic damage), otherwise, see Talent Discussion for this row
• Level 90: Rushing Jade Wind
• Level 100: Blackout Combo

2.2. Mythic+

• Level 15: Eye of the Tiger
• Level 30: Chi Torpedo
• Level 45: Black Ox Brew
• Level 60: Leg Sweep
• Level 75: Mystic Vitality
• Level 90: Rushing Jade Wind
• Level 100: Blackout Combo

3. Tier 1 (Level 15) Talents

? Chi Burst

✔ Eye of the Tiger

✘ Chi Wave

• Chi Burst is an active ability with a 30-second cooldown. It heals all friendly targets, and damages all hostile targets in a 40-yard cone in front of you.
• Eye of the Tiger causes Tiger Palm to also apply both a buff (to yourself) and a debuff (to the target) called Eye of the Tiger. On you, it is an 8-second HoT, while on the target it is an 8-second DoT (dealing Nature damage).
• Chi Wave is an active ability with a 15-second cooldown. It is essentially a chain-heal that bounces to the 7 nearest targets (within 25 yards). The bounces target allies and enemies alternatively. Each target that the wave bounces to is healed or damaged (Nature damage), depending on their alignment. The healing portion of Chi Wave is a smart heal, in the sense that it prefers healing low health players.

Eye of the Tiger is the best choice for self-sustain and self-healing. It is also the best option for dealing damage.

Chi Burst is the best choice for AoE damage and provides a nice burst heal. Using it efficiently requires some amount of consideration (as we will see on the rotation page). It is also the most reliable and bursty of the 3 Tier 1 talents, making it a good option if the worrisome damage is more spread.

Chi Wave is only really good for burst self-healing, and works best for solo content. If you use it in groups, it bounces to allies as well, removing most of the usefulness from the healing component. Theoretically it can result in very slightly higher DPS than Eye of the Tiger, however, if you have to ever delay the casting of Chi Wave even a few times in an encounter it falls behind. This means Eye of the Tiger is virtually always a better option for both damage and survivability.

4. Tier 2 (Level 30) Talents

✔ Chi Torpedo

✔ Tiger's Lust

✔ Celerity

• Chi Torpedo replaces Roll. It causes you to roll a moderate distance in front of you (further than Roll), increasing your movement speed by 30% for 10 seconds. This effect stacks up to 2 times.
• Tiger's Lust is an active ability with a 30-second cooldown, which removes all roots and snares from the target, and grants them 70% increased movement speed for 6 seconds. It can be used either on yourself or on an ally.
• Celerity passively increases the number of charges of Roll by 1, and reduces its cooldown by 5 seconds.

In this tier that revolves around movement, the choice depends on your preference and on the requirements of the encounter.

Tiger's Lust is a great choice for a movement speed boost, and this should probably be your default choice, as it is not linked to Roll and is therefore more versatile. Celerity is a good choice if you use Roll often and if the fight requires you to move a lot.

Chi Torpedo is the best choice for encounters that require you to move quickly for a long distance at once, although we do not really recommend it for raiding. It is generally the best choice for Mythic+ dungeons if speed is the main consideration. Also strong for solo content.

5. Tier 3 (Level 45) Talents

✘ Light Brewing

✔ Black Ox Brew

? Gift of the Mists

• Light Brewing reduces the cooldown of Ironskin Brew and Purifying Brew by 3 seconds, and increases their maximum number of charges by 1.
• Black Ox Brew is an active ability with a 90-second cooldown, which instantly refills your Energy and your charges of Ironskin Brew and Purifying Brew.
• Gift of the Mists increases the chance that Gift of the Ox will proc by up to 75%, depending on how much health you are missing (the lower your health, the higher the chance).

Black Ox Brew is the best choice in this tier. It provides you with more uses of Keg Smash and Tiger Palm throughout the fight than Light Brewing, due to the extra Energy that it generates. In addition, Keg Smash and Tiger Palm reduces the remaining cooldown of your Brews by 4 and 1 seconds, respectively, which is going to be more efficient in the long term. Remember that Black Ox Brew will have its cooldown reduced as well, since it counts as a Brew. Moreover, you also refill all your Brew charges when you use this ability, making it great for unpredictable damage and burst phases. This is overall the most rewarding talent for skilled players.

Gift of the Mists is going to provide you with increased self-sustain in the form of raw healing from Gift of the Ox healing spheres, making it a viable choice for fights where your Brew stacks are not as effective (an example being magic damage fights). It also has great synergy with the Tier 20 set bonus, and the best option for players not as comfortable with optimizing via Black Ox Brew.

Light Brewing is really comfortable to play with since it benefits you passively and does not require any attention from your side. However, it is going to provide you with fewer Brew stacks than Black Ox Brew throughout the fight. This talent is not recommended in its current state.

6. Tier 4 (Level 60) Talents

? Ring of Peace

? Summon Black Ox Statue

✔ Leg Sweep

• Ring of Peace is an active ability with a 45-second cooldown. It forms a ring at the targeted location, which lasts for 8 seconds. During this time, any enemies who enter the ring will be knocked out of it.
• Summon Black Ox Statue is an active ability with a 10-second cooldown, which places a stationary statue that does not attack at the target location. The statue persists for 15 minutes (or until killed), and during this time it pulses threat to all nearby enemies within 30 yards (the threat belongs to the statue, so mobs will try to attack it). When using Provoke on your Black Ox Statue, all enemies within 8 yards of the statue are forced to attack you. This constitutes a sort of AoE taunt.
• Leg Sweep is an active ability with a 45-second cooldown, which stuns all enemies within a 5-yard radius of you for 5 seconds.

