Newbie brewmaster

[Deleted]

I have fallen in love with the idea of being a Brewmaster tank, and so I rolled a monk, leveled it to 25 to get the feel for it, and boosted it to 100. Now that I begin my journey on the Broken Shores, I find myself wondering how to best approach leveling.

I would like to level as Brewmaster, since I really don't have any interest in playing the other specs at the moment. But obviously, the damage that a freshly dinged level 100 Brewmaster is a bit on the low side.

Does it get better, or is it really just ineffecient to level as a Brewmaster?

When doing solo content such as quests, how should I use my brews? Something Ironskin Brew doesn't reduce damage in itself, but do you do a rotation of Ironskin > Purify to just reduce the damage you take a bit more?

Any tips on actual damage when questing would be nice. So far, I've found that I just go Keg Smash > Blackout > Tiger Palm on a single target, but throw in a Breath of Fire whenever I have more than one target.

[procne]

Scaling seems a bit broken, so the damage is really low before you hit 110.

On my way from 100 to 110 keg smash was about 50% of my overall dps, and the single target dps was quite low, so questing was a bit slow. Remember that explosive barrel from your artifact can also be used every now and then.

Fortunatelly, as you gear up at max level, abilities seem to scale much better and numbers on keg smash and blackout strike grow nicely.

[Deleted]

without going too hard into this, kegsmash > breath of fire > blackout > tiger palm is basically what you'd use for anything (st or aoe)

when leveling as a tank try to group up lots of adds together for tasty aoe damages since you can survive multiple adds with ease

i wouldn't really bother with purifying brew while doing questing content, just stick to ironskin brew since stagger falls off quickly when out of combat

[szandos]

What the people above said: Don't kill off mobs one by one. Pull as many as you can without the mobs leashing, round em up and kill em off. Don't purify unless you really need to, should only be needed if you solo mobs intended for groups. Make sure you get out of combat in between pulls so stagger clears.

[Deleted]

At the moment, killing a single mob takes well more than 10 seconds - pulling multiple mobs will be faster overall, but I will still have more than 10 seconds of combat. So if I only use Ironskin Brew during this time, wont it generally just be a waste of brew, seeing as I'll take the damage anyways?

[Deleted]

Don't bother using ironsking and puryfing brew during questing, it only prevets you from damage spikes. Use it only for elite mobs, dungeons bosses etc. when you feel, you are taking to much damage.

And get Obstinate determination trait as fast as you can. Brewmaster has almost no selfhealing without it.

[Vins04]

I leveled as Brewmaster although I main WW now. I would suggest just pulling large packs, you won't die, you will never have to stop and heal. I really liked it. Make sure to get your combat allies from the Monk Campaign as soon as you can, helps with the dps. But honestly the best part about leveling as tank is you will never die, might not kill as fast but no death runs is really nice.

[Will]

when you're leveling take special delivery Talent and use your brew charges liberally. People telling you to not bother using brews when questing are probably running RJW but special delivery is imo way better for questing - particularly combined with black ox brew - as you can pull a huge pack and burn your brews to force SD procs

By the time you reach the next big pack there's a good chance your brew charges will be back again

[Deleted]

I am using Special Delivery, actually, but not Black Ox Brew. I prefer the shorter cooldown overall, but I might switch to BOB when I get a better understanding of the class.

How about elites and rares? I find that sometimes they do actually put me down in the red - but then again, I'm still mostly in the starting greens, so I expect it will improve greatly as I go through the first area.

[Llarold]

I am using Special Delivery, actually, but not Black Ox Brew. I prefer the shorter cooldown overall, but I might switch to BOB when I get a better understanding of the class.

How about elites and rares? I find that sometimes they do actually put me down in the red - but then again, I'm still mostly in the starting greens, so I expect it will improve greatly as I go through the first area.

Black Ox Brew really isn't too complex. While learning, just use it when you're at 0/3 Brew Charges available. Honestly, that's not too different from how you use it in raids.

As for how to use your Brews while leveling, it's really the same leveling, doing WQ's, or running Heroic Dungeons: maintain ISB as much as possible, and Purify if/when your Stagger value starts to get high without losing ISB uptime.

Now that dropping combat dramatically reduces Stagger's remaining time, maintaining ISB during leveling/world content is absolutely worthwhile - not simply because you should practice how you'll play against difficult content - but dropping combat now effectively casts Purifying Brew twice.

There is no reason to not use your AM out in the world on any tank!

[Deleted]

My tactic when levelling as a brm was: take statue > dump it in the middle of mobs where you're questing > go nuts with aoe.
It's a way more secure levelling experience as a tank and this way you'll make up for the lack of single target dps as the aoe dps on a brm is quite decent for the levelling experience.
I don't think I was a lot slower with levelling then my hunter tbh.

[Raiz]

I am using Special Delivery, actually, but not Black Ox Brew. I prefer the shorter cooldown overall, but I might switch to BOB when I get a better understanding of the class.

