Brewmaster Monk PvE Guide — Midnight

by Rupi

Updated 2 day ago

11 minutes readmin

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About the Class

This is a tank whose main stat is Agility. This tank does not use a shield, and wields either a two-handed weapon (staff, polearm) or two one-handed weapons (axe, mace).

The tank’s signature mechanic is delayed damage — Stagger. Incoming damage is not dealt to the monk instantly, but gradually, over 10 seconds.

Stagger scales with Agility and reduces the damage you take by splitting it into two parts. You take the first part immediately, and the second part is dealt evenly over 10 seconds. You must “clear” the second part of the damage with the ability Purifying Brew.
The ability Shuffle increases the effectiveness of Stagger. You gain Shuffle when using the abilities Keg Smash, Blackout Kick and Spinning Crane Kick. With the basic rotation, the uptime of this buff will be 100%, so tracking it is optional. But your job is to get this buff before taking the first hit from enemies. That is exactly why Keg Smash will always be the first ability at the start of a fight.
The abilities Gift of the Ox and Celestial Fortune are passive healing abilities. When you take damage, you can summon a healing sphere; collecting it restores your health.

There are three ways to absorb the spheres:

Use Expel Harm (use only at 4–5 stacks).
Use Spinning Crane Kick.
Simply walk over them (yellow spheres).

About the Class {#about} — Brewmaster Monk

Strengths

Easy to learn.
No need to think about a defensive cooldown rotation.
One of the most mobile tanks.
High damage.
Handles any incoming damage very well.
A class debuff that increases physical damage dealt to targets the monk attacks by 5%.
Smooth incoming damage, making it easier for healers to keep you up in critical situations.

Weaknesses

Needs healing support, although it survives almost on its own most of the time.
Weak group utility.
A large number of active abilities.

Stat Priority

Monk Brewmaster Stats Priority

Agility

Critical Strike

Versatility

Mastery

Haste

Talents

Monk Brewmaster Mythic+ Build

No talent data

Rotation (Abilities Priority)

Monk Brewmaster Abilities Priority

Single Target

Touch of Death — on the enemy, if this ability is available
Blackout Kick — to activate Blackout Combo
Chi Burst
Celestial Brew — Even if you take only minimal damage, activate it / Celestial Infusion at two charges of the ability, or if your health is almost full, to activate Harmonic Surge and get an empty keg from Bring Me Another
Invoke Niuzao, the Black Ox — Do not use unless you will be in combat for at least 25 seconds
Blackout Combo — Spend the buff with Tiger Palm, also spending all charges of Potential Energy
Keg Smash — if there is an active empty keg from Bring Me Another, which activates Potential Energy, and also spends part of your health to deal extra damage
Breath of Fire
Exploding Keg — Throw it at the target. This resets the cooldown of one charge of Keg Smash; also remember to reuse this ability with the same priority if the talent Empty the Cellar is selected
Keg Smash
Purifying Brew — Use the extra charge if you are taking very little damage, for additional procs of Special Delivery and a chance to activate Bring Me Another
Tiger Palm — if there is nothing else to do. Make sure you keep enough energy for the next Keg Smash

AoE

Touch of Death — on the enemy, if this ability is available
Blackout Kick — to activate Blackout Combo
Chi Burst
Celestial Brew — Even if you take only minimal damage, activate it / Celestial Infusion at two charges of the ability, or if your health is almost full, to activate Harmonic Surge and get an empty keg from Bring Me Another
Invoke Niuzao, the Black Ox — Do not use unless you will be in combat for at least 25 seconds
Blackout Combo — Even in AoE, spend the buff with Tiger Palm, also spending all charges of Potential Energy
Keg Smash — if there is an active empty keg from Bring Me Another, which activates Potential Energy, and also spends part of your health to deal extra damage
Breath of Fire
Exploding Keg — Throw it at the target. This resets the cooldown of one charge of Keg Smash; also remember to reuse this ability with the same priority if the talent Empty the Cellar is selected
Keg Smash — Use a charge
Purifying Brew — Use the extra charge if you are taking very little damage, for additional procs of Special Delivery and a chance to activate Bring Me Another
Tiger Palm — if there is nothing else to do. Make sure you keep enough energy for the next Keg Smash

Best in Slot (BiS)

Don't forget to explore our class pages, where not only the best items in the slot are available, but also other alternatives for any class, spec or situation:

