Monk challenge mode help

[Dero]

I want to attempt to step foot into challenge modes just for the achivements really.

My armory is http://us.battle.net/wow/en/characte...Derolao/simple

any suggestions would be greatly appreciated!

As well as any tips that you have that you may have done yourself.


Edit; I logged out as windwalker I apologize this is meant to be a brewmaster help guide.

[Porra]

Tanking challenge modes on a monk is far different from raids. The best advice anyone can give you is dont be afraid to just start kiting. Monks are the best kiters of any tank so use this to your advantage by pulling a large number of groups, popping your defensives and kiting when they end. Also pick up the glyph of fire breathing, extremely useful for SH and SM on caster packs, just spam it and ignore using black out kick to continuously interrupt the casters.

[Azmaria]

Tanking challenge modes on a monk is far different from raids. The best advice anyone can give you is dont be afraid to just start kiting. Monks are the best kiters of any tank so use this to your advantage by pulling a large number of groups, popping your defensives and kiting when they end. Also pick up the glyph of fire breathing, extremely useful for SH and SM on caster packs, just spam it and ignore using black out kick to continuously interrupt the casters.

This is a nice thing to know since I want to start doing challenge modes myself. Are there any other useful tips for BrM tanking these?

This is my current set up though there are a few things I changed last night to help me solo warbringers.
http://us.battle.net/wow/en/characte...n/Nue/advanced

[Tinkertee]

Stack stam and mastery. Kite them. A lot. You are squishy. Kiting is your best avoidance. A ranged tank.

[Deleted]

I can't tell that much, since I only made one challenge mode to help out once (was Gate of the Setting sun).

- Knowledge. Of the trashpacks and bosses. Know when to pull the next pack, when to use your CDs (includes def CDs, but also stuns). Also talk to your group members about those, many classes have tools to help you out in that regard. These things you can't see in guides, because group compilations / dps of single persons differ. Thus it's also easier to work on one instance after the other and quit fucked up tries, and not finish them with bad times to work on the next instance.
For example of the Gate: The big pack in that tower on the wall, between the first and the second boss, is the only thing you really need your def CDs for - so try to avoid using them on other packs shortly before. Though, overall, try to use them as often as possible, as long as they are ready when they are really needed. Except you do the strat where you pull everything up to the first boss - which I don't advice if you only want gold, and not a top time.
- To gear: Afaik the 500 / 160 agi gems from the legendary quests do work in challenge modes (though I'm not sure - you'd have to read up on that). So if you can get your hands on one of those it's a nice boost.
- Try to keep some energy for Expel Harm, it can be a lifesaver. Though avoid that messing up your normal prio list.
- To kiting: It can save your life, but you're also a big part of the dps of the group. So when needed do it, but try to minimize it.

Best of luck to you.

[Greed001]

Agi meta.

Crit gems are less than ideal in challenge modes.

More damage-oriented enchants.

Go for items with as many sockets as possible.

Kiting is king.

None of the legendary items work in challenge modes.

[Callypso]

I've tanked gold runs for every instance with the exception of SH and SM. Reason I didn't tank those two (after some initial attempts) is that we found it way easier to have our DK tank those ****ing casters. The fact that I brought an extra stun as DPS for those instances and the DK had better magic reduction abilities just proved to be much more convenient. Something to keep in mind if you have similar options in your group.

That said, most of the challenge modes shouldn't be any issue for your as a BrM. Kegsmash is awesome snap-threat, you'll have oodles of vengeance so you'll be topping the dps meters in most situations, or at least you'll be able to pull significant more dps than other tanks. At 463 ilvl you *will* be quite squishy, so it's a matter of making the most of your defensive cd's and active mitigation. Some examples:

- Having Xuen tank particularly nastly mobs
- Dampen Harm is generally the most powerful talent option in this tier for CMs, but USE IT (don't save it up too much)
- Don't be afraid to blow a LOT of cds. Dead tank = wasted gold run in a lot of cases.