That's perfectly fine. I started like this aswell.

How about elites and rares? I find that sometimes they do actually put me down in the red - but then again, I'm still mostly in the starting greens, so I expect it will improve greatly as I go through the first area.

Nothing much you can do. Until you get the trait Obstinate Determination. This trait give infinite Healing Sphere whenever you drop below 35% health. You have to use the Healing Sphere straight away in order to get above the 35% life for it to proc again (if you have Healing Elixir's talent, they will proc first. Meaning you'll get 3 Healing Spheres when your life drop 3 times).

So yeah, Obstinate Determination is a huge Quality of Life when doing Elites while questing.

[Saverem]

I have fallen in love with the idea of being a Brewmaster tank, and so I rolled a monk, leveled it to 25 to get the feel for it, and boosted it to 100. Now that I begin my journey on the Broken Shores, I find myself wondering how to best approach leveling.

I would like to level as Brewmaster, since I really don't have any interest in playing the other specs at the moment. But obviously, the damage that a freshly dinged level 100 Brewmaster is a bit on the low side.

Does it get better, or is it really just ineffecient to level as a Brewmaster?

When doing solo content such as quests, how should I use my brews? Something Ironskin Brew doesn't reduce damage in itself, but do you do a rotation of Ironskin > Purify to just reduce the damage you take a bit more?

Any tips on actual damage when questing would be nice. So far, I've found that I just go Keg Smash > Blackout > Tiger Palm on a single target, but throw in a Breath of Fire whenever I have more than one target.

Unfortunately, since the tank damage nerf a month or so ago, it's pretty inefficient to level as a BrM unless you can pull in trash packs of mobs. Right now, even MW has better single target damage than a BrM. Not only that, but BrMs are actually one of the lowest tank damage classes in the game. Think the only tank that's rated less DPS than BrMs are VDHs.

I'd level up as WW if you want to level up as fast as possible. If you don't care, then go ahead and stick with BrM leveling.

[Deleted]

As everyone else said (and I leveled all my alts as tanks if possible):
1. round stuff up - at least 3 mobs per pull, to be efficient; take more if you feel you can handle it
2. make VERY liberal use of brews to proc Special Delivery - I NEVER ran out of them while questing
3. abuse Dave (the statue) if you took that talent; have him ALWAYS out
4. abuse Leg Sweep if you took that talent instead, to make even larger pulls and avoid even more dmg (I usually used Exploding Keg on one pull, then Leg Sweep on the other, etc.)
5. don't take talents for leveling that you won't use later - get used to your talents and their usage (limits, possibilities, issues) while leveling, saving you the wipes later (I'm looking at you, Dave - pulling sh*t through the roof, floor and whatnot)

Enjoy your face smashing, chilli breathing alcoholic.

[Deleted]

My tactic when levelling as a brm was: take statue > dump it in the middle of mobs where you're questing > go nuts with aoe.
It's a way more secure levelling experience as a tank and this way you'll make up for the lack of single target dps as the aoe dps on a brm is quite decent for the levelling experience.
I don't think I was a lot slower with levelling then my hunter tbh.

Actually, that's a really good idea. I never thought about using the statue for that. I just kept Leg Sweep for the extra interrupt. But since the status has a 10 second cooldown, I can use it all the time. Does it also taunt enemies not in combat, I wonder?

Anyways, I'll try it when I get home

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That's perfectly fine. I started like this aswell.

Nothing much you can do. Until you get the trait Obstinate Determination. This trait give infinite Healing Sphere whenever you drop below 35% health. You have to use the Healing Sphere straight away in order to get above the 35% life for it to proc again (if you have Healing Elixir's talent, they will proc first. Meaning you'll get 3 Healing Spheres when your life drop 3 times).

So yeah, Obstinate Determination is a huge Quality of Life when doing Elites while questing.

I'm level 104 now, and I find that I can take out most enemies at equal level, as long as I have enough time to spare. I ran into the Majestic Elderhorn yesterday, and it took me a good 5 minutes to kill, but it hardly took me down at all. Haven't met any elites around my own level yet, so we will see how I fare against those. But I definitely look forward to unlocking some more traits.

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Unfortunately, since the tank damage nerf a month or so ago, it's pretty inefficient to level as a BrM unless you can pull in trash packs of mobs. Right now, even MW has better single target damage than a BrM. Not only that, but BrMs are actually one of the lowest tank damage classes in the game. Think the only tank that's rated less DPS than BrMs are VDHs.

I'd level up as WW if you want to level up as fast as possible. If you don't care, then go ahead and stick with BrM leveling.