Monk: Gear

Two-Hand Weapon

Inescapable Reach

Head

Fearsome Visage of Ra-den's Chosen

Neck

Rotmire's Sporeheart

Shoulders

Aurastones of Ra-den's Chosen

Back

Imperator's Banner

Chest

Battle Garb of Ra-den's Chosen

Wrists

Strikeguards of Ra-den's Chosen

Hands

Thunderfists of Ra-den's Chosen

Waist

Sash of the Putrid Giant

Legs

Shifting Stalker Hide Pants

Feet

Silvermoon Agent's Sneakers

Ring

Signet of the Starved Beast

Ring

Loa Worshiper's Band

Trinket

Umbral Plume

Trinket

Gaze of the Alnseer

Enchants, Gems, Consumables

Enchants

Weapon

Enchant Weapon - Acuity of the Ren'dorei

Helm

Enchant Helm - Empowered Hex of Leeching

Helm

Enchant Helm - Empowered Blessing of Speed

Shoulders

Enchant Shoulders - Silvermoon's Mending

Shoulders

Enchant Shoulders - Akil'zon's Swiftness

Chest

Enchant Chest - Mark of the Worldsoul

Chest

Forest Hunter's Armor Kit

Boots

Enchant Boots - Shaladrassil's Roots

Boots

Enchant Boots - Farstrider's Hunt

Ring

Enchant Ring - Nature's Fury

Ring

Enchant Ring - Silvermoon's Tenacity

Gems

Meta Gem

Indecipherable Eversong Diamond

Primary

Flawless Versatile Garnet

Alternative

Flawless Versatile Peridot

Alternative

Flawless Deadly Amethyst

Alternative

Flawless Deadly Lapis

Consumables

Flask

Flask of the Shattered Sun

Pre-Pot

Light's Potential

Health Potion

Silvermoon Health Potion

Oil

Thalassian Phoenix Oil

Food

Silvermoon Parade

Food

Harandar Celebration

Food

Royal Roast

Rune

Void-Touched Augment Rune

Leveling

The main damage abilities at early levels will be Blackout Kick and Spinning Crane Kick.

As you level up, you will gain new abilities. We recommend following the abilities priority from the rotation section.

Mythic+ Tips

Thanks to the abilities Roll, Tiger's Lust, Lighter Than Air, and Transcendence, you will be very mobile in the dungeon. Use them to gather packs of mobs faster.

The ability Tiger's Lust removes movement-impairing debuffs from you or the target. As a rule, such debuffs deal damage or can cause you to take heavy damage from a void zone. Try to use this ability to remove such debuffs.

Detox lets you dispel poison and disease effects. Use the ability when such debuffs deal significant damage to you or an allied healer.

Using the ability Paralysis lets you bypass groups of monsters if they are not on your route in the dungeon.

Macros

Focus Interrupt

#showtooltip
/cast [@focus,exists,harm][] Spear Hand Strike

Cursor Paralysis

#showtooltip
/cast [@mouseover,exists,harm,nodead] Paralysis; Paralysis

Cursor Ring of Peace

#showtooltip
/cast [@cursor] Ring of Peace

Self Tiger's Lust

#showtooltip
/use [@player] Tiger's Lust

Smart Taunt Macro. Holding ALT taunts into the Black Ox Statue, if you are playing with it.

#showtooltip Provoke
/cast [nomod,@mouseover,harm,nodead] Provoke
/cast [nomod] Provoke
/targetexact [mod:alt] Black Ox Statue
/cast [mod:alt] Provoke
/targetlasttarget [mod:alt,exists]

Cursor Exploding Keg

#showtooltip
/cast [@cursor] Exploding Keg

Remove BoP from Yourself

#showtooltip
/use Keg Smash
/cancelaura Blessing of Protection

Cursor Crackling Jade Lightning

#showtooltip
/cast [@mouseover,exists,harm,nodead] Crackling Jade Lightning; Crackling Jade Lightning

Author

Rupi

Rupi is a blogger and streamer who started playing WoW during the Legion expansion. His first character was a Blood Death Knight. In Shadowlands he began actively raiding in various top-100 world guilds, playing different tank specs. Rupi holds 95-100 logs on multiple tanks, and has frequently broken into the world top 5 on Blood DK and Demon Hunter in Mythic+.