The Brewmaster Tanking Guide [5.4]

[Deleted]

Hi there,

I was wondering if you have any input on dark animus hc 10 man for a monk tank.

I am tanking the encounter together with a DK. So far I am taking the Boss because of Transcendence out of Anima rings and the DK is taking up the 2 big adds. I was wondering if it wouldnt be better if I'd take the adds since
1. anima ring isn't a big problem .. a melee can open it easily
2. I am far more mobile to collect the little adds inside the big ones
3. I deal more dmg on the small adds ^^
4. i could most likely also reset the stacks from the big by kiting or absorbs (guard + external)

Any thoughts on this?

Thanks!
Imbanane

[Kiqjaq]

You're more squishy during hard periods, but have more survivability on the run. And please, self heal, you have infinite expel harm [modulo energy increase rating] at 35%.

Expel Harm without a cooldown isn't as good as Death Pact/Lichborne in terms of panic heals.
And isn't being more squishy during hard periods pretty much the worst kind of tank then? >.>

Not that I really think that's the case. Like I said I'm just whining since I miss having so much control of my own survivability.

I am tanking the encounter together with a DK. So far I am taking the Boss because of Transcendence out of Anima rings and the DK is taking up the 2 big adds. I was wondering if it wouldnt be better if I'd take the adds since
1. anima ring isn't a big problem .. a melee can open it easily
2. I am far more mobile to collect the little adds inside the big ones
3. I deal more dmg on the small adds ^^
4. i could most likely also reset the stacks from the big by kiting or absorbs (guard + external)

Any thoughts on this?

Thanks!
Imbanane

DK on the big adds is pretty much the standard.
Anima Ring you're going to need to open with a melee anyways. They fixed that recently; last time I tried to Transcendence out I ended up with 4 stacks. o_o

[Deleted]

Anima Ring you're going to need to open with a melee anyways. They fixed that recently; last time I tried to Transcendence out I ended up with 4 stacks. o_o

I tried it and it work perfect for me.

[gynshon]

I tried it and it work perfect for me.

Most of us that do it every week since the beginning probably haven't tried Transcendence again after they broke it a couple weeks ago that forced a person to take the rings for us every time. I know I haven't because the randomness of the stack count when using it. 1-4 was what I have seen when I tried it last and 4 is way too much.

If it is fixed, good to know.

[SurrealNight]

But then again I just feel uber squishy in general compared to my old Blood DK main (rerolling for comp... unsure if it's working out) despite gear levels being the same, so maybe I'm just pouting. I miss having a zillion cooldowns and self heals. :P

I retired my DK in MoP for my BrM and wouldn't trade back for anything. Sure DK's have a lot of little buttons but I have a feeling 5.4 is going to be rough for them like it was in Cata cause you still have big gaps where only your armor/stam is keeping you alive.

Monk's are blessed with 100% CTC on their main mitigation ability (which no other tank has) and many boss mechanic defeating CD's + crazy DPS can't see how you'd miss a DK. Tried to play mine, got her to 90, ran a few 5man's and said meh.

[eirote]

There is a specific reason that dks are used on the big adds.

As monks we have no stack reset other than tank taunt. For a death knight this isnt true. By glyphing IBF and comboing it/healer cds with ams they can fully absorb a slam with AMS, preventing the reapplication of the stack.

[SurrealNight]

Doesn't Xuen taunt the Massive's if you cast while targeting them resulting in him "tanking" them for the duration? I don't bother on normal mode but thought I did it once on accident.

[Ampere]

Yeah I got kinda wrecked on Durumu as well, relative to other fights. That's just how that fight works, he IS meleeing for 550k after all.

But then again I just feel uber squishy in general compared to my old Blood DK main (rerolling for comp... unsure if it's working out) despite gear levels being the same, so maybe I'm just pouting. I miss having a zillion cooldowns and self heals. :P

For Challenge Modes sure Blood DK feel much less squishy, but in a raid environment Stagger is amazing for big physical hits and Guard/Expel Harm/Chi Wave/Gift of the Ox provide tons of available healing. Perhaps you just haven't gotten used to the Monk yet? I love playing Blood DK, but I much prefer Monk for raid tanking.

