Originally Posted by
The Madgod
Considering that the thread is about, in a more general sense, brewmasters and the effective use of active mitigation during AoE packs, this is still on topic.
To throw out some points...
Pros for Guard up at the beginning of an encounter:
- Smoother damage intake at pull
- Provides more time to bolster active mitigation before needing to use first Purifying Brew
Cons for Guard up at the beginning of an encounter:
- smaller guard uptime, less self healing
Pros for Shuffle up at the beginning of an encounter:
- more avoidance and staggered damage
- allows for longer guard uptime, more self healing
Cons for Shuffle up at the beginning of an encounter:
- more self healing needed due to higher initial damage intake
- earlier PB needed, therefore less AM up by that point
I prefer Guard up first because of that initial stability it provides and as a tank and a former healer, I like. Shuffle, though it provides a lot of avoidance, which is where the majority of the damage decrease happens, is still based on RNG. I prefer to begin an encounter with a constant defense, not a random one, though I am still quick to follow up with Shuffle.