The Brewmaster Tanking Guide [5.4]

[Gallahadd]

The expected balancing is in! Was kinda hoping they're reconsider the energy regen changes, but I guess not , this will move Haste up the ratings list... question is, will it put it over Crit? I'm gunna say...... No, because I'm always wrong about these sort of things.

glad to see it's not ALL nerfs though SCK got the channel time shortened, which is a good thing, faster damage is always good (unless it's damage TAKEN )

Then the whole level 90 tier got buffed, not to shabby does anyone know what the breakpoints are for Xuen and RJW? or is it just simply '3 or less targets, Xuen, otherwise RJW'? or does RJW beat Xuen even on 2 targets?

[Asmalya]

Goddamnit GC...
First he says "We reduced the base Stagger amount from 30% to 25%"

Then we get patch notes where its down from 30 to 20. That guy...

[Gallahadd]

Hmm, I just had a thought, surprising I know, but bear with me.

After the post vengeance change damage nerf patch (can't remember the exact number) am I right in thinking that Brewmasters no longer scale with weapon damage(or at least scale very poorly)? looking at the formula for Brewmaster abilities it mentions attackpower, but nothing about weapons, so would that mean we could use older weapons and take less of a hit than the other classes?

can you see where this is headed I'll give you a clue, it has alot to do with DWing Soul Drinkers

[Deleted]

Hmm, I just had a thought, surprising I know, but bear with me.

After the post vengeance change damage nerf patch (can't remember the exact number) am I right in thinking that Brewmasters no longer scale with weapon damage(or at least scale very poorly)? looking at the formula for Brewmaster abilities it mentions attackpower, but nothing about weapons, so would that mean we could use older weapons and take less of a hit than the other classes?

can you see where this is headed I'll give you a clue, it has alot to do with DWing Soul Drinkers

Most if not all Brewmaster abilities scale with ap only, so weapon damage only affects white damage. This also means weapon speed doesn't make a difference in threat or damage, which is good since staves tend to be faster than polearms. You'll still do less autoattack damage, and you lose a large amount of stamina, agility and secondary stats. I really doubt Soul Drinkers would be worth it compared to what you'd be losing.

[Gallahadd]

well comparing 2x Hc Soul Drinker to 2x Claw of Shek'zeer, you'd lose ~1200 Agi, ~1800 Stam, ~1.5% crit and ~2 expertise in exchange you'd gain the proc, which would probably damage/heal for a fair amount considering the redonkulous amounts of health we'll be seeing...

Might not be viable for progession raiding, but for Hc/Challenges and of course Soloing old stuff, I could see it being more than viable.

[diggorey]

I've been trying to make sense of the Glyphs and....well, here's the result:

Glyph of Guard - For fights with heavy magic damage, this is a must have, obviously.

Glyph of Fortifying Brew - I'm not so sure about this one. 5% less damage taken sounds good, but sacrificing 10% increase in HP..I don't know. Opinions?

These two seem to be completely situational to me:

Glyph of Transcendence - 10 meters more range
Glyph of Zen Meditation - can be channeled while moving

Any opinions on these?

[Deleted]

Honestly I don't see any Glyphs being REALLY useful for a Brewmaster in a raid environment. Leer of the Ox or SCK Glyph could be useful for picking up and tanking/kiting adds, as you said Guard Glyph is extremely situational and FB Glyph is only good in a fight where percentual mitigation is more useful than raw HP.
The rest is either QoL or MW/WW specific but thats the goal from Blizzard to make no Major Glyph mandatory.
I guess we will have to wait for the last two weeks of beta for some Monk tweaks but i wouldn't get my hopes up.

On a different note, what do you guys think of the LvL 90 Talent Tier?
Personally I think it has huge design flaws:
Xuen is not usable in fights where the face direction of the boss matters.
RJW is just another BoK (same cost, refreshing Shuffle) and I think we all agree that Chi Torpedo is just crappy in terms of utility and it messes up positioning.

What I would like to see is either T90 Talents featuring all 3 August Celestials (kinda using the power of a different spec) or giving WW a White Tiger Statue and scraping the current T90 and put something more useful there.

[Hijiri]

Glyph of Stoneskin and Zen Meditation also have their uses.

[The Madgod]

I've been trying to make sense of the Glyphs and....well, here's the result:

Glyph of Guard - For fights with heavy magic damage, this is a must have, obviously.

Glyph of Fortifying Brew - I'm not so sure about this one. 5% less damage taken sounds good, but sacrificing 10% increase in HP..I don't know. Opinions?

These two seem to be completely situational to me:

Glyph of Transcendence - 10 meters more range
Glyph of Zen Meditation - can be channeled while moving

Any opinions on these?

In terms of Glyph of FB, it'll all really depend on the numbers you're dealing with. If you're dealing with a lot of relatively small hits, then the glyph will be useful... if you're dealing with a few really big hits, then it won't be something you'll want, since you want that extra health to help soak it.

Glyph of Transcendence is... okay, but it's not amazing. The range on it is fairly solid, and I can only imagine this will be useful when you need to move around LARGE areas, and even then, it might not be that great.

Glyph of Zen Meditation is awesome for fights like Ragnaros, where the group is taking AoE magic damage, but have to move around as its happening.