I retired my DK in MoP for my BrM and wouldn't trade back for anything. Sure DK's have a lot of little buttons but I have a feeling 5.4 is going to be rough for them like it was in Cata cause you still have big gaps where only your armor/stam is keeping you alive.

Monk's are blessed with 100% CTC on their main mitigation ability (which no other tank has) and many boss mechanic defeating CD's + crazy DPS can't see how you'd miss a DK. Tried to play mine, got her to 90, ran a few 5man's and said meh.

I don't think 'blessed' is the right word, because it seems pretty apparent that Monks are balanced around 100% Shuffle uptime. It's not an explicit advantage; it's just different from other tanks. Superior against Ra-den's attack I suppose, but that fight doesn't sound well designed.

[eirote]

*isnt well designed*

also i dont think that he does taunt massives. not sure tbh though as he would probably just get 1 shot on 25 hm which is my difficulty of choice.

[Kiqjaq]

For Challenge Modes sure Blood DK feel much less squishy, but in a raid environment Stagger is amazing for big physical hits and Guard/Expel Harm/Chi Wave/Gift of the Ox provide tons of available healing. Perhaps you just haven't gotten used to the Monk yet? I love playing Blood DK, but I much prefer Monk for raid tanking..

Might be the case. I kind of rocketed through the whole gear progression process. Hit 509 ilvl within a week of hitting 90, since the intent was a quick reroll. Maybe there's some subtlety I'm missing, but for the most part the mitigation feels passive. Autoattacks proc EB, derp. Shuffle uptime is so simple an infant could do it, which just leaves using PB "intelligently". Though I'll grant a bit of leeway to Guard, it's nothing compared to Death Strike, and rune tetris where a single misplaced Heart Strike can (and will) kill you.
Aggro is easier on Monk too, especially aoe. How can you be proud of your work when all it took was a KS or an SKC? =/

For the most part it's not too bad, I love the speed of the class. But I just get extremely anxious when I'm at low health and have no buttons to press to instantly restore me to full. EH and GotOx orbs don't quite cut it like Lichborne does. :>

[SurrealNight]

I don't think 'blessed' is the right word, because it seems pretty apparent that Monks are balanced around 100% Shuffle uptime. It's not an explicit advantage; it's just different from other tanks. Superior against Ra-den's attack I suppose, but that fight doesn't sound well designed.

Blizz tanking is all built around CTC + EH levels of balance. Of course we are "balanced" around having 100% uptime since anyone should be able to accomplish that but no other tank can say the same for their core mechanic. I know our other tank fumes when I'm refusing externals even at 5 stacks of H Talon Rake knowing my base 60% (+2PC) always up mitigation plus slew of CD's makes it a joke.

DK's CTC is only like 60% when you factor avoidance + DS/min. Sure you can time DS around big boss mechanics but you can't get around gaps between them where regular 450k melee hits are hitting nothing but armor/stam and you only have so many CD's. I really enjoyed my DK but their low CTC proved to be an issue in Cata and I'm sure it will crop up again in MoP before the expansion is over.

[Neviskio]

So with the new profiles update on reforgelite I found yesterday my stats profile is completely screwed and I started to question my stat weights again.

I'm using RoRo crit right now so I'm all gemmed for crit and such, reforgelite upped his mastery and totally made my profile for roro crazy, and my real issue is now, at around 505+ilvl with ascension how much haste you guys think it's worth?

