Brewing or Misting? Or maybe Wind...?

[Tomec]

Long story short: Planning on leveling a monk and would like thoughts/comments about leveling as different specs and also how they are at 90.

Long Story:

I'm planning on leveling a Monk soon and I'm trying to decide on what spec to go both for leveling and level 90 stuff. It kind of concerns me in a sense that Mistweavers use Int Leather, and there isn't a 4th spec like Boomkin for Druid that uses it to deal damage for soloing. However I know that Mistweavers can do some damage to heal, and truth be told I started playing MMOs as a healer so it'd be a nice little throw back to my original days.

However, ever since I've been playing WoW I've only ever DPS'd due to things including raid needs and the like. Of course this was before LFR and all the bnet account bound things, so now it's not a huge deal to swap around as it were. Still though, I don't know if I want to level another class as DPS... Especially when I've already have (at varying points from 85-90) 2 Pure DPS classes, a DK, and a Druid. With the DK and Druid being DPS (kitty) spec'd.

Finally of course there are Brewmasters... and as tanks I imagine they are pretty hard to kill while leveling. Also with using the AGI leather I could swap to DPS for solo questing. Of course instant queues for dungeons are super nice, and while leveling dungeons can give a nice chunk of xp from their quests and most times it's kind of like "tank? What's a tank?" in them. BUT, and this is a big but, I've NEVER tanked in any MMO. Ever. So that "tank? What's a tank?" thing is both good and bad in that case.


So what are your experiences/thoughts?

[Deleted]

I lvled mist from 10 to 85 while questing and seldomly dungeons.

Its no faster or slower than dps , might be a little slower than tank.. till you get crane kick.

When you get that just mob all the place and aoe it down.

[Nikkaszal]

Brewmasters actually have the faster killing ability than Windwalkers while levelling until 56. This is because the big WW hitter - Rising Sun Kick - isn't trained until this level, while Brewmasters have their Keg Smash freight train right off the bat.

Seriously, Keg Smash hits really friggin' hard.

Couple it with Breath of Fire and a few mobs at once and Windwalkers can't touch Brewmasters.

As for Mistweavers - you pretty much need to stay in dungeons all the time. Their damage output cannot hope to rival the other two. And if it's survivability you're thinking about, Brewmasters are nigh-unkillable while levelling no matter how many things you pull at once.

[Kisho]

I levelled all the way from 1-90 as Brewmaster, worked pretty well. Took less than 4 days /played time with heirlooms. It's also a ridiculously fun spec to play in general, instant queue times... There's basically no downsides.

Go Brewmaster!

[Deleted]

Brewmaster all the way Also in 90! - Played from 1-90 was 2 days, 9 hours (No RAF)

[Deleted]

WW flying kick is too much fun.

Not sure about people saying Brewmasters are faster, seamed much less durable than my WW when I tried it. My only issue with WW is that you run out of things to pull, you can aoe does massive packs really quickly and remain on almost full health the entire time whilst doing it.

Pick whats fun for you, and do that, they are all viable.

[Rivellana]

I'm still leveling, level 60 atm and I kept a windwalker offspec the entire time to quest with even though I was doing all my dungeons as mistweaver. The past few levels I swapped my windwalker spec for a brewmaster spec and I must say I can take down multiple mobs much faster than I could with windwalker. I tried stance swapping with mistweaver to kill quest mobs in between dungeons but it was too slow for me compared to the other two specs, however it is doable if that's all you're using it for...in between dungeons so you don't have to swap once you enter the dungeon and make the party wait.

[fizzbob]

WW flying kick is too much fun.

Not sure about people saying Brewmasters are faster, seamed much less durable than my WW when I tried it. My only issue with WW is that you run out of things to pull, you can aoe does massive packs really quickly and remain on almost full health the entire time whilst doing it.

Pick whats fun for you, and do that, they are all viable.

you should try tanking with WW then

BWM is by far the fastest, round up 10 mobs, set everything on fire, get chi wave bouncing and hope it doesn't bug out, mow everything down

ww is fucking useless at 90

[Deleted]

I levelled all the way from 1-90 as Brewmaster, worked pretty well. Took less than 4 days /played time with heirlooms. It's also a ridiculously fun spec to play in general, instant queue times... There's basically no downsides.

Go Brewmaster!

This is what I did and found it really good fun. Also could do some things that weren't originally intended like soloing ring of blood in Nagrand at 67(other classes may or may not be able to do this, I have no idea)

Especially with lots of quests requiring a number of kills to complete it is so much easier just to group up all the quest mobs you can find and nuke them down, there is only a couple of NPC types nearing 90 where I found this was a bit risky.

[Edlarel]

To walk with the wind, you must first break it...

In all seriousness though I would have to argue for the ease of leveling as brewmaster. Their kit is great for soloing, and you get instant queues to run dungeons. Enjoy!

[Rivellana]

Only thing you have to watch out for when rounding up a bunch of mobs is (if you're on a pvp server) the mass amounts of level 90s of the opposite faction hanging out in lowbie areas with chips on their shoulders ganking and camping like there is nothing better to do in a fresh expansion. The "combined questing areas" makes this 10 times worse. Although I suppose when they outlevel you by such high numbers it wouldn't matter if you have 1 mob or 10 mobs on you at a time, you're going to die anyways.

I'd suggest doing dungeons or going to other questing areas for the levels you'd be in STV, Tanaris and Outland...if you went brewmaster you'd have a very fast dungeon queue. Queueing as mistweaver has still stuck me in 25 min queues at some points.