On a different note, what do you guys think of the LvL 90 Talent Tier?
Personally I think it has huge design flaws:
Xuen is not usable in fights where the face direction of the boss matters.
RJW is just another BoK (same cost, refreshing Shuffle) and I think we all agree that Chi Torpedo is just crappy in terms of utility and it messes up positioning.

What I would like to see is either T90 Talents featuring all 3 August Celestials (kinda using the power of a different spec) or giving WW a White Tiger Statue and scraping the current T90 and put something more useful there.

I'm inclined to agree that Xuen at least is much less appealing since Blizzard changed it to be able to taunt. RJW is fine in my opinion, though. It's like HotR and CS for paladins... except instead of generating a resource, it uses a resource. And I've already stated my dislike of Chi Torpedo in the guide.

[Deleted]

At the current time, the extra Health isn't that needed. 5% additional damage reduction > 10% Hp. If you can live through something without getting one shot, then the Glyph is fine to use.

In regards to the T90 talents (Specifically Xuen);

- Xuen does not Taunt Raid bosses, only Dungeon bosses and trash. The positional requirement of some bosses won't be an issue by using it on them, it is just a DPS cooldown at that point.

There is no Level 90 Talent in any of the five Tanking classes that directly improves you as a Tank, other than;

- Very low passive heals (Paladin).
- Druids get a Talent to increase Healing done by 20% and Damage done by 20% (This has to be coupled with a non-glyphed Frenzied Regen to be effective survival wise)
- Deathknights get pooped on hard. All talents are VERY situational. Something that has to be pre-activated to immune CC (2 Min CD), AoE stun (If you're close to the targets for all five applications to land), or an AoE Death Grip.
- Warriors are the only Tank class that get something remotely usable as a 'Defensive CD'. Avatar increases damage done by 20% and you generate 30% more rage. This is a 3 minute CD that only lasts 20 seconds.

In the grand scheme of things, all lvl 90 talents for Tank classes are either Damage buffs or low passive heals (On other people in the case of Paladins). I personally think Monks got off a little better than most Tanks. A single Target (Long lasting) DPS CD and extra AoE damage on packs of mobs. Fair enough, Torpedo is useless to anyone but a Healer but you can't have it all.

[The Ogdru Jahad]

Without even playing the brewmaster on beta, just from reading this guide...I can already tell brewmasters are going to be one of the most fun tank specs to play. Sound so dynamic in their play style. Really hoping blizz gets it right!

[Torque21]

I opted to not play the beta at all, but I do have to say, this is a really nice, well-written guide, and when Monks go live, I'll definitely be back here to figure out what the hell I'm doing.

[The Madgod]

At the current time, the extra Health isn't that needed. 5% additional damage reduction > 10% Hp. If you can live through something without getting one shot, then the Glyph is fine to use.

What I said still applies, but that's certainly true, especially if you consider that the 5% less damage will also have an effect on your stagger stack.

In regards to the T90 talents (Specifically Xuen);

- Xuen does not Taunt Raid bosses, only Dungeon bosses and trash. The positional requirement of some bosses won't be an issue by using it on them, it is just a DPS cooldown at that point.

That certainly makes it nicer, though if it's still problematic in dungeons and therefore challenge modes... well, yeah. I'd still prefer it it didn't have its taunt on it, at least for Brewmasters.

Without even playing the brewmaster on beta, just from reading this guide...I can already tell brewmasters are going to be one of the most fun tank specs to play. Sound so dynamic in their play style. Really hoping blizz gets it right!

I opted to not play the beta at all, but I do have to say, this is a really nice, well-written guide, and when Monks go live, I'll definitely be back here to figure out what the hell I'm doing.

I appreciate the compliments! I'm glad that you find it useful!

[Deleted]

During my time in Challenge modes, Xuen did not taunt the bosses.

If it hasn't been changed, then the only time he would be an issue would be in Normal / Heroic Dungeons where boss positioning probably will not be an issue.

[The Madgod]

During my time in Challenge modes, Xuen did not taunt the bosses.

If it hasn't been changed, then the only time he would be an issue would be in Normal / Heroic Dungeons where boss positioning probably will not be an issue.

Really now... Well, that gets rid of a lot of my worries. Cool beans. I haven't really had the time to test challenge modes. This is a relief.

[Deleted]

You need to get testing more man :>

[The Madgod]

My beta experience has mostly involved looking at tooltips and running non-challenge mode dungeons to test out abilities and the general feel of the spec.

I got lots of stuff in my life, man. Don't judge me!

[Deleted]

I got lots of stuff too!
I just don't sleep.

I guess that guild 25 man testing planned ahead of time helps out spreading things, too.

[Deleted]

During my time in Challenge modes, Xuen did not taunt the bosses.

If it hasn't been changed, then the only time he would be an issue would be in Normal / Heroic Dungeons where boss positioning probably will not be an issue.

Aren't chellenge mode bosses a higher level than normal and heroic bosses, therefor you need raid hit cap etc when dpsing them, this may explain why it was not taunted maybe?

[Deleted]

That was changed back in ICC when they made Taunts un-missable. Even for pets / guardians, their taunts can't miss.