I was using around 4-5k but now with the new profile I'm at less than 3k, and I think that is suboptimal, I read around confusing points, and I'm kinda hungry for more energy regen usually.I only raid as 10N(CURRENTLY at durumu due to 2% wipe) and a bit of 25N(only the first 3 bosses with another guild), and I'm not sure how much should I invest in haste compared on what I'm suggested to do.

edit: forgot armory for direct suggestions http://eu.battle.net/wow/en/characte...uyuki/advanced

[SurrealNight]

Before the 4P I ran with 6k haste and that felt comfortable to me and then dropped down to 4.5k when I got the tier set. Others around here will say you never need any haste 4P or not though. Ultimately up to you if you feel it's to low than boost it I say if it results in you playing better.

[Serendepityz]

Might be the case. I kind of rocketed through the whole gear progression process. Hit 509 ilvl within a week of hitting 90, since the intent was a quick reroll.
Aggro is easier on Monk too, especially aoe. How can you be proud of your work when all it took was a KS or an SKC? =/

For the most part it's not too bad, I love the speed of the class. But I just get extremely anxious when I'm at low health and have no buttons to press to instantly restore me to full. EH and GotOx orbs don't quite cut it like Lichborne does. :>

KS and SKC are easy at a glance yes, but are Thunder clap, Concecration/HoTR , Blood Boil , Swipe/Thrash not the same thing?

And EH WILL top you off in any high vengeance fight, in any fight with less than 80-100k vengeance I cant see a reason why you are getting low unless your healers like to twiddle their thumbs?

Overall, Monks are probably the strongest tanks right now, the only reason Prot pally is considered superior is for the BoP's and one tanking. But blizzard has already stated they plain to fix the one tanking fights problem whether it be a vengeance nerf, BoP, or they just tune fights around two tanks. they've said it will change. Following this change Monk>pally

[SurrealNight]

And EH WILL top you off in any high vengeance fight, in any fight with less than 80-100k vengeance I cant see a reason why you are getting low unless your healers like to twiddle their thumbs?

I love EH spam I've lost count of how often it's probably saved me. Like on Horriddon after Jalak dies he always seems to go apes**t so I usually pool my energy and just mash my EH hotkey in prep to getting spiked low. If your health is moving towards the < 50% range you should be saving energy and spamming EH like crazy until you are safe.

[Serendepityz]

I love EH spam I've lost count of how often it's probably saved me. Like on Horriddon after Jalak dies he always seems to go apes**t so I usually pool my energy and just mash my EH hotkey in prep to getting spiked low. If your health is moving towards the < 50% range you should be saving energy and spamming EH like crazy until you are safe.

our most recent hc lei shen kill involved me with no healer up spamming EH for 20-30 seconds while my guard+feint kept up our rogue nerf Brewmaster :P

[SurrealNight]

our most recent hc lei shen kill involved me with no healer up spamming EH for 20-30 seconds while my guard+feint kept up our rogue nerf Brewmaster :P

Haha nice. I also use it to troll our RL when he calls for a wipe. Hearing "would you just die already!" every once in a while is nice.

[Deix-EU]

I tried it and it work perfect for me.

Dunno how you manage not to get the debuff with transcandance. I tried last week, sure you are teleport and only one sphere is consumed, but you get the debuff.

[Stumpurin]

Dunno how you manage not to get the debuff with transcandance. I tried last week, sure you are teleport and only one sphere is consumed, but you get the debuff.

I was having problems with transcendance after the patch hit, but after doing the boss again last night, it does seem to be working again.

[Felade]

Shuffe = Bear form. Its how we deal with the low armor on leather. Most tanks have enough armor to reduce 50%+ physical damage passively. We just have to maintain a buff to do it. Not that shuffle is necessarily a disadvantage - since it scales with Mastery (similar to how bears get armor from Mastery) shuffle does make us really good at big physical hits. Just don't think of it as active mitigation. Our AM is Guard and Elusive Brew. Shuffle uptime isn't what makes us OP, its what brings us up to par.

Dunno how you manage not to get the debuff with transcandance. I tried last week, sure you are teleport and only one sphere is consumed, but you get the debuff.

I bet another Monk in the group rolled/CT'd through and picked one up for him with out him noticing :P