[Teriz]

Just dinged 80 last night. Brewmaster is frankly the superior spec for both soloing and dungeon running. As mentioned, their Keg Smash is ridiculously strong, and they have a lot of powerful AoE abilities that allow you to simply mow things down with little trouble. Tiger Palm is free and spammable when you're energy/chi starved, and Dizzying Haze allows you to get away from mobs that may be overpowering you. Shuffle also makes it tough for enemies to get through your parry/swift reflexes. To top it off, Guard, Stagger, Desperate Measures, and Gift of the Ox makes Brewmasters very hard to kill. GotO especially because it stacks with Vengeance. Two or three GotO spheres, and you're back to full health. If you spin kick, you'll litter the field with GotO spheres.

I gave WWs a whirl in Northrend, and I died quite a lot. This is after I hadn't died since I started leveling my monk. Their survivability isn't all that great, and I didn't find their damage to be that much better than the BrM. The self-healing you get from BoK is pretty lackluster, and that leaves you with Expel Harm and your level 30 talents to heal you. Good luck with that, since you're HP is so pathetic. That may change after 80, since WWs get a great Buff and Mastery, but up to that point, I find WWs to be pretty frail overall.

[Sagan1862]

I will say I was surprised that the queue for dosing was as fast if not faster for me during my leveling so far...I'm only 70 since I'm currently performing in an opera and a musical at university...but brewmaster seems the best spec for leveling, ww if a fun break from tanking though and will still get you fast queues

[The Madgod]

I am extremely biased, but I would say Brewmaster. Lots of Aoe and good survivability allows you to mow down enemies and doing so will help teach you how to minimize your damage taken.

[SurrealNight]

I leveled BrM from 1-11 / 81-90 and personally think it would be much much faster, at least for sure on the 81-91. Being able to endlessly pull mobs and AoE them down, instant queue for dungeons, and in most cases doing way more damage than any DPS could.

Of course my intent was to be main BrM all the way but I haven't even needed the WW spec yet once (armory shows a ? for my second spec =P)

[Kazlehoff]

My main is a Guardian druid. lvled from 70-90 as a bear (been my main since Ulduar.)
When i initially heard that Monks were being designed to be so similar to druids (Leather wearing class, Agi class, Avoidance tank, Melee DPS, Strong Raid healer.. only thing missing is a caster DPS) i was initially very worried. however, i diddnt let it phase me, and have continued to use my Bear for my main.

Recently, I decided i wanted a second tank for my guilds alt raids, as i really just don't enjoy DPSing, and i don't think i would make a good healer. and because monks are so similar to Druids, i thought it would be a good time to level a Brewmaster. i'm currently level 43, full heirlooms (including the BoA Ring) maintaining the enlightenment buff (I can gain 10 levels in an evening of play when i don't have raids and dailies to do on my main) and i have Two Elixirs of Ancient Knowledge (first will be used when i start TBC content, Second will be used when i start Wrath Content, and i'm hoping to get a third elixir to use when i start Cata Content.

I don't have any Experience with Mistweaver or Windwalker, but i have seriously been enjoying Brewmaster tanking. it feels very fluid, and addresses the problem i've ALWAYS had with Bears... DR on Avoidance. Brews have both Dodge and Parry, whereas Bears only have Dodge.

I would strongly recommend Brewmaster for leveling if you have experience with tanking. you get great queue times, your damage output is decent at low levels and you can mass pull mobs with little to no difficulty.

if you dont have experience with tanking, Switching to a Windwalker at higher levels (when the higher damage WW abilities are unlocked) may be a good option as well.

ww is fucking useless at 90

Ignorance is a hell of a drug.

[Halifax]

I saw someone post "Windwalker is useless at 90" and as a level 90 with about 470 iLvl and way too many hours played since MoP came out all I can say is "Are you high?".

I tank heroics as Brewmaster quite easily, and I've tried doing my dailies as Bewmaster, but I can't come close to how fast I can blaze through them as Windwalker. Between Chi Wave and Touch of Karma I'm basically unkillable, and that's with pulling as much crap as I can. If I need a breather, I just use Fists of Fury to buy a few moments of stunning. I find that I can AoE with almost as well as Brewmaster, with Brewmaster slightly ahead, but when it comes to single target it's night and day at 90... Windwalker is just way more damage.

[Deleted]

you should try tanking with WW then

BWM is by far the fastest, round up 10 mobs, set everything on fire, get chi wave bouncing and hope it doesn't bug out, mow everything down

ww is fucking useless at 90

useless? really? Kicking arse on the dps with my monk. Ok, it could do with some meaningful burst dps (chi brew does not really cut it!) but its fun and perfectly viable, and pretty much unkillable no matter how many mobs I pick up.

Not PvP'd with it, not really my thing in wow so cant speak to that.


Not knocking BM, but for me, levelling, I found the WW more fun and much much faster and more durable, chi wave is a pretty nice heal to have bounding round, and with aoeing down mobs and them dropping loads of healing spheres, your health just stays topped. Kill more, get more health!

Its probably just personal preference.
Possibly slower to begin with, but certainally later on its really quite good.

[SurrealNight]

Touch of Death is nice as doing daily's your kind of alternating between collection vs killing quests so you find yourself having it available quite a lot. Plus if your AoE'ing a group and some jerk agro's you when the pack is almost dead with the amount of HP you have by the time you KS+Jab for the Chi you've hurt the mob enough to proc ToD anyways.

[Deleted]

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