A huge part of that will be making sure you make the most of your composition. There's only so much YOU can do the ensure the succes of the run
Example of that is our team (BrM/DK/Lock/Mage/Holidin) which approached almost every pull like this:

- I opened with Leg sweep stun
- DK used his stun afterwards
- Lock stun (if needed)
- Breath of Fire if somehow stuff still wasn't dead

DK army, or DK AoE grip + Ring of frost can give some hilarious results as well btw. Other compositions will have other strengths, make sure you make the most of them.

A lot of the people above me mention kiting. Obviously, being able to kite AND keep threat as a BrM is invaluable in some situations. However, I would NOT recommend to do this unless it's absolutely neccesary: DPS matters a lot in gold runs, and you can't do any of that while you're running around throwing kegs. Personally I used it only on a few pulls and in 'oh shit' situations (rolling away to safety saved my butt dozens of times).

[Deleted]

I've tanked gold runs for every instance with the exception of SH and SM. Reason I didn't tank those two (after some initial attempts) is that we found it way easier to have our DK tank those ****ing casters. The fact that I brought an extra stun as DPS for those instances and the DK had better magic reduction abilities just proved to be much more convenient. Something to keep in mind if you have similar options in your group.

That said, most of the challenge modes shouldn't be any issue for your as a BrM. Kegsmash is awesome snap-threat, you'll have oodles of vengeance so you'll be topping the dps meters in most situations, or at least you'll be able to pull significant more dps than other tanks. At 463 ilvl you *will* be quite squishy, so it's a matter of making the most of your defensive cd's and active mitigation. Some examples:

- Having Xuen tank particularly nastly mobs
- Dampen Harm is generally the most powerful talent option in this tier for CMs, but USE IT (don't save it up too much)
- Don't be afraid to blow a LOT of cds. Dead tank = wasted gold run in a lot of cases.

A huge part of that will be making sure you make the most of your composition. There's only so much YOU can do the ensure the succes of the run
Example of that is our team (BrM/DK/Lock/Mage/Holidin) which approached almost every pull like this:

- I opened with Leg sweep stun
- DK used his stun afterwards
- Lock stun (if needed)
- Breath of Fire if somehow stuff still wasn't dead

DK army, or DK AoE grip + Ring of frost can give some hilarious results as well btw. Other compositions will have other strengths, make sure you make the most of them.

A lot of the people above me mention kiting. Obviously, being able to kite AND keep threat as a BrM is invaluable in some situations. However, I would NOT recommend to do this unless it's absolutely neccesary: DPS matters a lot in gold runs, and you can't do any of that while you're running around throwing kegs. Personally I used it only on a few pulls and in 'oh shit' situations (rolling away to safety saved my butt dozens of times).

Diffuse magic is infinitely better than AMS, the only other anti magic CD that DK has is AMZ, which is quite rubbish, Diffuse magic is one of the few reasons why monk tanks are by FAR the best tanks for challenge modes, for all of them.

That being said you are definitely right about the kiting, OP you should be able to handle almost every pull without kiting, use your CDs and aoe stuns (separately) the damage you do while tanking large groups is extremely valuable due to vengeance, if you have a healer or someone else in your group with a strong external CD like pain suppression or hand of sacrifice you should use these well, usually stacked with your fortbrew to tank some of the hard hitting groups, you will pretty much never have to worry about damage on bosses, use CDs on trash.

Edit: Oh and to clear it up, the only legendary item that works in CMs is the extra gem on weapon (normal gem, not sha touched) the cloak works but is actually quite poor as the 3 secondary stats are scaled down a lot more than other cloaks, in other words a blue cloak with two good stats would be better.

[RuneeBH]

I think your gear is just fine, I've tanked full CMs on 3 chars so far. (monk first, then pally, then DK), and I have to say my monk was both the hardest and easiest. It's important to understand that many pulls you're your groups top DPS. While kiting is going to help (especially when you're learning the CMs and pulls) the best defense is sometimes your offense. Don't be afraid to put your head down pop a few cds and run in there and destroy the stuff. The only CM that really comes to mind in terms of difficult tanking is Scarlet Monastery. The cathedral packs and their stacking debuff will SMACK you, and the group after the 1st boss and their chain stuns can also smack you even harder. Those are the only 2 instances where kiting/heavy external cooldowns were necessary for me. other than that, keep up shuffle, kite adds when/if you're dying, purify when necessary, and you'll be fine.