Brewmaster Pro/Con

[Seramus]

I am not a monk. My guild is going to start raiding soon (mostly practice for WoD) and the person tanking with me is playing a Brewmaster. Could you guys give me an idea of what to expect out of a Brewmaster tank? I am especially interested in their strengths and weaknesses, such as how well they handle single target physical, single target magical, adds, and various situations like that. This will help me know what jobs he should be assigned.

Maybe something like "WoWwiki Comparison of Tank Classes" for Brewmasters:

[pkm]

Pros - amazing

Cons - well known to be opposite of amazing, due to the amount of players that have no idea what to do. Its weakness is trying to balance magical and physical damage. For some fights you can glyph your guard spell, but then you lose out on its physical absorb leaving you vulnerable to be 1 or 2 shot by some mechanics. Will get hit extremely hard at the start of pulls due to not having shuffle up and no ready chi to purify brew.

Also might have some problems recovering from a mispull or when something goes wrong due to the fact that they don't have much abilities that's like reduces damage taken by x percent or something. If shit hits the fan and you don't have elusive brew charges it can be real tough.

[Babylonius]

Monks handle single target physical damage very well, magic not as well as warriors but have several, CDs for it, adds very well with keg toss and keg smash.

Unless you're playing at the highest level of content, one class being slightly better/worse than another won't matter. Brewmasters can handle anything that the other tanks can. However the difference between a brewmaster who is capable and one who isn't is bigger than any other tank classes. This gives brewmasters a bad reputation because a large population of players are not able to use things like shuffle to make brewmasters tanks instead of just dps who can get more threat.

[Ratyrel]

Not as though you have a choice as to what kind of damage you handle in the majority of cases. Brewmasters are amazing tanks, if you keep shuffle up and time your self heals and absorbs correctly. They do decent damage and are incredible mobile and provide absorbs on the raid and a close range raid cooldown.

[Totaltotemic]

Brewmasters are basically the most well-rounded tank in the game. They have pretty much everything, ranged AoE, melee AoE with no CD, strong physical defense, and now with Soul Dance strong magical defense, the objectively best taunt in the game (40 yard range, speeds up target), more mobility than any other tank. They have virtually no weaknesses anymore.

The downsides are that BrMs aren't excellent at any one thing except picking up adds from a range, they're just kind of okay at everything else. What is currently a weakness on Live (namely no dps cooldowns and a very bad raid cooldown) is fixed indirectly in WoD by virtue of the fact that the other tank's damage and raid cooldowns are basically gone.

So if you take tuning out of the picture (in which Warriors are immovable walls because Shield Barrier is stupidly overpowered, and Paladins do crazy damage because lol 100% damage boost on a 30 second cooldown), Monks have the best toolkit of any of the tanks. They're a great choice if you want something consistent that can always get the job done regardless of the situation.

[Laguerra]

Unless you're playing at the highest level of content, brewmasters can handle anything that the other tanks can.

This is some utter BS... Brewmasters are more than capable of handling end game content. Even early on in a patch. It is however right what you say about their skillcap, wich is what i think might have confused you to believe the quoted part.

[Babylonius]

This is some utter BS... Brewmasters are more than capable of handling end game content. Even early on in a patch. It is however right what you say about their skillcap, wich is what i think might have confused you to believe the quoted part.

I guess I misspoke. Brewmasters are capable of handling end game content, I've done it myself. What I meant is that unless you're doing the highest level of content, there isn't any reason to look toward one tank over another. Whether or not one class is better at handling a certain mechanic doesn't matter unless you're at the very highest cutting edge of progression, and even then, player skill should be high enough to compensate any mild shortcomings.

[Deleted]

I personally think that Brewmaster monks have the best movement with regards to tanking, I'd say that Warriors would be a close second place. Roll, First tier of talents, Ascendance. Amazing toolkit to help you gather up mobs and solve sticky situations.

[Ooshraxa]

I personally think that Brewmaster monks have the best movement with regards to tanking, I'd say that Warriors would be a close second place. Roll, First tier of talents, Ascendance. Amazing toolkit to help you gather up mobs and solve sticky situations.

Don't forget Dizzying Haze, for gathering up mobs. Travels faster and is FREE in Warlords.

[Deleted]

Don't forget Dizzying Haze, for gathering up mobs. Travels faster and is FREE in Warlords.

As well as the fact that Transcendence: Transfer will also be an instant cast too. That will help out even more. ^.^

[Deleted]

As well as the fact that Transcendence: Transfer will also be an instant cast too. That will help out even more. ^.^

I am not 100% sure but I think in a tweet Celest said that Transcendence is instant and Transcendence: Transfer will be a movable cast spell. Cant put my head on a log for that tho.

[xtramuscle]

I am not 100% sure but I think in a tweet Celest said that Transcendence is instant and Transcendence: Transfer will be a movable cast spell. Cant put my head on a log for that tho.

Nah pretty sure its free and instant.

[Deleted]

Nah pretty sure its free and instant.

Yeah Transcendence is having it's CD reduced by 35 seconds, and the Transfer spell is going to be instant.

That's according to the WoWHead WoD Talent Calculator. It's a level 91+ Improved ability.

[Deleted]

Nah pretty sure its free and instant.

Yeah Transcendence is having it's CD reduced by 35 seconds, and the Transfer spell is going to be instant.

That's according to the WoWHead WoD Talent Calculator. It's a level 91+ Improved ability.

Thanks for clearing that out for me!
@OP: Monks take more DMG overall but they are the least spiky tank out there. So they are good for any *spiky* situation (sorry for the bad pun). They have limited ways to mitigate magic damage tho.