Summon Black Ox Statue is the default choice for most raid encounters, as it provides great utility and most raid mobs are crowd-control immune.

Leg Sweep is the best choice for Mythic+, as the reliable stun is invaluable. Leg Sweep can also see niche use in raids if an encounter requires it.

Ring of Peace does not have much use for Brewmaster, currently.

7. Tier 5 (Level 75) Talents

? Healing Elixir

✔ Mystic Vitality

? Dampen Harm

• Healing Elixir is an active ability with 2 charges and a 30-second recharge time. It heals you for 15% of your maximum health, and it procs automatically when you have less than 35% health (provided you have at least one charge available).
• Mystic Vitality causes Stagger to be 40% more effective against magical attacks.
• Dampen Harm is an active ability with a 2-minute cooldown. For 10 seconds, all damage you take is reduced by 20% to 50%, with larger attacks having their damage reduced by more than smaller attacks.

The choice in this tier is theoretically situational, but it can be narrowed down.

Mystic Vitality is our best option if Magic damage is present.

Dampen Harm is a good option if you find you need an additional cooldown to stay alive and serious Magic damage is not present. Can be very useful on fights where you need to repeatedly soak a heavy hitting mechanic, or one tank a mechanic that is usually done with multiple tanks.

Healing Elixir is a passive option that can be used if no serious Magic or spike damage threats are present. It lacks the major lifesaving potential the other choices provide, but does offer a nice passive healing stream that can be used actively or trigger autonomously.

8. Tier 6 (Level 90) Talents

✔ Rushing Jade Wind

? Invoke Niuzao, the Black Ox

? Special Delivery

• Rushing Jade Wind is an active ability with a 6-second cooldown (reduced by Haste). It deals damage to enemies in an 8-yard radius around you over its 9-second duration (also reduced by Haste).
• Invoke Niuzao, the Black Ox is an active ability with a 3-minute cooldown. It summons a pet, Niuzao, for 45 seconds. The pet control bar allows you to choose what Niuzao will do, although by default he attacks your primary target, taunts it, and frequently uses Stomp (with a 5-second cooldown), damaging nearby enemies.
• Special Delivery gives your Ironskin Brew and Purifying Brew a 100% chance to toss a keg at a nearby location (it takes 3 seconds to land), which damages enemies in an 8-yard radius and reduces their movement speed by 50% for 15 seconds.

Rushing Jade Wind is your standard choice here. It deals the most reliable damage of the 3 talents and fits into your empty global cooldowns nicely.

Special Delivery should be taken if the player has too much Haste and/or the player has no empty globals to keep up Rushing Jade Wind. This ability is entirely passive and therefore might provide some rotational reprieve and comfort for less experienced players, but do note that this comes at the price of less damage and will require you to keep using your brews without them being fully charged.

Invoke Niuzao, the Black Ox will allow you to put most damage into a 45-second window. It will not do more than Rushing Jade Wind or Special Delivery in most situations, but if there are burst windows every 3 minutes where you need extra damage this could be a viable option.

9. Tier 7 (Level 100) Talents

✘ Elusive Dance

✔ Blackout Combo

✔ High Tolerance

• Elusive Dance causes Purifying Brew to clear an additional 20% of Stagger damage. It also grants you up to 20% Dodge for 6 seconds, based on the amount of Stagger damage that is being purified (the more damage is purified, the higher the Dodge chance). It also grants damage based on your current Stagger when you Purify.
• Blackout Combo causes your Blackout Strike to empower your next ability (used within 15 seconds), as follows.
  • Tiger Palm has its damage increased by 200%.
  • Breath of Fire has its cooldown reduced by 3 seconds.
  • Keg Smash reduces the remaining cooldown of your Brews by an additional 2 seconds.
  • Ironskin Brew pauses your Stagger damage for 3 seconds.
  • Purifying Brew grants you a stack of Mastery: Elusive Brawler.
• High Tolerance increases the amount of damage you Stagger by 10%. It also causes you to passively gain up to 15% Haste based on your current amount of Stagger damage (the higher the damage, the more Haste you gain).

High Tolerance is recommended as the default choice for ensuring maximum survival, as the additional Haste in combination with the added Stagger provides the most reliable and stable damage intake. Overall this is more desirable than purifying more damage via Elusive Dance.

Blackout Combo provides the most damage of the talents at the expense of some survivability.

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

10. ChangeLog

+ show all entries - show only 10 entries

• 11 Nov. 2017: Updated descriptions for Tier 5 talents.
• 28 Aug. 2017: Updated Tier 5 talents for Patch 7.3.
• 22 Jun. 2017: Added more depth to talent discussions at almost every tier, following Kamp's review.
• 13 Jun. 2017: Updated the talents for 7.2.5 (Tier 1, Tier 6, Tier 7).
• 28 Mar. 2017: No changes needed for Patch 7.2.
• 13 Feb. 2017: Updated Tier 6 talents.
• 10 Jan. 2017: Updated for Patch 7.1.5.
• 30 Nov. 2016: Updated Tier 1 Talents to reflect Chi Wave being a stronger single target damage option.
• 29 Aug. 2016: Updated for Legion's launch.
• 19 Jul. 2016: Revamped Level 45, 90, and 100 talent discussions, following a change of opinions.
• 18 Jul. 2016: Updated for the Legion pre-patch.