I'm not really in a rush. I would like to get up to 110 so I can start getting more artifact knowledge, and I run around doing dungeons a few times. I quite like tanking as BRM, but I do need to clear all the normal quests in the zones at some point :P But I think it will probably be alright with Vinniel's suggestion above

I mostly play my BRM right now while watching videos on Youtube, so it's a rather chill leveling grind :P

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As everyone else said (and I leveled all my alts as tanks if possible):
1. round stuff up - at least 3 mobs per pull, to be efficient; take more if you feel you can handle it
2. make VERY liberal use of brews to proc Special Delivery - I NEVER ran out of them while questing
3. abuse Dave (the statue) if you took that talent; have him ALWAYS out
4. abuse Leg Sweep if you took that talent instead, to make even larger pulls and avoid even more dmg (I usually used Exploding Keg on one pull, then Leg Sweep on the other, etc.)
5. don't take talents for leveling that you won't use later - get used to your talents and their usage (limits, possibilities, issues) while leveling, saving you the wipes later (I'm looking at you, Dave - pulling sh*t through the roof, floor and whatnot)

Enjoy your face smashing, chilli breathing alcoholic.

When you mention Dave, do you mean the Black Ox Statue or Invoke Niuzao? I assume you mean the statue, but what do I know, I'm just a drunken cow :P

[TaurenNinja]

The statue is the best while levelling. Not only can you do *massive* pulls with ease, you can also use it when you DON'T want to deal with some mobs because you just have to pick up some stuff on the ground and don't want to be interrupted, then use the statue to get rid of the mobs for a while. (Especially handy as night elf... you can remove the statue and shadowmeld so the mobs don't follow you afterwards).
If you abuse that and your decent AoE, then levelling is fast as BrM.
Aside from that, you should go for max AoE DPS when soloing, meaning that you should take special delivery, chi burst and blackout combo (and use it mostly for empowering your tiger palms). You don't die anyway as a tank. One of the most important artifact traits you aim for early is obstinate determination (but don't pick up the DPS talent in the top center until much later), which basically makes you immortal around the 35% HP mark for any content where damage is low.

[Deleted]

Actually, that's a really good idea. I never thought about using the statue for that. I just kept Leg Sweep for the extra interrupt. But since the status has a 10 second cooldown, I can use it all the time. Does it also taunt enemies not in combat, I wonder?

Anyways, I'll try it when I get home

Did you like it? As was said here aswell: pick all the aoe abilities like chi wave and special delivery. And yes it will taunt lots of extra mobs, but as a skinner I didn't mind as it's usually skinnable beasts that get pulled extra.

[Deleted]

Sorry I didn't get back to you sooner. I was actually halfway through typing a response the other day, but then life happened and.. well :P

I did try it, and oh my brew it's a fun ability! I plopped it down right in a questing area, and spent a good 15 minutes trying to figure out how to get out of combat again. The statue just kept pulling more and more mobs. I tried placing it further away - and it just kept pulling mobs. It was around the time I was trying to run out of range of the statue that I noticed the "totem timer" (I'm a shaman, you know) underneath my unitframes, and clicked that off to remove the statue

I'm quite enjoying it in instances as well. I've had issues with pulling packs reliably if they are spread out a bit, but with this I just drop it down in front of them, taunt the statue, and I have aggro on all mobs. It feels quite amazing to clump up a group of mobs like this and shower them in brew and fire.

I did try Chi Wave when I just started out, but it felt sort of lackluster. Maybe that was because I was just pulling one mob at a time. Do you know if Chi Wave prefers enemies over friendly targets? Can it hit the same target more than once?

TaurenNinja above suggest Chi Burst instead of Chi Wave. I can see Chi Burst being better depending on the number of targets to hit, even with the longer cooldown. I suppose Blackout Combo is better for soloing, since I'm not really getting much out of High Tolerence. I just don't think I'm good enough to manage Blackout Combo in dungeons quite yet.

[Deleted]

BoC is best for leveling.

Chi Wave is good for more ranged pulling ... and that's it. I take Tiger Palm for more self-heal in 5mans, as Chi Wave is another GC + spreads the heal among the team too.

Work out how NOT to pull too much with Dave in places like DHT or MoS or BRH. He has his moments

Chi Burst is another GCB and I never used it as BM because it's also a cast time (aside from GC). Maybe it's usable in leveling - didn't try, now it's too late by months

If you find you want to pull even more stuff than Dave does - use the force, Luke ... errr our green knockback lightning. In some places I tap mobs around me with that and let them come to me. Before the first comes over for a smash, I can usually get 3-5 other coming too.

[Deleted]

Yeah, I've used Green Lightning quite a lot for boss pulls. It looks neat, and the boss comes to me instead of the other way around. I am definitely looking forward to getting more range on Keg Smash though.

How do you deal with rounding up groups of mobs that have casters in them? Think big groups in Halls of Valor, for example. I'm used to having a ranged interrupt on my shaman, but I don't have that here - I have a melee interrupt and a ranged CC, but that doesn't pull the mob closer to me :P

Any additional tips and tricks are very welcome - I've learned so much already!